JorgeA
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Posts posted by JorgeA
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3 hours ago, Tripredacus said:
Another issue with the modern web is I've been seeing the return of memory leaks. Spending any long period of time on Facebook or Imgur will cause your computer to lock up and open programs to crash.
I don't go on FB, but I've noticed the same thing in my Web travels. Not sure which sites because I tend to keep multiple tabs open, but the memory usage definitely creeps up to the point where eventually I have to close the browser. Like you, more than once I've even had to resort to a reboot because the computer got so sluggish and no amount of process-killing would speed it back up.
--JorgeA
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Charlie Demerjian comes in with a similar (though of course better developed) viewpoint on the "Windows on ARM" idea:
Microsoft gives Qualcomm’s Snapdragon WARTs
QuoteDo recall that when Microsoft last tried to put Windows on ARM there was much excitement among those with things to sell and their paid press partners. None of these people bothered to publicly question the viability of a dog-slow heavy OS on a power constrained mobile platform with a complete lack of software. Then there was Windows 8 which only added to the user misery. It failed. No, it cratered the market, there wasn’t even a theoretical upside.
[...]
Theoretically the x86 emulation will allow for seamless running of all desktop x86 code on ARM based SoCs like the Qualcomm Snapdragon in question. In the real world, emulation takes a lot of CPU overhead, induces some rather random timing headaches, and adds massive CPU load to the picture. So you are comparing a Snapdragon 835 to an Intel desktop part with a massive power and IPC/general performance advantage. Apples to orangutans really, and emulation in games will work, well less well than the rosy press releases, think timing headaches and out of control power use.
What runs barely acceptably on a low power big Intel core and not at all well on an Atom is now going to run just fine on a lower performance Qualcomm SoC? The Qualcomm Snapdragon line is made up of world class SoCs but they are not aimed at the right market, they are mobile, low energy use parts meant for light OSes, not heavy bloated, desktop ones. This won’t end well.
Then add in the performance crater from emulation and you have something that makes molasses in winder look fast. Throw in the substantially higher energy use for decode on mobile devices and even the high skin temperatures won’t make said molasses run fast, but it will make your battery cry. There is really no up side to this process, it is just a bad idea, bad for user who will once again unknowingly buy a WART box, and bad on every technical level. Microsoft needs it to placate jittery stockholders questioning them about a mobile strategy though so it will be touted as a good thing by the tame and paid press.
More good points in the rest of the post on SemiAccurate.
--JorgeA
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43 minutes ago, xpclient said:
By the way, Microsoft's plan for the next 20-25 years is do similar to what Apple did with OS X. They are now going to introduce Windows 10 on ARM (with Win32 emulation). Next, at some point, kill off Windows on x86 and say "Hey you can run Win32 apps too on ARM plus Modern apps so you don't need Windows on x86." So Win32 emulation on ARM will be like what Apple had with Rosetta on OS X. After a while, that will be killed off too as their planned obsolescence is complete.
I read about this last night. I just don't understand their reasoning for getting Windows to run on ARM, whose chips power small-screen devices. On a small screen, it's either a Windows Mobile or Metro (touch) UI, which already failed spectacularly; or a regular desktop-type UI, which is plainly unsuited for screens of that size. So, where's the advantage??
One of the articles I read (I think it was by Thurrott) talked about running this contraption on laptops. But again, what's the point of that? We already have laptops running on Intel chips.
I just don't see the rationale for these "Windows on ARM" plans. BTW, WOA was already mooted three years ago as Windows 8 was coming on the scene, and that concept went over like a lead balloon. So, what gives? Are they simply running out of ideas and this latest move is but a desperate rehash?
--JorgeA
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On 12/6/2016 at 8:24 AM, jaclaz said:
As a side note, but relevant, a recent international study confirms the gut feeling that only 1/15 to 1/20 people actually know where their towel is (provided that the "level 3", which seems to me anyway basic enough, corresponds to knowing where your towel is
):
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/More or less the direct consequence of this is that in the name of popularity (and/or market size) everything is going to be
dumbed downsimplified to be compliant with the level the vast majority of people are, thus keeping them in their persistentignorancecomputer illiteracy.Now, I am the first one to sponsor simplicity and attempting to apply Occam's razor to *everything*, but one thing is making things as simple as possible (good) and another thing is making things as simple as the lazy users expect them to be (and in doing so limit the possibilities of more advanced uses of the tool by a few more knowledgeable and willing to learn people).
jaclaz
The irony of this (and IIRC it's been pointed out on that excellent NN website), is that "simple" interfaces often turn out to be MORE difficult to use because they fail to provide cues to the user. For instance, having flat clickable elements that look like they're just text with a colored background, and no 3-D "button" effect to suggest to the user that it's an active element. And then hiding menus under those camouflaged non-buttons. The user receives no hint as to how to navigate the website, and starts clicking anywhere and everywhere. Or nowhere, opting to go someplace else instead.
--JorgeA
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On 12/5/2016 at 8:17 AM, jaclaz said:
basically - according to NHS - if you install an el-cheapo camera and leave password admin/admin, you may cause the disruption of primary US networks, which seemingly have today the same robustness of Ukraine's ones one year ago, which were however compromised NOT by DDOS or similar attacks but from remote logins on (with payloads sent and/or credentials obtained through phishing) internet connected SCADA's
Speaking of having stuff needlessly connected to the Internet, I just came across this:
[source: http://www.geekculture.com/joyoftech/joyimages/2340.png]
My apologies if this has already been posted on MSFN and I missed it!
--JorgeA
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IDC once predicted 20% market share for Windows phones; now it forecasts 0.1% share by 2020
Just like the MSFT execs (and their fanboys and trolls) who confidently predicted 1 billion Windows 10 devices by 2018. They need better crystal balls. Maybe the ghost of Steve Jobs can design one for them.
Oh, and about that 0.1% share for Windows phones:
Quote...the table above states that proportion as 0.1% market share, but that's rounded up; it's actually closer to 0.06%.
Tell me again why Microsoft keeps turning real Windows into a phone OS?
--JorgeA
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On 12/2/2016 at 7:13 PM, jonah8208 said:
Jorge I been waiting for that day probably as long as you have, not looking any closer than it was 10 years ago, maybe by 2025!
Yup!
One of the limitations I've run into when trying Linux in some of my work, is that there doesn't appear to be any PDF software that "converts" a Web page to PDF -- as opposed to "printing" a Web page to PDF, which is not quite the same thing. When I "print" a page to PDF, increasingly I run into all sorts of oddities, such as black banners running down the left edge covering up text, or standard website cr*p at the top of every printed page that covers up text, or even having the text printed as an image that you can't then select to highlight or comment on. (It's almost as if they don't want people actually printing their stuff, so they make the output as difficult and useless as they can.) These issues don't happen with PDF software that offers the ability to "convert" pages to PDF -- the whole process runs much more smoothly there, and as a bonus you get clickable hyperlinks.
In Linux you can "print" pages to PDF natively, and there is some dedicated software that will also do that, but I haven't found software that will perform this needed "convert to PDF" function. That will be a bit of a roadblock, or at least a bump in the road to Penguinland.
Another small annoyance is that entering international characters requires more keystrokes. In Windows you can just hit ALT-130 to get the accented "e": é. That's 4 keystrokes. In Linux, IIRC you need a 5- or 6-keystroke sequence to get the same thing. A couple of extra keystrokes here, an extra keystroke there, and over time it adds up. In my business I deal with a lot of international names (people and places) that we try to render faithfully, so the more keystrokes needed the more tedious the work becomes. (Remapping the keyboard for a certain language is impractical, because I deal with Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, French, Slovenian, Icelandic, etc., interchangeably on the same page and sometimes even on the same line of text.)
The next big test will be to try to do a whole project in Linux -- for me, probably in the Linux version of SoftMaker Office. That will be the acid test of file compatibility between Linux and Windows office suites. I have one author who uses OpenOffice (or is it LibreOffice; the file extension is ODT) on a Mac, and the files invariably come back to me a mess, with formatting changes ignored, missing carriage returns, and the like.
--JorgeA
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For those who must use Windows 10 or are resigned to using it, Woody Leonhard offers some tips to "hate Windows 10 less."
--JorgeA
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15 hours ago, bpalone said:
JorgeA... did I hear a Penguin in the background??
I agree, it is a tool. Although becoming one that is hard to want to use. Saw some purported comments from MS' CEO that indicated that they are DEAD SET on continuing down the path. Now, off to play a bit of Devil's Advocate.
I would venture to guess that most of us here have started to either see our hair color change or seen most of it go away. That being said, could it be that we are so set in our ways, that we can't conceive a different way of doing things? For myself, there is no better Word Processor than WordPerfect. But, I think that I finally figured out why I dislike MS Word (and those that copy it) so much. It is because I learned to type on a typewriter. I don't need a style sheet (that only works for X), I know what it is supposed to look like before I even start typing and get there with carriage returns and tabs (and some word processor goodies such as underline, bold, etc.). That is an example that I personally can relate. So is it that we, as the older set, just don't want to explore and or use a different method?
Oh, and by the way, it isn't just Windows that this is happening to. I see it in Linux as well, just not to the same degree. At least there, if the Desktop is to annoying I can change to a totally different one with a few clicks. I should disclose, that my main OS has not been anything made by Microsoft for a few years now. I still use some of their older stuff, but primarily in virtual machines.
LOL, there is indeed a Penguin in the background. He's been lurking there, waiting for the moment when I decide enough is enough and go take the plunge. Every now and then I pay him a visit, just to let him know that I haven't forgotten and that he's still in active reserve.
In my case, I've been open to changes that represent actual improvement. For example, IMHO the change from the Windows 3.1 Program Manager to the Explorer shell in 95 onwards was an unquestionable improvement in usability. The problem is, how do you then improve on perfection?
Seriously, I think that with the 95/98 Desktop (including the Taskbar, the Start Button, and the Start Menu) the Windows UI became a fully developed, mature product.
There have been a few welcome tweaks along the way, such as Aero Glass with Vista and right-click jump lists with 7. But the overhauls that came with 8 and now 10 demonstrate to me that they have run out of improvements, as practically everything they've done to the UI since then has made it worse, not better -- and not even equivalent to what they already had.
By "worse" I mean less usable, harder to use. A case in point is the MS Office ribbon -- I have now used Office 2007 for longer than I used Office 2000... and I'm still hunting around the ribbon for the commands I need. The menu system in Office 2000 was just so much more intuitive, easier to navigate. Somehow it seems to be organized in a more logical, orderly manner. (And I came to Office 2000 from WordStar, so it took some getting used to.)
My hope is that Linux will become a practical enough proposition for my business needs that, at some point, I can simply make the switch without skipping a heartbeat. Time will tell.
--JorgeA
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14 hours ago, dencorso said:
They've dropped XP. They got their desert. Now lots of non-XP users sure will drop them. One got to reap what one sows.
At the risk of going OT, I'm curious to find out what browser(s) you'll now be using on XP. I know that you've been an advocate of Pale Moon, and indeed your support for it is the reason I made the switch to it.
--JorgeA
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17 hours ago, NoelC said:
>OMG, how the h3ll is it supposed to occur to a normal customer to "change the user agent mode" when the sites he visits are suddenly broken?!?
I think the intent with making such changes is that sites are supposed to be suddenly fixed. Potential downsides are all too often ignored, and for some reason it's considered bad form to pop up messages and actually tell people things. It would just upset the poor dears.
As with most things high tech, the devil is in the details, and the only way to be in control - especially if you're going to run a non-mainstream browser - is to become more knowledgeable. So I guess it's time to go back to college, get a degree in computers, then spend a few decades writing software.
Of course I'm being facetious. It would not have occurred to me to check the user agent string and I've done all of the above.
There are probably browser extensions you can add to get it to send just the right agent string to each individual website. The whole thing is like a big costume party where no one's quite sure who's talking to whom. Our problem is that we expect it to work. Oh, and remember to consider the agent string next time you look over web usage statistics.
At least you had the wherewithal to research the problem online and find the root of the problem. Well done, and thanks for sharing the solution here. I don't mean it as an insult, but I think you're already more "geek" than "customer", Jorge.
P.S., you consider yourself a "customer", but how much did you pay for the software? Maybe for free open source software you should think of yourself more as a "co-developer"... Apparently the folks who made the decision to change that agent string default didn't include you. Just thinking out loud here.
-Noel
A lot of things I could have a blast responding to there, including the facetious paragraph.
Oh, and I appreciate the promotion from "customer" to "geek."
Yeah, customer wasn't the right word to employ when it comes to free software. I was looking for a word other than "user" to avoid the repetition and possible confusion of saying, "how is it supposed to occur to a normal user to 'change the user agent mode'?"
Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully other people who run into a similar problem will see this and think to try changing the UA before taking more difficult steps.
--JorgeA
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Uh-oh...
Joe Belfiore Returns To Microsoft, Will Drive Windows 10 Consumer Shell Initiatives
QuoteI have known for a few weeks that Belfiore had returned and now we know what he is doing. Joe will be running the consumer-focused Windows Shell and will be reporting to Terry Myerson; his objective will be to find new ways to make money with Windows 10 as the traditional licensing model of the OS goes away, especially in the lower-priced segment.
There will be other responsibilities under his belt but this is the high-level objective and it may not sit well with some users. It’s not hard to figure out that this could be a way to introduce more advertising directly into Windows either with native advertisements or other ‘sponsored’ content. We know Microsoft is not shy about doing this and it’s clear that they have no intention removing that content from the OS.
This seals the deal. Windows is a tool, like a pen or a desk(top). If my pen or my office desk start suggesting to me what brand of ink or lamp to use, it's time to find a new writing implement, a new piece of furniture to write on, that will shut the f*ck up and leave me alone.
--JorgeA
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I think the problem may now be solved.
As it turns out, when distributing Pale Moon version 27, Moonchild changed the default user agent mode from Firefox compatibility to Gecko compatibility. There are now several reports on the PM forum (such as this one) that this has broken websites for people, and that the solution is to change the UA back to Firefox.
Better communication of changes to PM's users, and of the practical consequences they might entail, would seem to be in order here. The bias from the "expert" community is for users to automatically update to the "latest and greatest" version of whatever (shades of Windows 10
) and there is inadequate explanation of the havoc that that might cause. As experienced by me over the last few days. OMG, how the h3ll is it supposed to occur to a normal customer to "change the user agent mode" when the sites he visits are suddenly broken?!?
So now with Firefox as the UA, I am once again able to navigate MSFN and post replies without hindrance. Except that, after clicking on the reply panel and then Refresh, I was able to type in this reply but there was no Submit Reply button. Put the text of the reply on the clipboard and hit Refresh again, and I had been signed out. We'll see how (and if) this all pans out.
Not sure, though, what any of this might mean for the difficulties experienced with IE10/11. But so long as I can get in here with at least one browser, I guess it's not a critical problem.
--JorgeA
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test post. After typing, will try to submit.
Submit successful (second, different laptop). Will now try to save this edit, then hit Refresh.
Second and third tests successful on different laptop with IE10.
Fourth test: signed in on same second laptop via Firefox 49. Will try to edit this post and save it.
FWIW, just after I signed via FF on this laptop, Norton advised me that a certain file, widevinecdm.dll, is Safe. The DLL file is located in the folder Users\xxx\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles [etc.].
On a third laptop, signing in via IE11 and then hitting F5 to refresh signs me out of MSFN. The same thing is now happening in IE10 on the second laptop (where the second and third tests had been successful), but apparently not in FF 49.
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I took a screenshot so that you all could see what I mean by the reply panel not finishing loading up. Follow the black arrow:
BTW I had to try this several times, as I ran into the same issue as in the P.S. of the previous post, where hitting the "Submit Reply" button didn't do anything and hitting Refresh kicked me out of MSFN without the reply actually getting posted.
--JorgeA
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2 hours ago, NoelC said:
Jorge, are you blacklisting sites? Maybe something has gotten into a blacklist that is necessary?
I saw, for example, the Quero-hosted black list the other day take on something it shouldn't (they blacklisted code.jquery.com - I've since reported it and it's been removed).
Edit: FWIW, I'm able to edit this post here with FireFox version 50.
-Noel
Nope, I haven't done anything special. The only kind of blacklist I've implemented is via the hosts file -- and I haven't touched that one in ages.
Now here's a couple more things to throw into the mix. I'm composing this reply in Firefox 43; when I came into MSFN, I had to sign in yet again. Somehow the login info isn't being retained. Just checked, and this happened in FF 43 on two different computers and in PM on the same two computers plus a third one.
And the second, possibly more significant, data point is that last night I tried logging into MSFN via Pale Moon 27 on a little-used Vista laptop, and then tried to reply to a post. This laptop definitely has not had tinkering or tweaking of any kind done to it. The last thing I did with it was to update PM from version 26.5 to 27. I had the same problem on the laptop with missing Quote buttons and a reply panel that just would not finish loading when clicking on the reply button. (That does seem to rule out the possibiity about the forum theme being related to the problem, since whatever I saw on that laptop's first visit to MSFN would presumably be the default theme.)
I never had a reason to visit MSFN from that laptop before, so I can't be sure that PM 26.5 would have been OK with MSFN there since I never did it, but still the evidence is suggestive. My suspicion is that Moonchild (the developer of Pale Moon) screwed up something with version 27. Sadly, on the PM forums people are saying that going back to an earlier version doesn't put things back the way they were.
And yet FF 43 is also affected somehow, since I keep having to sign in again every time I go into MSFN. (I do check off the "remember me" box, every time.)
Bottom line: on PM 27, I have to sign in every time and can't post anything; while on FF 43 I have to sign in every time but can post and edit.
--JorgeA
P.S. Now this time, after composing this reply in FF 43, I clicked on the "Submit Reply" button but nothing happened, my screen remained the same. Hitting F5 to Refresh signed me out. Going back into this thread, my reply had not been posted. Good thing I put it on my clipboard so I could try again, but that won't be much good if I can't actually get it posted...
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Thanks, Tarun. Which one is the stock theme?
Actually, the situation is so bad that I cannot even get into the theme editor. Clicking on the paintbursh icon at the top does nothing at all in Pale Moon!
Things seem to be getting worse and worse. Not only is MSFN functionality crippled in PM 27 on Windows 7, but today I discovered that the same functionality is crippled in PM 27 on Vista, too -- and just now I was on Firefox 43 on Vista and hit F5 to refresh for new posts... and I had to sign back in to reply to your post!!
Something awfully strange is going on. Months ago I had already stopped visiting MSFN via Internet Explorer on either Vista or Win7 due to usability issues. Now the Firefox family is under attack.
--JorgeA
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Used CCleaner to clear out unknown/unfamiliar cookies, but that didn't do the trick.
Any other suggestions as to what to do? I am very reluctant to just nuke all cookies, surely there must be one or a few that I can hone in on to delete.
If it helps to pinpoint the problem, I've noticed that sometimes when refreshing the MSFN page, the boxes for "Quote" and multiquote (that "+" sign) will be visible briefly and then disappear. In PM, the lower left corner of a post by me shows only the "Edit" box, all other MSFN posts show nothing in that corner.
--JorgeA
P.S. New annoyance: I was on this thread in PM (in addition to FF). When I navigated from page 9 of this thread to page 8, I got signed out!
WTF is going on?!?
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Thanks Noel, I'll use CCleaner and see if it takes care of the problem. If it doesn't, I'll have to get more aggressive about cleaning out cookies.
--JorgeA
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Shocker:
CERT warning: Windows 10 is less secure than Windows 7 with EMET
QuoteIn direct contrast to Microsoft's assertion that Windows 10 is its most secure operating system ever, the US-CERT Coordination Center says that Windows 7 with EMET offers greater protection. With EMET due to be killed off, security experts are concerned.
So it turns out that Win10 level of security is easily surpassed by the simple measure of installing EMET (and that's not even the most comprehensive anti-exploit software available). People wishing to enhance their online safety don't need to surrender to Win10's snooping and lack of user choice.
--JorgeA
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Ever since Pale Moon updated to version 27, I can't reply to a thread on MSFN. When I click on "reply," the window for posting never finishes appearing, and instead seems to be suspended in midstream:
Anybody have an idea what could be going on, and what I might do about it?
Cookies are enabled for this site.
Windows 7 Home Premium x64.
--JorgeA
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Paul Thurrott: Windows as a Service isn’t working
Another shocker from Paul Thurrott. The article on his site is premium content but Woody Leonhard gives the conclusion:
QuoteMicrosoft’s goal with Windows as a Service was pure and well-intentioned. But it may never work. And after the tough past year or so, I’m not sure how Windows will absorb this hit. The only thing worse would be continuing down the current path and pretending that it’s working.
Woody's comment:
QuoteIn the real world, Windows customers (and corporate admins) need control over the patches being applied to their machines – and we need patches that work right the first time.
Every experienced Windows user I know has had at least a handful of minor (and sometimes major) problems with bad patches.
We Windows customers have bought and paid for reliable patches. We also need tools to better protect our machines. Fancy tiles, 3D drawing, new Universal apps, less leaky browser — they’re are all well and good. But they don’t hold a candle to keeping Windows stable.
Well said!
--JorgeA
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1 hour ago, bookie32 said:
Hi NoelC!
Explain something to an old fart....Microsoft in its wisdom stopped supporting the gadgets that we have in Windows 7 because of security issues.....but then in its wisdom creates first Windows 8/8.1 and then Windows 10 which is made up of apps....you have literally apps coming out of your ****....now are all these apps in Microsofts eyes better than the gadgets that many loved in Windows 7.....are they more secure than the gadgets?
Just would like some clarification on this....;)
bookie23
I'm not NoelC
but I do have some thoughts on why Microsoft removed Windows Gadgets.
Consider the timing of the Gadgets' removal in late summer 2012. This was a few weeks before Windows 8, with its Metro Start Screen full of blinking and scrolling Internet-connected tiles, was released. I have always suspected that the real reason for eliminating the Windows Gadgets feature was not "security" but rather to make the Windows 7 desktop look more static, dull, and limited in comparison to the moving and dynamic Metro Start Screen.
Nobody has ever explained to me how or why (for example) the Clock or the CPU Meter that Microsoft itself made available on its Gagdets page could possibly constitute a security hazard. They were provided by Microsoft and they reference local content only. Therefore I believe that killing the Gadgets had more to do with promoting Win8 than with protecting Win7 users.
--JorgeA
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2 hours ago, BudwS said:
So I wonder. Will a school district switch to Win 10? How will the tech maintain usable computers under Win 10? Will Cloud based networks be used? Won't that Cloud usage wipe out the bandwidth of the school network? Will the school district MS contract give the techs control to manage the network traffic? To manage the software update insistence? Even under a Win 7 a school district network was painfully slow for students and teachers where I worked. Doesn't a Cloud based network slow all user activities? What am I missing? So when 50 students log on in their classroom in the first 5 minutes of the class and then wait 15 minutes to get logged in, isn't something wrong with this computer thing? That's a scenario that I've observed many times on a Win 7 network. Would it be magically better on a Win 10 network?
It will become another budget item to fight over, as the school board and taxpayers are asked to shell out additional $$$ for more bandwidth to accommodate the increased snooping and other calls to the MSFT mother ship.
--JorgeA
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):
Seriously, I think that with the 95/98 Desktop (including the Taskbar, the Start Button, and the Start Menu) the Windows UI became a fully developed, mature product.
) and there is inadequate explanation of the havoc that that might cause. As experienced by me over the last few days. 
OMG, how the h3ll is it supposed to occur to a normal customer to "change the user agent mode" when the sites he visits are suddenly broken?!?
Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions
in Windows 10
Posted
Another class of mobile tech that seems to be having trouble taking off:
Smartwatches, like tablets, are struggling to become a must-have for consumers
According to an article in the Dec. 7 print edition of The Wall Street Journal, "global shipments of wearable devices rose only 3% year over year during the third quarter. This is the young category's slowest growth on record," and Apple's "other products" category that includes the Apple Watch had a 22% YOY drop in revenue in the September quarter; one industry analyst estimates that sales of the watch dropped 29% for that period.
"[T]he fact that sales are slowing across device categories and price points suggests wearable tech is struggling to appeal beyond a core segment of tech and fitness enthusiasts," writes the Journal's Dan Gallagher.
So Microsoft sold Windows's soul for what may turn out to be a passing fad.
--JorgeA