I am still having computer difficulties even though we have replaced the hard drive. It could still be the hard drive itself since a friend of ours handed this one to us... I don't know. But it's acting up and making gameplay impossible. (Or anything else for that matter.) It's looking like we might have to suck it up and buy a new computer soon, and we really do not have the money for such things at this time. It is so frustrating! This computer is NOT that old, it should still have plenty of time before it would need to "be replaced". All of the problems started with a rain storm and a power surge early last year. Yes, when the storm hit I was already heading for the computer to power it off, it just happened too quick. And yes, we had a surge protector. A very expensive surge protector, as a matter of fact. The type that has a battery backup and other bells and whistles. BAH! I should have saved my money and bought a piece of crap at the dollar store. That's what my kids had on their computer. Their computer was just fine. Ours has not been the same since. Oh, it wasn't so bad at first. A few ports didn't work and every once in a blue moon we would have some lag with games. That was about it. But it has been getting steadily worse over time with new problems cropping up every so often. Since my husband is a computer tech he has been keeping it going pretty well with minimal fuss but the recent problems have been leaving him baffled.

 I know, I'm whining. When the computer doesn't work properly I get a little nuts. Probably because I am so isolated up here on this mountian and have only two forms of contact with the outside world, one of them being the computer. The other is the phone, which is ironically  dependent on said computer to work... well, you can see the problam I'm sure.

Oh well. I am sure that this will eventually work itself out one way or another. In the meantime everybody play an hour of the sims for me. :)