Computer (Windows Vista) Problems

My computer exploded the other day, from two weeks of 100-degree heat in Fukushima, Japan. The motor on my five-year-old Dell simply combusted in a cloud of smoke while I was watching Sesame Street Jason Mraz videos with my daughter, the room reeked of plastic, and I quiety panicked at the prospect of losing a years-worth of baby videos.  But, from my small amount of computer hardware knowledge, I don't think there should be any damage to the hard drive, and I plan on bringing my desktop tower to some nerds for fixing as soon as I can pass my Japanese license test (future post).

So, I'm temporarily writing posts from my mother-in-law's laptop, which generally goes neglected, and seems to be responding well to its new master.  A few nitpicky problems: (1) the operating system is in Japanese, which is surprisingly not as much of a pain in the ass as problem (2) the laptop runs on Windows Vista, probably the most poorly-conceived product ever released.

I don't understand why Microsoft would actively eliminate its one advantage in the operating system department, which is that every single human being on the planet has learned how to use Windows (NT, 95, 98, or whatever).  Learning a new, superior operating system like Linux takes time that most people outside of unemployed nerds simply don't have time for, and so, like Starbucks, standardized mediocrity becomes an asset.  So making such a radically different OS as Vista essentially does nothing but level the playing field for Microsoft's competitors.

I recently returned home from work to discover that the display had somehow been turned upside down after my baby had been mashing the keyboard.  At first I wondered if it was some hardware problem, that the shock from my daughter's clumsy typing had dislodged some wires.  I figured that was too unlikely, and decided to try to navigate the Japanese control panel upside down, which was pretty tough, but once I actually managed to find the display settings, there was nothing about the display ever being upside down.  I shut down and tried the computer in safe mode to see confirm that it actually was a problem with the settings inadvertently triggered by my infant's button-mashing.

After exploring the control panel a bit in safe mode and finding nothing, I decided to use my iPhone to search the internet for similar predicaments.  I found hundreds of people who had had the same problem as me, and the solution is just to press CTRL, ALT, and the up arrow key.  It turns out the problem was very common in households with infants and/or cats.  But I have to wonder, what is the point of Microsoft's including a three-key sequence for turning one's display upside down, especially in an operating system that lacks basic functionality?

Comments

[Eye-Rish]

That turning the screen upside down thing exists on XP too. We used to do it to other people's computers at work (providing that the victims didn't already know about it). Hilarious, no?

It's conceivable then that this particular 'feature' exists in more older versions of Windows.

[Otto]

Oh my god that sounds hilarious, i wish i still worked in a office cause im itching to use that one, maybe i will suggest that to my wife to try ! So the same three buttons will reverse the screen as well as restore it ? the OS that I use doesn't have this awesome feature.