A few days ago - my computer died. This is what happened.

Neil, in trying to get service pack 2 installed and working on my computer, accidently destroyed my motherboard. For those like me that need that explained, it meant that when I turned my computer on, I got a whole lot of nothing - a black screen. Solution? We bought a new motherboard. Sounds simple, or so we thought, however once it was installed we ran into a new problem. Windows XP would not run. Apparently someone at Microsoft decided that if you change the motherboard or CPU you must buy a new version of Windows because you essentially have a new computer.

So we call Microsoft to complain -- we weren't upgrading our system. The motherboard is essentially the same as our old one. Buying a new motherboard and then having to repurchase Windows XP would have put us in the neighbourhood ($) of a whole new system. The call began at 5:05 PM PST and ended at 8:15 PM PST. Three hours and 10 minutes. Yes, what a complete run-around. Enter the "Microsoft Migraine." I felt so bad for Neil. He was passed from person to person, each more incompetent than the last. At one point we were told we had to call "Microsoft Canada" - we had -- they had transfered us to another country?!? FINALLY someone came through and was able to help us. They usually charge $45 to re-authenticate your windows serial number but we got it for free (we think) because of the run-around. So YAY, I have my computer back!

It could have been worse:
As it turns out, if you buy a computer with windows preinstalled, the company you purchase from is responsible for any windows-related problem. We purchased our computer from Futureshop (Cicero). If any of you have ever had the misfortune to deal with Futureshop for repairs, you can understand that dealing with Microsoft was a piece of cake. Our old digital camera went in for repairs twice. It took them 6 months - yeah, that's half a year - and a whole lot of bitching to get my camera back from it perpetual state of repair (and we had been suckered into buying their extended warranty -- NEVER AGAIN! - but that's a whole new rant).

Moral of the story: build your own computer. That way you can install everything yourself and you'll have all the right documentation, etc.