gaines_wright
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Re: **bleep** **bleep**
What's up doc? Well, the whole thing was meant as a corny joke, but It's really kind of sad to see another media company try to censor its users, because it looks to me like the **bleep** bug was caused by a ham handed attempt at censorship. Don't get me wrong, IMO profanity has no place here, but to **beep** out the name of a old German political party seems excessive to me. Oh well, their board, their rules. Anytime I have to deal with these companies robo-answering systems, I feel like strangling the telephone.Unfortunately some of their web sites aredysfunctional also. This site works, and there is a myAccount and Billing section available. Most of the people around here are also helpful and nice. Thanks for your kind remarks, but I'll warn you that I'm not very popular with the old hands and management around here. BTW I'm few weeks away from 73.4.7KViews1like5CommentsKnows just enough to be dangerous vs the Data **bleep**s.
I recently agreed to help a friend of mine, who I'll call Bill, with his Gmail on his computer. I warned him that I didn't do Windoze, and since I had already installed Linux Mint on his computer as a dual boot with Windoze 7 a year ago, I used Linux. I quickly got his machine connected to my WiFi, and set him up a toolbar bookmark to the Gmail login screen, but when I asked him what his user name was he said: "Username?? I never needed one of those with Windoze 7!" Well, he dug around in his wallet and came up with a user name that worked, but none of the passwords he had written down did. I knew from my one experience with Gmail that recovering a lost password was going to be next to impossible, but I gave it a try anyway. I had Google email a security code to my computer, but when I entered it in his machine, it gave me an error message similar to this: "We don't recognize the machine you're on, and even though we just sent this code to an email address you supplied, we can't be sure this is really you! Naa! Naa! Naa!". Ok, I lied about the Naas. Back before I retired, a guy in my department called some of our IT people who wanted to implement this kind of ridiculous security: "Data **bleep**s" I reluctantly booted up Windoze 7, and it seemed to be set up for a single user. I immediately noticed that there was no network icon at the bottom right. He told me: "Well it was there yesterday! I was just on their WiFi down at So and So's." When I looked at his network, there wasn't even a WiFi setup available, just a 3g connection. Well, Bill, sorry I couldn't help you, I told you I didn't do Windoze, and BTW please NEVER touch one of my computers. Maybe you shouldn't even look at one too hard! Probably someone with more expertise than I, could have recovered his password for him, most likely from Windoze 7, since it must have been logging in to Gmail automatically for him at one time. How he ever did so recently with no WiFi connection setup is beyond me. I probably missed something obvious, after all, I don't do Windoze. I think I need to retire again, this time from the computer help for free business. BTW all of the **bleeps** originally referred to a German political party that existed during WWII Have we became so politicaly correct that their name can no longer be even mentioned, or is it just the **bleep** bug?1.1KViews0likes0Comments**bleep** **bleep**
I have followed the course of the **bleep** bug here with some amusement. So far it has only effected me one time when I mentioned the name of a German political party that existed during WWII, and **bleep** **bleep**ity **bleep** **bleep** **bleep**! After all, this is just satel**bleep** **bleep**ernet and we shouldn't take it all too **bleep**iously. Oh **bleep**, it's starting to **bleep** syllables now as well as whole **bleep**s! You know, my posts seem to actually make more sense with all those **bleep**s. Oh well, as the Road Runner always says to Wile Coyote **bleep** **bleep**!4.8KViews2likes7CommentsRe: Raspberry Pi 4?
GabeUwrote: Has anyone gotten a Raspberry Pi 4 yet? If so, which one, and what do you use it for? I have looked at them on Amazon, and frankly, I'm not impressed. For about ten dollars more, one can buy a fanless, SSD, preassembled mini PC capable of running Linux, or if you're a real masochist, Windoze. :<)> I like the little mini PCs though. I've been running a Mintbox Mini for four years as my main PC, 3 1/4 x 3 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches, including the heat sink. No fan or hard drive, it just sits there on my desk in total silence and runs. If it ever dies, I'll probably replace it with something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Support-Windows-Fanless-Computer-Graphics/dp/B07V3RHZM3/ref=sxin_2_ac_d_pm?ac_md=1-0-VW5kZXIgJDE1MA%3D%3D-ac_d_pm&keywords=mini+PC&pd_rd_i=B07V3RHZM3&pd_rd_r=cb2f042c-fd15-4de8-a838-797669ec34d6&pd_rd_w=9nVIU&pd_rd_wg=yCwqx&pf_rd_p=02e79b16-eab7-4369-852f-d04a58a4d9b5&pf_rd_r=27QFJ9DVWZ8986ANPGBM&psc=1&qid=15698428572.1KViews0likes1CommentRe: Data Usage/Ad blocker
There's plenty of free shareware add ons out there, I'm running AdGuard and NoScript. I recently had a spike in my data usage that I traced to a Firefox upgrade disabling NoScript. I removed NoScript and then reinstalled it, and things went back to normal. I believe that a Java script blocker like NoScript may actually save more data than an ad blocker. Kind of a pain to deal with though, since a lot of sites won't work properly without Java Script. Some will warn you that they need Java Script some not.11KViews0likes0CommentsRe: To turn off, or not to turn off?
MarkJFinewrote: Transients were **bleep** on CRT monitors. Burn-in problems on early CRTs were even worse. I remember I would go through monitors about every other year, and usually right in the middle of the final stage of a software release: while writing the docs and help files. Not fun. Of course, newer flat screens have different issues, but transients aren't one of them. At first, all of our operator consoles were 27" CRTs that weighed a ton, and they were always located at the top of least two flights of stairs Even though they were powered from an always on the inverter UPS, and they were almost never turned off, they failed quite often. Everybody in the department breathed a sigh of relief when the much lighter flat screens came out.4.4KViews1like0CommentsRe: To turn off, or not to turn off?
MarkJFinewrote: I turn off what I can at night, but leave things on during the day just for a time savings thing, if anything. Thanks for your reply. I think It may have made a difference 35 years ago, it's probably a wash now, as far as equipment life. I'm just lazy, so I leave everything on.4.5KViews0likes2CommentsRe: To turn off, or not to turn off?
Thanks for your reply. I forgot to mention that I have a ethernet switch between my computer and the modem which allows me to isolate the modem when I'm not online. This makes it very easy to see if data is being used through my wifi. I too haven't had any issues with leaving everything on. Plus I don't have to wait for things to boot up when I get back on the internet at 3:00 AM every morning. :<)>4.5KViews0likes0Comments