The Vent and Rant Thread

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I had the worst day. I got a notice my electric is due to be shut off Wednesday. I ran down to the county seat to apply for an energy assistance grant. I had to ride with my mom and sis and the whole way they argue and bickered at each. Mom never shut up. It was like she was on speed.

I get there apply only to find out they can't help me unless I get a letter stating he no longer works at Chick-Fil-A. So I text hubby that info and he heads up there only to have the owner refuse to give such a letter. He told hubby to leave or he'd call the police. Hubby wasn't rude or anything. I guess he was mad about hubby quiting even though he seem okay when it happened.

Oh that payment plan Ameren offered fell through which is why I'm stuck with a $300 electric bill.

Here's the kicker if we got welfare we could bypass those stupid letters they need.

This truly utterly sucks!!!

Sent from my XT1528

So sorry about your electric.
Now many places have rules in place that once you quit (depending on the reason) or if you get fired then you are not allowed back in the store. So has hubby found a new job?
Curiousity, did hubby quit mid-shift or at the end of a shift? That could make a difference.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

So sorry about your electric.
Now many places have rules in place that once you quit (depending on the reason) or if you get fired then you are not allowed back in the store. So has hubby found a new job?
Curiousity, did hubby quit mid-shift or at the end of a shift? That could make a difference.

At the end. He'd never do the other. He's working for Convergys and currently going through paid training. It's a sit down position.

I've never heard of such a policy. They ended the job on good terms. I don't know what was up the guy's crawl.

Sent from my XT1528

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Blossom

At the end. He'd never do the other. He's working for Convergys and currently going through paid training. It's a sit down position.

I've never heard of such a policy. They ended the job on good terms. I don't know what was up the guy's crawl.

Sent from my XT1528

Where my hubby works, if you get escorted out of the store by the bigger bosses you are no longer allowed in any of their stores. (Note: most common offense is stealing).
Same idea for customers if they are caught with stolen goods.

[Cinisajoy]

Hope this job works out for him.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Where my hubby works, if you get escorted out of the store by the bigger bosses you are no longer allowed in any of their stores. (Note: most common offense is stealing).
Same idea for customers if they are caught with stolen goods.

Seeing there a national chain I don't see that being the policy not to mention they are a religious chain. You can't bar someone who did nothing wrong from all stores.

I don't think he'll ever go back to the Ellisville location though. The owner there is not nice and the food is subpar compared to other locations.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Seeing there a national chain I don't see that being the policy not to mention they are a religious chain. You can't bar someone who did nothing wrong from all stores.

I don't think he'll ever go back to the Ellisville location though. The owner there is not nice and the food is subpar compared to other locations.

Sent from my Nexus 7

I was just telling you the policy of some corporations. Though his job is way different from fast food. I will message you.

[Katsunami]

What the F***.

I've updated to Windows 10 Creators Update, version 1703. The first thing I notice is that the font size in my menu's is smaller. I have to put the display at 150% already, to create a 1280x720 effective resolution at 15.6 inch (my almost 10 year old Dell notebook had a native resolution of 1280x800 at 15.4 inch, which I like a lot better), but in addition to that, I also increased the font size from 9 to 10 in the 'advanced' settings. At 1280x800 at 15.4 inch, the only change I needed (in Windows 7 and before) was to set the font size to Verdana 10 for all elements, and I'd be OK most of the time.

So I go to do that in this new installation, and Microsoft has removed the **** option!!!

Why are they on a quest to create the most unusable operating system in the history of mankind? *** *** dammit. Even with all its faults, the day that I will be switching to Linux for daily work at home (which is possible, as I use open source software for everything except the OS, which I have to use to get my games to run) and use Windows as a a game console only is coming closer and closer. This is just impossible, that I need to use registry hacks and/or third party tweaks to set my *** font size.

Compare Windows 7's (and earlier versions) customization options to those of Windows 8.x and now 10, and cry your eyeballs out. Less is not always more. Sometimes it's *stupid* to remove options that have been available for 20 years, Microsoft!

Yes, I'm pissed to a degree you can't possibly imagine.

[oren64]

I don't think I will ever upgrade from Win 7 just the best OS, still 50% of all users use it, maybe if Google will release a PC OS.

[Katsunami]

I've been thinking about putting Windows 7 on my desktop computer when I built it half a year ago (and not using it since then since I have no time to game at the moment), and use it as long as it's supported, and then retire it on its own partition as a gaming console. However, after januari 2018 (if I remember correctly), Microsoft will drop updates and driver support for Skylake Systems (and doesn't even support Kaby Lake).

While looking into this font size issue I came across this:

"Microsoft added a location bar to the Registry Editor in the Creators Update. This allows you to paste addresses to jump quickly to the location."

Wow. After *** 20 years, they finally *add* a feature power users have been wanting all along. Way to go. Where was that feature in Windows NT 4.0, in 1996, MS? Hm? I don't even want to dare and add the time I've wasted clicking through countless registry branches even though I already knew/had the exact address.

[oren64]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I've been thinking about putting Windows 7 on my desktop computer when I built it half a year ago (and not using it since then since I have no time to game at the moment), and use it as long as it's supported, and then retire it on its own partition as a gaming console. However, after januari 2018 (if I remember correctly), Microsoft will drop updates and driver support for Skylake Systems (and doesn't even support Kaby Lake).

It's Jan 14, 2020, I probably will still use after.

While looking into this font size issue I came across this:

"Microsoft added a location bar to the Registry Editor in the Creators Update. This allows you to paste addresses to jump quickly to the location."

Wow. After *** 20 years, they finally *add* a feature power users have been wanting all along. Way to go. Where was that feature in Windows NT 4.0, in 1996, MS? Hm? I don't even want to dare and add the time I've wasted clicking through countless registry branches even though I already knew/had the exact address.

It's about time.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by oren64

It's Jan 14, 2020, I probably will still use after.

This is the official end of support for Windows 7. What I mentioned, was end of support for every CPU and chipset since Skylake, which will end in januari 2018. (It has been extended from januari 2017.) This is even only the case for *some* systems; mostly professional computers such as my Dell Precision mobile workstation.

Windows 7 will not stop working, but if there is a security update (for example) that breaks something on a Skylake and newer system, Microsoft doesn't fix that; and because Skylake and newer are no longer supported, OEM's can (and probably will) cut back support as well.

Essentially, Microsoft retroactively shortened Windows 7 support by two years, for any system bought after August 2015 (introduction of Skylake).

It is already quite hard to get Windows 7 installed onto a Skylake system, because of changes Intel made in the HDD and USB controllers. They are missing a few legacy modes, so if mainboard manufacturers don't add these in themselves, Windows 7 will be unable to detect keyboards, mice, and HDD's during setup. Because you have no keyboard and no mouse, you can't load the drivers during setup; you'll have to integrate exactly the right ones in your ISO before burning a CD and installing.

This is the reason why you (still) see many mainboards with two non-Intel SATA ports, and 2 or more USB2 ports. On Asus mainboards (and even other brands), ASMedia controllers are used.

[Katsunami]

The state the computing world is in at the moment is atrocious.

Yesterday, I got the brilliant idea to uprade my graphics card drivers, because after a major OS update such as the Windows Creators Update, that's mostly a good idea. nVidia actually has a new driver online already, for 'early adopters of the WCU.'

So I update both the nVidia and Intel drivers on my workstation laptop.... and something changed. The screen was too dark. Went looking into the Intel settings (which control appearance on this laptop), and.... the gamma slider in the driver is gone.

So I do research:
The 15.40 series (up until November 2016) has a Gamma slider.
The 15.45 series (starting from December 2016) lacks it.

Some dud on the Intel forum says: "Gamma correction is now part of Windows 10," so I try that... but it was as I feared already, with all non-driverbased gamma tools. It works, but if you load a program that directly interfaces with the graphics card, the setting is lost. It has been a problem with LUT-loaders since forever.

The Intel driver just applies the gamma correction to everything going through it, so it doesn't have this problem. (Even if the software is run by the nVidia graphics card, the result is still put through the Intel chip, which then controls appearance and color.)

I need this function, because my laptop's screen is too dark for my taste. In some games, there isn't a gamma slider (or even brightness/contrast), and they become unplayable. On the Lagom Black Level Test, the first patch I can see is 7. By increasing gamma a bit, I can now see all of them. (I prefer that, even if the setting is possibly a bit too high, because this laptop isn't used for color critical work.)

So, I found the last version of the 15.40 driver, which, incidentally, was the one I downloaded from the DELL website some time ago. It's even newer than the one Intel provides, but it's gone now, at Dell, replaced with a driver from the 15.45 series.

Another driver / piece of software that I have to archive and hope keeps working, or I'll lose even *more* functionality in my computers. Maybe it's indeed best to switch to Linux, cut Windows off from the internet to prevent it updating and use it for gaming only, and make an image before I update anything by hand.

I feel as if I'm back in 2001 again, trying to balance BIOS updates, VIA drivers, and Soundblaster Live! drivers, to get my Soundblaster Live running without it corrupting my hard drive.

[Blossom]

PayPal sucks. Trying to transfer funds and I get a quick security check screen. Add a phone. I add the phone on the account. It says We're sorry we don't recognize the phone in your name. Argh!!!!

I've had this account since the beginning of PayPal. Why are they doing this. I know why too many people scamming so now legit people are stuck dealing with this junk!

Update: After clearing my cache the next time the screen pop up it had a third option to answer questions. That worked! *phew* It only took 6 hours to get it work.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[Rumpelteazer]

Trying to prevent having an anxiety attack. There has been a ruling in one of the court cases, the judge wants the house to be appraised again before he makes his final ruling. It's can either be good for us or not, even our lawyer doesn't really know what direction it will go. With all of the bad things that have happened over the past four years I always think the worse and I really need to take care not to just prevent another anxiety attack, but also another depression (though I don't think it has really gone away, it's just a bit better now).

Also because of this my father will be tense until the house has been appraised and I'm the one he always takes out frustration on. Which, of course, doesn't help with my own anxiety and depression.

[Cinisajoy]

Hugs....