"The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded."

Not a message you want to see as you try to log-on to your laptop.

Asus Netbook: can't log-in

The offending error message

I looked it up on Google of course. Here's the tip: you have to start in safe-mode, do stuff with a recovery disk (don't have one) and then mess around changing stuff in the Registry.

No way.

When I bought the Netbook, back in April 2011 the PC World sales guy looked at me askance. "You do have another computer as well, don't you?" he asked. He meant - a proper computer.

Fixated as I was on lightness and a long battery life I ignored him, and have been suffering ever since. An example: start Word, go get a coffee, arrive back as the document opens on the screen.

As all of my files are on Dropbox, it doesn't matter that I can't get into the Netbook. So I think this is an opportunity to write it off and get one of those combined tablets cum laptops running Windows 8.1. Something I can work on (MS Office), and also use as a tablet.

Research to come. Meanwhile I've dug my old laptop out of a cupboard. The fan doesn't work but it's superior to the Asus device in all performance aspects. And the weather's getting colder ...

A taste of summer

We're blessed by some wonderful walks here in the Mendips. This afternoon we parked at the top end of the Cheddar Gorge and walked up the path through Black Rock and into Long Wood. We came back via Velvet Bottom: a couple of pictures of myself and Clare on the way back down.



When I bought my ASUS Netbook last Saturday the salesperson at the Cribbs Causeway PC World store looked at me sharply and said, "You do have a proper computer don't you, as well?" At the time I thought this was a curious point but now I understand what he meant.

The Netbook, running Windows 7 starter, is just fine. Configuring it has taken a couple of days (see previous post) but really presented few problems. The trouble is inherent in a design which costs just a couple of hundred pounds, uses a low-power processor and utilises just 1 GB of RAM.

The machine is midway between a serious device and a toy. It can do everything but it's just so slow! And just a bit brittle as compared to the robust HP laptop which I'm using to write this post. Still, it's just 1 kg and runs for ages on its battery; ideal for travelling around.