Solving problems to create bigger ones

I solve computer problems all the time. Normally when I solve problems, things are supposed to work. However this was not the result in the case of "The day before Thanksgiving server crash". I was getting ready to leave school and go home for my extended weekend, when the server crashed. I place the blame on Symantec for causing this problem. It all started with a computer in the lab that had a registry problem. I decided that I was going to Ghost the machine. I began a ghostcast from the server, but for some reason the client would not recieve from the server. I began to think that Symantec Endpoint Protection was blocking the application. I decided to disable it, but still ghost would not work. I began to uninstall Endpoint, when I discoved that I needed to use the "directed broadcast" option instead of the "multicast" option. I finished the ghostcast but the Endpoint uninstaller was locked up. So I restarted the server, and when it began to boot Windows, a "ntldr is missing" error presented itself. The server 2008 disk does not have a recovery console, so I decided that the only option was to reformat and start from scratch. About 6 hours later we had reinstalled server 2008, reconfigured DNS, DHCP, WSUS, Active Directory, Routing and Remote Access, and File Serving. Unfortunately we still have to reconnect about 30 computers back to the domain.
I love to work with computers normally, but after spending the rest of my day fixing stupid server problems, I didnt really want to look at any more computers. Why can't technology just work? Where is the self repairing technology?
I dont recommend Symantec Endpoint Protection to anyone.

Bye bye Mcafee Security Suite

I have been using the Mcafee internet security suite for about a year. I think that overall is a user friendly piece of software, it is not great for power users like myself. Its virus detection and removal rates are not as good as other antivirus programs. I also experienced on several occasions a random "your computer is not protected" in which the programs firewall and anti-virus components had shut off. Clicking the fix button always turned them back on, but I never could figures out why they did that. I'm not the only one to have that happen. My friend tells me that his Mcafee randomly turns off on him too. Additionally the user interface is great for novices, however I had a difficult time navigating the programs over-simplified menu system.
This year I will be switching all the computers in my house over to Kaspersky Internet Security 2009. I already have it installed on my computer and I am currently evaluating it so that I can get used to it. Later I will write a post with more details on Kaspersky and my experience with it.

Dual monitors

For about two months I have been using dual monitors and I have to say that it is great. Most of the time I have a web page open on the left and my email, Skype, or a document open on the right. Studies show that using two monitors increase productivity by an average of 50%. That's quite a margin. I feel like it helps me to do things quicker like writing a paper because I can have a webpage open and read it while having my paper open and typing into it.
However there are drawbacks to a dual monitor setup. Gaming on dual monitors is practically worthless. For starters a lot of games will not support it. Next you will need a powerful graphics card to run the game on both monitors with any sort of decent framerate. Lastly first person shooter games look stupid because the gap between the edges of the screens is in the middle of your view. This is extremely irritating to look at, not to mention difficult to play with. Its like walking around holding your hand in front of your face edgewise from your nose. Sure you can see everything thing, but you have to think about what you are looking at.
All in all dual monitors are great, but you will have to disable one when you fire up a game.