After just under two months, I finally have my desktop back from BestBuy and it’s good to go.  Apparently, it was the video card that needed to be replaced (duh, what else was it that made the screen shut off with the monitor and PC still on?).  They are not that reliable and I wish I learned that before I purchased both my desktop and laptop from there.  Regardless, my one-year warranty still covered it and they even installed Windows 7 on it for free, so I didn’t have to pay a cent (other than for Windows 7 since that was my choice).  So, now my desktop is good as new, with Windows 7 permanently in it, and clean with no crapware or other bloatware, etc.  

Wow, I forgot how fast The Sims 3 is on it!  I can now play more frequently since it ran a little choppy on my laptop.  And this is on max settings (except that the lot detail section is set to 3 instead of 16 but only because I need a better video card).  Now I just need an HD monitor (I still have a CRT) and I’m all set. 

However, I am not patching my game to 1.8/2.3 for obvious reasons.  I will wait for a fix for that.  I still recommend for others to do the same if they have issues with the latest patch.  And the speed issue is indeed package-format-CC-related because my game is just as fast with WA installed than without it (for those who said otherwise).    There is not even the slightest difference, so that’s good.  But of course, that’s old news.  I just can’t wait for the next fix, though.  Happy Simming!  :)