So that's my setup for the time being. Me, my Surface, and a can of caffeine free Diet Coke. Don't judge me, I have my reasons.
My old computer is having some difficulty starting up properly after the latest Windows upgrades were foisted upon me. (I know, I know, I should have turned off the automatic updates. But I'm a trusting soul and yeah, I forgot. Kept putting it off I did.) What happens is that there are four programs which run automagically when the computer has announced itself ready to be used.
Two of those programs run fine, two of them seem to be lost in the ether. They don't know what to do except they don't exit gracefully, they continue to churn so that nothing else can happen. Like me using the computer.
I spent some time Friday night trying to track down and terminate those auto start programs with no success. Truth be told, I didn't want to spend a lot of time on it so I didn't. Instead I got out a blog post for Saturday, then continued my binge watching of 30 Rock, one of my guilty pleasures. There are bits in the show which causes this old conservative to grind his teeth (and wince just a bit) but in general I find the show entertaining. And funny. Funny is important.
I also squeezed in some time to watch an old Schwarzenegger movie, Eraser. Good mind numbing entertainment. Lots of gunfire and explosions, decent "bad guys get wasted by train" scene at the end.
Note to Hollywood, for me to pay money to watch a movie, the good guys have to win. Always. I understand if some of the good guys "don't make it" but they have to win in the end. Also don't arrest the bad guys. Shoot them, blow them up, drop them off cliffs or out of airplanes. They shouldn't survive the film.
Unless it's a series of films (not just a bunch of uncoordinated, unplanned sequels). If the bad guy(s) need to survive to the last film in the series, I'm good with that. But they must pay at the end. Big time. It's the way I'm wired.
If I want to watch the bad guys win, I'll watch the freaking news.
That's how you take care of the bad guys. (Even better is the fact that one of them was a corrupt politician. Bonus!)
So I plan on getting my computer repaired next weekend when I've got time. For now I'm okay with using the tablet. I've got my wireless mouse hooked up to it and my good sound system lets me rock out to YouTube tunes. (Why yes, I am cheap, thank you for asking.)
Sure the keyboard is kind of small as is the display, but it's alright. I'll get by.
As I'm "roughing it."
Heh. First World problems...
My main unit, got the 10working, but that update stuff has delayed any work, for the first quarter hour. But the new lappy, from Asus, durn, can play doom again, now trying to get wolfenstein to run, in DOS, fun... But tablets, and YouTube, and Hulu. Best deal yet. Nice fast wireless. No lagging there. And it doesn't interfere with the wife watching her hallmark. Now that's nice.
ReplyDeleteAll good things.
DeleteDoom? It's been decades (literally) since I played Doom. Loved Wolfenstein as well. "Spion!!"
Damme! I hate it when Brian Piccolo is a bad guy, except when he's Sonny. He plays a mean good guy with rough edges. https://youtu.be/-1jURDHRINY
ReplyDeleteI malwared myself a couple of weeks ago, trying to download a video player to watch an obscure eastern European war documentary. Clicked on the wrong button and off to the races. That was a pain to kill, but I finally got it done with a little help from the interwebs and my olden XP laptop.
Is that your "regular" monitor in the background?
I almost went down that obscure war movie path once. Noticed that the cyber neighborhood was ill-lit, much scruffy looking software around, I backed out quickly, avoiding eye contact.
DeleteThat monitor is my regular monitor, very sweet she is.
Like that you have a globe handy. How do you like the Surface?
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time The Missus Herself wanted to throw out the globe as it was old and inaccurate. I told her that I needed that globe.
Delete"Why do you need that ratty old globe which still shows the USSR and the DDR?"
"For when I'm contemplating world conquest of course."
"You're an idiot."
"I know dear, I know."
I like my surface a lot. Very convenient when visiting the progeny or while otherwise on the road. Compact and very versatile. The Nuke gave it to me for Christmas in 2013, I think. She recently bought herself one for her use in her travels for Naval Reactors.
Very handy little machine.
More fun than blogging from a tablet is blogging from an iPhone.
ReplyDeleteWell, my tablet does have an actual (detachable) keyboard so it's not bad.
DeleteI've done the blog from smart phone thing. Painful it is. But better that not blogging.
First World problems? At least you can fix it. Mine go to the shop at $50 minimum. Hurts, because I'm cheaper than anyone I know.
ReplyDeleteI know. Pretty sure it's a software problem. I dread having to take the old girl "into the shop" for they charge good money just to turn it on. (Your $50 minimum is pretty standard.)
DeleteI understand your frugality. I am a penny pincher myself.
Ran into similar problem with W10's Feb update. Found out that the Trusteer app (used for some banking verification stuff) was running a service called Rapport that was a huge memory hog. Un installed Trusteer and things were back to normal.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I do smell a memory hog behind this.
DeleteFix your windoze bs with ubuntu.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's not a bad idea. I am exploring all of my options.
Delete