8.1 just for fun

[TechnoMage]

I was right with you, till you mentioned Google Chrome! I've had to remove that POC from many of my customer's PC's. It had crawled in, like a typical Virus, and tried to take over, and the poor PC owner had no idea what it was, or where it came from. They sure as heck didn't ask for it. I won't allow that thing anywhere near my PC.
I stopped reading at that point.

My CLEAN install is still a work in progress. Today, I found where Firefox hides its saved 'Log Ins' and Passwords, and I was able to copy those two files from my old SSD to my new SSD.

To get any OS back to where I like it, requires dozens of little tweaks, and I've been tweaking and tuning all day. But what else is a retiree going to do?
Right now my new and improved Windows 8.1/Pro/64 is really looking Good!

Cheers mates,

Happy 4th!

 

[spapakons]

Google Chrome often installs along with other software as an offer. I hate it when I have a couple of tabs open and Chrome has over ten instances loaded in Task Manager draining my computer resources. For a full recovery of Firefox from backup see my previous post.

 

[TechnoMage]

One of my favorite programs to add to a new OS install, is "Super Anti Spyware". But it has one drawback when you install it, there is an option BOX that you have to UNCHECK, to keep it from installing Chrome. I learned my lesson..... I always UNCHECK that one box now, on every install.

 

[spapakons]

When installing any software I prefer the custom installation so I can change the default location if needed and also control what is getting installed. I make sure to uncheck any unwanted software.

 

[TechnoMage]

I don't care about the location, , , I just don't want no CRAP installing along with the program that I'm trying to get. Remember.... "Minus crud is cool!"

Just for fun: Today I pulled the new Crucial 500GB SSD from my bedroom PC and installed it into a similar PC that I keep in my living room, just as a spare.
So now my SSD with my Windows 8.1/Pro/64 on it, is alive and well in an Acer Aspire AX-1200, instead of the HP Slimline that I've been using for several years.
I've been having some weird problems that I attributed to the old motherboard in the HP.
The transplant went off without a hitch, and after just a few short minutes of Win-8.1 installing drivers for the new PC, it took off and ran like a Champ!
I'm on it now, and if anything, it seems to be a little faster. Both PC's have AMD Athlon CPU's but I think the one in this Acer is a little bit faster. Both PC's are Dual Core with 4GB of DDR2 ram.
I can't find the Made-On date, but his little Acer originally came with Windows Vista and Office 2007 on it. That's at least a clue to its age. (possible first date available 2009)

I'm still just having FUN with this great little PC.

Y'all have a great day now,
TM

 

[spapakons]

Even if drivers were installed automatically, I would manually download and install the latest graphics drivers to make sure I get the best performance of the computer.

 

[TechnoMage]

OH, it got the correct driver! No problem there! Don't mess with success!

 

[TechnoMage]

Now, it's a month later, and my little PC with 8.1 on it is still running just great, with Zero Problems.
I did some tweaking and tuning on Firefox and greatly improved my Internet performance.
I recently downloaded Windows 11 in less than a half hour. Not bad for this little, OLD, PC.

Cheers Mates!
TM

 

[Teeotsa]

Now, it's a month later, and my little PC with 8.1 on it is still running just great, with Zero Problems.

Of course it will, why shouldn't it? Great operating system

I'd use my Windows 8.1 tablet but these days it's pretty much impossible. This modern web stuff is just too much for it.

 

[TechnoMage]

Continuing with my hobby of trying out new versions of OS's, I just recently downloaded the October version of Windows 8.1/Pro/64.
Then burned it to a Flash Drive, using Rufus.
I connected one of my spare HD's to my main PC and installed the new version of 8.1 to it.
The install went off without any problems at all. It was the Perfect Install.
I've seen no changes in the program from previous versions. As I expected, it just runs great!
However, I'm almost certain that there have been some bug fixes or tweaks to the CODE to make it either safer or more efficient.

Cheers Mates,
TM

 

[TechnoMage]

Once again, still having fun, I pulled the little 160GB spinner out of my Acer Aspire ONE, Netbook, and plugged it into my big Desktop PC, with a Gigabyte Mobo, 8GB of ram and an AMD 6 core cpu.
On boot up, the little spinner with Windows 8.1/Pro/x86 on it, started installing drivers and making itself at home.
Shortly, it came up and said "HI". With the adjustments complete, it came up and ran just like a Clean Install.
Now that little spinner has found a new home, in a spare drive bay, in my Mid-Tower, Pac Man case. I'll plug it in and run it every once in a while just to keep it all up to date, just in case I need it some day.
One more success..... JUST FOR FUN!

TM

 

[TechnoMage]

I've looked, and I can't find the Windows XP forum, so I'll put this here, since my main OS is Windows 8.1.

While playing with my old 60GB IDE drive with Win-8.1 on it, I noticed another IDE drive laying nearby. What could possibly be on that drive? So I hooked up that drive to my little ol' eMachine and turned ON the power. WOW! It booted up to Windows XP Professional.
I only vaguely remember even installing that, some time ago. Everything was working except for the Internet Connection. The little Internet icon in the system tray had a big red X on it. When I queried that connection it told me, "Cable not plugged in" or something like that. BS! The cable WAS plugged in and had been working just fine on Windows 8.1 a few minutes earlier.
So, I had this WiFi USB dongle laying nearby (Airlink 101, 300N) and I plugged it into a front panel USB port. It flashed a few times and went ON-LINE. WOW! I really didn't expect that.
I spent the next hour re-familiarizing myself with the OS that I've not used for many years now, since Windows 7 came on the scene.
AS Microsoft OS's go, it really wasn't all that bad. At the time, we all thought it was the cat's meow. I had quite a few Tweaks and Utilities for it, that I still have on my Utilities disk. While I was at it, I set up Outlook Express and sent an email to a friend.
It was really fun, playing with such an old OS again.

Happy Thanksgiving,
TM

 

[Bree]

It was really fun, playing with such an old OS again.

If you think that was fun/nostalgic then you should try Win'95 or WfW 3.11. I have both running as VirtualBox VMs, networked and everything.
On another machine I have XP, win7, Win 8.1 Hyper-V VMs. They can all see each other and their shares.

 

[TechnoMage]

My first Microsoft OS was DOS 2.0, I upgraded, upgraded, and upgraded till I finally got to MS DOS 6.22. I remember getting DOS upgrades on 3.5" Floppy Disks. I could just do so much with DOS 6.22.
I got a copy of the early Windows, before Windows 95, and I screamed, "WHY?". It seemed so lame. Even Windows 95 was such a real POS.

I worked in a little Printer/typewriter repair shop and my boss thought I should learn Windows 95 so he signed me up for a course in it at the local Community Education. I was working with it every day in the shop, so I was way ahead of the old lady teaching the course.
I finally dropped out of that course. Then he wanted me to take a course in Microsoft Word. Same thing happened....I was way ahead of the teacher. I wound up teaching "Basic Computer Concepts" at that same Community Education Dept, for three semesters.
Most of my students were over 65 yrs old. It was a real Blast!

So I have no real desire to mess with any OS older than XP. That's the version of Windows where I really learned how to Tweak and Tune an OS for maximum efficiency/performance. And, it was somewhere around then that I discovered the Internet forum "Lockergnome". I still have several good friends, that I first met on the 'Lockergnome' forum.

And the rest is just history.

Happy Holidays!
TM

 

[Bree]

...I got a copy of the early Windows, before Windows 95, and I screamed, "WHY?". It seemed so lame. Even Windows 95 was such a real POS....

....I have no real desire to mess with any OS older than XP. That's the version of Windows where I really learned how to Tweak and Tune an OS for maximum efficiency/performance.

My first career was as an electronics engineer. When I got my first PC on my desk it was running Windows 3.1, then shortly after got upgraded to Windows for Workgroups 3.11. I got really proficient at tweaking it for maximum available memory, with EMM386 and loading drivers high. I soon became the informal 'go to' person in my department for PC support.

Then I switched careers to become an IT support engineer, joining a small IT support company, I specialised in server administration and desktop support for Microsoft OS's. During that time Windows '95 was launched. IMHO '95 was the first Windows that was half way usable, being the first to have a Start button and a Taskbar. My company sent me on training courses and I have passed a number of Microsoft MCP exams for both server and workstation OS's. By the time I retired from IT support NT 4.0 for the servers and Windows 95/98 on the desktops was the norm for all our big corporate customers.

My WfW 3.11 VM was just a bit of fun/nostalgia and a personal challenge just to see if I could get it to work on the network

My Windows '95 VM is there for more practical reasons. You may be surprised but questions still crop up occasionally on Ten Forums about networking between 95/98 and Win10.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[strollin]

I started working in the silicon valley as an electronics tech in 1975 and by 1984 I was a manager in IBM's disk drive business. I was provided with a PC that I didn't know how to use so it just sat there. One day my boss ordered me to learn how to use the PC so I started playing with it. It was a 2 floppy model with DOS 2.1. I got Lotus 123 and taught myself how to use it to help with budgeting, employee tracking, issue tracking and stuff like that. I became a wiz at both DOS 2.1 and batch files as well as Lotus macros. I became the goto guy among my peers for computer help. I enjoyed working with the PC so much I bought my first home PC.

I wanted to learn more so took a C programming class at the local community college which further piqued my interest. At this time, IBM decided they needed more people with programming skills so I gave up my sr management position and volunteered for a programming bootcamp. It was a very intense course, 6 months, 8-10 hours/day, 5-6 days a week learning to program using 370 Assembler (mainframe). There were 27 of us that started that class, only 9 graduated.

Even though my job involved programming on mainframes, I still hungered to program for the PC. I took more classes at the local community college like 8086 Assembler, Pascal and C++. Eventually, I moved from the mainframe to programming on the PC for IBM's OS/2 operating system. After a few years of that, I left IBM in 1996 and took a software engineer position working with Windows 95. Over the next 23 years I worked doing software development with every Windows OS thru Win 10. I retired in 2019.

A few years back, I created VMs for every MS OS from DOS up thru Win 7 and kept them readily available to be able to answer forum questions and the like. I still have them archived somewhere but haven't booted any of them in a long while.

 

[TechnoMage]

It's funny, but in all the years when I was learning the C-64 and then the IBM PC, I was working 40+ hours a week for several of the world's leading corporations, as an Electronics Tech. So the personal computer was always just a hobby, so to speak. I was occasionally able to use my computer expertise in conjunction with my main employment.

I developed the expertise of an Electronics Engineer, without ever getting the Sheepskin. That greatly limited my ability to make a decent living. And, that also effected the amount of Social Security that I get today.

PC's are still my hobby, and today I have installed and running, on separate HD's, Windows XP, 7, 8.1, 10 and 11. With a little TLC, they all run pretty well.
In any one day, I might go from Windows XP to Win-11. It's all good! I no longer have Windows ME or Vista running on any HD.
Windows for Workgroups 3.11 isn't even a memory, till I'm reminded of it. :ROFLMAO: Yes, I ran it for a while, back in the day.

Anyone familiar with "Concurrent DOS"? (386/486) I worked for a small company that had that OS running on the office network.

Happy Holidays, Mates!
TM

 

[strollin]

Similarly, I started out working as a tech but PCs didn't exist yet so my hobbies were electronics and audio. I worked 40-50 hours a week during the day but also went to school full-time at night. After 6 years of that grueling schedule, I ended up with an AA in Electronics and a BS in Management. That education combination served me pretty well during the rest of my career. I made a decent living and was able to raise 4 children who weren't exactly spoiled but never really went without anything either. My wife and I now enjoy a comfortable retirement with no monetary worries.

PCs are still one of my hobbies but I also like to build projects using SBCs (Single Board Computers) like the Raspberry Pi. I also like to design and print items for 3D printing (I currently have 3 3D printers). My newest 3D printer also has laser cutting and CNC milling capabilities. Another hobby of mine is maintaining my Plex multimedia server where I host 17,000 movies and about 200 TV shows for my friends and family to enjoy. I've got plenty to keep me busy during retirement.

I've heard of Concurrent DOS but never used it or developed for it.

 

[TechnoMage]

Well, it was basically networking for DOS. I never really cared for it myself, and tried to stay as far away from it as I could. I guess that was the beginning of my own dislike for networking. And to this very day, I want nothing to do with it.

 

[strollin]

Are you saying you don't have a router that your various computers connect to for internet access? If you've got a router, you've got a network!