NotHereToPlayGames

Major bummer! I've never actually used yt-dlp, but there is certainly a VERY large following. I guess that shows the popularity of yt-dlp, the ONLY reason Google would "unleash" would be if TENS OF THOUSANDS of videos are being downloaded using this method. Google really wouldn't "care" if we were talking a few here, a few there. Or they're looking at it from how many PER DAY are "abusing the system", so to speak.

I am assuming that question was directed to @Monroe. I for one am not and have not claimed that the "earth isn't doing anything" (I'm not exactly sure what that even means, specifically.) My perspective is one of "conservation". Sure, my old vehicle only gets 28 miles to the gallon. BUT you have to factor in the Whole Picture. I only have to fill the tank SEVEN times in an ENTIRE YEAR. My neighbor owns a Prius. Another neighbor is dating a guy that owns a Tesla. BOTH of them drive OVER AN HOUR one way to and from work. The Prius is a hybrid and she has to fill the gas tank AT LEAST once a week. I don't know anything about the Tesla guy. But I use that Prius as the PERFECT example. You tell me, is my SEVEN fillups per YEAR "bad" for the environment compared to his FIFTY TWO AT LEAST ???

Agreed. But the problem is that "indoctrinating" people is VERY EASY and once indoctrinated, there is no such thing as "open debate". When folks have to resort to cuss words, name calling, and throwing bricks through windows to "be heard", you know there will never ever be a real "conversation" ever again.

Myth #3: 'Retirees aren't targeted because they're cautious' My dad always claimed he was "cautious". But then he'd complain about the ungodly amount of spam he would get because he'd submit his email address to any-and-every web site that asked for it. It took a DECADE into his retirement years for him to finally start listening to advice regarding keeping his email address and phone number OFF OF every retailer's "system". Seriously, why does the local barber need a PHONE NUMBER just to cut your hair? Hint: they don't, you just have to force them to learn how to use DIFFERENT sections of their "system". Myth #4: ‘Credit monitoring will stop identity theft’ Like the article says, nothing but a smoke alarm that tells you there is a fire but can't do anything to prevent the fire. Myth #5: "There's nothing I can do about data brokers" I'm very big into FAKE data. It becomes a bit fun at times. Insurance or something like that needs an "email" on file, so you use a TEMPORARY email that is THEIR email but ADD the word "crap" or "spam" or "bs". They'll claim it isn't real and they need a "real" email. So you make them jump through the hoop, "It *is* real! Email me a 'code' and I'll cite that code back to you right here on the spot!" Personally, I *hate* that I couldn't use a FAKE email here at MSFN - but there is no evidence of it being "misused" or "sold", so no lawsuit pending </sarcasm>.

Anyone stupid enough to follow the "verification steps" of that fake captcha DESERVES to have his/her hard drive reformatted !!! Certainly NOBODY here at MSFN is that stupid. My parents, on the other hand, they have fallen for fake "download now" buttons on more than one occasion.

"The biggest joke on mankind is that computers have started asking humans to prove they're not a robot."

Interesting. So it's not just me... Granted, my Win11 (forced in order to use Intuit TurboTax) is strictly VM. But... And perhaps similar to your Firefox crash, if TurboTax performs an UPDATE, it too does not properly CLOSE and therefore cannot be restarted. In my case, Task Manager actually gets me back but I have to terminate a WINDOWS INSTALLER PROCESS that TurboTax opened and THEN terminate the unresponsive TurboTax. So maybe your Firefox opened SOMETHING ELSE and that has to be terminated before you can terminate Firefox ??? Outside of that possibility, if indeed Task Manager cannot get you there, I use System Informer on my host for this type of situation. I'm using version 3.0.5578 because newer versions do not show my GPU activity properly. I only use the "release-bin" and never the "release-setup", but that choice is yours. The NEWER versions are available from here - https://sourceforge.net/projects/systeminformer/files/ The OLDER versions are available from here - sorry, spent about three minutes trying to find, maybe they don't allow them to be downloaded anymore?

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It's all just politics, politics, politics. Like e-cars are supposed to "save the planet". Until somebody makes a "great e-car" but you DISAGREE with his POLITICS, so you take to the streets and torch them, throw bricks through the windows, scratch the H#ll out of their paint, et cetera, ALL ON ACCOUNT OF **POLITICS**. So *keep me out of it*, I'll stay IN THE MIDDLE so that the two EXTREMES don't come after MY car! *BOTH* of the EXTREMES behaving like a 4yr old throwing a temper-tantrum and learning new curse words for "attention".

Agreed! Same here! Any "opinion" by anyone on this issue is always, always, ALWAYS *political*. The "topic" is used more as *bait* than anything. Say the slightest "wrong" and you are eternally condemned. It's got to be one of the most *polarizing* of topics ever known to exist. It's somehow *evolved* into something where there's not supposed to be any "middle ground", something where apparently you are supposed to be an EXTREMIST, one side or the other, no middle. Not for me, I'll take the "middle".

My "upgrade" install of 95 way back in the day *required* a boot disk that you had to have a previous version of Windows already installed in order to create that boot disk. The world is VERY different nowadays (you can download a boot disk [or the entire OS, for that matter]). But yes, "many" in the US and "most" outside the US were using 95 illegally. Mine was legit! :) I'd claim that to be MUCH worse nowadays! Whatever "percentage" of computer users were "illegal" in 1995, it's MILLIONS worse nowadays. *MILLIONS*

No. Mine is an *upgrade* that was *NOT* sold "with a pc". It was purchased at my college's/university's campus bookstore. Here in the USA (30yrs ago), that is a *retail* purchase (Microsoft is located in the USA). What the word "retail" (and "oem") means is different today than it was 30yrs ago. 30yrs ago, you had to be HP, Dell, Packard Bell, Gateway, etc in order to buy an "oem" disc of Windows. You could NOT walk into a BOOKSTORE to buy the "oem" version of Windows. In order to obtain an "oem" disk, you had to buy the WHOLE COMPUTER and the disc was in the box that contained that computer. **ONLY** "retail" versions were available as a standalone purchase. **ONLY** "retail" versions were available at BOOKSTORES. I don't doubt that there were "retail" versions that were UPGRADES and there were "retail" versions that did NOT require a PREVIOUS version of Windows to be already present. So there were "retail upgrades" AND "retail standalones".

I have to think that the answer is technically different from one country to the next. Especially THIRTY YEARS ago. I guarantee that what was *available* to me here in the USA is not the same as what was *available* in other countries THIRTY YEARS AGO. Commerce is more "global" nowadays. But it really wasn't as "global" in the mid-90s when Toyota's and Honda's were still a bit of a rarity in many parts of the US.

The Better Business Bureau lists "USTech Support" as located in Pasadena, CA.

You act as if that is "accurate". It isn't. I can do a "whitepages.com" lookup of my parents' phone and it has them listed about 140 miles away. And they have had the same number for 30yrs. A different "lookup" has that phone listed as being TWO HUNDRED FIFTY SIX miles away. I'm telling you, all 8xy numbers in the US are CALL CENTERS that are networked and rerouted and move all over the place. Call that number. You will be speaking with somebody in INDIA or CHINA, not Washington, USA or Oregon, USA. That's how "800 numbers" are here in the USA. Call centers and you never know what "accent" you will have to listen to.