Almost A Review: TurboTax
As it is that time of year again, I’ve recently finished my income taxes. While I could say much about tax policy, ethics and practicality, this isn’t the place. No, here I talk about the filling out of the forms. Or put slightly differently, the tools used to fill out the forms. Continue reading AAR: TurboTax
Commentary From Elsewhere: Disappearing Agendas
As some may have noticed, I regularly attend the Town of Mendon Board meetings. And as with most (all?) governmental groups, they produce an agenda for their meetings. Again, as is common, that agenda is posted on their website. The Village and School do the same (as do many other groups, but those are local ones). All this is good and I approve. Continue reading CFE: Disappearing Agendas
I hope you are having a Merry Christmas, wherever you may find yourself today. Continue reading Merry Christmas 2017
Adventures In Computing: In Motion Blacklist
Computers are good (possible great?) when they do the tasks which they are assigned. They are terrible when they don’t do those tasks. And they are complicated when doing one task means failing at another task. Continue reading AIC: In Motion Blacklist
Moment of Pride:
No that’s not a typo, that is in fact It stands for Non-Breaking SPace, plus code characters to tell the browser to use it. Continue reading MOP:
Pointless Computer Tricks: Why I disabled my ringtone
Previously I wrote about how I made a silent ringtone to manage telemarketers. While that method worked as expected, unfortunately it wasn’t enough. Continue reading PCT: Why I disabled my ringtone
Adventures In Computing: Locked myself out of my Computer
A few years back I was having difficulties with remotely accessing my computer. The details of which are a different story altogether. What is relevant here, is that I was attempting to copy files from one computer to another over the network. In the process of trying to get this done, I removed my ability to log on to one computer. Continue reading AIC: Locked myself out of my Computer
Commentary From Elsewhere: 7 Ways to Minimize Misery
The internet is a giant self referencing comment engine. Accordingly, here I shall tell you my thoughts on a YouTube video I watched recently.
7 Ways to Maximize Misery by CGP Grey. Continue reading CFE: 7 Ways to Minimize Misery
The Windows 10 Update system is broken, from a design standpoint. It denies the user proper use and control of their computer. This is (mostly) fine for an entertainment device, but unacceptable for a business tool. Continue reading Updates Should Be Deferable
Why you would want a Virtual Machine
A virtual machine allows you to run an operating system inside of another operating system. While not of immediate value to the average user, it is useful in a number of situations.
I primarily use it to test out programs and visit questionable websites. For programs, I can run them and see if they do anything useful. All without having them impact my ‘real’ operating system. For websites, same idea. Copy in links from email, or other mysterious sources. Adds a whole system worth of protective layers to what you’re doing. And when you’re done, just discard the changes and you are ready for next time. Continue reading How to setup a Virtual Box