It has to be the single worst purchase I ever made.

Two years ago, I bought a new PC with Windows Vista. Yeah, I know. But XP had been pretty reliable.

Within two weeks, the Windows Mail program crashed and Dell and Microsoft initially refused to acknowledge they were responsible for the problem. I finally got them to reinstall it and then avoided it like the plague. I should have returned the computer to Dell at that point.

Six months later, an update provided by Microsoft to Office 2007 crashed the entire program. I was in the middle of edits at this time. It took me half a week to get it fixed and a lot of aggravation.

Several months after that, your own updates kept crashing Vista. The only solution was to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate. Because I did not want to pay you for Windows 7 since Vista sucked, and because you refused to acknowledge that Vista was a bad operating system prone to failure and help out those who had bought a lemon, I used a Windows 7 upgrade disc over Vista. This was installed by a professional at my local repair shop. That cost me more money but at least not to MS.

Obviously, this upgrade was a mistake but given that you would not provide me with Windows 7 and I refused to spend hundreds of dollars to put money in your pocket, I had little choice given I could not afford an iMac or a new PC–the latter of which would put more money in your pocket again.

Fast forward eight months. Yet another MS update crashed the browser system files. After 15 hours on the phone with MS repair people who determined that, yes, the updates had caused the problem and almost of a week with the computer inoperable, I received a Windows 7 repair disc, installed it last Friday and all seemed to be well.

Except that my virus protections and several other programs were disabled. So I tried to re-enable the virus program especially since on IE was working.

And now my computer refuses to boot up at all.

So now I have an inoperable computer once again.

Yes, tech people, MS itself determined they’d caused this new problem with the updates. They acknowledged causing the original MS Office problem. And I don’t even have to justify hating Vista, do I?

I do not use my computer to do anything fancy. I web surf, I do email, I word process. My daughter plays some easy MMORPGs. There’s nothing complicated going on.

In two years, this computer has cost me approximately $1,000. And all these problems. I just got off the phone with my private tech support, for which I pay to have monthly access. They’re good. But they just told they can’t rerun the Windows 7 repair disc because doing so the last time seems to have disabled the CD drive, meaning the computer can’t read the repair disc currently to try a full repair again.

Meantime, my MacBook? About once a week, Safari crashes. In two years. That’s IT.

I realize people love to rebuild and play with PCs. I just want to turn on the damn thing and have it WORK. Not cost me time, which costs me money.

Microsoft, you either owe me a new PC or you need to send me a check to buy a Mac mini. Because your product SUCKS. and you should make reparation, just as any company would when it has a defective product.