Dear helpful software bots

[pbray]

*AHEM*

I HAVE LESS THAN FOUR WEEKS LEFT TO FINISH THIS NOVEL. I WILL NOT BE INSTALLING NEW SOFTWARE ON THIS PC. I DON'T CARE HOW MANY TIMES YOU REMIND ME OF THE UPGRADES, NOTHING, I REPEAT, NOTHING WILL CHANGE ON THIS SYSTEM UNTIL THE BOOK HAS BEEN PRINTED AND MAILED.

THANK YOU.

Thus speaks a writer who has suffered two severe crashes during end-book stage. The first time it happened, installing unrelated software caused a computer crash that cost me several days worth of work--I had hardcopies of the relevant chapters that had to be rekeyed in.

The second time, the computer experienced catastrophic hard drive failure the morning I powered it on to input final revisions. In this case luckily everything was backed up, but I wound up buying a whole new system before noon then completing the revisions on that new system later that day.

This time I'm not messing around. I've petted the hard drive, backed up the relevant files, and made offerings to the gods of technology. So please, for the love of Mike, Adobe, AutoSpyware, and all your friends, please stop harassing me, okay? I promise I'll spend hours downloading and installing anything you want, once the book is done.

Love, thanks, bye.

Comments

[janni.livejournal.com]

I hate it when programs insist I upgrade Right Now, and keep reminding me. I'd happily upgrade if I didn't know you would then insist I reboot my computer Right Now, and then start blocking things I don't want blocked as my reward for said dilegence ...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Precisely! AOL spyware is insisting that I upgrade right now, and reminding me about once an hour. I could take it when it was once a day, but frankly this is ridiculous. And I haven't figured out how to shut off the damn software.

I'm ignoring it, because an AOL spyware upgrade last year wiped out my mail files, internet favorites, etc, and required hours of work to recover from backups.

And let's not get into Acrobat Reader--whenever someone sends me a PDF file I whimper since I know it kicks off an endless "You must upgrade" loop, which doesn't really help since I did download the latest & greatest Acrobat Reader but somehow the system isn't recognizing it.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

And let's not get into Acrobat Reader--whenever someone sends me a PDF file I whimper since I know it kicks off an endless "You must upgrade" loop, which doesn't really help since I did download the latest & greatest Acrobat Reader but somehow the system isn't recognizing it.

It's comforting, somehow, to know that it isn't just me this happens to ...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

:-)

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Open the AOL Security System (I forget the official name of it) and disable Spyware Protection. It will glare at you quietly from the corner, blinking its little yellow "Your security status is only FAIR" light, but it does so QUIETLY, and you can safely ignore it until the book is done.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

You are wise grasshopper!