So I wiped my laptop last night….

Well, I started it. Using the system restore set, because of drivers. Unfortunately, it leaves me with Windows 10 1511, and for some reason I can’t just throw the 1909 install flash drive in it (like my Tower’s last rebuild). So it’s off to Windows Update for 3 hours, and I got it to 1809. Maybe tonight, I’ll get it to Windows 10 Pro 1909 (like my tower). And yes, I have paid for the upgrade from Home to Pro…

But on the bright side, I have also backed up my documents onto my external drive, which I haven’t done since June (I have two hard drives in my tower, and one drive is my storage drive – it is never formatted. The ‘C’ drive which is my installation drive is).

But while my laptop updates itself I think it’s time for my now-weekly Target run. Probably the last of my Christmas shopping, which is easier to budget for since I paid all my bills last night.

Another Weekend...

I was supposed to work last (Sunday) night. But I was feeling a bit under the weather, and I had enough sick time accrued to cover my shift. So I called out...

So my weekend actually starts tonight. And I paid my bills. And I still have enough left over top live off of, and finish my Christmas shopping...

Tonight's agenda: wipe the laptop, and watch the Big Bash League (yes, I'm now a Cricket fan).

The last day of my vacation

So I’m now starting the last day of my vacation. What did I do? Absolutely nothing. I didn’t go anywhere. I was going to watch the Monday Night Football Doubleheader (which was the official reason why I took a couple of days off), but I overslept the first game, and I’m that big of a Raiders fan. I was going to watch some CPL T20 cricket (I even tried setting my DVR for the matches) but the listings on WillowTV are messed up, so I missed half the matches.

Well, I was semi-productive. A couple of weeks ago, I got PO’ed at my tower, so I wiped it and reinstalled Windows 10. And Sunday & Monday night, I finished reinstalling all of my games. BTW, that’s a real pain in the ass if you have Epic or Twitch, since the only way to reinstall them is to completely download them again. Over 300 gB’s worth… At least with Steam, Origin, Uplay, and Gog, there are ways to back everything up.

Oh, and I turned on my laptop today. First time in a couple of months. Mainly to run some updates, and to charge the battery…

I guess on my last vacation day I should do something tonight. After all, I still need to do my laundry…

From 3 to 2

Up until earlier this week I had three lines with Sprint. 2 were for cell phones, and 1 was for my usb modem. I never used the modem. Well, I did on occaision. But for the most part, when I had access to a flat surface to pull out my laptop (a 17 inch model), I could also find a good wi-fi signal. And if I need to use my sprint LTE service, I just pulled out my phone.

Anyway, last night, I realized that not only had I paid off my modem, but I wasn’t using it, and I don’t need to pay the $30+ a month extra for a service I really didn’t need. It took three tries and I had to change my password, but I was able to cancel the line.

Though after I cancelled my line, I did get a survey spam with a specific emphasis on using chat with business (I had used Facebook messaging on one occaision to try this). It was a pretty sketchy spam. So much I reported it as a phishing attack.

Another first tonight…..

All the times I’ve had Windows 10 on my tower, whenever I’ve decided to wipe it, it was by my choice. Usually because I wanted to go back to a previous version of windows. My days of rendering Windows completely unbootable were behind me. I thought.

Until tonight. Somehow I successfully managed to make WIndows 10 unbootable on my Tower. Fortunately, I have two things going for me: A recent backup, and my laptop. So I’m now wiping the tower again. And I have a laptop that I can use until I get the tower ready (currently I’m restoring my Steam archive to my laptop)…

My last day off before Christmas….

Did most of my Christmas shopping last week. It has all arrived. But for the sake of procrastination, I’m not wrapping it yet. And I still have to get my brother, my father, and my grandmother their presents. I’m putting it off till the last minute….

Today was my last day off before Christmas. I decided yesterday to wipe my laptop. It was taking close to an hour for it to boot up to a desktop, and I decided to nuke it form orbit. It took quite a bit longer to reinstall the OS than it does my tower. And I have to do it twice (first time with the system restore drive, then with the current version of Windows 10). But my tower still is in order, so I still have my main computer….

Had it for a week or so….

Ok, the Windows 1809 update came out last week. It was installed on the laptop right away. Took about 4 hours to install, but it eventually finished. I didn’t have any of the issues that people are reporting with files being deleted (and since my primary back-up is a usb hard drive, I can avoid permanent data loss. Usually). After upgrading my laptop, I used the Media Creation Tool to prepare a thumb drive to install it on the Tower. Again there was no data loss issue on the tower, since I hadn’t yet restored my data. There a couple of improvements over previous versions that I like. Namely the your phone companion app. There’s something to be said about being able to check your text messages at the computer (and reply to them) while your phone is across the room. There’s also the no longer needing to explicitly give administrator permissions just to manually move something over to the ‘program files’ folder, or to place a shortcut in the start menu manually.

So far the only drawback was trying to get my virtual machines working. I use VMware Player. First I had to enable virtualization (took two tries on the BIOS screen). Then I had to disable device guard/Hyper-V (about a dozen reboots and too many PowerShell entries). But I got them to work, and I do not anticipate any further issues when I restore my games….

This update looks like a keeper…

I still have one….

A while back I wiped both my tower and my laptop at once. I copied my files over to both, but I left the laptop alone afterwards, and concentrated on putting the tower back to working order. And then I changed my mind on the tower, so I put a different version of windows on it. And got it completely installed. And then decided to go back to what I was running in the first place.

Anyway, yesterday, I realized I still have a laptop. So, I guess I’m setting up the laptop now….

The end of 7 year relationship...

7 years ago, my tower at the time started just turning off. Some summary Google searching revealed that my CPU was overheating. I cleaned off the heat sink, and I was good to go. But while I was troubleshooting it, I also went to Worst Buy, and looked at laptops. I saw one that looked good, so I applied for the Worst Buy card. And got approved. Ordered the laptop. 3 1/2 years later, the Tower failed. I requested a limit increase, was approved, and got my current Tower. Through the years, I kept using the card, and they kept raising the limit....

I finally realized a couple of months ago that my ever increasing balances were not good for my financial health, and I cut up my cards. Including my Worst Buy card. And tonight, I finally contacted Citibank, and closed the account. It's going to be a couple of years before I finally pay it off.

Making the decision to cut up your credit cards is never easy. Going cold turkey is never fun. I just hope I'm not over my head already....

What did I do this weekend?

Basically I installed Windows 8.1 on a whim. Don’t ask me why I did it. But there’s just something with the Windows 10 April update, that I don’t like. Maybe it’s the lack of the Game Explorer that’s been around since Windows Vista. Maybe it’s the new camera permission that’s fucked up my TV tuner. But it all works in 8.1. Maybe I’ll give the April update a try down the road.

Actually I’m surprised at how much I got done in the past 2 days. Normally when I install Windows, I start from scratch, wiping everything on the hard drive. That’s what I did. And I got pretty far. Normally what I did in two days takes over two weeks. And I also went to the Credit Union and deposited the rent money (and paid the rent, too)….

And when I finish this, I still have the laptop to finish…

It’s here….

The April Windows Update is here. It’ll roll out through Windows Update on May 8th. I jumped the gun however, and I manually downloaded it for both my tower and my laptop. So, they’re now both running the latest updates. And I made sure the drivers were up to date, as well.

Now to put Linux on my tower. I’m going to try for OpenSuSE as a dual boot with Windows 10. I gotta have something to do on my day off. After all, the Mariners are off today. But tomorrow, they’re playing at The Safe, with King Felix on the mound. I’ll be watching it on my 55”….

A not recommended use for a garbage can….

A laptop stand. Usually when I’m at the desk, I use the Tower. But there were times when the tower was down, or I had to do maintenance on the laptop. And so I set the laptop on the wastepaper basket next to my desk. Not really the best for the laptop or for keeping my room clean. So, I’ve invested in a portable desk (think TV tray) to set the laptop on over the wastepaper basket. This way, the laptop is not resting directly on garbage, and I can throw stuff out again. And it’s foldable, so if I want to watch the 55” set from my easy chair, it’s not the end of the world.

Another Tuesday off…

Day off today. Usual stuff. Did laundry (currently in the dryer). Main thing I did today was installing the fenders on my bike.Took a few minutes with a 4mm hex to install the front fenders. The rear fender/cargo rack just clamps to my seat post (it’s a quick release. Also with the rear fender came two reflectors, so I can use my old cargo rack, if I actually had to carry stuff. I had to raise my seat up to make enough space on the seat post, so after I installed the rear rack, I took the bike for a test ride in the apartment building parking lot, and I can still ride it.

If you remember I had tried running Windows 8.1 and gave up on it after encountering issues trying to restore my Steam games. So last week I went with Windows 10. And I also tried a different approach. Instead of using Steam’s backup/restore feature, I simply copied the Steam program directory from my laptop over to my tower. Problem solved….

Almost a record….

I’ve had Windows 8.1 on my Tower for over a week. And we’re done. The issue de jour was when I restored my Steam backups. But my workaround for that was simple. Just copy the entire Steam installation from my laptop. When I went to restore my Origin games, my system froze. And then crashed. I’m now currently backing up certain files. And then I’ll probably go to Windows 10. Why not? It works on my laptop…

Try, Try, Try Again

Well, the first attempt at putting Windows 8.1 back on my tower went well at first. Got it installed, debloated, upgraded to Windows 8.1 Pro, resized the partition, and got the updates installed. And then I couldn’t open the Windows Store. I tried all my tricks, and no luck. So, I’m starting over.

I guess it’s a good thing that I have a laptop….

Finished….

Day 2 of 3 day Christmas break is over. And today, I’ve finished rebuilding my laptop. Tomorrow, we go out to Karen’s for the actual Christmas gathering. Though I’ve already given my brother his Christmas present. He got the Harry Potter Box Set on Blu-Ray….

Both my computers are equal now

Today, I set up my laptop’s TV Tuner. Now there is nothing that my tower can do that my laptop can’t do. Though since my tower has twice the hard drive space, and there are a couple of programs that are activated on my tower than my laptop. But I can now watch TV and Blu-Rays on both devices.

Now I just have to remember to keep both devices current…

Another day, another wipe…

This time, it’s the laptop. I’m not trying anything new. It’s still going to run the current version du jour of Windows 10 (currently Fall Creators update). The reason why I’m doing this is I want my account name to be the same across my computers (it’s easier for me to back-up and restore my files). I’m also applying what I’ve learned from installing software in my tower (what to install, what not to).

I’ve also purchased a USB TV tuner for it. So now, my laptop will be capable of doing anything that my tower can do. My tuner does come with an antenna, and I’ve ordered a splitter and a length of coax cable so I can hook it up to the box…

As previously mentioned….

My laptop is now running Windows 10 Pro. When I run Windows 10 on my tower, this is the version I run (since I bought the upgrade to Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center for it 2 weeks before Win10 came out), and I used that to upgrade to Windows 10, I use Windows 10 Pro in my tower.  When I got my laptop, it came with only Windows 10 Home, and so I had to bite the bullet and pay the $110 and change to upgrade it…

My midweek weekend…

Yesterday and today were my 1st days off since Thanksgiving. This year was my first thanksgiving where I had to work. But I sitll survived Black Friday #23.

If you may recall, I did all of my Christmas shopping 2 weeks ago. So, yesterday I ended up sleeping till two. Got a phone call from Mrs. Fields to readjust some prices, so I edited the price list. And then he wanted me to come up to the store to print it out. And I finished reinstalling all of my games on my tower for the umpteenth time.

Today, I went up to Mrs Fields. Mainly it was to print out the new price list. Then it was to adjust the cash register. Ordered a takeout lunch from Red Robin. But more importantly, I got out of the house. I had to rebuild my accounts in Mozilla Thunderbird in the tower, so I also went ahead and did that in the laptop, too. Oh, and I upgraded my laptop to Windows 10 Pro as well…

But, my weekend is soon to end. It’s time to pull my laundry out of the dryer…