CharlotteTheHarlot

Ahhh, that explains why you're in your right mind! --JorgeA The funny thing is that I never buy lefty devices or remap R/L mouse buttons or anything like that because nearly everything I come across is set for righties and I don't want to alter someone's computer just to make me happy. So I guess it is right-brain activity with a twist of flipping that over to quasi-right handedness, right-click is right mouse button for me and everyone else. When I was a kid they actually encouraged us to switch over and some did. Don't get me wrong though, it was okay not to switch and there were lefty scissors and things ( they had the little rubber covering which lent itself to being called handicap scissors ) but I chose to be different and use right-handed "normal" scissors with my left hand and also with my right, and that simply carried forward through the computer era. But it actually can be a benefit because computer games ( before controllers ) using mouse + keyboard I think lends itself better for lefties because the nicely isolated arrow keys with the right-hand are better than any four tightly packed letter keys. But since I also forced myself to throw and eat and write with either hand long before computers and mice came along that really isn't much of a stretch really. Funny, unrelated article up at NeoWin ... Microsoft pokes fun of the fanboys in new Windows Phone advert ( NeoWin 2013-04-29 ) HeHe, it's not what you think. It is about a Microsoft commercial for WP8, Nokia users of course, who are portayed as the normal folks while the rabid wedding-goers are Android and Apple fanatics. Pretty good commercial for once, well funny, I mean it is a million times better than that stupid Surface table dancing disaster. I think the funniest part is reading the comments at NeoWin mostly by actual rabid MicroZealots and MetroTards who cannot grasp the current fanboy reality. The worst of all are clearly the mSheep. I don't know any Android "fans", they all got them because it was a better deal or they wanted a card slot for photos and things. The iPhone users do not match up to the traditional Apple stereotype portrayed by the media, and certainly they don't hold a candle to the current bumper crop of crazed MetroTards. So the commercial is funny but clearly inaccurate. Any thread over at NeoWin or The Verge makes that clear as can be. Dvorak has a comment about it ... Microsoft Ad Sends the Wrong Message, Again! ( PC Magazine 2013-04-29 ) EDIT: added article

I think it was added in with a SP, probably SP2. And though I cannot prove it, it may have existed earlier as a driver file tucked away in 3rd party media players and used when that application was executed. But yeah, this really shows that giving them an inch is a mistake. For example, by Vista/7 it had moved from a static driver file to an actively updating component because they ( Macrovision ) also branched into that Installshield program updater service. Some quick Google hits ... Vistaheads ... I had the same message on my DELL desktop running 64bit Vista Business. A bit of delving suggests it is linked to executable <agent.exe> found in: C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Update Service A Google search uncovered that this is a Windows Process from Acresso (formerly Macrovision) that performs online checks in the background for updates to software from DragonNaturally Speaking, Roxio, Corel Draw, Articulate, and Acronis. Roxio have put the following warning about a critical update on their website: 000072GN : FlexNet Connect vulnerability and its effect on Roxio customers If you prefer, the Macrovision Update Service can simply be turned off by running <msconfig.exe> and removing the tick from this entry under the 'Startup' tab. Answers.Microsoft.com ... [ long-winded Microsoft answer deleted ] SuperUser.com ... Utterly ridiculous IMHO. As if Windows needs new failure vectors. As if Windows needs new avenues for malware to enter. Sure enough, the link you provided describes the inevitable: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS07-067 - Important. Vulnerability in Macrovision Driver Could Allow Local Elevation of Privilege (944653) Needless to say I am no fan of this crap. I remember their first generation copy protection back in the late-1980's on VHS players ( IIRC the VHS player IC firmware decoded the analog encoding on the actual VHS videotapes ). Sometimes we would rent videos and every so often they would not play properly, I think I remember the picture alternating between dark and light or saturation. These were tapes from Blockbuster in real boxes and labeled correctly, I highly doubt that Blockbuster was bootlegging tapes. So the protection was at fault, and the legal user pays the price in lost time, even though Blockbuster would just give you another one to try. Certain VCR players were more sensitive than others or perhaps changed over time or when the heads got dirty. Regardless, Big Hollywood got their hooks right into our living rooms and with help from Macrovision screwed us over. The fact they tried to get in bed with Microsoft is bad enough. It's like a coup really, branching out from existing on a few consumer VHS player/recorders to being completely ubiquitous - existing literally everywhere a Windows computer does, regardless of sensitivity. And we're supposed to trust them everywhere? But who are they really? Do they have security clearances and are they vetted for standing or morals or a criminal past? Jeez Louise. Microsoft should have considered the ramifications of embedding anything into Windows because they are handing them the keys to the kingdom. The worst part is that we would not even know it were it not for those people that expose these intrusions and drum up some push-back. From reading the latest on this I eventually landed at Wikipedia and found out that Macrovision moved the software garbage to another company called Acresso Software, while the rest of the company is now called Rovi Corporation. Good to know this because now I know exactly what to rip out of Windows, any occurrences of these two virus producing companies. Lord knows Microsoft isn't talking and explaining in detail who has their fingers in our computers, that was what I took away from the Gutmann episode. Were it left up to them, with no outrage or pushback they would merely give us some of that patented marketing bull: 'Windows contains 3rd party components to deliver an unparalleled enhanced multimedia experience!'. And people would buy it, the fanboys would defend it, Congress would support it, prices would still rise, piracy would continue, Hollywood would still cry poverty and we would still get screwed. It's a brave new world. I have to quote again what Jorge said above, because he nicely encapsulated the inversion of personal computer ownership. He was talking about the McAfee article but it clearly applies to everything ...

Awesome flick ... They Live! ... and more apropos by the day I think ... EDIT: updated image URL

Well I wasn't hyping him at all. I was merely pointing out the exact timeframe that Microsoft went off the rails. Certainly I did follow these goings-on at the time, and the above links returned by Google nicely encapsulate the holy war that was visited upon him, particularly by Ed MicroBot. The way I remember it is that the guy ( Gutmann ) did us a service from outside of Microsoft without hands-on any of their internal documents or testing equipment or ultra-fast Core2 state-of-the-art processors at the time, a difficult task. And he managed to outline, albeit not perfectly, the plan in place to intrude upon personal computers. In my opinion ( not Gutmann's), the Windows 6.x redesign signaled a sea-change, from the innocent earlier era where both the computer hardware OEM optical devices were bare without all the special DRM chips installed in retail consumer electronics, and the software to utilize this bare hardware was whatever we chose to buy and use. Microsoft caved in to the Hollywood Mafia assuming role of facilitator, adding the equivalent code to the OS to compensate for what was lacking from the bare drives for personal computers we all purchase at our leisure. Windows 6 in effect becomes the integrated DRM circuits to satisfy Hollywood and the copyright coalitions, inflicting their vision on people whether they like it or not. "It's completely optional - don't want it, don't use that media." is not a good answer because I just might choose to use that hardware and media without DRM for my own purposes. If I can get the optical drive "bare" that handles the new DVD or whatever planned formats, I don't want Microsoft stepping in and handing them a software path to accomplish what they failed to do at the IC level. But let's not forget the real issue of 6 (!) years ago - the slippery slope, especially considering who we are dealing with: Hollywood and the copyright syndicate who will take an inch and demand miles, and, Microsoft, who will sell you out in a heartbeat. DRM through the OS was a precedent to which they will return and revisit over and over again. The only reason it wasn't further exploited is that optical media fell out of favor with the fickle public who have moved on to new ( pardon the pun ) Vistas. Next up, Microsoft patrolling your personal cloud and metering the bytes between you and everyone else to enhance your cloud experience, to protect Hollywood and the copyright crime syndicate from your activities.

Thanks for all that info Is that last link "Remove Google Redirects" for any version of Opera? The page is unclear. Since it only took me like 10 seconds to manually strip out the nonsense let me just ask if you think this add-on is time effective in your opinion? P.S. I realize Peter Gutmann is controversial, though the Vista DRM subject is definitely not, he clearly nailed them for bending over to the Hollywood Mafia with "protected paths" ( kinda like inverting the security paradigm mentioned above with McAfee and blacklists ). And of course Linus himself is riddled with pretty much the same baggage thanks to smears by MicroZealots. At this point in my life I don't attack the messenger as a natural reflex, I just want to know if they are correct in what they are talking about. And we can probably agree with one thing - that when he launched the tirade about DRM, Microsoft was caught off-guard and speechless and they and their fanboy zealots had a cow and that itself became the issue for many of us. That's when they lost me as a natural ally. Shooting the messenger is the first instinct of tyrants. I haven't really been able to give them the benefit of the doubt ever since. EDIT: typo

Well not surprisingly, I like it. Favorite quote was when he was talking about Ultrabooks and the new "contortionist" form factors: "Both are too expensive, bring the user nothing they want, and still fail at the basic things consumers actually need. In other words they suck more than PCs of old, but you pay a huge premium for it.". Early in this thread I said something like "Great, we'll have $1000 netbooks ..." and repeatedly spoke of spiking prices with no gain. So I like his article because there is a lot of truth in there, and as you alluded to, lots that we have discussed here. When he is talking about the meme and the shills and the big lie making the rounds as fact, he could almost be critiquing the majority of commenters at NeoWin and The Verge, two outlets rife with parrots. There is so little honesty in industry anymore. That blatant "dishonesty" is coupled with the even more common "detachment" where they just ignore all comments and queries. Ironically it seems to be the root supplier companies that are the worst offenders, rather than the 2nd-tier OEMs. For example, I would expect no answer to any legitimate question from Intel or Microsoft or Apple or nVidia or AMD, etc. But I would not be surprised for HP or Dell or anyone else to at least humor us with some actual information. Needless to say the Tech press is not there to save the day and demand that concise and exact answer we desire. For example, when Intel inexplicably stopped soldering the IHS ( heat spreader ) to the Ivy Bridge processors ( especially the unlocked 'K' models that will be overclocked ) and began just using thermal paste resulting in a smaller heat-performance envelope the blogs ran wild, hardware sites were busy commenting but to my knowledge no simple answers from Intel and we are all still wondering what the plan was and is. Apparently we'll only know anything concrete when someone gets the next CPU and tears of the IHS and reports his findings and benchmarks. We are way off the traditional path now. The path that IBM pioneered with their early tendency to document everything and err on the side of information overload. In my experience, Microsoft began walking this same path around the Vista debacle, specifically on the Vista blog. I posted the links somewhere back in this thread but from memory, it was just about the time that they were called out for the hardware DRM by Peter Gutmann, in effect a rolling over for the Hollywood mafia and the long knives came out for the man. The Vista blog itself touched upon it but the actual dirty work was being done by outside websites ( see Google ). This, IMHO, is when nu-Microsoft was born. This, IMHO, is when astroturfing became all the rage. This, IMHO, is when Microsoft became the Sopranos. And it rapidly accelerated when the Vista sales results became known, the breadth of the fail became clear, and Microsoft and her enabler MicroZealots adopted a siege mentality. P.S. I wonder if anyone ( Jaclaz perhaps ) knows the answer to this. In Opera, when you try to copy the search URL I used above, Opera insists on giving you a string riddled with non-essential crap like &client=opera and other nonsense. Is there a way to just grab the URL in a neutral format? For example, do a search for "Vista DRM Peter Gutmann" and copy the URL of that search result and see if you also get the compound string with too many extraneous and specific components. Seems like a waste to me, and possibly even something identifiable. The one I posted above is this, which is manually edited down to just the core search terms, 72 characters instead of the default 492. WTF are Opera and/or Google up to? EDIT: typo

Cluster ... how to explain ... The other half of the word would need to be in place I guess. Etymology is military slang. Maybe it's just an American thing? Here's a safe hint ... Nugent has a song called Okay, well there just might be bad language at the link So anyway, now you can see how that Office 365 billboard is just asking for it, eh? Hopefully those Microsoft sanctioned gang-banger graffiti artists don't get a hold of it. It looks like there are a lot of empty bricks just below that pastel pink (!) billboard.

Microsoft 're-imagining' video reveals secrets of rebranding, hints of what's to come ( NeoWin 2013-04-27 ) A lot of hipster blah, blah, blah. Okay, let's get the jokes out of the way first ... Oh my. Even better, here is an actual billboard for Office 365 ... ( Image from NeoWin ) Pretty accurate, well, with just a little editing I think. I'll have to get back to this soon. Anyhoo, the whole point of the article is a look at the hipster re-branding of Microsoft, because Lord knows that was the problem there. Yes, the tired old logos and 3D GUI interfaces and products that appealed to expert users and developers. To get a feel for the nu-Microsoft target clientele just read through the article comments ( and many others at NeoWin and The Verge ) and feel the love that the MetroTards and MicroZealots are pouring onto their master ... "Whoa the boomerang Bing logo is awesome!". No it ain't, it pretty much sucks ... "This video was truly inspiring! I loved it! I especially loved the analogy of Apple being an apple, and Microsoft being a bowl and all it's brands and users being the fruit within. Love it. Also, the teaser with the new Bing and Yammer logos and new Microsoft identity look really exciting. I can't wait!" For real? ... "Sorry but Bing IS NOW PERFECT guys. Amazing for search. Good Job from Microsoft." Perfect you say? How about a perfect copy of Google! Ok, with wallpaper. Desktop cluttering, non-Minimalist wallpaper. Back when they did this logo thing, I came up with a few myself. Amazingly no-one else seems to have thought of it either. My idea is much more appropriate for MicroSloth. Feel free to use them or edit them at will ... Several variations ... EDIT: updated image URLs

WOW! I AM SUCH A MORON! Seriously! I run Opera as a USB-installation already... WHY DID I NOT THINK OF JUST COPYING MY FOLDER AND GET A SECOND OPERA? hahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha...... wow... just wow... sometimes, one cannot see clearly! Thanks! Careful though, when I said copy being between computers I was talking about porting and mirroring the same install and all other things are kept the same ( filepaths, etc. ). To create another parallel Opera now, you can do it in at least two different ways. - Install another one fresh. All the files within will correctly point to to this new install. - Copy the existing folder source to a new target but you have to search the entire new folder file contents for path references that point back to the original you copied. Any path references that are absolute ( C:\Winapps\Opera\12\xxx ) will need to be edited. Any with relative paths ( ..\Profile\xxx ) will be fine. This is one reason I use "Winapps" for many years. I can just search for that exact term to locate file paths. If I had allowed the default "Program Files" I would have many extra searches to look for ( LFN, SFN, X86, many user profile locations, etc ). So I decided to "tame" it by removing all the possible Microsoft approved infinite variations and complications.

The actual file is fine. It is a WinRar SFX and is a perfectly safe archive. Here is the one from that link that I just tested ... 2013-04-28 00:55 29,746,887 wupg98en-AFL.EXE The problem that the above commenter is describing originates from the piece of crap website called Uploading.com. When you first get to the intermediate page for downloading you have to quickly uncheck the box that says "use download accelerator". The page is on a timer, so you have to be fast ... If you fail to do this, the default automatically sends you the "download accelerator", a euphemism for a spyware laden un-necessary software ... Note the size of the file indicated by the arrow. Many sites send you a downloader and most times they are a few hundred KB in size like this one. You do not want or need the "downloaders" because at the very least they will have toolbars, if not actual spyware. So uncheck that box quickly and you should never see the downloader. I suggest the OP edit the top post and warn folks ( you can use this image if you want - http://i.imgur.com/k3pd4aP.jpg - it is that first one shown ). P.S. Another thing to note is that the default action for that file download dialog in my Opera window there is "Save" and NOT "Run". I can't remember if that is something that Opera has by default or if it is a preference I changed. But it is a very important distinction because if it were "Run" it would mean the only thing separating your computer from malware is a single click or "Enter". EDIT: typos

Firefox OS Phones Available for Developers ( Tom's Hardware 2013-04-25 ) Intel Atom-based Android Notebooks to Cost $200 ( Maximum PC 2013-04-26 ) HP's Slate 7 tablet undercuts the competition at $169.99 ( TechSpot 2013-04-26 ) Rugged Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy tablets to arrive this summer ( TechSpot 2013-04-26 ) Super budget-minded Samsung Galaxy Core specs, price leaked ( TechSpot 2013-04-26 ) The floodgates are open. Just a sample of the massive influx of devices that will all outsell Microsoft branded or sanctioned items. When Microsoft began this crazy trek to gain mobile marketshare over two years ago, not one of these things were on their radar, including the Galaxy phone or the rise of Android. That shows you how no plan can address the future. Particularly when that Plan-A is to screw over the x86 universe that made Microsoft who they are today, by attacking the very fundamentals of the Operating System called Windows which is the rocket ship they rode to success. How's that Plan-A working out Ballmer? Aren't you glad you p!ssed us all off? Analyst: Windows 8.1 won't fix apps that 'suck' ( NeoWin 2013-04-26 ) Already mentioned by MagicAndre1981 a few posts back, this one is now a typical 'tardfest. As is this one ... StatCounter: Windows 8 on 4.69 percent of PCs six months after launch ( NeoWin 2013-04-26 ) HeHeHe It really is stunning cognitive dissonance employed by MetroTards and MicroZealots to not be able to comprehend simple concepts like monopoly. The fools really seem to believe that they are competing with Apple or Android ( you are not! ). By killing your actual competition ( Windows 7 or Vista or XP or ... ) you have cleared the playing field of all competitors. By sneaky backroom deals Microsoft has secured itself a monopoly and then suddenly all the 'tards are cheering because the one and only available operating system is slowly growing. At least a couple of people aren't delusional: "MS could practically release anything for an OS and it'd be at 5% after 6 months. It helps when the vast, vast majority of computers that ship these days have an OS installed and that OS is Windows.". And another: "Worthless stats. Microsoft could release an operating system that smells like dog sh@t, but guess what? It's the only d@mn operating in the store! No choice, numbers don't mean anything.". Bingo. EDIT: typo

Bravo! You said it way better than I did. McAfee/Intel trying to invert the security paradigm ( and really all of Big Technology and the BSA and the Hollywood Mafia would support this ) the same way that Microsoft is trying to invert the user experience. You just reminded me why I can't stand the tabbing in MSIE and others. As a lefty the CTRL-TAB is difficult for me because my main hand is always on a mouse or trackball. So by remapping to CTRL-UP/DOWN I can use my right-hand for fast tab switching while keeping the mouse available for scrollbar area clicking for vertical syncing of the content of each page in a tab ( getting them lined up is crucial to fast comparing alike page formats or text files or photographs or ... ). Ah, there is a good solution for your cookie segregation problem. Opera allows multiple versions to co-exist with each maintaining their own settings as they use discrete INI-type files. In fact I have been able to do this pretty much non-stop since Opera 2. Porting between computers is a simple matter of copying the folder structure ( with hiccups in some versions that put shared application settings in the user profile structure and/or if you allowed the installer to pick its own location ). I get around this by keeping everything under a longtime single folder structure ... C:\Winapps\Opera\02 C:\Winapps\Opera\03 [...] C:\Winapps\Opera\11 C:\Winapps\Opera\12 ... and within them many different builds of course. Then it is a simple matter of separate shortcuts. Alternatively you can just use different Windows user accounts and install Opera NOT using the "everyone" option, but that means logging out to change. Anyway, the cookies are kept in a DAT file ( still an INI type ) which means another possibility is keeping separate files there, but it is cumbersome. But I have to mention that Opera has been carrying along many bugs for years and they appear no better than Microsoft for listening to users. The cookie manager sucks bad. Just clean up your cookies, then close the manager and re-open it and more magically appear which were previously existing in the DAT but not loaded into the GUI. It takes multiple passes to clean them up. Also, there is no way to protect individual cookies ( perhaps it could use a 2nd file for those that we flag as keepers ) so while I want to keep the settings in perhaps 20 cookies and delete the other 500, it cannot be done except for painstakingly wandering through the list. ~sigh~ Speaking of Opera bugs, I just fell into another one again. I couldn't remember the version I am on at the moment so I did Help > About. Naturally, after all these years that dialog still loads into _self and blows away the current tab and then I idi0tically closed the tab and threw out all the typing in this box with no chance for recovery. That is one of the older bugs that was reported and still it is there. What will webkit bring us? I don't know. EDIT: typo

McAfee patents anti-piracy filter ( TechSpot 2013-04-25 ) Beware, pirates: McAfee plans to detect and block infringing content in the browser ( NeoWin 2013-04-27 ) Ah, so they patented a blacklist. How original. Hey, let's open up another failure vector on hapless user PC's. The hilarity will ensue when malware injects *.Microsoft.com into the blacklist, just like the old days with the HOSTS file and software firewalls, or some that removed it from the trusted site zone. Thanks, but no thanks McAfee ( Intel ). How about you get busy and kick up the specs on these 4th gen i7 processors instead of just screwing around. EDIT: added article(s)

Tabbed windows within a window is very productive ( thank you Opera and Excel ). It is kind of a like Taskbar'd windows in Windows itself, with Alt-Tab as the quick switch mechanism or clicking on the Taskbar buttons for slower navigation. Long-winded story begins ... Now the Taskbar paradigm is obviously dated exactly to Windows 95, but it's origins go back to many earlier Win3x and pure DOS programs that used tabs within themselves. The true origin, albeit without a GUI tab visual accoutrement, would probably be text editors that had a pseudo-MDI ( multiple document interface ) in the very early 1980's. From a dropdown menu the individual open text files could be accessed, and some editors had keystroke combos to jump between them and if you were really lucky you could reprogram them to something less cumbersome than the programmer duhfaults. So I would always look for this and change them. Net result was the ability to switch between files using CTRL-UP or DOWN very very quickly. This gave the ability of comparison, the so-called A/B switching ( in the Audio or Music biz ) or in Astronomy when they A/B photos to discover Meteors, Comets or the Planet Pluto. Checking for differences between text files was an early predecessor to GUI WinDiff type applications later. Anyway, I had business reasons way back then to do these kind of things in editors, for example comparing Network or DOS configuration files from different machines, proofreading group edited documents and whatnot. So I always had them customized for CTRL-UP and DOWN or sometimes ALT, depending on the available keyboard. Ever since then I have ported this forward to modern editors, from PFE32 and later to ULTRAEDIT and Visual Studio and other programming IDE's and more. Anyway the reason I am taking this trip down memory lane is that it is extremely useful in browsers, in fact your above stated usage. I know that Opera gives access to customization including keyboard config. I have done what you mentioned ( shopping ) with lots of tabs looking at competing products and can fly through them with CTRL-UP or DOWN ( back or forth through the Z order ). I may be wrong but I would doubt that MSIE exposes the keyboard config, but if it is possible you might enjoy fast keystroke switching within a single window rather than multiple windows using ALT-TAB. Or you can dump MSIE in the trash can where it belongs Actually, I don't know if FF or MSIE let you remap keystrokes or not, I just doubt it in the latter case.

In Blue: Multi-PC App Uninstall ( Thurrott 2013-04-24 ) ( image source: Thurrott ) Jeez Louise. That patented Microsoft logic twisting. I think one of the commenters there has it exactly right: "I would say if you wanted the uninstall to be on the "current PC Only", they the wording should be changed to “This app and its related info will be removed from this PC” and the check box should be to "Uninstall from all your PCs"". I also like the ambiguous focus in that screenshot, where the white mini-window is active but indistinguishable from every other screen element in this 2D nightmare. It all looks like crap. Pure, stinky crap. Why does this make me think of 'designed by committee'? Vista and 7 ... ( image source: Microsoft ) Which was later redesigned by a committee of committees in Windows 8 ... ( image source: Microsoft ) ( The last two images are from the official Destroying Windows blog: Designing the Windows 8 file name collision experience. Yes, they really do add the word "experience" to just about everything. ) Well at least the focus is crystal clear. Notice the pronounced shadow and that the non-focused window "Replace or Skip Files" has changed color as well. How is it possible to change everything for the worse? EDIT: updated image URLs

Strategy Analytics: 3 million Windows tablets shipped in Q1 2013 ( NeoWin 2013-04-24 ) Astonishingly, the MetroTards are rejoicing. No, I am not kidding. Here are the hard facts in the story, Q1 2013 tablets ... Apple ..... 19.5 million ... 48.2% Android ... 17.6 million ... 43.4% Windows .... 3.0 million .... 7.5% ModernMix for Windows 8 gets updated ( NeoWin 2013-04-24 ) ( Image from NeoWin ) What is funny is that the aforementioned MetroTard MicroZealot-in-Chief makes appearances throughout the comments making a complete utter fool of himself ... Commenting on Stardock making ModernMix instead of Microsoft: "Could have, but didn't, and never will. Metro apps don't run on the desktop for a reason. They're moving away from the classic desktop." Commenting on multi-tasking on the desktop with overlapping windows: "If you're covering up a window with another window, then you don't really need that bottom window in focus. Metro solves the issue of "clutter". You're not getting much work done with dozens of open windows all covered up." More on multi-tasking on the desktop with overlapping windows: "Any window not in focus just adds clutter to your workspace. If it's sitting in the background, then you don't really need it on screen." Children these days. They think they know everything! But unfortunately that opinion is not confined to generation Xbox MetroTards, it flows out of Redmond itself. There are lots of these people around. It hasn't occurred to them that to achieve what they desire Microsoft has needed to dismantle every facet of "Windows" to accommodate them. Which has been the point all along among us 'haterz', all they had to do was design a "Microsoft Tiles" just for the 'tards and everyone would be happy. Yet these same 'tards scratch their heads wondering why we are upset at Microsoft for destroying Windows. EDIT: photo credit, updated image URL

Can you just imagine them stating that 'all the holes are plugged'! With all the specific Java exploits this year, so bad that at one point they suggested disabling it completely, they are gonna regret that "This is the last release ..." business. If we start a pool, I'll have to go with jre-6u60 or jre-6u70.

I'll have to try that, thanks!

Thanks, I see it now ( d'oh! ). I missed that empty gold pin at the bottom of the jumper block ( so the jumper is on the upper two pins ). P.S. and yes, my old eyes suck. P.P.S. Oh, I didn't mean to criticize his camera skills, it's just a handy trick to know ( LED flashlight aiming at subject ). Often times you can then turn the flash completely off which results in no whiteout on reflective parts and usually means a longer shutter exposure as well. Better photo.

You said "lower center right" ? Either my eyes are failing me or you posted the wrong photo. I see no jumpers in there. Unless maybe in that dark area to the left of the big cap in the center of the photo. Can you use a reference like "to the left of" any of the shown items ( e.g., audio cable or floppy ribbon cable, or the three empty connectors, or those two big IC's, the small cap, the transistor ... ). Or you could just circle it in a image editor. P.S. if it is behind that big cap, the trick to taking a picture is to have a small LED flashlight on it to cancel the shadow before you snap the picture. The flash from the camera will almost always cause a different picture than you expect because of incidental shadows that do not exist until you take the photo.

I think it's important to get Thurrott on the record here. From his "Short Takes" on Windows IT Pro ... Short Takes: April 19, 2013 ( Thurrott 2013-04-19 ) As I've said before, Paul is clinically bipolar. He has actually voiced every possible permutation of all possible opinions along the way. However, what he wishes for is truly irrelevant. What is he predicting here? I can't tell. He is vague on what the return of the "Start Button" actually means. Is it a GUI button shortcut to the Metro Start Screen or not? Clearly he knows squat. Maybe They Should Just Call It Windows 7.8 ( Thurrott 2013-04-19 ) Now in this follow-up, Paul "The Desktop Must Die!" Thurrott seems a little more sure in that they are actually listening, and get this, he agrees! Yeah sure. Now he has certainly stated the facts correctly, at last. But where was he for the past two years! Breaking the backwards compatible paradigm has been our beef for ages now. We have pointed out ProgMan in Win95 and Classic in WinXP. You are two years late to the party Paul. However, I still do not believe this story that the Start Menu is coming back. Nor do I even understand whether Paul is predicting this or is in fact being clever by being vague. In other words, they might just bring back the Start Button and still have it point to the Playskool Metro interface. EDIT: added article(s)

Check out the NeoWin thread that covers this story ... Did Microsoft execs overrule Windows team to put Start button back in Windows 8.1? ( NeoWin 2013-04-20 ) Every single thing we have said about them, that they are exceeding all expectations of Apple or Google or Linux fanboism, is on display. MetroTards on Parade.

It sure does seems like Oracle is doing a one last farewell tour for Java SE 6 This is at least 3 times they have promised the end, so we should start a pool on this. Back in Post #45 ... Back in Post #54 ... So much for that announcement. That was supposedly the final version ever released for Java 6 ( JRE 6 release 41 ), but as noted by egrabrych, it was quickly superceded. Just downloaded these files ... jre-6u43-windows-i586.exe ... Webpage ... Direct Download ( for now ) jre-6u43-windows-x64.exe .... Webpage jre-7u17-windows-i586.exe ... Webpage ... Direct Download ( for now ) jre-7u17-windows-x64.exe .... Webpage Note: Correct me If I'm wrong but there does not seem to have been a jre-6u42. Note: Correct me If I'm wrong but there does not seem to have been a jre-7u16. Using the following two links I went straight to the latest direct download page for both 6 and 7 ... Java 6 Direct ( accept agreement and choose platform ) Java 7 Direct ( accept agreement and choose platform ) These are the downloaded files ... 2013-04-20 ... 23:32 ... 17,090,992 ... jre-6u45-windows-i586.exe 2013-04-20 ... 23:32 ... 17,355,184 ... jre-6u45-windows-x64.exe 2013-04-20 ... 23:34 ... 31,666,592 ... jre-7u21-windows-i586.exe 2013-04-20 ... 23:35 ... 33,119,648 ... jre-7u21-windows-x64.exe Note: There does not seem to have been a jre-6u44. Note: There does not seem to have been a jre-7u18 or 19 or 20. Curiously there is a typo on that page for Java 6 ... ... but as you can see from the sizes I listed above, the file is fine.

Microsoft's Terry Myerson: Android is "a mess", no need for Surface phone, and more on WP8 ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) Google's Eric Schmidt: 1.5 million Android activations per day ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) Yep, that some kinda "mess" right there. So Terry, tell me something. What exactly is WP8 and RT getting? A million activations a month or a quarter? Jealousy is one of the seven deadly sins. Latest Windows 8.1 build shows new search features, pulls content from the web ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) Ah, once again blurring the lines between online and offline. Taking that Win98 active desktop and channels thing into the bigtime. Except in this century we have fast downloads on broadband, and by using BING what could possibly go wrong? Let me think ... Oh yeah, Study says Bing is five times more likely to find malware than Google. On the bright side, this means that on Windows 8 you'll be able to just start typing, oh I don't know, "Metro Sucks" and get instant results. Maybe even a hit on a link back to this very thread! Windows 8.1 'Files' app revealed in leaked build 9369, file browsing comes to the Modern UI ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) I would swear this one is an April Fool's joke, but it ain't. So once again I have awoken into an alternate universe where someone is demonstrating some random 3rd party operating system, maybe a beta of a *nix shell developed by students in some high school. For a while I was actually wondering how the design committee was planning to outdo their handiwork revising the file collision dialog on Vista/7/8. This must is the answer. One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. A perfect example of square pegs in round holes ... EDIT: updated image URLs

Microsoft's Windows 8 Plan B(lue): Bring back the Start button, boot to desktop ( Mary Jo Foley ZDNet 2013-04-16 ) Windows 8.1 will include boot to desktop option to bypass 'Metro' interface ( Tom Warren The Verge 2013-04-16 ) Microsoft yields: boot to desktop, Start menu options in Windows 8.1? ( TechSpot 2013-04-16 ) Evidence mounts for Windows 8.1 boot to desktop option ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) Rumor: The Start Button to return in Windows 8.1 ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) Boot to desktop for Windows 8.1 could be for 'Kiosk mode', dashes our hopes a bit ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) Will they or won't they? One thing is funny though, just as Formfiller said, they ( the MetroTard commenters ) are currently re-posturing themselves to accepting this with sudden rationalizations of how choice is good. Windows 8.1 build 9369 has leaked ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) Windows 8.1 build 9369 installation screenshots ( NeoWin 2013-04-16 ) ( images left and right from NeoWin ) You know what is the most offensive part of the Windows 8 desktop? The little "e" icon in the place of the Start Menu, a subtle thing that represents their new thinking. Start Me Up replaced by Internet Explorer. The Windows Explorer Icon as the other choice really shows just how shallow their thinking is. MSIE and Explorer, that's our toolbox, yep. Pretty much the classic setup for a n00b. Add in the Aero Glass-less appearance, flat 2D and squared corners, plus those one-color icons in the systray and the whole experience just cries out as a pOS. Pretty much everything visually sucks. And that is just on the desktop. Metro is a whole 'nuther story. EDIT: typo, updated image URLs