The Spam Thread!

[cpd2009]

You may know that when it comes to operating systems, I am very indecisive at times. I pledged to stick to Windows 10 on my devices, but after the OneDrive file deletion debacle, I now have my doubts going forward.

The reason why I didn't lose any files during the latest Windows update is because I didn't use OneDrive. I have it enabled, but I never linked it to any of my document folders. I prefer to keep my documents backed up to my own hard drives and only use cloud storage to transfer files between devices when the need comes. Of course, I could always use a USB drive for that, which I have plenty of.

It's apparent that MS approach to quality control has been lacking in recent Windows 10 updates. With this in mind, I have been pondering downgrading to Windows 8.1.... for the millionth time.

I have done it before, and Pearl does indeed seem to run far better on this version. For example, Fast Boot actually seems to work, and going to sleep also seems a lot faster. Some of my legacy applications can install properly such as my thrift store copy of MS Works 8. In short, I should have stuck with Windows 8.1 the first time. It wasn't really apparent just how bad things are getting with Windows 10's development process and quite frankly, I'm concerned that major bugs will continue to be an issue.

But with Windows 8.1, I have to give up some things of Windows 10 that I like such as Microsoft Edge and the Store. On the flip side, I don't have much of a purchase history with the Store, and Edge still has quite a ways to go before it can effectively compete with the likes of Chrome and Firefox. I still think Chrome or Firefox are better browsers, but I only use Edge so Windows 10 won't pester me with ads begging me to use it. Older versions of Windows actually respect user choice and don't care whether or not you use Firefox or Chrome instead of IE, or Winamp instead of WMP. Hell, even macOS doesn't complain when you use Chrome over Safari.

Windows 10 can be a great OS, but it's reputation is getting tarnished by these major bugs that plague every bi-annual update. MS needs to fix this fast if they want to keep users trust of Windows 10. It kind of makes it hard to trust Windows 10 even though keeping it may be the best in terms of security.

[huckleberrypie]

Windows 10 can be a great OS, but it's reputation is getting tarnished by these major bugs that plague every bi-annual update. MS needs to fix this fast if they want to keep users trust of Windows 10. It kind of makes it hard to trust Windows 10 even though keeping it may be the best in terms of security.

Not to mention the privacy issues that understandably perturbed a lot of users especially in light of Snowden exposing what the NSA was (allegedly) doing, and how people are leery of companies snooping on their data.

[cpd2009]

Dr. Fizzwizzle's Animal Rescue is a highly underrated Wii title. It may be in the league of shovelware (it was published by Conspiracy Entertainment, known for shovelware), but it's a very good Breakout-style game focusing on rescuing cute animals. With multiple control methods and catchy music, it's a shame it was never more popular.

It does feel like it could have easily been a PC game as well.

[huckleberrypie]

Dr. Fizzwizzle's Animal Rescue is a highly underrated Wii title. It may be in the league of shovelware (it was published by Conspiracy Entertainment, known for shovelware), but it's a very good Breakout-style game focusing on rescuing cute animals. With multiple control methods and catchy music, it's a shame it was never more popular.

It does feel like it could have easily been a PC game as well.

Or a mobile game for that matter.

[cpd2009]

Did some general maintenance on Pearl. I took an air duster to her motherboard and fans, and also dusted off the graphics card. She really needed it. I also switched back to my Dell S2316H monitor. Despite it's shakiness while typing, I missed the 1080p resolution.

And I removed the PCIe Wifi card since I hardwired her to my DSL router. I'll leave that slot empty just in case I upgrade to a new GPU that requires two slots.

[huckleberrypie]

Did some general maintenance on Pearl. I took an air duster to her motherboard and fans, and also dusted off the graphics card. She really needed it. I also switched back to my Dell S2316H monitor. Despite it's shakiness while typing, I missed the 1080p resolution.

And I removed the PCIe Wifi card since I hardwired her to my DSL router. I'll leave that slot empty just in case I upgrade to a new GPU that requires two slots.

I did very much that to my PC as well, though in my case I had to tear apart my graphics card just to get the dust off the innards, some of which call for the fans being removed. It's a bit of a pain to remove due to the all the somewhat hidden screws, but at least it turned out fine. All that's needed besides dusting off is a dab of thermal grease and that GTX 1050 of mine is golden. Though the OCD in me tends to get irked at the oxidisation the bracket accumulated over the course of a year. Makes me wonder if a dab of Brasso would make it sheen again.

[cpd2009]

I have decided to order the Honestech VHS to DVD from HSN. I was at Best Buy yesterday and noticed they sold the retail version of this particular kit. However, it was $10 than what HSN offered. Plus HSN does offer a very low $11.99 monthly payment option and also have an easy return policy if the product doesn't live up to expectations.

The kit comes with the Vidbox hardware, the required cables and two software discs. One has the standard video conversion software and the other includes some audio conversion software which I suspect will either be a custom thing or a repackaged Audacity. I will give the bundled software a try, but it's very likely I will just go ahead and use a third party solution. Hopefully I can get this to work with OBS or Magix.

[huckleberrypie]

I have decided to order the Honestech VHS to DVD from HSN. I was at Best Buy yesterday and noticed they sold the retail version of this particular kit. However, it was $10 than what HSN offered. Plus HSN does offer a very low $11.99 monthly payment option and also have an easy return policy if the product doesn't live up to expectations.

The kit comes with the Vidbox hardware, the required cables and two software discs. One has the standard video conversion software and the other includes some audio conversion software which I suspect will either be a custom thing or a repackaged Audacity. I will give the bundled software a try, but it's very likely I will just go ahead and use a third party solution. Hopefully I can get this to work with OBS or Magix.

Yeah, I'm kinda' expecting you'd use OBS or some other capture solution than the ones bundled with the kit.

[cpd2009]

I have been getting into Sonic Dash lately. It's a mobile phone game made by Sega's Hardlight studio. It's an endless runner with the usual challenges and rewards. It also has microtransactions which aren't really forced on to you like some other mobile games.

I'm playing the Windows PC port, which works really well on Pearl, though there's no way to tweak the graphics. You use the keyboard and mouse to control.

I think Sonic Dash gives a perfect example on how microtransactions can work in a game. You can just grind your way to unlocking certain characters by getting the rare red star rings every so often or participating in the daily challenges for a month, but you can have these extra characters by spending real money. These transactions are hinted at but they aren't required to play the game to it's fullest since it's an endless runner. The ads aren't that intrusive either, usually showing up after you completed a run and go through the results screens. They seem to be for casino games and they tend to show the same ones.

This is a game that you are able to play at your own pace, and aren't pressured into buying upgrades. It kind of makes me want to give Angry Birds another shot, but I need a decent Android gaming tablet... or run BlueStacks.

[cpd2009]

I figured out what to do with my old copy of Windows 8.1. Install it on Greta.

The reasons being that Windows 10 has a painfully slow startup time and seems sluggish at times, especially Microsoft Edge. I'm also going to use Greta for my TV recording purposes due to her portability. The fact that I also only use her on road trips is another reason.

Her Intel B960 is capable of recording high quality ATSC streams without issues on Windows 7 and 8.1. I have a "kworld" ATSC tuner and have recorded some broadcast TV using Greta during road trips. I think Windows 10 will begin to affect the recording quality a bit due to the overhead.

The current plan is to test the Vidbox with Greta once it arrives. I will try out the bundled software and OBS and see which one works best for me. I think Greta will be able to handle recording a composite video input without issue. MPEG-2 may be a preferred format for editing purposes, and the final product will either be MKV or MP4.