In the summer of 2012, I noticed that the Windows98 platform in my bedroom had a serious problem. The system was originally a Windows95 platform and in the late nineties I upgraded to Windows98, put in a CD Writer [that was way to fast for that system], replaced the 3.5 inch floppy drive, upgraded the Pentium Chip [with a faster overdrive chip], upgraded the Fax/Modem card and added a second hard drive.

The serious problem? The second hard drive I installed crashed in 2012. [Yes, those of you who know about the summer of 2012 should surmise there was interference. [Earpiece supplied explaination.] The full JBuilder compiler seemed important to someone. I do not have a full compiler on the Windows98SE [recently upgraded to WindowsXP] system in my office-- so it was explained, the government employee thought he was protecting my software development environment. I am not sure if he replaced the hard drive or just rendered it dead. Why is this important? I write and compile code to work on old and new systems and the JBuilder installations on my older Windows systems worked well. I am thinking whoever did it, did not understand-- NetBeans could be set up to do what the old compilers on those systems did.] Anyway, amongst many things that summer, I lost a lot including the Windows98 system in my bedroom due to the hard drive failure and it was not worth it to do anything else with the system.

That said, I never added an ethernet card to the old Windows98 system in my bedrook but did add one to the Windows98SE [now a WindowsXP system] platform in my office. I primarily used the system in my bedroom to write or compile code [old JBuilder Installation] and did not need internet access for that platform. I always disconnect from WiFi or the Ethernet cable if I am writing code on any of my systems. The old one in my bedroom I did not have to worry about.

The Windows98SE platform in my office upstairs was newer and originally came with a CDROM and CDWriter. Both CD Drives failed on that system sometime ago-- and I purchased an external PlexiWriter in case I needed to access CDs. I use the external CD writer with my Acer Netbook and the Mac desktop also in my upstairs office. I broke the CD drive on the Mac desktop sometime ago when I incorrectly put a disc in.

I store a lot of my code on 3.5 inch floppy discs and cds-- so I have both external CD and 3.5 disc drives that can be used on all of my systems, except the older older Windows98 system in my bedroom which did not have USB ports.

So with the recent upgrade of the Windows98SE system in my office to a WindwosXP system-- I decided to take the Memorex CD 48X Write, 24X ReWrite, 48X Read drive from the old Windows98 system in my bedroom and put it in the newly upgraded system. You might ask: If the PlexiWriter External CD Drive worked-- why? Yes, I did install WindowsXP from the external PlexiWriter CD Drive. That said-- the PlexiWriter is only 24x, 10x, 24x even with its own electrical source. If you have found your USB power driven CD drive is a little slow-- consider getting one with its own power source.

Yesterday, I spent most of the afternoon taking the fast Memorex CD writer out of the old system and installing it in the [new] WindowsXP system in my office. I also had to remove the old CD Writer from the XP system.

Keep in mind the reason I started upgrading the Windows98SE sysetm in my office was because I found a great deal on a color laser printer that did not have a driver for Windows98SE. I also did not have the old Windows98se system discs but did have a great desktop publishing platform-- that worked with my copy of MS Office Professional-- so these upgrades have been worth it for me. I have spent about $200 for a Color Laser Desktop publishing environment and I am very happy.

Also this week, while watching the Australian Open-- I was able to get the last of my computers to work with the new color laser printer. In December, when I first got the new printer, only my Acer NetBook worked. Then I found a work around for my Macbook [10.4.11]. I then upgraded the Windows98SE system to WindowsXP and it worked well with the printer manufacturer's supplied driver.

So the only system that did not work was the Mac desktop [also in my upstairs office] and this week I finally found the right combination to get it to work. The Mac desktop is running 10.2.8 and it took awhile to find a fix. [GhostScript, Magicolor 1680mf driver, Cups.org].

Over the last month, I feel I have upgraded my productivity environment a great deal. Now, I am working on something else. With the Tennis and the use of my Mother's Verizon Ellipsis Android Tablet to access WatchESPN and watch any match I want-- I have decided I need my own. I have been researching for this purchase.

BTW: Yes, I could have moved that CD Writer Drive long ago-- but just got around to it yesterday... Procrastination.