The Vent and Rant Thread

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by orlok

In the end, after several hours of searching, I found some Windows Powershell commands online that restored the Mail icon to my start menu. Nicely done. Microsoft...

Curious. I have both the Creator's Update and the Fall Creator's Update installed here, and neither caused problems. (The Creator's Update fixed some problems, like Edge being non-functional.)

I don't use Mail, and seldom use Store (the last time it was seeing what extensions are available for Edge), so losing them on the Taskbar wouldn't have been a killer.

The problem faced by MS is that when you have hundreds of millions of Windows installations out there, it doesn't matter how carefully you test - somebody will get bitten by an oddity in an update, and be unhappy.

I had nagging problems with Win10 on my failed desktop that went away on the current one. The underlying issues proved to be inadequate hardware. Win10 would install on it, but have problems in use. Like, the quad core Xeon CPU in the failed machine was not on the supported list, and Win10 could only see/use two of the four cores. The i5-2400 in the current box is supported, and all four cores are seen/used.

I'm actually happy with Win10 Pro here. It's fast and stable. The biggest win was discovering how to clear and reuse the SSD I used as boot drive in the failed desktop, so it could be repurposed and serve the same function. (Of course, the tool to do it turned out to be one I already had, but hadn't looked at closely enough, and I wasted a fair amount of time searching for something I already had... )
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Dennis

[orlok]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Curious. I have both the Creator's Update and the Fall Creator's Update installed here, and neither caused problems. (The Creator's Update fixed some problems, like Edge being non-functional.)

Like you, I rarely use Store and it's absence isn't an issue, but I do use Mail which is actually pretty good these days.

Apparently there are large numbers of people affected, so it's a bit surprising MS didn't pick up on this one before. It's uncertain what is causing it, and some people who have updated two machines have had one work and the other not. My update did fail first time round, then went through on the second try. Might be related?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by orlok

Like you, I rarely use Store and it's absence isn't an issue, but I do use Mail which is actually pretty good these days.

I'll accept your word that Mail is actually decent now. I've used Gmail as my primary email address for years and have no reason to care.

Apparently there are large numbers of people affected, so it's a bit surprising MS didn't pick up on this one before. It's uncertain what is causing it, and some people who have updated two machines have had one work and the other not. My update did fail first time round, then went through on the second try. Might be related?

Possible. I don't have enough information to even hazard a guess. (And in the context of the number of Win10 installations out there, "large numbers of people" might equate to "a drop in the bucket".)

A friend just upgraded a laptop from Win7 Pro to Win10 Pro. MS's free upgrade offer is long since over, but if you downloaded the upgrade media when it was active, it still works. I was able to supply him with the Win10 Pro upgrade media (and a warning that it would take quite some time.) It worked, but did take a long time. (He went to bed and it was done when he awakened.) His next step is migrating the Win10 installation to SSD.

He also tried just the Accessibility update on another machine, but that install never completed. It just hung at 84% complete. (He has a visually impaired client who could use that stuff, and was installing to look it over.) He suspects a full Win10 Upgrade will actually work, but hasn't gotten to it yet.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The ones I still really miss are "It's All Text", which could open what you were typing into a text box on a site in the editor of your choice, and when you saved the editor content, it got input to the text box, and Dict, which would let you look up a highlighted word in a Dict server and return a definition.

And Lo! There is an "It's All Text" replacement that works in FF 57. withExEditor appears to provide the needed functionality.

Unfortunately, setting it up is non-trivial. The way Firefox 57 works, there needs to be a local host that will run the editor, and communicate with the site you are trying to use it on. Getting the local host requires installing and configuring node.js, then installing and configuring withExEditor to tell it the browser you use and the editor you want it to invoke. (In my case, the editor is Notepad2-mod, which is configured to replace Windows Notepad.)

Once configured, it appears to cover the bases. I did have to modify my configuration, to tell it to include the file name to be edited on the editor command line, and I think that setting ought to be the default.

But it appears to work as desired. (And this reply was composed in it. Ctrl-Shift-u invokes the editor. and away I go.)

Now, if someone will just craft a replacement for Dict...
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Dennis

[Rumpelteazer]

Yesterday I had an itchy throat. Overnight it has developed into a throat infection. It's all swollen, dry and sore. It hurts to swallow. The tablets I normally use help only a little, so now I'm waiting until 11am and the drugstore opens to get the throat spray that helped so well when I had the flu in January. Iit's disgusting and stings a lot, but it does bring down the swelling and the soreness subsides for a longer than with any tablets I tried.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Yesterday I had an itchy throat. Overnight it has developed into a throat infection. It's all swollen, dry and sore. It hurts to swallow. The tablets I normally use help only a little, so now I'm waiting until 11am and the drugstore opens to get the throat spray that helped so well when I had the flu in January. Iit's disgusting and stings a lot, but it does bring down the swelling and the soreness subsides for a longer than with any tablets I tried.

Rumple, are you absolutely sure that's not Strep? Been in contact with any school-age kids lately?

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Rumple, are you absolutely sure that's not Strep? Been in contact with any school-age kids lately?

Hitch

No, I'm not sure. But I do easily get throat infections, and this one feels like a regular one, albeit without the cold (yay). Working in our store it's a given you get in contact with people who are sick. And I did go to the Ikea yesterday, which is even worse than a school IMHO (having worked at Ikea for two summers and done five teacher placements).

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

No, I'm not sure. But I do easily get throat infections, and this one feels like a regular one, albeit without the cold (yay). Working in our store it's a given you get in contact with people who are sick. And I did go to the Ikea yesterday, which is even worse than a school IMHO (having worked at Ikea for two summers and done five teacher placements).

If your temp starts to rise, even though I know that happens with "infections," too, consider strep. Before you've ever had strep, when people talk about it, you think, "oh, yeah, just a bad sore throat," but if you ever get it--it's like trying to swallow razors, I kid thee not. PLUS, your temps can soar dangerously high--so, keep an eye on it.

And yes, IKEA, this time of year? Hell, you might as well lie down on the floor of a 1st grade. Germs EVERY-where.

Hitch

[Deskisamess]

Cancer sucks.

Just found out my 61 year old sister has stage 2 Breast cancer. She found out last week.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Cancer sucks.

Just found out my 61 year old sister has stage 2 Breast cancer. She found out last week.

@Deskisamess:

I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know if it's any comfort, but a family member of mine recently was diagnosed with aggressive, advanced cancer--and near-miraculously, after a round of radiation, is "cancer-free" by all measurable means. It wasn't found early; it wasn't found before it got aggressive, etc. So--there is real hope nowadays.

Hitch

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Cancer sucks.

Just found out my 61 year old sister has stage 2 Breast cancer. She found out last week.

Cancer does, indeed.

Best wishes for successful treatment for your sister.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Hitch

@Deskisamess:

I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know if it's any comfort, but a family member of mine recently was diagnosed with aggressive, advanced cancer--and near-miraculously, after a round of radiation, is "cancer-free" by all measurable means. It wasn't found early; it wasn't found before it got aggressive, etc. So--there is real hope nowadays.

Yes, but....

There is hope, of course there is. And yet. I think too many cancer patients are met with this cheery upbeat schtick and while there's nothing wrong with that and much to be said for it, the grim face of cancer isn't all that positive and I think the upbeat reaction denies the reality that many cancer patients face. A little too much the, "I know you'll beat this," when no one can know any such thing and worse, the implication that somehow, it's tied into the will of the patient to beat it.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Cancer sucks.

Just found out my 61 year old sister has stage 2 Breast cancer. She found out last week.

Hugs.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by issybird

Yes, but....

There is hope, of course there is. And yet. I think too many cancer patients are met with this cheery upbeat schtick and while there's nothing wrong with that and much to be said for it, the grim face of cancer isn't all that positive and I think the upbeat reaction denies the reality that many cancer patients face. A little too much the, "I know you'll beat this," when no one can know any such thing and worse, the implication that somehow, it's tied into the will of the patient to beat it.

Of course, that's right. It's simply that I was intimately familiar with the situation I mentioned. Things looked quite grim, and the outcome is better than anyone could or would have expected. That's the only reason I mentioned it. It certainly wasn't my intent to be "upbeat" or cheery or shtick. It's a situation that's very recent, and very real.

I certainly wish Deskisamess' sister the best.

Hitch

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Of course, that's right. It's simply that I was intimately familiar with the situation I mentioned. Things looked quite grim, and the outcome is better than anyone could or would have expected. That's the only reason I mentioned it. It certainly wasn't my intent to be "upbeat" or cheery or shtick. It's a situation that's very recent, and very real.

I certainly wish Deskisamess' sister the best.

Hitch

Of course you do and that's not what I meant. I was mostly just expressing my frustration with the way the dialogue frequently goes these days, where it's implied that will on the part of the patient combined with treatment will of necessity result in a good outcome. And I don't mean to be a naysayer or a gloom-and-doomer, either. it's just that, treatments and outcomes are so very individual that I don't think you can extrapolate from them and that such expectations can place a huge burden on the part of the patient, who's just trying to take it one step at a time.