May Blogs

DOWNGRADING TO WINDOWS 7

May 23, 2010

I hate Windows 7. I have not yet screamed these words loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear, but my wife will attest to the fact that she has heard me speak them on numerous occasions.

One big reason why I have a computer is so I can store and find my documents without sorting through file drawers and piles of paper that I didn't have time to archive.

I already mentioned "Libraries." Microsoft obviously doesn't want users to do their own archiving. Windows 7 puts documents in hidden places and then shows us a page of icons so we think we know where they are.

When you try to search for something on your computer, that is when you can really start to hate Windows 7. The great search feature we enjoyed in XP and even vile Vista is gone! I used to right click the mouse on a folder or other location (like C:) and type a word or phrase. The results came up almost immediately. Many times I couldn't remember when or where I wrote something but I knew it was on the computer and I could always locate it.

With Windows 7, you can search for a file if you know its name, but you can only search within the file if you first open it. If you know that much, who needs a search option?

As my previous blog entry shows, I may get involved in demonstrations and protests, but only if I recognize a slight possibility of achieving a desired end. Microsoft doesn't listen to anybody, especially a nobody like me. Even the voices and pens of a million somebodies who write blogs and forums or scores of computer gurus who print articles in computer magazines fall on deaf ears in Redmond.

So just consider this a warning to all who are thinking of downgrading to Windows 7.

THE ANGRY MOB

May 18, 2010

Today's Gloucester County Times reported,
"Senate President, Stephen M. Sweeney's refusal to post Gov. Chris Christie's Supreme Court Nominee still has several up in arms about his decision three weeks later.
The New Jersey chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group led by former gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan, plans to send several people to Sweeney's Gloucester County legislative offices today in protest of the senator's announcement."

I decided to add my face to the "several" mentioned in the article. I checked the official legislative websites to get the address of Sweeney's offices and typed it into my GPS. When I reached a busy intersection, the Garmin voice said, "You have reached your destination." I only saw a bank and Dunkin Donuts shop. I entered the donut store and asked two customers and two employees if they knew where Sweeney's office was located. My question drew blank stares. One couldn't speak English and two didn't know who Sweeney was. The paper said it was on Kings Highway, so I drove further and asked some more people. Finally, a girl said she thought his office was in West Deptford, but I was in East Greenwich. Armed with that information, I set out again to find the elusive Senator.

About two miles from the destination named on the official website, I spotted 200 cars, four large tour busses and a dozen police cars. A crowd of about 300 persons carrying signs and umbrellas were gathered in front of what turned out to be Sweeney's offices. When I put my signal lights on to turn in, a friendly officer stopped me and said if I was joining the demo, I couldn't park there. I finally found a spot next to a wooded area some distance away and tramped in the pouring rain towards the crowd, carrying my poster, camera and umbrella.

I was ten minutes late and in my hurry, I stepped in a pothole filled with water and fell to the ground. My camera landed on the pavement and the poster got wet, but I was thankfully uninjured.

After collecting myself, I joined what the media and President call "the angry mob" and held up my poster for all to see. I heard someone call my name and looked to see my brother on the edge of the crowd. I took a picture of him holding my poster and handed him the camera to get a picture of me, but the batteries died! At least I knew my camera was not broken. Just the lens got wet as you can see in the photos!

It seemed comical to see so many friendly smiling faces surrounded by armed officers and even a K-9 unit. At first, the police told us that we were trespassing on private property and to remove ourselves. Some knowledgeable person at the front said that we taxpayers were paying rent for the public offices and had a right to visit the office of our representative during office hours. We were then told to line up in single file. Sweeny had a bunch of forms photocopied and distributed to all. The form asked for name, address, telephone number, email address and a written "opinion." Most of us obliged, so we are now in their data base of dangerous persons.

Several newspaper photographers took pictures of me and reporters interviewed me, so this may not be the last you hear about this "angry mobster."

WHAT THE NJ MOTOR VEHICLE AGENCY AND COPYING MACHINES HAVE IN COMMON

May 14, 2010

Today, my wife received her driver license renewal form. I was fascinated with the questions that the Department of Motor Vehicles asks on the reverse side of the application.

In addition to the request to confide a Social Security number, the applicant is asked if he or she has a valid driver license in any other state, province, territory or country.

The second question asks if a driving privilege in any other state, province, territory or country is suspended, revoked, disqualified or canceled.

I am not a lawyer, but it would seem to me that "valid" means the driving privilege is NOT suspended, revoked, disqualified, or canceled. If, however, a driving privilege has been suspended, revoked, disqualified, or canceled, the person to whom it was issued no longer has a driving privilege. The applicant must therefore answer both questions "NO" or face legal consequences. No explanation is needed.

We are both blessed with good health and can do just about anything we want, but can anyone who has had multiple surgeries and visits doctors every month answer the third question "NO?" Does forgetfulness count? How about hiccups?

I wonder how many people who are in this country illegally bother to apply for a driver license, and if they do, would they answer "YES" considering the paltry consequences of providing false information?

The next box is self-explanatory. At our ages, organs are not worth much, but the federally approved Organ Donor Procurement Organizations don't really care. They take what they get.

I ask what being more than six months behind in child support payments has to do with obtaining a driver license. How about alimony payments? What about rent, mortgage and car payments? Next year, my driver license needs to be renewed. The DMV will likely ask about my religious affiliation, if I attend functions of the Tea Party movement, and who I voted for in the last election.

The heading of this blog asks what the DMV and copiers have in common. Go to YouTube and watch the CBS report on copiers that collect your personal data. After many thousands of sensitive documents are stored in memory, the used copiers are traded for new machines or sold. Containers of these copiers are shipped to foreign countries, loaded with all that valuable information.

At least the DMV is up front about collecting personal information.

MICROSOFT PROBLEM RESOLVED

May 7, 2010

Our son arrived early for the family reunion so I gave him his assignment. He fixed it in a jiffy, the same way he fixed previous problems with Windows 7. He removed the "Libraries" feature -- again. It was probably a Microsoft update that reactivated them. I hate it when Microsoft thinks it knows best what I like and dislike.

MORE IDIOT STUFF FROM MICROSOFT

May 4, 2010

I realize full well that nobody is interested in reading this blog, but I just need to vent my indignation with Microsoft and my website is the most convenient outlet. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were people at Microsoft who cared about the people who pay their salaries? Just wishful thinking of course! That might happen when Obama shows us his birth certificate.

My newest adventure Has to do with creating folders to store files. It used to be very simple, but now I get error messages when I attempt to create new folders. If I just keep the name "New Folder," everything is fine, but I have no interest in having hundreds of folders with the same name on my computer. When I try to rename the file to some title that I can relate to, I get an error message like this:

Thinking that perhaps someone else has had the same problem, I decided to type the error message into a search engine. Microsoft does not allow you to copy and paste an error message for obvious reasons. As I suspected, there are millions of frustrated users who have had or still have this same problem. A number of geeks gave detailed instructions on how to resolve the issue "quickly and easily:"

To solve, follow these steps:
1. Open up a command prompt (run cmd.exe from the Start Menu).
2. Navigate to the folder that the object resides in.
3. Run "dir /a /x /p" to display the contents of the folder, including hidden files (/a) and 8.3 filenames (/x).
4. Find the 8.3 filename of the object to the left of the regular, long filename.
5. Run "ren <8.3 name>" to rename the object, "del <8.3 name>" to delete it if it's a file and "rd /s <8.3 name>" to delete it if it's a folder.
Note: If renaming to a long filename, make sure to enclose the long filename in quotations. If that fails, temporarily rename it to an 8.3 name and then rename it to what you want outside of the command prompt.

I didn't get past the first quick and easy step, because Microsoft gave me instructions about navigating that I apparently didn't understand or could not follow correctly.

I still can't rename new folders, but there are a couple of geeks in our family and a family reunion is coming up this Saturday.