It's Update Week!

 Yup. It really is. Earlier this week I updated my desktop from Linux Mint 18.3 to the new version 20. Today it was time to update my phone. No, I didn't get a new phone, but I updated it from ios 13.7 to ios 14.1. Looks similar except for some stuff in settings. Oh, and the icon for music has gone back to a solid red from that kinda rainbow color scheme they had before. I still won't really use it because my music is on a 15 year old ipod nano, that still works great. I'm still trying to find out if there's a way to remove the old Mint distro, but if not, no biggie. Plus trying to figure out how to get the photos I took on an old Samsung phone into Apple Photos. Right now their on Google Photos, which is also on my phone.

Deleting old Linux Distro

 I have been using Linux Mint for about three years now. I put it on my HP machine because Windows 7 became corrupted. That  happened because I stupidly did the free upgrade to Windows 10 that  screwed everything up.  So I went back to 7. That worked for a year, then things stopped working, like Windows Update that hasn't worked in three years. So at that point I decided to compensate by adding a Linux distro in a dual boot. I chose Mint because it's very user friendly.

So I have been using Linux Mint 18.3 for about 3 years. Now it's time to upgrade to the newest version-Linux Mint 20. Did that yesterday. Here's my issue. I thought the new version would override the previous version. Makes sense right? Well that didn't happen. Oh 20 is on my computer fine. I'm on it right now as I write this. But 18.3 is still there also. Why do I need two different versions of the same distro? Well I don't.

Grub(the Linux bootloader) is weird anyway. It's supposed to be a dual boot with Windows, but instead I have 7 options. Linux Mint 20, 2 versions of Linux Mint 18(?), memory test and 2 bootloaders of Windows 7, plus Windows Recovery Mode. How silly.

But can I get rid of the 2 18.3 distros? I don't know. I can't find out. I put a question on the Linux Mint forums. No help. 50 people have read my question, but no one has answered. Wow. Sorry I asked. I guess my question wasn't geeky enough. Any answers would be appreciated. Probably won't get any. This is my first post in five years.

Windows 10 slow & unusable

After waiting a year for the overly hyped next generation Windows, I finally did the upgrade two weeks ago. Last night, I downgraded back to Windows 7. Why? Because despite what Microsoft & it's PR says, it is a complete disaster.

My machine is a HP Pavilion desktop, probably 5 years old. 640 GB hard drive, 4 GB of RAM. Have never had a problem with it. Until I installed this virus ( that's what 10 is, because it wrecks performance).

Hows this for an improved OS: Turn on your computer, wait 5 minutes for the OS to load, except that it still hasn't. The little blue circle is still spinning, your desktop icons are still not on the status bar & you can't even click on settings or the power button. Therefore you have to hard shut the computer (which is NEVER recommended), & reboot. Sometimes I did this three times before it finally loaded. It also, when it was actually working, wouldn't close properly. Meaning you would click shut down, the monitor would go blank but power was still on for several minutes. Wow, what a POS.

Now why did this happen? Because Microsoft, in their infinite wisdom, released this pile of junk before it was ready. It was never supposed to come out in the middle of summer. Maybe the fall. But they were in a hurry to get publicity & get new computers on the market with 10 for the fall school sales.

So I am back on Windows 7, the last good OS. It took a while to boot this morning because last night it had to load 17 updates that I missed the 2 weeks I was on Windows Snail. Take my advice; stay away from this joke. Heck Chrome OS is probably better & that's just a browser. Linux? Well I hate that & MacOS is quite pricey. Maybe all I need is an iPad, except that I like my 18" monitor.

Apple Users Complain About Free Music

Last week when Apple announced the new iPhone & the Apple Watch, there was a controversy. Not over the extremely large size of the iPhone 6 Plus (won't fit in a pocket), or the uselessness of the watch (doesn't work unless you have an iPhone nearby, so what's the point?).

No, the controversy was because U2 (one of the most popular bands of all time) released their new album for free. OMG! "It's in my library! I didn't ask for it! That's a violation of my privacy!" Of course  everyone is on Facebook, the biggest violators of privacy ever, but we'll ignore that. LOL.

How exactly does this violate your privacy? It's a freaking music album. And it's not in your library anyway. You have to sign in to your account, click on "purchased", and download it.

My theory: Apple users are opposed to getting something for cheap or free. It's unseemly. "Why this is Apple, therefore it must be crap if it doesn't cost three times what every other CD would cost". So if U2 had offered the new album for $50, no one would care, but because it's free, that's a problem. (BTW- Apple supposedly paid the band $100 million). Ah, Apple fanboys, you really are entertaining.

Goodbye Firefox

Last night I removed Firefox from my computer. It was my one and only browser for years and years. I loved the personalization you could do. Most of the add-ons I had were security related. Things like No Script, Ad Block Plus & Cookie Monster. Not to mention WOT.

But since version 29, the browser has become unusable. I have no idea what the people writing the code have done, but they have ruined it. How am I supposed to use a browser that crashes within a minute of opening? This never happened before. I go all the way back to Firefox 2. At the time I was using a slow XP machine with only 64 GB of storage & 128 MB of RAM. My current machine runs Windows 7 SP 1, has 640 GB of storage & 4 GB of RAM. I also have double the speed of my previous machine & get double the speed from my ISP. So that's not the problem.

So a few months ago I was forced to install Chrome. If I could, I would continue to use Firefox because it's just a better experience, & I like that Firefox has a sidebar. But I can't use it because of its crashing problems. Again yesterday was one of the few times I had opened it in the last month, & within a minute it crashed. Meanwhile I still use Thunderbird, which has no issues. Want to know why? Mozilla stopped developing it a while back, so they weren't able to ruin it. Just amazing.

Maybe some outside group can create a usable fork that works. I suspect Mozilla wouldn't like that because everyone would move over to that. You know, like how everone moved from Open Office to Libre Office.

John Oliver on Net Neutrality

For those of you who have heard about Net Neutrality but are not actually sure what it means or why it's a big deal, I would suggest you watch HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

This was a 13 minute description of what the cable companies are trying to do. Yes, it's a comedy show, & there were plenty of laughs in the segment, but Oliver, a former Daily Show "correspondent" gives the best and most complete explanation out there. Shame on CNN & all the other networks for ceding the job of providing information to a comedy show on a premium channel.

Here's the good news- the entire segment is on YouTube. All you have to do is go on YouTube & type in Last Week Tonight & all videos will show up. I highly recommend it.

Why Netflix Can't Stream Some Shows

The technology term of the year is "cord cutting". This is a referral to getting rid of cable & watching everything online, as if the system is easier than  using Comcast or Directv.

It's not a perfect system because of the contracts studios & networks will make with various online partners. For instance: Hulu puts up shows 7 days after broadcast per the wishes of the networks. This isn't for all shows, but does apply to some. You also can't go back more than a few episodes. CBS puts up everything the next day, but the player is horrid & freezes up to the point that it's unwatchable.

Some websites ask for proof that you are a paying customer of a cable or satellite subscription. This defeats the purpose of watching online & the only reason for the existence is if you were out when the show was broadcast & this is the only way of seeing the episode. HBOGo does this, but in that case it is a premium channel afterall. However it is pretty well acknowledged that lots of subscribers are giving their passwords to non subscriber friends & relatives. That would explain Game of Thrones having the viewership of NCIS. HBO doesn't appear to mind, because it gives the show a buzz it wouldn't have otherwise.

The other problem is exclusive agreements. Take for instance the FX series Justified. Netflix doesn't stream this show. Not back episodes, nothing. You have to rent the season DVD's. So for people who aren't renting DVD's, you're out of luck. Now Netflix does stream Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Dexter & other shows of that type. But Justified is only available for streaming on Amazon Prime. So you would have to not only pay $8 a month to Netflix but another $99 a year to Amazon for the privilege.

This is where the supposed future of viewing gives way to the reality of the present. The networks & the studios will always do what is in their supposed best interest. Regardless what you or I think, or podcast hosts like Brian Brushwood, this isn't going to change anytime soon.