Insanity Strikes Back

I have reason to believe that networking a small home network must be avoided at all costs by people with OCD.

Due to my laptop problem which I can't afford to fix, I thought a practical solution would be to network it to my sister's PC and utilize it to access flash drives and shared printers. I have done this before, so it shouldn't be too difficult... Unfortunately, our home system is loonier than I realised.

Nothing is ever straightforward. Numerous attempts to link them up failed for whatever reason. While the lappie connects via wireless, and PC via LAN connection, they are both utilising the same modem. So what gives? Just as I was about to give up, SOMETHING kicked in and voila! I could see a network on the laptop.

My wireless router had failed to connect to the internet when I first bought it, so I took the advice from the internet and changed it into an "access point". It worked great, but unfortunately, it is no longer functioning as a router. Mysteriously, it unfailingly connects me to my wireless network, which I have NO IDEA where it resides, but I can no longer access the web interface controls due to unknown reasons. I thought I could adjust SOMETHING through that... sigh.

Then I found that the network that kicked in is the ADSL modem aka LAN connection. Trying to check it out was impossible since it went to a web interface asking for user ID and PW which I doubt I had ever set up when I first upgraded to broadband. At least I could see computers on my workgroup. I'll call that progress. PC was still unaccessible, though, so I let the little one get a rest and worked on the PC.

Now, the PC is an even smellier kettle of fish. The network just never appeared! And it was impossible to view the workgroup. At some point I disabled the AV and voila! it appeared. With the same problem - can't access the properties/ controls. Great. At least I know its there, at least. Workgroup is still unviewable.

In the end I got fed up and uninstalled the Zone Not-So-Smart Suite and put in the free firewall. Found that it, too, blocked the network, so I shut it down for a bit. And when I restarted it, look what came up if not the Zone Anti-virus which I am sure has already been uninstalled from C: drive. Must have come from the supposedly defunct OS on D:. Yeah, yeah. Guess where all the malware is sitting, waiting for a chance to spring back to life and wreak havoc on the machine. Seriously, this system is weirder than LOST and PRISON BREAK put together...

Realised that my accumulated OE files is most probably full of malware since I fell for a trick and opened up a bad link the other day. *Stuff* has probably infiltrated the system and is calling in SPAM every time I access my emails. Nak delete semua, sayang.... lagipun banyak work related emails kat situ. So I took a temporary measure and exported them all out to the thumb drive. HOW I'm supposed to import them back, I really don't know. Am still getting vicious spam on the email even with them all gone. Urgh. Macam mana lagi nak buat pun tak tau la.

Felt bad earlier for screwing up sister's PC, but have since realised that it was probably a Pandora's box waiting to be opened anyway. It's working much better now that I have deleted the dodgy looking files from D: and that Zone AV has kicked in. I'm not sure if it will ever be crap free, but I guess as long as it works relatively OK, we can just pray nothing kills it outright.

Sigh. The whole day wasted on crazy systems... make that the whole WEEK wasted. Sheez. Saba ajelah...