Showing all posts tagged: software
Windows 11 forces data backup to OneDrive, possible workaround
26 June 2024
Maybe it’s time to start a Windows 11 is going just great website, similar to Molly White’s Web3 is Going Just Great. I say this after reading about another instance of heavy-handedness on Microsoft’s part, at Neowin:
Quietly and without any announcement, the company changed Windows 11’s initial setup so that it could turn on the automatic folder backup without asking for it.
Quietly and without any announcement. What a way to treat customers/users. OneDrive is a little like Apple’s iCloud, which stores data (files, photos) according to choices made by the individual. The difference, now, between iCloud and OneDrive, is one is user configurable, the other isn’t.
This is foul. Every time OneDrive tried to open on my old Win 10 install, I promptly closed it down. No doubt Microsoft was watching my every move as it was, but there was no way I’d trust them with copies of my data files.
As a result of this move though, some inadvertent OneDrive users are apparently finding their auto-backed up data exceeds the default five gigabyte OneDrive folder limit. Any excess above five-gigs needs to be paid for. Marvellous.
But there may, possibly, be a workaround.
It involves transferring (cut/copy and paste) all files from the default data folders, e.g. Documents, and moving them to a separate folder on your hard drive. Perhaps call the new folder My Data, and then set up sub-folders inside that for your data, e.g. photos, word documents, etc, etc. This is what I’ve been doing all along, I’ve never kept anything in those default folders. I even set up my own separate downloads folder, and configured all downloads to save there.
Trying this might keep data and files out of OneDrive’s reach. For now, anyway.
Despite using Dropbox for a lot of the files I use daily, I also keep backups of everything on thumb drives (which are stowed securely elsewhere). It was a bit of work to set up, but is quick and easy to use now. Hopefully my data storage system also helps keeps my data and files a little more secure.
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security, software, technology, trends
Easy OS, an experimental Linux distro, by Barry Kauler
21 June 2024
I’m in the process of migrating my OS away from Windows. I’ve been running Linux Mint, considered to be a user-friendly, Windows-like distribution of the Linux family of OS’s, on a backup device for almost two weeks now. It’s been a learning curve naturally, but so far, so good.
In the meantime though, the word Linux seems to jump out at me, whenever I’m going through my RSS subscriptions, or other news channels. A distribution (distro), called EasyOS, the creation of software developer Barry Kauler, caught my eye the other day, and might be one to consider, if you’re looking to change your OS, for whatever reason.
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What about anti-virus apps? On going #IndieOS with Linux
14 June 2024
As I wrote a few days ago, I’m in the process of trying out Linux operating systems, specifically Linux Mint. With the release of Windows 11, I think Microsoft has (finally) jumped the shark. Others will probably argue that happened long before Win 11 came along. They’re likely right.
I’ve been doing a lot of reading about Mint, and what apps I might need to run the OS as smoothly as possible. Inevitably, the question of anti-virus (AV) software came up, something I posed to my search engine. I was quite surprised to read that anti-virus software isn’t (necessarily) needed on Linux OS’s.
Needless to say, I did a double take when I saw that. Isn’t going without an AV app foolhardy in this day and age? Well, yes in general, but in regards to Linux, possibly. That’s because there are a few factors at play. For one, devices with Linux OS’s are only present in relatively small numbers. As such, they’re not worth the effort for most writers of malicious code.
Targeting Linux wouldn’t cause enough disruption for them apparently. I’d say there though, disruption to even one person’s computer would be devastation in spades. But let’s hold to the hope that writing Linux viruses is, for the most part, a waste of time.
Then there’s the difficulty of running malicious code, on account of the permissions setting structure of Linux. Someone would almost knowingly need to install a virus file for one to take hold. I’ve only been using Mint a few days so far, but each time I install an app, I’ve needed to enter a password.
That might present a huddle when it comes to executing a virus. Another point is just about every Linux app is only available by way of an app store. And only vetted, safe apps, are included in the store. If apps are sourced solely through Linux stores, supposedly a system will remain safe.
I have no doubt that viruses present far less of a threat to Linux computers, but still feel nervous about being without some sort of AV protection, as useless as some Linux users claim it to be. So I’ll see how I go. But it made me wonder. Is the whole AV industry a by-product of the vulnerabilities in one family of operating systems?
Malicious code presents a problem for all platforms, so that’s unlikely to be the case, even if it might be fun to think as much. On the other hand, it seems to me the family of operating systems in question, is the virus itself, in so much as it now seeks to dominate, and control, its users.
While the jury may be out — in my mind at least — as to the question of AV apps for Linux, I’m sure that taking this step into the realm of what I’m calling #IndieOS, is the right one. And why not?
If #IndieWeb represents a move away from an internet under the control of large corporate entities, to one where individuals have more sway, then migrating to Linux is adopting an OS that likewise gives individuals similar control. #IndieOS? Yep, that’ll do me.
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security, software, technology, trends
Hello Linux, farewell to toxic Windows operating systems
11 June 2024
I’ve read a stack of articles recently about Windows 11 (11), the successor operating system (OS) to Windows 10 (10), and am not liking a single thing I’ve seen. Microsoft (MS) will soon begin forcing users to install Windows 11, whether they like it or not.
If that’s not toxic behaviour on Microsoft’s part, what is?
10 has been with us since 2015, and MS will end support for it in October 2025. In the ordinary course of events, long time Windows users have generally migrated to the newest OS, when one becomes available. And usually because the new version is seen as an improvement on the old.
But not always. Windows ME, released in September 2000, as a successor to Windows 98, was a notable exception. And so far, 11 is being received in a similar fashion. An OS featuring adverts? An OS coercing users to adopt certain apps, for instance the Edge browser, instead of one of their choice? These are among reasons I’m steering clear of 11.
To make matter worse, users will need to create a MS account when installing 11. This means providing MS with an email address. To date, I’ve been using a “local account”. In short, that entails choosing a username and a password. Nice and simple, end of story. It might seem like a “so-what” matter, but users should be able to make the choice.
If someone wants to set up a MS account fine, but no one should be forced to. And yes, I’m aware there are advantages to having a MS account, but to my mind that’s beside the point. Apart from 10, an old Hotmail account, and Word and Excel, I use few other MS products. I’m not keen on being “encouraged” to sign up for anything else, which I’m sure would be the case, if I had a MS account. As for storing my data and files on the likes of OneDrive: no thanks.
Another bugbear (and doesn’t MS just love to annoy its user base?) is forced restarts after OS updates. Regular updates are necessary to main the integrity of any OS, but generally there is some flexibility as to when users can elect to reboot/restart their devices, so the updates can take effect.
I do this when I’ve finished working, at a time that suits me. But in typical fashion, what suits users doesn’t suit MS. Some 11 users, who run processes on their devices that take weeks to complete, have complained there is no way to delay a system restart after OS updates have been installed. The result is lost work, when auto-restart commences.
Previously, it was possible to delay these auto update restarts, but not anymore. No doubt MS will defend this behaviour by claiming “most people” don’t run processes lasting weeks. It makes you wonder what MS thinks of its users. Do they think everyone is exactly the same? There’s no think different at MS?
But enough complaining. This coming from a one-time Windows fan*. Maybe it’s me that’s changed. I’ve simply outgrown Windows operating systems. And why would I continue using Windows instead of something like Linux? Am I not, after all, #IndieWeb/#SmallWeb? How could wanting to use an OS like Windows even be in my DNA? It’s high time I became #IndieOS.
A few days ago, I installed Linux Mint on my backup laptop. When I buy a new device, I keep the previous machine as a spare. It’s not too old, I bought it about four years ago, but that it handled a new OS installation, and is (so far) running smoothly, is a good start. Linux Mint is one of many Linux OS’s, or distributions, on offer, but is considered to be user-friendly from a newbies point of view, and somewhat mimics the Windows OS experience.
I had been considering making the switch for some time, but the main stumbling block has been finding suitable replacements for some of applications I’ve been using for decades on Windows. Chief among them is Photoshop. While there are Linux-friendly alternatives for most the apps I use on Windows, the Photoshop-like options aren’t quite the same. At the moment I’m looking at installing sort of virtual environment app on the Linux setup to run Abode products.
But it’s been well worth making the move. Linux Mint is not a carbon-copy of Windows 10, but it is relatively similar. If you’re likewise a long time Windows user, I’d suggest installing Linux on an older, spare device first, if that’s possible. That way you can go through the preparation and installation process as a test run, while getting used to a new OS.
The installation process was mostly straightforward, but it’s a rainy afternoon sort of undertaking. It can take time, so best to block off at least a half a day initially. Having a holiday, three-day weekend, open to me, was a definite advantage. There are ample help resources available, with the answers to most questions you might have, only a search engine query away.
If you are making the move from Windows to Linux, all the best. It’s not overly difficult or complicated, just new and different.
*Granted, that was long time ago. I was still using, lol, dial-up networking when I wrote that post.
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Drawing program interfaces from the 1980s and 90s
15 July 2022
Here’s a truly awesome blast from the past… a Twitter thread, by California based data storyteller RJ Andrews, with images of drawing program software used on computers in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.
The image above is the Micrografx Windows Graph interface, which was released in 1987, used to create graphs and charts on computers running the Microsoft Windows 1 operating system, which launched in 1985.
While some people might say the bold fluorescent pink, green, and yellow colours against the black background clash, the more you look at them, the better they begin to look.
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From 1979: word processors will make working from a reality
25 June 2022
Luke Casey, reporting for the BBC, discusses the impact of word processors on the workplace, and how they stand to make working from home possible. In 1979.
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Microsoft ends support for Internet Explorer here comes Edge
15 June 2022
There’s good news and there’s bad news.
Microsoft is finally withdrawing support for its aging Internet Explorer (IE) web browser. The software has not been fully updated since the release of IE 11 in 2013, making it the bane of web developers’ lives, who are forced to implement workarounds in their mark-up to make websites at least partially functional in the old browser. Older software may also contain vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit, possibly giving them access to a user’s computer.
But today only sees the end of support for IE on “certain versions of Windows 10”, so Internet Explorer will be with us for some time yet. On to the bad news. Now that IE is no longer being maintained, Microsoft is encouraging users to switch to its newer browser, Edge. But “encouraging” isn’t quite the right word.
Some users of Microsoft’s latest operating system (OS), Windows 11, are reporting efforts by the OS to “discourage” the installation of rival bowsers. For instance some users trying to install Chrome, the Google browser, are seeing a pop-up message advising them “there’s no need to download a new web browser.”
If Edge is as good as its manufacturer claims it to be, what’s with the heavy handed tactics? Won’t consumers — once they’ve “seen the light” — switch to Edge of their own accord? Whether the ploy will be effective remains to be seen. Data from Statcounter reveals about four percent of web users had installed Edge so far this year, putting it slightly ahead of Mozilla Firefox, but still way behind Safari, the Apple browser, and Chrome.
Windows 11 was launched in October 2021, but it is unclear how many users have so far migrated from Windows 10 to 11. Given well over a billion people have either the Windows 10 or 11 OS installed on their computers, with the majority likely still using 10, the “uptake” of Edge can only increase as the rollout of Windows 11 continues.
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