We're not always functioning at our full 40%. Sometimes we go into auto pilot and, for all intents and purposes, are pretty much switched off. Some things are so familiar to us we don't think about them. Our expectations are so strong about the outcome we don't expect anything different to happen. You go into Tescos, you fill your trolley, you come home and put things away. Only then do you discover the rotten apple in the bag or that the best before end date is only a few hours away. To compound your mood, your annoyance is directed at yourself for not paying attention rather than the vendor, who has taken money from you for something you can't eat..

Bad Apple in Bag

Bad Apple Portrait

The Good Ones

For legal reasons I should add. I did buy a bag of apples today from Tesco. The bag contained one bad apple, the rest were intact. The evidence is pictured above. I didn't buy anything with an expiry date about to occur.

Why would anyone write a program that..........

Why would anyone write a program that would automatically restart your computer? A program so persistent that, when you click "Restart Later",  you only get a moratorium of ten minutes before the message pops up again with the same determined prompt? Every ten minutes, as though it were taking orders from the atomic clock. The message gives you five minutes to act. This is less time than it takes to go to the toilet, make a coffee and return to your desk. In which time, the relentless program has shut your computer, ignoring your unsaved work, like the spreadsheet or letter you've been painfully composing.

It doesn't even take a trip to the toilet.  You might be retrieving a file, or talking to someone or pacing the room on your mobile. Why would someone write a program that can restart you computer, and wipe your work, as you do that?

Before anyone says, "Well, you can change the settings", I already know that, and that's part of the problem. In an age of hot desking and shared computers you inherit the settings of previous users. Some, not unsurprisingly, might select the recommended setting, which will run this program.

For those that might not know how to change their setting click Start followed by Control Panel. Look for the icon below and double click.

Change the settings. My preferred setting as pictured below is to not download automatically. I like to decide what to install and run on my machine. I learned this after installing Service Pack 2, to discover afterwards my DVD drive didn't work anymore as there were no supported drivers.