This is a tip for people who use Windows 98 (Is there anyone out there who still uses this or am I a museum piece?). Don't use Registry mechanic. A while ago I downloaded a free program from the internet called Registry Mechanic, which is supposed to clean up and tidy the registry in your computer. Apparently, the registry is like the equivalent of a telephone directory, it tells the computer where to find all the programs on your hard disk. Well I ran this program a few days ago and it must have deleted a file it shouldn't have. As soon as it had finished, I could not click on any icons, they just said, 'path not found'. I decide to shut my computer down, thinking that would sort out the problem. However when I restarted, I was greeted with a big blue screen saying Welcome to Windows, requesting me to put in the product code. Gulp. After trying several things I decided to run Windows setup with the Windows 98 CD rom. The last time I did this it seemed to solve a problem of a missing file and did not cause any problems. however this time the setup did not work and crashed half way through, every time I tried it. Help

Then i thought I would have to get some one in who knows what they are doing to fix it, but I was damned if i was going to spend any money on a computer that I'm thinking of replacing before too long anyway. So by a process of trial and error, I ended up reformatting the hard disk which wipes all the information off it so you can start from fresh. After this Windows then successfully reloaded However, as expected the computer was in an out of the factory condition, completely stripped bare. Even though there was no vital information on there,I was still quite upset when I had lost all the stuff that has accumulated over the five years I've had it But now that I've managed to reload most of the programs that were on it before, from disk and from the internet it's ok now, but i'm still going to get another computer. The main reason is that I want Windows xp. less and less companies are making software for Windows 98 now.

So the moral of the story is if it ain't broke don't fix it.

David

I'm pleased to say that my satellite navigation device has been good so far. I got lost in my car again today, so I entered where I wanted to be and put in the 'quickest route' option. It told me I needed to exit the back seat via the right hand rear passenger door, then re enter the car via the driver's door.

The wonders of modern technology.

David

I'm pretty good at getting to places in my car, I can read a road map, and know my way round the area (West Yorkshire) reasonably well. However it can be quite frustrating having to keep stopping to look at the map, and some streets are frustratingly devoid of name plates. I have decided to eventually get an in car navigation system. As I am writing now, I am waiting for it to be delivered, I ordered it on line from Comet and I'm really looking forward to it. Being a yorkshire man, I was reluctant to spend a lot of money on one if I wasn't going to use it all the time, the basic models have come down in price alot. I've got a Garmin Street Pilot i3, the really small one.

David

There was an interesting news item last night. There is a person going round in Hampshire, slashing people's tyres. They leave a note on the windscreen, fashioned in the style of a ransom note made out of newpaper cuttings, which says something like warning, you have been seen using your mobile while driving. I speak in this blog as someone who can't stand seeing people using their phones while driving, especially when they are following me. I can sympathise with someone who has decided to take some action about it, but ther is always a danger with someone who decided to be a vigilante, and it is not to be encouraged. The people who have had their tyres slashed deny that they were ever using their phones. Well of course they would deny it, they don't want a £30 fine on top of having to replace their tyres. In passing, I think that the £30 fixed penalty is not high enough, I think it should be a least £60 for the idiots who think that talking on the phone takes precedence over controlling a machine that weighs over a ton when there are other road users about, including vunerable pedestrians. The news article says that many people are flouting the law. That is not a surprise because many people refrain from doing things just because the law says they shouldn't, rather than the fact that it is wrong. So it appears that many people do not see it as particularly wrong to use their phones while driving, and if the law is not seen to be enforced very much, then people will flout it.

David

As a very generalised statement, women are into relationships and cooperation rather than 'boys toys' technical things and so on. I have a personal example which illustrates this quite beautifully. I had a lady friend who rang me once to say that her boiler would not work, and could I advise anything? Before I could answer this I would need to know what kind of boiler it was, wether or not it was a combi boiler, if it had an electronic ignition etc. So I asked her 'what kind of boiler is it?' With bated breath I waited for the answer which was:

'It's one of those that goes WOOMPH! when you switch it on'.

And she said that in all seriousness. At the time I dutifully supressed my howls of laughter, but afterwards I couldn't stop laughing for days. To this day I still have a smile on my face when I remember that. An absolute classic.

David

Ok, the last blog on these pictures was a joke. Seen as nobody has commented, these pictures are of a road leading up to Mam torr from Castleton in the peak district. It totally collapsed due to earth movement and was closed in the early eighties.

It is indeed the biggest pot hole I have ever seen....

Do you think this tree is pining to be with it's mates further down the slope? I saw it on a walk in the Peak District, next to Mam Tor outside Castleton.

David

Hello, this is Judge John Juggernaut here, your all wise all seeing arbiter of all things moral and legal.

One of the main stories in the news recently is of course the issue of impending water shortages. although me and my fellow upstanding citizens have so far escaped a hose pipe ban in the Yorkshire area, it will only be a matter of time before we end up on stand pipes, especially if some people carry on using their pipes and sprinklers everyday. Yes, I'm afraid it is not a god given right to use these things anymore, in the light of the impending crisis with water management. Not that a hose pipe ban would effect me in particular, as I can self rightously state that I haven't got one, although I will admit that I used one (borrowed it) a few weeks ago to clean my patio, and that is the first time I have done that since I moved into my house 10 years ago, so in terms of my overall water consumption that is a drop in the ocean. I have also only got plants in my garden that don't need watering much, so I don't water them as a rule. However, I may be granted the indulgence to clean my Bentley (using a watering can of course). I also operate the toilet policy of 'if it's yellow, let it mellow' in my bathroom, unless I have guests in which case I ask them to go out and give the plants a rare watering. I say a rare watering, because guests rarely come round for some reason.

It has come to my attention that certain upstanding and rightous individuals have been spying on their fellow citizens, informing the local water companies of people who are using hose pipes on the sly. This is understandable behaviour, considering that the selfish minority might end up bleeding the system dry eventually, if they carry on with their profligate water consumption. I wholly condone the informers, providing that their actions do not turn into vigilantism. I would be happy so long as the hose pipes do not end up being wrapped round their owner's necks. I think a suitable punishment would be an on the spot fitting of a water meter.

And of course the water companies themselves should be kept under scrutiny, for wasting up to a nearly a quarter (23%) of the water through leakages. I would urge a judicial review to ensure that they face heavy fines for every leak that goes unrepaired for any length of time. As a comparison, Germany manages to lose only 3% of it's water through leaks.

And finally, if selfish water users are irksome, then those that steal water from the water company are definitely deserving of a fitting punishment. a case came before me where a gentleman of criminal intent had a water meter fitted to reduce his water bill. He then proceeded to illegaly bypass the meter while he filled his swimming pool and watered the shrubs that he had just spent £15000 on. In my sentencing, he was made to lie on top of his shrubs while he received 25 lashes from the jury with a dirty hosepipe. He then received a washing down with recycled water from someone's bath and wasn't allowed to bathe himself for a week.
May that be a warning.

JJJ