I think I’ve had my fair share of formatting hard drives and re-installing operating systems, usually done on the pretext of getting rid of viruses that were apparently corrupting my system. The whole tedious affair of downloading programs, installing, setting preferences and transferring backup files is just that: tedious.

After securing an antivirus running, one of the first things I do - since I’ve done this often, is to start up Internet Explorer and download Firefox. MSN messenger comes next, because then I’d be able to complain to those willing to listen (Sorry Tammy, Leo) just how annoying the whole procedure is.

And while we’re on that, couldn’t Windows Live Messenger be downloaded as a simple file like it used to? WLInstaller that has to be downloaded takes its own precious time to install it instead. Mind you, it never took the first or even the second try to work. At least, not for me.

Next to be downloaded/installed are SpyderPro (which is immensely relieving since the bright LCD gets nauseating at times), Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Itunes, and other programs I know I’d need but cannot for the life of me remember until I do.

I guess what irked me the most this time was the loss of feed subscriptions. I forgot to check to see if there was a way of backing them up so now I must go and find them again. Tiresome, but needed since it’s the only way I’ve been keeping track now-a-days.

That said, I hereby demand that everyone enable RSS feeds on their sites.

Wistful thinking. Luckily, it’s easier to find WordPress feeds even if they’re not visibly linked to by site owners. For that, Skye’s Fairy Ring came in handy - at least for those sites that had feeds to subscribe to.

Rilla’s post on Firefox add-ons, once found, was life saving in many ways. However, my paranoia eventually lead me to browse some 30 + pages to see if I missed something. So while I was at it, I made a similar list for future references.

And I want my MSN smilies back.