Coconut Monkey Cornerclub

[BeardyHat]

I'm with Non-Beardy Cap.

She insists this is why I'll always have a spot somewhere in an IT career, because I get excited about stupid technology stuff like this. Glad she believes in me, cause I certainly don't!

If you do a lot of file wrangling, get yourself a file manager which has at least 2 panes, and multiple folder tabs per pane. I have an expensive one cos I had major file ops some years back, and a brilliant feature of it is 'Views' which are pre-defined sets of local and remote folders that all load and login if necessary, ready for work. I think I saw Windows File Manager has acquired 2 panes now?

Hm, never explored the possibility, honestly. But I have upgraded almost al my PC's to Win 11 just because I can tab file explorer now, which is great. Gives that slightly cleaner desktop.

I'm not doing a lot with files often and it's usually different stuff here and there. Usually managing stuff on my server, downloading movies/tv, STLs, etc, etc. It's nothing terribly serious.

I should also say, as launchers go: I don't generally hunt and peck for a game. I just know what I want to play, type it into the search and there it is; then it usually stays that way for several sessions, so I don't need to search it again.

But this also how I tend to function generally; whenever I need a thing, I hit my Windows key to call up Start and type in what I want.

 

[neogunhero]

Still grinding Microsoft Rewards points for free Game Pass codes. They recently made a change that gives you less points which is pretty disappointing. Anyone who is doing the Microsoft points daily is basically giving M$ free money with how much you are required to use Bing. All of these searches and tasks that take you to Bing search pages surely has to be generating revenue for M$, since there is so many clicks and searches to be done to get all possible daily points. Plus with Game Pass, you have additional rewards tasks that require you to play Game Pass titles to get more points. Everything you do to make points is making M$ money, so for them to take away points kinda blows but at the same time it makes it harder for people to abuse the system which is understandable.

I’ve seen on Reddit that M$ is also banning people from collecting rewards if they suspect they are doing it illegitimately, but a lot of reports say that it was due to them spamming searches to get the points as fast as possible. There is a daily limit so it doesn’t matter how fast you do it, but I’m sure they’re a lot like me and just want to get the points done as fast as possible. You have to do 33 searches a day on web then another 23 on the mobile Bing app to get all daily points for searches which is quite insane because who is using Bing that much on a normal typical daily basis, or even any other search engine for that matter? Most people aren’t doing nearly 60 searches a day, so with that being the requirement for the rewards points, I feel M$ shouldn’t ban people for doing them too fast as long as it was not done by a script.

Either way, I’ve made pretty good progress and I feel that if I keep it up I can get another code of GP Ultimate before my current sub expires on 1/9/24. PC GP is only 7000 points where GP Ultimate is 12,000, but I enjoy having it on the Xbox One as well, also for cloud gaming that standard GP does not include. If I decided to get the PC one, I’m 75% of the way there in less than 2 weeks. The only downside is that the with the PC version, the GP rewards tasks are a bit harder to get, since with cloud gaming it’s easy to complete daily and weekly tasks from anywhere as long as your phone is connected to data or WiFi. I completed the Watch Dogs 2 weekly task of “get 200 followers” which basically translates to “play for 10 minutes past the intro”, I completed that on my lunch break in my work break room.

 

[Brian Boru]

Steam works fine, opens up with windows

I prefer not to delay the boot process, but yeah, that does get the tiresome update dance out of the way while you're off doing something productive elsewhere. Besides, what's one more delay among all the others we identified?

Thought occurs: maybe you're trying to become a Patient Gamer, and got bad instructions. Slow Gaming is not the same thing, not at all

If I had 70+ Icons for every game installed on my desktop it would be a nightmare to find anything.

Did you miss the OS class? That's Organizing and Sorting—much of it automatic.

I had a peek at my Steam client, can stretch to 25 on screen. How do you get the 70+all on screen so you can "click on it and click on the game"? Tiny font I suppose—you young uns get all the breaks!

that looks cool

Best argument so far! Can't argue with that

I hit my Windows key to call up Start and type in what I want

Yeah, I do that too for the more obscure stuff, assuming I can still remember the name. But for most apps, docs and games I just click on it in its Fence—or r-click & click for the docs on Jump Lists.

 

[Brian Boru]

Microsoft Rewards

I use Bing on Edge browser, so I have some points—I usually stick 'em in a draw for something, eg Surface Pro. Lately the Quiz and Survey points haven't registered for me, for some reason—but I'm not interested enough to check it out.

They may increase your points again in the future, I assume they're testing various 'price points' for them.

 

[Alm]

I get a lot of points for playing Halo with friends. But I pump the points back into Halo and get battlepasses and cosmetics for free.

 

[Pifanjr]

My main problem with launchers is that it's a pain to switch accounts every time I want to play a game. It's not as bad as switching physical discs, but when you share a PC with two other people and use two different launchers, it's still more of a bother than I like.

I could of course make a Windows account for each of us, but I'm pretty sure I would still need to log in to whoever didn't log out last time to close whatever programs they left running, which would probably take longer than switching accounts for a launcher.

 

[Zloth]

Chrome is phasing out 'third party' cookies. As near as I can tell, that means cookies that set themselves up so other websites (or all websites?) can read them. Other browsers which haven't done it already will likely follow suit. I'm wondering how that's going to fly for the many advertisements that rely on those things - and the websites that won't even let you read them if you block tracking cookies. Are they seriously going to tell people "hey, go download this older version of Chrome"? Find some other way? Roll over and die?

I could of course make a Windows account for each of us, but I'm pretty sure I would still need to log in to whoever didn't log out last time to close whatever programs they left running, which would probably take longer than switching accounts for a launcher.

Oh no, not at all. Just hit that "reset" button. When they keep getting "you closed unexpectedly" errors every day, I'm sure they'll learn to log out properly.

 

[Brian Boru]

Just hit that "reset" button.

I wouldn't try that at home folks

Chances are PC will reboot into the unexpectedly closed last user, and you'll still have to get out of it anyway. Until a reset too far corrupts Windows…

share a PC with two other people and use two different launchers

That setup cries out for 2 or 3 separate desktop Fences for each user.

I ignore my old games on GameHouse, Amazon etc these days, so those are the 6 launchers I would have to deal with. No thanks—altho I still have the launchers in a rolled-up Fence on desktop, like with other programs & apps. I find it very efficient to have one way to launch everything, be it game, utility, app, document.

I used to have movies and music in desktop folder Fences, but dropped that in favor of a 'Media View' in my file manager to show many different categories at once.

 

[Pifanjr]

Oh no, not at all. Just hit that "reset" button. When they keep getting "you closed unexpectedly" errors every day, I'm sure they'll learn to log out properly.

I think that would go over about as well as me hitting them with a stick every time they forget to log out properly...

I looked around a bit for alternatives and there is a "-login" launch option for Steam, so I could make a shortcut on the desktop to log myself in. I'll have to see how well that works.

 

[Brian Boru]

there is a "-login" launch option for Steam

Good thought—which made me look for a 'Change Acount' thing in the client. It's not the same as what you want I assume, but good to know:

 

[Pifanjr]

Good thought—which made me look for a 'Change Acount' thing in the client. It's not the same as what you want I assume, but good to know:

That's what I use now, but it's too slow. Both the button to open that drop down and the drop down option itself are pretty small and then you have to wait for the launcher to close, click on your account (the position of which isn't static) and wait for the launcher to open again.

It's not terrible, but clicking a shortcut on my desktop would be a lot easier.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I prefer not to delay the boot process, but yeah, that does get the tiresome update dance out of the way while you're off doing something productive elsewhere. Besides, what's one more delay among all the others we identified?

Thought occurs: maybe you're trying to become a Patient Gamer, and got bad instructions. Slow Gaming is not the same thing, not at all



Did you miss the OS class? That's Organizing and Sorting—much of it automatic.

I had a peek at my Steam client, can stretch to 25 on screen. How do you get the 70+all on screen so you can "click on it and click on the game"? Tiny font I suppose—you young uns get all the breaks!


Best argument so far! Can't argue with that

50 on screen for me in list view, easily readable even with my myopic early middle aged eyes. Steam has options to sort everything in various ways that work well and dont require any additonal effort on my part to set up. It also has pretty tiles and stats on top so I wont be going back to the desktop, even if it may save me one click

My main problem with launchers is that it's a pain to switch accounts every time I want to play a game. It's not as bad as switching physical discs, but when you share a PC with two other people and use two different launchers, it's still more of a bother than I like.

I could of course make a Windows account for each of us, but I'm pretty sure I would still need to log in to whoever didn't log out last time to close whatever programs they left running, which would probably take longer than switching accounts for a launcher.

Yea this is my PC, I've never had to share it with anyone thank the Maker. Kids getting older though, might have to start saving old parts rather than selling them, in case she has any interest in a PC.

 

[neogunhero]

Got an email from my ISP, they’re giving me a surprise holiday deal! “CALL US FOR A SPECIAL OFFER!”

So I called out of curiosity. “Looks like we’re ready to provide you with gig internet, only $90 a month”. The promotion price on the website is $75 a month. I just said “sorry, not interested” and hung up. How confusing.

It is a good deal when I consider I pay $45 a month for 200mbps speeds, but that is more than enough for me to justify not doubling my internet bill.

 

[neogunhero]

I get to go stand outside my local Walmart and ring a Christmas bell for a charity I don’t support at all. My job wanted “volunteers”, but no one volunteered voluntarily, so they involuntarily volunteered me. What better way to celebrate Christmas than to develop tinnitus in my right ear!

 

[Pifanjr]

I get to go stand outside my local Walmart and ring a Christmas bell for a charity I don’t support at all. My job wanted “volunteers”, but no one volunteered voluntarily, so they involuntarily volunteered me. What better way to celebrate Christmas than to develop tinnitus in my right ear!

Is there a good reason why you can't at least stand inside the Walmart?

 

[ZedClampet]

"I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph."
—Shirley Temple

I stopped believing even before that. My dad had just finished grad school in Boston, and we moved back to New York. Even with his Ph.d, they were struggling a little financially. So Christmas was coming around. I don't remember what I said, but I must have been pretty excited, and my mother said, "We have to pay for everything Santa brings" trying to tone down my hype. I instantly knew that was ridiculous. What was the point of Santa if you had to pay? Why not just order toys out of the Sears catalogue, which is where I found and circled them? Realizing there was no Santa gave me one of my first existential crises. I was either 3 or 4 years old.

*******

I had copilot draw a picture of my house:

Then my PC room:

My parlor for relaxing with friends (don't worry. the house is a lot bigger than it looks in the first picture). There are shops and restaurants along the side. It's also in space:

Here's my breakfast room because it is unseemly to eat twice in the same room on the same day:

And, lastly, my tabletop gaming room just in case I buy a tabletop game someday. There's a barista on the bottom floor to the left.

Bing told me it enjoyed drawing my pictures and asked for more descriptions. It's being strangely nice to me today.

 

[Zloth]

I had copilot draw a picture of my house:

Keeping those windows clean must be something the whole family works on!

You better not shout, you better not cry, you better not pout or take part in any other non-violent protests. Why? Santa Clause is coming to town. Not that he needs to, because he knows when you're sleeping and awake at all times (Santa himself does not sleep - not EVER). The guy knows exactly when you're being outspoken or complicit. And, if he doesn't like what he sees, no presents for you!! As a child, those presents are, on average, 40% of your yearly income!

 

[Brian Boru]

my house

I have recently been reminded that your house will get you 1 extra health and 1 extra population in every city you have, and ensure one of your kids will end up an Engineer. Good choice

my tabletop gaming room

Oh heck… she warned me not to upload pics of our place. "Someone will grab 'em and use 'em for their own purposes", she said. Can we keep this between ourselves for now?

 

[ZedClampet]

Is there a good reason why you can't at least stand inside the Walmart?

I imagine that this would mess up Walmart's security where they stand just inside the doors and check what everyone is bringing in and watch for people taking unbagged items out. There are also the shoplifting alarms and all the shopping carts. It's a pretty crowded area. I suppose they could let you stand along the front at the registers, but there are always people doing charity drives at Walmart, and they probably don't want to clutter up the inside area any more than it is. and keep all the Girl Scouts, cheerleaders, little league baseball teams, etc. outside.

 

[ZedClampet]

I get to go stand outside my local Walmart and ring a Christmas bell for a charity I don’t support at all. My job wanted “volunteers”, but no one volunteered voluntarily, so they involuntarily volunteered me. What better way to celebrate Christmas than to develop tinnitus in my right ear!

I've done that, and it was at least better than some of the other things I had to do like waiting tables at Alex Haley's (the author of Roots) house for a charity dinner and auction. I did that two years and hated it so much that I started buying tables for the event so I could eat there instead of being abused by wealthy people who mistook me for an actual waiter and thought I should be better at my job. "Lady, I'm the Director of Quality Systems at your bank. If you think you can do a better job as a volunteer waiter, get your a$$ out of that seat and take over." I may have actually said that to someone haha. My temper was not so good back then.

 

[ZedClampet]

Speaking of jobs and such, congrats to my wife for getting a new promotion that begins in January. Meanwhile I'm starting a second gig at the literacy charity I sit on the board for. Starting in January I will also be the Finance Chairman. I can only serve on the board one more year, and two years for the other. They really take almost no time, so I don't mind to do it. There is zero sense of urgency in those board meetings, though, and I'm always the first person to suggest that we wrap it up.

 

[Brian Boru]

My temper was not so good back then

Testing Muzzle:
"Mmffpp hurrmggh"
Great, works.

Any Walmart I've seen around XMas has been jam-packed, no way non-shoppers could be allowed inside.

congrats to my wife for getting a new promotion

Congrats Mrs Zed, he'll be able to afford more games!

 

[ZedClampet]

Congrats Mrs Zed, he'll be able to afford more games!

We've been married 29 years, and we've had separate bank accounts the whole time. She pays her part of the bills (insurance, generally). I pay my part of the bills (utilities). She buys groceries half the month. I buy them the other half. I saved for my retirement. She saves for hers. I have my investments. She has hers.

Basically, we have always handled our money like we were roommates, which is to say she's not going to give me a dime for games or anything else.

Now if one of us were desperate for money, we'd obviously give it to them, but that's never happened.

 

[Alm]

Christmas has landed in the UK. Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays all!

 

[neogunhero]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone here on the forums May your stomach be full, ham be glazed, and spirits be jolly!