Hooch, this is everyone. Everyone, meet Hooch.

[thistlechaser]

I never had to name a computer before, but since this one wanted one, I picked something HP-ish without being too obvious about it. Hooch! And heh, it's a HP computer (brand name) with a HP (Harry Potter) name.

So yeah, I've had the new computer for about five hours now, and I've had to wait this long to type up a post in fear of bitching too much.

At work I sometimes have to use XP, usually only for a few minutes at a time. Even with that little bit of exposure, I hated XP. But what do all new computers come with? XP. I was already paying $1,300 for the computer alone, I didn't want to throw in $150 more for Windows 2000 to be installed, even though I love 2000. I told myself I'd get used to XP. Well, hopefully I will before it kills me.

I was really really tempted at a computer case with a glass window, three fans, and a neon light ($160), but since Hooch was to live under my desk, I resisted. (That and I was trying to keep the cost down.)

So I got Hooch home and set her up. Pretty easy, even with the addition of an AB switch (so I could run the old computer at the same time as Hooch). I was surprised how easy it was. Happily surprised.

Then I turned the computer on, and because XP assumes its users have the intelligence of damp rocks, it walked me through every step by tiny baby step (XP: do you hear music now? Do you see the color red? Are you breathing?). This treating-the-user-like-an-idiot policy is supposed to make things easier, right? Well I didn't hear music in the music test, but my speakers were working so I passed by their offer of help and just continued with the setup. The speakers turned out to be fine, once I was done with the setup, it played music. Thanks for your "help", XP!

Unfortunately, that was only the start of the trouble. I won't go into details (I was attempting to keep this post as bitch-free as possible), but it took me four hours to install three programs.

Bad stats:
- Number of blue screens in one evening: three (once a month was my norm on my NT computer)
- My touchpad had been working for a time on XP, now it doesn't for some reason. Mouse is killing my wrist.
- For some unknown reason, all my icons are suddenly turned into the default "no icon" icon. XP really and seriously does things on its own, for no reason.

Good things:
- Music/sound on a computer is really, really nice.
- Um... the computer is a lot smaller than my last one? Looks sort of cool, too.
- (To be fair, I can't test out the good things yet because I can't get anything installed. It has a massive memory and it's supposed to be fast.)

I know a lot of people are fine and happy using XP. Hopefully sooner or later I'll get used to it as well. (Darned windows look different! And why the hell are you assuming I am an idiot? Stop hiding things from me!)

Oh! My salesman was fun. Once he saw I was really buying a computer, he pushed my cart all around the store with me as I picked up other things, like speakers and some software and stuff. He was an older man, just moved to CA about four months ago. While he talked down to me a little, I sort of expected it; 1) I'm not anything even close to a hardware expert, and 2) I'm a girl! Ha ha! We need all the help we can get from big, smart, wise men! But seriously, while I know he stuck with me just to protect his commission on the computer sale, it was fun having someone walk with me and push the cart for me.

Comments

[gmth.livejournal.com]

I hate XP, too. The most annoying thing about it IMO is when you have more than 5 or 6 windows open (which I almost always do) and instead of shrinking them into smaller and smaller buttons on the task bar, it shoves them all into one big button and you have to pick the window you want almost like choosing options from a drop bown box.

K, that probably doesn't make sense but it's pretty late. Hopefully you understand what I mean. :-)

[alchemia.livejournal.com]

Hi Hooch!
Meet my computer, Jacob Machiavelli III. Jacob has a little brother also named Ohya. (yes there was a Jacob I and II, and before that, I had "Max". Max is a commodore 64, still working after all these years- OMG, decades! (feeling OLD, and I know I'm not)).

I hate when salesmen talk down to you- how does insulting the buyer increase sales? If I was a salesman, I'd praise the customer. Well actually, I'd be squeeling and hiding in a cabinet and hitting my head with my fists, but if I could be a functional salesman, thats what i'd do.

I hate XP too, FWIW. I hate the whole design. I also hate that all my good programs don't work on it! I am not going to spend twice as much as I spent on the computer just to upgrading perfectly good software (some of the so called upgrades for said software are like XP, so dumbed-down that they don't do the things i need them for anymore anyway!) anyway, I partitioned jacob with 2 OS's- ME which was less buggy for me then 2000, and linux. when bugland got her computer, they put XP on it also, but I reformatted it and put ME on it. since we both have gateways, it works fine. but my ME disks wont work on non-gateway computers and vice-versa. I suspect the same is true with your HP model. If you (or someone you know) had/has a HP comp then you could just reformat your computer and reinstall the old system from the old OS disks if you like that better. Or try Linux ;-)

[wikdsushi.livejournal.com]

*Minion, Legion, and Wormtongue, the LAN, wave to Hooch*Wormtongue sympathises with the horrors of XP*Minion and Legion just scratch their heads as they're still running Win98*Legion has flashbacks to dual-booting Win and Linux, and goes to huddle in the corner*

Yes, yes, they're odd names. :P Legion is Stu's, Wormtongue is *exactly* like Grima in personality, and Minion is the latest in a series: Sadist, Masochist, Master, Slave, Domina, and now Minion. I don't think anymore more regarding my relationship with my box needs to be said.

Have fun with Hooch! =)

[quasilemur.livejournal.com]

So...if getting an HP weren't enough, it also has XP. Please tell me you saved the box...it's highly inconvenient taking a computer out to the curb in a series of trash bags.

But seriously. I wish you luck with...that.

[ex-milkthist86.livejournal.com]

XP: do you hear music now? Do you see the color red? Are you breathing?

LOL! I actually got a new labtop less than a month ago, so I feel your pain. Here's hoping you get used to it quicker than I did.

You can turn that off!

[kirbyk.livejournal.com]

Right click on the task-bar (in an empty space), choose properties. Find the checkbox that says 'Group similar task bar buttons', and uncheck it. Poof!

At work, where I typically have about 10 windows open at once, I've resized my task bar to be two rows high, and it makes it much easier to jump around to the right place.

Re: You can turn that off!

[perardua.livejournal.com]

I love you.

*goes to turn it off immediately*

[perardua.livejournal.com]

Hi Hooch! Meet Olivier Presario, the Dark Lord of Laptops.

Olivier: Enchante, ma cherie.

Me: He's a bit of a ladies man.

[daltontrix.livejournal.com]

XP, made to be easy on the eyes with it's foofy colors and curvy Windows.

So, not only does it fail at everything else, it fails at looking good too, because it just looks stupid. ;)

Just thought you'd like to know...

[peppygrowlithe.livejournal.com]

You really, really sound like an AOLer whenever you say "XP". To me, it looks like X eyes and a P tongue-sticking face, and it really, really distracts me from reading the post. If it's possible, can you from now on refer to it as "ecks-pee"? Thanks!

[taricorim.livejournal.com]

I hate XP because you have to 'activate Windows' within thirty days of installing it, which supposedly get you all these great support features and information. The one problem? Uh, yeah, my version of XP is kind of copied from a friend's XP CD, which in turn makes it illegal.

And now that I've given you information with which to blackmail me, er... have fun with you new computer.

Re: You can turn that off!

[gmth.livejournal.com]

OMG, I love you. Thank you so much!!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Three hellos to Jacob Machiavelli the third!

Thanks for the advice! Linux isn't for me, but reformatting is an option.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hooch waves back to everyone else, while her owner giggles at the naming scheme!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Gah! Are HPs bad, too? Sheesh! Well, luckily I do have lots of bags... (I threw out the boxes last night).

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Thanks, my dinner beloved! I'm settling in with it surprisingly quickly.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Hee, what a great name you have there, Olivier Presario! Quite sexy!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*snickers lots* Yeah. Luckily, as I said on the MUSH, I found a way to make it look like old/normal Windows. Woo!

Re: Just thought you'd like to know...

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Gah! Another reason to hate ecks-pee! Hyper will no longer respect me (in the morning or any other time)!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Heehee, I would wouldn't ever blackmail you!

And I'm sure the "great support features and information" is just more spam. I can't even list all the crap that was on this machine at first. Ads for AOL, MSN, Yahoo internet, gah. So much garbage!