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El Guru

Current Windows 11 BSoD: via Forbes

The new (and not improved) version will be rolled out in a Windows 11 update sometime this Summer. The new (harsh) black screen with white text looks similar to the black screen during Windows updates. While it will list the stop code and faulty system driver, there will not be a QR code. This new screen is suppose to make it easier on Windows IT Admins. Since “IT admins shouldn’t need to pull crash dumps off PCs and analyze them with tools like WinDbg just to find out what could be causing issues.”

The new BSOD in Windows 11. Image: Microsoft

According to Microsoft, the new BSOD is all about ‘clarity’:

“This is really an attempt on clarity and providing better information and allowing us and customers to really get to what the core of the issue is so we can fix it faster,” says David Weston, vice president of enterprise and OS security at Microsoft, in an interview with The Verge. “Part of it just cleaner information on what exactly went wrong, where it’s Windows versus a component.”

Microsoft has used a Blue Screen for the last 40-years and made significant improvements (such as the lighter shade and more user friendly information plus adding a QR code), but this seems like a major step backwards. The white text on black background throw me back to the dark ages of PC’s, the pre-Windows days of MS-DOS. Most people in their early 20’s or younger really won’t have any understanding of DOS. Windows XP released in August 2001 was the first version of Windows where the machine booted  directly into Windows to your desktop. In the Windows 95/98 days (and even further back) when the machine was finished booting you needed to either type ‘win’ at the C:\> prompt or add ‘win’ as the final line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Then you need to wait another few minutes for Windows to load and finally start  up.

via The Verge

1. Rename it to “!ElGuruTexh.txt”; the rename will take since something else beside the case has changed in the file name.
2. Now, I will need to go back and rename again, removing the ‘!’ from the name to get my desired ElGuruTexh.txt file name.

This is not an issue isolated to Windows 11 (or even Windows 10 for that matter) but older versions of Windows with a drive setup with NTFS (New Technology File System) which is case-insensitive. A file system governs file organization and access. Microsoft has used for Windows (and MS DOS)  FAT and NTSF; Linux uses EXT and Mac use APFS. So since NTFS is case-insensitive Windows ignores the cases within the file name. Windows ‘thinks’ you did not change the file name if all you are doing is changing the case.

NTFS has been used since Windows XP (October 2001) and Windows 2000 a variant of Windows NT (now branded as Windows Sever) in December 1999.  Since Windows XP (and 2000) used NTFS these were the first versions of Windows that removed the old “8.3” file name rule/restriction that us ‘old techies’ were used to from the MS DOS, Windows 3.0/3.1 and even Windows 95/98 series days.  FAT (File Allocation Table) 16 (Windows 3.0/3.1) or 32 (released in 1996 and being supported on 1996 and later releases of Windows 95) was the file system used and a file could not have more than 8 characters in the ‘name’ (the portion to the left of the ‘.’) with a 3 character extension (to the right of the ‘.’) and filenames would ALWAYS be uppercase. Oh the horrors of being limited to 8 charters in your file name!

via Microsoft Community

Word comes now that Microsoft is at it again, this time nagging Windows 10 user to upgrade to Windows 11 with a full screen ad if they have installed an optional January 2014 update. As reported via PC World:

Microsoft is going all out here. You’re not presented with a small pop-up; the advert for Windows 11 upgrade covers the entire screen and, on top of that, there are several sliders to click through. According to Windows Latest, there are a total of four slides that users need to click through if they want to stay on Windows 10 (a situation we’ve witnessed ourselves). On the slides, Microsoft tries to make the advantages of Windows 11 palatable without pointing out the possible problems of an upgrade, for example due to incompatible hardware.

Just as they did back in December 2016 with the Get Windows 10 nag/ad screen, Microsoft is trying to deceive people into thinking they don’t have a choice to NOT install Windows 11:

There are two buttons at the bottom right of the slider: One to decline the upgrade and one highlighted in color to download Windows 11 in the background.

FWIW I have two machines running Windows 10, an HP Omen gaming desktop from early 2020 and a Lenovo Yoga laptop I bought in March 2017. I’ve been ‘asked’ to install Windows 11 on the Omen, but don’t want to. That is my everyday machine which I use for everything from reading news feeds, YouTube and gaming. I’d be willing to install Windows 11 on the Yoga since I just use that laptop to watch YouTube Videos in the evenings and don’t care if I had to do a factory reset if something went very bad. However, the processor is a generation too old and therefore is not ‘compatible’ to run Windows 11. Last summer I did buy a new Windows 11 laptop, but had nothing but issues with the machine. Not sure if it was the hardware (might have been a reason why Best Buy had it so steeply marked down) or Windows 11. However, after returning that machine I ended up getting a new power adapter and replacing the battery in the Lenovo laptop. Coming up to seven years now and have no plans on replacing that machine until it stops working.

A couple hours into my morning I am doing my usual routine, going through my feeds, watching/listening to YouTube videos, etc. when suddenly Windows froze then crashed. I was able to CTRL+ALT+DELETE my way out of that and fortunately wasn’t working on anything at the time. Thought it was odd having had this HP Omen PC for 3+ years now and never had issues. May be it is that USB hub I bought on Amazon. No can’t be, been using the hub for two-weeks now without issues. Whenever I leave my PC for extended periods of time (meals, running errands, etc.) I put the computer to sleep. I do ‘shut down’ at bedtime and about once a week (or when updates require) I’ll preform a restart then shutdown. This afternoon I put the computer to sleep, did some yoga, took a shower and then ate dinner. After dinner I went to wake up my computer and it would not fully wake up. All the lights were on, but I had no display and my keyboard and mouse would not work. Even pressing the power button which is set to ‘sleep’ wouldn’t wake up the PC. At this point I figured I’d would have to do a hard restart (holding the button for 5-seconds).  Again, nothing was being worked on that was unsaved so no risk of loosing anything. I held the power button in for 5-seconds and then the PC restarted, but then took me back to my session as it was prior to putting the computer to sleep (almost as if it was hibernating).

At this point, I knew nothing else had changed on this PC and it was not the USB hub from two-weeks ago as that would have given me issues from day 1 (if there were any). So I knew it has to be Thunderbird 115 aka Supernova causing my issues. Did a Google Search and ended up in the r/Thunderbird subreddit. First was a thread complaining about the new UI and deep in the comments there was something from a Thunderbird Dev about using Calendar with repeating events causing Supernova to freeze. After a little more searching I found a thread on how to correctly downgrade Supernova (Thunderbird 115 back to 102) as well as how to ‘administratively disable’ it from trying to update itself to Supernova (115) again. No, you can not simply delete Supernova and reinstall the prior version (102.15) on top of it.

via Reddit /r/Thunderbird: How to downgrade from Thunderbird 115 to 102 (the previous version before “Supernova” redesign)

Notes: 

• If you perform Step 1e (delete or rename the compatibility.ini file in your profile folder) in the directions then you can just launch Thunderbird normally (without the –allow-downgrade switch) in Step 4.
• Directions on how to disable further updates are at the end of the reddit post and if done correctly your About Mozilla Thunderbird screen should be similar to above.

Elon Musk has indicated that X, formerly known as Twitter, is considering charging all users for accessing the platform.

The X owner said erecting a paywall around the business would ward off the bots, or automated accounts, that have become a bugbear for Musk.

That is the lamest excuse I’ve seen. Couldn’t he come up with something better…I don’t know…perhaps to help with their legal fees. Oh wait that one is already being used by Activision-Blizzard Microsoft.  All those in-game cosmetic purchases in World of Warcraft and their other games are (allegedly) to help towards the CEO’s legal defense. While on the subject of World of Warcraft, bots are an issue there too and the $15 USD monthly subscription does not deter them. The bots’ creators make a lot more money before the bots get nuked (and the $15 USD is just a barrier to entry since if the bot does last more than a month, in game gold can be used to cover the monthly subscription fee). A $5 USD month fee hardly seems like a deterrent if the bot creators are making more money from said bot.

Even if they are forced to use a new payment method for each bot, they are likely using compromised payment information. The $5 per month fee is likely going to slip under 80% of the card holder’s radar. Either it is such a small amount they won’t notice the transaction or it is not worth the hassle of canceling the card and updating all their auto-pays. Been there…done that a few years back. Had a 3rd party account get compromised (the merchant blocked the purchase as the IP address were the order  created was in India). Still had to contact the credit card company, shift all my auto-pays to a backup account. If that was not bad enough my ISP tried to process my monthly auto-pay shortly after I had shut off the card. The transaction of course was declined, but they charged me a ‘return payment fee’ (not a late fee as I paid the bill later that day) because of the decline. Now, I could understand if I had initiated a charge-back then a returned payment fee would make sense. I called and asked them to explain how a payment they never obtained could be returned. They couldn’t explain and credit the fee back to me as a ‘one time courtesy’.

Is this another ‘hype’ statement by Musk? If it is, he is running a huge risk of some of the 550 million Twitter/X users not waiting around to find out and canceling their accounts. Well, at least you can read Tweets on Twitter/X again without having to be a registered user.

via The Guardian

Back in the early 2010’s my father bought an HP M1212nf Multi-Function (Laser) Printer. Soon thereafter I bought one for my home office. Fast-forward over 10-years later and I believe both of our printers are still on the original starter toner cartridge. Every time I power mine on, I get a warning light on the control panel that the toner is low. This has been going on for almost four years now. One of these days, I’ll open up the unit remove the toner cartridge give a good shake or two to redistribute the toner evenly.

Turns out, while I do a lot of scanning, I don’t do a heck of a lot printing. There is an occasional form someone emails me that I need to sign then scan and email back. If I had certain HP Inkjet Printers and was in the same with low ink, HP would not allow me to use the scanner (or FAX) functions. Yes, HP requires you to have a minimum amount of ink left in order to scan or send a FAX. HP, try as they may has been trying to get a class action lawsuit pertaining to this cause thrown-out:

On Aug. 10, a federal judge ruled that HP Inc. must face a class-action lawsuit claiming that the company designs its “all-in-one” inkjet printers to disable scanning and faxing functions whenever a single printer ink cartridge runs low. The company had sought — for the second time — to dismiss the lawsuit on technical legal grounds.

“It is well-documented that ink is not required in order to scan or to fax a document, and it is certainly possible to manufacture an all-in-one printer that scans or faxes when the device is out of ink,” the plaintiffs wrote in their complaint. “Indeed, HP designs its all-in-one printer products so they will not work without ink. Yet HP does not disclose this fact to consumers.”

It has been so long, I don’t recall how much I paid for this printer. What I do know is it has more than paid for itself time and time again not having to constantly replenished the dried out ink. It also prints faster and cleaner than an Inkjet would.  Let us not forget how, HP has made news for bricking their Inkjet printers if you don’t use HP Genuine (overpriced) ink cartridges.  In Fall 2022, HP Settle with EU Printer Customers over Dynamic Security Issues (one of the few times I actually agree with a lawsuit brought by the EU).

TL;DR If you are in the market for an all-in-one printer, buy a laser not an Inkjet. The higher upfront cost will be more than made up with the increased performance as well as not having to replace dried out ink constantly. Plus, even if you run low/out of toner you retain the ability to send Faxes and scan.

via AP News

Elon Musk said Sunday that he plans to change the logo of Twitter to an “X” from the famous blue bird, marking what would be the latest big change since he bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year.

In a series of posts on his Twitter account starting just after 12 a.m. ET, Twitter’s owner said that he’s looking to make the change worldwide as soon as Monday.

via AP News

Several hundred organizations (maybe more) were scraping Twitter data extremely aggressively, to the point where it was affecting the real user experience.

What should we do to stop that? I’m open to ideas.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 30, 2023

“Temporary emergency measure,” he claimed in a tweet. “We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users!” Musk subsequently shared more context. “Several hundred organizations (maybe more) were scraping Twitter data extremely aggressively, to the point where it was affecting the real user experience,” he said, replying to a tweet from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney lamenting the “increasingly broken” state of the internet. In a separate tweet, spotted by Mashable, Twitter engineer Aqueel Miqdad said the company would re-enable logged-out access “in the near future.”

Related to this Musk has now introduced a limit as to how many Tweets users can read. No that is not a typo. Apparently users can post as many Tweets as they want, but are going to be restricted based on their account type as to how many they are allowed to read on a daily basis. This too is suppose to be “temporary” to address the scrapping issues which are allegedly degrading Twitter’s performance…hmmm…is that really the cause of the performance issues…not the lack engineers to keep Twitter running when shit breaks?

To address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation, we’ve applied the following temporary limits:

– Verified accounts are limited to reading 6000 posts/day
– Unverified accounts to 600 posts/day
– New unverified accounts to 300/day

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 1, 2023

On a side note I ended up having to create a new Twitter account in order to embed these Tweets into this post. I found the signup process rather annoying with having to select three areas of interest as well as choosing someone to follow. All this to embed as the Jetpack Social no longer supports Twitter. Now, lets see how long until they disable embedding.

via Engadget