Bullying security?

Online security is a very good thing. Of course.

I'm regularly consulting websites that momentarily stop my connection with Cloudflare or some Captcha, but I can eventually connect to the website I want to consult.

Okay... my computer is old. It is. But it works, and I'm not in the mood to toss it in the bin just because the Microsoft IT boys have come up with a new OS (10 and 11 suck, by the way - sorry, but no longer being able to get rid of auto-arrange with the tiny hack that was found by accident is either a stupid mistake or plain sadism).

A few days ago, I wanted to buy a ticket to go to the Louvre. I went to ticketlouvre.fr as usual, and then I got an "Error 15" from Imperva. 'Perhaps it's a glitch,' I thought; I tried again the next day - same issue.

So I sent an SOS to the Louvre. All my browsers are updated and the weird part is that I can't even go through with Tor.

So, what's the logical conclusion? My OS is the issue.

Is the Louvre going to do something? Is Imperva going to do something, like whitelisting my IP? I don't know.

I'm not the only one with an old OS, and if patrons can't buy tickets because they've got old computers, it's a pity.

If I were the one paying Imperva (probably a lot, by the way), I wouldn't be happy to read that some customers are prevented from giving me money... but that's me.

Perhaps old OS owners aren't important enough.

I'm really not a happy bunny (and this circus made me appreciate Cloudflare and Captcha a lot more). Sorry about the growl.

Flurching technology!

Feel free to skip this growl, but I need to growl...

 

I use Thunderbird to send my e-mails because I've got a dozen different addresses on different platforms and I'm not going to connect to each address in the morning to check my messages.

Now... I don't know if the fact that I still use ADSL is the issue, if it's Thunderbird that's hiccoughing, or if it's Gmail that blew a fuse, but I've been having odd issues recently:

- sometimes I have to send my message from a different address if I add an attachment to an answer (I can't always change the address; that's okay with friends and family, not with co-workers).

- sometimes the message I'm typing isn't saving to the draft folder (I've had to copy my text, abandon the modifications, close/re-open Thunderbird, and start my message again).

- sometimes I send a message, but the SMTP connection closes and the message doesn't leave my inbox OR sometimes it does, but it says it didn't, which is why I started adding one of my addresses in BCC to make sure that the e-mail was sent.

And we come to last night... I was answering someone for work (but not a fellow) and that person has been helping me a lot. When the draft-saving failed, I copied my text, closed everything and re-opened Thunderbird. I restarted the message, added my backup address in BCC, and clicked "Send".

Thunderbird told me that sending failed - I got no message to my backup address and even connected to that account to make sure that it was empty, and it was.

It's a very important answer, so I connected to Gmail. There's nothing in the "Sent" folder, but my answer (and its attachment) shows with the initial message that's still in the inbox. Still no trace of my answer on the backup address.

I had an issue like this a few weeks ago: my answer wasn't in the "Sent" folder, but one of my colleagues got my answer nonetheless.

If the message reached my correspondent, I can hope that I'll get a confirmation that my attachment was received, but it's Sunday and not everyone's glued to their keyboard...

If the message is lost, I'm going to look like a muppet when I send a new message to inquire/apologise tomorrow.

Flurching technology!

Legacy Twitter 2020

Because of the time difference between me and Twitter HQ, I briefly hoped that my lovely Pale Moon might help me keep the look of my Legacy Twitter... I was wrong... Sort of because when I log in, it shows my usual background for a second, before Twitter forces its ugly UI on me.

I can't work with their horrid interface. It literally hurts my eyes.

I don't know how long it's going to work, but with Firefox, you can somehow restore Legacy Twitter thanks to the instructions there. And you can add some Stylus for good measure.

I'll stay around as long as I can protect my eyes, but I'll log off when some arrogant sociopath at Twitter decides to counter-code the tweak I just found. Merlin! This really feels like an abusive relationship: 'I know what you need, you're going to do as I say, and I'm right. Shut up and roll over.'.

Sheesh!

Blogger Not Sending E-mail Notifications

The site seems to be having issues with sending notifications when there's a new comment on a post (apparently it started on May 25th, and the issue is still plaguing some accounts).

One possible trick whilst we wait for Google to locate the ball it dropped is to post a comment on a new post and choose the "Follow-up comments will be sent to" option. 

It's far from being ideal, but it helps...

Nasty Week

There's nothing tragic or final, but my stress-o-meter went up a notch this week.

I know it's for silly reasons, but when you're fighting PTSD, a grain of sand can feel like a boulder.

There are three things that bugged me:

1) My bank:

A few months ago, they'd tried to make me pay a fee for a service that I've had for years. I told them I was refusing to pay their fee because it wasn't in my initial contract and I got my money back.

End of story?

Of course not. 

The fee was back this week, so I had to contact my bank again, but, this time, I was told that I must trade the service I had for something else, or I must pay the fee. I caved and agreed to have the new service (because I've got better things to do than fight them on this), but I demanded my money back. I'm still waiting - and it bugs me.

2) Twitter (and Fox):

The way things trend there are too cryptic for my taste. I did some research, and the way they (try to) explain their algorithm is messy. I can understand that the name of a singer with too many overenthusiastic fanatics is not trending worldwide day in, day out, but a brand new hashtag to try and save a TV show disappearing after a day whilst I can see new people still tweeting about it... I find it odd, to say the least - all the more since another hashtag to try and save another show was still trending two days after it started (I'm talking about #SaveLucifer and #SaveB99).

I'm bugged because one of the things I use to control my stress is good shows, and I fell in love with Lucifer; it's well-written, consistent (a bloody miracle on American telly, where shows tend to not always follow the story's bible), intelligent, fun, and entertaining. Fox deciding to pull the plug on it shows their stupidity (then again, I was always surprised that they produced a series where Lucifer's the hero).

3) Twitter (and a lying, fascist politico):

This morning, I saw a retweet with comment where the initial tweet shows a politico who'd just angled a small shark.

I briefly considered reporting the tweet, but didn't:

a) even though I do believe that the shark is way more useful than the biped holding it on a ship's deck, what the biped did is not illegal (immoral, yes).

b) since the politico is a big name (Merlin know why, coz he's a deplorable waste of skin), I knew that Twitter would do flurch all because of their "it's newsworthy" smokescreen (either they approve, or they're just spineless).

I think I'm going to turn these into plot bunnies. After all, this is another trick I use to control my stress.

Hacked! [The "Take Me for a Trout" Edition]

So... after yet another phone call to try to solve the issue mentioned here, I finally talked with someone who admitted that the e-mail account has been hacked.

Since the exact same day, a lot of people have been complaining of the exact same issue, buuuuuuuuut... our provider says that it's our fault. Yea. Of course, the whole lot of us... from the same moment.

When I mentioned the possibility that they had been hacked to the IT bloke, he went "No, Ma'am! That's absolutely impossible!". Yea... but back in September, they had to admit that they'd been targeted. Why wouldn't it be the same this time??? "No, Ma'am! That's absolutely impossible!"

Whatev'.

There's no shame in being targeted by criminals, and since it took them thirteen days to admit that the account had been hacked, I'm not inclined to believe them about the origin of the hacking - sorry, guys!

Now, the next stupidity from them (unless the IT person who's going to read our online SOS/message does not have soup between the ears) is going to be the hopping through loops to get control of the account again. It really looks like DIY à la MacGyver to have to send a registered letter with proof of identity and new address because the "old" account (that they fucking have in their archives as the original e-mail account with the "old" address on file) is not fully linked to the new account. "We've got everything, but we're going to make you suffer whilst we're the ones with two left hands."

I hope to deal with someone with more than three brain cells in the box above its shoulders...

I'll keep you posted...

See you next year! ^_^

Of Internet Plonkers

My family's Internet provider is usually rather good, but for a fortnight, it's been a festival of idiocies.

First, someone called my mother (400 miles away from my flat, with a different name, and a different address) in order to talk about my connection. [Oops 1]

Then, Mother could no longer access her e-mail address (that started on the 17th, and it seems that her mailbox is far from being the only one).

I phoned them several times.

[First try] Girl 1: there's a big issue with a server. The connection will come back.

[Second try - two days later] Boy 1: I don't know what's going on. Send a message to the mail service. 

I did send a message, but since I could see no trace of it on Mother's contact page, I phoned again ->

[Third try] Boy 2: What's your problem? 

I started answering, and he hung up. Frothing at the mouth, I phoned back ->

Boy 3: I can't see your password. I can't tell you if it's been changed (that would have meant that Mother's account had been hacked). If you want me to post you your password, you'll need to send us (by snail mail!!!) a photocopy of a form of ID and of any document proving that your current address is valid because the e-mail address was created when you were living at another address, and it's that one that's still linked to the address.

I blew a fuse.

I told him that he has the "new" (since 2002!) address for the netbox, and he can bloody see the link between the old address (for the e-mail) and the new one (for the netbox and everything else).

I told him that it was a disgrace to have to rely on the post when dealing with an Internet provider (that froze the poor boy on the spot, by the way) and we would not be doing that. He finally suggested that I phone the techs, which is what I did ->

Girl 2: after I explained all the issues, she tried to guide me through the one thing I hadn't tried yet. When that didn't work, she managed to locate the answer from the mail service (that had been sent to the blocked e-mail address - how frigging intelligent), and it turns out that her first colleague was right; they've got a huge server problem.
Or do they? On their forums, they proudly announce that "everything's fine" whilst on other forums you can see dozens and dozens of people complaining (and we know that it's only the tip of the iceberg because not everyone subscribes to a forum to complain (I did not - I just read about their issues).
It seems that many people were hacked, and the provider demands that they explain how they think they got hacked.
Question: if I tell them that I'm convinced that they're the ones who were hacked because all the victims were attacked around the exact same time, are they going to help me?
I'm wasting time because of them, and Mother (I!!!) may have to change her address on quite a few sites if her original address doesn't get e-CPR very quickly.

Fuck! I could bite someone (working for our provider and being a silly plonker).

Whisky. Tango. Foxtrot. (or the Twitter White Background Growly Post)

I've just changed this blog's background colour to make it less aggressive (sorry it took me so long to change it for softer tones!). Pastel pink is better for the eyes (if you want to change things on your own computers), but pastel blue works nicely, too.

Why am I doing this today? Because when I went to Twitter, and I tried to change my settings to bring my wallpaper back, well... it didn't work. I quite like Twitter, but that blinding white background sucks, and I'll log off sine die if that stupidity goes on.

Good news for you, if so... I'll blog a lot more.

I hope the Twitter boys know what they're doing (though I doubt it)...

More Windows 10 (from Afar)

Soooo, I had been growling in advance about Windows 10, but now I'm more and more convinced that I'll have to go look for a small shop where I can have Windows 7 installed on a machine the next time I need a computer because the more I read about 10, the more I want to slap the Microsoft boys (quite possibly with a marble rolling pin).

Some people could say that they have our best interest at heart, but anyone buying that is ready to kiss the bottom of my robes coz I'm the Empress of Mars...

Now I read that you cannot turn off the Windows Update (coz "security" and yada, yada, yada).

Piece of news, boys: I (me, myself, and my Imperial persona) am the BOSS. THE ONE WHO DECIDES. GOT IT? Or is that too much for your three brain cells?

Of course, there seems to be a way to bloody turn Windows Update off (read down the page, there's a trick, and have a look at the comments for an extra tip to not have the thing turn itself back on again), but you know what, boys? Getting a new computer used to be about installing our programmes, customizing the desktop and the style of the files and folder and... basta. Since 8, you need a degree in computer engineering to make the changes, find the hacks and get the computer to do what you want.

I can do it, but not everybody can (Hell! I'm the 'tech' for all my family!).

I know the Microsoft boys (pardon my French!!) don't give a fuck about anything I can say, write, blog about, or growl, but even the average sheeple has a point where a last straw can make it walk away from the cliff.

No one's too big to fail (as people with a brain know), and if it fucking ain't broke, don't fix it.

I have a few months to investigate Linux, too...

Windows 10?

And there's yet another OS coming to the market.

And we've got IT journalists telling us what's new, what's good, what's bad about it.

And we've got muppets commenting on the articles written by the aforementioned journalists and telling us that they've been testing that OS for months, and we should feel honoured to be able to get a new, better OS.

Yea.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Dear Microthingy and Microthingy employees,

here's the list of what I want on my computer:

1 - the ability to customize everything, like we could do with XP, because your pre-made jokes that you call "Customization" just aren't enough for me.

2 - the possibility to DEACTIVATE auto-arrange without needing to install a crack for it. No, boys, you don't know best. I need to be able to put my work files where I want them inside my folders. Alphabetical order doesn't work for me.

3 - the possibility to save my files and create an image for my computer. I know, it's in the machines up to Windows 8. It's with 8.1 that you fucked up on that (I'm not buying an external hard drive to please your bullying tendencies, but be warned that if the lack of image for the system fucks my work computer, I'll get the Voodoo dolls out).

4 - Full compatibility for my old programmes (I've been with you for a long time, don't even try to go 'bohica' on me).

In option:

- the possibility to get rid of the whole "Metro" feeling could be good. You see, I work on my computer, I don't play games or chat or whatever with it, so having all that crap in a sub-folder that I'd never activate would be pretty cool.

Since I'm currently learning to code, I could start thinking that looking at other ways to work on a computer could be a very good idea. You're not too big to fail, guys. Bloody listen to your customers, and don't try to go 'Oh, shinyyyyyyy!' on us.

Whisky, Tango, Foxtrot, Twitter!

A few days ago, I opened my Twitter Home, and instead of being greeted by a lovely photo of Vincent van Gogh's Long Grass with Butterflies, I got blinding white.

Instinctively, I asked a search engine what was going on, and I discovered that Twitter has decided that everybody should have white backgrounds (and some people suppose that's to pave the way for full-page ads).

First, I *am* a creature of habit, and once I've customized something I don't change it often - if at all.

Then, I've been working for years on computers, and back when Microthingy allowed us (with no additional encoding fuss!!!) to customize all the colours on our screens, I'd tested all colours and hues. Though I positively hate that colour, I must say that the best, most soothing choice if you're going to spend hours reading stuff on a screen is pastel pink.

White? Best and quickest way to kill your eyes and get headaches.

So since Twitter started smoking the lawn, each time I want to check my timeline, I hop by "Settings" first, and I (fucking momentarily) bring back my background image... because I like it, and because I don't think the Twitter guys would finance my glasses.

It's bloody annoying to have to change something that I want on my account, but as long as I can do it, I will.

If the collective bunch of arrogant plonkers decide to fully take the option away, I'll log off for good.

I've already seen a few sheeple say, 'But it's free, and they can do what they want with their site.'.

Yea.... And this growling Empress of Mars says that she likes customization more than anything, and Twitter stock may be disappointing to some, but the whole thingy is quite valuable to even more people. They're not providing us with timelines for free; we're having fun, and they're making money.

Big companies have fallen before, because they thought they knew what their audience wanted, and when people complained, they didn't listen.

Guys! You need to pay attention and not think someone died and made you kings.

I would miss Twitter, but I love my eyes a lot more.

Instant Connection - The Anti-Spoiler Edition

Must.

Generate.

Clicks.

(You may replace "Clicks" by "Traffic", "Movement" or "See me, please! See me!")

I've just had the most unpleasant net experience (I can picture the average troll pointing out that I can write what's on my mind [because I can write, I own a computer, and I live in a country where I can publish what I think] and I don't live in a place where I'm bombed, shot at, abducted, or whatever, and so I shouldn't complain).

And I know I'm about to growl because of a bloody detail that's soooo "first world problem" - except that it's not that simple (because what happened  is an important part of my anti-depression safety net).

The thing is... traditional ways to fight against depression aren't working for me, and I had to DIY a way to not blow all my fuses.

A part of my coping technique involves having things (films, series, animes, etc...) to watch: I'm a squirrel for things to watch in the future. My line of thought is: 'If you want to know what happens in Series 2 of XYZ, you've got to be still alive to watch it.'

Incidentally, there are a few things that haven't been produced yet, but that we know will be produced, and these are my "You've got to be alive in 2016". I take one step at a time; I just know how quickly the Void can come back.

There are things I watch as soon as they're released because they're a treat and I need them to fuel my inner balance and make sure that I'll keep the Void at bay.

Now, be ready to pardon my French, but I fucking hate spoilers. It's "funny" because I was talking about spoilers just this week, and I was saying that stating that Hamlet dies at the end of the play isn't a spoiler because the story's been around for centuries and classics are off the potential spoiler list. However, last night's episode of anything is off the menu until people have had the opportunity to catch up - otherwise, you're Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory (the instant version).

Yet... some people seem to be unable to not blab about last night's episode once they have seen it (if you haven't, they cannot understand why you're upset that you were told about a major plot twist). 

And then, there are the media people. The ones who want to be the first ones to talk about the major plot twist because that's going to generate clicks on their links and have their websites get more traffic.

Consideration for the rest of the planet who hasn't seen last night's episode (and who won't be able to watch it for monthS, but who follows them, and thus will get to read the effing spoiler)? Nah... That's so 20^th century!

Now, they've got to behave like the worst tabloid around. 

Check the info before publishing anything? Nope. The info must be out there, from our site, and fuck the consequences.

Avoid publishing spoilers for a few hours (a day, maybe???)? Fuck that! We've watched the show, and everybody should have been in front of the telly then, as well.

That goes in the same twisted bag that wants you to be answering e-mails 24/7 (because sleep, cooking, walking the cat, and Real Life do not happen in today's world).

Just like people cannot let go of their mobiles even when they're dining with friends. If you're not on your phone, too, but are pissed off that the biped in front of you is ignoring you to chat with his cousin on the phone... basically, what's wrong with you?

I love today's technology. 

It's great to be able to phone home and say that the traffic is hellish and the bus is stuck so no one worries. 

It's fascinating to watch a rover land on Mars or watch a play, live from London or Los Angeles, online, or watch a press conference, live as well, from the White House.

It's bloody disappointing when someone behind a group (when it is not their topic of choice at all!), tweets about a spoiler in a series that was broadcast three hours ago - just because that puts their tweet "on the map".

As you can conclude, that just happened to me. I read my Twitter feed, and there I got the mother of all spoilers for tonight's episode (these past weeks, I'd caught the previous night's episode on the iPlayer the next day at breakfast; that was my treat). I'm still going to watch that only in the morning, but now I bloody know who is Missy in Doctor Who (I'm not going to name the happy bunch - probably just the one, though - of wankers that did that; I refuse to acknowledge them from now on).

I unfollowed them, but they won't even notice.

They're a perfect sign of the times: if you don't share the same philosophy about instant connection (and you don't have the same schedule when it comes to what they follow), you're screwed and they don't give a fuck.

Well, they're forever deleted from my world. And that Plonker Award goes to... *drops the trophy into the nastiest garbage can in sight*

**********

PS: I surfed Twitter a bit, and I spotted a few things:
* more idiots retweeting the spoiler just to be sure to not be late to the party
* bipeds inviting the world to watch the show as it's broadcast (promoting piracy, are we? Cos I'm quite sure my nonna couldn't watch it last night in Torino) or avoiding social media. I caught the spoiler on a feed that has NOTHING to do with the BBC, but since I'm a seer I should have known - or I should have turned Twitter off - basically, my friends cannot reach me by tweet so that some adolescent wanker can tweet a massive spoiler? That's giving a pass to uneducated plonkers and punishing the ones who couldn't watch the Beeb last night (sorry, I was working! My bad!)
* a few trolls/wankers rejoicing that the spoiler got out. What's Bedlam number again? I think they need to check a few miserable twats.

I am furious (understatement of the week - if not the month).

SNAFU (Twitter Profile Edition)

After days of not being able to change my Twitter background, I could do it.

I still have my van Gogh (Long Grass with Butterflies - the first van Gogh that I saw for real, and that still has a special place in my lil' heart), but it looks good again.

However... 

Twitter has decided to force all their users in the entire world, all of Twitteropolis, to use their new profile layout.

First... they were raised in a barn (and SUCK at marketing... or think they're too big to fail - erm... MySpace, anyone???).

Then, that thing is one massive 'YUCK!!!': nasty new font, different sizes of tweets according to their so-called 'importance', and no more background photo.

Sorry, boys, but that profile is not me. It doesn't reflect who I am. That looks like a bad copy of Facebook, or Google+ or YouTube.

For once and for all, do read a few books and realize that uniformity is nasty and appeals only to very few people. Even low-tech users are growling right now (I've been monitoring the feed for "new twitter profile" for the past two days, coz reading that I wasn't the only one growling was making me feel better about the change, which I loathe ).

What's going to change? Zilch. Because someone has decided that the change was good and had to be forced down everybody's throats, whether Twitteropolis agreed or not.

I've read an article that compacted Twitter+Facebook into Twacebook. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too nice: it's Twatbook now, coz the Power-That-Be decided to do whatever they want without giving a damn (and believe me, I'm being super polite) about what their users, the people who are incidentally making this thing work, really want.

I can't speak for others, but my Twitter-time has been halved since I discovered my new (unwanted) profile.

Oi, Twitter Twatbook! I hope the bullet in your foot isn't too painful.

No love,

Dru

Bloody Updates (Firefox&Twitter News)

I was quietly planning to have some fun with my future petticoat/skirt for my V&A dress today, but I hadn't counted on adorable [Yes, the Sarc font is firmly ON today, so if you know and love anyone working in IT... Better skip most of this one] IT engineers who seem to think that uniformity is something to look for in computers.

Blah!

I'm rather good with computers, but more and more, I've got to bloody waste hours finding hacks and tricks to fix things.

I'm entitled to growl at Microsoft because I paid for their lousy Windows 8 (still bloody hiccoughing from time to time, and if I meet one of their engineers, the poor thing will be read the riot act in such a way that s/he'll feel like being on the hull of the Enterprise at Warp 9.9!).

The others, I should kindly shut my mouth as they're programmes that can be used for free...

Yes.

I'm happy and grateful for that, but that doesn't mean that I have to be silent and not complain when things aren't good.

First tiny surprise this week: Twitter.

I haven't updated to their new (yuck!!!) profile, but the new layout on the homepage means that the place where my customized Theme background image is tiled shows a bit. Since I'm still a tad OCD, I looked for a better, bigger image to replace the one I've had almost since the creation of my account in 2011, and I did find one! Only to discover that I cannot upload it.

I could change the photo and header in my profile, but my background photo is holding by a pixel. That's not the end of the world.

Yes.

I know.

Ta.

But... it'd be nice to be able to keep the things we like.

Free customization's better (even the silly bunnies over at Google got this since IF you use their browser, you're now allowed to customize your Google Search Homepage again, thanks to an add-on).

So, I'll have to live with a tiling line on my background photo on Twitter... until they decide to force me to use the new layout everywhere on their site.

Don't these engineers know that most people are creatures of habit? Being rhetorical here...

And then... Firefox joined the fun. If one can call that fun, that is.

This morning, I got a message that an update was available, and I clicked "Install". Ah! Great way to spend hours looking for a way to fix the new things I positively HATED.

I knew I had to keep the update for security reasons, but I loathed losing the orange Firefox button, and the way the favourites are displayed in that "Australis" version were bugging me beyond words (and I am not joking).

Merlin be praised, I finally located an add-on that fixes the update's silliness. You can find it here and that allowed me to not go looking for Voodoo dolls to curse someone.

Security and updates, yes, but bloody stop making everything look the same.

And don't forget the cardinal rule: if it ain't broke, don't bloody fix it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There. Off the soap box.

Attempts at Customizing Windows 8 (& a Write-up - with a Growl on the Side)

Most certainly because of a defective fan, my motherboard fried last December, and so I kissed my Windows 7 PC goodbye.

I need a PC for work, so I bought a new one.

My options? Well, any brand I wanted... with Windows 8. No other frigging choice.

A- Thanks a bunch, happy plonkers!

B- Note to people working for Microsoft: always run away from me, I'm a disappointed customer (understatement of the millennium!).

I'm not too bad with computers, and up to last December, it had taken me about two days to customize my computers (95, ME, XP, and 7).

With the new one? That bloody piece of ill-conceived blob is still hiccoughing (weeks after I got it!).

I had to go hunt for things to make the PC workable - *cough* sorta - so I decided to write this post in order to help fellow victims.

Create a restore point before each change, or you may have nasty surprises. That OS is highly unstable and madder than a barmy hatter!

First, no more Classic Menu in 8 (because who needs that when you've got fashionable Metro Start Page? Well, anyone without a bloody touch screen and who's not a teen or an IT fashion victim? Yes, I am going to growl a lot in this post because I'm doing an engineer's work, and not everything is doing what I want. Pretty scam, boys).

I downloaded Classic Shell, and it really does the job. Download, install, and you can customize it quite easily: right-click on the Start button, and choose Parameters.

Since we are now blessed with the Metro nightmare, Microthingy decided that the gadget had to go on the desktop. Since Classic Shell allows you to bypass Metro, you can download 8gadgetpack (I've read some comments saying that this might not be stable, but I've had no issues. Now... make your own choices.

If you want to change the look of icons, you're going to need to download Types. you'll have to change all associations, but it's well worth it.

By then, you'll want to drag your mouse to the right side of the screen in order to wake up the charm bar. Click Parameters and Customization. This is were you'll start crying: Microthingy has decided for us that being able to change and customize all the colours (as it was still possible in 7, where we could customize everything through the Colours advanced parameters) is no longer an option.

I'd better never meet the twat who made that choice because that was quite stupid.

If you still have access to a computer with Windows 7, you save save and import a Theme (that's what I did), but be warned that 8 makes it crash on a regular basis, and you have to resuscitate your chosen Theme.

Good luck with that one!

As well, I could kiss my Windows Live Photo Gallery screensaver goodbye. Bit tough for a creature of habit like me. There's something in the new beast that refuses to have it work...

Go back to the charm bar, Parameters, and this time click "Change PC settings" (down the menu). There, customize to your heart's content.

Next, the games.

Since you have Metro (*gags*), you're supposed to go play games online.

Sorry, creature of habit, and I'm not the only one... because the solution can be found there. Some people don't trust the patch, but I have no problem with it. Once more, make a choice: ChessTitans or Metro crap. As you like it...

Then, PDF files thumbnails. It could be useful to visit this page.

And then the massive thing that was already annoying with 7, that made hundreds of thousands of patrons growl and complain to Microsoft, and the thing that still needs to be dealt with a "crack": auto arrange that can't be turned off.

The file worked with 7, and it still works with 8.

Full explanation here and magic file there. That change saved my sanity back when Microthingy started blowing a fuse.

One last thing: if you want to install an old programme and your 8 is driving you nuts, right-click and install in compatibility mode (it should work for most programmes).

To conclude, yes, 8 is quicker to start and shut down, but I don't need Metro and its stupid screen.

I'm quite unhappy to have lost the ability to customize all the colours in the OS (sorry, boys and gals, but when you work for hours on a computer, white pages just kill your eyes - and I love my eyes).

Basically, I'd have been happier if I could have bought a new computer with 7, but, oh, no... Microsoft think they know what's best for me. That's dreadful marketing, and I tell everybody to cling to their 7 for as long as possible.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go curse a fried motherboard...

Good luck!

PS: even though I turned Microsoft offers off, from time to time, I still get a message asking me to download 8.1. I'm not going to do that because... Well, I cannot trust the upgrade not to frell my poor computer that's already nutty. If you want to get rid of the notification, try this. I dream of being able to downgrade...