Blue Screen of Death

A short while ago and, admittedly, not for the first time, I saw the Blue Screen of Death on my year-old PC. The timing worries me somewhat...

Yesterday, my friend and former boss was over, so that I could help her build a temporary website for her new venture. When she set up her laptop, she found that she could not only see my 'network' (that is, the Belkin hub/ADSL Modem) but log in unchallenged and surf the interwebs.

The modem claimed to be secure... And much is made on the packaging about its ease of setup and use.

Not so.

I had to go to the Belkin website and search through their technical support resources to find that security is not on my default. One must enter an IP address - which is the hub itself - password protect the whole thing and then switch security on. This I did, eventually, having had to search further for how to set a password when it seemed to think there already was one, and so successfully kicked my friend out of my Broadband connection, until I gave her the password.

At no point in the installation procedure is this explained. It's not even mentioned in the scant instructions packaged with the hardware.

But, here's the thing... I've been using this modem - unsecured - for very slightly less than a year now. I've been complaining bitterly that all the time I spend watching video on the internet has devoured my bandwidth, but it's possible (unlikely, I feel, but still possible) that it's been leeched by someone else. Sure, my boss couldn't access my computer, only my internet connection, but that's still a little worrying.

And then, the very day after I get security working, I get the Blue Screen of Death..?

Everything's back up and running now, and seems to be suffering no ill effects but... who knows?

Still, yesterday went well, apart from me having a bit of a meltdown in the morning. The basic website was put together, and taken to a point where she was confident of being able to finish it herself. We didn't get onto an Wii gaming or watching of movies, but it was a successful day nonetheless.

We spent a bit of time looking over my eHarmony profile (which, she agrees, is almost scarily accurate), some of my matches (after putting matching on hold for a couple of weeks, then turning it back on and finding no new matches, I've been receiving 7 a day for the past couple of days), and generally wondering how Internet Dating of any kind can ever really be successful.