Bug in Microsoft Update?

If you noticed that I rarely update my blogs during the past few days, that's because my internet connection has been very bad the past couple of days. For some reason, my laptop just would not load pages even if my connection to the modem was OK. All the other computers here could access the internet well enough. It was just mine which had this particular problem.

My husband did a system restore, which seemed to work. But later, when I shut down my laptop, I was surprised to see the same problem again when I turned on the laptop the next day. I thought back to the day when the problem occurred, and remembered that Windows XP updated itself after I shut down. So I went back and removed the latest update. I also changed my system update settings to "no updates".

Lo and behold, this morning, the problem was there again! I looked at the control panel, and the last update was no longer there. So what was the problem?

I tried doing another system restore. I noted that during the past 3 days that I have been having problems with the internet, there was a program called "Software Distribution 3.0" which kept installing even if I turned off the automatic install.

Apparently this is a problem with one of the previous updates of Microsoft Windows. I have deleted 2 previous updates which was noted to be a cause of the problem in a forum I searched.

So far, so good. I hope this is it and I would no longer encounter such a problem! Let's see in the next few days.

We Should Really Backup Our Data

My husband and I have been encountering a lot of computer related woes lately. As I have stated in my previous entry, my other site is down. My husband, on the other hand, is experiencing some problems with our 6 year old laptop. I know we should probably just give up on the old laptop and buy a new one but there are a lot of data and files there that are quite important. Sure, we can probably externalize the hard drive, but my mother has done that before and it really didn't work as well as expected. There are some pretty affordable online storage at IBackup which might be able served both our purposes. The good thing about storing data online is that we can access needed data even if we use other computers.

PC vs Mac -- A Survey

For the most part, PC and Mac systems are both very good. For the most part, both systems are infuriatingly bad. It really depends on what you are trying to do at a given moment.



At the moment, I am using a PC rather than a Mac, mainly because the PC is more budget friendly. You can get a PC for much less than a Mac especially if you get the lesser known brands. Mac is Mac, there is only one Mac, it's from Apple, and it's quite pricey. However, if you consider the Mac vs the branded PCs, the difference is really not that huge anymore.

My brother uses the Mac and frankly, I do envy him. Sure, it's an old model, probably 2 years old, but not only does it look sleek and nice, it's also very good with functions. My own PC laptop, however, is good enough for my needs at the moment.

Backup Your Files

Being in the era of digital information, we store a lot of files on our laptop's hard drive as well as removable media such as DVDs, CDs, SD cards and flash drives. But what the hard drive crashes and we cannot find our backups on the removable media? Printing everything out as hard copy may be one solution, but I do not think that anybody would care to store a lot of paper clutter. Offices are starting to go paperless in fact. One solution that may be viable is Online Backup. I looked through their site and they have plans for every need, from the most simple economy plans that cost only $9.95, if you do not need a lot of backup storage, to the more hefty plans for the workplace.

I believe that most people and most companies would really need a service similar to this because you can never predict what could happen to the important files stored in the computer. They could be corrupted, they could be destroyed, or they could be infected by a worm or a virus. Having a backup system would ensure that you have another copy of those important files that you just cannot afford to lose.

A look back....Things to be grateful for in the year 2006

It's the last day of 2006. It's been a good year for us, and for that we are thankful. Milestones that have occurred during this year for our family:

- My son had a full year of NOT being admitted in the hospital. He is currently seizure free even without maintenance medications.
- My son accomplished his milestones at about the time the books said he should. Sometimes even earlier. Yey! Developmentally normal.
- My son had his first out of town trip. It's just Tagaytay, but still....
- My son celebrated his first birthday party. First time for mommy to organize a kiddie party.
- My husband really became the primary breadwinner in our family, as I had to step back a bit and become a little more laid back with my clinical practice. Thankfully, his patient base also grew this year, and at pace faster than normal.
- My mother turned 60. We threw a surprise party for her. First time for us to host a party for her, that was really a surprise for her!
- My brothers went into new avenues for their careers.
- I started our family's online gift shop business this Christmas season. Still on the "sideline" stage though. [It's at ethansstore.multiply.com , in case anybody is interested :) ].
- I went back to school.
- We bought a new laptop computer, via installment. Our old laptop died....but we were able to have it repaired at a low cost, so now we have 2 laptops! Yey!

There is still so much more. I am thankful for all the blessings that have occurred. I am looking forward to the new year and to new milestones.