Subj : Re: a repeat of July 20 request.
To   : comp.programming
From : Richard Heathfield
Date : Sun Jul 31 2005 08:10 am

jjfxcfc@gmail.com wrote:

> Have a 3 yr old Compaq, xp, pent 4, 1.7 GHz, 512 ram, 80 hddrv, 48x cd
> drv, 32x cd rw drv, 56k IYU mdm, audio, nVidia.  It's been in shop 6
> times last 4 months.  Drive stripped/cleaned; everything re-installed.
> 3 to 10 days later the Cadd and any other program I install, or have
> installed are erased.  The clue is my sent emails are bounced to inbox.
> 
>  I check add&remove.  One or more program is gone.  At this point, I'm
> leary of adding  more hardware, or equipment, or software.  Someone
> please tell me if I'm doing something wrong or if it's really
> preprogrammed (as I think) or not?

The clue to the problem is where you mention "add&remove", which indicates 
that you may be using an outdated operating system. Replace it with 
something like Linux or BSD. (Cost: 0. These operating systems are free, 
and come complete with a colossal range of free software, some of it of 
extraordinarily high utility and quality.)

If the box really has been "preprogrammed", this approach *will* fix it. And 
if it hasn't, well, it doesn't matter - it's still a sensible thing to do.

-- 
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
mail: rjh at above domain

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