Replies

Digest4DizzyPricklyLettuce

You can remember that?!

cheers, Paul

Yeah, at my age, I’m lucky to remember my birthdate (come to think of it, maybe I don’t want to remember). My example’s not that great, but I did come up with it in less than a couple minutes, and it is easier to remember than “7FZPq9pXTSd” or “jEQS23SuBk9”!

[Norio]

Mmmmm, duck liver.
(I know, I know… we don’t eat it anymore)

I use Keepass to generate random strings and store my passwords.

However, I often use random word generators to help me with generating passwords that I can memorize.  There are several online, such as https://wordcounter.net/random-word-generator.  I just browsed there and generated “digest dizzy prickly lettuce” which is relatively easy to remember.  I can capitalize the words and add a number to satisfy most requirements: Digest4DizzyPricklyLettuce.  And I understand that such a password may be susceptible to dictionary attacks.  However, I often need a balance between “completely random” and convenience, and this is it for me.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Norio.

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Chessie, doriel

There is another potential issue for Python-on-Windows users involving environment variables and paths.
On the blog “not quite minimalistic enough” (https://www.chrullrich.net), the author notes that:

2019-10-22
OH NO, NOT AGAIN …

The Python-on-Windows people are at it again. This time they have deliberately broken os.path.expanduser() in 3.8.
Until 3.7, expanduser() treated a tilde at the front of the path given to it the same as a *ix shell, i.e. ‘~/’ was replaced by the current user’s home directory, and ‘~user/’ with that of user user.

[Moderator edit] please use a precis of other’s work, not the whole thing.

Of course, Microsoft doesn’t send me review units… Just in case you were wondering, yes, absolutely, Microsoft vets their reviewers carefully…

Thanks Woody!  This is great–as NoLoki intimates, we now know of whom we should be skeptical when it comes to news about Microsoft.

There’s a substantial amount of research that concludes that “dark mode” or a “dark theme” is worse for you in terms of just about every standard, including eyestrain and legibility. However, it’s good for design and battery life–good for companies, not for users. That’s why it’s so prevalent.

There’s a good summary here (https://www.wired.com/story/do-you-need-dark-mode/):

Dark mode makes for a nice design, but don’t expect it to relieve eye strain, improve legibility, or make your workday more productive.

And here: https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1443773

4 users thanked author for this post.

rc primak, SueW, Charlie, ve2mrx

I do not have a TV (seriously) and do not find a need for one.

Bravo @F A Kramer! I haven’t had a TV/cable/satellite/streaming service for over 10 years. I am not a Luddite by any means, since I am the IT help desk at my place of work. I just got tired of the hours I would spend every day (more on weekends!) watching the boobus toobus. Instead, I read books, play with my pets, walk in the mountains, etc. It was akin to an addiction, and in 2009 it seemed to be the last one I had or would have. Now, if I could just get rid of my smartphone…

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F A Kramer

[Norio]

I use Symantec System Recovery, Acronis Backup Advanced, and Paragon Hard Disk Manager Advanced.  Each has its uses in different situations and each works very well.  For example, Acronis allows me to make a whole-disk backup while excluding specified directories or files.  This is very convenient when, e.g., a directory is being used for software compilations/builds and is much larger than the rest of the boot drive.  Paragon has the best set of partitioning and HD management tools in addition to the backup tools.  And so forth…

Does anyone know if Google Drive is susceptible to ransomware encryption?  Do I need to be sure to configure it a certain way?

Thanks!

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by Norio.

Type this into the Askwoody search: font=
Multiple hits 537 pages of posts

Typing any HTML code will produce multiple hits.

I used [/FONT] which gives pretty much the same results as Da Boss’s.  For example, here’s a messy one: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/possible-vlookup-formula/.

1 user thanked author for this post.

woody

Thank you, Woody for letting me vent on your platform. At least it made me feel a bit better to get out my customer support frustrations.

Thank you Susan for venting. These companies that have lousy customer support (such as iRobot) will only change their ways when a geek like you who has a platform with many readers catches them in the act. It’s possible that customer support for others that follow will get better because of your detailed rant. Yeah, yeah–I know it’s unlikely. It irritates me that this company appropriated a name that has fantastic connotations for me: “I, Robot” the first publication in the Robot series by Isaac Asimov. That’s where the Three Laws of Robotics made their first appearance, and I will paraphrase to fit the situation:

First Law
A robot may not soil a living room or, through inaction, allow a room to get dirty.
Second Law
A robot must dock onto the Clean Base except where such action would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law
A robot must evacuate its debris bin as long as such evacuation does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

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ve2mrx, Myst, Barry, Cybertooth

Most of our staff uses Thunderbird with a GMail server. There is one person who insists on using Outlook with Exchange Server. I end up spending more hours providing tech support for email issues to that person in two months than I do everyone else (18 people) in an year.
By the way, the Computer World site with Gralla’s article won’t let me read it unless I “register.” No thank you.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Fred

Hello,
I have a gmail account, but my Woody Plus account is based on a different email.
Does it matter that I use a different email?
Also, you indicated that using a google account gives one access to the “web interface.” What additional resources does that give us? For example, will I be able to search through past postings with the web interface? Seems to me that would be important if I was a new member of patchmanagement.org.
Thanks!
Norio

Hi anonymous,
Yes, I would think so too. It seems to me Europe is usually better than the USA when it comes to protecting the consumer regarding computer hardware and software.
Good luck figuring out the source of that noise!

And I cannot open it to figure it out due to warranty voiding stickers.

Hi,
It is against federal law to void a consumer warranty because a seal was “altered, defaced, or removed.” See https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2018/04/ftc-staff-warns-companies-it-illegal-condition-warranty-coverage and https://liliputing.com/2018/04/ftc-companies-cant-void-your-warranty-if-you-break-a-seal-among-other-things.html.

If you’re still worried or just want to avoid fighting with the vendor, you can remove the seal without damaging it, and replace it once you’re done with whatever-it-is you’re doing: https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-remove-warranty-void-if-removed-stickers-without-voiding-your-warranty/

Yes, definitely worth a re-read.
And may I suggest to bloggers & columnists that they stop saying “Windows as a service” and refer instead to “Windows as a disservice.”

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Cybertooth

It’s not just the “odd few” anymore.  As Michael Horowitz says:

When your big fans turn against you, that’s bad. Leo Notenboom wrote Microsoft, We Deserve Better on Oct. 24, 2018. Quoting: “In recent weeks, I’ve seen calls from several sources suggesting that Microsoft stop, take a breath, and seriously review their update process. I agree. This madness must end … I still believe that most people should take all updates, albeit with extra attention to backing up first … [but] since updates are forced, it’s a little like playing Russian Roulette. There’s no real predicting whether or not the barrel is loaded when you’re forced to pull the Windows Update trigger … Even if your chances of experiencing a problem are one in ten thousand (aka 0.01%), it’s certainly enough to make people nervous.”

When it gets to the point that even Microsoft fanboys call the update process “madness,” it’s not madness to suggest there’s a monetary reason MS continues with it.