"The system has recovered from a serious error... . Please tell Microsoft about this problem." - A message that popped up on my screen as I was typing the first paragraph of this article.

I'm mad as hell.

My wife and I just sat down to watch some TV after a long day at work. My wife and I are both fans of those crime shows that are popular at the moment: CSI, Law and Order, and the like. But our favourite of these shows is Without A Trace, which stars the Australian actor Anthony LaPaglia as F.B.I. special agent Jack Malone.Perhaps one of the reasons we like it is our affinity with LaPaglia's laconic Aussie style. But I think most of all this is a show which stirs our emotions, which tugs at our heart-strings, which gives us a roll-coaster ride that raises us to heights of tension and then dumps us down into sorrow and empathy.

Why am I telling you this here, in a geeky magazine about software?Because we suffered a personal tragedy tonight, small but doubtless shared by millions, and YOU can do something about it.

Without A Trace was not being broadcast when we sat down to watch TV. But thanks to the wonders of modern technology, even busy professionals like us who don't have time to load up a blank cassette in the VCR can now easily record their favourite shows in advance. We pay a monthly fee to our cable provider, Comcast, and in return, they provide us with a digital video recorder that we can easily program to record our favourite shows. This DVR saves the programs in digital format on a hard disk drive.

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