Is it really neccessary to ditch Windows 10 ?.

[Kilmatead]

the "snap crackle pop" (mostly gone on today's vinyls though, and you can wash them) is actually rather charming.

À propos de rien, I was once listening to Al Di Meola's Cielo e Terra album on vinyl during an acid trip and the record (closely followed by the rest of the room, including the windows) slowly turned into leather. Real leather. With texture and smell and everything. True story. God bless the 80's and LSD.

[dunno]

the "snap crackle pop" (mostly gone on today's vinyls though, and you can wash them) is actually rather charming.

[Tuxman]

God bless the 80's and LSD.

The closest I've ever come to LSD was acting as a tripsitter for a friend. It was somewhat amusing, but I think the effects would disturb me rather than excite me. I'm more into cocaine; at least that puts you in a good mood.

[Kilmatead]

but I think the effects would disturb me rather than excite me

Acid is best judged similar to what they say about books, "it's only worth what you bring to it." If you bring Dante, darkness, and the cigarette burns your father gave you, don't be surprised by what might happen. On the other hand, if bring ice-cream, laughter, and a penchant for anthropomorphism, you'll enjoy discussing Dante with fluffy ducks and be none the worse for it.

About the only thing it has in common with cocaine (as I remember) is that it will keep you awake for a rather long time. Not especially functionally awake, but awake.

[Tuxman]

Acid is best judged similar to what they say about books, "it's only worth what you bring to it."

Actually, in my previous post, I wanted to include a comment on how far we'd strayed from the topic of "Windows 11 is rubbish", but now we've somehow ended up back on topic.

[dunno]

I think you're AI

If AI has progressed to the point where it can suffer (yet another!) broken nose after losing a head-butting contest with a horse, then indeed I am an AI

Nah you definitely aren't AI, two broken noses, eletrocuted, and a encounter with a septic tank, no AI would be that persistent in pushing its luck

Tuxman:
I bought a Master Cut album, schlepped it all the way from London to my high altitude very DRY location, With great care and and top notch apparel meticulously cleaned this treasure, placed it on the turntable, the pre amps and main amps had been warming for several hours as serious foreplay, needle gently placed, settled back with a nice single malt, and *SNAP*, huh, WTF ?, gently washed it dried it anti static soft cloth, ensured I was grounded etc. carefully placed the thing on the plater, ensured that all components were grounded, the only thing I didn't have was a de-gausser thingy. settled back again and *POP*, I froze and stared at the Master Cut "after all the TLC you persist" I let it turn, with every snap crackle pop my annoyance increased, the malt had turned sour, by now I was glaring at the "Master Cut", I stopped the turn table, gently removed the needle and bent the record in two until it shattered, one last loud SNAP and perfect silence.

And so my CD journey began, for classical music CD is perfect. Maybe if I was high on Lucy instead of alcohol it would've been a different experience.

Any recommendations for firewall software, is a 3rd party firewall superior to Windows vanilla ?.

[Tuxman]

I stopped the turn table, gently removed the needle and bent the record in two until it shattered, one last loud SNAP and perfect silence.

That is the most inhumane story I have ever read. You, sir, are a monster. Anyone who breaks records also skins kittens, and very cute kittens at that!

Any recommendations for firewall software, is a 3rd party firewall superior to Windows vanilla ?.

Good question. From a computer scientist's perspective, the first thing that stands out to me is the term "firewall software". There's a big difference between a firewall and "firewall software": a firewall separates your network from the rest of the world (like a fire door), whereas "firewall software" runs on the system it's supposed to be protecting, so it only becomes active when the fire has already started. I find that a bit too late and therefore recommend a proper firewall. If need be, connect a mini-PC to your router and install OPNsense or something similar on it.

But Windows generally tends to give people the wrong idea about computer terms. Apparently, there are still people who call the notification area the "tray"... (Windows did have a tray once, in the first alpha versions of Windows 95, but not after that. For Windows 11, Microsoft has officially adopted the incorrect term, which once again shows that language is significantly shaped by those who haven't mastered it. But I'm digressing again.)

If you absolutely need a packet filter (or, as strange people call it, "firewall software") on Windows, I would recommend the most lightweight solutions possible. You could either try Windows Firewall Control, which makes the native Windows solution somewhat bearable (because it can be configured properly), or otherwise take a look at simplewall.

[Kilmatead]

Any recommendations for firewall software, is a 3rd party firewall superior to Windows vanilla ?.

The Windows firewall is fine, as long as you pair it with something like Windows Firewall Control which gives you much more control over how it works. Don't mind the "malwarebytes" branding - they hired the lad years ago on the strength of this tool but never incorporated it into the main product, so it remains as standalone and free as ever. Continually supported, too.

The one downside (that the better 3rd-party firewalls don't suffer from) is WFC can't do the packet-sniffing thing, where when you get a popup notification that asks you whether you want to allow a particular programme to phone home, it will "drop" the initial signal, so when you say "yes, allow it", instead of holding on to the packet and sending it again, it just picks up where the programme left off which usually isn't recognised immediately. A simple refresh of the programme in question will usually resend the (lost) initial packet and all is well after that.

If that long explanation doesn't make sense, don't worry about - it's just a pet peeve of mine, but you may see it as its endemic to Windows Firewall.

Dedicated 3rd-party FW's aren't as popular these days as they used to be, so there aren't as many to pick from - they tend to be packaged with AV's for the "whole enchilada" sales-point. But try WFC, I've been using it for probably about 10 years without real complaint.

Edit: Tux beat me to it! Simplewall isn't that good though (last time I tried it), and pretty much does the same thing, but "worsely", so try WFC first.

[Tuxman]

Simplewall isn't that good though (last time I tried it), so stick with the former.

I admit, I've never really tried simplewall myself. My last Windows at home also "only" had WFC. But I have upgraded a bit since then. From what I saw, simplewall is definitely recommended by some people, and the code is also pleasantly clear. But everyone should make their own experiences.

[Kilmatead]

Nothing wrong with it all... it's just more basic, but it'll do the job. I'm just so used to WFC that it's the first thought I have, now that the classic ones (online Armour?) are essentially gone or absorbed into others. If you don't mind paying and have a yearning for a fancy, fetishistically pretty (in a "My Little Pony" way) GUI, GlassWire gets a lot of mentions as well, but... not free (and might make you feel like you ate too much chocolate).

[Tuxman]

GlassWire seems to be relatively decent, but the problem with complex, colourful software is that every line of code increases the likelihood of a security vulnerability, which is particularly annoying with software that requires the highest access rights on the computer for full functionality.

[Kilmatead]

but the problem with complex, colourful software is that every line of code increases the likelihood of a security vulnerability

To me that usually smells like excessive .NET involvement which means most of the code wasn't actually written by the developer and may as well have been written in "a nice safe thing like Java" <sarcasm alert>, but that's my own prejudice. That said, WFC is .NET, so go figure. I only use 2 .NET applications, so I try to keep it to a bare minimum, without any real proof of evil, just a lingering feeling of suspicion about the MS things that live in the shadows.

[nikos]

what a discussion... sex and drugs and rock'n'roll... and roms too

[Tuxman]

Rock’n’roll is hopelessly overrated. I do, however, warmly recommend a healthy dose of doom metal every now and then, to ground yourself.

[pj]

I think you're AI

If AI has progressed to the point where it can suffer (yet another!) broken nose after losing a head-butting contest with a horse, then indeed I am an AI with tissue stuffed up his digital nostrils to stop the bleeding. Is AI's ability to feel pain part of the Turing Test? I would pass that with flying colours. Mostly the red colour.

OMG!

I hope the horse is OK!

Gaming - Hearts on my Samsung S22 phone when I'm bored, indisposed or flying.

Don't get me wrong, I started with text-only games like TEKWAR and ADVENTURE on a DEC10, using reams of paper until the Computer Center banned anyone playing games on printing terminals. Then it was on to the ADM10 green screens and OTHELLO. After college I could afford an Atari 2600 with multiple cartridges, playing way too much until, while playing SPACE INVADERS one night, I literally until passed out. Although FROGGER was a hoot, that console was wisely moved into in a deep, dark closet.

Favorite one-off game: Was playing a Star Trek game on a borrowed Sinclair ZX80 when SO's water broke with 1st, and that console was returned without further thought or play.

Finally moved to "serious" games when I bought my first IBM PC (640K, ONE 5" FDD) and a color (TV) monitor, and found 1 player PONG to be the thing! As my PCs got more capable (Pentium anyone?) I moved through FPS like DOOM, DUKE NUKEM, BLOOD, QUAKE and more, got hooked on UNREAL, GOTY version, until realizing the on-line play was just me getting slagged within 10 seconds of entering. Tried WII when the motion controllers came out. OK for older folk, but bored quickly. Only so many times I could get beat at tennis before calling it quits.

When XBOX and PS came out I had passed through that phase and now haven't a clue how to use those cute game controllers. Besides, if it doesn't have to use a full size keyboard and mouse it's not a real game Let the slings and arrows begin!

So now my "gaming" is making an a$$ of myself on X and spouting nonsense in phpBB forum posts.

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pj in (guess)