Computer General Discussion Thread

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

My first three laptops lasted five to seven years before they failed. My two recent laptops have lasted less than two years. The most recent, a hewlett packard has failed in less than a year.

As it is still under warranty they are repairing the failed harddrive for free. I asked for the old drive back but they say it is their property and it would cost me £50. Grasping cunts.

[Crookfur]

My first three laptops lasted five to seven years before they failed. My two recent laptops have lasted less than two years. The most recent, a hewlett packard has failed in less than a year.

As it is still under warranty they are repairing the failed harddrive for free. I asked for the old drive back but they say it is their property and it would cost me £50. Grasping cunts.

Keeping replaced hard drives isn't really a new thing. IIRC dell used to offer to let you keep the old drive for upto six weeks for data retrieval but it was discretionary and you got automatically charged if the drive wasn't returned in time.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

My first three laptops lasted five to seven years before they failed. My two recent laptops have lasted less than two years. The most recent, a hewlett packard has failed in less than a year.

As it is still under warranty they are repairing the failed harddrive for free. I asked for the old drive back but they say it is their property and it would cost me £50. Grasping cunts.

Keeping replaced hard drives isn't really a new thing. IIRC dell used to offer to let you keep the old drive for upto six weeks for data retrieval but it was discretionary and you got automatically charged if the drive wasn't returned in time.

It might not be a new thing, but it is very annoying to me as a customer.

[Tekania]

And that is why you should have backups of important data.

[Crookfur]

Keeping replaced hard drives isn't really a new thing. IIRC dell used to offer to let you keep the old drive for upto six weeks for data retrieval but it was discretionary and you got automatically charged if the drive wasn't returned in time.

It might not be a new thing, but it is very annoying to me as a customer.

I can appreciate that. Telling folks that they would need to hand over a broken drive was the least fun part of working tech support.

[Minoa]

Significantly riskier and requires illegal software, but yes.

Pirating an operating system for a host machine is a baaad idea.

[Industrial Republics]

Significantly riskier and requires illegal software, but yes.

Pirating an operating system for a host machine is a baaad idea.

It ain't pirating. You're using the install media from Microsoft, you're just tricking it into thinking it's properly licensed.

[Cekoviu]

Pirating an operating system for a host machine is a baaad idea.

It ain't pirating. You're using the install media from Microsoft, you're just tricking it into thinking it's properly licensed.

Still not a great idea for a host machine.

[Vassenor]

So I was looking for case ideas for my hypothetical replacement build, and I ran into this.

I... just... why?

[Industrial Republics]

It ain't pirating. You're using the install media from Microsoft, you're just tricking it into thinking it's properly licensed.

Still not a great idea for a host machine.

Better than pirating though.

[Cekoviu]

So I was looking for case ideas for my hypothetical replacement build, and I ran into this.

I... just... why?

Who spends £5000 on a case, wtf? That's literally 127x the amount that I spent on my case, which I consider fairly nice (Corsair 200R + window).

[Tekania]

Pirating an operating system for a host machine is a baaad idea.

It ain't pirating. You're using the install media from Microsoft, you're just tricking it into thinking it's properly licensed.

It's still pirating. Pirating is the unauthorized use or access of software or services. While you may have got the installer for free. It's still unauthorized without a valid license. Tricking to think it's properly licensed when you don't have a license is piracy.

[Cekoviu]

So, I was going through some of the files on my secondary hard drive when I noticed what looks to be corruption on some PNG images. For example, the following album cover:

Compared to the clean image pulled from online:

The file is only 5 months old and CrystalDiskInfo says the drive is in good health. The folder that it's in is compressed using Windows's auto-compression feature, and when removed, the glitchy aspects are still visible. I haven't noticed this before on compressed or uncompressed files.
Is this an issue with my hard drive or is it a side effect of the compression?

[Industrial Republics]

It ain't pirating. You're using the install media from Microsoft, you're just tricking it into thinking it's properly licensed.

It's still pirating. Pirating is the unauthorized use or access of software or services. While you may have got the installer for free. It's still unauthorized without a valid license. Tricking to think it's properly licensed when you don't have a license is piracy.

Blah blah blah, I'm sure Microsoft would rather you use their product whether it is "pirated" or not. Locking you into their ecosystem makes it much more likely you will spend money at some point on their services, or work somewhere that does pay for those services because it is what you're used to working with.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

So, I was going through some of the files on my secondary hard drive when I noticed what looks to be corruption on some PNG images. For example, the following album cover:

(Image)

Compared to the clean image pulled from online:

(Image)

The file is only 5 months old and CrystalDiskInfo says the drive is in good health. The folder that it's in is compressed using Windows's auto-compression feature, and when removed, the glitchy aspects are still visible. I haven't noticed this before on compressed or uncompressed files.
Is this an issue with my hard drive or is it a side effect of the compression?

Are you sure that isn't just the thumbnail version?

[Cekoviu]

So, I was going through some of the files on my secondary hard drive when I noticed what looks to be corruption on some PNG images. For example, the following album cover:

(Image)

Compared to the clean image pulled from online:

(Image)

The file is only 5 months old and CrystalDiskInfo says the drive is in good health. The folder that it's in is compressed using Windows's auto-compression feature, and when removed, the glitchy aspects are still visible. I haven't noticed this before on compressed or uncompressed files.
Is this an issue with my hard drive or is it a side effect of the compression?

Are you sure that isn't just the thumbnail version?

Nope, that's the full image. It's slightly cropped from the original, mind you, but it's the actual image as displayed in the stock image viewer.

[Tekania]

It's still pirating. Pirating is the unauthorized use or access of software or services. While you may have got the installer for free. It's still unauthorized without a valid license. Tricking to think it's properly licensed when you don't have a license is piracy.

Blah blah blah, I'm sure Microsoft would rather you use their product whether it is "pirated" or not. Locking you into their ecosystem makes it much more likely you will spend money at some point on their services, or work somewhere that does pay for those services because it is what you're used to working with.

"Blah, blah, blah" It's piracy, child.

[Minoa]

Are you sure that isn't just the thumbnail version?

Nope, that's the full image. It's slightly cropped from the original, mind you, but it's the actual image as displayed in the stock image viewer.

If that disk was responsible for messing up with the file, then I would not trust that disk and replace it. 1TB drives are now well below £50.

As a general note to everyone, I personally destroy the disk platters before disposing it.

[Cekoviu]

Nope, that's the full image. It's slightly cropped from the original, mind you, but it's the actual image as displayed in the stock image viewer.

If that disk was responsible for messing up with the file, then I would not trust that disk and replace it. 1TB drives are now well below £50.

As a general note to everyone, I personally destroy the disk platters before disposing it.

Alright. I'm broke as a joke right now so I can't afford a new one, but I've moved parity files onto a separate trusted drive and raw backups onto a third, so that should keep me safe for now.

[Industrial Republics]

Blah blah blah, I'm sure Microsoft would rather you use their product whether it is "pirated" or not. Locking you into their ecosystem makes it much more likely you will spend money at some point on their services, or work somewhere that does pay for those services because it is what you're used to working with.

"Blah, blah, blah" It's piracy, child.

Resorting to insults is a good tactic. You should keep using it.

[Cisairse]

My first three laptops lasted five to seven years before they failed. My two recent laptops have lasted less than two years. The most recent, a hewlett packard has failed in less than a year.

As it is still under warranty they are repairing the failed harddrive for free. I asked for the old drive back but they say it is their property and it would cost me £50. Grasping cunts.

I recommend sticking to Thinkpads then. I haven't yet been able to actually break any Thinkpad I've owned (most recently a 2015 Thinkpad Yoga 3) and I put my computers through serious abuse.

[Cisairse]

So I was looking for case ideas for my hypothetical replacement build, and I ran into this.

I... just... why?

The price is absurd, but I am somewhat fond of the design.

It ain't pirating. You're using the install media from Microsoft, you're just tricking it into thinking it's properly licensed.

It's still pirating. Pirating is the unauthorized use or access of software or services. While you may have got the installer for free. It's still unauthorized without a valid license. Tricking to think it's properly licensed when you don't have a license is piracy.

Not really. The legal definition of piracy is related to copying, not use. The proper term for this sort of thing is cracking.

[Vassenor]

So what I'm learning is that I am either insane or just have no sense of aesthetics.

Not that the planned build itself is any good.

[Minoa]

Whatever it is called, it is not an option for running an operating system on a host machine.

To be honest, my opinion of Windows 10 is already on very very very shaky ground, due to the fact that I cannot disable those darn consumer experiences in Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro: some will already know that I use computers for actual work and not wasting time in some social media or first-person shooter, and that means that in my opinion, Windows 10 Enterprise is the only option for me.

I feel that any licensing deal by Microsoft for Enterprise will be tons better than the high costs of getting upgrades for Windows 7 after 14 January 2020. If I recall correctly, it is $50 for support during 2020, $100 for 2021, and $200 for 2022.

After 2022, it is unlikely that Microsoft will care if Windows 7 capitulates to any major flaw that the security researchers find, and with the state of the internet extremely volatile, connecting any kind of end-of-life software to the internet requires enough vigilance to negatively affect productivity.

The other option is to leave Windows entirely, but that is uncharted territory since a number of programs that I use only works on Windows. I know of the WINE project, but when it comes to full compatibility, it can be a hit and miss depending on what DLL library the program needs.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

I just hope a startup will come along and disrupt the operating system market with a new OS.