this, that and the other

[mickeym]

No school for Hardin county tomorrow. I can't tell you how not surprised I was.

I've been rewatching S3 of Buffy, and had the weirdest dream this afternoon, while napping. Drusilla, and Angelus, and random people in a hospital, and just--weird.

Reading through the fic comms I belong to, I have to ask: is everyone posting stories-in-progress? Yeah, I know there are completed stories being posted, but they seem to be the exception over the rule, lately. I'm kind of tired of seeing x/? -- a lot of the stories look interesting, but some it seems never, ever get finished or go on forever and ever, and it's disheartening.

Sort of related to that, another question: if you finish a story, why post it in parts, at random (or regular, whatever) intervals? Why not post it all at once? That's almost as frustrating as the stories-in-progress, and I don't understand. Someone explain it, please?

Finally, a call for assistance, sort of. My mom recently upgraded her OS from Vista to Windows 7. She did this without telling me or my sister, so we could walk her through backing things up, etc., and now her email program has disappeared. I've spent nearly three hours total walking her through the contents of her hard drive, trying to find the damn files, but nada. She can't remember if she had Outlook or OE, either. Yeesh. Last night I helped her download and install Thunderbird, and we tried importing, but it didn't find any mail or her address book. Is there somewhere else to look that I'm not thinking of? I don't have W7 on any of my computers, and we're doing this over the phone, so I'm hampered by not being able to LOOK at the computer.

Also, she has Norton360, and uses their backup/online storage--and has apparently maxed it out. It tells her she doesn't have enough space, and that she can purchase more storage space. She's also had someone suggest an external hard drive for storage/backup. Any suggestions on this, and what might be the best option? Any files she's backing up beyond the actual computer files would be things like pictures, video clips of family stuff, and some word-document files. Any and all suggestions are welcome :)

Comments

[visionshadows.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why everything is a story in progress. It's the same thing in TW. People finish stories and post them in parts. Or post x/? and sequels of sequels of sequels. I just want one whole story. Is that so much to ask?

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

I just want one whole story. Is that so much to ask?

Apparently. :P

Honestly, it's part of the reason I like Big Bang so much. You HAVE to post the whole story. (I need to read over what you emailed me. I am behind on life, I'm so sorry.)

One of the most annoying things about the chapters thing, though, are the people who post like, 500, 600 words and call it a 'chapter'. ARGH.

[girlmostlikely.livejournal.com]

Sort of related to that, another question: if you finish a story, why post it in parts, at random (or regular, whatever) intervals? Why not post it all at once? That's almost as frustrating as the stories-in-progress, and I don't understand. Someone explain it, please?

Attention/comment-whoring.

[munibunny.livejournal.com]

hahaha! I'm sorry... THIS! Exactly!

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Maybe not all the time, but some people, I'll definitely go with that :)

[jamesinboots.livejournal.com]

My mom recently upgraded her OS from Vista to Windows 7. She did this without telling me or my sister, so we could walk her through backing things up, etc., and now her email program has disappeared. I've spent nearly three hours total walking her through the contents of her hard drive, trying to find the damn files, but nada. She can't remember if she had Outlook or OE, either.

Is it possible she used Windows Mail? It looks quite similar to Outlook/Outlook Express. Windows Vista came with Windows Mail, which is not included in Windows 7 by default, so it's possible it was removed on upgrade. You can use Microsoft Update to acquire an optional Windows Live Essentials (or something like that) package which includes Windows Mail. I don't know if her email would have been backed up somewhere by default. You could try seeing if there's anything in C:\Program Files\Windows Mail (where C = her primary hard drive). If it's got anything in it, it's possible her mail was saved. You just need a Windows Mail install.

IF she had Windows Mail, that is.

She's also had someone suggest an external hard drive for storage/backup.

That's one of the easiest ways. Granted, online storage is more reliable (they probably use RAID drives or the like, so the data is less likely to be lost or completely lost in the event of a catastrophe). But an external hard drive would prevent all the worrying about online space. Using an external probably requires more know-how than the online service, though.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Would she need the update/install thing for Windows Mail, if she just wanted to import to a new/different email program? (Assuming she HAD Windows Mail, which she and I will have to tackle later.) Or should Thunderbird come with an import option for Windows Mail, like it does for other email programs?

I think I'm going to give her the information about external hard drives and let her decide how much she wants to spend (I have no idea how much online storage costs, but it seems to me, too, that if she's filled it up in a year, then she's looking at this being a yearly thing). Thank you!

[jamesinboots.livejournal.com]

Well the thing is, to import from an old email client, she needs to have exported the email first. E.g., File > Export > Messages --> that would create a file that can be used to import into either Windows Mail or possibly other email clients. If she never exported the email before she upgraded, that's a problem. :-/ Which is why I was suggesting trying to install Windows Mail and see if the messages were stored locally somehow.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Okay, I see what you're saying. GOD. She is never allowed to upgrade anything unsupervised, again. *headdesk*

Okay, so, let me ask you this: again, hinging on "if she had Windows Mail". If she installs Windows Mail, is that going to mess with Thunderbird in any way? (It's been so long since I went from using OE to Thunderbird, that I can't remember. I know she now has Tbird set as her default mail program, if that makes a difference?)

[jamesinboots.livejournal.com]

Oh, you can install more than one email client. Only one can be the system default at a time, but you could use Thunderbird, Outlook, Windows Mail, and whatever else all on the same machine if you wanted. It'd get messy if you created them all with the same email account though - stuff would download to different clients and everything would be all over the place!

[jake-harold.livejournal.com]

External HDD. Absolutely. Use it for storage for everything not in immediate usage, it's the best storage device. CDs/DVDs can get scratched, flash drives are not as big. Actually, she can keep it plugged all the time, so it'll be easily accessible at all times, if she wants to access any file on it. It'll show in her My Computer window next to her C: and D: discs.

I'd suggest 2,5", as the 3,5" ones require additional source of energy (i.e. to not only be plugged in the PC, but in the electric socket as well). The 2,5" ones are really just like giant flash drives - they only use the energy the computer itself provides, as you only plug them into it, therefore are much more convenient and independent.

As for the size, trust me, as much as it might seem, anything under 500GB is a waste of money. The space'll end up like whoa.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

The smaller ones are more expensive for the same amount of space, though. So it depends a lot on what she's going to do with it. I always buy the smaller ones for class because I hate searching around on the floor for a power outlet in the computer labs, plus, well, SMALLER. But for at-home extra storage for a desktop, I'd spend the extra money on a bigger drive.

Though I do agree that anything under 500gb is pointless these days. (Unless you're me and want to buy one specifically for a single film project, and hope to find a tiny one on sale for Cheap. :) )

Since we go through a LOT of the things in the film program, the department seems to be generally anti-Western Digital as a brand. Apparently they've seen a lot of out-of-the-box issues with WD stuff. (I had one that simply died while sitting on a shelf, and my classmate bought one that, out of the box, INSISTED it was a CD drive, only a CD drive, and would not be convinced otherwise. We returned it.) (It did not actually HAVE a cd drive built in, you understand.)

My current big heavy desktop one is a Seagate, and my portable one is a rugged Lacie - the latter is, I think, mostly a Mac brand, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Mostly, just be sure she gets one from the PC section of the store, so it's formatted correctly. If she does that, it should just be a case of plug it in and it appears. (Some ones for Macs WILL work for a PC, depending on the filesystem, and you can also buy a program that will let a PC read a Mac formatted drive, or reformat the drive, but I suspect all of those things are WAY too complicated for her.)

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thank you!

I'm going to pass along all the information y'all have given me, and let her decide how much she wants to spend (buying hardware versus paying for online storage), and then we'll go from there :)

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

Norton (and McAfee) are both of the evil. Get AVG or Comodo.

Also, external drive all the way. YES

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Okay, are AVG (or Comodo? Never heard of that one) available as downloads, or is it software you purchase? (It's also a moot point at the moment, since I'm pretty sure she also just renewed her Norton's, but for future reference...)

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

AVG and Comodo are both free downloads and work AWESOMELY. I have AVG on the desktop and Comodo (with its bundled firewall) on M's laptop. I have NEVER gotten a virus with either. (and AVG I have run for about 7 years now)

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Okay, cool :) Thank you!

[agt-spooky.livejournal.com]

if you finish a story, why post it in parts, at random (or regular, whatever) intervals? Why not post it all at once?

Wow, how strange you ask that! I just had a poll about that on my LJ on Monday. I'm getting ready to post a 40,000+ word story and I was curious if I should post one part a day or the whole thing at once. My thoughts being that perhaps that long of a story might be too much to post at one time and maybe folks would prefer it in smaller installments. The overwhelming majority was to post it all at once and then let folks decide on their own how much or how little they wanted to read at a time. So that's what I'm going to do!

Also, perhaps some authors like to leave off with mini-cliffhangers at the end of each part per day, leaving their readers wanting more and driving up the suspense.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Wow, how did I miss your poll? Hmph. But yeah, I'm always going to be in favor of posting the parts all at once. (ONE time I had an exception to that, a friend and I wrote this...epic...story thing. Like, it's roughly 600,000 words. We created a comm for it, and posted like, 2-3x/week -- and it still took several months to post!)

I'm more of the mind, though, that I'd like the whole story to be there, and I can read it (or not) at my leisure :)

[runedgirl.livejournal.com]

I'm guilty of this sometimes (as you know -- don't hit me!) so I thought I'd weigh in. I actually *love* reading long fics that are posted a chapter at a time, with little mini-cliffhangers at the end of each. I'm an anticipation whore in almost everything, and nothing makes me happier than having to wait and ponder and champ at the bit and wonder and then have the burst of euphoria that another posted chapter brings. The Disturbia verse is a case in point, my current addiction. Love it! So I sometimes do it myself. However, there's nothing I loathe more than a story that never ever gets finished, so I won't allow myself to start posting something until it's essentially done. That said, I fine tune the chapters one by one and have them beta'd while I'm posting, so I end up having to wait a week between chapter postings most of the time.

Ouch to the attention/comment whoring comment, tho I guess it could be seen that way. I do want what I write to get attention or I wouldn't post it, and I love feedback as much as any author - but I sincerely enjoy reading fics this way, so I sort of assumed others did too. I love the suspense and try hard to leave chapters at a mini cliffhanger when I can. Otherwise, if people don't like that, anyone could just wait until it's complete and read the master post then.

I actually get far fewer comments on chapter-by-chapter fics -- maybe because they annoy more people than I realized! Sorry!!

[nopseud]

The way I look at it, people who don't like chapter posting can always wait until the end of the story is posted and read it all in one go then. The story isn't going to be any worse for it, they'll just have to wait a while. But there are also people like you who love the anticipation of getting a new chapter, and the cliff-hangers between, and it'd be a shame if you didn't get to enjoy some stories posted in the way you prefer.

So I'm cool with chapter posting, even though I'm one of the people who'd wait until the end was posted and then read the whole story in one go.

[nowadventuring.livejournal.com]

Maybe it just depends on how you read things. I read all in one go, and I always have. I absolutely despise not being able to just click continue. Anticipation kills me. I've learned that it can put me in a really nasty mood, and that's unnecessary and nobody's fault but my own, so I force myself to wait nowadays.

This reminds me that I am very excited to read your Fade to Black sequel when it's all up! =) I really love your work.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

This is for me, too. Also, I forget to keep looking for new parts for stories that aren't all up at one time, so if I don't friend the person, it's extra work to remember to check and the story has to be pretty good for me to be willing to do that.

I'm reasonably happy to wait until it's all up, PROVIDED the author is up-front about the fact that they're posting in installments to start with. It annoys the heck out of me to start reading something that LOOKS like it's just been broken up for length, has no mention of "posting in installments" or "posting as my beta gets finished with parts" or whatever, just suddenly there's no next part to go to. Like, is the author trying to trick me into reading and getting caught up in the story? Not cool!

[nowadventuring.livejournal.com]

I actually once went ahead and read something that I'd checked to see was completed only to realize when I got to the last part that the last part wasn't there at all. It was just an author's note about the last part, with the 4/4 and everything. I was very pissed at myself for not double triple quadruple checking. So then the author got busy and didn't get around to putting the last part up for some time, and to this day, I still haven't finished reading it. I just find it very hard to get back into something I stopped reading. It's probably a tone thing.

[runedgirl.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'll be sure to post it as an all-in-one post once it's all up and done. I actually didn't realize how many people hated chapter by chapter postings! It won't be long, my beta is pretty fast, so I've been averaging posting a chapter a week at least and only have a few more to go.

[nopseud]

if you finish a story, why post it in parts, at random (or regular, whatever) intervals? Why not post it all at once? That's almost as frustrating as the stories-in-progress, and I don't understand. Someone explain it, please?

Dude, I have NO idea. Sometimes I swear it's like people enjoy driving their readers crazy with constant evil cliffhangers. They probably post, and then sit there rubbing their hands and cackling with glee as people comment begging to know what happens next. Heartless bastards! Run 'em out of fandom on a rail, I say.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

With a possible exception if the story is 1.3MB long? and roughly 600,000 words? *g*

And SOME of those posters were far more likely to sit and cackle with glee than others were. *raises eyebrow* Weren't they?

[nopseud]

Oh, don't tell me there wasn't just a *tiny* bit of gleeful cackling from you from time to time :-)


ETA: I've just been skipping through some of the early Absinthe... posts, reading bits of the story, and the comments. Dude, seriously, how awesome were we? I'm consumed with happy TrickC nostalgia. (And some residual evil cackling.) I think I'm going to go read the bit where JC cries on the plane. And then maybe some Gabi and Marta. OMG, SO AWESOME!

ETA2: Oh, DUDE. The plane, and then Germany, and then they get home and there's the GSF stuff but AFTERWARDS, after Chris freaks out, and JC's all, 'I don't know what I stopped being stupid'. Eeee! I love them so much. And then that's just the switchover point for Chris to start his slide into total relationship freakout for the rest of the story, and Greece, and Germany again, and the Far East, and then on to JC's parents coming, and the CLUB, and Chris leaving, and the LETTER, and Chris's MOM, and the PHONE CALL, and...DUDE. I need to start from the beginning and read the whole damn thing again. Gah! LOVE!

[nowadventuring.livejournal.com]

Sort of related to that, another question: if you finish a story, why post it in parts, at random (or regular, whatever) intervals? Why not post it all at once? That's almost as frustrating as the stories-in-progress, and I don't understand. Someone explain it, please?

Because they really enjoy me cursing in frustration at my computer? This is my best guess.

Also, she has Norton360, and uses their backup/online storage--and has apparently maxed it out. It tells her she doesn't have enough space, and that she can purchase more storage space. She's also had someone suggest an external hard drive for storage/backup. Any suggestions on this, and what might be the best option?

Avira or AVG as an antivirus and an external hard drive. Norton is a soul-sucking bastard of a program.

[withdiamonds.livejournal.com]

I think there's a difference between posting a work in progress that is essentially finished and it's being polished and each part gets posted when it's ready, and announcing that a story is finished - which I understand is meant as reassurance that it's not a WiP - and chapters will be posted every Tuesday and Thursday.

The former I enjoy reading as it's posted. The latter is a sure way to make sure that even if I do read it, I won't comment on it. Okay, unless it's just really awesome and I can't help myself.

It's funny what different people find annoying. And I believe I was bitching just the other day about a story I thought was done, the author in fact said it was done, but it ended on a cliffhanger and a promise of an eventual sequel. So, yeah, a whole story would be nice once in a while.

[rahaeli.livejournal.com]

If the story's a novel -- roughly 75,000 words or above -- I finish it and go through all the edits, then post one major segment (usually between 10k-25k words) per day. Then, at the end of it all, I give people who prefer to read it all in one go a single-file download, such as a pdf. That way people who read more slowly don't feel like all the discussion's passed them by by the time they finish -- since my stories tend to spark long, extended analysis and discussion and response afterward, both from me and from others -- while those who read more quickly can get the story all in one giant gulp at the end.

The whole thing is completely done, polished and all, before I start posting it, though, and I don't ever hold stories hostage for more comments. *G* (plz R&R!!!! i will not post chapter 4 until i get 100 reviewz!!!!)

I am writing a few serials -- series where each story functions independently but the whole series is going somewhere, and at least one where it's a classic novel told in serial format, with each chapter following on from the last and building on it. There are variable gaps in between those -- longest has been about 10 months while I, you know, created a new social networking site -- but I try to keep them fairly self-contained, in that if I stopped after any of them it would still feel like a satisfying ending.

[azephirin.livejournal.com]

if you finish a story, why post it in parts, at random (or regular, whatever) intervals? Why not post it all at once?

I remember that, back in the days of mailing lists, it was generally considered bad form to post more than a certain amount at a time b/c it would jam people's mailboxes. But in the days of LJ/DW, I don't necessarily see a good reason to do that.

[sorchasilver.livejournal.com]

Reading through the fic comms I belong to, I have to ask: is everyone posting stories-in-progress? Yeah, I know there are completed stories being posted, but they seem to be the exception over the rule, lately. I'm kind of tired of seeing x/? -- a lot of the stories look interesting, but some it seems never, ever get finished or go on forever and ever, and it's disheartening.

Yeah, that drives me nuts. I always tend to think it's the mainly comment-whoring, but from the discussions I've seen (at fanficrants) apparently there are people who genuinely prefer this method. Personally, if it's posted that way, the chances of me EVER reading it drop to almost zero, with a very few exceptions for authors I already know and trust. Yeah, I could wait until it's all been posted and then go back and read it all at once, but the chances of me remembering and caring enough to do so are slim.