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[IcyMourdor]

Okay, after about two weeks of not having access to my comp due to complications with viruses and reformatting my hard drive. I am finally back to where I was. Even better actually.

What I wanted to know is...
How many times have you all had to do this to your comps?
How agonizing is it to not have a comp ready to go?

Type fast before I have to do it again. Now to download WoW again.

[Pu the Owl]

Many times my stupid machines tried to give me a nervous breakdown. Not only viruses were the cause... Microsoft is guilty as well...

Some other times it was more strictly hardware problems like fried monitors, motherboard agonizing, modem trying to commit seppuku involving other stuff in the process, random parts exploding or not responding anymore...

I found myself freed from computer slavery (addiction I would say) every time this happened. I discovered when you are not dependant anymore you have a lot of time for other activities, like reading, watching a movie... even breathing is more satisfactory. This doesn't mean "all or nothing", it simply means there are options other than sitting in front of a machine all day. Sounds silly and obvious, but it is not... for example... what in the world am I doing here at 6:40 am? I forgot I had to go to sleep...

Oh well...

[tempted]

humm lets see, i have 2 computers at home, and i went through hell with with both already, the other one, gets viruses all the time, i had to reformat at least 3 times, and wasting more than 3 hours just to put it back to what it was, doesn't make me happy. and then some hardware problems, like stuff melting, or ruined hard drive. This one i'm using, doesn't let me down all that much, even though it's older than the other one, i only had to format it once, and it hardly get any viruses, lucky me.

As for your second question, it's not like i'm addicted to it, cause i'm only on it at night, actually my main use of the pc right now, is to talk to a few friends, and it stresses the hell out me when i can't do it, because that's the only way i have to talk to them, unless i use the phone, but that's too expensive.

[kupoartist]

at one point about 3 years ago, i'd format about 4 times a year, my OS was really unstable and i'd always have to install 2 versions of windows so I could save all my stuff when one of them inevitably became essentially inacessible. Then I started using spybot searchers / firewalls / virus checkers and i've not had the same kind of problems for ages. I only recently formatted my PC, but I think the time before that was about 2 years ago now. It also helps that I don't move my PC around so much or put new stuff inside it that often :p

[goodman]

I used to have to reformat with Windows 98, but never any virus probs with XP really, none that cant be solved with a virus removal system. I use Spyware removal and zone alarm firewall and AVG free virus protector. Also use the Windows internal firewall. Anything you can do to stay secure is a good idea, but some viruses can be real hard to protect against. Hasnt been a problem for almost 3 years now...

[DSgamer]

i used to format my pc like twice a year but thanks to mozilla nothing gets in my computer

[Faile]

It only happened once really, when my PSY blew up. No reformat but I couldn't afford to replace it for most of summer, so I went out a lot and saw my friends and worked and things like that. I sometimes suspect that this is all too much of a crutch, this online world, too much of an albatross around my neck. But if I am drowning, I guess it's all quite comfortable.

[Redpyramidhead]

So yeah like a few years ago my dad reformatted my hard drive when i wasnt around for like the 3rd time without any of my stuff backed up and I just about had a heart attack and I was afraid he was going to do it again until he finally got his own laptop for work and soon after I moved out anyways and had a better comp for a while until it was stolen. And then I had to move back home for the past few months and I'm back using this old piece of shit again. Oh the headaches!

_RED_ stuff