Computer News

Have a good weekend and “Stay thirsty my friends”.

Winaero Tweaker 0.19.1
“A small update…added the ability to turn on the new Windows 10X boot animation…You must be running Windows 10 build 19587 or greater to use it”
If you updated to 0.19 earlier this week and are aren’t a Windows Insider then skip this.
Download & Info

Thought I’d pass this along
I was going through one of my boxes of old, miscellaneous computer cables. Some of the cables I had were branded SATA 2. “Hmmm…” I wondered, “Are these still good for SATA 3? Are they as fast?” I’d honestly never considered it. I mean I’ve dozens. My search quickly came up with an article from 2015 that actually benchmarked it:
GamersNexus – Bogus Branding – “SATA III” Cables vs. “SATA II” Cables
“The results are effectively identical. There is no measurable difference between differently-branded SATA cables as we tested…There is exactly one reason that manufacturers sell SATA cables with “6Gbps” and “SATA III” branding in the product name: Buyers don’t know there’s no performance difference and think it is a requirement to use the SATA III interface.”

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

DuckDuckGo search engine increased its traffic by 62% in 2020 as users seek privacy
“DuckDuckGo does not track user searches or share personal data with third-party companies.
“People are coming to us because they want more privacy, and it’s generally spreading through word of mouth,” Kamyl Bazbaz, DuckDuckGo vice president of communications, told USA TODAY. “People are looking for alternatives to the surveillance-tech business model.”
Google search is still tops IMHO. But, I don’t have much good to say about Google/Alphabet the company. From Wikipedia:
“Google was the most valuable brand in the world in 2017 (surpassed by Amazon),[15] but has received significant criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, antitrust, censorship, and search neutrality.”

Longtime MLB home run king Hank Aaron dies at 86
“Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron, the Hall of Fame slugger whose 755 career home runs long stood as baseball’s golden mark, has died. He was 86.”
IMHO he is the all-time home run leader.

Why Do We Assume Extraterrestrials Might Want to Visit Us?
“The idea presumes we’re inherently fascinating, but that’s not necessarily the case…It is presumptuous to assume that we are worthy of special attention from advanced species in the Milky Way. We may be a phenomenon as uninteresting to them as ants are to us…Fermi’s paradox is pretentious in that it assumes we humans have some sort of cosmic significance. The reality may be that we are ordinary and doomed to perish, just like the dinosaurs, consequent to some catastrophe. Why would our galactic neighbors care about how green our grass is?”
I find his opinion to be based on a lot of presumptions to be be calling out someone else’s presumptions. He obviously hasn’t met this guy:

The Current Graphics Card Market Has Gone From Stupid To Insane
You can’t get cards in a standard store. On Ebay and Craigslist an OVER FOUR YEAR OLD video card like the 1080ti is going for $600 and up. The card I have in my main rig is the XFX Radeon RX 580 8G GTS Black Edition is going for around $380 and up some places and $700 at Newegg. This card is closing in on 4 years old.
Are y’all waiting or paying the prices?

Google Chrome 88
“Chrome 88.0.4324.96 contains a number of fixes and improvements…This update includes 36 security fixes.”
FTP and Flash are gone.
Download | Release Info

Winaero Tweaker 0.19
“new features and bugfixes, it also includes a number of useful user interface improvements.”
Recommended. Just make sure you back up first
Download & Info

Related, somebody needs to hear this:
A large collection of registry files are not “tweaks”, it’s just a bunch of registry files. And, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Macrium Reflect v7.3.5550
Download | Release Notes (Thanks AG)
To download click the Home Use button > In the pop-up windows, you DO NOT have to enter your email addy in the next screen just click the Continue button

VLC 3.0.12
Download 32-bit | Download 64-bit | Release Notes

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

30th Anniversary of Desert Storm
This is just a shout-out to my fellow DS vets. It was a honor to serve with you brothers and sisters.

Lonnie Dillard Obituary (1945 – 2021)
“9. Happiness is not the result of what does or does not happen to you in your life as much as your attitude about what does or does not happen. It’s a decision you make. Every day. They say that it is always better to have ten items on a list than only nine. I say trying to do everything “they” say can snuff out whatever genius you have in you, as well as make you miserable in the process. There is no one more you than you. You do have something unique to offer your piece of the world. Damn convention or the critics. Take a chance! Unfortunately, I did not know all these lessons all my life; some I paid very dearly to learn. Or re-learn.”
I did not know nor had I ever heard about him until today and his obit went viral. I wish I had. Rest in peace kind sir.

Behind a Secret Deal Between Google and Facebook
“This idea that the major tech platforms are robustly competing against each other is very much overstated,” said Sally Hubbard, a former assistant attorney general in New York’s antitrust bureau who now works at Open Markets Institute, a think tank. “In many ways, they reinforce each other’s monopoly power.”
LOL, ya think?! I got $20 that says when all is said and done big tech:
– Gets a slap on the wrist to make it look like the politicians are doing something. During the “hearings” every politician there will rail against them and pontificate about a free internet. Then, come next election they will take their *ahem* “donations”.
– Other than that, completely gets way with everything and not only keeps but expands their monopiles.

theChive – Life was better when things WEREN’T connected to the internet (36 Photos)

I do not understand the need or desire for smart homes and/or smart devices everywhere.

It’s a lazy, foggy, chilly Saturday here. I’ve been rearranging The Hole. I moved my turntable and the preamp had a humming sound. I took it apart, tightened 2 screws and poof the hum was gone. Currently listening to Dire Straits – Making Movies. You can see my equipment in my article here. The speakers are M-Audio AV-40 which are no longer produced.
After my old Gigabyte mobo died I decided to rid myself of some XP/Vista era equipment. These are systems based off of Yorkfield/Kentsfield CPUs. I’ve got some new-to-me old stuff and more on the way. I’ll let you in on that later.

Software updates:
IrfanView 4.57
Tor Browser 10.0.8

An old friend of this site asked:
Friend: Curious: How many of us follow you? Millions?
Me: Ha. There was a time back in the XP days when I would get 35,000 visitors in one day on the update of a Tweak Guide. I averaged 3,500 a day.
Times change and Google hates small sites like mine, they’ve gone out of their way to disappear us. Stats are hard to measure anymore but I reckon I average about 1000 a day now.
The old sites are disappearing, or selling out. Much of the old guard are “retiring” because there is no money in this stuff for a single site. Sites used to carry news of other websites’ new content but that has all changed now. They are only interested in promoting themselves at the expense of their users.
I’m one of the few left and I’ll be around as long as there are PCs.

A reader asked:
Reader: How come you haven’t addressed xyz political issue?
Me (paraphrased): Folks don’t come here for that…crap. I try to (mostly) only address political issues that are tech related, and, if politics has seeped into the argument too much I will avoid it. We are in a place where Every. Single. Thing. is polarized and anything anyone says has half the people pissed off. I blame much of it on social media and the trolls (especially those who are…”state actors”). -end-
Most visitors know of my absolute disdain for social media so I’ll leave you with #DeleteFacebook.
 

Good way to start a season!

Nvidia Geforce Game Ready Drivers 461.09 WHQL
Security Bulletin: NVIDIA GPU Display Driver – January 2021
Download | Release Notes

Cleanmgr+ 1.37.1170
4 minor changes.
Download & Info

Sysinternals Freeware Tools Updated
Process Monitor v3.61 | Sysmon v13.00

Chrome Updated
“The Stable channel has been updated to 87.0.4280.141 for Windows, Mac and Linux…This update includes 16 security fixes.”
Download | Release Info | Android

Firefox 84.0.2
“Security fix”
Download | Release Notes

January Microsoft Office Security Updates
Release info
How to Install Office Updates

Intel Graphics – Windows 10 DCH Drivers
Version: 27.20.100.9126 Date: 1/4/2021
“Patch driver”
Download | Release Notes

Windows 10’s taskbar is getting a big update with new weather and news widget
We’ve got that crap on our phone. It’s unneeded, annoying, and obtrusive. Why the hell does MS keep trying to put garbage on my computer?
Microsoft planning ‘sweeping visual rejuvenation of Windows’

BleachBit 4.2
Download (I use Portable) | Release Notes

FinalCrypt 6.6.0
Download | Changelog

Notepad++ 7.9.2
Download & Info

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

As Understanding of Russian Hacking Grows, So Does Alarm
“it now appears Russia exploited multiple layers of the supply chain to gain access to as many as 250 networks…The hackers managed their intrusion from servers inside the United States…“Early warning” sensors placed by Cyber Command and the National Security Agency deep inside foreign networks to detect brewing attacks clearly failed…SolarWinds, the company that the hackers used as a conduit for their attacks, had a history of lackluster security for its products, making it an easy target…Some of the compromised SolarWinds software was engineered in Eastern Europe, and American investigators are now examining whether the incursion originated there, where Russian intelligence operatives are deeply rooted.”

Drug reverses age-related cognitive decline in a matter of days by erasing ‘blockages
“The drug, ISRIB, has already proven effective at restoring brain functions of patients dealing with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Down Syndrome…“ISRIB’s extremely rapid effects show for the first time that a significant component of age-related cognitive losses may be caused by a kind of reversible physiological ‘blockage’ rather than more permanent degradation,”

Random Favorite Songs Video
The band Black ‘N Blue was formed in 1981 by Jamie St. James and Tommy Thayer (yes, the dude from KISS). This was at the beginning of the Hair Metal era.
If you are interested in the beginning of that era, there are a few shows on Amazon Prime you can check out:
Inside Metal: Pioneers Of L.A. Hard Rock And Metal
Inside Metal: The LA Metal Scene Explodes 2
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
My favorite song from Black ‘N Blue is Chains Around Heaven from their self titled album:

Goodbye 2020
I’ve never understood the preoccupation with the rollover of the calendar. I mean, I get the “any excuse to party” thing but beyond that I’m at a loss.
Anyhow, I do hope the next 365 days are better for all of us.

Updated – Bad Tweaks
My Bad Tweaks article is somewhere around 15 years old. Links to sources have disappeared. I updated the links today, mostly to the Internet Wayback Machine archive. I’ve also backed up these sources to PDF and have linked to those where appropriate.

Updated – UAC – Quick notes on why I disable it
As of today my original article is over eleven years old. Links to sources have disappeared. I updated the links today, mostly to the Internet Wayback Machine archive. I’ve also backed up these sources to PDF and have linked to those where appropriate.
UAC – Quick notes on why I disable it

WinAmp Community Update Project (WACUP)
Updated to build #6840. This is the second release in 8 days.
I’m a beta tester for WACUP. I’ll have a related article in the next week or so.
Download & Info

PowerToys v0.29.3
bugfixes
Download & Info

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

Windows 7: A year after the end-of-support deadline, millions choose not to upgrade
“Microsoft officially ended support for its one-time flagship operating system, Windows 7, at the start of 2020. As the year draws to a close, I ran the numbers to see how many PCs are still running this unsupported OS. Spoiler: It’s a big number,”
Go Ed Go!

“Psychological Flexibility” May Be Key To Good Relationships Between Couples And Within Families
“What makes for a happy family? The answer — whether you’re talking about a couple or a family with kids — is psychological “flexibility”, according to a new paper in the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. Based on a meta-analysis of 174 separate studies, Jennifer S. Daks and Ronald Rogge at the University of Rochester conclude that flexibility helps — and inflexibility hinders — our most important relationships.”
The paper cited even goes beyond that
“Within romantic relationships, higher levels of various forms of psychological inflexibility were linked to: (1) lower relationship satisfaction for themselves and (2) their partners, (3) lower sexual satisfaction and (4) emotional supportiveness, as well as (5) higher negative conflict, (6) physical aggression, (7) attachment anxiety, and (8) attachment avoidance. Taken as a set, these results suggest that psychological flexibility and inflexibility may play key roles both in couples and families to shape how individuals interact with the people closest to them.”
My takeaway: Don’t be a hard-ass. It’ll only make you miserable.

PowerToys v0.29.0
Nothing major, just a few fixes.
Download & Info

Intel Graphics – Windows 10 DCH Drivers
Version: 27.20.100.9079 Date: 12/23/2020
Download | Release Notes

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

Dawn Wells, ‘Gilligan’s Island’s’ Mary Ann, Dies of COVID at 82
I grew up watching Gilligan’s Island re-runs. Like many American boys, she was one of my first crushes.
RIP to a wonderful lady.

The Customer Is Not Always Right
“Customer entitlement at restaurants is at an all-time high, making work unsafe and unbearable for many in the industry. The way we think about hospitality needs to change…”
Our society has become mean and entitled. So many cannot seem to be nice anymore. IMHO it is time to eliminate tipping in this country and pay a fair wage.