So, after many satisfied months using Windows Vista, things began to get real shady over the past three weeks. It all started with my computer not waking up from sleep properly. I was then on a quest to find out what the heck was wrong.

So, I naturally began to go through a process of elimination. At first, I thought it was my theme I was using. I changed my theme, tested my theory, and the first time I woke it back up from sleep, everything went off without a hitch. But it was only temporary because the next time I woke it up, drivers failed to launch properly and it froze solid. No mouse, nothing.

Then I tried more drastic measures. I disabled readyboost. Nothing. I uninstalled software. Nothing. I restored system files to their original state. Nothing. Registry cleans and sweeps. Nothing. I changed themes and replaced them over and over and over. And again, nothing. Still the same problem every time.

So, it was time for the last resort: System Restore. Thinking this would solve the problem, I rolled the computer back three weeks. I let it do its thing, taking about 20 minutes to restore. When it booted back up, three apps that depended on .NET Framework failed to launch at startup. Apparently, the runtime libraries had became corrupted. Its funny how a Microsoft product became corrupted by the use of another microsoft product! Funny and frustrated. My antivirus (AVG 9.0) also failed to run. At this point, I was hot. I was pissed off so bad. Repeated attempts to repair and reinstall these apps failed.

So, I was hurled into a six hour process of reinstalling Windows. This time, I was smart. After getting all my files transferred, my apps reinstalled, and my customizations completed, I imaged my drive using DriveImage XML and saved a backup on my Ipod. If it ever happens again, at least I will have a place to go back to, worry free.

My overarching theory is that AVG 9.0 messed up my Vista install. The upgrade to 9.0 coincided nicely with the time I began to experience the trouble. And with more reports of other people have 9.0 trouble floating around the net, I am becoming more convinced. Therefore, Vista may be innocent here.

However, Windows 7 better not do any funny crap when I upgrade here soon. My next new computer will be a Mac if it does, no joke. I miss my Mac laptop anyways.