Are you jinxed?

Franklin · Aug 10, 2005

TORONTO (CP) - Some people seem to carry a computer curse, frustrated by a plague of viruses, hard-drive failures, power surges and software conflicts that appear and disappear without rational explanation.

They blame their machines and suffer the scorn of others who accuse them of doing something wrong. But researchers at Princeton University may have an explanation: these computer users, it seems, could be sending out bad vibes.

"There are some people who seem to have a natural rapport with computers and other complex machines, and there are other people who seem to manage to break everything even without touching it," said York Dobyns, analytical co-ordinator at Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR).

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Rikky · Aug 10, 2005

People whose machines always seem to be working against them may be the same people who are forever zapping their computers with electric shocks because they live in a dry house and have long hair, fuzzy carpets and a penchant for wool sweaters, he said.

DiMarco also said the source of mystery problems can often be traced back to a reluctance to admit misuse - like indiscriminate downloading that can bring on spyware and viruses.

"They're not always readily admitting what they've done, especially if they have the sense they shouldn't have done it. It's an issue of admission of guilt."

Family computers are particularly vulnerable because they have multiple users - including younger ones who might not be particularly concerned about the consequences of their surfing, said Melnychuk.

A failure to perform regular maintenance further aggravates the problem.

"It's a working piece of machinery. It has to be worked on - it's not a toaster," he said.
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I'm with dimarco,computers have morphed from a business need,to a home plaything,people are used to switching thier TV's on and using them,its seems everyone skipped the how to operate and maintain a computer,alot of the things that have to be done to keep a computer maintained,just arnt stressed hard enough by the people selling the computers,probably because they want them to break so they can charge for fixing them.

i believe these jinxed people could be cured by visiting windows update,installing a firewall and cleaning the dust out once in awhile,ofcourse the guys working on the project will disagree,after all they want next years funding and wages.

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Are you jinxed?

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Rikky Wile E. Coyote - One of a kind