My little corner of Opera

So I did.

I checked the hardware, the software, and everything else in between. My internet connection, drivers, you name it. I eventually zeroed in on the problem - the settings on my computer had been altered, which caused both Opera and Internet Explorer to refuse to give up cached copies of external files (which it's still doing). Not only that, but my memory usage was through the roof as well. So I moved every non-OS and non-program data file on the hard drive off of it and onto my friend's spare computer I had been borrowing and burned them to DVDs, then deleted them. This excruciatingly time-consuming task ended up freeing up about 35% of my hard drive's available space (on top of what was already free). I also checked the hard drive for errors (twice - the first time I checked when the hard drive was slaved to another computer, and the second time when it was back on mine; the second time it hung up after hours on Step 3). In case you're wondering, the HD I'm using is a 20GB Maxtor that was manufactured in 2000, yet unused until late 2002/early 2003. So it shouldn't take more than 90 minutes to check the disk for errors.

So now the memory issues are under control, and I can get back to work making Web sites (and helping people out with their code the way I used to). Or can I?

Turns out I also had to remove Firefox, Netscape (three versions) and two back-versions of Opera (there goes my Opera 8.5 and 9.0 testing). I'm also going to be removing older copies of Internet Explorer as well (the standalones) that I don't test against anymore. I have a feeling that Photoshop may be getting the axe as well, along with Adobe Acrobat 5.0.5 (I never bothered to upgrade, and now I have other means of making PDF files, so I don't really need it anymore anyway).

I'm still having a "ghost" problem with Firefox 0.8 on my control panel, so I guess some Windows Registry hacking is in order (along with removing all traces of Firefox from my Applications Data files), and I might be removing WebCEO and ResumeMaker (I don't use the latter anymore since I no longer care about working in a traditional employer-employee capacity) to free up even more space.

I'm afraid I may have to remove and re-install my development/testing server (XAMPP) though. If anyone knows of a way to install XAMPP as a service without having Apache, MySQL and the FTP server start when I log into Windows, I'd really appreciate it.

Other than that, it's servicable again, so at least I can use my computer (you have no idea how GOOD that feels).

So far my to-do list looks like this (in no particular order):

• Remove Firefox from the Registry
• Uninstall WebCEO and ResumeMaker
• Uninstall XAMPP (then re-install)
• Uninstall Adobe Acrobat 5.0.5 (Acrobat, not Acrobat Reader)
• Find out how to make IE and Opera let go of their cached files and grab the latest versions of external files linked to Web pages (like .css and .js files). The normal methods are not working, I'm afraid.

Like I said, at least I can use my computer again. And that, feels good after spending six weeks on public computers, my brother's computer, my friend's spare computer (with only 256MB of RAM), and even a computer running a cracked copy of Windows XP (not mine - I prefer licensed software, and when unable to legally use such software, or when better alternatives exist, open-source/free "as in beer" software instead).

I can't quite say "life is good" but I can say it's definately looking better now.