Posted on 05/10/2010 8:41:04 PM PDT by Gomez
"Application crash". Perhaps I can help here, with an analogy.
You have a car, and the car has windshield wipers. The car is the "system", and the the wipers are one "application" that runs on the car/system.
If the wiper motor quits, that's an "application crash". If the whole car quits, that's a "system crash".
When your wipers stop working, it should not shut down the entire car. That's the distinction you need to draw for the computer also.
In older personal computer OSes (Win3.1/95/98/Me, MacOS Classic), an application crash could bring down the entire system. Like if your wiper motor quits it makes the entire car inoperable. Terrible situation.
In modern operating systems, an application crash does not cause a system crash -- the system can shut down ("Force-Quit" or "Terminate") the errant application without shutting down the whole system.
Of course neither is pleasant. But hundreds of computer engineers over many years worked very hard, both at Microsoft and at Apple, to ensure that application crashes did not cause system crashes.
As an added note: Despite the whipping I am taking here - deserved probably - to any of the programmers out there and anyone else that has made these computers possible, thanks. What a difference computers have made.
I do have one request though. Can someone make it so the coffee cup holder does not retract. Every time I take a sip of coffee the tray closes all by itself and I have to push the button to open it again.
I did finally figure out the foot switch.
I solved the coffee cup holder problem on my computer by drilling a hole through the tray near the chassis, and threading a 1/4-20 bolt through it. It makes some noise sometimes, but it stays open.
I'm having trouble with the footswitch, though. I was okay with the Mac footswitch -- only one pedal, easy. But the footswitch that came with my latest Windows computer is confusing. It has TWO pedals (well, actually a split pedal with two halves), and some sort of roller bearing in the middle. My foot keeps slipping on the roller.
I can't stand these complicated Windows things, I'm going back to the Mac. /s
:)
It has been my experience that Apple’s OS and software run fairly smoothly, as does most of the software written for the platform in recent years.
It has also been my experience that people who experience a lot of application crashes are using software that is buggy (Microsoft Office for Mac OS X has always been buggy), have a USB device that is faulty, have a corrupted file being loaded into memory (fonts, drivers, kernel extensions), or have a hardware issue that expresses itself in seemingly random crashes.
With the exception of issues traced to Apple’s hardware, all the other issues come from third party sources or sometimes old, legacy files carried forward and installed by data-pack-rats.
In your limited experience the Macs crashed a lot. Instead of locating the problem and getting it fixed, you continued to use the computers and software. I would recommend the next time you have a Mac giving you problems that you take it to see an Apple Specialist; because the Macs are not supposed to do what you described, and your experience is NOT the norm, therefore it is reasonable to assume that the machines needed to be looked at. You’d be surprised at how many problems seem like the computer is a lemon can be traced to something loaded onto the machine by the user or a faulty USB device.
(The above advice also applies to Windows machines, except you should take it to a Windows repair specialist.)
Some of us are at the control of the IT department.
I think I saw you mention it somewhere up in your comment...
In other words, be dismissive of facts. Great.
No, I did not mean it that way. I’ve raised the white flag in this thread a few times. I surrendered, not being dismissive.
I did read what you wrote though. Do not want you to think I ignored your post.
My buddy at work explained to me that the roller thingie on the footswitch is actually a MASSAGE device. It's an ergonomic feature -- when you get tired of typing on the keyboard, you get out of your chair, lay down with your back on the footswitch, and move around. It eases stiff muscles.
Cool... :)
And now for your added computer thread fun....
Top Ten Things I Love About My Computer
10 I spend a lot of time with her and enjoy every minute.
9 She rarely gives me trouble.
8 If she ever does give me trouble, I can trade her in for a new one and she will sit quietly in the corner without another word processed about it.
7 I can change her look and feel.
6 If she gets a virus, she never gives it to me.
5 She is a lot better at math and spelling than me.
4 At first, my mom did not understand her, but now she loves her too.
3 If I want to look at other computers, she will point me to them.
2 She plays a great game of solitaire.
1 And the number one reason I love my computer...she has really beautiful icons.
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