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Thursday Random Stuff…

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Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

One Windows Kernel
“In this blog post, I will talk about the evolution of the core pieces of the Windows kernel that allows it to transparently scale across a low power NVidia Tegra chip on the Surface RT from 2012, to the giant behemoths that power Azure data centers today.”
Good read.

GM’s data mining is just the beginning of the in-car advertising blitz
“GM captured minuted details such as station selection, volume level, and ZIP codes of vehicle owners, and then used the car’s built-in Wi-Fi signal to upload the data to its servers. The goal was to determine the relationship between what drivers listen to and what they buy and then turn around and sell the data to advertisers and radio operators. And it got really specific: GM tracked a driver listening to country music who stopped at a Tim Horton’s restaurant. (No data on that donut order, though.)”
Is there nowhere you can go to get away from this crap?

Red Sox vs. Astros fan interference: Everything you need to know about the controversial call in ALCS Game 4
It was a home run. The Red Sox “win” should have an asterisk next to it. If they move on so should their title. If they win it all, ditto.

How America’s top CEOs are spending their own money on the midterm elections

Tuesday Random Stuff…

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Google Chrome Updated
“The Chrome team is delighted to announce the promotion of Chrome 70 to the stable channel for Windows, Mac and Linux…Chrome 70.0.3538.67 contains a number of fixes and improvements.”
Download | Download standalone(full) | Download standalone 64-bit Windows version(full)

MediaMonkey 4.1.22
“V4.1.22 is a strongly recommended update with about 20 fixes including several urgent issues.”
Download | Changelog

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Winamp returns in 2019 to whip the llama’s ass harder than ever
Good to see. Still rockin’ out with Winamp in Windows and Android.

Windows 10 October 2018 Update Performance Against Ubuntu 18.10, Fedora 29
“Of all the benchmarks ran on this Intel Core i7 8086K + ASUS Z370-A + MSI Radeon RX 580 box, Windows 10 came in first about 10% of the time but it ended up being in last place about 50% of the time.”

A thread written by @real_vijay
“Google is working on a new search engine code-named “Dragonfly” that will aid China’s effort to censor information from its citizenry.
As a former Google engineer I wanted to share some information on what it’s like to be inside Google as these decisions are made.”

Stephen Hawking warns that AI, ‘superhumans’ could wipe humanity in posthumous book
“While primitive forms of artificial intelligence developed so far have proved very useful, I fear the consequences of creating something that can match or surpass humans”
“Once such superhumans appear, there are going to be significant political problems with the unimproved humans, who won’t be able to compete”

Friday Random Stuff…

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Nvidia GeForce Game Ready Driver 416.34 WHQL
“Provides the optimal gaming experience for Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, SOULCALIBUR VI, and GRIP”
Download | Release Notes

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition Optional 18.10.1
Support For: Windows 10 October 2018 Update, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
Download | Release Notes

Intel Solid State Drive Toolbox
Version: 3.5.6 Date: 10/8/2018
Download | Release Notes

Intel SSD Firmware Update Tool
Version: 3.0.4 Date: 10/8/2018
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Stephen Hawking’s final scientific paper released
“The work, which tackles what theoretical physicists call “the information paradox”, was completed in the days before Hawking’s death in March. It has now been written up by his colleagues at Cambridge and Harvard universities and posted online.”

Def Leppard
One of my all time favs.
Def Leppard’s First-Ever Live Album, ‘Mirror Ball – Live & More’, Certified Gold In U.S.
Not a big live album fan but this one is OK.
Rock Hall of Fame: Def Leppard, Stevie Nicks, Radiohead, Rage Lead Nominees
I don’t much care about the R&R HoF and the guys in Def Leppard have pretty much said the same thing. Too many good acts are not in there and too many bad acts are.
Why the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame should be put out of its misery
I will leave you with videos from some of my favorite songs. Have a great weekend!

(I always listen to Bringin’ On The Heartbreak with Switch 625 but there is no official video for that)


Wednesday Random Stuff…

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I know there are several TweakHound readers in the path of Hurricane Michael. Hope you all make it through OK.

Intel Graphics Driver for Windows 10
Version: 25.20.100.6326 Date: 10/9/2018
Highlights
Launch Driver Games
Fix for FIFA19*
Launch Driver Games:
Pathfinder: Kingmaker*
Battlerite Royale*
FIFA19*
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Intel Announces 9th Gen Core CPUs: Core i9-9900K (8-Core), i7-9700K, & i5-9600K
“Leading from the top of the stack is the Core i9-9900K, Intel’s new flagship mainstream processor. This part is eight full cores with hyperthreading, with a base frequency of 3.6 GHz at 95W TDP, and a turbo up to 5.0 GHz on two cores…Also featuring 8-cores is the Core i7-9700K, but without the hyperthreading. This part will have a base frequency of 3.6 GHz as well for a given 95W TDP, but can turbo up to 4.9 GHz only on a single core. The i7-9700K is meant to be the direct upgrade over the Core i7-8700K, and although both chips have the same underlying Coffee Lake microarchitecture, the 9700K has two more cores and slightly better turbo performance, but less L3 cache per core at only 1.5MB per.
The other important overclocking focused processor is the Core i5-9600K, with six cores without hyperthreading. Users will also see a lot of similarity in this part to the Core i5 of the previous generation, but with added frequency.”
Intel and their minions got caught fudging their benchmarks.
The minions admitted some of it and are retesting.
The NDA embargo ends on October 19th so we will have to wait until then to see real benchmarks.

Privacy Badger Now Fights More Sneaky Google Tracking
“With its latest update, Privacy Badger now fights “link tracking” in a number of Google products.”

Former Google boss launches scathing Silicon Valley attack urging tech giants to end the delusion that it’s making the world a better place
Jessica Powell said she had become tired of defending the company in her role as its top PR chief.
“This is an industry that takes itself far too seriously, and its own responsibility not seriously enough…You can’t go about telling your advertisers that you can target users down to the tiniest pixel, but then throw your hands up in front of the politicians and say your machines can’t figure out if bad actors are using your platform.”

Patch Tuesday

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Windows Update

Windows 7 and 8.1 get over a dozen security updates.
Windows 7 – October 9, 2018—KB4462923 (Monthly Rollup)
Windows 8.1 – October 9, 2018—KB4462926 (Monthly Rollup)

Windows 10, “This update includes quality improvements. No new operating system features are being introduced in this update.”
Win10 also has over a dozen security updates.
Win10 1809 – October 9, 2018—KB4464330 (OS Build 17763.55)
Win10 1803 – October 9, 2018—KB4462919 (OS Build 17134.345)
Win10 1709 – October 9, 2018—KB4462918 (OS Build 16299.726)
Win10 1703 – October 9, 2018—KB4462937 (OS Build 15063.1387)
Win10 1607 – September 11, 2018—KB4457131 (OS Build 14393.2485)

Lessons Learned

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This week Microsoft pulled the Windows 10 October 2018 Update because peoples personal files were being deleted. The Windows 10 April Update was delayed by almost 3 weeks due to a “blocking bug”. These are just 2 examples of Win10’s broken update model. With Win10, software quality is as bad as it has ever been. This despite the extensive Insider Program that was supposed to alleviate this problem. I’ve never been bitten by these updates and much of the advice I pass out on this site is designed to help you to not get bitten either. I will try and put that in a convenient list:

– Keep current system image backups.
I use Macrium Reflect Free. Other programs include Clonezilla (free) and Acronis True Image (not free).
I store recent copies on the same computer and older copies on an external hard drive.
You MUST create a boot disc or flash drive.
Use this before EVERY patch Tuesday and Feature Update.

– Keep current personal files backups (docs, pics, etc.).
I either use copy/paste or Microsoft’s free SyncToy.
I store them on an external hard drive, an old laptop hard drive, and burn to DVD.
I also store my music and pics on Google Drive.
I have a copy everything off site too.

– Separate your personal files from your OS (move your pics, docs, etc. folders).
Guides in every Tweak Guide.

– Delay Windows Updates. With Win10, consider skipping release altogether.
If you are using Windows 10 Home consider switching to Windows 10 Pro so that you can control your updates. You can by a legit key very cheap. Contact me if you cannot find one and I will point you in the right direction.
Security Updates for each release are provided for approximately 18 months so there is no rush to update to the latest release.
Win10’s changes and new features have come along at a pitifully slow rate. The only welcome change for me since Win10’s initial release is the Dark Theme.

– Advanced, Make a rescue flash drive.
Multiple tools to save yourself, friends, and family from disaster.

External Hard Drives at Amazon. Prices current as of 07OCT18

WD 4TB Black My Passport Portable External Hard Drive – USB 3.0
List Price: $159.99 – Price: $99.99 – You Save: $60.00 (38%)

Seagate Expansion 8TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0
Was: $149.99 Price: $139.00 You Save: $10.99 (7%)

Win10 1809 Pulled

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“We have paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809) for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating.

If you have checked for updates and believe you have an issue, please contact us directly at +1-800-MICROSOFT or find a local number in your area https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4051701/global-customer-service-phone-numbers.

If you have access to a different PC, please contact us at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/contactus/ (link will vary according to country of origin).

If you have manually downloaded the Windows 10 October 2018 Update installation media, please don’t install it and wait until new media is available.

We will provide an update when we resume rolling out the Windows 10 October 2018 Update to customers.”

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4464619/windows-10-update-history
Thanks sr downs!

Thursday Random Stuff…

By 3 Comments

Reports everywhere about Win10 1809 issues. That is why I advise to wait before updating and backup before you do.
AskWoody is keeping a running tally of all the issues.
Win10 version 1809 buglog – including troubling tales of lost user data

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready 416.16 WHQL Drivers
“Provides the optimal gaming experience with support for the Windows 10 October 2018 Update including the public release of DirectX Raytracing (DXR)”
Download | Release Notes

The Big Hack: How China Used a Tiny Chip to Infiltrate U.S. Companies
“The attack by Chinese spies reached almost 30 U.S. companies, including Amazon and Apple, by compromising America’s technology supply chain, according to extensive interviews with government and corporate sources.”
Another reason we need to manufacture this tech stuff here.

Wednesday Random Stuff…

By 8 Comments

I’ve got Win10 1809 running on 3 machines. Although I have a few minor errors in the logs I’ve no issues yet.

Firefox 62.0.3
Download (all) | Download 32-bit EN-US | Download 64-bit EN-US
Release Notes
Thanks Scott!

Winaero Tweaker for Windows 10 version 1809
A few fixes and several new features
Download & Info

Intel Graphics Driver for Windows 10
Version: 25.20.100.6323 Date: 10/1/2018
Highlights
Windows 10 October 2018 Update Launch Driver
HDR for embedded laptop panels Launch Driver
Download

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Negative Buzz Amplified by Russian Trolls, Study Finds
“finds evidence of deliberate, organized political influence measures disguised as fan arguments…Overall, 50.9% of those tweeting negatively [about the movie] was likely politically motivated or not even human”

How Likely Are You To Have a Deer Collision?
“West Virginia continues to top the list of states where an individual driver is most likely to run into a deer. Some good news for West Virginian’s though, this year while West Virginia continues to be No. 1 on the top 10 list, the likelihood of having an insurance claim involving a deer was 1 in 46 — down three points from last year.
Montana (one in 57 chance of a crash), Pennsylvania (one in 63 chance of a crash), and Wisconsin also remain at the top of list. Rounding out the top 10 states where drivers are most likely to collide with large animals like deer, elk, moose or caribou are Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Wyoming, and Mississippi. The months drivers are most likely to collide with a large animal in the U.S. are (in order) November, October, and December.”
Interactive map there too.

1-in-3 pass ‘US Citizenship test,’ just 19% for Americans 45 and younger
“Among the embarrassing errors uncovered in the survey of questions taken from the U.S. Citizenship Test and conducted by Lincoln Park Stragtegies:
72 percent of respondents either incorrectly identified or were unsure of which states were part of the 13 original states.
24 percent could correctly identify one thing Benjamin Franklin was famous for, with 37 percent believing he invented the lightbulb.
12 percent incorrectly thought WWII General Dwight Eisenhower led troops in the Civil War.
2 percent said the Cold War was caused by climate change.”
Perhaps it is time to require you pass this test before being allowed to vote?
Try for yourself. Took me less than 2 minutes.
USCIS – Civics Practice Test
Washington Times – US Citizenship Test – Could You Pass?
CNN – Can YOU pass the U.S. citizenship test? Take this quiz