I got the replacement hard drive from Dell today- fast shipping, one business day. I feel like I’m playing Monopoly, because this is a total Dell Error in My Favor. I had a 100GB drive. They gave me a 120GB drive. Freakin’ sweet.
Unfortunately, they sent the thing pre-imaged, but only halfway, so when I booted the thing it locked up for an hour while it installed America Online, NetZero, “Adobe Elements”, and tons of other crap that I don’t need. So I took the opportunity to just wipe the whole darn thing and start from scratch with a good ol’ XP Pro disc.
Big mistake. I’ve spent the last 7 hours or so reinstalling drivers, files, and software. It’s not done yet- but it’s 1:30 AM and I’m really tired. I also need to work on an assignment for BG200 that is ominously close to a due date. Blar.
I am learning to hate the Housing department’s evil software. They use Cisco Clean Access, which scans your computer for up-to-date virus & anti-spyware definitions, as well as windows patches. Fair enough- I made sure to update all three with my new install.
Clean Access thinks I have an unpatched version of Windows. Microsoft Update can’t find anything that I need. So I can’t get access to the network until then. It’s especially annoying since this part is basically identical to my duties at work, and we have a much better solution to verify client security without making the client jump through five million hoops to authenticate themselves.
But, more importantly, Final Fantasy VII works again.
Windows sucks, as does Dell preinstalls. I hate drivers, and installing them.
Cisco is a bitch. Somebody needs to go tourch it. I hates it, because it disabled my backup software and goes crazy when I dual boot. Oops.
Installing the Windows Service Pack 2 is a big big big mistake. Don’t do it for the love of God.
FF7 is the shit. Everyone should play it. It should be a requirement for any degree, it’s that awesome.
Hihihi… Cisco Clean Access for the win! There HAS to be a better way.
There IS a better way. It’s called Vernier. My department uses it instead- transparent to the client, you don’t have to install 4 programs to get access.
spank!