Well, it appears that my PC hasn't survived the cat attack as well as I thought. The graphics card gave up its ghost late last Sunday and the intermittent cutting out was back with a vengeance, too. The former didn't prove a huge problem since there was a suitable spare card already handy.
I haven't got a clue whether it's working or not, since I can't get the comp going for long enough to see. So my son, after checking with his Teccy forum mates, reckoned that the PSU was at fault. That was finally replaced this morning, but now the blasted machine isn't working at all, it just keeps blowing fuses.
I think the bottom line is that I need a new PC, and considering my present financial circumstances, I don't know how long that'll take I am able to use my son's PC, but he's at home all day, on holiday, at the moment which means that my computer time is somewhat limited until week after next.
This is actually the first time I'd had a chance to check in here and I've got hundreds of devs to look at and a load of messages to answer , I promise that I will go through them over the coming days and will at least try to answer all messages today.

So I apologise for my absence and being reduced to the odd faving and running spree for the foreseeable future and keep your fingers crossed for me that there's a miracle (like winning the lottery )

sss Helena




Finally finding the time to do some more features

But oh boy, it really has been a hectic couple of weeks for me. I had to deal with a bigger spate of family dramas than usual (Gawd, don't I just love Facebook - NOT ) and I had some computer issues, too. I would switch the machine on, only for it to turn itself off again, sometimes almost immediately. Occasionally Windows loaded before it went off, but the system was stable once it managed running beyond ten minutes or so, although it seems to have improved now and it only happens every couple of days. This even has my PC-whizz son bamboozled, so God only knows what's gone wrong with my trusty old hulk.

And I've found out that cats and computers don't mix very well, either. They normally don't bother with it, but one suddenly took to sleeping on top of the tower at night. Not a big deal, but it's one of those cases with several fans and one of them is on the top. So I got up the other morning to discover said cat on the desk and a pile of puke next to the fan. I cleaned it up, counting my blessings that it seemed to have missed the grill, and switched the computer on. Now, with the on-going problem in mind, imagine my horror when the screen started showing psychedelic gooble-de-gook.
That's it, it's knackered completely now, I thought, but an awful suspicion arose once I stopped hyper-ventilating and cursing the cat. So I took off the side to investigate and it took me half an hour to carefully mop feline gastric juices off the graphics card. Needless to say, the computer now rest under a protective cover


So here are some gooodies for you, as always in no particular order. I hope you enjoy