Something next to normal, that's the thing I'd like to try

I have hated my computer pretty much since I got it, but I refused to get a new one because I was determined to get my money's worth. Well, it's been two and a half years, and I frickin' give up. The battery's just died, so I'd have to replace that anyway, it's unbearably slow, it crashes three times a day, and now IT WON'T STOP BEEPING AT ME.

Oh well. It's only money, right? :\

So, oh wise flist, what computer should I buy, and why?

(And if anyone says Dell, I will personally skewer you with a pencil.)

Next time I have an attack of the organizing OCD, somebody stop me, please.

I've spent the last two days tidying up a few organizational things on my LJ. First, I added "previous" and "next" links to each chapter of my multi-chapter fics, since it didn't occur to me to do that when I started posting fic here. (So, uh, sorry to everyone who read my fics before today. It's much easier now!) While I was doing that, I decided to delete all the broken tags links on those chapters. I used to include a link to previous chapters - via the tag - on each chapter, none of which work anymore because I deleted all those tags a while ago.

I also re-tagged all my fic. I had decided it was kind of redundant to have stuff tagged, since I already have a fic index, and I'm anal about keeping my memories in order, and now I've got those links at the end of each chapter. But if I post any fic in the future, I'd have to tag that, so that people can track the tag for updates, so I might as well have everything the same. There's probably some quirky people out there who'd prefer the tags to the fic index/memories anyway.

In doing that, I realized how hard some of my stuff is to categorize. On the heels of the "who's a proper Spuffy fan" debate, I noticed that I have fics about Spike and Buffy where their relationship is completely platonic, and wondered if that should be given a Spuffy pairing tag or not. Then there are the secondary pairings, which are often present in my ensemble fics, since they're canon, but the scenes focusing on them can be few and far between. At what point does the Willow/Tara arc become significant enough to get a pairing tag along with Spike/Buffy? And then there's the gen fic, which I tried to tag by the most significant characters. But some of them have a lot of characters. Maybe I should make an ensemble tag.

I almost dread to ask, because it might mean going back and retagging everything again, lol, but what organizational things do you think are helpful in navigating an LJ? Are there other things I should change?

ETA: And why doesn't LJ allow you to tag multiple entries at once???

I think it's time for an LJ makeover. I want a new banner, but I have no idea what I want on it. Most importantly, the "storyteller" thing needs to go, since I'm not writing anymore, but I also would like to have something non-BtVS related. I just don't know what, since I don't have a new fandom to replace BtVS. Something related to my interests, I guess, or the content of the journal. (Of course, I don't really know what that will be, if not fandom stuff. I've got my cooking thing, and memes, of course, but that's interesting to about three people. Maybe I'll start talking about other TV I watch, even if it's more casual watching?)

Any ideas what I should do for my banner? Are there maybe lj comms where I could browse banners that are interest-based, rather than fandom-based?

I like the blue color scheme, but I'm not opposed to changing it to match the banner colors.

I've just about had it with my computer. It's been running painfully slowly pretty much since I got it (which is almost two years ago), and doing all kinds of freezing/crashing things that make me want to just toss it out the window and buy a new one.

What pushed me over the edge was this weekend, when my parents were visiting, and I waited half an hour for the computer to wake up from sleep mode, and finally just manually restarted the damn thing (yay for Word's AutoRecovery). This should not be happening. The entire point of sleep mode is so that you can open the laptop and IT WORKS RIGHT AWAY so you don't have to wait for it to boot up every time. It's always, always slow waking up from sleep mode, but not usually that bad. On a normal day, though, even if the screen comes to life, it'll be a good ten to fifteen minutes before Firefox is usable without freezing, and Trillian always takes at least five minutes to open.

My dad was all, "Well, have you run defrag whatevers lately?" and started fiddling around with it. I don't actually know how I did this, since I barely know what that means, but apparently I have my computer set up to automatically do the defragmentation thing weekly, and it's still running like an eighty-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the leg.

I've decided the problem is Vista and RAM. I've been told that you need at least 2 GB of RAM for Vista to run properly, and my computer only has 1 GB. So... here are my questions for anyone more computer literate than I am. How much RAM should I get? Is the one additional GB going to be enough, or should I go for more? I don't do a whole lot with my computer - generally, Firefox, Trillian, and Word are pretty much it. I do store a lot on there - I have a crapload of music and some videos saved, but that's the hard drive (which is 120 GB) and shouldn't affect RAM, right? Two separate things?

Secondly, where should I get RAM? I can buy it off the Dell website (which is where I got the computer), but maybe it's cheaper to get it somewhere else (I found other websites that sell it, but I don't know if they're reliable). Is this idiot-proof, or am I better off going to a Best Buy or whatever where maybe they could install it for me?

I am trying to figure out what to do about my cable/internet service when I move. I've had Comcast for both in my current apartment, and never had any problems, but my dad was like, "Get Verizon FIOS if you can!"

The problem, of course, is that they like to do these "bundles" and for some unknown reason, I can't get any TV from Verizon unless I get a bundle with both internet and phone. I don't actually need phone service, though, so my options are: 1. get phone service I don't need so I can get the Verizon bundle, 2. get a Comcast bundle with just cable and internet (what I have now), or 3. split it up and get Comcast cable and FIOS internet.

Right now, I'm reasonably sure I have the plan that has Digital Preferred cable and high-speed internet with "up to 15 Mbps with PowerBoost," whatever that means. I don't really need the preferred, so I could get the digital starter package, which is $70/mo. The Verizon bundle with the phone is well over $100, so that rules that out. Looking at the FIOS page, it looks like I should get the Turbo Plan (up to 7.1 Mbps/768 Kbps) for "heavy" internet usage. That comes out to about $50/mo. If I just got cable from Comcast, that'd be about $30/mo, so I'm paying about $10 extra by splitting them up. But I've heard that FIOS is so much better/faster than Comcast. Is it worth the extra money?

Of course, then I have to keep in mind that Comcast gives you a special, and then jacks up the prices after six months. But it looks like the difference is about the same, so it'd still be around $10 more for FIOS. But both would put me over $100 at that point, so maybe it is worth considering the phone? GAH!

It's Friday afternoon, and there's nothing to do in work, and I've already read everything on the internet that I'm allowed to read in work (which means, for the most part, no fic... so all those recs do me no good in keeping me busy). So, I ask your advice.

My mother's birthday is a week away, and I don't know what to get her. Suggestions? I got her perfume for Mother's Day, so cross that off the list. She's a secretary at a law school, participates in a book club (but never buys books, always the library), likes gardening and cats, and is a good cook. She definitely does not need any more shoes or purses (or my dad will mutiny). Any ideas?

My poor little iBook is on its last legs, so I'm shopping around for a new laptop. I've had this one for over 5 years, and it was free, so I figure I've more than gotten my money's worth. Unfortunately, my new laptop will NOT be free, and as much as I like Apples, I'll be going for the cheap and getting a PC.

Of course, I went to college in a Mac bubble, and I know nothing about PCs. I've used an HP and a Dell laptop for work, and frankly, couldn't tell the difference (I'll be completely honest, I thought my current work computer was an HP until I looked at the top of it and realized it had the Dell logo on it). I guess if you have Windows, it doesn't really matter what kind of computer it is. The only things I really use it for are the internet, downloading music, and Microsoft Office. I occasionally download videos, but I don't store them, just watch and delete - I haven't been able to keep anything since I have practically no storage space left on this hard drive. I also store some photos, but I don't do any kind of artwork. I want to be able to play and burn both CDs and DVDs - is that stuff standard now? I can burn CDs on this comp, but not DVDs, although I do have a DVD player.

The main problem I have with this computer is that it's slow. I'm paying a crapload of money for high-speed internet, and it still takes forever because the computer's so slow. Of course, it's 5 years old, so my processor is 700 MHz, my memory is 384 MB, and my hard drive is 18.5 GB. I've just been browsing around, but the numbers I've seen are... much higher than that.

So, does anyone have any suggestions? I have no idea what the differences are between brands. There seems to be a million different types of processors, which already makes me miss the simplicity of the Apple "G" numbering method. I don't want to spend a lot of money, so what's worth the price and what isn't?