# Reboot Your Life **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650 "2013-02-28T18:27:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/21 "2013-03-01T04:49:37Z")
Life is OK but what the heck, I’ll try rebooting. > [@](#): > > A PROBLEM HAS BEEN DETECTED AND WINDOWS HAS BEEN SUT DOWN TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER. > IF THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU’VE SEEN THIS ERROR SCREEN RESTART YOUR COMPUTER. IF THIS SCREEN APPEARS AGAIN FOLLOW THESE STEPS: > CHECK FOR VIRUSES ON YOUR COMPUTER. REMOVE ANY NEWLY INSTALLED HARD DRIVES OR HARD DRIVE CONTROLLERS. CHECK YOUR HARD DRIVE TO MAKES SURE IT IS PROPERLY CONFIGURED AND TERMINATED. RUN CHKDISK /F TO CHECK FOR HARDDRIVE CORRUPTION, AND THEN RESTART YOUR COMPUTER. > TECHNICAL INFORMATION: > \*\*\*STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF7B6D528, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0X00000000) **FUCK!!!** ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/22 "2013-03-01T06:24:48Z")
I guess 2001. That was the year my life went to hell. TBH, the truth is September of 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/23 "2013-03-01T10:27:44Z")
January 1976. I made a choice that I’d change if I could. It’s true that you sometimes don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/24 "2013-03-01T18:11:14Z")
I’d go back to August 1989, just before I started college. If I knew what I know now, I could get together with my wife much earlier than I did and save her from the abusive relationship that she had before we got together. Also it would be fun to relive my college days. Finally as others have said investing in Microsoft until 2000, then switching my assets to gold until I go back to a diversified stock fund in March 2009, would probably leave me with a nice nest egg. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/25 "2013-03-01T18:29:48Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > I’d go back to August 1989, just before I started college. If I knew what I know now, I could get together with my wife much earlier than I did and save her from the abusive relationship that she had before we got together. Also it would be fun to relive my college days. > > Finally as others have said investing in Microsoft until 2000, then switching my assets to gold until I go back to a diversified stock fund in March 2009, would probably leave me with a nice nest egg. Reminder: You can only go back to January 1st at the start of a decade. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/26 "2013-03-01T18:39:28Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I am not sure I would do it now because I somehow recovered from all the mistakes I made and am a stronger and wiser person for it. If I just wanted to avoid some of those major problems in the first place, I would pick 1991. It was the year I graduated from high school and started college. I could do anything from that point and avoid some things that didn’t work out. I can narrow it down for myself to about a day or so- a day on either side of Aug 29th, 1991. I think it was that afternoon at about 3:30 or so when Dad said “Have fun and don’t do anything stupid.” and left me at my dorm immediately before my freshman year of college started. I’d choose that point because that’s the first point at which I was truly out from under my parents’ thumb, and before I’d done or not done anything I’d like to change. Mainly though, it would be to capitalize on lost opportunities, rather than avoid the consequences of any stupid decisions. There was a lot of stuff I didn’t do, or chose the responsible, un-fun path, even when it didn’t matter. Now with 21 years of hindsight, there were a lot of situations where choosing the fun option wouldn’t have made things any better, and at least it would have been fun, rather than just being miserable and still ending badly. If I had to choose Jan 1 at the start of a decade, then I suppose it would be Jan 1, 1990. I’d still have to suffer through part of my junior and my senior years of high school, but I’d rather do that than miss the opportunity to do undergrad all over again. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/27 "2013-03-01T19:04:38Z")
Well, I got married May of 1991 and in May of 2001 my husband announced he wanted a divorce, so I’m fine with starting fresh from either. I think I’ll pick 1991 and never marry the guy. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/28 "2013-03-01T21:04:05Z")
1/1/91. I had my first nervous breakdown in '96, so I’d go back and correct all the things that I could to help prevent that, from interpersonal relation issues with my mother to financial mistakes that were made in an attempt to rectify my insanity. Also, I didn’t lose my virginity until I was 24, so I’d be all over offers prior to that. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/29 "2013-03-01T22:12:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If you could go back in time to the beginning of any decade in your lifetime and start fresh would you do it, and if so, what decade would you pick? For the purpose of this exercise the refresh point would be 0001 hours, January 1st, XXX1, and you would retain any memories you currently have. There’s a pretty good book with _(almost)_ this premise _(Replay by Ken Grimwood)_ which might be worth checking out if you find this sort of thing interesting. As for myself I’d go back to 1991 when I started secondary school. I imagine with my current knowledge and mad skillz I could set my life off in a different direction. My confidence was almost destroyed by bad experiences in school and it took me a very long time to get it back to an acceptable level. If I could have told 11 year old me what he would be doing in 20 years time he would never have believed it, I think if I had my time again I’d start my life shifting onto its current track in my late teens/early twenties and not my late twenties/early thirties as actually happened. Or I would quite possibly join the RAF in my late teens, something I contemplated for a long time but never actually did _(for various reasons, lack of confidence being a major one)_. ---
**Author:** ![mage-girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mage-girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mage-girl)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650/30 "2013-03-02T04:09:54Z")
There are two possible points I’d like to go back to: 1. When the (seemingly) nice young man I’d been dating dumped me, he asked if we should still see each other in a social context (we had some overlap in friends). In the reboot I would say not just “no” but “hell no” and “GTFO” for good measure. 2. Right after leaving my last full-time job, I was deciding what to do next. I had had a hard time at that job and took a lot of FMLA leave. In the reboot I would apply for Social Security Disability right away and not wait 1 1/2 years, cursing myself as lazy and unmotivated as I looked for work like crazy. These are kind of downers. I’m sorry. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reboot-your-life/651650.md?page=1)