It KNOWS

How can it know?

My desktop computer has been operating a bit slow as of late.  I define "as of late" loosely, as in "over the past few months or so."  I've done some stuff to speed it up -- defragged the hard drive, installed Tune-Up Utilities, got rid of useless startup programs -- but it's still being a bit lethargic.  And then there's the annoying fact that Outlook got so buggy I switched to Thunderbird (I'm OK with that, but I still chalk up "buggy Outlook" against the computer), and I started to ask myself just how old this thing is anyway, and if I'm due for getting me a new one.

My account at Dell showed nothing for the past two years, (which I knew already as my McAfee subscription just ended, and I'm pretty sure I was on at least the three-year plan).

So, as long as I was on the Dell website, I thought I'd price out a new machine.  Just for kicks.  Research purposes only.  I certainly wasn't going to buy it.  (In fact, all that I really learned from the Dell website is that: (1) I need to do a lot of objective research into specs; and (2) Dell loads just as much crapware into its machines as ever.)

So, I shut it down and go to work.  (I don't even save the sample specs I ran.)

I come home from the office and crank up the computer.  

It won't boot.


I turn it off and on again.


It still won't boot.


I turn it off and on again and do the whole F2 thing.  Many things I don't understand show up on the screen, and by a combination of guesswork and luck, I get the computer to boot.


This cannot be coincidence.  It had to know I was researching its possible replacement.


Great.  Now I've got a testy computer here, working against me.

Edited to add:  Yeah, and it wouldn't even post this entry the first time I tried.