Ahhhh!!  So after my new printer woes (documented thoroughly in a previous post), I decided that it was time to rebuild our laptop… from scratch.  I’m going to get that printer installed properly, dammit!

I pondered this decision for quite a while weighing all the pros and cons (no need to detail those here and bore you even more) and finally made the leap this week.  On Tuesday I backed up all data files and programs to my MP3 player, which conveniently has the ability to store data files as well, which took a while, of course.  And yesterday, took the plunge and used HP’s nifty little quick restore to format and rebuild the computer to factory settings.

VICTORY!!! Everything came up nicely, got back connected to my wireless and after a few updates to Windows, tried to install the printer.  Bingo, bango, bongo, worked the first time.  Ahhhh… I feel better already.  Uninstalled some of the silly programs that came with the HP, got my and my wife’s profiles started back up and we’re off to the races.

Tonight, I just have to transfer back our data files, install Office and then we’ll be back in business fully as I can add programs I truly used at my own pace.

My thoughts now are that I should have done this long ago.  In college, I would generally rebuild once a year to extend the life of the computer (and often times, switch operating systems to my latest choice in Linux, remember I am a total geek!).  This laptop had been going on 3 years without a rebuild.  Now it can go another two or so before we really have to dump it for something new, hopefully; we’ll see how I feel after Windows Vista comes out.

Well, most of you have probably stopped reading by now.  I would have too if I were in your shoes.  Have a great day and keep on keeping on!