The Plus Sides of Windows 10….

It has taken awhile. And I kept switching from Windows 7, Windows 8.1 Pro Pack, and Windows 10 but I’ve finally settled on Windows 10 Professional. It has been said that The Anti-Christ skips every other generation when it comes to OS development. Windows 98 was the first really good operating system. Windows ME was the bastard child of Windows 2000 and Windows 98. And it sucked. It was call Windows Millennium Edition, but it should've been called Windows Malfunctioning Edition. I’m not counting Win2000 in this, as it was not developed for consumer use, and I never used it. Windows XP was great. I used it for the longest of times. Over 10 years. In fact, I still have a Virtual Machine of it for when I have to run something (like a really old game), and it won’t run on Win10. Then there was Windows 8. It was so bad that when Microsoft developed it’s successor that they skipped a number to distance it from Windows 8.

Anyway, here’s what I like about Windows 10:

• The app store. Google Play has it. Spamazon has it for Android. Why not Microsoft? This way, apps distributed by Microsoft (like calendar and email) can be updated without windows update.
• The apps. With Win7, for example, you could Netflix through Windows Media Center. With Windows 10, Windows Media Center is gone, but Netflix is available as an app from the app store. As is Hulu (I myself have upgraded to the ad-free Hulu Plus). And there are a few other video apps. There are also other apps. Like CNN, USA Today, several news organizations…..
• Facebook and Twitter have Windows 10 apps. Which means I no longer have to fire up my browser to respond when I get trolled on Facebook. Though as a side note, I’ve found the best thing to do when you do get trolled is absolutely nothing. They will go away if you just don’t feed them. Something I learned from Usenet…
• The calendar and mail apps. I just realized today that all I have to do is put my Google account (where I keep my contacts and my calendar) in, and now my Google contacts and calendar are automatically populated. Even with the latest version of Outlook 2016, I still have to use a third party app (I use GoContact Sync) to sync my Google Calendar & Contacts. Whereas with Thunderbird, it takes a couple of extensions, but once I install and configure them, I don’t have to do anything else…
• ISO support. During my misadventures on the internet, I’ve downloaded .iso images off the internet, and in the past, I’ve used Gizmo Drive to mount the .iso file like an optical drive to browse what I’ve needed (especially when I’ve installed Visual Studio Express). With Win10, windows explorer supports .iso images natively. Which is good, as I only have Nero 2015, and won’t be able to afford Nero 2016 for a while….
• The start menu. I liked the start menu in WinXP and Win7, and the ability I had to reorganize according to my tastes (and I had my ways of organizing it). With Windows 8/8.1, the start menu was replaced by the metro start screen. I hated it. With Windows 10, a compromise was reached. I have the start menu now. And though I can’t set up and rearrange the folders like I want, I can rearrange the Metro Style tiles as I see fit. And with the November update, there is extra space for tiles to make Windows 10 my own…

All in all, I’m still ‘moving in’ to Windows 10. I haven’t installed any of my Flight Simulators, or any of my MechWarrior games, though I think my Combat Flight Simulator and MechWarrior games will be destined for my WinXP virtual drive. It’s not something that is going to be done overnight. But I have all my hardware drivers installed, and Firefox. So, it’s a work in progress. But I’m still using it.

So, if you're wondering....

Apparently Windows Live Writer will no longer work with Blogger. Some of the rumors I've heard point to a possible open-source release (taken with a grain of salt, however. This is the internet, and it's also the same place that would have you believing that Elvis is alive and Belgium really exists)... I don't know what happened. Apparently Google changed/disco'ed some API that Windows Live Writer was using. Really disappointing, too, as that was what I was using. Tried the Scribefire extension for Firefox, and that waas a no-go. So for now, this blog is going to be written in the browser window. Or on my phone/tablet (I still have them, and they do still work).

Btw, yes I have been tinkering with the themes...

I still got the skills…

I just finished rebuilding/reinstalling my system last night. I started this in July. Once upon a time, I would’ve been able to do this start to finish in 2 1/2 days. And that was a dual boot system with WinME and WinXP. Add an extra day, and I could get Linux working on it as well… Now it’s almost 2 months for one OS. Maybe it’s because I can do so much of what used to do online on my phone and my tablet. The only reason why I even run Windows on my tower is because of Flight Simulator. The only drawback is when I rebuild my Windows system is I also have to wipe the Linux side of my tower as well.

So, the next question, is OpenSuSE, Fedora, or Debian?

Underway on Linux. Again.

I must be a glutton for punishment. Every once in a while, I'll try to install Linux. Usually what will happen is there will be an epic fail within the first two hours, and I'll end up wiping it completely. A couple of times, I've ended up taking the nuke form orbit approach and wiping my entire tower, and starting over with windows and linux. Sometimes it'll last more than two hours, but I'll end up nuking it because I can't the graphics driver to install. Or the tv tuner... But I always keep getting drawn back, called by the Siren's Song of running my computer and sticking it to The Anti-Christ.

Then again, I think I've stated before here that I want my primary OS on my tower to be Linux-based. Of all the distributions I've tried, I keep coming to OpenSuSE. It supports both KDE and Gnome, and I can get it to play nice with all my hardware. I've dabble in Fedora before, but I couldn't get it to mount my windows drive, so I couldn't really 'move in', and it only supported Gnome (if you're migrating from WIndows, KDE is the way to go).

This time, I've gotten past the all essential graphics driver reinstall stage. Two monitors is really important to me, and what has happened in the past is that I could only get it recognize and drive one monitor, or I'd only be able to have the same display on both monitors. Not good. The next things I have to do are install the printer drivers (a little tricky since I'm running the 64-bit, and the only drivers I could find are 32-bit, but I can brute-force it), and the TV tuner (not that big of a deal right now).

So, Hello World. I'm under way on Linux. Again...

The end is near for Windows XP...

Truth in advertising: I'm writing this post about mainly my computer, but I'm writing it from my tablet....

In less than three months, The Anti-Christ will discontinue support for Windows XP. Which means if you're using xp, upgrade now. What Microsoft wants you to do is go out and buy a new computer and/or a new version of the latest incarnation of Windows. But the problem is that when it comes quality, Windows trends to skip generations. Windows 98 was good. Windows ME was Crap (that's probably why I became so computer literate. My very first computer had ME on it). XP was good. Really good (I upgraded as soon as it came out). Windows Vista was called Windows ME, Service Pack 1. Windows 7 was really good (came with my laptops). And Windows 8 is essentially Windows ME, Service Pack 2. Basically they tried to put the touchscreen experience on equipment that doesn't have touchscreens. Abd I'm not to thrilled with the ui experience. If you're absolutely forced to upgrade, look for Windows 7.

As for me, tonight, I'm doing one last system wipe. I'm sticking with XP to the bitter end. I think my next Windows upgrade is going to be when I buy my next computer. But I have my reasons for sticking with XP. All of my hardware is compatible with it abd I have drivers. But the real reason are my games. Some of them are really old, and XP is the most advanced os they'll run under. I don't think security will be an issue, as my Tower sits behind a NAT firewall, and Google Chrome will still support XP for while. Besides with two 1 tB hard drives, there's plenty of space for my new primary os: Linux. It's free, and unlike Windows 8, kde stills has the start menu...

So my neighbor at work…

There’s a portrait studio next to work. And I’ve become acquainted with the manager (it’s a small business). I noticed he had two computers on the front counter: one for actual production , and he had a second one with internet access that he just used to watch youtube. Last week, he did something stupid and downladed a ‘screensaver’. He then asked me to clean up after his misadventures on the internet. Even booting into ‘safe mode’ wouldn’t work. I thought I could try to fix it, but I’ve come to the conclusion that we need to ‘nuke it form orbit’. There is no virus that can survive the ‘format c:’ command. Maybe the next time I go up there (I’m off for the next couple of days), I’ll give it another crack, but I’m just waiting for the owner to bring in his windows disk. I burned a live cd (OpenSuSE KDE), but it didn’t work.

There was another business who wanted me to look at a computer, saying that they needed a cpu or a motherboard replaced (evidently I was a second opinion). I advised them to just replace the whole computer (with the way hardware is evolving, that’s probably the best bet)…

And on to my house: my tower (the WinXP box suddenly wouldn’t let me rename folders). I fixed it temporarily by using to system restore to go back to last week’s windows updates. When I’m not as busy, I have a feeling that a wipe/rebuild is in order. Ugh. I used to do it on a weekly basis when I had my pIII (running both WinME, WinXP, and SuSE). Now it’s just a PITA just to do one.

My laptop has had some issues of late freezing. Going on a wild guess, I unistalled/reinstalled Firefox, deleting all the user data (the only thing I kept were the bookmarks). I then reinstalled my extensions. No issues, so far….

From 3 to 5

As I was moving in to my laptop, I went to download Thunderbird, and was surprised that Thunderbird 5 is already out. Wasn’t it only 3.1 last week. On my OpenSUSE install, 3.1 comes with the distro… Oh, well, the next I log into the tower, I’ll have something else to upgrade.

Last night, I thought about taking XP completely off the tower, but have come to the conclusion that it’s not worth the trouble. My BIOS enables to pick which hard drive to boot off of when I turn the computer on (like having 2+ computers in one tower). And since I have 2 drives in the tower (and I’ve spent the past two nights copying all my key files onto my laptop), I could probably afford to keep windows on it….

BTW, Firefox 5 came out about a week ago. Little is said about it, but keeping your primary browser current is also essential for keeping your computer/network secure.

I’m now running anti-virus on all my computers. With the laptop, it was a no-brainer. If I’m going to take it out of the house, and log on to other wireless networks which I’m not sure are properly firewalled, then should use some sort of anti—virus (usually, I’d just go with a AFDB, but that’s an entirely different entry). On my tower, the only other computer in the apartment is a iMac (and Mac OS X and Windows XP software isn’t exactly compatible with each other). And since I know the router has a firewall in it, I never really paid much attention to AV. For those of you who are wondering, I’m now using Microsoft Security Essentials (who knew that I’d go for a security solution offered by The Anti-Christ?). I used to say go with AVG, but of late they’re appearing to become almost spyware-ish, and I find that annoying….

Anyway, I should be off to bed. Goodnight, Gentles….

Nothing to see here, move along….

Just got the new laptop from Worst Buy. And I’m impressed overall with it. I got an HP factory refurbished model to save a few dollars on the price. My mother had an HP laptop and it completely died on her, so she gave it to me (it was the subject of a couple of postings to this blog, but I couldn’t get it to work. Eventually I just recycled it. I’ve bouncing back an forth between Linux and Windows for the big tower, but my main stumbling block was blogging software. Windows has Windows Live Writer, by far the best blogging software. Ever. (and that says much given my opinion of The Anti-Christ). But I think I’ve found my solution. Forget blogging from my Linux machine, and just use the laptop. It even came with Windows Live Writer preinstalled…

BTW, Hello World.

Making the switch

OK, I’ve figured it out. With the release of Windows Phone 7, pretty much the users of WinMO 6.5 and lower are fucked. The HTC HD2 and the HD& are essentially the same phone with different stickers on the buttons. But it’s still too difficult to cook Windows Phone 7 for the HD2, and I’m not going to take the risk. And besides from what I’ve heard, The Anti-Christ has basically shot itself in the foot (the most popular app is in fact just a shortcut to the YouTube Mobile site).

All the WinMO users are basically left out in the dark. I’ve noticed today that some writers of apps for the older version of windows mobile are now abandoning there projects (et tu, SkyFire? Turning your back on the one market segment that  established your cred?).

So that leave one viable option: Android. The advantage with this is that I no longer have to deal with activesync, since Android syncs through your Google account. Though it means I now have to migrate my contacts and my schedule to Google. But I got it all done, and from now on, my phone will be Andriod first, Windows Mobile second.

For those of you who own an HD2, and want to try something new, go to XDA Developers. If you insist on using windows still, I’d go with an Energy ROM.

For those of you who feel screwed over by Skyfire, try Uzard. It’s from a Korean company, and it performs very well in video sites (it did stall in DailyMotion when I tried it). There’s also Opera Mobile and Opera Mini.

Yet another journal entry type post

Rebuilt my computer the first part of September. Just now got around to configuring Windows Live Writer, one of the few good things The Anti-Christ put out (that and the MechWarrior 4 franchise, which is now available for free, FLight Simulator X, Flight Simulator 2004, the Whole Combat Flight Simulator series….).

It has been said the The HTC HD2 will not get an official Windows Phone 7 upgrade. Which means Igwanarob might get a Windows Phone 7 before I do (AT&T is one of the launch customers for it). The operating term is “official”. The only difference between the currrent HD2 and the forthcoming HD7 (to be offered by T-Mobile) are a few button stickers. That’s it. They’ll both have the same processor, same camera, same 4.3 inch 800 x 480 display… If they can port Android over to it, then they can port Windows Phone 7 too (in fact, it has been done already, though the ROM hasn’t benn publicly released. Yet).

Speaking of Android on my HD2, I’ve noticed that there’s a mobile version of FIrefox out. I’m still playing with it, but so far, I’m sufficiently impressed. When I use Windows Mobile, I’m now an Opera 10 person. Mainly because it’s slightly easier than Internet Exploder. Too bad they killed Fennec. Windows Mobile is still a viable platform (as stigmatized as it is), and I don’t think the masses are going to jump to the new 7 en masse…

The main reason why this blog is so neglected nowadays is that I’m on Facebook more often than not. No, this blog won’t be taken down anytime soon. Facebook is good for embarrasing your boss and posting humiliating pictures of your family. But even with most of my postings going on Facebook, I still need my soapbox in the internet. And this is perfect. Having said that, Facebook recently changed the server interface, for want of a better way of saying it. The Android and iPhone apps were written by Facebook, iirc, and so they were able to deal with it (or they were upgraded). Not the WinMo version. Since it’s published my MicroSoft, it didn’t get the memo, and now the only way to make it work is to log out, and log back in every time you use it. They have said something about a forthcoming update, but I don’t believe it. Instead, I’d suggest the XDA Developers’ Edition…

The Sounders FC are in the playoffs. Again. Not too shabby for your second season. And with the new MLS teams in Portland and Vancouver, the rivalries are sure to become interesting.

And the Seahawks now have something they haven’t had in over two years: a winning record. And they’re on top the division, too. Pete Caroll has changed a lot personel since he came, and it appears to be working. Shit-canning the man-divas on the team and replacing them with players who actually play will do wonders for results. It’s one thing to have the talent. It’s another thing to produce the results. Any idiot can have a mouth, but actions speak louder than words…

Did I mention I like Football as much, if not even more than I like football?

The rain is now picking up again. This weekend we had the first real storm pass through the area. It woke me up at about 5 in morning Sunday. From the sound of the rain hitting the window, I figured it was coming straight against that side of the building. My brother sleeps right underneath his window. And he his window was open… (I learned that lesson a few weeks ago when another storm passed through, though it wasn’t as bad…) With the weather peoples saying that this will be a La Niña year, I’m pretty sure winter will be interesting, to say the least.

Do not panic. Yet again.

There's nothing really important to see here. Just fooling around with Android on my HD2 (yes, I said Android on my HD2). It surprisingly works pretty well. The app store (or as I should say, the Android market) is very well stocked. I can see why every one likes Android. But, deep down, I'm still a Windows Mobile user. But I can have my cake and eat it, too. Windows installs to my phone's main memory, and Android runs off my memory card. It's almost like I can dual-boot, but I have to start Windows when I turn my phone on before I can go into Android.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.3

The mother of all catch up posts. Well, maybe not…

Yes, I know I haven’t been posting that much as of late. I kept thinking it was because I just had one monitor. Then I added another monitor when I got my cheap, twin-headed video card. And I still kept slacking off. Then I thought I’d post more from my phone (you can tell those posts, as I no longer bother to tag those posts). Maybe it’s because just post to Facebook now. But don’t despair. I may not post as often as one would want, but I haven’t forgotten it completely. Anyway, in no particular order, here’s what’s up:

• I finally got a decent TV tuner in my computer. It’s still an ATI based chipset, but there are differences. For instance, no more ATI multimedia center (there were always at least three different programs and restarts involved to set up my old ATI TV wonder pro, which on one occasion was worth a post in it’s own right). The new card, just put the cd-rom in, and you’re good to go. It even has Windoze 7 drivers (from The Anti-Christ). But the one thing that has one me over is the fact that I can run my TV tuner in my second monitor, and not have the computer crash on me. Right now, I have the Sounders game on, and I’m giving my full 90 while writing this.
• I was at Best Buy a couple of week ago, buying a hard drive (yes, I filled up a 250 gig drive. Easily). I just wanted to get a 500 gig drive, and the Best Buy employee went to upsell me to a 1 tb drive. And all he did was point out that they were the same price (same brand, same model). So I got a 1tb hard drive. BTW, I also replaced my DVD burner (went all SATA, and I thought my original one going south on me…). I can now make major computer changes now with unplugging and dismantling the tower (however, I must add a serious do not try that at home, unless you like frying really expensive electronic components….)
• Also getting replaced was my printer. I ran out of ink a time ago, and I stopped using it (it eventually got pulled and put in the closet). I bought new ink for it recently, and discovered that it was broken. My mom upgraded her printer, and gave me her old one. It could still print, and it had ink, but I had to feed each individual sheet into it. Until my father surprised me with this.
• Cliff Lee got traded. Being a pitching ace is no guarantee in The New World Order (Mind-Control Division). I care more the Sounders FC than the Mariners…
• Miguel Montano just got a red card. Not a smart move for your first start…
• The summer weather has finally arrived. By tradition, the sunshine didn’t come until July 5. It was a little bit cooler today, but I think the summer weather will stick around until right before Labor Day weekend, when it will switch back to rain. Oh, and will rain on SeaFair weekend…
• I heard somewhere that 1 in 4 Americans don’t know who we declared independence from. I’ll fill you in on the truth: we declared independence from Mongolia when George Washington and Abraham Lincoln teamed to defeated Rodan.
• New Twilight is out. I’m still neither Team Edward nor Team Jacob. I’m still Team Grandpa Munster.
• Steve Caroll has a new flick out. It should be good. This was after all Gary from The Ambiguously Gay Dou…
• The Sounders are still getting some good chances. Shorthanded…

It’s Alive!

My mother had a laptop. An HP Pavilion dv 2000. One of these. Yes, it had issues. Since, I’m her tech support desk, I spent a good deal of time trying to fix it.  Finally, it just died. I tried to restore it, and the display kept going dark, and we were both getting fustrated with it. And she decided to finally replace it. Got a new desktop with Windows 7. And she gave me the laptop. I tried the restore DVDs. And I got them to work. After a half dozen attempts (it kept hanging on me, or it would just die).

So I now have a semi-functioning laptop. With a bunch of known issues and an expired warranty. But a free yet crappy laptop is still a free one. Know I just have to tame Vista… I just don’t trust The Anti-Christ. They shit-canned the one group that didn’t put out crap (and that was the fine people behind the Flight Simulator)…

EDIT: It died today. Attempts at resuscitation have been unsuccessful so far…

Coke with BSOD

I was at a local mall recently, and noticed this at a nearby coke machine. I've heard of all sorts of bonuses that may come with Coca- Cola, but I'll pass on the Blue Screen Of Death with mine. Maybe The Anti-Christ bought out Coca-Cola…

Technorati Tags: Coca-Cola,The Anti-Christ

Well it took only about 17 years….

But The Anti-Christ appears to have now published the patch that China was using in their attack on Google. I wonder what the hurry was for….

Anyway, Microsoft’s approach to safe web borowsing and avoiding spoofed websites is simple: “Stop using Firefox and use Internet Explorer 8.”

BTW, Firefox 3.6 is out. Off to go update….

Technorati Tags: Firefox,The Anti-Christ,Internet Exploder

Tonight’s adventures

When I had my BlackBerry, I had a choice when it came to my PC Bluetooth connection. I could:

• Not use the Bluetooth software that came with the dongle, and be able to sync my BlackBerry wirelessly, or
• I could use the software that came with it, and be able to use my Bluetooth stereo headphones with the computer. Owing to pairing issues with my headphones and my BlackBerry, I wouldn’t be able to pair the headphones with both…

I chose to go with the latter (my BlackBerry came with headphones anyway, so I used the Bluetooth headphones with my computer). But tonight, I decided to see if I can pair my Windows Mobile phone up with my computer. A couple of starts and stops later, and I can sync my phone with my computer, and still be able to use the audio services (it’s complicated, but with the crackberry, I had to choose between one or the other, because RIM and The Anti-Christ are id10ts when it comes to product compatibility)…

BTW, I finally got Windows Mobile 6.5 to install and work on my phone.

Technorati Tags: My Computer,RIM,The Anti-Christ,Windows Mobile 6.5,Bluetooth

Trying new things…

As I’ve siad before many a time, I have a Shadow. The 2007 one. It came with Windows Mobile 6.0 on it. After about 7 months or so, I discovered a Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM that would work on it (in a nut-shell, it’s a port of the HTC S740 aka the HTC Rose). Anyway, I like it enough that it’s what I usually run nowadays on my phone.

A few months ago, though, somebody ported Windows Mobile 6.5 to the Shadow. Yes, this may be a stretch (the phone’s been officially disco’ed for over a year, and the processor is bit too slow), but there’s still development work going on for it…. The only drawback is that everytime I try it, I encounter some issue, and I end up going back to my previous ROM.

Anyway, I’m giving 6.5 another try. It’s a good thing I’ve got everything backed up…

Technorati Tags: Windows Mobile 6.5

It’s here…

I use a 2007 T-Mobile Shadow. It came with Windows Mobile 6.0 on it. Until one day when found a Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM for it. Yes, I voided the warranty, but there never was one to begin with (I bought the phone used). There are a couple of WIndows Mobile 6.5 ROMS out there, but I really don’t like them. But the one thing I did like with WinMO 6.5 was that it had the Windows Mobile Marketplace in it.

Well, last week, The Anti-Christ announced that it was making the marketplace available to all 6.x versions. So I can now have the Windows Mobile versions of MySpace and Facebook. and a buck of other crap that I’m probably not going to use….

Technorati Tags: The Anti-Christ

Another new phone….

My T-Mobile Shadow finally died. It didn’t really die. I slid it open at work, and then I had to go take care of a customer, so I closed it, and I heard something snap. The spring that holds the keypad open or closed broke, and for the past two weeks, I’ve been using a rubber band to hold it together.

Today, I got paid. So I went to Wally World. And I was looking at the T-Mobile selections they had there, and I ended up ordering something I though I never would: A CrackBerry Curve (more precisely, a  CrackBerry Curve 8320) It’s a bit different than my previous WIndows Mobile phones. But then again, RIM probably does a better job than The Anti-Christ.

Unlike my Motorola Z3 and my Shadow, I bought this phone new. So I got a protection plan for it, because I don’t have the $500+ to replace it….

Technorati Tags: CrackBerry,The Anti-Christ,WIndows Mobile

Skyfire is out!

Hello, gentles all. If your phone is powered by Symbian or Windows Mobile, then listen up. There is a new browser out there. It's called Skyfire.

Basically it can do anything that the grown-up browsers on your computer can do. You know, like YouTube, Hulu, flash, etc. You can also zoom in and out, and it renders webpages like they appear on a regular computer.  Granted The Anti-Christ hasn’t really fückered up Internet Exploder in windows mobile yet, I’m not taking any chances. Although the Facebook app they put out isn’t really that shabby… I hear they’re also working on a mobile version of Firefox (called Fennec), but everytime I try to install it on my T-Mobile Shadow, it just doesn’t work…

The first paragraph of the post was written in Skyfire. The rest was finished Windows Live Writer…

Technorati Tags: The Anti-Christ,Skyfire,Windows Mobile