So apparently the Smiths cared 33% more than I do. This is likely because I have been ground down by the ubiquitousness of computer issues in the modern world. Anyway, this will mostly be a hodgepodge of a list of things that have really been bugging me. Frankly if I were more technological savvy, this would be where I would invest my time, since I think in many cases there is a real market (at least made up of people like me) to solve these issues.
Problem #1 is that my computer is slow. I mean really slow in the sense that I will start some program (or often set off the Windows Update process) and it will hang to the point that I can't even get the mouse to move the cursor for quite a while (well over 15 seconds). It's pretty clear that this computer is simply too old and doesn't have the computer power/speed I really need, but this brings me to point #2...
Problem #2 is I hate Windows 10, and I don't really like Window 8, which was really designed more for tablets than desktops. If it weren't for the fact it is completely unsupported and virus-prone, I would probably move back to Windows XP. I never did take the plunge and learn Linux. While I think that would have given me personal satisfaction, most of the programs I use (particularly the modelling and GIS software) won't run on Linux. At any rate, at this point, if I buy a new computer it will come loaded with Windows 10. To avoid this (and to not have to port over a bunch of legacy software/settings), I'll keep the old one running as long as possible, but also remember to back up what I can on a regular basis. Most/all of my documents are on an external hard drive, and the music gets backed up fairly frequently. (I think putting everything up into "the Cloud" would take weeks and weeks and weeks, so I don't actually plan on doing that.)
Problem #3 is that the automatic updates and the scanning (by Defender) became so all-encompassing and overwhelming it was almost as bad a getting struck by a virus. There were frequently times when the available hard drive space would drop by 1 GB or more (for no apparent reason) and this would cause other processes to crash. You are supposed to be able to set virus scanning to a lower priority, but I cannot make this "stick," particularly in Windows 8. Extremely frustrating. I finally got to the point where I turned off automatic updates, but the flipside is that virtually every day I need to update the Defender anti-virus definitions. Frankly, what a shitty world we live in that people have so much time to generate new viruses and trojans on a daily basis. All I can say is that the internet did not live up to expectations at all... I probably will give up and turn the automatic updates back on.
Problem #3b is that Java and particularly Flash is always asking to be updated, and the process always tries to install bloatware! It probably is just as well that the BBC Radio pulled all the programs I used to stream, as this always forced me to update to get the music to actually play. I haven't tried to listen to BBC Radio in ages, which is sad, but life moves on. I do almost all of my streaming in iTunes now and hardly ever Hoopla (see #7b below). Actually on the rare occasions I listen to music on Naxos, I will often have to update Flash. I don't really understand all this constant updating.
Problem #4 is that I cannot filter out news that I really hate -- like I never want to read about the Momo hoax again. I would give quite a bit for my internet provider not to default to "The Loop" when I sign in and out of my various accounts. I feel The Loop with its inane focus on celebrities and the young royals is making me stupider. Even just looking at the story leads (not actually clicking through) is causing my IQ to drop. Maybe this is why Facebook has become so omnipresent: people actually can start filtering their digital world.
Problem #4b is that, while I really should never bother to look at comments on news stories (now down to Slate, CBC and the Guardian, as the other sites* have wisely banned comments), I would really love to be able to block or "ghost" certain particularly annoying commentors. There really is supposed to be this functionality, but, again, maybe this is more of a Facebook thing. I think there are far too many issues tied up with joining Facebook (and I never did join), so I guess the better option is to stop reading on-line comments, which are pretty much a cesspool of stupidity and endless point-scoring off of one's opponents.
Problem #5 is that I was "forced" to download the Spotify app only to discover that frankly they lie about their offerings. Specifically I was looking for some tracks that were unavailable on iTunes and supposedly were on Spotify. So I went through the hassle of installing Spotify only to learn that, surprise, they didn't exist on Spotify after all. I immediately uninstalled Spotify and won't bother loading it in again in the future. On rare occasions, I will find that something is in iTunes but only iTunes UK or something similar. I really wish that these regional licensing restrictions would be lifted, but if anything they are getting worse. No question this is one of the reasons that torrents stay in business, even though I suspect most people (or at least most people my age) would prefer to do things the legal way.
Problem #6 is that I was really put out the other day to find that it was difficult and invasive to try to install Overdrive on my desktop when it was a piece of cake to install on my phone. This is an app that allows you to read ebooks from the library. I understand (though am still annoyed) that you have to have a certain level of DRM (digital rights management) so that you can withdraw the ebook after the expiration date. Otherwise there would be no limit to the number of people reading the ebook. Now whether this is truly a problem or not is a question for another day. However, the Google Play version of the software was written for smart phones only, and then I wasn't allowed to install Overdrive on my desktop without registering first. I found that just one step too far, even though I understand I would eventually have to give up my info to get an Overdrive account set up. The upshot is that, very much against my will, I have to read this book on my phone (when I had prided myself on not being so addicted to the (tiny) screen time). It's something like a 250 page book, so this will be 800+ taps. Extremely frustrating. For whatever reason, a physical copy of the book is not in either the Toronto Public Library system or over at Robarts. I did finally get it working, but I am not happy. There is one other book I will read this way, as there is no other alternative, but I am still very less than pleased.
Problem #6b is very minor but will still change my blogging/posting habits. The blogger who compiles all the posts for the Canadian Challenge had a software change imposed upon her, and now we will have to sign in to get our new links to load. That is something I am not comfortable with at all. In the short term, she will accept us posting links directly as comments in the comment section and then she'll load them, but this seems an extra hassle both for her and us. I strongly suspect that I will only bother with about half of my forthcoming book reviews (especially as I already hit number 13), and if this is not corrected in the near future, I simply will not sign up for the next Canadian Challenge. C'est dommage.
Problem #7 is that there used to be a quite nice ePub reader for Firefox, but they made so many changes during one of the updates that it lost functionality. The programmers rewrote it to work with the new Forefox, but frankly the new version sucks eggs (and I am far from the only person to think this). For the longest time I had rolled back Firefox to an older version that was compatible with the old ePub reader, but I guess I need to stop doing this. Somewhere along the way, I downloaded a desktop ePub reader. I suppose I should make sure this actually works before upgrading Firefox.
Problem #7b is that there is some other issue with Firefox and other websites. I don't really back enough Kickstarter campaigns to really worry about it, but I simply could not get the payment to work on Firefox. The places to fill in credit card #s kept blanking out. I ultimately had to handle this in Internet Explorer (talk about legacy software!). I'm also having no end of trouble with Hoopla in Firefox, and I suppose I will first see what happens after I upgrade Firefox, and then, if that still doesn't work, I will try IE. Not life-changing or anything, but really quite annoying.
Problem #8 is quite a weird one. When looking over my blog posts in the Blogger control deck area, I find that posts that are too old are no longer being indexed properly. By that I mean when I try to search by a word only one or two old posts come up, but that when I search inside the blog posts (using the little Google search bar) then more posts appear. This is quite annoying and counter-productive. Essentially that means I either remember to create a page with links to these "dead" posts or I need to repost the core content of an old post as a new one. I could also pin the post, but these aren't posts I want to return to that often, more like once every six months or so. I guess I could also create best of the blog posts if I really wanted to, since I no longer think I will ever try to publish a best of the blog ebook (my readership has fallen off far too much for that). It certainly is not the end of the world, but I can't understand why the indexing/searching isn't working any more.
I'm sure there are plenty of other things that bug me, which I will remember immediately after closing out this post, but this is enough for now on what is bothering me in this digital age.
* I guess technically the NY Times still allows comments, but I go there so rarely now that it is behind a soft paywall that the comments there aren't at all part of my on-line experience.
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