I didn’t jump into the new Dell Inspiron 9300 without a plan. I was going to boot up the computer, get online and do a Windows update ASAP. There are viruses out there that can infect your Windows PC without even opening an email or going to a website, just being online with an unprotected PC means you may get infected. When my Windows update screen ran through the initial diagnosis of what updates and patches I needed, it showed that there were 26 critical updates and patches to be installed on my system. I chose to install them all and it started the downloads and installs. It took three re-boots and three Windows updates to get them all installed, over an hour just for the critical downloads.
Then I started on the anti-virus program, I downloaded all the latest patches and definitions and got them running. I then started deleting the crap files that are shipped with the Dell, all of our favorites like, AOL, Earthlink, Netzero and demos of games, Office suites and then the programs that make spyware and adware look like amateurs, Real Network player and jukebox, and several mp3 players. After I cleared gigs of useless software off the hard drive, I then took out all the PC software I owned from my last Windows desktop. They were mostly utilities, but important ones such as Disk Image, Partition Magic, Macromedia Suite 8, and some smaller programs and freeware I used. I would install each program, download any updates and install them too, then reboot and try to run it. Twice I received the dreaded BSOD, blue screen of death. I deleted the offending program, and tried again. All but one of the programs re-installed fine and avoided the BSOD. I forgot how much I hated this stuff… but it had to be done.
Every few hours I had to get up from the kitchen table where I was performing this ballet of BS and walk into my office, sit down in front of the iMac and just look at the beautiful design, open a few applications to see what solid programming can produce. It was the only thing that kept me from physically assaulting that poor Dell laptop. The morning turned into night and I decided to call it a day. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to actually use my new Dell, maybe.
After a few more hours of downloading and tweaking, I finally had the Dell where I wanted it, or at least close. I was then ready to use Drive Image to take a snapshot of the setup and save it on an external drive. The imaging went smooth and I felt like I had bonded with my Dell, at least a little. That lasted for about half a day. After I kept running into applications that were missing buttons, or links, and there was no way to expand the windows to see these buttons and links, a tech support person told me that my video drivers for the Dell were probably outdated and I should check with Dell’s support center to find out if new drivers existed. Suffice it to say, there were several drivers that were outdated. That pretty much shot the afternoon and when the new video driver didn’t want to install properly, I surrendered to the fact that day two was in the books, and I have not seen the first hour of productivity on my Windows laptop.
Day three started and I thought I’d try something. I had three anti-spyware programs installed. Adaware, Microsoft Anti-spyware, and the Micro Trend anti-spyware program that came with the Dell. I ran each program, one after the other. Keep in mind that the only websites I’ve been to in the first three days of PC purgatory have been the sites of programs I needed to update or download. There were no sports, porn, warez, or game sites in the history folder, honest! Each program found it’s own list of spyware or adware. I had a total of 19 hits between the three utilities. What a sad statement.
The Dell is packed up in my Booqbag, along with the software CD’s I may need and a few manuals, very few since it seems that actual paper manuals for PC’s are a thing of the past, along with actual install CD’s and DVD’s. If all goes as planned, I’ll not have to use the Dell until I start my new job. If life was perfect, I’d not have to use the Dell at all.
