OT: Technology and Geek Stuff Thread

[Panoptes]

This PC is where I'm building my next business, so it's 200 well spent.

All you had to say was it was for business and I would have been on board.

Tax break on purchase

Call me not geeky enough but I use chained stand alone back up drives to protect against lost data.

[Tony G]

Call me not geeky enough but I use chained stand alone back up drives to protect against lost data.

SSDs are not large enough to use as data storage. They do make great OS drives. It's a pain to have to recreate a drive even if you have all the software at hand instead of having to download it

[-Deborah-]

So back when Win8 officially launched, I didn't use the upgrade on my main PC...just used it to update my Ultrabook from the preview to the final version. My Win7 desktop PC had recently become sluggish so I figured I'd finally do the Win8 upgrade on it to put some lead in its pencil...heh.

Anyhow...the upgrade worked but the machine was having a lot of problems. First, the upgrade took about 2 hours (I think it takes a system image during that process so you can revert back to Win7 if need be, which is time-consuming). Secondly, it kept hanging when rebooting.

Decided I had enough and did a fresh install tonight. Oh, it's sooo zippy again. Yay! (Also only took 20 mins).

I had gotten in the habit of storing everything important on my 2nd hard drive, so it wasn't too painful. I just need to reinstall a few programs and I'm all set. Also, the whole Windows Account and SkyDrive combo make it a lot easier than in the past. I freaked out after formatting my hard drive, installing Windows fresh, only to see my wallpaper of my old dog Sonny greeting me when I first got to the Desktop.

As for Win8...blah. I don't use the start screen on my desktop PC. But the performance gains still make it a worthwhile upgrade. With the dual monitor system, I can avoid that screen pretty easily.

[LionsFanInJapan]

Deb, are you using SkyDrive to back-up your computer?

[-Deborah-]

No, just keeping pictures and documents there. That thing was invaluable when I was doing my thesis, as I worked on it from three different systems and didn't have to worry about keeping files in sync.

[LionsFanInJapan]

Ok. I've avoided putting anything up in the "cloud" like that, but maybe it's time to do it.

[-Deborah-]

(I guess it was four systems if you count my Windows Phone, too lol.)

Also whenever I take a photo from that phone, it automatically uploads to SkyDrive. So easy, no more cables!!

Yeah I was hesitant for a long while, too.

[LionsFanInJapan]

Not sure if anyone else is aware of this, but for anyone who's upgraded to Windows 8 you can get Media Center for free for a few more days.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

[bimmer84]

You can also check out Dropbox as opposed to SkyDrive. I haven't done a comparison between the two, I just started with Dropbox. I encrypt anything important with PGP before placing it in the cloud.

[Tony G]

I'm ok with 7. It works fine and I'm not moving on untill there's a clear advantage (or work goes to 8 in which case I'll convert at home to learn it quicker)

[Malto Marko]

Heh, heh.

Just retired my Win98.

Working with XP and understanding it will soon be retired.

I am going to have to upgrade hardware soon and usually that is when the software gets upgraded too.......

I am such a dinosaur.......

[Panoptes]

Heh, heh.

Just retired my Win98.

Working with XP and understanding it will soon be retired.

I am going to have to upgrade hardware soon and usually that is when the software gets upgraded too.......

I am such a dinosaur.......

Closer to single cell amoeba.

[-Deborah-]

Mark, I would update at least to Win7 just for security reasons...

[Malto Marko]

Closer to single cell amoeba.

But an emerging life form!

Mark, I would update at least to Win7 just for security reasons...

Thanks Deb, I will get on it.

[-Deborah-]

I failed to mention in my upgrade post that I picked up Office 2013 for $13 through work's home use dealie.

And I used this opportunity to start my inbox anew. Saved my old stuff *just in case* but it's separate. I think having all that saved email sitting in my inbox was stressing me out! There were over 21,000 saved emails dating back to 2000! lol Who knew, I'm an email hoarder?!