Windows 10 Third Try

If you are one of the many who chose NOT to update their Windows computer to Windows 10, let me describe a few things you may have missed, based on my own experience.

On the day that Windows 10 Update was released to the public – July 29, 2015, I updated my Windows 8.1 computer. There were bugs.

Music and videos had no sound. The computer could only produce Windows system sounds, and they went to my secondary monitor (my TV) despite the Sound applet showing that my primary monitor was selected.

Applications not compatible with Windows 10 had been removed. These included Windows calculator, a program seemingly so simple that one wonders how it could be incompatible with anything.

I couldn’t keep Firefox as my default browser; Windows 10 preferred the new Microsoft Edge. I could tell Windows that Firefox was my default browser, but Windows 10 simply ignored my instructions and used Edge.

I could have gone into debugging mode and tried to fix these problems. And maybe I would have fixed them, and maybe I would have made things worse. So I chose to roll-back my system to Windows 8.1. That was easy and quick and my computer issues were gone. I decided to give Microsoft six months to iron the bugs out of Windows 10 and I would try the installation again.

Six months later I did try again. The second update had a very different outcome compared to the first. This time, most of my Desktop icons – shortcuts, files, and folders went missing from the Desktop. My Desktop wallpaper image was also missing. When I checked my Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and Downloads folders, they were all empty. I went online to ask the question, “After Windows 10 update where are my documents?” I found many other users with the same problem. A Microsoft MVP explained that to get back the missing files I should go to the old Windows system, (in the folder “Windows.old”) and drill down to those folders (documents, etc.) and copy their contents over to the new Windows folders. But when I tried to do that, I found that all my old Windows folders were empty, too. So where were all my files?

Again, I rolled back to Windows 8.1 and got everything back. So far I was not impressed with Windows 10 but I was impressed with the roll-back feature. It had worked flawlessly, twice.

Time passed and the final day for the free update to Windows 10 arrived – July 29, 2016. Dare I tempt fate and try another update?

Call it scientific curiosity, call it “finishing-the-story”, call it crazy, but I decided to try the update one more time. I didn’t have a good feeling about it, but I had to do it.

I started the update process and it took an hour and 50 minutes to complete. When the computer rebooted for the final time, the Desktop looked promising. All my Desktop icons were there. My Desktop background image was there. During the final boot-up, I had noticed one glitch. I have a Reminder program that I wrote a few years ago, during the days of Vista. I wrote it to run on XP and anything newer. But on Windows 10 it gives an “Access Denied” error. I have another PC – a little notebook/tablet – that came with Windows 10 installed and it runs my Reminder program with no problem, so I knew this problem was with the Windows 10 update and not with my software.

There were other problems, of course. My computer is Bluetooth-capable, and sometimes that is a useful feature. But Windows 10 said my suite of Bluetooth software was incompatible with Windows 10.

Next, I tried to play a video. Media Player opened and began playing the video, but the sound was in Spanish. That isn’t unusual; many videos are bi-lingual. Ordinarily I would go to the System Tray and right click my a/v splitter (I use the Haali splitter) and select English and turn off subtitles. But the icon for the Haali splitter was not in the System Tray. I hunted around for it, but couldn’t find it. So I closed Media Player. The audio kept going. I opened the Task Manager, thinking that somehow Media Player was still running and I could close it from there, but Task Manager showed that Media Player was not running. I scrolled down to the background audio tasks (there were 4 of them) and closed all 4, but the sound kept going. It was as if there was a bit of code that hadn’t been cleaned up when I closed Media Player, and that bit of code was still running, orphaned from the rest of the system. The only way I could kill the audio was to restart my PC.

I was not interested in finding what other potholes the update had prepared for me. I wrote down my Windows 10 product key for the remote chance I needed to re-install Windows 10, and then I initiated a roll-back to Windows 8.1. The roll-back took 15 minutes and worked flawlessly. I had given Windows 10 three chances to show what it could do. Now, I was back in my comfort zone with a computer that just worked. I’ve no doubt there is a Windows 10 desktop computer in my future, but I’ll take my time getting there.

CO2 Solution

I read a story in the Washington Post with this headline:

“The controversial practice of storing carbon underground may be safer than we thought”

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and as such it would be preferable if we didn’t release it into the atmosphere. One way of getting rid of excess carbon dioxide (a.k.a. CO2, or more properly CO₂) is to store it underground.

Of course, many communities draw their municipal water from underground aquifers. If carbon dioxide finds its way into these aquifers, it’s entirely possible that it would convert their ordinary water into fizzy water. Perhaps one day in the near future, people will be able to open a faucet and fill a glass with seltzer.

But I wonder, what will it feel like to shower with seltzer? It might be refreshing, or it might tickle like crazy as the tiny bubbles explode against our skin. And how will our laundry fare after being washed in seltzer? Will it remove stains better than regular water? Believe it or not, this topic has been hotly debated for years. Scientists just don’t know.

And I just thought of this: what will seltzer water do to our plumbing? The carbonation makes the water slightly acidic. Will it corrode our pipes, Flint-style? When we’re using the porcelain facility, will the tiny bubbles make our derrières damp?

Clearly this area of research needs a lot more study, and if any government agencies are willing to fund me, I will volunteer to study the effects of using seltzer water in our homes. I should be able to do the study and hold the cost to no more than … let’s see, what does a fortnight in St. Lucia cost? I’ll have to get back to you on this. Meanwhile, just keep me in mind. Thanks so much.

Melano

The song of the day is On Fire by Norwegian DJ/Producer Melano (Farid Zangani). Said the musician, “With On Fire I wanted to create a drum and bass track with a really strong upbeat vibe. The vocals and the melody gave the track a summer-vibe that I was looking for.”

Let the Hijinks Begin

The RNC has just begun (and if you don’t know what the RNC is, well, welcome to America and send my regards to Antarctica). There will be days of demonizing Hillary Clinton, with Republican acolytes listening to their high priests with rapt attention, perhaps repeating their mantra, “Hillary is evil, Hillary is evil,” as speaker after speaker repeats the refrain at the lectern. (Yes, it’s called a lectern, not a podium – a podium is the small platform a speaker of short stature may stand on. Please, journalists, get it right!) Republican speakers will say silly things like, “Hillary is only running for President because she wants power.”

Well, of course she does. Anyone who runs for President of the United States wants power. Imagine a candidate saying, “I really don’t want to be President, but I owe it to my country to at least try to be the leader of the free world.” Does anyone think Donald Trump’s campaign isn’t running on ego?

The annoying thing about an acolyte, Republican or Democrat, is that no matter what facts you collect, no matter what evidence you compile, that shows – indeed, proves – their candidate is the wrong person for the job, acolytes will only worship their candidate more fervently. If it could be proven that Donald Trump is actually Satan with a comb-over, Republican acolytes would love him even more. They would be saying things like, “If anyone can get the job done, it’s Satan.” And, “Sure he’s got that whole Head-Demon-in-Hell thing going on, but nobody’s perfect.”

And, of course, the Democrat acolytes who love Hillary … wait a minute, do any Democrats really love Hillary Clinton? I’ve heard people say, “If the choice is between Hillary and Satan, I’ll have to vote for Satan, because Hillary would be worse.”

A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found that both candidates are the least popular in the history of the poll, with Trump viewed slightly more unfavorably than Clinton. Not surprisingly, the question I hear asked most often is, “How did we end up here?”

This week has the Donald Show. Next week will have the Hillary Show. Come November we will have the We’re So Screwed Show. Put a clothespin on your nose and vote. As my friend and fellow blogger CyberDave is wont to say, “Either we’re screwed, or we’re really screwed.” Your choice.

DNCE

The song of the day is 2015's Cake By The Ocean by pop rock band DNCE (Joe Jonas, Jack Lawless, Cole Whittle, and JinJoo Lee). The song is their debut single and peaked at 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Ruth B

The song of the day is 2015's Lost Boy, a piano ballad by Canadian singer-songwriter Ruth B (Ruth Berhe). Lost Boy is her debut single and is included on her debut EP, The Intro. The song was inspired by the play Peter Pan.