Welcome to the Lounge

Nelek25-Feb-20 8:28

Nelek

25-Feb-20 8:28

dandy72 wrote:
His only need for Windows is to reprogram remote car starter modules - he installs them on the side, and every car needs to have a module's firmware flashed for that specific make/model/year/etc, and the software to do that is Windows only...but for his ordinary uses - I'm happy to have him on Linux.

In case of my wife, is for some pic albums software.
In case of my parent-in-law is music notes software.
In case of my mother-in-law... nothing.

For that, I give them a VM for online and another one for offline... problem solved.

I just need to find time and the mood to start with (and stop procastinating, but in this I have MS's help)

M.D.V.

If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

Stefan_Lang24-Feb-20 4:47

Stefan_Lang

24-Feb-20 4:47

My rule of thumb for everything I obtain from the internet is that
1. if they ask me for registration, and I wouldn't want to register otherwise (for whatever reason), find an alternative
2. if they ask me for any data they have no credible reason to ask for, find an alternative
3. if they ask me to read through legalize that takes a degree and more than 5 minutes* to skim over, ... guess what Thumbs Down | :thumbsdown:

*depending on formatting/readability, vocabulary, and use of standard clauses.

GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)

Nelek24-Feb-20 4:52

Nelek

24-Feb-20 4:52

I own MS account since a while, I have logged into it and still not possible... the computer is a local win7.
So no, I am not explicitelly install win10 just to install this software (they don't allow offline installer)

M.D.V.

dandy7225-Feb-20 4:35

25-Feb-20 4:35

Nelek wrote:
So no, I am not explicitelly install win10 just to install this software (they don't allow offline installer)

To me that's a non-starter. No offline installer, no installation.

dandy7225-Feb-20 4:33

25-Feb-20 4:33

Stefan_Lang wrote:
2. if they ask me for any data they have no credible reason to ask for, find an alternative

You must have a very short list of Android apps on your phone/tablet. Smile | :)

(seriously...flashlight apps that want your contacts list, photos, call history...?)

Stefan_Lang27-Feb-20 0:49

Stefan_Lang

27-Feb-20 0:49

dandy72 wrote:
You must have a very short list of Android apps on your phone/tablet

Indeed. I've dumped half of the preinstalled ones and only added a handful of apps that I really need:
- a news app
- a timetable app for commuting
- a music player that just uses tracks in a given folder
- tor browser
- kindle reader
- 3 authenticator apps for two-factor authorizations

That's all. No social media, no games. I have good PCs at home and at work, so why bother with mobile data suckers?

dandy7227-Feb-20 3:27

27-Feb-20 3:27

I don't play games on phones/tablets, so those are out. There's a lot of crap (games, some Facebook client are the worse offenders) that came bundled with some of my tablets but can't remove unless I can root it (someone here has pointed me to some package to do that a few days ago, but I haven't had much of a chance to tinker with it yet).

But these days, even my newest tablet (Android 6), after a factory reset is flaky as hell (very slow, like there's some background process tying up the CPU), apps that stop responding, random reboots. I'd love to say I'm done with Android, but I'm no fan of that fruity company.

lopatir24-Feb-20 4:52

lopatir

24-Feb-20 4:52

long ago created a fake ms account (hotmail at the time) and another fake account on mail.com to verify and link to each other. (also fartbook linked to one of these.)
never added to my email client, web access only - once done logout, clear cache, cookies, exit.

comes in handy for registering/downloading visual studio etc
.... log in, download files, updates, licence, log out
... always from VMs that I only allow internet access to on those such occasions.
... don't even bother looking at the emails or facebook unless they want a "verify" code.

these days I notice for new accounts they want a lot more information, even real info
- apparently impossible to create fartbook account without a phone #, back then an email was enough.

I find it useful to [fake] register for new things before registration gets too tight,
(linked to another junk email for any "verify" messages.) - you never know later on if useful.
I keep the info (site, name, pw) in a plain text file (- not my important ones).

some stop working (some long gone), don't care, once in a blue moon some prove useful.

after many otherwise intelligent sounding suggestions that achieved nothing the nice folks at Technet said the only solution was to low level format my hard disk then reinstall my signature. Sadly, this still didn't fix the issue!

Nelek24-Feb-20 5:07

Nelek

24-Feb-20 5:07

lopatir wrote:
these days I notice for new accounts they want a lot more information, even real info
- apparently impossible to create fartbook account without a phone #, back then an email was enough.

I needed to insert a confirmation code in my old hotmail account I used for this... I was forced to fill in Name and Family Name (which it was not filled until now).

lopatir wrote:
I keep the info (site, name, pw) in a plain text file (- not my important ones).

I started that too, after trying to log to where I bought my gas barbeque because I wanted to buy a couple of things more (6 years later) and having forgotten the log data and not able to "forgot my password" because I wouldn't answer the birthday and another thing they asked back then...

M.D.V.

Stefan_Lang24-Feb-20 5:25

Stefan_Lang

24-Feb-20 5:25

Yep, faking data works pretty well - proving that they don't actually need that data and shouldn't ask for it in the first place.

At the very least they should be honest enough to prominently admit that these data are used to pay for their expenses, and their offer is therefore not actually free. Given that information - if it were given - I could make an informed decision on whether their offer is worth sharing my data.

Instead these companies prefer hiding their true intent under oodles of legalize that, upon close inspection, contain vague hints of the 'possibility' of needing to pass your data to certain third parties under certain unspecified circumstances. Dead | X|

Of course, no guarantee is made as to how these 'third parties' treat your data afterwards. Thumbs Down | :thumbsdown:

As long as they're not honest about that, I don't expect them to be honest on anything else, and will expect the worst. As a result, my (uninformed) decision is to not take the risk.

dandy7225-Feb-20 4:40

25-Feb-20 4:40

I've yet to find a legitimate need to create a Facebook account, even using fake data.

But even if you rely on fake data, there's all sorts of ways your system can still be rather uniquely fingerprinted (which is why Google wants to get rid of cookies; they're no longer useful to them--they have plenty of other means to ID you).

But back to FB - anyone whose only internet presence is through Facebook isn't getting my business.

Just finished my first VR game!

lopatir26-Feb-20 1:00

lopatir

26-Feb-20 1:00

as mentioned I signed up for facebook early just in case it might prove useful.
...little did I know the opposite would be true... I'll have to admit surprise at how bad it became
don't go near it anymore.

yeah somebody's always watching, will never be totally hidden but can at least make it harder (VPN's etc) - mess up / complicate their data.

OriginalGriff24-Feb-20 0:09

OriginalGriff

24-Feb-20 0:09

Got a Oculus Go from Herself for my B'day, and I just played my first VR game: "Cursed Sanctum".

Good lord, but it's poor. 10 minutes, start to end, including all the animations when I died - loads of times - that's not good. And as for the gameplay ... ignore the controller, you just have to look at the "glowing thing" for long enough and it's "Pressed". That's it. sit there while he walks, occasionally look at a glowing thing, probably die. Roll end credits. Uninstall.

As an example of what you can do with a VR helmet, it sucks.

"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

CPallini24-Feb-20 0:16

CPallini

24-Feb-20 0:16

And how looks The Wife, in VR?

phil.o24-Feb-20 0:22

phil.o

24-Feb-20 0:22

I have tested Elven Assassin and quite enjoyed it. Robo Recall as well.

"Five fruits and vegetables a day? What a joke!
Personally, after the third watermelon, I'm full."

glennPattonWork324-Feb-20 0:49

glennPattonWork3

24-Feb-20 0:49

Tried the Westworld game... not too bad...but not as ground breaking as I was expecting. All the stuff I have seen in VR leaves me meh! Hmmm | :|

Mark_Wallace24-Feb-20 2:08

Mark_Wallace

24-Feb-20 2:08

You lasted about as long as I did.

I'd rather have something along the lines of the old ViewMaster slides that had 3D underwater scenes.

Swimming around a reef without having to bother with a wet-suit and an aqualung would be great, but there are no really good ones, yet (that I've found).

I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!