That's me! 

Computers, Vessels Of Convenience, Or Headaches?

I bought my current computer in January, of 2005. It was a Gateway, through the HSN (Home Shopping Network). About 4 months, later it began to, (what the technicians, describe as) hard-lock on me. I've always described, it as "freezing" up on me; the cursor, IM windows, all animation, everything! The only remedy was to turn the PC off and on again, a procedure I've been conditioned, over the years, to be wary about. Now imagine, if you can, dealing with this dozens of times in a day. It got so bad, that I formatted the whole drive, without the safety net of a back-up. I had nothing, and had to send the tower in, for restoration, and hopefully any other cure. Well I got it back, in about 1-2 weeks time, with the newly restored Windows XP. I still had the freeze-up problem, though not nearly as frequent. Once again I called Tech support, and they recommended a hard drive replacement. I said, " Sure" It was still free. So I waited for the mail, for another 1.5-2 weeks, and got a new hard-drive. One that performed even worse than my old one, or better said, the new one, in supposed mint condition, wrapped in a plastic-sealed packet, was a complete dud. I was so pissed, a feeling compounded by grieving over my best friend's lost battle with cancer. It was clearly the most hellish time of my life.

They are idiots, at Gateway Tech-support, who couldn't even come to that same conclusion, that they had sent me a complete dud, as a replacement for my old hard-drive. Now, instead of waiting another 2 weeks for yet, another uncertain replacement, I suppose I'll opt for going to Fry's or whatever dealership, and plunking down the full price for a replacement.