Computer Addiction, Computer Affliction

This is an error I'm getting in VMware running Windows XP on an iMac I'd hoped to configure for FFP to use. Once it recovered from this error. Another time it not only lost the entire XP machine but was sort of taking over the Mac side when I tried to restart after this. This time I've left the persistent message which pops up after every retry. Do you find translucent windows disconcerting? Me, too.

I took a picture of the screen from the Apple side for this image. I'm learning a bit about Apple's OS X. (OS 10.5.2 to be exact.) I would convert to Apple only there are programs I don't want to convert. There are so many decisions in one's computing environment.

Forrest hadn't started to use the Apple machine and is still banging away on his ancient (by computer standards) Dell with Win 2K Pro on it. I'm a little frightened that I will suddenly see this death or near death message on my iMac. Because I have converted to it and have not powered on my old (very old in computer years) XP Sony in a few days. I've moved all my files and applications here. I am liberally backed up with a VWare image of this machine on the Apple Time Capsule and nightly backups of important documents to an Internet service and also to the Time Capsule. I still have the documents I moved here on an external drive, on the Sony and I made another backup of my collection of pictures to the Time Capsule. No amount of backups make you feel better, though, if your computer becomes a boat anchor and you have to have guru assistance to get running again. I like to sit down at my computer as I am now and check e-mail, write a blog entry, look up information, do my bookkeeping, write my journal, edit some pictures and just not have that nagging worry that it will quit working. I have had a few odd glitches with this machine but mostly it has run beautifully under stress. If it's physically identical companion four inches away wasn't misbehaving, well, I'd feel pretty confident.

So to add to the mysteries and concerns we had an electrical storm last night. The gum and safety pin wired network in this house wasn't working when we got home from a party. I finally walked it through carrying my laptop from place to place starting at the cable modem (rebooted) to the wired/wireless router connected to that. (Got the wireless working, wired worked directly, replaced the hub connecting to the other part of the house.) Went upstairs and tried the wire that goes up there directly in my laptop, couldn't get the hub up here working, replaced that. It wasn't nearly that straightforward either. I had to pirate the hub for up here from one I had across the room connecting my old Sony and an Internet printer. I thought the printer might work directly but it doesn't. My guru reserved an IP address for it but it doesn't seem to be talking.

Good thing my guru is coming this morning, huh? However, right now things are stable. I always feel bad for FFP as he looks helplessly on, unable to use his computer (because without an Internet connection computers feel useless these days.) He checked his e-mail in the wee hours and looked at a WEB site he heard about at the party.

Am I hoping things can be less complicated in the condo? Yep. Of course, this iMac that is acting up was part of the effort to streamline things.