Crashity crash crash

I really need a new computer.

In addition to everything else, now AOL is crapping out whenever I try to print an e-mail. I'm figuring that the moment I press "Print" it's trying to slam me with dancing popup ads for ink and toner and paper and whatever that overwhelm my poor little PC and make it have a breakdown. It did this while I was trying to have an MSN conversation with someone overseas. It took about ten reboot attempts to get back online.

The joke is that I can get three times the computer today for one-third the price of the seven-year-old Compaq Presario 7478 that I'm on. But until I get my finances back in order - I'm being hit with startup fees on all my utilities this month at my new house - all discretionary spending is on hold.

My biggest concern is getting all my stuff off of this computer and onto another one. I like some of my cheesy programs, like the Adobe PhotoDeluxe that came with my scanner and the Caere Painter Classic that came with my Wacom Tablet. I would have to reinstall the drivers for my camera, and all sorts of crap like that. And I don't even have the option of hooking up a USB 2.0 drive and dumping the files onto a portable hard drive - I only have USB 1.0.

Besides, I don't want to just buy the first $700 laptop I see in the Best Buy ad. I need to put some thought into this. So until then, please bear with me. Especially if I vanish in the middle of a conversation.