4th verse, same as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd

I have been trying to watch Curiosity Stream for the past week.  I keep getting either the dreaded 403 error, or "Sorry, there was trouble with the playback"   Then 2nd message is a "Well, no shit, Sherlock" message, but I took it on board, and submitted yet another cry for help from Curiosity Stream tech support.

For the 4th time, I gave them my system stats, whether hardwired or WiFi, what app version (this one's funny, because they don't MAKE an app for Windows 10 or Windows 7 for that matter. You have to use webbrowser.) and a speed test.

The first three times I have done this, I didn't hear/read didn't squat back from them.

Maybe this time will be different, but I am not going to hold my breath. As I have said time and again, I look good in blue, I don't think I would look good hypoxia blue.

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.

With Amazon support, you have a 50/50 chance

I found my old Windows 7 phone, and its spare battery, so decided to charge it up, and see what I can do with it over WiFi (no sim chip in it)

It charged up very quickly and I started putting it through its paces.  Sadly, there are some things that no longer work, because Zune, the desktop software you used to be able to use to update programs, no longer works. Microsoft shut off Zune's access to the servers sometime around June/July 2019. 

Be that as it may, other programs were working fine.  I fired up my Kindle app and at first, all seemed well. It started to sync, cancelled the sync, deregistered itself, and deleted the books I had on the device.  Ok, this intrepid device user went through the usual "register your device", and it failed. I tried again, and again, and again, meticulously making sure every letter/character in name and password was correct and it was.  But kept getting "Email and password not recognized".  BUT I could login via the phone's internet browser.  Time for TECH SUPPORT!  I start a chat, and I explain the situation. I was clear and succinct so I wouldn't be wasting any time.  Even though I told the person, designated by the letter P, that everything, even the Microsoft Store, said I had the app installed, it wouldn't work. My question was "Did Amazon discontinue support for the Windows Phone version of Kindle App?" 

P said no, and insisted I check MS store to see if it was there. It was. He insisted I try to login, over and over. The, P's bright idea was to switch my location, even though I told him NOT to.  Well, he did (that lead to a different bunch of trouble).  Even so, still same "email and password not recognized" message.  After P fiddling around with things, telling me to try things, and if I didn't get back to him in 60 seconds he would discontinue the chat (I reamed him about that, telling him it takes longer than 60 seconds for MS Store to launch, to search for something and get a result. He pseudo-apologized for that), for a solid 90 minutes, P finally tells me that Amazon no longer supports or has available for download the Kindle App for Windows*.  Ok, I will admit, I textually, without swearing, lit into him for not finding that out and telling me earlier. I also told him to put my Amazon setting BACK to the way they originally were. (Although I live in Australia, I am U.S. citizen. I opened my Amazon account in the US over 20 years ago. Yes, I know there's an Amazon Au, but their selection sucks. Can't get the ebooks I want on the Amazon AU site, so not ditching my Amazon US account) Ended chat, gave honest if low rating. Turns out the little $hit didn't put my settings back.  So, none of my echo dots/alexa settings worked anymore.

I admit, it was late, and I was in no mood to go searching for reason/solution, I started another Amazon help chat regarding Alexa devices, with support person, Amir. I explained I was living in Australia, but had opened amazon account when I was in the US and wanted to keep it that way.  He fixed the issue in under 30 seconds. I profusely thanked him for his friendly, quick service, ended chat, gave 5 star ratings across the board.

Next thing, I'm checking to see if I can use it as a portable audio book device. Wish me luck!

EaseUS.. you suck

I had a HDD go RAW due to a power flicker. I started running EaseUS Partition Master to recover it.  Wanting to make sure I was doing the right thing, I started a support chat with EaseUS tech support.

The agent, Warren, told me that none of my programs would work. EaseUS Partition Master, nor M3 RAW Drive recovery.  He told me to cancel the Partition recovery I was doing.

He then put some program on my computer called WinHex, and did something for about 90 minutes, saying he recovered this but it would cost me a couple hundred dollars for a full recovery service.  He kept pressuring me, and using scare tactics saying the files would deteriorate if they weren't recovered right away.

I paid, and started running the program he set up... then it crashed.  I emailed support about it, got nothing but an autoreply, so I went back to using M3 RAW drive recovery, which recovered EVERYTHING.

Yes, Warren, you LIED to me.  I will be contacting my bank to have the charge reversed.

So, if you need to recover a RAW Drive, do NOT use EaseUS products. Use M3 RAW Drive Recovery.  It not only fixed the partition, I was able to shift the files from that drive to another after, clearing it off, as I had planned to do this weekend.

Kind of expected this

After a session with a Microsoft Tech regarding not being able to see camera raw files from specific cameras (Olympus OMD EM1mkII and EM5mkII, and Canon 5DmkIV) I was told it was a Canon issue and to contact Canon for 'the fix'.

Three guesses what I got in response... and the first two guesses won't count.

It's a WINDOWS issue.

Meanwhile, some versions of Windows will let you view CR2 files natively (for example, in a folder view). In previous versions of Windows, you needed to download the Microsoft Camera Codec Pack, which provides support for viewing RAW image file format thumbnails and image information in Windows Explorer.  In Windows 10, the default app for opening RAW image files is Windows Photo Viewer. However in some cases, Windows 10 operating system cannot open the RAW files in "preview mode" for images taken using new EOS camera models.

Now the cameras I mentioned aren't 'new'. They are a few years old now.

This was my reply:

Not being snarky here, but I had a feeling this was the answer I was going to get. Microsoft said it was a Canon issue, and Canon saying it was a Microsoft issue. How about you two get together and fixing the problem, rather than fixing the blame.

I don't use DPP, although I do have it installed because I wanted to see if that would install a camera codec in Windows 10 and it didn't. I use On1Photo Raw, which sees the CR2 files just fine. Also, Photoshop CC & bridge with latest camera raw update sees the CR2 images just fine. The problem is OTHER software (Aurora HDR, Luminar, Affinity) rely on Windows 10 native Windows Explorer in program to select and process images.

I will pass this along to Microsoft, and I am going to wager they will once again tell me it's NOT a Windows 10 issue, but a Canon issue.

Got some work to do

I have been using Forte Agent since version 3.  Now it's up to version 8.  When I had a tech problem with it, I used to be able to submit a ticket, explain everything I had tried, and get good tech support.

Last year, the person I suspect was the programmer/owner of the program retired. Now, if you have a support issue, you are shit out of luck. Even if you tell them you've read the FAQ, surfed the net, checked forums for hours with out any result, what you get is copy paste BS from the FAQ. (most recent was an issue with a problem removing old addresses from address book. The useless advice was a direct copy and paste from the FAQ, even though I told her I had already read it)

Why? This excuse really rankles:  Since they don't charge much for the software, they will no longer provide second tier (aka info not on the useless FAQ).  There is no plans for any updates, either.  Sooner or later, this email program, without any updates, will no longer be usable with email services.

Switch to another email program? Sure, but the only way you can export your address book is in a convoluted XML file, which can't be imported into another program with any semblance of order. 

So, I have some work to do, to manually input all the address from one email program to another.  I'll have to keep forte agent on my system though, because of years of correspondence, and Forte only IMPORTS messages, it doesn't export them.

Audible.. WTF??

I have been trying to get the 2 Books for One credit special going on at Audible the past few days. I kept running into errors during the purchase. Either "You already own this title", or "Not Authorized to sell this".  It would depend if I refreshed the browser (I tried Chrome, IE, Firefox) and kept getting the erroneous messages.

So, I finally contacted Audible support. Of course I was run through the obstacle course of "do this, do that" that I had already been doing for the past two days, only to be told that they know about this error, and it will be solved in 24 to 48 hours, and I can buy them after it's fixed.

Uhhh, the 2 for 1 special runs out in 5 hours, meaning I will be paying full price.

Good scam, Audible.

Since when?

I have been getting an odd message when I send certain emails with Forte Agent.  And I scoured the internet for about a week, looking for a solution. Didn't find one, so did what any person would have done.

I submitted a support request.

To say I was shocked at the reply is an understatement.

Hello Sandra,

Sorry, I haven't seen this error message before so I am unable to help you and unfortunately we no longer provide second level support.

You could try posting your question on the following group: alt.usenet.offline-reader.forte-agent

Regards, A** B***

Agent Team

My reply:

Yes, it is unfortunate. And rather shocking, as I have gotten tech support for other issues with Forte Agent. Nor did I ever receive any notice (and you have my email address) regarding this. Rather shoddy on Forte's part.

I don't subscribe to any Usenet services. I've used Forte Agent since v3x or what it 2x, and this is the first time I have heard that you no longer provide tech support for your own software. As someone who used to provide tech support, I find this rather... well, insert any term you want.

Adobe Drama Llama

It just keeps going on and on. I got this bull$hit email today.

Hello Sandra,

Thank you for contacting Adobe support.

I am writing in reference to your case regarding your issue with Adobe application. Please accept our sincere apology for all the inconvenience.

We request you to provide your phone number and preferred time to contact you or contact us back on live support so that we can assist you on real time.

Please respond to this mail so that we can assist you further on your issue without any delay.

Thanks and regards, Adobe Support.

 

My reply:

Why bother? I have already sent you one of the invoices I could find (still waiting for reply from three other sellers, who are graciously checking their records to see if they can find the sale tome, but as they are between 5 and 11 years ago it's not looking too good.) and I got bullcrap about how I have to contact Amazon (reseller) and I did. Then I was told to contact the Amazon seller, and I did. THEN the Amazon seller told me that if the installation discs are in working order (they are) to contact Adobe.  And THEN you tell me there is no record of the sale with Adobe. No $hit Sherlock. 

Because I live in Australia (I moved from the U.S.) Adobe was charging double for the products, even when U.S. and AUD were at parity.  I refused to be skinned, so ordered the products from the U.S. and had them shipped TO me.  And the when each and every one arrived, I would install it, activate it, follow the link to the registration page. 

What I find passing strange is that the ONLY things missing from my Adobe account are each and every boxed set I purchased from other than Adobe, when I know I registered PSE 9, PSE10, CS3E CS5E, CS6 Master Collection. I had screen capped the page, but it's gone due to a massive HDD/System crash about 5 years ago, along with digital invoices I had.  But I wasn't worried, because I had all my products listed on my Adobe account..... oh yeah, the same account that had all my Boxed products 'disappeared'.

Not saying I am going to do this, but I know there are ways to hack and crack, but I don't want to, nor should I have to, because I LEGALLY BOUGHT AND REGISTERED MY PRODUCTS! The same products you say are not mine, or are mine but is a student teacher edition (No, I have seen what  Student/Teacher/EDU edition boxes are, and mine aren't.) Mine are full on, genuine one person purchased (me) .  One would think that if I wasn't the person who owned the software, I wouldn't be bothering to rant/rave/vent or even CONTACT you regarding anything about it. But no. To hell with the fact that I bought legit boxed editions from a store, just keep parroting the bull$hit.  Perchance to force me to subscribe? Ain't gonna work. I'll switch to On1PhotoRaw and Affinity, or maybe even Corel, ALSO bought by me, boxed/disc editions.

A VERY Angry Adobe Product buyer and  user.

To sum up the Adobe Dilemma:

Adobe: Contact Amazon

Amazon: Contact Seller

Seller: Contact Adobe.

What this boils down to is if you have purchased your older Adobe product from a reseller, and not as a direct download, your product no longer exists and you screwed if you need help with it.  Even when you have the original invoices from said purchases, Adobe will reply that THEY have no record of your purchase.

Well, no shit Sherlock, because it was a boxed/hardcopy version, not a digital download.

Boxed version of CS3E with CS5E upgrade.

Boxed version of CS6 Master Collection.

Hey Adobe, fukc* you

I found one of my invoices for an Adobe product, and sent it to them, as proof, that "See, yes, I did buy it!" I told them, over and over, that I didn't buy it as a digital download, but as a Boxed Version.

Their response: We have gone through the Email that you sent to us but would like to inform you that kindly contact the Amazon as this order was purchased from Amazon, because in our system there is no any order details found in our system that you are talking about.

I told them I didn't order it from Adobe, I told them I had registered my software when I popped open the box when it arrived. I told them I did same thing with CS6 Master Collection, and CS5E, and CS3E. It's doesn't matter where it was legally purchased from! I think even if I do get a copy of the invoice for CS6 Master Collection, they're going to brush me off with the same excuse. No record of sale with Adobe, so tough shit.

And they wonder why people pirate their software.

 

*spelled that way as to not offend the nannyware of some blogging sites.

I am more than a bit stubborn

I managed to track down the seller I bought Adobe CS6 Master Collection from. I am optimistically (stupidly?) hopeful that his sales records go back that far.

I found the invoice for Photoshop Elements 10 and sent that along.  I will have to go through some laptops and back up drives to find more information.

You would think they would get it, that someone hammering away at them, sending them information piecemeal would be telling them the truth. A pirate/thief would just hack and crack the problems I'm having and be done with it. But no...

Now that I’m not falling asleep at the keyboard

And have had some sleep, I am revisiting my Adobe complaint.

Over the past 10+ years, I have purchased "Boxed" aka store bought versions of Adobe products.  CS3 E, CS5 E, CS6 Master Collection, Photoshop Elements (9, 10, 11).  I dutifully made an Adobe account, registered each and every purchase without fail, or incident. I had taken a screencap of all my products listed. I think that vanished because of a system restore, but I haven't given up looking for it.

The only product I purchased directly from the Adobe site as a download was CS6 E.

When my CS5 after years of no problems threw out the "Trial has expired", I was "whohuhwha?". Thinking it had to do with hardware upgrade (motherboard, HHD etc) I typed in my CS5 serial that was on the box.  Then picked up my 'qualifying product' for the CS5 upgrade, typing in the CS3 E serial, only to get "Invalid Serial Number".  *boggle*

I headed to my Adobe account, login to make sure I had the serial numbers correct, and then only find CS6 E listed.  WTF?  I checked every link, and even started a (useless) chat session.  I ended up getting CS5 E working again without resorting to 'convincing' it to work if you get my drift.

So then, the support chat went to "Where did all my other products go?"  This is where I am calling "Bullshit" on Adobe. Suddenly, after 5, 7 and 11 years, all my non-downloaded software are suddenly not mine, or never purchased, or don't exist.  I gave up on that support session.

Started one with Adobe Customer Care on Twitter.  The story changed. This time, I was told my products were teacher/educational ones. Uhh, no. Packaging of those would clearly have Student/Teacher Labels, and guess what? Mine don't.  I even sent photographic proof of that.  Then the ACC on Twitter said "Send your invoices as proof".  I looked, and looked, and looked. Paypal and online bank records only go back to 2015. That's three years. My purchases were 5, 7, and 11 years ago.

Wing believes, seeing as the problem first started with old CS3, then CS5 and now CS6, that it's Adobe's way of painting people in a corner, forcing them to rent their software, instead of using the old tried and true. And remember, only the store bought hardcopy versions registered with Adobe disappeared from my Adobe account.

Yes, I know there are ways to 'convince' these programs to work, but there should be no need for me to resort to that as I bought and paid for mine.

Finally contacted Adobe

Regarding how CS5 kicked up "Trial has expired" message after 5 years of using it.

This just gets even more bizarre than my CS3 serial suddenly not a valid license number!  It seems all my adobe products that weren't purchased as downloaded programs from the Adobe site have been wiped from my account!

And even better, I have been told that my now missing Adobe products are registered so a different email address?? WTF??!! I have had the same email address for 16 years! I've bought and registered the Adobe products 5, 7 and ll years ago!

Wing of the mind that I am not going to get any real help, because I can't find invoices/receipts for software I bought, 7, 5 and 11 years ago, that I properly registered with Adobe when I got them, as a way to paint me into a corner to rent Adobe products if I have another problem.

Nope, I will 'convince' the software to play nice if I have to, I will NOT rent their products.

This is why Tech Support gets such a bad rap

I emailed Corel support for a problem I'm having with WinDVD Pro 12. Here's the correspondence.

My support request. When I try to play any disk folder/DVD folder with WinDVDPro 12, it's choppy and intermittent. I have already checked for updates, have uninstalled and reinstalled. I have moved the disk folder from one HDD to another, and it does no good. My graphics drivers are up to date.

His reply: My name is Abdel and I have been assigned to your case. We really appreciate you bringing your query to our support team, rest assured that we will give you the best support for any concerns. Regarding your concern, I would suggest you uninstall and reinstall the program. Let me know how it works.

My response: As I typed out in my support request, I had already uninstalled and reinstalled the program and it didn't do any good. Did you just read the subject line, and not the body of the message?

I told him I already followed all the online troubleshooting steps, and he gives me a copy/paste from the @#%$&@ FAQ!

Once more into the breach!

But will wait until Friday.

After 6 hours with Microsoft support working on my laptop with little or no success,  my problematic computer has been punted up to Tech Tier 2.  More things will be tried, but I have sinking feeling that Alan is right, that it would take less time for me to just reinstall windows, and then the rest of the programs.

The ongoing saga of Win 8 roll back

After hours online with MS Support, three different techs regarding doing a "repair install" on my Window 8.1 laptop that the 'free' upgrade to Windows 10 screwed up, and I managed to roll it back to 8.1, but had persistent problems, hardlocks, things not working, I got told TODAY that I can't do a repair install, I have to do a full reinstall, which means reinstalling all the programs currently on it.

I know that Microsoft TOS/EULA says they can't be held liable for damages caused even when caused by their own products, but the MS Windows 10 assessment tool erroneously said my laptop was Windows 10 ready.  That turned out to be wrong.  But had the Win 10 update had said "If you install this and it doesn't work, you have to wipe your drive and reinstall everything again", instead of "All you have to do is roll back to previous OS", I never would have updated it.

Error 0x80073712.. whatever the hell THAT means.

Do you ever...

Do you ever want to hunt down whoever is answering your tech support question and smack em upside the head because they aren't actually reading what you put in the support request?

Summation: My Windows 7Pro 64bit desktop has the AverMedia H727 HDMI 3D card, and it has its own remote.  But the remote ONLY works with AverMedia Center. It doesn't work with Windows Media Center.

So, I bought the AverMedia A867R with remote that is advertised to work with Windows Media Center.  I follow the installation instructions, and all the remote will do is start WMC . I can't navigate through any of the menus, select anything.  I can only start it.  The remote works fine in AverMedia Player, but that software is a pain in the ass, counter intuitive and it doesn't play DVDs, whereas I can play DVDs via Windows Media Center.

I scour the internet, forums, FAQS to find any information as to why this isn't working. Tested Remote. Yup, works fine. Batteries; put new ones in. Uninstalled, rebooted, reinstalled, rebooted (repeat three times). No joy.

So, I send support request explaining everything above, almost word for word, and they are either hiring imbeciles, people with a vague grasp of English, or those who only know how to copy/paste... maybe all of the above. 

Mediasonic only SELLS worldwide

But they won't support their products if you were unfortunate enough to buy them.

During the 'Hard drive Disasters' of a few months ago, Seagate sent me back a replacement hard drive without the enclosure (that's another story of crappy support, but I digress), so I ordered one from PC Case Gear. A Mediasonic ProBox HDL-SU3 3.5' SATA Hard Drive Enclosure, marketed as a "Hotway ROCK HDL-Series".

It was delivered forthwith, and there didn't seem to be an issue....at first. Then I noticed that Hard Drive Sentinel was 'blank' in regards to identifying the drive/case. Windows ID'ed the drive (make, volume, storage)Being tech savvy, I went through the check list of troubleshooting (this is my polite way of saying "Don't try to give me advice, I know what I'm doing) and still nothing.

After a week, I contacted HDS. Turns out that the issue is with the MediaSonic case chipset. It's not sending the data needed.

From HDS:

Originally, when USB 3.0 enclosures released, we contacted them to make sure that the new products should contain the required functions. But the problem is that for some manufacturers, their customers are not really important and ignored this.

Personally I'd be more than happy if I can change, modify the software in any ways: if there would be a problem/bug in Hard Disk Sentinel, I would surely fix it and add support for this enclosure. But as the limitation is related to the enclosure itself (its chipset), I can't really improve.

Since the problem was the chipset, I contacted MediaSonic.. this is their reply (keep in mind, they sell worldwide)

Hi, We only provide support to our customers who purchase our products from our distributors in North American.

If you meet the above criteria , please provide photos showing front and back of the enclosure and a copy of receipt.

Regard, Vincent Mediasonic Support

Vincent's reply is disingenuous as my email address clearly shows I am NOT in the North America, and I informed them I purchased the item at PC Case Gear, an Australian company. They don't/won't provide a firmware update unless you bought it from North America distributor.

So, my local to me friends, and those also NOT in North America, steer clear of MediaSonic aka Hotway Rock HDL Series. Because if there's a problem, you're screwed. (They could have at least offered a kiss first, yes?)

Well, that was pointless

My S7 has a glitch, a known one, without one apparent cause or cure. It also affects S7 Edge. The phone will turn the lock screen on all by itself. After a few seconds it will shut off.  And this glitch is rather draining on the battery life.

I have read on forum after forum about this for days. I applied every fix and suggestion, short of factory reset, as those who said they tried that final option discovered it didn't fix the problem. There doesn't seem to be any publicly known reason or fix. 

So after days of searching, silly me headed to Samsung online chat support.  Spent two hours being told do do everything I had already done.  Then I got hit with the "back up and factory reset".  To me, that's like killing a gnat with a nuke.  Also, you see, the latest Samsung back up software, (not so) SmartSwitch sucks big time. All it does is back up your contacts, messages, email and photos. Everything else.. nope.  Samsung KIES at least did a full device back up.   So, I said no.

Moving on: It seems that both Samsung KIES and SmartSwitch have an issue with one of my external harddrives. It's a Samsung S2 1tb drive. But both of the above programs identify it as a phone.  Also, I can't have that HD plugged in the same time I have my S7 because there seems to be some sort of weird Device ID conflict, and neither will work.

Techs' great solution?  "Do you really need to have the drive plugged in the same time you need to transfer something to your phone?"   I took several deep breaths, and politely answered. How about they fix the problem with their device ID/Drivers?