Windows sucks ass.  I'm sure everyone has heard that opinion before.  I may have even said it a time or two myself, however, last night, my computer voiced the same opinion.

True, I may not be giving Windows its fair due. Perhaps its little performance last night was due in part to some sort of survival mechanism or maybe a kamikaze attack.

A little over a year ago, I built my first PC. It wasn't my first PC of course but rather the first I built from component parts.  Once I had everything I needed, I built it in about 30 minutes and then installed Windows XP Pro which took a couple of hours.  A couple of months later, I decided to give Linux a shot.  Not wanting to start over with my new computer, I purchased Partition Commander.  This neat little program allowed me to re-partition my drive manually since it was all NTFS.  I made a Linux Swap, an EXT3 partition and a partition in VFAT that both operating systems could share without difficulty.  Partition Commander also came with a copy of System Commander.  This allows you install a boot loader to give you a manual choice between available operating systems.  Once all was ready, I loaded Fedora Core 4 and had a pretty slick dual booting platform that I have used flawlessly until now.

I began booting FC4 only on weekends to play with it as I learned what very little I know about Linux.  Most times I was in Windows XP.  Switching between the two was a simple matter of re-booting and then selecting one or the other. 

Beginning this fall I began using Linux a little bit more and more. I gradually began leaving it running most of the time and booting Windows only on the weekend as I needed it.  By winter I used Windows really for just a few old games and Quicken.  Last month I decided to upgrade to Fedora Core 6. The upgrade went really well with only one little hiccup as I messed with my boot loader on the install. This was corrected by rebooting from the Partition Commander CD and restoring my boot loader. I have been running FC6 exclusively with using Windows only for Quicken.  As FC6 took up a bit more space than FC4 and I have been downloading tons of open source software, I began running out of room on my Linux partition.

Last night I decided to use Partition Commander to decrease the Windows partion and increase Linux.  However, being the paranoid that I am, I decided to boot into Windows and burn all of my kids photos onto DVD.  This, as always, went without a hitch.  However, here is where the ass sucking begins.  While burning my DVD, Windows decides to download one of its many critical updates. When finished, it asks to restart and since I am done, I okay it.  I figure since I am going to load Partition Commander and move partitions around anyway, who cares so I hit restart. It runs through the usuall shutdown then reboots the computer and all is normal exceot, Windows never comes back! All I get is a nice black screen. No Windows Splash, no bluescreen of death. Nothing! Nada!  I wait and wait. Nothing!

Not really that alarmed I think I'll just boot FC6 and who cares.  I'll reinstall the backup MBR that I keep and all will be well. So I reboot and am greeted by the familiar OS Menu Selection Menu I have been using for a year and choose FC6.  The kernel builds, the drivers load, logon screen comes up and I log in. As soon as I hit enter on the password and it begins reaching for the home folder on the hard drive, it locks up tighetr than a drum. Nothing but a frozen logon screen. Linux has never ever done that to me before. I reach out for another tty and nothing, locked.

Now I'm a little nervous.  I reach for the Partition Commander CD and reboot.  Normally, with a failed boot loader, I just use the CD to enable System Commander and it restores my MBR no problem.  This time I get a message that it cannot enable it because it has never been installed!  Never been installed? I've only been using it for a year. I rebboot without a CD. This time, instead of the menu to choose an OS, I am greeted by a red highlighted message that says this hard drive has no OS.

I look at what I have lying around at 1 am and see an Ubuntu Disk. Alright, a live CD and it likes to peek at NTFS!  I boot from Ubuntu 6.10 and wait the 20 minutes it takes.  Everything looks great. I use a terminal to check the filesystems available and spot every partition on the drive.  As soon as I begin to mount the Windows partition, everything freezes. Again. Locked up. Nothing.  I go to bed for a while and leave it running hoping it will just mount. I wake up at 6 am and decide to have a look and find a still hung machine. 

I reboot. This time with a Fedora Core 6 Rescue disk.  All looks well until I tell it to mount the old Linux file system. It seems to hang but I leave it running and head back to bed.  Later, after being awakened by a bouncing 2 year old, I check and it has indeed loaded the filesystem—yay!

I was busy with the family all day and haven't messed with it any. Tonight, I put the Windows XP Pro CD in and boot it. As soon as I try to enter Resue mode and it begins looking at the drive, it freezes up.  Windows has won! Now I have no OS.  Guess it felt a little threatened.  I'll start fresh new Sunday.