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Computer News
Random Weekend Stuff…
Thurrott.com
Paul Thurrott has left Winsupersite.com and is now at Thurrott.com.
Good luck Paul!
Interesting Reads
Six Colors – How I rip DVDs and Blu-rays
How-To Geek – Here’s What Happens When You Install the Top 10 Download.com Apps
Reader Emails
Q – Is there a free alternative to True Image?
A – Several. I recommend Clonezilla.
Q – What happened to your Twitter page?
A – I briefly tried the Social Media thing. I honestly don’t get it.
Q – I’m looking for a notebook. Do you have any recommendations?
A – My baseline currently would be:
– Intel Core I5 or I7.
– SSD
– < 6GB RAM
Merry Christmas
New Nvidia Drivers
Elite: Dangerous & Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes GeForce Game Ready WHQL Driver
Download Geforce 347.09
Release Notes
Patch Tuesday 09DEC2014
Time To Run Windows Update
Updates available for all supported Microsoft operating systems.
Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for December 2014
Adobe Flash Player
APSB14-27 Security Updates available for Adobe Flash Player
Flash for IE
Flash for other browsers
Main download page
Windows 8/8.1 users check Windows Update.
Adobe Reader
APSB14-28 Security Updates available for Adobe Reader and Acrobat
Download Adobe Reader or update from within the program (Help > Check for updates).
Google Chrome
“The stable channel has been updated to 39.0.2171.95 for Windows, Mac and Linux. This release contains an update for Adobe Flash as well as a number of other fixes.”
Download or update from within the program.
Backup Locations
Y’all know I’ve no sympathy for folks who don’t backup their computers and info.
This morning I heard “I don’t have anywhere to backup my stuff”.
I have backups of backups. Backups in safes. Backups off site…
Feel free to pass this image on.
Monday, Monday
Foxy Lady
Firefox 34 is out.
New features include Yahoo as default search :rolleyes:
Download (Windows, EN-US)
Release Notes
Download other languages and operating systems
Firefox 34 for Android is available in the Play Store.
Paint It Black
Paint.net 4.0.4 released.
“this update greatly improves performance in some key areas”
Announcement
Download
Plugins
Cinnamon Girl
Linux Mint 17.1 with Cinnamon and Mate desktops released.
The Times They Are a-Changin’
With TrueCrypt no longer being developed many folks are looking elsewhere for disk encryption software.
VeraCrypt is one alternative and they’ve released version 1.0e.
My Computers etc.
Folks seem to like to know my computer setups and stuff so here it is.
***Pics of my setup here: The Hole 2021
Some of my computers are listed below.
Other tech stuff:
Phone
Samsung Galaxy S24+
Printer / Scanner
HP Officejet Pro 8720
Network
7 desktops, 1 laptop, 1 ethernet lan, 3 wireless networks, security cameras…
Speakers
M-Audio AV-40
Logitech Z-5500.
Misc. TV Stuff
Amazon TV
COMPUTERS
| Main Rig | Secondary Rig | Server | |
| CPU | i9-9900KF (all cores locked at 5GHz) | i7-9700K (all cores locked at 5GHz) | i7-3700 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Elite | Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 | Intel DZ77SL-50K |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB | G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 32GB | Crucial 16GB |
| GPU | XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS Black Ed. 8GB |
Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 AMP! Edition 6GB |
Onboard Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| Monitor(s) | 2 x Samsung U32J59x (3840×2160@60Hz) | DELL P2415Q (3840×2160@60Hz) SONY TV (1920×1080@59Hz) |
|
| Drives | Samsung SSD 980 PRO 500GB NVMe Samsung SSD 980 PRO 2TB NVMe Samsung SSD 870 EVO 1TB |
Samsung 960 EVO Plus 250GB NVMe Samsung 960 EVO Plus 500G NVMe Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB Seagate Exos X16 14TB Bluray |
Crucial M4 OS Drive Other storage varies |
| Network | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Audio | Sound Blaster ZxR | Realtek HD | None |
| PSU | 800 watt 80+ Gold | Seasonic SSR-650FX | 800 watt 80+ Gold |
| Case | IN WIN 303C | Old Alienware | Rosewill Zircon T |
| Cooling | Cooler Master ML240L RGB V2 | Corsair H60 | generic |
| OS | Win11 Pro, Linux Mint VM | Win10 Pro | Win10 Pro |
 |
 |
 |
| Multimedia 1 | Workout A/V | Wife’s PC | |
| CPU | i7-8700k | i7-7700k | i7-7700 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z390 UD | Asus Z170-A | MSI Z270-A PRO |
| Memory | 16GB Crucial | 16GB Corsair | 32GB Adata |
| GPU | XFX Radeon RX 480 8GB | XFX Radeon DD R9-270X 4GB | GeForce GTX 960 4GB |
| Drives | Samsung NVMe 970 EVO Plus 250GB Samsung SSD 850 PRO 256GB Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB Blueray |
970 EVO Plus 250GB NVMe Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB |
Samsung NVMe 970 EVO Plus 500GB WD Blue 500GB SSD Toshiba 3TB SATA |
| Network | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet | Gigabit Ethernet |
| Audio | Sound Blaster Z | Sound Blaster X-FI Fatal1ty | Realtek |
| PSU | Corsair CZ550M | Seasonic SSR-650FX | 800 watt 80+ Gold |
| Case | Corsair 110Q | Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02 | Rosewill Zircon T |
| Cooling | Corsair H60 | Corsair H80i | Generic Water Cooler |
| OS | Win10 Pro | Win10 Pro | Win10 Pro |
 |
 |
 |
My Laptop
Full specs and stuff here: https://www.tweakhound.com/2015/05/04/my-new-used-laptop/
Alienware 15
OS: Win10
Intel Core i7-4710HQ
16GB Crucial Ballistix RAM
Samsung SSD 850 EVO M.2 250GB (OS)
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 1TB (data)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
Media 2
Win 7 hooked to TV
Computer: DELL Inspiron 530 (well, it was at one time!)
CPU: Intel Q9450
Motherboard: DELL 0FM586
Chipset: Intel G33 (Bearlake-G) + ICH9R
Memory: 4096 MBytes @ 394 MHz, 6.0-6-6-18
– 1024 MB PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM – ProMos/MOSEL V916765K24QCFW-G6
– 1024 MB PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM – ProMos/MOSEL V916765K24QCFW-G6
– 1024 MB PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM – ProMos/MOSEL V916765K24QCFW-G6
– 1024 MB PC6400 DDR2-SDRAM – ProMos/MOSEL V916765K24QCFW-G6
Graphics: Sapphire RADEON HD 5670
ATI RADEON HD 5670/5690/5730 (REDWOOD XT MVD), 1024 MB GDDR5 SDRAM
Drive: M4-CT128M4SSD2, 125.0 GB, Serial ATA 6Gb/s
Drive: ST31000333AS, 976.8 GB, Serial ATA 3Gb/s
Drive: TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H653F, DVD+R DL
Sound: Intel 82801IB ICH9 – High Definition Audio [A2]
Sound: ATI Redwood/Madison/Capilano – High Definition Audio Controller
Network: RealTek Semiconductor RTL8169 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (x64)
Old Alienware Case
Case (retired): A 1950’s TV !!!
Case: 1940’s Radio!!!
ASUS CUSL2-C Black Pearl built into a file cabinet circa 2001.
My sister painted the side. Around 2001-2002
2004 maybe?
————————————————
-END-
Wednesday Random Stuff…
Flash Ah-Ahh!
Flash has been updated to version 15.0.0.239.
Download:
Flash for IE
Flash for other browsers
Main download page
Windows 8 users check Windows Update.
Of course this means Google Chrome has been updated too…
“The stable channel has been updated to 39.0.2171.71 for Windows, Mac and Linux. This release contains an update for Adobe Flash as well as a number of other fixes. ”
Download or update from within the program.
U-G-L-Y You Ain’t Got No Alibi
CCleaner v5 is out. New interface and optimizations.
Download
Version History
***Pay attention during install. May attempt to install unwanted programs.
I wish you all a safe and pleasant Thanksgiving,
Eric
Random Weekend Stuff…
Software
BleachBit 1.6
VirtualBox 4.3.20
Detekt
Several privacy outfits have banded together to release Detekt.
“Detekt is a free tool that scans your Windows computer for traces of FinFisher and Hacking Team RCS, commercial surveillance spyware that has been identified to be also used to target and monitor human rights defenders and journalists around the world.”
It does not work on Windows 8.1 64-bit.
Reader Emails
Q – Does the 8.1 workaround work for systems that came with 8.1 preinstalled? I used ProduKey to find my product key, but when I enter it into the Windows 8 Setup it does not work. Any thoughts? Thanks.
A – Why would you need a workaround for a 8.1 key?
If you don’t have an 8.1 ISO you can make one: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media
Generic keys are here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj612867.aspx
You may also want to check out: http://forums.mydigitallife.info/forums/42-Windows-8 😉
– – – – –
Q – I loved your article and I enjoy Open Suse 13.2,, but one thing really irks me and that is the software patterns.
I remove all the patterns, yet the system still re-installs unwanted packages everytime i install software ( I even select packages selected by user), yet still I am unable to slim my installation. For me this is the biggest problem that Open Suse has and theefore stops newbies from using it.
Any ideas?
A – That ticked me off too. This behavior did not happen in previous versions of openSUSE. When I mentioned it in the forums they acted like I’ve got a screw loose.
To fix it: YaST > Software Management > Options > check Ignore Recommended Packages for Already Installed Packages.