Handpicked Software

Maybe there’s a Windows user out there who can explain this Windows dialog to me… Every time I launch Virtual PC (which is only when I can’t avoid doing so; for example, to run Schwab StreetSmart Pro or one of my chess training programs), I get the above dialog: Cancel, Try Again, Continue. I get the message because at some time in the past, I had a Total Training DVD in my drive and I removed it after quitting Virtual PC, which saves its state (one of the nice features about Virtual PC; you don’t have to shut it down). If I launch Virtual PC again and there’s no disk in the drive, I get the enigmatic Cancel, Try Again, Continue message.

Here’s what irks me: obviously, Try Again is the wrong answer, since there’s no disk in the drive. But if Try Again is the wrong answer, what’s the right answer? Cancel? Continue? It doesn’t seem to matter. Whether I click on Cancel or Continue, Windows always does the same thing. The Windows XP Critical Stop sound plays, the window disappears for a second, and then it pops back up and asks the same dumb question. My cat does the same thing every morning—bangs the door to the bedroom to wake us up, gets yelled at, bangs the door again, gets yelled at, and finally gives up after the third or fourth try.

So here’s a question every Windows user should ask themselves: Cancel? Try Again? Or, Continue?