Al, how do I vote on MMFT?

How about over using the laptop? I know that when I first moved to Ottawa (before I got the cooling fan) I used my laptop so much that it was overheating and would function really slowly and shut down on me.

I would be surprised if walking around outside would do that to her laptop. I've taken two laptops into cold weather in my backpack (up to half an hour in -20 or less) and never run into an issue like that.

In any case, I'd rule out a software issue before blaming a hardware fault (by using an OS LiveCD (Ubuntu?) or by wiping the OS and reinstalling.)

Well since the suckers at Telus repaired my phone for free and didn't check up on what I did to it, I'll tell you (Don't worry it is related to Alison's computer problem). I left my phone (it was turned off) in my car for about 2 hours while I went to practice Kung-fu. It was probally -10°C that day and when I went to use my phone next it loaded up weird and the screensaver stopped working. So I just used it for about a month and next time I decided to leave the phone in my car (same situation as last time), it just stopped working altogether. The difference in temperature causes condensation to form inside electronics possibly damaging it. So it depends how long you left it in the cold, and how cold it was. Probally not what is wrong with your computer but it is possible. You should take it in for repairs and diagnostics. It could be some weird problem we've overlooked.

wow, it just took 20+ minutes to open WORD...

i hate my laptop... and i'm not even sure why it's having so many problems.

um... sort-of. it should be used to it by now though (if computers get used to things...)

I leave my window open at night, so the compy gets a bit of a breeze, but it's never too cold. like maybe 10C at the lowest. And it's gotten colder while I walk with it between buildings, or it did in January. I thought about that too... it did seem to improve a little as things warmed up, but today it's no excuse. the house is 18 degrees, my computer has been sitting comfortably on my desk all day, temperature should not be a problem, unless it's permanent??

I don't know what's wrong at all. having the "Start" menu open took up 50% of my CPU usage according to the task manager, and I still couldn't click on the program I wanted. I have to say, I'm worried about all the processes it runs at start up, but I don't even know where to start on fixing that...

Well, I guess I have my plans for the weekend all set out...

Just confirming 6:30 at Langano Skies (9920 82 Ave) tomorrow for all of you who want to come. I've saved an extra couple of spots for those of you who may decide at the last minute that you really can't do without some good Ethiopian food.

See you tomorrow!

ps- congrats Al!

Thanks to your mass spam voting Saberfalcon has brought down Mortarboy! Next voting period ends April 6. So get your votes in!

See bracket and vote here

Might seem totaly off base but did you leave your computer in a cold place for any period of time?

I think a chunk of my weekend will be spent playing with my computer. Thankfully I've got a previous presentation backed up on my usb key, but no fancy photos other than what I've already thrown in powerpoint.

It's all the rest of the crap I have to do that matters though, term papers etc. grr!

Norton ought not to be out of date, I've got a subscription for it (and it counts down the days until it expires ... and I need *Norton* to get onto the department server), um, it clears out spyware too, from what I can tell... and I don't know about the disk space thing... we'll see. Though, how can I be out of disk space already? I've only had it since October. It's just all of a sudden. I know the last time I used it I shut it down properly, and then, other than watching a dvd on it in the non-boot-up mode, I haven't done much to/with my laptop... and it just doesn't seem to run... and then everything runs soooooo slooooooow, it's like our old Windows 95 computer, only worse!

I've tried to boot up connected to the internet, and not; plugged into auxiliary power, and not. The next step may be to remove the battery... and then give it a good shake! (kidding!) I know there's a whole pile of processes running on it, but I don't know what they are to stop them from running... I'll have to figure that out I'm sure.