Why can't computers be simple?


Why can't computers be simple?

They are not simple, will never be.

Windows is especially hard to use, compared to OS X.



By contrast, when I get in my car, all I have to do is turn it on, step
on the gas pedal, and I am running. One car even has automatic parking,
in case I am too lazy to manually park the car.



Wasted an entire day today trying to do a simple task.

Found out Google is NOT my friend, when I tried to get it to help.



The simple task? - I want to compress a 48-GB backup file. When I try
to compress the file, I can only squeeze it down to 23-GB. Ridiculous,
because there are 14-GB of used files, with 34-GB of unused space left.
The 14-GB of files should compress down to about 7-GB, NOT 23-GB.

Worst part is, I _know_ why that file will not compress, however I do
not know how to use the software tool that will fix the problem.

That software tool is a Windows utility called KillDisk.


So why don't I go to Windows NGs and ask them? Been there, done that,
those guys are clueless, They blame my Mac and BootCamp for the problem.


So why not RTFM? - I did, the F****** Manual walked me through the
procedure to wipe the unused file space with hex zeroes, in the 48-GB
Vista partition of my MacBook Pro.

Did everything as per the instructions, but got error message:

"Can't Lock Drive" (the "C" partition of Vista)


NOTHING in the f****** manual, NOTHING in the KillDisk "Help" files, as
to what to do in a situation like this.

So why didn't I go to the website for KillDisk? - Did that, only thing
there was a repeat of the same instructions.



So why don't I "Google" to find out how to use KillDisk?

Wasted all day today doing just that, waded through about a thousand
"hits" on Google, no useful info' resulted.

Used search term: "Can't lock drive + KillDisk + Vista"

(without the quotes, which produced the thousand hits that I spent hours
wading through, with no usable results)



Even though they say nothing about it in their users manual, I _think_
I know why KillDisk refuses to wipe erased files with hex zeroes - - -
it probably needs some sort of "boot" disk with the KillDisk app' on the
boot CD.

I broke out my dusty "real" PC, which I use about once a year for
emergencies such as this - - - fired up the PC, fired up KillDisk,
followed instructions in KillDisk for creating a bootable CD.

KillDisk bellyached that it was missing a file needed, and that I should
download it from the KillDisk website. Tried doing that from the web
link given, Internet Explorer claimed there was no such website.



I give up. How can the creators of KillDisk sell a product that
requires a user to download a file in order to use the regular features
of KillDisk?


Tomorrow is another day, I will try to email "LSoft" in Canada, the
creators of KillDisk.

Mark-
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Why cant computers be simple?
    ... to compress the file, I can only squeeze it down to 23-GB. ... That software tool is a Windows utility called KillDisk. ... Should never have mentioned Mac to them. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: BootCamp vs Parallels, final rehash
    ... I got the impression it was a Windows application. ... "KillDisk Pro v5.0 for Windows" ... still needs to be run from the boot CD. ... email to oshea dot j dot j at gmail dot com. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: Why cant computers be simple?
    ... BootCamp version 1.3 created Windows partition referred to on all the points below. ... Both Mark Conrad and the PC experts/techs/geeks in a large highly advertised long standing repair, sales, and custom shop in this city are super senile, because all of them have been unable to get KillDisk version 5.0 to run on a recently fabricated "ASUS" brand of PC that was constructed by the same shop. ... (both Windows XP Pro and Vista Ultimate have been ran on that particular PC) ... All the Mac's peripheral hardware ran okay, the monitor, keyboard, disk drives - - - only the KillDisk sostware refused to run. ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Re: Why cant computers be simple?
    ... BootCamp version 1.3 created Windows partition ... KillDisk 5.0 will not work on anything. ... MacBook Pro runs EFI, ... All the Mac's peripheral hardware ran okay, ...
    (comp.sys.mac.system)
  • Windows File Compression on Asp.net web files
    ... I have an ASP.NET 1.1 web application on Windows Server 2003 that has been ... website not responding after an application pool recycle. ... I researched what the blue highlight means and apparently it means ... should not be compress, especially if they are needed by IIS. ...
    (microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.aspnet)