My Own Computer Crashes and
"Headaches of Wonder"

Yes, seeing is believing as the saying goes. It is now well into March, and the February issue of the Journal is just now "rolling through the wires" from my place to yours. As some of you know, I've experienced several computer-related problems since Thanksgiving.

After long and exhausting hours (on different days and in different time zones), the problems worsened to the point that my trusted little companion (my laptop) began shutting down, then mysteriously rebooting all on its own, repeatedly.

Then upon entering a shutdown mode, multiple pop-up windows would appear informing that "iexplorer.exe file could not be found" and other such messages such as PmProxy.exe, TouchEd.exe and Winlogon.exe; and then one of the ultimates: "Your system has/is just recovered from a serious error."

Now, take these cryptic messages and add in internal noises that sounded like chirpping crickets during their springtime ritual, I began researching some of these odd messages that would appear on my screen. Much to my surprise, I began to recognize that my laptop had developed serious operating systems issues with missing or damaged files that were necessary to operate and run the system smoothly.

A few dollars and several painful weeks later, not to mention the fatigue from headaches of the unknown, I have managed to restore some of my lost files. But I suspect that the battle is not yet over as the sound of crickets continues, albeit intermittenly.

If there is one point that I cannot stress enough, it is this: make sure your firewalls and your antivirus software is not only up to date, BUT ALSO, running on your computer. And lastly, leave the real troubleshooting and diagnostics to the certified professionals, even if it does cost you and arm and a leg. It's worth it!