I'm SURE this is NOT Y2K related.

I've been having trouble since Jan 1 with my 'puter. Seizing up, terminating programs, etc., and IE 5 was worst of all. Bizarro type behavior overall, like the scroll bar suddenly becoming EXTRA large, weird backgrounds & wallpapers appearing, just weird stuff.

Then, Friday morning...I was getting ready to make another trip to TB2K for my daily fix, when she locked up wicked. Reboot not work. Boot up from emergency start-up disk, and she says "cannot open windows, XXXXX file not found".

I tried EVERY thing. Finally, yesterday, I bit the bullet and re-formated the hard drive (shudder). Lucky for me I'd backed up my data files the week before rollover!

She seems to be feeling better now. Note that now she's running on original Win 95 that came with her, as well as IE4. Before rollover, I'd been a good doobie and downloaded the Y2K product analyzer from Microsoft, and updated the OS etc. as directed. IE & Outlook 5 were supposed to already be compliant.

Did the Win 95 screw up the puter, or was it Y2K, or was it a virus that MacAfee couldn't catch? I dunno. Just a major pain in the behind.

ps. Rumor alert: Brother who works for Navy is having major PC & network problems. Not a programmer, so he doesn't know exactly what is causing the problems, just that he's not able to do much of anything except hang loose and wait for a 'go ahead' signal from the guys in IT.

ps. You didn't hear that from me, because he would NEVER blab.

-- Arewyn (artemis31@email.msn.com), January 12, 2000

Answers

This is a Y2K problem.

-- (maestro@liftig.org), January 12, 2000.

Nah, couldn't be y2k.

This is just a simple calendar problem.

We're on the wrong page.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), January 12, 2000.

The blue screen of death has been hitting my 'puter since rollover too.

Not a problem in the world until 01/01/2000, now blue screen soft-glitch every day, at least twice a day. The worst of it seems related to Netscape 4.07.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), January 12, 2000.

Nah, couldn't be y2k.

No, of course not. There are no Y2K problems. It's all been fixed, right??

The blue screen of death has been hitting my 'puter since rollover too.

Can't imagine why! Must just be a coincidence, since all the Y2K issues have been resolved.

-- (maestro@liftig.org), January 12, 2000.

Y2K was OVER at 12:00:00:01 !! Vanquished 'n conquered and finished. You are experiencing COINCIDENTAL FREDS!

Please polish your terminology ;^)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), January 12, 2000.

W95 is capable of everything you experienced all by itself, though I'd also consider both a virus and a flaky hard disk or motherboard as possibilities.

If it happens again soon you're probably looking at hardware trouble, even though W95 is pretty much a crime against humanity! (W98 is better ... in the sense that a one-time murderer is better than a serial killer).

-- Nigel (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), January 12, 2000.

That's Netscape 4.7 (not 4.07) and it does seem to be related to the instability.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), January 12, 2000.

My puter is doing the same thing. Blue screen of death, random lockups, especially under Netscape.

3 virus scans (different software brands) were negative.

Have a Western Digital HD. Downloaded their free diagnostic software.

Problem found, Hard drive is going south. Has damaged areas on the disk, and it is growing. Crashes occur when swap file tries to write or read to damaged areas. WD is sending me a replacement disk under warranty.

Most Hard Drive manufacturers have their own diag. programs. Check with yours and test your drive.

Good luck.

-- Tryntohelp (therenow@doin.it), January 12, 2000.

Well, so far so good. No BSOD yet, but I'm having a bunch of trouble with the IE 4 that came with. Keeps telling me I have the wrong software....

I'd never had trouble with the critter (since Oct 98), but she sure is acting like she's got the flu!

ps. All the virus scans I've got say negative. Hmmmmm.. Must be a mutant!

-- Arewyn (artemis31@email.msn.com), January 12, 2000.

For what its worth, My PC running Windows98 crashed on Monday. Had to reformat the hard drive. I don't think it was Y2k related but it sure made me mad. It was running funny (hard to explain since I am not a computer expert) but prior to the crash, I ran all the tests available to avoid a problem including a virus test. All checked out OK.

-- Bill (sticky@2sides.tape), January 12, 2000.

there are very serious Y2K crashes going on in PC's in China, Brazil and Mexico.

tell your brother that US Naval Air Warfare used one of the best PC fixes on the market--virus proof because it's a bios board that sits beneath the OS.

if you want, email me and we can discuss further test options, etc.

-- Joe (joeatwork01@yahoo.com), January 12, 2000.