List Day: Fake New Computer Liveblog

• It takes FedEx 8 hours to get from Alexandria to Sterling.


• HP may not moneygrub for $15 Recovery CDs like Dell, but that's just because they don't bundle ANY CDs.


• The wiring job in HP cases is very neat. Too bad I'm going to rip them all out to install a new power supply, a second hard drive, and a graphics card.


• If the power supply company would just put the power cord in the standard location, I wouldn't have to bend part of the computer frame to install it.


• I ordered a graphics card and ended up with some sort of Harley-Davidson hydrocraft.


• The clicking sound in the graphics card fan came from a bundle of wires placed right next to the fan blade. That wouldn't make anything bad happen in a month's time. Poking it with a screwdriver fixes it.


• Starts up perfectly on the first try!


• Turning off User Account Control notifications, NOW.


• On the plus side, you can now repartition a hard drive without reinstalling Windows. On the minus side, it takes three hours to uninstall the bundled crap that HP throws in. Who needs four separate e-reader trial applications?


• Windows 7 seems to have removed the ability to change MIDI providers. I had to download a third-party app to use my Roland Sound Canvas.


• It took twelve hours to restore all of my programs and set up the second internal hard drive, formerly known as an external drive, to periodically create mirror images of all the computers in the house.


• Finale 2006 doesn't work in Windows 7. Time to waste $170 on an upgrade with no new features that I actually use.


• My 1998 Altec Lansing speakers are finally crapping out. Time to blow another $100 on Logitech replacements.


• 64-bit versus 32-bit program differences are annoying to troubleshoot.


• This flat profile HP keyboard makes it impossible to play Warsong Gulch and know which keys your fingers are on. Back to the Dell.


• I can now play games with nearly max graphics settings. The Warcraft water ripples and reflections are really well done.