technology

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I didn’t have to wait for Microsoft

Posted by Photonstopper on June 5, 2013
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Image: Windows 8 desktop screen shot.

What’s this? Windows 8 with a Start Menu?!

As a very experienced user of Microsoft’s Windows operating system (OS), and a tech guy, I felt it important to give Windows 8 a try. I installed Windows 8 on a middle-aged Toshiba Satellite laptop computer that had previously run Windows Vista, and Windows 7. The laptop does not have a touch screen.

My main issue(s) with Windows 8 as delivered center around the lack of a Windows-style Start Menu. The Start Menu is the launch pad for virtually everything one would want to do on a computer outside of running applications from desktop shortcuts. In previous versions of Windows users could click on the Start Menu, then select applications or explore sub-menus to complete an action. Say you want to change certain settings in the System or Security, or check and modify a Hardware setting: go to the Start Menu, click Control Panel, and select what you want to work on.

With Windows 8 the user needs to Search for just about anything they want to do beyond the basics. If you don’t happen know the name of the action you need to complete, well, you have to start guessing. If you don’t know a feature or setting is even available, well, I guess you’ll never use it; you don’t know to even search for it. Reminds me of Microsoft’s own TV ads for their Bing vs. Google search on the theme of deciding vs. searching. Thing is, you really can’t decide if you don’t know the choices, and you can’t really search if you don’t know what you’re looking for! I guess that is simple but not very useful.

So I wanted my Start Menu back.

Image: Screen shot from Windows 8 - Start8 showing Start Menu.

The Stardock Start8 Start Menu on my Windows 8 computer.

Enter Stardock.

Stardock is a software company that’s been around since 1991 and makes nifty applications that help users get more out of their computers. They created Start8 and yes, its purpose is to give Windows 8 users the Start Menu they need if they are running a computer and not a tablet.

For a mere $4.99 I now have a Start Menu replete with my less-used applications on a list, direct access to the Windows Control Panel, easy access to system utilities, in short, it makes Windows 8 into a good desktop OS for anyone above the level of Beginner!

And I didn’t have to wait for Microsoft to issue Windows 8.1 — due later this year — to bring back the Start Menu.

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Third OS for my old laptop PC

Posted by Photonstopper on November 11, 2012
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20121111-164342.jpg

Still ticking is the Toshiba Satellite A215 I bought new in September 2010, its life extended now using a Samsung 830 solid-state drive (SSD) and Windows 8.

Now, there was nothing wrong with the original mechanical hard drive except for the typical long boot time. And there was nothing wrong with Windows 7, except that I didn’t have installation disks (darned “instant upgrade”). The combination of things, however, called out for a change of course: I would install the SSD “bare” and make a fresh operating system (OS) install. Since I’d have to pay for Windows 7 — again — I decided to reinstall the computer’s original Vista Home Premium and install Windows 8 for the low, low introductory upgrade price of $39.99.

It took all day. First the lousy Toshiba restore process included all of the original bloatware — stuff I didn’t want originally and certainly not now! That took more than an hour. The good part of that restore is that it restored use of the Toshiba’s built-in LAN port, apparently broken by some previous driver update.

My “immediate gratification” download of Windows 8 took, oh, probably about six hours! Fortunately I could walk away and let the file dribble down, stopping by once in a while to look at the estimated time remaining and heave a sigh.

Once downloaded, Windows 8 installed quickly and without error. I installed the few Windows updates waiting, and was good to go!

The SSD transformed the laptop’s user experience with power-on to logged on in less than a minute; I love the thing. The machine makes less heat now, its internal fan runs mostly at low speed, and I suspect battery life is proportionately improved but I haven’t tested that.

Windows 8 is truly made for tablets, no doubt about it. But I like the freshness of its design, even like the lock screen (shown above), and beneath it all I see Windows 7’s DNA; I feel very comfortable once back at the desktop, behind the tiled interface.

Best of all, for less than the price of a Kindle Fire, I have a speedy, fully-functional notebook computer with a full-size keyboard ready to work with me for some time to come: Vista > Windows 7 > Windows 8 – the third OS for my old laptop PC.

Testing The App

Posted by Photonstopper on September 8, 2010
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I’ve just downloaded the WordPress iOS app for my Apple iPod Touch. Writing a full blog entry on the tiny onscreen keyboard is agony. Writing and managing comments? Hmmmm… It has possibilities. Besides, it’s free! Thanks, WordPress!

UPDATE: The WordPress iOS App officially sucks and has been deleted from my iPod Touch. It repeatedly hung, failed to recognize and hold my authentication information, and even required a hard reset of my Touch on one occasion. Blech!

Finally a helpful error message!

Posted by Photonstopper on March 26, 2008
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As an IT practitioner I see a lot of strange things: Computers that behave in bizarre ways… users that behave in bizarre ways. I've never seen the like of the following, reportedly an actual error message that appeared on the screen of a printer at someone else's shop:

On the status panel of an HP LaserJet 4200tn printer:

WARNING: DEMON POSSESSED

After many years of doing this kind of work I can say that the message in question is possibly the most accurate one I've seen… if one believes in demons, anyway! So now we know who to call for help –not HP repair– an exorcist!

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QotD: Computer Recycling

Posted by Photonstopper on November 25, 2007
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Have you ever recycled an old computer or laptop?  Where did you take it, and what steps did you take to protect your personal information?

The data aspect of this question is really pretty easy. With any PC that I dispose of, so long as the hard drive works, I simply run Darik's Book and Nuke. The hard drive is wiped of the licensed OS, applications, and all data that ever existed on it. If the hard drive doesn't work, I tear it apart and physically destroy it. Then it's tossed. I sleep well knowing my data are safely removed or inaccessable. Then there's the hardware…

The recycling aspect of this question is the worst! Even when you, in good conscience, deliver a computer to a group, company, or agency that is supposed to "recycle" it, there is a really good chance that bad things will happen. The computer hardware may wind up as someone else's environmental problem instead of being properly disassembled, materials recycled, and safely disposed of. The issue of proper disposal of electronics is a real and growing environmental concern for the whole world and needs serious attention — much of this junk winds up in Third World countries. I agonize over this every time I get rid of some old device –computer or not– but just try my best to do the right thing. As of now, about all I can do is turn the thing over to local government and hope they get the job done right.

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