The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

My screen shot was taken on my primary machine which runs Windows 10, version 1703. What you see is the xplorer² file manager where I show hidden and system folders and files. I hide them in File Explorer, which I use for casual file management tasks when I'm more likely to make 'fat-finger' blunders.

I don't use the folders you mention either, but I don't delete them because I never know when something might need them. I keep an eye on the contents counts, if one of them should ever be non-zero I'd investigate why.

The reason you don't see Documents, Pictures etc, is because I relocated them via the Properties->Location tab to a separate physical drive when I first installed Windows 7 in 2009.

Until recently I was downloading up 60-70 files a day, but not via the browser, instead via Free Download Manager, it has the ability to save downloads into different folders based on file extension and source (I trained it to use sub-folders within the normal Downloads folder). If Firefox crashes, it can carry on regardless. I hooks into the major browsers for the purpose of initiating a download.

BR

Ah. As far as I know you can't delete any folder the system needs it's blocked by Administrator whoever that is. Just try it, Windows 10 won't let you delete anything it needs.

On my old PC I did the same with personal data. I had two partitions and two drives so a total of four partitions. Drive C had nothing but Windows and all personal files were on Drive E and M and the last Drive J was where I kept my image files which saved my bacon a time or two. Thanks Acronis. It was the first PC I built from scratch. I junked it after I got the Gateway.

The download manager won't work for me. Most Sim downloads are on file storage sites like MediaFire, Box. Dropbox, OneDrive and Simfiles. It's sad but I got over 500 data discs of nothing but Sim files since 2005. I no longer burn discs all newer stuff is on external and laptop. I have a catalog program that helps me find things on all those discs.




Sent from my Nexus 7

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Ah. As far as I know you can't delete any folder the system needs it's blocked by Administrator whoever that is. Just try it, Windows 10 won't let you delete anything it needs.

On my old PC I did the same with personal data. I had two partitions and two drives so a total of four partitions. Drive C had nothing but Windows and all personal files were on Drive E and M and the last Drive J was where I kept my image files which saved my bacon a time or two. Thanks Acronis. It was the first PC I built from scratch. I junked it after I got the Gateway.

The download manager won't work for me. Most Sim downloads are on file storage sites like MediaFire, Box. Dropbox, OneDrive and Simfiles. It's sad but I got over 500 data discs of nothing but Sim files since 2005. I no longer burn discs all newer stuff is on external and laptop. I have a catalog program that helps me find things on all those discs.

FDM will download from MediaFire, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and just about every file locker and cloud storage service I've tried. Mobilread is one of the few exceptions, I can overcome that if I install the RefControl Firefox extension, but it creates problems elsewhere, so for the odd download I do from here I skip over FDM and use Firefox's downloader.

I have no trouble deleting most hidden and/or system folders and files, because I am always logged on as the administrator- System Volume Information and a couple of others are exceptions. I don't go along with the nanny state model unless its to protect the lives of others, no one will die if I delete something I shouldn't.

BR

[Katsunami]

Well, this -is- a rant

The chess computer wiki says that the MM5 has 'weak endgame capabilities.' Well, that's a bit understated. It gets an advantage against the Roma32 engine in almost every game, and then it either:

- Loses an endgame it should have drawn.
- Draws and endgame (mostly by falling into perpetual check traps) it should have won.
- Sometimes blunders away an obviously won endgame and loses.

The only reason why the Roma32 engine is stronger is because its middle game capabilities are good enough to tide it over into the endgame, where the MM5 engine then falls apart.

Here we go again: game 10 out of 10, 30 moves in, evaluation is roughly equal or with a small advantage for MM5, and now the endgame approaches ... aaaand by move 42 the MM5 is dead once again.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I have no trouble deleting most hidden and/or system folders and files, because I am always logged on as the administrator- System Volume Information and a couple of others are exceptions. I don't go along with the nanny state model unless its to protect the lives of others, no one will die if I delete something I shouldn't.

BR

I just think it's funny that Administrator blocks me who also has administrator privileges. I have to log into the administrator account to change whatever it won't let me do because obviously my administrator badge isn't high enough. Nanny state indeed. I feel like either UAC, Defender, Comodo or my AV is always yelling at me, You can't do that. I'm so restricted it's ridiculous.

Oh I forgot to add I was completely blocked from playing my game. Origin has set up some kind online check. So when I reinstalled it wouldn't let me play offline. Well forget that. Good thing I had my backup. The thing about Sims 2 by design it was made only to use 2GB of ram so you have to edit the exe with CFF Explorer to use 4GB of Ram so I had my backup exe so I replaced it with that. Well every security program on my PC went off. I had to add exclusions to each program. It still says the file is suspicious. Don't even try to change an Icon with Resource Hacker either. The new exe will be block by Windows, By Comodo and by your AV. *sigh*


Sent from my Nexus 7

[Blossom]

Okay this isn't a rant just a final update.

My laptop is running great. I fixed all the issues and in this experience learned a lot. I found some new programs. Cortana is behaving herself and my advice is to wait on 1709 if you can but if you can't a clean install is the best optioned because a reset still leaves files here and there and the registry isn't totally clean either. These can cause issues that you will have to manually fix. Oh I found a flash drive well I took hubby's, he isn't using it. So I will be making an iso with it for emergencies.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[Blossom]

Okay I know I rant about Windows 10 updated taking long but I forgot how long XP updates take! I got Windows Updates to work by pasting a link into IE. I'm installing 24 NET updates and one system update. It's been four hours and it's only on 14.

I've got the Netbook running pretty sweet. Turned off a bunch of unneeded services, defragged (I hadn't done that since 2010.) Made a static page file and the difference in speed is dramatic. I solved my browser issue too. I've got some more work to do on the Vista Desktop. It's already up to date.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[Katsunami]

In case someone wants to know how fast computers are, nowadays... here you have an indication.

I've been running chess matches, using 6 threads out of 8, on my laptop. The CPU is hogged for +/- 90% all the time, and I'm *still* using this computer for normal office work, like typing documents, e-mailing, and browsing. Memory consumption is 4.7 GB out of 8GB.

In short, a computer that has 10% of the power of this system and 4-8GB RAM would still be fully usable for office-like work, assuming you upgraded it with an SSD.

It makes me wonder why there's so much talk of resource hogging by Windows 10 in this thread. You can't hog a CPU any harder than running one or even two chess engines at the same time, and even that doesn't bring this system to its knees as long as you keep two threads open for your own use.

[badgoodDeb]

Yeah, but what speed is your CPU? Blossom was dealing with a <10 years old CPU, as I recall.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Yeah, but what speed is your CPU? Blossom was dealing with a <10 years old CPU, as I recall.

That shouldn't matter.

My current CPU has a passmark score of about 9015, while my 10 year old Core2Duo laptop has a passmark score of 1580. These are synthetic benchmarks, measuring raw CPU power. The new CPU is 5.71x faster than the old one.

The chess engines take up +/- 90% of this power, so if I'd run a passmark bench alongside them, I'd expect a score of around 900 (the last 10%), which is only 57% of the 10 year old CPU. Even so, I can still use the computer.

That 10 year old Dell runs Windows 10 as well, by the way, and I don't have the range of problems Blossom is facing. I can only think of two things:

- That laptop uses many proprietary drivers that are not really fit for Windows 10 (which would mean they don't adhere to the driver standards that have been in place since the Vista days).
- The third party security software is fracking stuff up.

My laptops and desktops have been completely based around Intel cpu's, chips, and networking and nVidia and/or Intel for graphics (and the usual suspects for the other stuff, such as Synaptics for touchpads, Realtek for sound, and so on), and I haven't had problems for ages, except for the occasional driver bug I run into. To catch those, I always keep my currently running driver at hand when I upgrade one. If there are problems, I return to that driver and skip a release (or 10 releases, when nVidia was fracking up the GTX 560 Ti a few years ago, unable to get a crash bug fixed for about a year).

[LiveIt]

Any gamers here? I had to game with intel HD graphics for a while, and I was impressed with how far iGPUs have come.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Yeah, but what speed is your CPU? Blossom was dealing with a <10 years old CPU, as I recall.

You know how Okay Google app shows articles of interest from past searches?

This popped up today.

https://randomascii.wordpress.com/20...g-your-memory/

It explains the exact problem I was having. My fix was a little program that pokes Windows every so often to let go of resources. I haven't had anymore issues My laptop works great.

Now my netbook sadly is another story. XP just has so many issues with due to how programs have changed. Finding compatible programs is getting harder and harder.

Windows 10 refuses to see my netbook or any of my Android tablets since 1709. Update, there my rant. I tried everything I could think of but read this is by design.

Sent from my XT1528

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by LiveIt

Any gamers here? I had to game with intel HD graphics for a while, and I was impressed with how far iGPUs have come.

I have Intel HD 4000. I only play Sims 2 and casual Facebook games. Facebook now has Game room app which let's you play games outside the browser.

Sent from my XT1528

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Now my netbook sadly is another story. XP just has so many issues with due to how programs have changed. Finding compatible programs is getting harder and harder.

That is not surprising. Windows XP is 17 years old. In the world of software, that is positively ancient. I know, I know... I'm still running 20 year old games. I've started a playthrough of my entire game library a few years ago, and vowed I'll only replay each game once more before shelving it forever.

While I love the 90's/early 2000 RPG's, I can't stick to them forever, as there are some real gems released since 2007 (such as the Witcher Series, and Dragon Age: Origins, which I really need to replay before it's 20 years old too. Not to mention Pillars of Eternity, PoE II, Divinity: Original Sin, and D: OS II).

Windows 10 refuses to see my netbook or any of my Android tablets since 1709. Update, there my rant. I tried everything I could think of but read this is by design.

What do you mean by "refuse to see my netbook" ?

It is indeed by design that newer versions of Windows 10 won't run on some older CPU's, especially older Atoms. See here. Effectively, these CPU's will be stuck with Windows 10 Anniversary Edition until 2023, after which the OS will be out of support. They're sticking to the Windows 8.1 support date, as these CPU's were all released when Windows 10 wasn't on the market yet.

[Blossom]

I mean in my home network the only thing that will connect to my Windows 10 laptop is my Vista Desktop. It refuses my Android devices and it refuses my XP netbook. They use to all work together now after 1709 no luck. I can't use Calibre as a server or Calibre Companion because of this changed. I can't use Solid Files Explorer to access my laptop shared folders anymore.

Sent from my XT1528

[Katsunami]

Google removed the "View This Image" link to 'protect copyright holders.' Well, one can still either capture the image using print screen, or visit the site and then extract it from there.

The ONE thing I use that link for was to quickly find and copy covers for my ebooks, so I can replace the crappy 600x450 covers that are still often used in (older) ebooks. (Sometimes there are no coves at all.) I replace them with 1200x900 covers.

Same for CD's, so I can just find the cover instead of having to scan it myself.

Well, Startpage.com still has this functionality, as does Bing Search. Never thought I'd ever find a reason to use Bing over Google.