Watch this!

[Cheb]

Suggest thread for general "watch this" moments.


1. Win 7 doesn't have airplane mode, so this clever Cheb is going to unscrew his favorite laptop's wireless module, wrap it in food film so that it doesn't short anything and stuff it back in the hull. All without detaching the antenna coaxials.

See me posting again in a few minutes after I boot it successfully!

[Cheb]

...wow, only 7.7 Wt at 0% CPU load!
I guess little this BT/WiFi shit being so hot even when switched the %$#$$ OFF in Device manager was telling. The bugger was drawing power anyway!

...I hope I haven't fouled up the air flow to the chips providing power to the CPU...

Will restore wireless functionality at Cancun.
Note to self: don't forget to stick that screwdriver in the luggage!

[Spica75]

See me posting again in a few minutes after I boot it successfully!

Well, at least you didn't make it go *BOOM* or something.

The bugger was drawing power anyway!

It's like with Standby mode for TVs and stuff like that, 3-15W is very normal.

Will restore wireless functionality at Cancun.

Oh, nice place.

Note to self: don't forget to stick that screwdriver in the luggage!

[KonokoHasano]

Wow, still using Windows 7?

[CRBWildcat]

"I have him beat. My laptop at work runs XP. "

[Neko-]

I saw the thread title, and was like "Hold My Beer, And Watch This"

[Spica75]

I saw the thread title, and was like "Hold My Beer, And Watch This"

Oh gods, the stupidity just flows like a never ending tsunami...

[Spica75]

Wow, still using Windows 7?

Who isn't?

WX is basically spyware and adware disguised as an OS. Hopefully there will enough 3rd party fixes out by the time i have to use it, that i can keep it from any MS shenanigans. Because that's the real disgusting part of WX, you, the user, does NOT have control over the computer if you run it. If, at any time, MS wants to start forcing you to watch commercials every 5 minutes, they can just activate the builtin adsystem with that setting, and you CANNOT stop it, nor can you avoid it, because they can set it to be "on top" and cover everything else if they want to.

And the level of integrated spyware is probably enough to give NSA wet dreams for the next decade.

"I have him beat. My laptop at work runs XP. "

My old system, standing almost next to this one, also runs XP.
An E8400 from 2008, with 6GB RAM, and since XP can't deal with more than 3.5GB(not because of technical limitations, but solely because MS refused to integrate the handful of extra files needed to expand the limit to 16 or even 64GB, the files they had to develop for the XP-64 anyway), it runs a 2GB RAMDisk where i put the windows pagefile.

This W7 system is from 2015, had to get a W7 copy a year earlier though to not be forced to used the stupidity that is W8.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

WX is basically spyware and adware disguised as an OS. Hopefully there will enough 3rd party fixes out by the time i have to use it, that i can keep it from any MS shenanigans. Because that's the real disgusting part of WX, you, the user, does NOT have control over the computer if you run it. If, at any time, MS wants to start forcing you to watch commercials every 5 minutes, they can just activate the builtin adsystem with that setting, and you CANNOT stop it, nor can you avoid it, because they can set it to be "on top" and cover everything else if they want to.

Amen. I'll stick with Win7, thank you, and if they force me out of it, I'll head on over to Linux. Bought a Raspberry Pi 4 to keep me in practice with Linux. Nice little machine, though I doubt I'll do any video editing on it.

[Neko-]

I still have a CD with Windows 3.11 on it... Sure, I have nothing that actually runs Windows 3.11 at the moment, but I could.

I did try installing my copy of Windows 1.01 once on a 486 computer... Suffice to say that was more than the software could handle... It would just hang itself. Probably the PC was too fast and the software couldn't cope

[CRBWildcat]

My old system, standing almost next to this one, also runs XP.
An E8400 from 2008, with 6GB RAM, and since XP can't deal with more than 3.5GB(not because of technical limitations, but solely because MS refused to integrate the handful of extra files needed to expand the limit to 16 or even 64GB, the files they had to develop for the XP-64 anyway), it runs a 2GB RAMDisk where i put the windows pagefile.

"I want to say my laptop's also from 2008, but I honestly don't know. All I know about its age was that it was refurbished when I got it at an auction in '09. It still does what I want it to do, and that's fine with me."

I still have a CD with Windows 3.11 on it... Sure, I have nothing that actually runs Windows 3.11 at the moment, but I could.

I did try installing my copy of Windows 1.01 once on a 486 computer... Suffice to say that was more than the software could handle... It would just hang itself. Probably the PC was too fast and the software couldn't cope

"I used Windows 3.1 for a solid decade. If it weren't for personal stupidity and not knowing that it needed its fan (and possibly its power supply) replaced, I'd probably still be using it, though in my defense I knew next to nothing about computer hardware in general. I was able to save the hard drive, so I was eventually able to save everything that was on it, but I have to use DOSBox to get at the bulk of it."

[Spica75]

"I want to say my laptop's also from 2008, but I honestly don't know. All I know about its age was that it was refurbished when I got it at an auction in '09. It still does what I want it to do, and that's fine with me."

That's what is important.

I still have a CD with Windows 3.11 on it... Sure, I have nothing that actually runs Windows 3.11 at the moment, but I could.

Over the years i have found that sooner or later, you ALWAYS need some of the "old" stuff. And so, while it would take me a few minutes to connect my previous WinXP system, it would only take slightly longer to hook up my preceeding W98 or W2k systems, though to get at my W95 system, i had to disassemble it at one point, so it would take an hour or two after i dig it out of the closet, while either of my DOS 3.30 286s should run the moment i hook them up(after remembering where i buried them, hehe).

Right now, it's probably the longest between times i've had to start up one of my old systems, over 3 years, but that's as much thanks to stuff like DosBox and other similar programs making it easier to get around as anything else.

Amen. I'll stick with Win7, thank you, and if they force me out of it, I'll head on over to Linux. Bought a Raspberry Pi 4 to keep me in practice with Linux. Nice little machine, though I doubt I'll do any video editing on it.

Aye, i've had similar thoughts myself, but problem is that some of my most used stuff are very finicky with Linux, if not for that and the fact that i've never got around to really use it for myself, so my experience with it is mostly just helping people out despite having zero knowledge about it (just being able to read the instructions properly and some basic logic), i would probably be looking at a complete switch along with my next full system purchase.

And those Raspberries, it is quite frankly quite horrible to see how well they can run so much, yeah, video editing they will definitely not do well, but it feels rather painful when you look at one browsing internet pages FASTER than a high end desktop system. Just because they DONT run windows.

And WX, *shudder*, just the forced "updates" is a horrorshow all by itself. It's just last week someone on a techforum wailed about how a recent update killed the soundcards on all the over 100 systems he was responsible for. For the 3rd time in 6 months. Completely weird stuff, connect something with a functional sound out, via network to them, and it worked fine to play media files on them, but locally, the soundcards had completely lost any and all output, they were literally as if they were dead, even checking with test equipment showed absolutely no signal from any output port.

Only thing that worked was to remove the soundcard, physically replace them with a different soundcard(too close in type and it just became as dead when installed as the original), then after rebooting until the new card has sound, remove it and put back the orignal one and randomly reboot several times.
A 20-30+ minutes procedure per system due to the reboots required. For over a hundred, wheee, so happy he was, oh yay a week of time wasted...

[KonokoHasano]

Who isn't?

Me. Computer came with Windows 10, and I could never bother with spending extra money just to go backwards in versions

[Cheb]

2. Forget that one needs a visa to go to Mexico (to be fair to my friends, I changed my mind from Dominicana where you don't need one, and they themselves have Shengen so they forgot about those pesky details).
Find this out at the passport control 30 minutes before flight registration ends.
Call your friends repeatedly to no avail (they are asleep since its 6 in the morning). Despair. Hear them answer and make you an invitation via online service in one click and send the form to you via e-mail.
Now try *printing* that form at 6 in the morning when your laptop has no wireless functionality and your, ahem, cellular telephone would make dinosaurs nostalgic.
After frantic running back and forth like a headless chicken through security checkpoint to a mobile service office that turns to be closed, having your laptop passed through X-ray for the second time, hear your friends call and suggest you seek the airline official. Whew. They talk on your phone, he goes away. The clock is ticking. He returns with that form, you pass security, run like crazy... and finally make it to the gate when embarkment is already in progress.

After the fun, ass-numbing 13-hour ride and a hour and a half in a waiting line at immigration control... They find your invitation highly suspicious and you spend one more hour waiting and filling questionnaires that no, you are not suspicious at all and don't have a criminal record.

You miss your transfer bus but are saved by nice taxi drivers who give you life-sawing water and get you to your hotel for just $70.

P.S. See the photo of a steel pen on a steel cable. Have to show this to bureaucrats back at home, they use plastic spirals and their pens are always missing.

P.P.S. You can kill Windows 10 update by setting ESET Internet Security to paranoidal level of "no app gets connectivity until approved by the user". In fact, I was unable to update Win10 on my gaming rig for a year until I switched the antivirus to "automatic". It was so out of date I failed to install drivers when I bought me a GTX 1060 3Gb.

I plan buying Win 10 Pro this December (intended for my future gaming rig) and testing it on my laptop. Any new version of windows requires lots of taming. XP wasn't any better when it was new.

P.P.P.S I did not forget the screwdriver as you can see seeing my post Very handy for uncapping beer and cola bottles, too.

Also, I almost got scalded in the shower: who could have thought that taps open in opposite directions? Ridiculous! I also had to request repairing the tap at my sink: someone very strong and equally unfamilar with local customs was obviously living in this suite before me, the cold tap stuck immovable.

[Spica75]

Ouch. Let's hope it's smooth sailings from now then at least.

laptop has no wireless functionality and your, ahem, cellular telephone would make dinosaurs nostalgic.