Debian’s children
Windows 10 Being Installed By Force
[content re-written for information purposes: original article reference at the end]
Microsoft have confirmed to The Register on Sept. 10 that the necessary files for the upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 systems to Windows 10 have been pushed via Windows Update .. “For those who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help customers prepare their devices for Windows 10 by downloading the files necessary for future installation” [Microsoft spokesperson] Continue reading “Windows 10 Being Installed By Force”
A Simple Way To Eliminate Superfish from Lenovo
It takes maybe less than 30 minutesInstall Linux 😉
Seriously, would you trust your machine without completely wiping the hard disk and reinstalling (something) anyway? And if there’s any residual Windows infection on the hardware you need an operating system immune to Windows nasties.
Personally, I would consider replacing the hard disk as well
Linux Mint 17 mate-panel memory leak [fixed]
Maybe its not actually a memory leak, but I was suffering with mate-panel increasing from a boot level of around 14-15MB expanding substantially to the order of 1.5GB: I could not find any real, or apparently relevant, help online.
So explore, that’s what Linux users do isn’t it?
I dont reboot so often, but paid special attention to mate-panel when I did. My panel, one of several, is normally hidden with a semi-transparent background of plain colour, nothing too innocuous.
Every time I swept my mouse over the panel to make it visible, on hiding the memory use increased (about) 2MB – changing the background to none (‘theme’), the memory increase fell to almost nothing.
There was still a small increase, so noticing I had left the test setup with transparency on (even though background colour was none), a quick reset and back to fully opaque – now I cannot see any significant memory increase.
Having several panels running makes it difficult to see exactly what is causing the increases, but it was clear in the beginning, every time the panel appeared, memory increased 2MB.
The issue appears to be in the having transparency to any but ‘fully opaque’ (whether you are using that setting or not?)
BTW, I had a similar memory problem with wnck-applet (dont have the details to hand) that was resolved by changing the style somehow ..
I’ll continue to monitor the situation and update if necessary, but as of now its considered fixed for me. Aren’t you glad I didn’t have to mention the terminal even once?
The panel info:
- not 100% width
- contains notifications and several shortcuts (and drawers)
How To Manage with Windows XP after the April retirement
lets make it clear:
Windows XP WILL CONTINUE TO WORK after April 2014
There are machines running Windows 2000 still running fine out there. That’s 14 years old, and I could even mention Windows NT4 which is 20 years old! Well maintained quality hardware just keeps on giving!
So what’s this about ‘retiring’ or ‘expiring’?
Microsoft will stop issuing updates for the operating system (XP) and old versions of the web browser (IE, Internet Explorer, for which IE8 was the last to run on XP).
What Should I Worry About?
Not much ..
What Should I Do?
OK, some things are important.
Anti-Virus software (AV)
The main vendors, including the free versions, are saying they will continue to support XP with new versions and regular updates. Why shouldn’t they? Now you’re a captive market.
You may consider upgrading to a product with a built in firewall, though with most peoples’ setup of broadband, this is not critical. Note that heavyweight AV products with lots of features will demand more computer power. This is impractical on machines that were economy retail base units: these products may force you to upgrade your hardware to make your machine usable again.
Web Browsers
Say goodbye to Internet Explorer (aka IE, the friendly blue e icon) only Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome from now on. Both of which, again, have announced they will continue to support XP. IE has been dead in the water for XP users for several years already and has always been a security hazard.
It is important you keep, at least reasonably, up to date with your browser – not because of features but because of the security tools that are built in.
There is the possibility for some to upgrade to Windows 7 ..
Last suggestion – switch to Linux
Its really not as difficult as some would like to make out. Many will work better on older hardware than XP now. Find your local Linux group (most cities have one) or The Restart Project (who may refer you to me ..)
We are hoping to run some classes soon on Linux – watch this space.
still happy with my conversion to Linux – burnt my first data CDs OK
Brasero (on Mint) handled an iso no problems (so far), quite a relief.
My research however suggests it isn’t so good at burning multiple files all together onto a CD. XFburn or K3b is the oft recommended solution. Be aware that on the Ubuntu family running Gnome desktop you will need lots of binaries and about 200MB of disk space for K3b (its a KDE app).
I’ve been burning data disks on and off for nearly 15 years, and the process always freaks me out – I was probably ‘burned’ in the early days when 1 or 2 out of 3 disk burns would fail. My conscious mind knows the disk quality is better, the drives are more reliable, the computers massively more spec’d out and have substantial buffers available, but even so, you know ..
And people are still complaining some software fails more than it burns, so I’ll keep the fingers crossed and the 4-leaf clover handy.
#Mobile news: #Android #Samsung #Linux #4G #LTE #EE
Google blocks Adblock Plus during Android security update
AdBlock Plus no longer works out of the box on non-rooted devices running Android 4.1.2 or 4.2.2, instead having a warning box saying they must manually configure a proxy server .. for the app to work, it must also run a little (proxy)server to filter out the ads before they are shown in the browser.
But Google thinks there is a significant security risk in allowing software to automatically redirect web connections in this manner – perhaps fair enough. Adblock have published an 8-step process for the S3 to get around the problem. However Google has also been removing the app from the market to prevent downloads ..
Alternatively install Firefox browser .. there’s something comforting about seeing that icon again on the home screen. At first glance, the memory footprint is small and the FF team say it now has a minimum requirement of only a 600MHz processor (down from 800). So older phones could benefit: that works for me.
Some comments:
.. Google will not change this and it’s unlikely they’ll even read the complaints. It’s the Google way, they don’t do feedback from anything smaller than governments. And they don’t pay much attention to governments
Do no evil [unless we loose money because people don’t like adverts and try to block them]
My computing device. I get to decide what it downloads and displays. Don’t want to serve me content? Go ahead and block me, I’m cool with that. Just please don’t try to tell ME what to do with MY device
– ed.: it is sometimes said its THEIR OS, market, etc. but whether they supply it free to the phone co.s isn’t our concern
New Firefox 19.0 gets JAVASCRIPT PDF viewer
helping to avoid the security issues that have recently affected Abobe and Foxit products (until someone hacks FF too)
Linux for Mobiles and Tablets
Ubuntu will be making a developer preview on Feb 21st. but it wont be a retail product until at least April 2014. Initially aimed at Nexus devices as they ‘are hackable’.
And Samsung are set to merge Tizen OS and Bada? into a new mobile OS to compete with Android.
EE struggling with take up of 4G
Tariffs certainly aren’t cheap, eg. £36/ mo with only 500MB data (which at full speed would be used up in a few minutes). Three conversely (lov’m-or-hate’m) aren’t planning on charging extra when they roll out the service – you do of course, in both cases, need a compatible phone (not helpful if you’ve only just signed up to a 24m contract, d’oh)
Have to ask, are the current problems with the 3G service down to signal or protocol congestion, or simply that the masts cant get enough bandwidth to distribute to all the connected phones?
– from what we’ve heard, 3G works a dream, and at full speed, when you get away from urban areas.
Is this just marketing hype?
Will 4G slow down too when more people adopt it?
We will start to see in the summer, when the 4G network is opened up to rival telcos.