Can I save my laptop?

[Xist]

I wanted to do a full comparison with my various other laptops and Mom's, but I didn't have the time before I sent in both Lenovos--and I had reinstalled Windows on the old one.

I wanted to leave it as-is for the repair minions.

As I mentioned, there is less space between the keyboard and the hinge. It also has smaller top and bottom bezels and I think that it has smaller side bezels than the laptops that I bought in the last year.

Some people give laptops low reviews because, even though they have narrow side bezels, the top and bottom ones are inexcusably thick!

Seriously?

Well, this one doesn't, and it is nice, but I wouldn't have complained about it.

The power button is in a weird location. My old Lenovo had a dedicated power button and my oldest laptop does, too. The ones that I bought this year have the power button on the top-right of the keyboard. Does that give it a minimalist look? I don't know, but laptop keyboards are already crowded and numeric keypads are especially so.

Mom's numeric keypad is narrow, the Enter key is the size of a normal key and the Page Up and Page Down keys are weird.

I haven't used it long enough to learn where all of the keys are, so I need to look at what I am doing.

I just realized that the numeric keypad on my new laptop is slightly narrower than normal, but I didn't notice until I looked closely. It is virtually normal, without a power button and arrow keys in the way.

My gaming laptop doesn't have dedicated Home, End, Page Up, Print Screen, or Page Down keys. The numbers are pushed up, the Num Lock button is where the left side of the 0 key usually is, and it has oversized arrow keys.

The rest have half-sized up and down arrow keys. I haven't played WoW in a couple of weeks, but I have played it like this, and it is fine.

I think that only my gaming keyboard has a Context Menu key--the one on the bottom right that acts like right-clicking.

I normally use that often.

The gaming keyboard also has a screen capture key that I usually hit on accident. I used it a few times to record something to turn into a GIF.

This keyboard has Escape, the function keys, Insert\Print Screen, and then the power button and Delete, so yes, weird spot for it, but it is easier to find with a lit keyboard, unlike the $300 laptops that I bought for myself.

Mom's laptop has it, though!

I have never liked touchpads. It always seems like they pick up my thumb movements when I type, so my cursor moves randomly.

The other laptops let me hit Function and a Function key to turn off the touchpad, but not this one, and for a while it acted like I was holding down the touchpad constantly, so I needed to figure out how to turn it off through the hardware--two ways.

The first way that I turned off the touchpad didn't do anything.

It has a fingerprint scanner, which was cool when I briefly used this before upgrading it, but I haven't set it up again.

However, as I put in the title, about half of the time that I wake up my laptop it doesn't show any network adapters. Troubleshooting doesn't do anything but ask if I want to give feedback.

I would love to, but I would need Internet access!

I haven't looked into it yet. I have been trying to fix problems with my desktop, on top of other problems.

I have only used this for web browsing and chatting with people, so it isn't too inconvenient to reboot it frequently, but I need to fix this or send back yet another laptop.

As for my desktop, [sigh]:
It lost all printers, which is how I make PDFs, even though I have a PDF writer.

That is fun. I paid for a program and when I save a PDF with my registered copy it puts a watermark on it, just like the free version.

When I first bought it I talked to customer service and eventually fixed it, but it came back. I believe that I took care of it a second time, but I just save to PDF--when it works.

I never lost my printers before.

The benefit of printing to PDF is that it makes it more difficult for someone else to alter.

I started trying to figure out why I couldn't print when suddenly I couldn't save to a folder on my hard drive. I started trying to fix that and suddenly I couldn't access File Manager or Control Panel. I found instructions for fixing that, but I couldn't get very far because I couldn't access Control Panel!

The instructions said to create a new administrator account and then copy all of my stuff to it.

I logged out of my main account, logged into the new one, and it seemed like everything worked, but I couldn't remember the exact error code, so I switched back to my main account, and it seemed like everything worked, but the next time that I tried to print it said that I didn't have any printers, and the next time I tried to save to that same folder, after ensuring that I have full access on my hard drive, I still didn't have permission.

It might just be that program. Others were able to save to the same folder just fine.

I am going to fix the desktop first. Right now it is just more convenient to use my laptop even when I am right next to my desktop. The 43" 4k television is great, but this uses less electricity, right?

[freebeard]

Some fool put $600 in my credit union account. I'm in danger of saving, and having, money.

So what does anyone know about Big Sur?

I still resent that Apple added an 'are you really, really sure?' step in Shut Down just to make Windows users comfortable, and the last time I got current on Mac OS they were making it more like an iPhone, even though I would never want such a thing.

So does anyone know about the current Mac OS? Does it still say, 'This is a program you downloaded from Internet, do you really want to open it?'

edit:
Re: keyboard layout:


https://vilros.com/products/vilros-r...touchpad-combo

This deal has a 7" touch screen, and a wireless gamer keyboard that uses a USB dongle. The track pad is above the keys.

But wait there's more for your $160. Another computer, the same kind I want the touch screen for so I can put it in the dashboard of the Metro. I'm using it right now with a Logitech keyboard.

My next printer will be a Creality Ender 3.

[Xist]

All that I know about Apple is that Tim Cook says "The path of least resistance is rarely the path of wisdom," but the path of least resistance when your Apple product breaks is to have an Apple minion fix it.

Instead of, you know, fixing it yourself, or taking it to a nearby shop.

[ME_Andy]

No spending for you, freebeard. You need an arcimoto more.

[freebeard]

Back when I worked at Symantec, I could fix them myself. When I worked at Nextstep I just bought used and recycled them. Now new ARM computers come as inexpensively as used ones.

I'd like an Arcimoto something, but with H.R.127 in the hopper, I think a 3D printer is more critical. It will take them a year or so to get the A. I.-designed carver suspension in production anyway.

[Xist]

I needed to open it, test it, take pictures, and post on eBay soon, but what difference would it make? I just paid my taxes and still have over $9,000 in the bank.

Would $9,500 make Mom be nice to me?

It frustrates me that I held onto the original box for years, sent it to SquareTrade, and got some plain one. Oh well.

I thought it was curious that there were three names on the paperwork and all of them were Hispanic. It just seemed like a curious coincidence. I tried to find the Lenovo diagnostics, but the one Lenovo program that seemed like it might have been the right one just showed some weird keyboard logo and then disappeared. The Lenovo Gaming Center (or something) showed a video on the hard drive.

When the technician tested the laptop it tested the camera and audio and I got a quick glimpse of a Hispanic woman wearing a faceshield and mask and saying "Bueno bueno."

Then it showed the desktop and some program run in Spanish, but giving feedback in English.

To the fine people that replaced my motherboard I say gracias.

I just wish that I knew why it came with a bonus hard drive!

I also wish that I knew why the hard drive was outside of the protective sleeve. They couldn't be bothered to use a piece of tape?!

If they couldn't be bothered to protect a hard drive with a piece of tape, how much confidence can I have in their motherboard replacement?!

[freebeard]

So lemonade -- Make an animated GIF of the laptop with an animated desktop, of the techie saying 'Bueno, bueno.'

[Xist]

A GIF of the video playing on my laptop?

[freebeard]

Maybe not a GIF. And the term of art is 'wallpaper'. Is it running 7 or 10?

https://www.intowindows.com/how-to-s...in-windows-10/

If you remember, back in 2007, Microsoft had released a tool called Windows DreamScene for the Ultimate edition of Windows Vista. With the help of DreamScene feature, one could set a video or animated GIF as wallpaper in Vista.

As we all know, the DreamScene feature was officially not available for Windows 7 or is not present in the latest Windows 10 operating system as well. Third-party utilities were released to enable DreamScene in Windows 7, but those tools are not compatible with Windows 10.

So, if you want to set your favorite video as wallpaper in Windows 10, you have no option but to go for third-party software. There are few applications out there that can help you set a video as desktop background in Windows 10. But the new Plastuer is probably the best software out there to set video as wallpaper in Windows 10.

[Xist]

I kind of saved my laptop. I got someone else to replace the motherboard, but I sold it before it could develop new problems--or the same old ones with the new motherboard. I always complain about how busy I am, but I think that it is like Rimmer scheduling everything in so much detail that he doesn't have time to actually do everything, so he makes a new schedule, and then another.

Except I talk about what I need to do.

In detail.

I am going to try to avoid repeating the specifics I just posted here and follow up with this post.

I am going to need to skim my own posts.

Having bought Mom 2 sets of stainless steel wire rack shelves for the kitchen (I think that we have 10 others throughout the house), she said that she wanted a standalone pantry, so I bought one, and of course, she complained about it.

The funny thing about Mom is that the more storage that I buy her the more junk she buys. I put in a second cabinet and she rarely keeps groceries on the floor anymore, but I periodically bring in a folding table because the kitchen table, counters, and sink are piled high.

I am pretty sure that we have room for a third cabinet...

Despite the wobble, I slept on my loft until I threw out my back. There is just enough room between the foot of my storage loft and Dad's bookcases to squeeze my twin XL bed on a platform, so I can store more stuff underneath.

I made room for that cabinet by moving Dad's huge, heavy, and awkward office printer on top of the filing cabinet in my loft. It just barely fits--as long as I don't need to scan anything.

I finally moved the treadmill to the garage and brought my dresser from storage. Amerisleep sent me the wrong >$1,000 bed. I replaced it with a $450 newfangled Internet mattress from a local store and replaced Mom's $1,000 Casper queen with a $450 Sealy from Big Lots.

She hasn't noticed the difference, but she stopped complaining about feeling like she woke up with a broken back.

The guy who sold me the loft insisted that I took 2 twins, which kept my first twin xl company.

I recently gave away all 5 mattresses through Facebook Marketplace. Some short family took my twin XLs.

I am going to have an electrician put in an outlet inside the garage. The circuit box is on the other side of the wall next to the treadmill, so that had better be cheap!

Mom had better use the treadmill! She always claim that she regularly used it before I moved in!

I try to play World of Warcraft once a week, but I don't always have the time, although I usually log in at least once a day to quickly check my stuff.

I would still enjoy having a Chromebook for maintaining contact with single female Internet weirdos with mobile-only apps, but I couldn't see myself spending money on it.

People compared every Black Friday sale with one that sold out almost immediately. In theory you could buy some exceptional deal and sell it for profit, but it will take months to arrive, and I am unsure that you would actually make money with eBay.

I still haven't found the RAM that I bought for Mom's laptop 20 months ago.

I bought my laptop through TopCashback.com and I was supposed to get 12% back, but I didn't.

People claimed that laptops like I ended up buying had soldiered RAM. I shared sources proving that it was removable, but nobody seemed to pay attention to me. People also claimed they were unusable with Zoom, but that was feedback from not using a headset.

I forget where I bought mine. Zoom says to use a USB one. I don't know what difference it makes, but it worked great until I lost it. Now I have a flimsy Logitech on-ear headset for my desktop and a big and bulk over-ear headset for my laptop.

I am still running on the fresh Windows installation that I set up because I couldn't figure out how to image the old hard drive onto the new one. I have an external SSD case now, but right now I have six programs hiding in my start bar and I think that I have 20 on my desktop.

I like how clean this is!

I mended the 4x4 under the shed, but now I want to replace some 2x4s. Should I clear out the shed [yet again], pry off the stringers, tap the nails through the floor, temporarily install the stringers, and run screws through the floor?

Now I want to cut up my foamboard insulation and glue it to the bottom of the shed, but I need to clean it first.

Don't you love cleaning the bottom of a shed?

I still haven't run my ethernet cable through the attic, but I tacked into the corners of the walls, so it is cleaner, and no longer a trip hazard.

I had just written progress reports when I wrote #220. Progress report season opened up 3 days ago. I planned on writing them on Saturday, but I couldn't fall asleep until 11am.

My old supervisor kept rejecting my progress reports and refused to tell me why. She kept modifying my legal documents and telling me to approve them. When I complained to our boss he reassigned us. My current supervisor didn't say a single thing about my paperwork until recently. I just hoped that I was getting paid and at least once I discovered that she rejected notes without mentioning it, so my pay was delayed.

After almost 3 months of trying to get the group home staff to stop no-showing our boss decided to drop them, but told me to fill out a 7-page form they had already requested. That was weeks ago and my current supervisor keeps telling me to redo everything. I asked him how many times, he said "I think this is the last time," and she claimed that I didn't change the last change that I made.

Starting my own agency is more appealing than ever!