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Well, we'll have to ask the UTC[^] about that 
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[major rant alert]. I use Google Maps a lot - for lots of reasons. Until earlier this week, it always opened to my home location, near Watford, UK. A few days ago, it started opening at a remote location - not even any roads - about 20 miles west of Aberdeen, Scotland. This is running on Chrome, Windows 10. After a lot of searching and googling, it transpires that it used to be possible to set your default location via Google Maps itself, but this is no longer the case.
Instead you can do this via Win10's settings. First you set "allow access to location", then you click "Set Default". Sounds hopeful. Except I get a non-standard, non-draggable, pop-up error that says "You'll need a new app to open this ms-default-location link". First off, I didn't click a "link", I clicked a button. Next, it doesn't tell me which new app I'll need. Further, there's a "Close" button on the dialog, but it's disabled. Clicking it does nothing. The only way to Close the pop-up is to click anywhere on screen other than the Close button.
So it seems that "Set Default" is pretty useless, at least without some "app" that MS doesn't tell me about.
Lots more googling. Seems it needs to use Microsoft's "Maps" app. So this is a Windows 10 setting, accessible and used by 3rd parties, that can only be set via Microsoft's own application. I thought that sort of thing was ruled inadmissible back in the IE vs Netscape wars?? Anyway, I uninstalled the Maps app years ago, shortly after getting this laptop. The default location has worked fine for at least 30 months, and certainly without putting me somewhere in forests of northeast Scotland.
So I google Microsoft Maps app, and I get a page that tells me it's Free, and has a big GET button, which I click. That opens (eventually) the Microsoft store "app" which has the exact same layout as the webpage, same info, and the same "GET" button - which I click. That gives me, eventually, the one word at top-left of the store screen, "Error". No diagnostics, no different options, no help, just "Error". I close MS Store and re-open it. Now instead of a "GET" button and the word "Error", I have "Install" and "You own this app."
I click Install. The "You own this app" is replaced by "Error" and intermittent circling dots (like the ones at Windows startup). Checking in Task Manager, there's no activity on the network, and CPU and disk are effectively idle, so it's not like anything's going to happen if I wait.
Eventually I close and restart the MS Store. Again, click "Install", get "Error", but this time "Install" is replaced with a button that says "See Details". Now it tells me that Windows Update is disabled, but that I can "repair" it by running the Windows Update troubleshooter in Settings. If it's disabled (which is it), why does it need "repair"?? I've been trying to disable Windows Update for years, following every piece of advice I can find. I still get nagged about updates, and I still actually get updates, usually at the time I least need them, and often end up with something no longer working that worked fine before.
I'm guessing that Windows has eventually decided this "version" is "no longer supported" (whatever happened to Win10 being the last version ever...?) and that as part of that lack of "support" it's now shutting down previous functionality (like supplying the default location to programs that ask for it). It's like MS have banished me to the Scottish woods as punishment.
Remind me how many billions of copies of this crap are running worldwide? How many trillions of man-hours wasted by people just trying to do the stuff they used to be able to do... How have these people escaped being locked up and the key thrown away...   
(P.S. In the old days, the default location would have been squirrelled away in some Registry setting. I'm guessing it's not so straightforward as that any more, but if it is, can anyone tell me where??)
modified 4-Apr-21 15:45pm.
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I would pack up and move to the location outside Aberdeen. Go on; MS knows that you really want to... 
Seriously, it appears that your version of MS Windows/MS Maps/Google Maps/... is seriously broken. EDIT: It is quite possible that your (out of support?) version of Win10 cannot install the current version of Maps. It may be time to bite the bullet, update your system to an in-support version of Win10, and try again.
I use the Pro edition of Win10 on my machines (with updates enabled), not because I need the additional features but because MS drafts Home version users as their QA department. MS's real market is the business market, so they don't usually release changes to the Pro edition before bugs have been ironed out on the Home edition.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
modified 3-Apr-21 23:14pm.
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Windows was still telling me that my version will be out of support "soon". Good point re Pro edition (if that's really the case).
Anyway, I re-enabled and left Update running overnight, and the update now seems complete. Nothing obvious is broken, and I've yet to retry installing Windows Maps. But I did note that one of the updates was actually removing the support for Flash. Now we all know Flash was a security risk, and it's years since I've needed it. But I do have some very old .SWF files that did NOT pose a security risk (I'd created some of them myself) - yet now I can't run them. How can that be right?
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Re the Pro edition, I can confirm that my daughter's computer (running Home edition) gets updates long before I do.
Adobe has now stopped supporting Flash, and therefore MS has decided to remove it. How-To Geek has a page on running Flash in a standalone player How to Play Adobe Flash SWF Files Outside Your Web Browser.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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VMWare with a WinXP SP3 and another one with Win7 SP1.
And a folder in the USB Drive with many, many of the installers I have used in my systems.
Just in case I want / need to recover the old good times for whatever reason.
And you would be surprised by the how many times they get used 
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.
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yep, I have an XPsp3 in VMWare for talking to my scanner. (It's a Brother all-in-one; there are Win10 drivers for printing to it, but can't get any scanning to work. It's a real pain having to fire up VMWare just to scan a document...)
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I can relate to it.
But my old scanner died and I had to buy a new one, so now... I am not needing that VM for this reason anymore.
Still being used though as my in-law likes a picture editing software that was in the Office 200 package. So I installed it and gave it to him.
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.
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It's the onset of a pole shift. Not magnetic, but actually the Earth's crust. You're now in Aberdeen's former location, so prepare for a longer spring than you expected. Your crocuses will not be arriving on time. 
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Yeah, Windows' UI is a mess, isn't it. And their whole app story is poor.
But Chrome. It's slicker and Google-clever, but it's no better in that it has drunk from the same WaaS/UI/UX-confusion Koolaid.
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When I first started out writing software for Windows, I stuck to the MS "visual design guide", which specified how wide a window border should be, the order of buttons when showing OK and Cancel, the sequence of main menu items and so on. Sure, Windows looked a bit bland but I honestly didn't care; at least having learnt Windows, I could use pretty much any application without hunting around for stuff.
That first pop-up - the one with a "Close" button, that was disabled... someone had to actually set that up, then disable it... why???????
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It's probably your ISP's fault.
No, honest!
Have a look here: Using IP based Geolocation - and why it's pretty much useless.[^]
My location has come back in Germany before now!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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yeah, I know about ISP location... it thought I was in Oldham for years. (I'm not, never have been). But for quite a long while at least Google Maps started up in the right place...
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I'm just guessing, but if it looks at your IP and decides you are miles from "home" then it tries to be helpful and starts off near where it thinks you are.
If you are relatively local then it assumes you are at home and starts there?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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What? you were in the near and didn't say anything?
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.
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Only spiritually.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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OriginalGriff wrote: Only spiritually.
I thought that Nagy is the one who is moved by spirits.
If "Astral Travel" is the name for when one's perception moves elsewhere while the body remains at home, what would you call it when your perception remains at home, but others think you are elsewhere?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Nope... Nagy is moved by Gin 
Just in case: spirituos is a name for high alcoholic drinks over here
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.
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In the highly unlikely case anyone's interested...
I eventually ran a Windows Update. (Wasn't easy but that's another rant).
Still couldn't reinstall Windows Maps. Eventually I found the (hidden) folder where Windows installs its Apps. Each app has one or more folders (Maps had about 8) and all are "owned" by SYSTEM with just read/execute permissions for users. So had to take ownership of each folder in turn, then set explicit "full control" permissions to me, then delete (most) of the files in those folders. Some had corrupted permissions and needed further overrides to get permission to delete. After I'd deleted just over half the files, I went to MS Store and then to Downloads and Updates. It now showed updates available for Windows Maps, so I clicked "download" for Maps and this time I got an actual "downloading" message and progress bar. After that I did an Install and got a success message. Launching maps initially gave me a blank screen; after waiting a while I closed it and re-opened, this time Maps actually opened and showed me a map! I was able to set my default location, and after that closing and re-opening correctly took me to my default location on startup.
So far so good...
But on starting Google Maps, it still took me to Aberdeen...  Have cleared all google.co.uk cookies, logged out and logged back in, turned off access to actual location (so it should drop back to my default location), closed and restarted Chrome etc... but all to no avail.
I suspect I've just realised the reason. A while ago the plastic lid of my laptop started cracking. I purchased a replacement lid, and after a lot of fiddling about, managed to change the lid. This involved refitting the connection of the wifi antenna, which runs around the circumference of the screen. Unfortunately the screw holding the the antenna wires to the motherboard refused to undo, so I had no alternative but to snip the wire (with a few inches spare) and join the old and new wires. The old cable has a plastic inner sheath with a VERY fine inner conductor, and attempts to twist the old and new appeared OK but ultimately have been unsuccessful. I've re-trimmed it, tried soldering etc but whatever I do I now have a VERY weak Wifi signal; I'm assuming the wire connection is poor. As a result, I can only pick up a single wifi router, and no longer see signals from all my neighbours. My guess is that google is expecting to see a cluster of wifi SSIDs to triangulate on. Instead it's seeing a single SSID, and I'm assuming there's a shack in the remote forest west of Aberdeen that has this same SSID and no others around it... so Google thinks I'm in that shack! In the absence of any device with GPS that can see my SSID, and only mine, I can't see a way to let the Google database know that I too have just that SSID in range, and where I am. In short, I'm doomed and google thinks I'm a Scottish hermit.
It's all Dell's fault, with a badly-designed hinge/lid combination that causes it to fail after less than three years.
modified 4-Apr-21 16:25pm.
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Possible solution - rename my router's SSID to something unique. Google will then have NO idea where I am and will have to rely instead on the "default location" which I've now successfully set.
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Or get yourself a cheap WiFi USB thingy and use that - and get the benefit of better WiFi at the same time.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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My wireless AP died a month ago and I've got a new one - vastly faster and much better signal throughout the house. Although my laptop now has a very very weak signal, the quality seems unaffected, as does the speed; so long as I'm in the living room with the AP. Fortunately my office (which I very rarely use these days) has a wired connection. When I have time I'll have another go at stripping the wire in the laptop... trouble is, each attempt uses up another centimetre and it's only about 5cm now; and each attempt weakens the signal! 
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Quote: Who’s that in the mirror? While many people haven’t seen their friends during the coronavirus pandemic, some believe they haven’t even seen themselves recently. Two in five Americans say that they’ve passed a mirror and not recognized their reflection at least once during COVID-19.
A national survey of 2,000 American consumers examines the evolution of respondents’ relationships with their bodies since the pandemic started last year. Over half the poll (51%) believe the pandemic has negatively affected how they feel about their body. Another 42 percent confessed to not feeling “at home” in their bodies anymore. About one in two people (49%) say they don’t have the same level of confidence as they did prior to COVID-19.
[^] For people like me, who stopped looking in mirrors years ago, this is hard to understand: I mean who actually wants "their" body to take time off from breathing, oxygenating blood, digesting food, etc., to make their tiny bubble of illusory self feel like a safe little snowflake ?
I can tell you that for those of us who were 20-somethings in the 1960's in California ... out-of-body experiences were ... uhhhh ... cultivated.
It delights me that in the Thai language the word for mirror, gajok, rhymes with the word for liar, gohok.
Want to be "at home" in a 77.5 year old body that's falling apart ... own (or possess power-of-attorney over) a smoke/alcohol/drug free athletic body under 40 years old ... I have a hell of a deal for you. Private hospital, top surgeons, fabulous Thai food.
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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Bill ... if you remember the 60's, you weren't there ...
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I got pictures, man, I got poetry, man 
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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