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rridgely

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Everything posted by rridgely

  1. I don't have any of those smart speakers, not because I'm paranoid of their spying but because they are all bad speakers. Instead I have sonos speakers networked up in most of the rooms in my house. I know some will say they aren't great either but the convenience of them outweighs everything else.
  2. I've known this for a while. I use the google assistant and it will periodically give me a notification telling me my package arrived from amazon. It will also tell me about deals on things I've bought in the past like coffee. This thing is basically tracking my life I think. In the morning it tells me when its time to go to work because I use google maps for traffic!
  3. So about 3 weeks ago I was browsing around bestbuy and came across the Samsung Chromebook Pro. At first I was skeptical that a chromebook could have any value to me but when I was playing with the device a few things popped out at me. First the screen is awesome. It is every bit as good as the screens on higher end 4k laptops or an iPad. Its high resolution, bright, and covered in Gorilla Glass so it feels sturdy and responsive to use the touch portion of the device. The second thing that stuck out to me was the build of the device. Its magnesium like the surface pro but it is thinner so it doesn't feel as sturdy as that device. At the same time it doesn't feel like it will flex/bend. From an OS and utility stand point I would probably select this over an ipad or even a windows laptop for most people. It is super thing, battery lasts a whole day easily and it has access to all google services and most android apps. It can even run Microsoft's tablet versions of Word/Excel/Powerpoint really well. Those aren't as good as the regular desktop version but I have used them to type papers for my grad school classes and they are perfect for that. I was even able to put the device in "developer mode" pretty easily and then you can install pretty much any Android .apk file. The only one I needed was Apple Music which works pretty well. If you are in the market for a tablet I would consider this device. It has the same aspect ratio as an iPad and can be folded over to work like a tablet but at the same time it has a keyboard/trackpad/ and an OS that can do a good bit more since it has access to a desktop version of Chrome. I hadn't used Chrome OS in a while but Google has really done a good job improving it. https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/chromebooks/12-14/samsung-chromebook-pro-xe510c24-k01us/ (Also I paid $499 not $599)
  4. The initial reporting of this was all over the place. The headlines all said intel only when in reality it was pretty much every modern pc. There were also reports saying a 30% hit to performance when that isn't on desktop use but only linux servers. Everything thing I've seen about desktop use has shown benchmarks that are pretty much negligible in performance difference. Now that could change as the patches are updated but I haven't noticed any difference on my computers yet.
  5. I'm not going to switch for a couple of reasons. I had a galaxy s3 and s5 before I went to the iPhone. Both phones started out great but overtime the software updates would kill the experience by making the phone crash or unresponsive. Also at the time those phones didn't have as good of cameras as my wifes iphone 4 and 5. The other reasons is that my professional and social circle all have iPhones too. Last year I did a job interview over facetime and this year when I met my new coworkers they all used Apple's address book share thing to give me their phone numbers. At least where I'm at the iPhone seems like the standard. Also I love my apple watch. I tried the google watches when they came to iOS and they aren't as good.
  6. I've been an iPhone user for quite a while. Since the iPhone 5 (2012). I was pretty aggravated by this but I also understood why they did it since some phones were shutting down. I actually still have my 7 because I didn't want the x and the 8 is basically the same phone. (I kept my 7 despite being on a yearly upgrade plan with ATT) So I probably will let them replace the battery. I have replaced the battery in my older iphone 6 a few years ago and it wasn't that hard so if I decided to keep this phone even longer its good to know if I just replace the battery it will be back to new.
  7. So I've been using this version of Firefox for a week now on both my iPhone and my desktops/laptops. I'm not sure I'm going to transition to it permanently from chrome but I definitely could. I would say that this version of firefox is just as clean looking and just as fast. The mobile version is a vast improvement over the previous version and it is a viable alternative to safari and chrome on iOS. It used to have this really clunky interface and was really slow. I read somewhere that this version of firefox is the only browser that truly uses multicore processors. I have a core i7 in my main desktop so it is nice to think its being better utilized when doing something other than video encoding and gaming. I dont necessarily notice it being faster but it is definitely not slower. I also haven't had it crash a single time yet.
  8. Not free but I liked start 8 on windows 8. They make a version for windows 10 as well: https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/ $5 I like the windows 10 start menu though, its basically the same thing as windows 7 the way I have it set up. Just a list of applications on the left and my most used pinned to the right.
  9. I've been playing a lot of Destiny 2 on my pc for the last few days. My college classes are over for a few weeks and I was dying to get to play ! Only one more semester to go and I will have my specialist and be done with college forever!
  10. That little red dot looks like a dead pixel. Lots of LCDs have them and some companies wont fix it unless there are more than 5 or 6 of them. That weird bubble is most likely what nukecad said, that pc might be overheating and damaging the lcd. What happens if you tap on that part of the screen with your finger? (lightly) That doesn't look fixable without figuring out why its overheating and also replacing the lcd screen.
  11. I have been a full time chrome user for a few years now. The immediate thing I notice upon loading this version is that it looks like chrome and seems about as fast. The reason I was using chrome was the mobile version would perfectly sync with the desktop version. The mobile version of firefox was terrible, but I've been using the new version for a few hours now and it is significantly better. The interface doesn't look ancient and it is much more responsive. I actually like its new tab page a lot more than what chrome does and the multiple search engine options are nice. I haven't tried creating a firefox account yet but I will do that today. If it works like it should I may give this a shot for a few days and see if I like it better than chrome.
  12. Anyone tried the newest version of Firefox. They have revamped it on both the PC and iOS(and probably android but I don't have one to see). The interface basically looks like chrome. I will say that it seems very fast/responsive and the mobile version is miles ahead of where they were. I'm going to play with it a little but my initial impression for both versions is that its pretty good. What do you think?
  13. A couple things to try: 1. Update your graphics card drivers. 2. Make sure windows is fully up to date. If its still crashes there are few more things you can do: 1. If its a heat related issue you need to find out what component is causing it. You can try Prime 95 and run a stress test for a 30 minutes or so to see if the pc crashes. If it does your processor is overheating. If it runs fine then try fur mark. This will test your graphics card to see if it is crashing. Let it run for about 20-30 minutes to stress the graphics card and see what happens. https://www.mersenne.org/download/ http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/ 2. If none of those cause crashing it could be your memory or hard drive. You could run memtest and hd tune to try and see if they find any errors: https://www.memtest86.com/ http://www.hdtune.com/ 3. If you still cant figure out the problem component my guess would be the power supply is shorting out. Sorry but there really is no easy way to just say this is the problem component when your pc just cuts off like that. My guess would be something is over heating if it only happens when gaming.
  14. This could be a whole lot of things. I have a few questions: 1. What game were you playing (some pc games are just prone to crashing) 2. What exactly happened when the pc crashed? Did you see the blue screen? Did the pc just instantly restart? 3. Did you get any kind of warnings before it crashed? Did the PC make any strange sounds?
  15. That is actually kind of cool. I can be working on a document/playing music on my laptop then close the lid and my desktop picks up where I left off? I already do something similar with chrome. I can be using it on my phone/tablet/desktop and pick up wherever I left off on one of the other devices. If this works the same way but with all my programs then I will enable it. The improvements to OneDrive sound nice. I've switched to google drive but if those work the way they are supposed to I might switch back since I already pay for office 365 and have unlimited storage (although my gmail storage is only $20 per year so I might not bother) I didn't notice a huge difference in the first "creators" update besides a change in the set up procedure and a few extra apps I don't use. I did like that they migrated a few things from the "control panel" to the settings window but they really do need to simplify the settings situation so there aren't two different places to make certain changes.
  16. I would check out the free online version of word. I use it regularly on computers that don't have office and it's pretty good. The files it makes are much more compatible with word than anything else out there.
  17. Just something to check: In my experience many of the big ISPs provide antivirus software to their customers for free. I know comcast gives out Norton, the one I use gives out something called Total Defense (which I've never even considered installing). If your looking for a "free" premium AV you may want to check what you can get from your ISP. I tend to agree with the Mozilla guy. I remember the days when you could just get viruses from general internet use. Now I'm not so sure thats something you have to really be concerned with. I haven't had a real virus on my own machine in years and I don't really do anything except use chrome with an adblocker to make sure I don't click on any ads. I do let defender scan downloads and my system periodically but its all automated. I get those who use image back ups but I choose to rely on google drive to back up my important stuff (pictures, documents) and then I keep a external drive that I only plug in periodically to add stuff too. Off site back ups are important!
  18. I think windows 10 is the best OS they have made yet, with the exception of one major flaw, I cannot stand that they do not allow users to turn off windows update. (especially hardware updates) I only had issues with this a few times when windows 10 first came out but I'm still waiting for the day my graphics driver or network driver failed because microsoft updated them without telling me. Other than that I have really enjoyed windows 10. On a modern PC its fast, stable, and gets out of the way. I like the modern looking interface and the fact that it no longer relies on that terrible start screen from 8.
  19. Zelda is actually really nice looking while your playing it. I was playing Horizon Zero Dawn which was more technically impressive but Zelda still looked really good for its art style. I would say that Zelda was more fun overall though because there are so many things you can do in it. The game is actually pretty hard. I've already beat the main game and I'm going back to do side quests and there are still enemies that can kill me in just a hit or two. You have to play smart or your done. I saw the scratch issue. I bought a screen protector(tempered glass) for like $8 on amazon but I didn't see any scratches on mine before that either. I read that it was because of of the docks were bent in production/shipping to where the rubbed the screen strangely. If you see one at a store or something you should give it a try. Its a pretty slick piece of hardware and it all feels really solid/well built. I was worried with all the removing of controllers and clicking that it would feel cheap but its really nice. Not ipad level but still very well made.
  20. I've tried so many different linux distros and they never seem to work right no matter what kind of hardware I put them on. Its either a sound, graphics, or some other issue that will cause everything to break. I'd rather just pay the $100 for windows and get something that works. I get people who are passionate about linux and know there way around the unix command line, but I don't and don't really have the time or will to learn how to trouble shoot the random hardware issues that always seem to arise.
  21. Anybody here tried out the new Nintendo Switch yet? I got one a few weeks ago when it came out and it is pretty cool. I was skeptical when it was announced but the thing works just like they said. Only downside at the moment is that there is really only one must play game (zelda) but I'm holding out hope that a lot more gets announced at E3 in June. So far Zelda is my favorite game of the year hands down (before this I just played Horizon Zero Dawn which was also awesome). My only complaint besides there only being one good game at the moment is that the controllers are kind of small. I got used it pretty quick but I also went out and got the pro controller which might be the best controller I've ever used. I would put it above the Xbox One/PS4 controller but its kinda pricey.
  22. I have no doubt that windows 10 can be insecure if your doing things like downloading random email attachments or plugging in random flash drives. However I cant remember the last time I actually had a real virus on one of my own computers. Quite a while ago I got tired of spending so much time/effort securing/maintaining windows that I just figured I would try doing the least amount possible (keeping it updated, using a different browser, letting defender do its scans) and nothing really changed. I didn't see viruses then and I don't now. Granted I'm not browsing crazy websites or using bittorent,ect. I spend most of my time either on youtube, microsoft office, or whatever game I'm playing at the moment. I do nuke my computers every six months or so. Mostly just because windows still tends to slow down after a while without a good cleaning. I can reformat most of my computers in about an hour(apart from windows update) and have all my apps back installed. I don't really use image back ups because I like going through and not having to worry about updating old programs and stuff. Everything is just up to date as I install them. (apart from my steam library which I keep on an external before I reformat)
  23. I don't use adblock plus, the one I have is just called adblock and was on chrome before adblock plus. It does have an "acceptable ads" button but I just uncheck it at install because it asks about it. It also auto subscribes to that privacy list your link mentioned. (at least it was checked off when I looked just now)
  24. I just browse with chrome and adblock. I let Defender scan when it asks to and thats about it. I'm confident that windows 10 is overall quite secure as long as you stay on the mainstream side of the internet.
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