Pictured: The Saitek Eclipse computer keyboard (click image for full-size view). I just bought two of these on a Black Friday special from NewEgg. They were $29.99 a piece including shipping. It was a deal I couldn’t pass up for this keyboard because of specific features. Continued

As a long-time Windows user I’ve seen a few BSODs in my day. The version of Windows I had the most BSODs with was Windows 3.10. Not 3.11. Not 3.11 WFWG. Just plain ol’ 3.1. I never really had BSOD trouble with Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000 or XP unless I had a hardware failure (usually right before the hard drive was about to go FUBAR on me).

There is actually a Microsoft TechNet article called Demystifying the ‘Blue Screen of Death’ that does truly help in making sense of that blue screen, should you get one.

Some of the BSOD messages I’ve received have been:

INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

This simply means Windows can’t read the hard disk correctly. I’ve encountered this when an older hard drive develops a few bad sectors. It doesn’t mean you have to throw the hard drive out. You can perform a regular (meaning not "quick") format which will mark those bad sectors, making the drive hopefully usable again.

NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM

In my experience this usually happens when your hard disk just has too much stuff on it and the data corrupts easily. For example, if you have a 120GB hard drive and 118GB is in use, you might get an NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM error until you free up some space, DEFRAG it (and run a CCleaner too just for safe measure).

Poorly programmed or too-old driver

In extremely rare instances I’ll download a driver and Windows doesn’t "agree" with it too well usually because it’s too old. For example, if I install a brand new nVidia video card but then use the drivers meant for a GeForce 6 (several generations ago), yeah, you most likely will get a BSOD out of this – and will be listed as such.

Solution: Always use current drivers. Head into "Safe Mode", kill the driver, reboot normally, install the newer version and this fixes driver-specific BSODs 99% of the time.

~ ~ ~

The TechNet article has a ton of info on how to read BSODs and understand what one is trying to tell you. So if your Windows installation happens to be "going blue" a lot, that article will certainly help.

The best way to record live audio (for those of us without huge budgets) on a computer is via USB. It’s a much "cleaner" sound compared to using the "Mic" or "Line in" on your sound card. Bear in mind when referring to USB on computers you don’t have to worry about data transfer, so even if a device is only 1.1 compliant it’s still a superior sound.

The Blue Snowball is a USB microphone and I can say from personal experience that it’s an excellent product – especially for the cost-conscious. It connects up via USB (obviously) and has excellent performance. The unit can be mounted via a short stand (for the desk), long traditional stand or swingarm.

In addition to great audio quality this is also a multi-pattern microphone. You can configure it easily to be omnidirectional (receive sound from all directions) or "shotgun" style where you have to be directly in front of it to "hear" you.

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, I suggest purchasing from a traditional instrument retailer such as Sam Ash or Guitar Center. Why? Because they usually have them in stock and both companies have better-than-average return policies.

You can learn more about the Snowball at www.BlueMic.com.