General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

I love a good thunderstorm.

As I have described in past posts, I like to fully open the window (If I can bowt rain entering) switch the lights off, and pull up an armchair to settler back to watch the greatest show on earth. Sometimes, for added value, I play Bob Dylan's 'Chimes of Freedom' at full volume. (Wagner, 'Die Walküre' also works)

Once, I did have a close shave. This time, I was not watching, I was working.

I saw the flash just outside my small study window. I knew it was close, as there is another building not far, and this spark was between us.

Accompanying was not a peal of thunder, but a loud bang. Best comparison: have you ever heard the bang of a high speed vehicle crash?

Anyway, it blew the double glazed window to smithereens: shards of glass were propelled across the room with a force leaving them embedded in the opposite wall! Fortunately none of them hit me.

Lights and power went, but returned after a second or two. The power outlet socket on same wall as the window was black and smoking. The two items plugged in: computer and cordless phone's base station ceased working.

Fuse had not blown: I guess the current was taken by the 'Earth' conductor, sparing the live and hence the fuse. I examined the cable, but I only had to replace the actual socket outlet.

The telephone: I had to replace the wall plug-in PSU and the rechargeable battery both in handset and cradle. Actual phone element had survived, and then worked OK.

So, checked out the computer. PSU was really fried! I was surprised that had not blown a fuse, but it didn't!

So, I had to replace PSU, Hard Disk Drive, Optical Disk Drive, and a memory module. Just a single memory location had been spoiled, and even though I admitted the cause of the failure, the Chinese manufacturer (GEIL) honoured the lifetime guarantee and sent me a free replacement.

Now for the fly in the ointment. This was back in 'XP' days, so I knew that a new disk drive was not going to pass Microsoft's activation criteria. I thought this would not be a problem as I could explain and get telephone activation to pass me.

No such luck. One of THE MOST FRUSTRATING experiences I have ever had dealing with a company!

Conversation went something like this:

Them: You cannot activate because that serial number has been used!

Me: Of course it has been used. I am the one who used it, haven't you heard how I just explained to you why.....

Them: but you cannot use it again on a different.....

The person on the other end very obtuse and we spent half an hour going around in a circle. I decided it was just not worth any more of my time.

So I decided to get my own back. I have installed, for free, more than a thousand Linux systems for people who would have otherwise bought a Microsoft Operating System, And I am not done yet.