Dug out a fossil

In computer terms, it's close to a fossil. My old Acer Aspire 5735 laptop.  It was relegated to the closet, not just because of it being limited with 4gb of ram, but because it kept overheating and shutting down.

I took it out, booted it up, and it actually boots up fast.  I updated a few things, but not the OS (it's running Win 7 64bit Pro, and please don't nag me about upgrading to Win 10. I have plenty of security for it) But that overheating problem.

I remembered that we got some thermal paste when we were building the two boxes (Alan's and mine). I removed the back while he was finding the thermal paste, and then he took off the fan with built on heatsink. Cleaned all the old thermal paste off, and replaced it with maybe a smidge more than what was originally on the CPU.  I got it currently downloading Windows Defender updates, while watching a movie on DVD.  That area that would get scorching hot to the touch is just warm.

I have to remember that it only has 4gb of ram onboard, and has to share it with the graphics card (note to self, I should check for driver update for it).  I've gotten so used to The Beast with all its bells and whistles.  It is limited, but within those limitations, it seems to be working just fine.  After Windows Defender is finished updating, I will try using On1 Photo 10. Graphics editing used to make it seriously overheat then shut down.

It's my computer, is it? Bull$hit!

After weeks of Corel support telling me it was my computer, or my other software that was preventing WinDVD12 to play disc folders, guess who just put out an updated that "Fixes known issues"

My computer, huh?  Yeah, only because Corel had massive bugs in it.

But yes, it's always easier for them to blame the users' hardware, or other software.

I am seriously torn between which photo raw editing program to use, that isn't Adobe.

I love On1 PhotoRaw, but the stand alone has problems that seem to crop up with every iteration since before it was name for years (aka on1 2018, 2019 etc etc) 

With the latest version, On1 PhotoRaw 2020, when using it as a stand alone, my graphics tablet is almost unusable with the local adjustment brushes. At first I thought it was because I was watching a video on 2nd monitor, so I shut that down. And I made sure nothing else was playing/running other than ordinary computer programs.

The second the stylus tip touched the tablet, not only did the cursor move glacially slow, if at all, but the program would have the "Not Responding" in the program window frame. When that vanished, SOMETIMES what I was trying to do succeeds, but more often than not, I end up with some weird brush stroke adjustment somewhere it doesn't belong.

That being typed, if I use On1 PhotoRaw 2020 as a PLUGIN with Photoshop, I don't get those horrible slow downs.  But having to the the Raw adjustments, then punt the JPG into Photoshop, shut down On1, only to launch it as a plugin isn't a very efficient workflow

DxO PhotoLab 3 standalone.  About the same price to buy/upgrade as On1.  And I am sad to say that I can do all the adjustment brushes I want without it turning  my computer into an 8088.  I might not have all my nifty presets and custom brushes in it (yet) but performance-wise, it's much better than On1 2020 Standalone.

Wow, I remember when having a 10mb hdd was a lot of room.

Today, I got my fully functioning Windows 1903 (build 18362.239) that was on a small 500gb drive, onto a 2tb drive.  All is working. The only issue I had was RoboForm AI whining about it not being activated.  Seeing as Windows 10 is the only place I have this version of Robo AI on it, I just reactivated it, disregarding the "this will deactivate from the other machine!"

Cloning your HDD to a larger HDD or even to an SSD shouldn't be so fekking fiddly. But it was. After two days of trial and error (making sure to NOT do anything that would endanger the 500gb drive) it's done! 

Wow, I remember when having a 10mb hdd was a lot of room. 

Another computer, another Win10 update

Windows 10 updated on Wing's computer, and just like with mine, the latest update well and truly killed off Windows Media Center. At first, he kinda got upset with us about it, that he liked the computer the way it was, didn't want any updates. I had to explain to him that with Win 10, you don't have the option to NOT update. You can put it off for a week, but it will still end up updating.

I tried to get WMC to work, and it would.. partially. It would scan the channels, load the EPG, but when you clicked on a channel, it would shut down. I did everything I my bag of tech tricks to get it work, short of installing a VM, and nothing worked.

I ended up installed NextPVR on his computer. It's free (donations are appreciated by not necessary. Since we are both using it, would be a good thing to do) Scanned for channels twice, found 31. Set up recording directory, and showed him how to use it.

Doing the great data shuffle/juggle

Windows 10 has issues with the 5 bay external drive (really long boot login time, powering it down without ejecting the drives first, causing data loss), so what I'm doing is shift data/files.  Putting certain files (installation files, back up files, video files)  and others that aren't often accessed on the external drives, and moving the data that is on the external drives, that is (will be was) accessed on a regular basis (photography, downloads, audio files) to the internal drives.

It has taken two days to juggle and shift files.  Currently copying the downloaded videos (ie my UltraViolet and other digital content files) to one internal J drive to the internal O drive, so I can shift my photography files on the external M drive, to the J drive once the digital content files have been moved.  MS time says about 2 hours to shift 1.2 tbs of said content.

Then I get to shift 2.6tbs of photography to the J drive. That will probably take overnight.

Even though OLW 0.6.3 or 0.6.2 doesn't display the right WP Template

They are the only ones that will post to one of my blogs.  It's kind of a pain.  Turns out I should have kept Office 2007 instead of upgrading to 2010 a while back, because you can't connect or post to certain blogs with Word 2010, but can with 2007.  But Microsoft won't allow two installation Office. I can edit Typepad entries with Semagic, but I can't POST to Typepad with Semagic.

Why can't programmers get together and cooperate?  Hell no, that is too much to ask for.

It was inevitable, I guess

Plodding through the last of the Windows 7 Cumulative updates. Started with 18 of them, been working my way through the list in chronological order.  I read people raving about Windows 10, how great it is, but I read even more people ranting about it, especially since many tried and true pieces of software are blocked from being used (unless you know how to get to the PowerShell or othersuch things to work your way around it)  

I threw in the towel for when it came to the Windows 7 updates.  Total Media Center was a helluva lot better than anything else out on the market now.  BUT the idiot company 'forgot' to pay Dolby their royalties, and further development came to a halt. That media center is what kept me from installing the Quarterly Roll Ups, because it would disable TMT.  But alas, all good things must come to an end, whether you like it or not.  I've had a few hiccups and glitches after updating Win 7 (my Hotkey program isn't loading at start up, but I can start it afterward. Might just need reinstalling to fix whatever the updating has screwed up)

Once I get Win 7 set to rights, then comes the fun part. Finding a way to get %#$#$$% Windows 10 to update like it's supposed to WITHOUT having to 'refresh', as some software I have is charged per installation, not per machine. And let me tell you, that really sucks.  And when I get fed up with the nagging nannyware of Windows 10, I will hie on back to Windows 7.

Hurray, for the dual boot system.

Just two a day

Slogging through all the Windows 7 "Cumulative Updates" I passed on installing so I could keep using one my favorite Blu-Ray players.  But it's come to the time that I just uninstalled it, and have installing the rather backed up Cumulative updates.  There are quite a few, but they take so long to download, and then to install, just going to do two a day.

Have to say, not happy about having to do this, but seeing as Micro$oft is going to be ending official support in 2020, it behooved me to get the updates installed, regardless how many programs Micro$oft suddenly deemed unworthy or out of date.

Yeesh

I updated my tablet driver, as the Wacom Desktop Center instructed.  Rebooted and wow, color me so not surprised, Windows 10 no longer detected my tablet.  I did all the at home trouble shooting, uninstalling everything, rebooting, reinstalling, rebooting.. nada, bupkiss.

Called Wacom help center, and a very nice young man named Jay, who was very grateful I could give him concise details on what I had done, we were able to figure it out. It seems the driver the WDC had was glitchy, and he had me download a new one. While it was downloading, I uninstall all things Wacom.  After the download, when through the inevitable cycle of reboot, install, reboot.

Plugged tablet in, and Tada! All I had to do was remap all my stylus/pens.

Talk about overkill

Microsoft's answer to fixing to small, almost negligible problems, with Windows 10 is like killing a mosquito with a sledgehammer.

After an update, that 'succeeded', I noticed task manager wouldn't run.  Since I subscribe to "Assure", I hopped online, and told them this one itty bitty problem.

Well, the first tech tried to do an "in place upgrade" which had no good result. Got to 17%, the the computer rebooted, got the message "UNDOING CHANGES MADE TO YOUR COMPUTER".  Ok, Task Manager still not working, but I tend to use Process Explorer. 

Then I noticed my Bluetooth was no longer working. It had the day before, as my graphics tablet was is bluetooth, and I was editing photos with it.

I checked device manager: yup, Bluetooth device is there, but driver not loading? WTF?  Ok, off to Asus, and get the proper signed Windows 10 driver for it. Nope, still nothing.

Again, I head on over to MS Support, and not only do they NOT take the sfc/scannow and DISM logs, they're advice is just to nuke it from orbit. Only way to be sure.  Ahem, do a full HDD wipe and reinstall.  I really miss the way Windows XP did backups. If you had a corrupted file, you could load up your back up and MANUALLY copy the non-corrupted version right on over.   

So, now it's a matter of picking a date and time, email serials and license numbers, deactivate programs, and doing a full blown reinstall. Oh effing joy.

On an aside: The bluetooth and task manager work fine on Windows 7 drive.

We keep getting scammer calls

This time it's someone calling from Telstra. I decided to play with him for a few minutes as I was bored.

Scammer (in very heavy New Delhi accent): I am calling from Telstra, to tell you your internet will be turned off tomorrow for 20 days.

Me" Uhh that's interesting. Why?

Scammer: Because your computer has sent out a message to Telstra that is wirused and because of that your internet access will be cut.

Me: Ok, but why will it be shut off for 20 days?

Scammer: It will take about that long to de-wirus your computer and any other devices connected to the internet. Phones, tablets, laptops.

Me: Hmm, really. There's a problem here.

Scammer: What is that?

Me: I don't have Telstra Internet, which you should be calling BIGPOND.

Scammer: Oh, no no, you see all the internet services are part of Telstra.

Me: Actually, that is incorrect. All internet services might lease lines from Telstra, but there is no way my computer would call Telstra about viruses. I would get notifications on my own computer, as I have BitDefender, and Malwarebytes.

Scammer: (getting angry) Oh, those do not stop wiruses.

Me: Ok, I've had enough fun for today, my system isn't virused, you aren't from Telstra, and I don't subscribe to Telstra internet. I've worked in the Tech field, and I know you're full of shit. Computers NEVER contact Telstra regarding anything. You really need to update you lame ass script.

Scammer: *angry sputtering and words I can't understand*

Me: Buh bye now! *click*

Quirks of Windows 10

Beside the constant "You do not have permission to view this fold. Click here to have permanent permission" even with the UAC set to the lowest it can go, I have found interesting things.

Make sure you have your wireless/blue tooth tablet already powered up before starting ANY graphics program, especially Photoshop. Program just sits there doing nothing and you have to restart it.

Color schemes - they just go from bad to "WTF? Is this Windows 3.1?"

Forced updates whether you want them or not, will overwrite any customizations you may have set up. And since some of them require registry editing, make sure you have saved how you did it the first time. (This holds especially true with Surface Pro tablet. Some of the menus are so microscopic, you don't have to be Mister Magoo to not be able to read them).

Still not a fan of the floating tile interface. Which is why with some customizations, I have it set up to a more User Friendly configuration.

Microsoft didn't include updated camera codecs. Which is why you seen nothing but thumbnails of raw files with just Icon for RAW/CR2/NEF/ORF etc etc. Inexpensive solution is Fast Picture Viewer Codec, on sale for $9.99. Make sure you KEEP that download link handy because when there's updates, you will reuse that link.

Also something not quite Win10 related, but system related. Don't bother using Microsoft Windows back up making a full system image. Get EaseUS, and make an exact copy of your HDD or SSD. Should something go wrong with your drive, you just swap it out with one ready to do. Might have to contact software companies to tell them about the change of drive, and to reset or reissue your license but it will take a helluva lot less time.

After much key pounding

And experimenting with different programs, I have managed to boot back into Windows 7.  I will have to go back into the bios and make sure that the NEW boot configuration is selected. 

Now, I will be deactivating certain programs on Win 7, so they can be installed on the Win 10 drive. Yes, with the press of F8  at start up, I will have a dual boot system.

It has been several days of frustration and things just not working right. Mega Thanx to Alan for all his patience and assistance.

I got them Software Update Blues

So does my son.  I'm currently using older versions of Firefox/Cyberfox because the newest releases not only disable all my tried and true plugins/addons without any replacements for them, the new formats are freaking UGLY!  My son is getting the "We will be disabling this version of Skype, so update now!"  Problem is the version he's using now works better than the "new and improved" version.

I get fed up with all the excuses/reasons "To ensure your security" or safety. Bollix! It's up to ME to take care of that, not Microsoft, not Mozilla. That is what 3rd party security software is for.

So, until Microsoft releases a better version of Skype, one that doesn't have that gawd awful Facebook Messenger layout, or gives one with a customizable layout, and until there are updates, or REAL replacements for current browser extensions, I will stick with the 'old and lousy' over the 'new and improved.

Surface Pro installations Checklist

Photoshop and Bridge.. Check.
DxO Photolab.. Check.
Google NIK Collection... Check
My old tried and true LViewPro image viewer.. Check.
Mailwasher.. Check.
Google Chrome.. Check.
Trillian.. Check
yLaunch.. Check.
VLC.. Check
That pretty much does the whole installation and set up.  Now, it's the tweaking that needs o be done. The loathsome nannyware that refuses to let me save txt files in certain areas, or the whining about not being the Administrator when I am.  Got the bluetooth pen and mouse set up, too. Wing  Told me that On1PhotoRaw 2018 works on his surface pro, so installed it on mine, also. Had to reset the activations as we wanted to make sure we didn't exceed the number of seats activated. You can have 5 running at one time, but if you need more, you deactivate on one computer, and activate on the other. Easy peasy!

I Tech, therefore I am.

During our Albany trip, Wing  saw first hand the issues I had been having with my Sony laptop. It works great once it's in Windows, but not joking, (and no, not asking for tech advice (been there, done that, it is what it is)  can take up to 15 minutes before I can do anything with the computer.  But once in there, it works great..most of the time. But not only that, when traveling by plane, weight matters. That laptop is heavy, taking up 3.4kgs, and I need that for the tripod.

He took us to Hardly Normal, and after some comparing different makes and models,  for trips, I will be using an i7 Surface Pro.  Spent a few hours setting it up last night. 

One of the issues I have with the surface pro is the itty bitty menus. Because it has such a high DPI, programs are scaled to fit.  My choices were to use the magnifier, which annoyingly follows my mouse cursor around, or to find another way.

NERDZ ROOL! I did a bit of internet searching and found how, with a registry edit, and a simple manifest file, I can have all the programs scaled to an actual readable size.  I also tweaked the registry to get rid of those 'short cut arrows'. Never liked them from way back.

Someone emailed me asking for step by step

With photos after installing/copying On1 to CS5.

After you've installed CC, and On1PhotoRaw, copy the plugins to CS5 Plugin directory/folder.

Launch On1PhotoRaw.

It will start in the BROWSE module. Select the image you want edit/develop. When you’re finished with your edits, click on EXPORT on the bottom right

Export as high res jpg.  Skip the ‘show in explorer’. You won’t really need that.

 

After the export has finished, go back to the BROWSE module.  Right click on your edited JPG and select SEND TO Photoshop CS5 12 (if you haven’t selected CS5 yet, go to Send To Other Application. Once you’ve selected CS5, it will remain in the drop down list) . As you can see, this image was taken with Canon 5D4, so CS5 wouldn’t have been able to open the CR2/RAW file.

CS5 will start.

You can then use O1PhotoRaw Effects and Develop in CS5

Edited Image:

Thanks for stoppin’ by. Hope this clears things up!

Just have to make the time to do it

The 500gb HDD has arrived, and I have my windows 10 ready to install on it. Just have to find the time to do it. 

I get irked when people try to brow beat me into just upgrading the OS on my Windows 7 desktop. Everything works. Why the hell would I want to overwrite it?

But, with the advent of many software makers making things for Windows 8 on up (yes, there are still some that make software compatible for Windows 7) I have to so something. But I want to keep working with software that is no longer sold or supported, and the same thing with some 'legacy' hardware. I still use Windows Media Center for watching and recording free to air TV (wish I had the older version that would also stream Netflix, but alas)  

Enter the Dual Boot system. 

I guess I'll have to set up my laptop to do things while the installation is going.

Windows 10 or not to Windows 10...

Simplest answer.. yes and no.

My Windows 7 box works great. As long as I don't install those "Quality Rollups". I do keep on top malicious software/malware definitions, but I'm fed up with Microsoft disabling what they deem is outdated software.  I also have 'legacy' hardware that Windows 10 will not even recognize, and there are no drivers for said hardware/devices.

But many things will not function unless I'm running Windows 10.

So, my solution is this: I'm getting a 500gb hdd, and I will install Windows 10 on it, and create a dual boot system.

I'm quite sure some of my programs will be migrated, or duplicated on the Win10 drive, but I will treat it like a really buff "Virtual Machine".