How do you deleting zone identifier files in FAT32 ?

I was moving some recent new downloaded from the web PDF files around, and suddenly noticed they are carrying a twin file with them:

Example.pdf:Zone.Identifier

I seem unable to delete this file..

With lots of them stuck in a folder, I can't delete the folder..

Nor can I move the folder elsewhere !

Why is my SSD slower than my HD ?

Ok, on file copying, its about 4 times faster, which fits in with its spec.

But I just gave it a job to extract from a zip file, and its taking twice as long..

And that is the SSD that is four times as fast as my HD..

The lower end SSD I have that is twice as fast as my HD, it takes 4 times longer to extract from a zip file.

What gives ?

Both SSD's was carefully chosen for their specifications and big name brand !

I think I've noticed a human behaviour I wasn't aware of before.

That in any group, there will always be at least one bully..

I had thought once the current bully wasn't in the group anymore, that the group would finally become civilised !

But no, it seemed once the top bully was gone, another would replace them..

I wonder if that would continue until there was only 2 people left in the group ? ( Actually I do remember such a group, and yes, the other one was a bully ! )

People who you had known for decades, suddenly become a bully, why ?

Is it some kind of alpha human behaviour ?

Why can't we just get along without some asshole trying to make our lives more difficult..

FX [ Tries to pay online bill using PayPal.. ]

"Payment failed" said their website. ( When I say, said, I mean, flashed on the screen for 1/50th of a second.. )

Only "PayPal" had other ideas and gave them money anyhow..

No problem, I'll just message the customer service folk and get it sorted in a jiffy..

4 weeks later..

First they said Payments take up to 7 working days to action..

Yet previously when I've paid not via Paypal, it took half an hour to show up in my account, not 7 days..

Anyhow, we wait 7 days..

Still nothing, so another message ( They don't appear to have an email address, so you have to use an online form, which limits how much you can type into its little box.. )

During these exchanges I include all the data on my PayPal payment, and each time they seem to ignore that..

First they say they can't find such a payment.

Then they say they are looking more closely and their "PayPal" department will be looking into it.

They still can't find it..

Could I provide a screenshoot of my PayPal payment, sure, but since its hard to send them attachments, I had to stick it on a website and give them a URL instead. ( Hopefully that is not too technical for them.. )

Now waiting to see if they can find it..

If not, I guess one can ask PayPal to get the money back, right ?

I've not had to do that before..

How difficult is that going to be ! ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

For those not familiar with it.

So, just how do you stop mobbing from spreading ?

I don't know the answer, all I can see if perhaps to spot it happening, as it does with a single individual who spouts hate towards you when you disagree with them, and then that hate is taken up by others who see you as a weak target, and then others follow too..

Kinda reminds me of a war..

Maybe that is what drives some in conflicts, being influenced by others.

Just yesterday I saw someone I had known and chatted to for 30+ years, suddenly turn into an aggressive hate spieling identity with no ability to think for themselves.

I left the situation, so that their hate may be directed at someone else, and perhaps others might see that they are the hater, intent on picking on the weakest in the herd.

But of course, I can't do that all the time, or else, where will I find intelligent conversation between folk who can be civil about disagreements, and allow exploring the problem space, and solution space together.

Rather than just trading insults like simple mammals who throw poop at each other.

So, any advice ?

Quest..

To copy a file from a Windows Phone ( Lumia series. ) to a Windows 10 desktop PC, what are my options ?

Ideally I'd like simple solutions that don't involve lots of complications, or sending files several times around the world to get to my PC, something simple and local would be peachy.

Since my previous phone about 20 years old, involved a USB cable, some software that doesn't like to run on Windows 10..

Surely we have come along a bit since then, right..

Is there some magic app/etc. that gives me a folder on my Windows Phone that I can just copy stuff too and it magically appears on my PC..

Yes I have Wifi, no I don't really have any servers under the dining room table anymore, but there is a Vista laptop running the doorbell..

So, my options ?

TightVNC on Windows OS's, copy & paste don't always work, solution ?

Today, it isn't sometimes, its all day !

When you have a poorly designed dating site, what should you do, make it better, or make it worse..

Why, worse of course !

Just like Badoo did when they took away all those search options that would let you narrow your search down to a single person..

Last time did that, after a few years of chatting, they even wanted me to move in with them ! ( I didn't as they wasn't suitable enough, but they was the most suitable on the site at the time ! )

Now I have to wade through half a million members, one at a time..

A bit like Ebay..

Or reading YouTube comments..

Start coding tools that make our lives easier, not harder !!!

Software is supposed to do the heavy lifting, not pass the buck to the human !

Origin, the game thingy that launches other games..

Not a huge fan, but I've built up a small game collection from special offers/freebies/etc.

But every now and then, this happens:

For years..

Why can't they fix their shit !

Meanwhile, trying to log in with Ubisoft connect..

Their, 2 stage security wants to send me an email, great !

Only, before I can read the email, it says:

"Session has expired due to inactivity, please log in again."

I wasn't inactive, I was checking my bloody email you bastard !

Home built 50 years ago, hot water element went just over a year ago, got another one, super expensive.. ( Non-standard, more efficient model.. )

Just over a year later, out of warranty, looks like its on its way out too !

They just don't make things like they used to..

Plus its a right pain to fit it !

Still, I've done two so far, so at least I know what to do now...

Windows OS..

24Gb RAM

Is 24Gb enough, no worries, we got virtual memory too on disk haven't we, it will use that if we run out of real memory, won't it..

Well, no..

Get up to 23Gb in use, and things start to break..

Today, oh it just shut off the main video card, no biggie..

I've another 3 monitors to work with, and tidy things up before I reboot and make everything work again..

And there was me thinking, oh I won't need 48Gb, 24 will be fine..

CP/M was never like this..

I say, I say, I say, how many hours does it take to set up a smart light blub ?

Well, it just took me 6 hours to get 2 bulbs working with Alexa..

This involved bulb resetting without a hub, an Android tablet ( Without the correct level of OS to run the more advanced version of the Alexa APP or the smart blub app.. ), a laptop, a web interface, a wireless network, and lots of running up and down stairs..

It wasn't "easy as pie"..

It proved pointless registering with the smart bulb website, since it couldn't see the bulbs..

For a while the bulbs thought they was twins, and one would copy the other..

But one was always unresponsive when you wanted to chat to it..

After reset, which was buried in a long RPG style quest, all was kinda well. ( It now thinks there are 3 bulbs, but lets not worry about that.. )

Related link in case anyone needs this !

https://youtube.com/watch/...
---
Factory Reset Philips Hue Bulb With No Hue Bridge or Hue Light Switch
---

Alexa is like:

https://youtube.com/watch/...
---
Does Anyone Want Any Toast? | Red Dwarf | BBC
---

No I don't want to hear about Amazon Prime membership and how I can listen to music there, I just want you to take me to YouTube where I can listen to it for free !

I'll be so glad when MyCroft AI comes down in price and I can afford to replace her !

Reminds me of years ago when we first had networked printers and you could name them anything you wanted. :-)

Modern version(s):

https://youtube.com/watch/...
---
Alexa Best moments! South Park
---

https://youtube.com/watch/...
---
Just My Alexa - SOUTH PARK: POST COVID: THE RETURN OF COVID
---

Why am I always oiling hinges on doors..

Can't they make a hinge that doesn't need that !

And why are folk always painting over hinges !

Next up, why are my cold water pipes growing mould.. ( I think due to lack of insulation, right ? )

And my toilet fix is still working ! ( Dremel washer thinner, since they stopped making thinner ones.. )

Not a fan of modern toilet design..

You know they test them with artificial poo !

That's not a real test !

I'll just use my Android tablet to set up Alexa, how hard can it be..

"Your device is not supported"...

So..

Add on todo list, upgrade OS on tablet..

How hard can that be . . .

Wonderful new feature with Facebook..

Auto closing message threads..

Which take you 5 minutes to get back to where you was reading..

And then close again the moment someone comments !

Brilliant !

I'll just reboot my phone, what is the worst that can happen..

"File size too big, may crash application"...

It doesn't, but for some reason it only opens my todo list as READ ONLY..

Well, that isn't very helpful is it !

How big is too big you are wondering, 200k it says, anything beyond that, big problems..

Of course, its some weird ass text format that means editing it in another editor will be, really difficult..

Grrr..

And I just got a newer phone, only the screen is cracked :-(

Did it happen in transit I wonder, or did the seller not notice, or did they notice and that is why it was super cheap..

It was covered in bubble wrap, in a box, which was then covered in a lot of bubble wrap, inside another box..

But when I opened it, the case of the phone was loose, like it had been dropped..

So, did that happen in transit, or maybe the sell just dropped it the moment before they started to wrap it in bubble wrap..

You can't see it easily, only at a certain angle in the light, and the phone appears to work ok so far..

I guess a really good case for it and a screen protector to help hold the screen together for a few years might work fine.. ?

Now to spend all day getting access back to my todo list..

Don't you hate it when you order something, its in the postal service, and then it never arrives..

Then you have to get a refund, and order it again, probably from somewhere else in case the first vendor really didn't put it in the post, and has a bad score..

Good thing I'm not dying of anything that I could do with the pills for . . .

I think I've had an account there for 10 years now, and now, every couple of weeks it seems, I get an email from them saying:

"Soon your profile will stop being shown"

So I have to log in, spot that there is no one within 500 miles of me, still, and log out again..

Why make folk log in unnecessarily, its really annoying !

I didn't make all these accounts all over the place, so I would have to register again if I need them, no I just want them to sit ready in case I do.

So, stop closing accounts just because someone is in hospital, prison, travelling the world in 80 days, etc.

I hate power cuts..

I have an UPS though, so, I don't hate them so much..

Except for ones that last longer than the battery life of the UPS..

Then it means I have to turn off servers..

And guess what, one of them won't turn on again !

I do have a backup server, but it isn't as powerful, and will only cover the basic's..

So, lesson there, always have at least one running spare server as powerful as you need, ready to take over when another server decides its not going to play nice..

This is why I don't like powering things down, ever !

What is wrong with this picture . . .

For a moment I thought I was living in a crazy world..

Then I realised I was..

Reference:

https://help.archive.org/hc/en-us/...

So.. let me get this right, a huge digital library of text, can only let one person at a time, look at a copy they have..

I can't for the moment, think of a more absurd thing !

I mean..

"You are number 1,392,293,943 in queue to read the book you have requested, estimated time for delivery is 134 years, 3 months, and 4 days, do you wish to continue waiting ?"

It's going back to the old days, when I'd order a book at the library, and wait 2 years to get to read it..

Your kidding me right !

No, I think this is real, and I guess one of the conditions for it being available online..

I did ponder this kind of crazy idea myself a few years ago, but everyone else said it would never work..

But I had in mind to have more than just one copy available for folk to view..

I mean, if you own 10 physical books, you can lend them out to 10 different people at once.

So, if you have 10 physical books, and one digital scan, then you should be able to lend out 10 digital scans at once right ?

That was the idea..

How to avoid death from Covid 19 and vaccines, a hypothesis to explain my near death experience and what to expect for the future, by a concerned citizen.

The important variables at play:

My weight = 220lb, overweight by 50lb say.

My muscle mass = very low, I can lift 25lb.

My age = 50+

Blood pressure = High, but not quite high enough to need treatment, on the edge.

Diabetic condition = Not.

Now lets introduce 3 Covid 19 vaccinations.

1st, no real effects to worry us.

2nd, no real effects to worry us.

3rd... bad effects..

I ponder, was the 3rd shot, maybe from a more potent batch, hadn't deteriorated in transit as much as the previous 2 ?

Did I also catch another version of Covid 19 at the same time ?

Was my fairly rare variables the result of which I now appear to have diabetic symptoms..

Has this damaged me enough that it won't just get better on its own, and my options are to, lose weight, gain muscle mass, and perhaps try a fasting diet ( Shown to work in mice.. ) in an effort to regrow my insulin-producing cells ?

So for those of you out there like me, suggestions:

Lose weight.

Gain muscle mass.

Self isolate 4 weeks before vaccine, and 4 weeks afterwards.

Try to be at the back of the queue for vaccines so yours has aged a bit and isn't quite so potent.

Thoughts ?

You know when you want to log into something and your authenticator battery is flat..

No problem, just follow the online instructions about how to get it removed, except you get an error when trying that route..

Maybe we can put in another battery, since the banking ones you can just unscrew the back and pop in the new batteries..

How hard can it be..

https://youtube.com/watch/...
---------
Tinkertubes Lab [33] Destructive battery change of blizzard WOW authenticator "batt 00"
---------

Well, I found out if I wait like forever, mine does spring to life eventually..

Just long enough to log in and remove it right !

Well, just long enough to login, and repeatedly get asked to use it, before I can remove it..

Luckily in my case, the battery did last long enough to do that, but it wasn't just a one time thing !

Remember the old Battlefields like 1942 I think it was, the demo version, how easy it was to just jump in and play against AI bots.

2042 I hear has AI bots..

So far I can't easily figure out how to play solo against them..

Lets ignore the near hour it took to, no wait, 2 hours it took to download and install the latest patch, and then like treacle work our way into the game, and actually start playing..

Can you imagine of video arcades was like that, queue for 2 hours before you do anything enjoyable !

So, its got AI bots right ?

So.. how do I start a game with just AI bots ?

Of course, if I had ordered it in physical form, it would have come with a manual right..

Since when does "fit picture to frame" supposed to result in cropping ?

Or this a MS only thing..

Similar to last rant, but about a search function on another forum..

Is this really how search is supposed to work ?

---------------
USER
Search broken
I searched for the following:

"Presumably the land mass would be falling further south"

Which it should have found here:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---------------
SUPPORT
Looks to be working to me.

Searching for 'Presumably' finds that message.

The search ignores quotes though, it looks for all the words. So, when searching for the string you searched for, the hit is outside the maximum number of results.
----------------
USER
I wasn't searching with quotes, that was just to make it clear what I was searching for.

( But it would be nice if it could do what Google does, and allow you to search for an exact phrase. )

I notice the first message it finds is:

--
XXXXXXXXXXXX
No accounting for taste! :^)
It was the BBC who chose the rhino one to hilight, presumably because it
was the only one to include useful research!
--

So it finds 'Presumably' and I'm guessing 'the' but not any of the other words: 'land mass would be falling further south'

So is it only a single word search function ?

Searching for 'Presumably falling' finds the same message again, when 'falling' isn't even in that message !

I tried searching for 'The third graph on', the first hit is:

--
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Enable these 3 easy Windows settings to drastically improve your PCas
security

From ransomware and malware to viruses, a lot of things can go bad when you own a PC. Here are three settings you can change to improve security in Windows.

--

How can that be a hit at all, when none of the words searched for appear in that message !

Now it does list the correct message searched for way down in the list, so I'm guessing from that experiment it can look for all the words..

So, shouldn't it list the top message in the hit list with the most words that match the search terms ?

And not include messages that contain none of the search words. :-)

Also, is the order it searches based on todays date going backwards ?
--------------
SUPPORT
The search function searches for messages containing any of the words you enter, anywhere in the message, even part words.

> I tried searching for 'The third graph on',
> the first hit is: the appears in the text of
> this message, second word 'these'.

> So, shouldn't it list the top message
> in the hit list with the most
> words that match the search terms

> Also, is the order it searches based
> on todays date going backwards ?

The search function returns results chronologically with the latest at
the top.
-------------------

I login, spot an interesting story about a manager, and then it updates the live feed and the story vanishes from view...

Searching for "manager" obviously doesn't work..

Grrr !

Ok, I've waited to see if they fix it, but no..

So, anyone know how to get Thunderbird to start displaying its little blue flags to let you know when you have new mail ?

Since for a while now, it doesn't 100% like it used to, and I'm sure I'm missing emails because of it !

It's bad enough that they only stay on for one session.. ( Doesn't anyone know there are email clients that remember what you did last session ! )

Oh right, this is a rant site, I can rant !

Finally somewhere to let off steam..

Where I am, there is an ever growing number of jobs.

Great you think.

Unless of course you actually need anyone to do anything, and then, well, there isn't anyone, since the position is open..

And the situation is getting worse..

Why you might ask..

Well, lots and lots of people are moving here, but, none of them are skilled in anything useful..

So, no plumbers..

But lots of artists who make things out of bits of wood they find on the beach.. ( Not that you really find much wood on the beach here, since there aren't any trees to start with.. )

So, this is why ancient civilisations fell, and we have unfinished pyramids..