I tried to purchase a new computer.  I really did.  Granted, I did change my mind about the monitor after placing the order, so I guess I was just asking for it.  After that it was all downhill.  To make a long story short, Order #5 went through without a gliche, and after 6 days of this mind-numbing saga I could finally sit back and relax.  Not.   An email was supposed to arrive to tell me when my brand-new supersonic system would be delivered.  It never did. Turns out Order #5 simply vanished off the face of the earth.  About this time I started wondering if God was speaking to me.  Do not buy a new computer, do not buy a new computer...


So, with great trepidation, I launched into a re-installation of the OS on my old laptop.  This was something I had decided would be best to do after my new system arrived.  It had been overheating and shutting itself off many times a day, and I didn't know if it was the hardware or the OS causing this.  So, it was risky to even begin but what the heck, I thought.  Worst thing that could happen is that I would lose it all, and have to live offline.  Gads, imagine, no computer, but that would be an adventure in itself.  

So far it's going pretty well.  I'll be reinstalling programs for at least another week, and another 2 weeks to re-do all my settings, but eventually it'll be just like home again.  There's been no more overheating and crashing except when I was downloading the 81 Windows XP updates.  At 79 it gave up and shut itself off.

This is what I've been trying to get to.  Did you know that you can set the default font for your web browser?  I probably did know this but I forgot.  I was looking at my homepage and thinking gee, that looks funny.  I've probably seen it a thousand times, and this is the sort of thing that can make you feel like you're losing your mind.

For some dumb reason, I assumed that whatever font I designed my website with is the same one you all would be seeing when you looked at it.  Wrong.  Well, sort of wrong.  Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.  I've played with it but can't come to any concrete conclusion.  If you're getting a strange out-of-whack picture try adjusting your font settings and see if it's any better.  (Under Options in Firefox or Internet Options in IE.)  I built it using Sylfaen.  I don't know if that font is even included in the default set that comes with your operating system.  

One day when I had nothing better to do I went font-hunting.  I wish I could remember the place I landed but alas, it appears to be gone, or perhaps redesigned and therefore unrecognizable.  There's no reason to purchase fonts, although for sure there are people who will sell them to you.  There are many free sites and they're interesting places to look around.  If you're bored out of your mind with Times New Roman and looking for something to spice up your projects, take a cruise.  Download and install.  It's very easy.  If you don't want to have to do it twice, make a backup of your Fonts folder (under C:\Windows) and copy it back if you ever reinstall your OS.  

There's alot of flashy and confusing ads on font sites generally speaking.  Better Fonts is for us older people.  Quieter. Just navigate by the alphabet, when you find one you like click the "download this font" button and it's on your computer.  The fonts download in zip folders.  Some of them contain Read Me files which basically say do-not-sell-this-font and write-and-tell-me-you-love-me-if-you-have-time.  When you've got the zip folder open, drop the font into the Font folder under C:\Windows.  It actually installs into your system which takes a few seconds and you should see a progress bar.  It's very fast but it does have to do that.  

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of fonts to choose from, but if you still can't find exactly the one(s) you want, Font God will make a font for you from your own hand-writing.  My fingertips are almost worn down flat from my keyboard, so if nothing else this would be a way to preserve what's left of my hand-writing abilities.    

If you're still using XP and most of us are, you may have noticed ... and noticed and noticed ... that navigation is a little tiresome.  I found something in a program called RegSeeker that helps.  RegSeeker is a registry cleaner but I don't use that part of it.  I did for awhile a long time ago and ended up doing another OS reinstallation.  I know a teeny-tiny bit about fiddling with the registry but I'm sworn to secrecy.  If I told you and it didn't work you might want to kill me.  The only thing I use RegSeeker for is under Tweaks where you can add "Move to" and "Copy to" options to your right click menu.  I find it very handy and you might too.  RegSeeker does not install on your computer, it just sits in a folder that you can keep anywhere for that one simple purpose.  Open it, double click on the icon, make these two changes, and then forget you have it unless you're feeling very brave.



Also, if you haven't noticed, if you're in a Windows folder you can right-click on the navigation bar up top for Customize and add some other choices, such as Move to, Copy to and Delete.  It really can take some of the strain off the weariness of running Microsoft.