Thank you technical gods for the most trying week in my whole cyber life. Besides the numerous delays in my book launch with files flying back and forth all week, and WordPressblocking me all week from commenting on blogs, and then there was the day I was totally unable to get into my website, I’d really like to thank Windows 10 NOT! for sucking the last ounces of nerves and energy from me this weekend.
Thank you Windows 10 for trying to force-feed your incompatible updates on my poor, defenseless Windows 8.1 operating system ever since I fought you tooth and nail and didn’t allow you to install Windows 10 on that computer. You knew they weren’t compatible with my system but kept sending them anyway. I really appreciate the fact that you corrupted my computer and numerous files shoving your Windows 10 updates onto my Windows 8.1 computer, because you can’t be bothered sending updates for appropriate systems, bullying everyone to change over to your terrible new system. Needless to say, I’ve had no security updates for quite some time due to your negligence, resulting in corrupted and infected files infiltrating silently into my cyber home and workplace. Even my MalwareBytes and heavy-duty antivirus army couldn’t fight you off.
I also wanted to thank you for falling upon me Friday night and through the weekend, a time where I should have been working. I really enjoyed spending 48 hours searching Google, trying to find ‘Windows’ fixes for broken files, that wouldn’t work. I especially enjoyed the most useless pretend help from your master, Microsoft, who apparently, thinks they can push their way into places they’re not invited.
It was very lovely of you to try and push Windows 10 updates into an 8 operating system, so you can ruin computers, so people will have to go buy new ones – with Windows 10 no doubt. Surely that would alleviate any obligation you have to send appropriate updates to servers without Windows 10. By force-feeding Windows 10 down everybody’s throat, you wouldn’t have to come up with updates for every different system, like you used to do before you became the biggest skyjacking greed-monger in the cyber world. And that goes for you also taking over Windows Live Mail and making the most inconvenient email system I’ve ever had to use.
I particularly enjoyed spending Sunday from 9:30 am till 5:30 pm with a tech service I found who crawled inside my computer remotely after I exhausted all of your offered lame fixes from the internet. I also enjoyed paying $250 for this service, at this inopportune time when I’m paying editors, formatters and book designers. Oh, and thanks for making me miss out on going to Word On The Street, a Canadian bookfair I was looking forward to going to for months. Perhaps I was lucky my book files weren’t ready to publish yet so you could tear my last nerve having to spend the weekend with you. You made my week complete!
WordPress spam issues have nothing on you. You take the cake! But thanks for sharing all these life lessons I learned through all my findings. You made me realize how important it is that the next computer I ever buy will be a Mac.
Today I’m sharing a few annoying issues I’ve experienced this week with a couple of technical issues I’ve encountered. One is a #Scam warning, and another is more bad publicity with #Windows 10 and antivirus issues with Kaspersky.
I’ve spent countless hours, disrupting my writing time this week fighting with my antivirus renewal with Kaspersky. My one year subscription had ran out and I purchased a new licence for another year, good for 5 devices.
The installation went smoothly on my other Windows 8.1 computers, even on my older Windows 7 laptop, but the nightmare began with my newer Windows 10 Surface Pro laptop.
After removing the expired antivirus program, preparing to install the new one, the program wouldn’t install on Windows 10. I spent a few hours looking up the potential problems and reading numerous complaints from others on Google who experienced the same problem. I tried several of the fixes offered by Kaspersky, which was eternally time consuming, removing, rebooting, and reinstalling the software program, only having to uninstall over again several times.
After I wasted one complete day, I called their support. They went over the same things I’d already done, then sent me an email with another fix. That didn’t work either. By then I could have punched someone there in the head after going through the same procedures repeatedly to no avail. I asked to speak to someone who knows what they’re doing to fix the darned program. I was told that was a premium service and I would have to pay to have a tech go remotely in my computer to get it working.
I won’t repeat here my reply to that, suffice it to say, I was not pleasant, and I reprimanded the person on the phone for selling antivirus that clearly isn’t compatible with Windows 10, that I had paid for, and sending me around in circles to keep trying new fixes they were emailing me, but I had to pay to someone who knew how to do it quickly.
After threatening them with bad publicity from me, there were more apologies, and another fix that came in the mail yesterday. Once again, I spent a good hour following their instructions, removing programs, cleaning disks, reinstalling and rebooting several times, again, to no avail. I just got finished chewing out another ‘support’ person, who obviously is of no support, letting them know I’m going public with this issue. And so here I am. This is a warning for you Windows 10 users, DoNOT use Kaspersky antivirus for your computers if you value your time, because IT DOES NOT WORK. Or be prepared to lose a week of your life trying.
So, with this said, I currently still have no antivirus on my favorite laptop, and am awaiting, yes, another email fix from this helpful company. If I hadn’t already installed it on my other computers, I’d send it back. As it stands, after several futile hours spent on this shit, I’ll be taking my laptop and the product back to the box store I purchased it at, and tell them to make it work. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.
ADDENDUM: Since the writing of this post. There were two more email requests from Kaspersky, asking me to download files and a lengthy lists of technical things I should do to make THEIR program work. Besides the time factor, I have no clue what half of those instructions even mean. I have since downloaded AVAST antivirus and Malware Bytes. And here was my final response to their last email telling me I didn’t respond to ‘their latest ideas for a fix’.
“I did not respond because I don’t have hours to do the multitude of things you sent me. I am not a technician. Your support is unsatisfactory. You sell products, yet a tech won’t resolve issues immediately. You send us the onus of the work to make YOUR software compatible with our computers. You should be making your software compatible from the get go. I am a writer, I don’t have hours and days to spend to make your product work.
I find it appalling that after all you’ve put me through, someone couldn’t go in remotely and do whatever is necessary without threatening to charge me for it. I am done with your product.
I will be publishing an article about the incompatibility of Kaspersky with Windows 10. Fix your stuff. I don’t have time to fix it for you.”
On another note, I want to warn you all to be very careful with email scams. I had written a post on some scams awhile back HERE. But today, I also received an email from Paypal, alerting me that my account is under suspension.
At first I was concerned about what had gone wrong, worrying about having no Paypal to use with all my author business I use it for. But after my suspect investigation, I smelled another scam. I opened the mail but didn’t click on any links. This scam was better than their previous ones. The Paypal logo was there, and no funny names in the URL. The notice told me I had violated their policies and to rectify, I was to click on the link provided to verify my information.
Everyone who deals with money and credit cards with a company should know those companies and institutions will never ask you for personal information in an email. The notice didn’t even say the usual ‘Hello Deborah’ that Paypal usually states your name in salutation, but merely, ‘Dear Customer’. That was my number one flag.
I was certain it was a scam, but being that Paypal has my credit card number on file, I called support immediately to make sure my account wasn’t compromised. Gratefully, the support girl told me it was a scam, and my account was fine. I shared the email info with her, and she told me the scammers are hoping to get some poor unsuspecting, perhaps tech unsavvy person to click on the link and fill out their account information. And it’s hard for me to believe, but people do this.
The support girl advised me to forward the email to their www.spoof@paypal.com, where I’ve sent a few to in the past. By sending them these emails, it helps them keep on top of the latest scams using their name.
So remember people, you have to be diligent with emails. People are trying to steal from others every day. It’s up to us to do the proper investigations. And if any of these emails are asking for verification on accounts, DO NOT ever email back any information. Either go to that website direct and sign in to your account and see if there is personal mail to your from that company, or better yet, just pick up the phone and call direct before you even think about replying to these scammers.
I recently got a nice gift from my hub; something I’ve been wanting for the past year – a new Microsoft Surface Pro 3, 12 inch laptop, complete with the new Windows 10 operating system.
I’d been wanting a smaller laptop that offered a more compact size, could be used as a tablet, and that worked with lightening speed with a great SSD hardrive, that could be great for multi-tasking. I’d say it’s like a portable desktop that weighs just under two and half pounds with the fabulous detachable Bluetooth keyboard.
These laptops don’t come cheap and I’ve been keeping my eye out on them at various stores for the past year, waiting to see if there would eventually be one on sale. With a sticker price that I found shocking of almost $1100, and that was without the $159 keyboard cover, the $59 stylus pen, the $69 Office Word software, the $59 Bluetooth mouse, or even the 13% tax that would then get added to that large number, bringing the total to just around the $1700 mark, I find that steep. I wasn’t prepared to spend that kind of money on a laptop I wasn’t in need of, but thought it would sure come in handy for traveling or even just taking it with me in a large purse anywhere I’d like to.
I read tons of reviews from many tech and geek sites about this machine to learn about the pros and cons, and it’s been getting predominantly great press. Since I was in no hurry to buy one, I kept my eye on sales, expecting the best ones to come just before school started or perhaps Christmas.
Recently, I’ve read a few blogs from other writers who were using an older version of Windows, from XP to 7 to 8 and 8.1, who had opted to take advantage of the time limited free upgrade to Windows 10 that kept popping up on their screen for a free download. The feedback wasn’t so positive. Apparently, changing your current operating system to a newer one had messed up a lot of files and sent many people running to their local geeks and repair shops. This scared me enough to decline the free upgrade on my not so old desk and laptop installed with 8.1, which I cursed the day I got them, but have since fallen in love with.
When I remember back to all the computers I’ve had, I was happy with all Windows operating systems I used, eventually. My first desktop had Windows XP. My first laptop had Windows 7. I wanted one while Vista came out and heard nothing but problems, so I waited it out until Windows 7 came along. When I finally had to lay my old desktop to rest, the new Windows 8 was out, and I was forced to join the ranks of many unhappy users. From the time I ordered that slim-lined desktop until 3 weeks later when it came, Windows 8.1 was already out. The word was 8.1 was way better than 8, so I installed it on my desktop. I was not a happy camper learning a very different operating system with 8.1, and I cursed that baby for weeks, in frustration of having to look all over the place to get where I needed to on the screen. Many people complained about 8 and 8.1 and the charms on the sidebar and all the tiled metro apps on the middle of the screen. But I was enjoying the touchscreen aspect of it, and after a few months I loved it and then got a new laptop with 8.1, which is my current laptop for the past year and a half. After hearing a lot of horror stories from writers who’ve upgraded to Windows 10, I didn’t even want to try it. I’m one who prefers a new system to be out for awhile before I’ll think about buying it, so I can get some feedback.
Yes, that’s my reflection in the screen.
As I kept my eye on the Surface Pro 3 and school time was approaching, my favourite home shopping network was offering a one day special on it, pre-installed with Windows 10. Although I’d have preferred to wait for the kinks to get ironed out with Windows 10 before buying a laptop with the new system, I was a little more comfortable knowing that the new operating system came already installed and that I wouldn’t have to upgrade and screw up any existing files. This beauty was on sale for just under $1100 complete, with all the added items and software I mentioned earlier as extras, plus tech support for one year, plus on a monthly payment plan with no interest. It was like Christmas for me!
Microsoft says this new system is similar to the Windows 7 that was loved by many. I find it a little like 7 and 8 combined. The desktop apps are now back in the bottom left corner where the start menu is once again. Little mini tiles will also open to the apps you use most, but your desktop and icons are all clearly visible, and of course the touchscreen capability is a great thing to have. The hybrid laptop/tablet has a full-size data port to plug in other devices, and a space for a micro SD card to add more space, should you require it. The screen is vibrant and pages load quick. The camera is 5mp front and back, giving it the ability to take nice pictures and not distort your face for selfies and Skyping. The keyboard is backlit and even though smaller than a regular laptop, my fingers don’t feel like they’re going to hit the wrong key because of its size. I personally hate the trackpads on all laptops because I always seem to hit it while typing and it does weird things to whatever I’m working on, so the Bluetooth mouse is perfect as I shut off the trackpad and don’t have to use up a data port for the mouse.
A Word about Word
My package came with Office 2013. I can honestly say I don’t plan to write my books with this laptop, but I need the program in order to read existing documents in Word and Excel. I’ve been using Word 2007 for years and I love it. I’m used to it and not interested in the last two updated versions. Another thing about my Word 2007, an never-ending licence came with my Windows 7 laptop years ago and I’ve been using it on every new computer since, without having to renew the program annually. So when 2013 licence expires next year, I’ll be putting back my 2007 version on my little buddy.
It’s only been just over a week since I got my new hybrid. It didn’t take me more than a few hours to learn the ins and outs and most of its capabilities, and set it all up. So far, I have to say I’m quite impressed with it, even though I found myself missing 8.1 a few times with it’s search feature in the charm sidebar now gone. For some untechier people, I should think Windows 10 should be easier to operate than 8 or 8.1, especially if your coming from Windows XP or 7. I’d have to say that buying a new computer with Windows 10 pre-installed would be less of a hassle to users than upgrading a current system, especially if it’s an operating system pre Windows 8. And if you’re not in the market to be buying a new machine in the near future, maybe it’s better to wait until this new system has been out for awhile before upgrading. Keep in mind, Windows 8.1 came out very shortly after 8, so there may be a 10.1 before we know it.
I’m no geek, but I thought I’d share my experience about the new Windows 10 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. Have any of you had any positive experiences with Windows 10?
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