k4rs

In 1986 I purchased an Amiga 1000 computer that came with only a single 3.5 inch floppy. One of the things I used it for was COBOL software development using a IBM PC emulator. Needless to say, it left much to be desired in the performance department. I wanted to add a hard drive but they were so expensive that I decided it would be smarter to just buy a PC clone. I ended up with a 10 MHz 80286 CPU, 1 MB RAM, and a 40 MB hard drive for less that the price of a hard drive for the Amiga. That 286 computer is long gone but I still have the Amiga. 😀 Safe Travels (or not)...

In my opinion, a few of these recommendations are best suited for a person who is employed by a company with a well staffed IT department. Some of these suggestions are not so good for the individual user. For instance, I always use a local account. If someone has physical access to your computer, a Microsoft account (even with 2 factor turned on) will not prevent them from full use of your computer. In the mean time a MS account will allow Microsoft more access to your private data. Did I mention that Microsoft's invasive (lack of) privacy policy was the final straw for me to move (almost) completely to another operating system? Likewise, I feel that Bitlocker is more of a problem than a solution. Data loss is a far larger concern that hard drive security. Bitlocker will drastically complicate data recovery when a hard drive fails. Connecting other accounts to your MS account is a single point of failure. Doing this is convenient, but can allow malware access to your other accounts as well. You certainly do not want some bad actor having access to your email account. That is a recipe for disaster. I can just see them logging into your bank or credit card and saying "I forgot my password. Please send a reset link to my email". I believe the best practice is to make frequent backups of your important data, maintain physical control of your computer, and concentrate your security efforts to online activities where you are the most vulnerable. All of my personal, sensitive, private data resides on one computer that never leaves my house or RV. I have a second laptop that has NO personal or private data on it that I can take to the clubhouse or wherever. As I said, these are my opinions as they apply to the typical reader of this forum. A traveling businessman with a company laptop is a different story. Safe Travels (or not)...

Reminds me of the time I borrowed a Corvette. I was driving through a rural area late at night and glanced down at the speedometer. I was shocked to see I was going 130 MPH in a 55 zone. 😱 It is very easy to exceed the speed limit in a high performance vehicle because they don't feel like they are going that fast. Safe Travels (or not)...

I am a big fan of Linux and use it for about 95% of my computing needs. I have looked at PopOS a couple of times but never installed it. It has good reviews but does not tickle my fancy. That is the great thing about Linux. There are so many distributions that eventually you will find one that you like best. Of course that is also a downside, as many newcomers to Linux are totally overwhelmed by all the choices. Safe Travels (or not)...

I avoided the whole problem by not using any of the big social media platforms. I am a member of a couple of discussion forums and that is it. Of course I am also somewhat of a Luddite when it comes to my smart phone. I use it to make phone calls when I am out and about. Most of the time it is turned off while at home. I do not understand how people are so attached that they must be connected 24/7. Safe Travels (or not)...

I believe your biggest problem may be finding XP drivers for your computer. Micro$oft has worked real hard with OEM's to make it very difficult to install anything but Windows 10 on a modern PC. I think your best bet would be to hit the thrift shops and pawn shops to find an old XP era computer. I am sure they are available at very low cost. When you are done with your project it will make a good platform to learn Linux with. Safe Travels (or not)... Oops - I just re-read your post and noticed the quarantine part. Makes it difficult to hit the thrift shops but you may find something online.

Our plans to head out west this summer are definitely cancelled. We'll continue to hunker down here at our home base in rural West Central Florida for the time being. Our county has one of the lowest infection rates in the state and we are following all of the suggested practices. If conditions improve, we would like to spend some time in North Carolina were our son and his family live. Safe Travels (or not)...

I am glad to see that others feel the same way I do. I really appreciate that we have a safe place to hunker down and are financially stable. Our county was one of the last in the state to have a reported case of coronavirus and the total is currently only three. While we have not yet received a stimulus payment, we have made extra purchases of things we want, but not necessarily need. These were items made in the USA and sold by local merchants. We are definitely looking forward to the day we can resume our support of local restaurants and those who work there. Safe Travels (or not)...

Two dogs were having a conversation. One said he had heard that humans were failing obedience training in large numbers. The second dog replied "Yes. My human could not master sit, or stay". Safe Travels (or not)...

None of the local Home Depots have this in stock. I was able to obtain a one pound bottle of granulated chlorine crystals in the pool supply section. The instructions state that in addition to pools, it can also be use for large scale sanitation. One ounce of crystals creates 500 gallons of sanitizing solution. I am sure glad I didn't get the 25 pound bucket that I saw first 😀 Safe Travels...

I have served several times over the years. I was always surprised when I was selected. The first time the prosecutor had been one of my instructors while I attended the police academy and the defense attorney had represented me in a civil case. The second time I was selected was in a DUI case. During voir dire I clearly stated my law enforcement background and that my brother had been killed by a drunk driver. It didn't matter, welcome to the jury. In fact, in the DUI case, I was selected as the foreman. The one that really stands out in my memory was a capital murder case. The prosecutor read a list of witnesses, including a number of people working for the sheriff's department, and asked if any of the potential jurors knew them. I raised my hand and rattled off a list of names. He asked me how I knew them. I replied that they were coworkers. Later I was asked if I could vote for the death penalty. I replied "Yes I can". I could have sworn that the defense would challenge for cause, but no - welcome to the jury. Safe Travels...

At one time there was a free version of Office 2010 included with some OEM systems. Dubbed "Office Starter" it only included Word and Excel, but for many that was enough. If I remember correctly it only works with Windows 7. Now that 7 has reached the end of life I expect that Office 2010 Starter will fade away also. Safe Travels...

Having lived on the Florida Space Coast for many years I saw numerous launches live. No matter how many times you see them, they are always a thrill. Two that stand out were when I was at Port Canaveral to watch the last Apollo mission launch on a Saturn V and when I brought my son to Titusville to see a 3 AM shuttle launch. Traffic was so backed up that the shuttle had completed two orbits by the time we returned to our house 50 miles away. We were never present for a landing but saw several shuttles fly over our house while on approach. The unique double sonic boom told you when it was time to step outside. Safe Travels...

I heard some guys on the ham radio talking about the launch. They were in my old stomping ground on the east coast of Florida and had good viewing conditions. It was clear and cold so I stepped outside hoping that I would be able to see the launch live. Unfortunately we were either too far or there was some cloud cover that was not obvious and I did not see the launch. Thank you for the link so at least I can see the recording. Safe Travels...

I clearly remember our one and only visit to the Oasis RV Park. It was (and probably still is) a very nice park. While checking in they asked us if we preferred a small pull through or larger back in site. The lady at the desk then cautioned us that the back in site was next to I-15 and traffic noise was higher there. I discovered that it really did not matter about the highway noise because we were directly under the flight path of airplanes departing McCaran International Airport. About every 30 seconds a jumbo jet flew over us at what seemed to be about 50 feet elevation on full takeoff power. All of our visits to the Las Vegas area since then have been to places along Boulder Highway. Safe Travels...

I have done about a zillion upgrades from Windows 7 or 8.1 to Windows 10. The only time I have run into activation problems is when there is an issue with the Microsoft server. In that case, it will probably activate automatically the next time you go online. The key is to start the upgrade process with Win 7 or 8.1 running. If you boot from the flash drive or DVD the first time it will prompt you for a key. You can usually enter the key from the label on your computer but that is not always successful. Once you have completed the upgrade and have the digital license for your computer, you can then boot from the media and clean install without loading the previous version of Windows first. Safe Travels...

Make sure you have an activated copy of Windows 7 or 8.1 with all updates installed. Download Windows 10 directly from Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO/ Extract the files from the download to a flash drive. Boot into your previous version of Windows and run setup.exe from the download. Follow the prompts to install Windows 10. Once the update is complete you will have a digital license and you can then do a clean install in the future. Safe Travels...

I believe both Firefox and Google Chrome have dropped support for Windows XP. If you have no desire to move up to a current operating system, I think the best course of action would be to find a friend with good Internet access (those Garmin updates are very large). Safe Travels...

RV, As you know, I am a big fan of Linux. I also use Windows for the few things Linux does not support. I have lots of experience moving old computers to Linux. There are a number of distributions that are specifically designed to run on older hardware. Mint is one of my favorites but it's default Cinnamon desktop can be demanding. Their Mate or Xfce desktops are less so. If these desktops still do not perform satisfactorily, other distributions are even leaner. I just installed antiX on an old XP machine (built in 2007) with a single core Athlon XP-M CPU (2.1 GHz) and 512 MB ram. It is running just fine and not taking up space in a landfill. Just because you tried ONE version of Linux and was not satisfied with the result, don't dismiss Linux entirely. Safe Travels...

I grew up camping in tents, travel trailers, slide in campers, and a van camper. In the late 70's Toni and I purchased our first trailer, a 13 foot Scotty. We used it for a number of years but then it seemed that I could not get time off from work, so we sold it. A short time later my supervisor noted that I had too much leave accumulated, so we took a four week, cross county trip in a tent. When we finished that trip, Toni said "If you say the word tent one more time, I'll slit your throat from ear to ear". Needless to say we soon purchased another travel trailer and we have had one continuously ever since. Safe Travels...

Now hearing this update causes problems with the Start menu ☹️ Safe Travels...

Unless you have pets.

A few days ago we lost power in the park. It turns out that a tree fell on a power line and caused a transformer to explode (heard widely throughout the park). This happened around 1 PM and the temp was 95 degrees. I simply pulled the cover off the generator in the back of my truck, fired it up, and plugged the RV into it. I then went back into the rig and enjoyed the air conditioning until the power was restored about 4 hours later. This is the second time this summer that we experienced power a outage while staying in a park. While we would have survived without the generator, we were certainly glad that we had one. Safe Travels...

I am glad that everything worked out for you. Not sure why you started with Windows 8 though. I suggest hanging onto the old drive longer than a few days. Sometimes you don't realize something is missing right away. Safe Travels...

As I understand the situation, the problem was never in VLC, rather an older library that was updated to patch the vulnerability years ago. Safe Travels...