Archive for » October, 2012 «

The 11 most popular ways to shut off your computer in a crisis

31
Oct 2012

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Picture any of the following scenarios:

    • the dreaded BSOD (or Blue Screen of Death) makes an appearance and there’s no way out, all you can see is a scary percentage count at the bottom of the screen and the technical information makes NO sense!
    • The computer has suddenly downloaded malware and is freezing & you don’t know what to do!
    • Your processor is under pressure and is struggling to play Windows Media Player and MS Paint – it crashes!
    • Insert similar computer-induced crisis here…
Well now there is help. Well – possibly ill-advised help. Okay maybe not help at all, more of a confirmation that you are not alone! – Here is a list of 11 popular (and mostly) effective ways to shut-down/stop your computer in a crisis:

1) Push and hold the power switch button for 5 seconds

A drastic approach but one that works. When in crisis, simply push and hold the on/off button  until the screen cuts off and the quiet whisper of the processor is no more. Success! The problem is out of sight, and you can go and put the kettle on! – Note: you may lose files, but sometimes these are recoverable…

2) Rip out the power cord from the mains

Usually sparked by much frustration and one or two swear words but works a charm! WARNING: This will cause unsaved work to be lost with little chance of recovery. Can also damage computer over time, and is only a quick fix.  Works though. *shrugs*

3) Push and hold the Escape key (ESC)

Usually does nothing. I think it’s there for decoration (or for sentimental reasons) since it is usually non-responsive in a computer crisis. Don’t take my word for it, try clicking this repeatedly when something is wrong and if it fails, at least you can distract yourself with the clicky sound of the button…

4) Push CTRL+ALT+DEL simultaneously

Used to be, this ‘three finger salute’ was THE go-to fail-safe in a crisis as if you did it continuously and ignored the warnings, it caused the computer to instantly shut itself down. Thanks to the many Windows’ upgrades, this can now also bring up several further options like locking the computer or changing the password. During a session with the old BSOD the last thing you’re thinking about is your password!

5) Call IT support

Now, you can always dial for help – bear in mind, you’re likely to have the pleasure of talking to a know-it-all with a thick foreign accent, and whilst this is something you might welcome in a social situation, (the accent not the arrogance), in a crisis this is annoying and will cost you extra on your phone bill as most of these kinds of calls are 50p+ per minute…

6) Use Windows’ own ‘Help & Support’ option

This in a crisis? Yeah right! You’re better off shouting at the screen. Now, if you ever want to access a web version of this, you can and it’s actually rather helpful in resolving most things computer when you’re not in a jam. But we are talking about crises – and something about an inescapable blue-screen that doesn’t react makes you want to select one of the other options.


Still, to access the above screen, just type help & support into the start-search and hey presto!

7) Wait for the issue to resolve by itself

You know that circly loading thing that rotates, and rotates, and rotates until you’ve forgotten what it is you were actually doing and have lost all hope in your computer? That’s the result of this option. You either have to be very patient or some masochist sort to go through this…

8) Shutdown the computer properly

If you’re the practical type, someone calm in a crisis, you might click the start button, followed by the little arrow that gives you several shutdown options (or alternatives) and choose one of these. However, this is usually a process reserved for a normal end of session, and chances are, this doesn’t apply in a crisis!

9) Manically click the red “X” in the top right of the screen

This only ever works in normal situations, like being done with a page, or programme. During the middle of a BSOD ep, you’ve got no chance. Typically a computer/internet noobs go-to, but they will be greatly disappointed. Surely though, someone so new to the interweb or a computer in general in this day and age, is questionable…

10) Close the screen & ignore the issue [Notebooks and Laptops only]

Out of sight, out of mind? Whoever said ridiculous conclusions don’t make us feel better? Of course, the issue will probably be patiently waiting for you upon your return, after which you can select another more suitable option…

11) Hit screen in anger/break computer

WARNING: May (or will) completely destroy system. Not advised by any means, but defo has pros and cons:

  • Pros:
    • Will stop BSOD or similar issues that are causing restricted computer use
    • Will provide temporary break from work/procrastination
  • Cons:
    • There is no recovery from this
    • You will feel silly and possible regretful about breaking a worthwhile piece of equipment
    • You will be greatly inconvenienced

So there you have it! Did I miss anything?

Category: I'm Just Sayin', Random Chit-Chat  Tags: blue screen of death, BSOD, CTRL+ALT+DEL, ESC key, laptop, Microsoft, PC, shutdown, Windows, windows helps and support  

Halloween, and the coffee flavoured Quality Streets

30
Oct 2012

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Life is like a big bowl of pick and mix; we hastily grab the things we want and pass up on the things we don’t – you know, like the coffee-cream flavoured Quality Streets in favour of the toffee ones.

Sure there are rules in place, like everyone should have first refusal of the toffee ones, and then there’s common courtesy, which tells us that being greedy and taking without offering is frowned upon.

Then there are traditions – Christmas, Diwali, Eid – in which we all take part. Even if taking part for us, means not taking part, because of religion etc, we kind of still take part by virtue of informing everyone else that we don’t.

So it’s Halloween (tomorrow). An old pagan celebration that lingers on. Most of us ignore it’s roots and the culture it’s so deeply embedded in because we’ve been seduced by luminous candy colours and impressive pumpkin-craftsmanship – no-one cares about that bit (much like the coffee-cream Quality Streets)…

Truth is, once we stop asking questions, it’s usually because we’ve pretty much stopped caring, or noticing or that we never really cared to begin with…

Halloween trivia:

What’s with the funny name?

  • Started by the Celts in Europe (who were Pagans) – Originally known as the festival of Samhain.
  • Adopted by Christianity (just like Christmas) & was renamed Hallow’s Eve.
  • Was soon known in shorthand as Hallowe’en – eventually evolved to Halloween.

Why Pumpkins?

  • The Irish. You see, the Celts didn’t have Pumpkins. They used Turnips.
  • Irish immigrants who travelled to the USA  first used Pumpkins because they couldn’t find any Turnips there.

…and the sweets and money?

  • Another adaptation. Originally people would leave fruit & nut on their doorsteps to cheer up wandering ghosts who came back to their old house. 8O

What about the scary masks and dodgy Spiderman costumes?

  • Used to be, people wore costumes to disguise themselves from any wandering ghosts they might run into.
  • Now worn to impress at parties and wow strangers into giving extra money/sweets.

Oh, and the lanterns?

  • Originally carved to scare off  any wandering ghosts, sort of like a “my dad is is stronger than your dad” scenario.
  • Now used to keep up with/outdo the Joneses next door.
Category: Random Chit-Chat  Tags: all saints day, Halloween, hallows eve, holidays, seasonal, trivia  

There is a forever, you’re just not allowed it

25
Oct 2012

Nothing is forever, yet everything is.

Mainly because forever for us, lasts as long as we do. A life span.

But what scares us more, the idea that things will never change, or that they can’t remain the same? Your age changes, your personality widens, but essentially you are still you. The only you you’ll ever be.

Stories end, nursery rhymes finish, but to the worlds newcomers, those same unchanged stories are brand-new. The scariest thing for technology in the 21st century is it becoming obsolete, remember cassette tapes? – Yet music remains.

The end result is always the same, but there is no end to there being a result.

And we hope we’re unique, in our thoughts and feelings, as though we began history when we entered the world, as though documents of religion and philosophy don’t already talk of money woes, the unfortunate and class systems.

But who cares? Unless it affects us directly, it doesn’t exist. Just like those falling trees in the forest we can’t hear, right?

 

Category: A Thought...  Tags: forever, infinity, musings  

There are no ingredients in elbow grease

20
Oct 2012

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It’s interesting, most of us spend most of each day working and those who don’t work are encouraged to get a job.

We have jobs, we want a careers, we have careers we want different ones.

When you were a child, asked what you want to be when you grow up, you probably didn’t choose what it is you do now. Or if you did, you never imagined the work involved.

Most likely you were bogged down over the course of SAT’s, GCSE’s, and further education and couldn’t quite see the connection between maths and being say an athlete.

The 2012 olympics is over and the news is filled with how we should magic-up money for sports in schools, because of course that’s the saving grace now that we’ve hosted it. We’re totally manipulated by whatever the trend is – where was this great need for the next Jonathan Edwards a decade ago?

There are studies about how television programmes affect how we feel in society or even influence it which seems to confirm that the course of life itself is the determining factor in what you choose to work doing.

Sure, you can have a burning desire to be a dancer, a scientist or a chartered accountant – but how did you get there? What was the formula? What fuelled the desire? – Chances are outside of money and/or quality of life – it was some romantic idea you created that has nothing to do with the reality of the job at hand.

And if you’re there already, if you’re doing the work you absolutely love everyday, you are a rare kind, not because you love your work, but because you love it everyday.

That, is the dream…

Category: A Thought...  Tags: career, inspiration, work  

Hope is underrated

16
Oct 2012

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It’s pretty much the  the job of the people paid to do it, to complain. Or, to say things that sound like things we should be annoyed about, so that we complain.

News, radio, advertising – nobody’s content with a ‘happily ever after’. Our internet providers aren’t fast enough, our heating bills aren’t low enough and our mobile phone providers are ripping us off.

Not to mention places you’ve always shopped carefree are now forever bombarding you with loyalty cards and coupons to offer you things you might quite like but probably don’t need, as well as hinting that you stay at home and order online instead (so that some genius on work-experience can load the wrong thing into your basket).

We hardly complain, and feel guilty when we have to, probably from the abundance of cringeworthy exposés that show idle staff (people you would usually complain to) abusing their duties and doing the unthinkable: spitting in food, charging too much for unnecessary labour, bending the rules of banking to fatten their own wallets.

And you can still fall victim to what is undeserved whether you complain or don’t, because lets be honest – there are no guarantees. There is hope, but that’s all. - And that’s all there ever was.

There was never any guarantee of electricity. Running water and toilets that flush weren’t jotted down on some infinite to-do list decades before we existed where all folk had to do was wait and be polite.

There was work, complaining, failure, success…and hope.

Category: A Thought...  Tags: complaining, guarantees, hope, success  

Too many, or too few?

14
Oct 2012

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A friend and I were talking about fashion, and never knowing what to wear with all the drastic seasonal changes. You know, how we flit from shoe to sneaker, jacket to windbreaker and beanie to ski hat, our only concern being that we should have chosen the other belt or that these gloves aren’t as snug as the others.

I started thinking about it. What’s more difficult: having too much, or not having enough?

People across the globe mention the downfalls of being successful, having more than the usual. That applies to us all, you have more than someone else, but you don’t feel like it when you think of the things you’d like that you don’t have.

Some leaders thought communism was the answer. Some still do.

I love our capitalist ways though. The earning potential of it all. If you forked out for 3 cars after scrimping and saving for three quarters of your life for them, why not?  - Collectible items? Go for it! It’s your money.

There’s a feeling though, of being in a grocery store with an empty trolley and a blank cheque, and leaving with nothing but chocolate & ice-cream. Making poor choices & effing it up.

It happens annually on Big Brother, that’s the beauty of watching it. The housemates get a few extra pounds for the shopping list after a weeks “famine”, and everyone goes crazy over sugar and peanut butter.

Truth is, too much, is too much. That’s why having options is so helpful. It narrows it down. Makes it easy.

We like easy.

Category: A Thought...  Tags: choice, gratitude, inspiration, options  

The beauty of distraction

08
Oct 2012

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All education emphasizes focus.

I guess teachers think they’re doing us a favour by conditioning us to focus on all that is practical. Maths, Science, History, and we’re thankful when it comes to exams, that we retained at least some information must we sit for hours at a rickety desk with overseers and time limits.

But this focus in which they speak is so overrated. The real focus, the one that leaves a mark, is on the distractions in life. Shopping, movies, music, clubbing, drinking, sleeping – whatever your vice – it’s that, that is responsible for your smiles.

And focus is often centered around being practical. Working hard to pay bills, maintaining dwindling relationships, staying on top of your email inbox. Important yes, thrilling? Not so much.

There’s a reason why no movie was ever made, nor book ever written, about people that raised their kids, paid their bills, washed their dishes and walked their dog and then, the end. – Sure, these things exist, but in the background.

The stories you live to love, focus on everything but practical…

Category: A Thought..., I'm Just Sayin'  Tags: distraction, Dreama, focus, thinking