Some good news....

In order to determine the source of the "smearing problem" I'm having on my desktop computer, I hooked up my laptop to the monitor. I saw no smearing of the black lettering across the page. Therefore, it's a problem with the video card. That's much cheaper to fix than buying a new monitor.

The bad news is that I might not be able to find a replacement video card (Diamond Viper V770, I believe), unless I look on eBay. (I just did and there are several available.) The desktop system is nearly seven years old, and I can't afford a full system upgrade right now. And so I make do with what I have.

As Roseanne Roseannadanna says, "It's always somethin'."

I wouldn't mind buying "last year's model", but computer makers want to sell you the latest and greatest. When Vista rolls out to consumers in late January, will people still be able to purchase a system with XP preinstalled? I don't need or want Vista, and if I did, I'd prefer to wait until service pack 1 comes out for it.

orac update...

I ran orac Mk III (that's my current desktop system -- AMD Athlon 600, 384 Mb memory, 40 Gb hard drive, Windows 98 SE) without its cover this evening. Here's what I found out after running it topless.
1) My video card is indeed a Diamond Viper V770. AGP.
2) My DVD drive can't read CDs, data, music, or otherwise. Even after I reinstalled the Nero OEM Suite. *grumble*
3) The CPU fan is still noisy. Not as bad as it was before, but it sometimes vibrates off its axis. I'm wondering if the bearings are starting to wear out. I can't reach it to replace the cooling fan. (The CPU is one of those external-box ones, like the Pentium II.) I hit it with some WD-40 and it helped a little bit. (I'm leery of using it on or near circuit boards.) It's helping to turn it off after each use, instead of letting it run nonstop.

I've had this system since March of 2000. I want it to hang on for a few more years. I have other things that need to be fixed or replaced before I upgrade the desktop: the garage door opener, the large burner on my stove, the fan on my HEPA filter in the bedroom.