Automatic updates

You can change your updates from automatic to install what you want.  This tutorial is for the people who want to change their settings.

First click on the start icon (multicolored flag) on lower left side of the screen.  Then click on CONTROL PANEL on the lower right side of the start dialog box.   Next click on the multicolored shield called SECURITY CENTER.   The icons are arranged alphabetically.   There are four choices.  First is FIREWALL, you want this one.   Second is  AUTOMATIC  UPDATING,  you click on this one and chose something that states download buy let me choose which to install.   There is a list of change settings. YOU can choose what you feel is best for you.  A person will get all kind of verbal crap from MS about how that is altered but just ignore it.   The third choice is MALWARE PROTECTION, I have that on.  The last is OTHER SECURITY SETTINGS, I have that clicked on.    You get all kind of things from MS and you can decide what you need.    If you install one at a time, then go and see if it has done anything negative to your computer you can uninstall it.  It takes a while but for me it is worth the hassle.  

My brother in law Bill says all the constant updating of programs that are working fine causes a problem that the geeks call "bleeding around the edges."   So the philosophy is  if it is not broke don't fix it.   New and improved does not mean better.

Yet another thing.

Since I am on a rant.   I am displeased with MS Automatic Updates.   On March 6th one appeared that had something to do with "video" in the title.  This is another instance of MS choosing what to do with my computer.  After it was installed I could not view pictures in other peoples journals.  I was miffed.   I like those pictures, and I look forward to to seeing them.   So I tried to do a SYSTEM RESTORE; which will take you back to a previous time.  This is a bit complicate so I won't go into the procedure;  well, the damn thing failed.  This required attention beyond the novice.  I had to call for tech support.   The tech support of ACER actually had, I know you will find this extremely hard to believe, a person who native language is ENGLISH.   My day was made........The solution to this enigma was to start it in safe mode (another story) and do the system restore in SAFE MODE.  Another computing success story for Claudia.  I know this will be temporary and a fleeting repair because those particular gremlins in the hard drive will appear in an other form to bedevil me at some later date and time.    I can see your pictures.   TA DA.

Another thing I read that Vista is coming out with a SERVICE PACK , which is to improve the security of their initial offering of VISTA.   Well there are a lot of things that won't run after installation of the service pack.   A lot of security programs and the new from the NY Times.     Arghhhhhhhhhh.

What I really hate !!!!!!!

I am irked again.   On the last entry the pictures are gone.   Since I had cut and pasted it from an email and the pictures were there yesterday, my problem is where did they go and how do I get them back????????    Although the pictures were not germane to the content of the posting,  I hate blank spaces where things are suppose to be....

On another note,  since I purchases this new computer with the much heralded , freaking, VISTA.  (SOMETHING THAT DID NOT NEED TO BE CHANGED)   I HAVE BEEN UNHAPPY WITH THE CLICKING ON THINGS THAT YOUR MOUSE HOVERS OVER  WHEN JUST ROLLING OVER THE SCREEN.

I personally do not watch where the mouse goes, and it is always popping up things I had no intention of reading.  Most of it was annoying advertisements anyway.    WELL, I have solved that particular  annoyance.

If anyone out there is irate because of this feature, here is how to fix it.    Go to CONTROL PANEL (CLASSIC VIEW)  Click on the Mouse icon.   Click on DEVICE SETTINGS  then again click on the new SETTINGS  button.    Then go down the list to TAPPING  and a colorful box will appear with a colorful icon of a fingerprint and box next to it that says ENABLE TAPPING.   Well, all you have to do is uncheck the little checked box and hit OK.   Why does Microsoft feel the need to select our wishes.   I am willing to bet that most of the people who own VISTA do not want this feature.   Give me a break Bill Gates, ask the real people who use your product, not the software designers what they think we want.

 

Can you pass this test, I can't

I'd probably still be in the 8th grade if I'd had to take this exam!!!   Boy!! what an eye opener this is....   Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education?  Well, check this out. - - -  This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS and reprinted by the Salina Journal.  8th GRADE FINAL EXAM Grammar (Time, one hour)  1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.  2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.  3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.  4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb. Give Principal Parts of lie, lay and run  5. Define Case, Illus trate each Case.  6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.  7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)  1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.  2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?  3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs. for tare?  4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?  5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.  6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.  7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft . long at $20 per meter?  8 Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.  9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?  10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt. U. S. History (Time, 45 minutes)  1. Give the epochs into which U. S. History is divided.  2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus .  3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.  4. Show the territorial growth of the United States .  5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas .  6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.  7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell , Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?  8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865. Orthography (Time, one hour)  1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?  2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?  3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, sub vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?  4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.  5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.  6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.  7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup  8. Mark diacritica lly and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.  9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.  10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication. Geography (Time, one hour)  1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?  2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?  3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?  4. Describe the mountains of North America .  5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall &Orinoco.  6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.  7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.  8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?  9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.  10. Describe the m ovements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth. Also notice that the exam took five hours to complete.  Gives the saying 'she/he only had an 8th grade education' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?  What happened to us?  It is kind of humbling, isn't it ?

I hate winter

I think this was taken at State College PA.   But, I don't remember for sure.  

I am living in a house of pestilence.  Last weekend Chuck got sick and then on Monday Emily became sick also.   It starts out with a sore throat, then coughing, nasal congestion, etc.  You know the routine.      Yesterday Emily sounded really bad, so off to Urgicare.   She has a family doctor but a person can not get an appointment when needed.    "WE can see you next week Mrs Jones...."   Honestly, a person could be dead or better by then.   The family practice people really hate the "Doc in a Box" practices.    Honestly, we went, she signed in, and was seen in 15 minutes.   It is billed as an office visit as opposed to an ER visit and we were out in forty five minutes.      She also has bronchitis.   She got a nebulizor treatment and then we were gone. 

Emily works two part time jobs and no provided health insurance.    Highmark Blue Cross/ Blue Shield has a program called "Special  Care"  You are allowed four visits a year and it doesn't pay for any medications.   It will cover emergencies, and surgery things.   At the Urgicare we talked to the nurse practitioner and she wrote two scripts for generic  Rx and gave us a coupon for a free Albuterol Inhaler.    Emily got fixed up for $16.    This is good if you are young, healthy and do not take medication.    She is feeling a little better today, and is currently asleep.

I have decided I am ready for spring.  I am glad I do not live in Northern PA or Norther Ohio.  Because I have heard that they are expecting 20 inches of snow.  That is 20 more than I care to see.   We are expecting a few inches, which is also a few too many.

I haven't written to much lately, I have been spending my time trying to avoid getting what the others have.  That is a full time activity.   I hope I succeed  but I am not counting on it.

 

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Maturation

As I've Matured     Click here to the left

Link to Allegheny River Trip

"If it were not for hopes, the heart would break."
Thomas Fuller

"Heroes are created by popular demand, sometimes out of the scantiest materials, or none at all."
Gerald W. Johnson

http://www.pittsburghquarterly.com/pages/winter2008/large.html   If you have to to look at scenes of the Allegheny River in Western P click on this link.