#1157 – MMT
Posted on November 17, 2010 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comics
The serial numbers that I used to have problems with were for software. Something would happen and the little magic file on my computer that told the program it was registered would get eaten. The program itself was fine, it just refused to run until I entered the 73 digit code that was printed on the back of the CD case I haven’t seen in the past 3 years. Fortunately now that almost all software is downloaded I just need to do a simple email search to find the string of gibberish that makes the thing do its stuff.
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I often make a list of said serial #s and email them to a web email address. don’t wanna lose them to a hdd crash
Being 13 and having skipped 2 years has its advantages in the sympathy department, I could probably confuse people/trick/negotiate my way out of things.
Besides, I’d be more concerned about the bits of shattered moon heading towards Earth.
Recently my computer got a virus despite the firewalls I coded personally, and I lost everything. Which is fun and games in losing important files in comparison to pressing ‘ctrl+a’, pressing a random button by accident and then accidentally pressing “ctrl+s’ instead of “ctrl+z”. I really need to stop using keyboard shortcuts.
My computer totally thinks my MS word is not a valid copy, but it is! It still works, but it gives me this annoying notification whenever I open it. Better dig out the disc…..
Whoah. Biff forgot to use the parking brake on his rocket…
I have a text file full of serial numbers – in a thumb drive. Not completely fool-proof, but helpful and reasonably robust.
I’m geeky enough (and with interests focused in the right areas) to be able to comfortably use only open-source software.
Sure, I run into the occasional rough edge, but even if I don’t know enough to fix it myself and don’t have time to learn, it’s better than being beholden to someone else for a few meaningless digits.
Sorry, MaskedMan, thumb drives can (and do) fail without warning. And of course the email is sure to have been accidentally moved into the delete basket last time (never the time before) you did a clean up.
Burn to a CD, lock it in a safe deposit box in another country where the bank is not likely to fail. It’ll be a hassle to get to, but you know it’s safe.
That is why you get Gmail.
FYI: Acronym week? OK, so they’re not really acronyms like NATO, scuba or radar, but what do you call them then?
@MadKanga;
Of course they can – Which is why I call it “Not completely fool-proof.” Reasonably robust is what I said, and what I meant. There are ways to make the files unreasonably robust, but that’s an even bigger pain than going to my archives. Keep It Simple.
@i.half4;
The word you’re looking for is “Initialism.”
http://www.lyberty.com/encyc/articles/abbr.html
this weeks theme, Tech fails?
I remember that way back when, you did a pizza theme for the week and the next week basically said that it would never happen again.