The Top 10 Great Unsolvable Mysteries
of Computing

10 Why do you end a Windows session by clicking on Start?

9 Why do Web sites that promise "TOTALLY FREE!" nude photos
ask for credit card information? (So I'm told.)

8 Does anyone really know what those strange keys are for?
Between your QWERTY keyboard and your number pad are things like PrntScrn/SysRq, Pause/Break, and Scroll Lock. Does anyone use these? Do they even work? Hit them and your screen doesn't print, the system is not requested, nothing pauses or breaks — and where is that scroll thingy that you can apparently lock?

7 How come software and hardware never catch up to each other?
Whenever I've upgraded my computer system, half my software no longer works until I've downloaded patches or bought new versions. But soon afterwards, of course, new software hits the market promising great new features and I fall for it. I install it and then find it really doesn't work all that well on my system without more memory, video RAM, megahertz, etc. Which means another round of hardware upgrading....

6 Why do software and hardware vendors ask you to register
every piece of hardware and software you buy? They say it's so you can get technical support. Hah! There is no technical support for these products. All that happens when you register is you get added to a new mailing or emailing list to be sent even more advertising.

5 Why does Windows include not one but two crappy text editors?
Like, if WordPad is just too powerful to handle, you can always try Notepad?

4 Why are CD-ROM drivers provided on...CD-ROMs?
You find this out, of course, when your CD drive stops working and you're advised by some expert to reinstall the software driver. So you go through the material that came with your computer looking for the driver to reinstall, find the CD with it on, stick it in your CD-ROM drive and.... Huh?

3 When your modem won’t work,
why does Windows' troubleshooting routine advise you to get updated drivers online?

2 How come whenever a computer crashes,
it's always when you've forgotten to save the file you've worked on for the past three hours?

And the Number One great unsolvable mystery of computing:

How come the cheaper computers get, the more I spend on them?
Back in the 1980s I used one computer system for six years. It cost $2,500. Now I can pick up decent computers for half that price. And I have — three times in the past six years. I have to keep buying new ones every year or two to keep up. Do the math. I was spending less when computers were more expensive!