Dumbed-down PCs

I resent "dumbing-down."

At work today, my computer locked up during the startup process -- just had the "Win XP" logo on the screen, plus the "progress bar" -- but stuck.

Tried hitting the power button on the front of the machine, but that had no impact. No on/off switch on the back, next to the power cord; no "reset" button anywhere: I guess we're not supposed to know how to use that stuff...

Finally had to have a co-worker crawl under the desk as I jiggled the power cable from above, to figure out which power cord went to my PC (as opposed to my co-worker's PC); he unplugged my PC at the power strip, waited thirty seconds, and plugged it back in. Doing it the hard way -- but it worked.

All for the want of a "reset" button... ;)


For that matter: Brought in my headphones, so I could play CDs on the built-in DVD/CD-ROM drive. Tried the headphone jack on the front of the DVD drive. Nothing.

So, used the headphone jack on the front of the computer, next to the "microphone in" jack and two USB ports. Volume blasting!

Knew there was a "mixing board" application, where you can adjust the volume for the soundcard, internal speaker, etc. -- but had to hunt for it (used to Win98, not XP). Finally found it under "system 32"; it's called "sndvol32.exe", FYI.

And then, all was well. I much prefer working to music.


--GG