Ad Blocker or Not?

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #20 on:** 21 Dec 2023, 11:22 pm »

I switched to pi-hole a number of years ago and am very happy with it. It works on your entire local network since it is not browser-based.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi-hole

JakeJ · « **Reply #21 on:** 22 Dec 2023, 06:31 am »

Yog,
Are you running a Linux OS?

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #22 on:** 22 Dec 2023, 04:03 pm »

Quote from: JakeJ on 22 Dec 2023, 06:31 am

Yog,
Are you running a Linux OS?

Yes. In fact, I gave up on other proprietary operating systems over a decade ago. It just made sense as my entire professional career was supporting Unix-like operating systems and networking.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #23 on:** 22 Dec 2023, 07:52 pm »

What Linux do you suggest for W10 substitute ?

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #24 on:** 22 Dec 2023, 11:10 pm »

Quote from: FullRangeMan on 22 Dec 2023, 07:52 pm

What Linux do you suggest for W10 substitute ?

My personal preference, which I use myself, is Xubuntu. It is an official derivative of Ubuntu so has a very large support base and software library, but uses the Xfce window manager which is a much more familiar look and feel to Windows. It's nice that you can boot and run it from a usb stick to test it without damaging any current installation you might have.

https://xubuntu.org/

There are other distributions which are tailored to intentionally more closely mimic Windows, but i have very little experience with them having settled on Xubuntu.

JakeJ · « **Reply #25 on:** 23 Dec 2023, 02:03 am »

Thanks for the insight, Yog.

Although I'm new to the world of Linux I like what I see. Currently running Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.1 (another Ubuntu variant) on a stick PC armed with an Intel Quad Core J4125 (@ 2GHz), 8Gb RAM & 256 Gb MMc drive. Came with Win 11 Pro installed. I installed a WD Black SN770 2Tb M.2 NVMe SSD and chopped the first half into small partitions for multiple Linux distros, and partitioned the latter half as storage. Surprisingly fast and stable.

My initial takeaway and greatest reward from Linux was the simplicity and light use of computer resources of Linux overall. I have downloaded many apps to replace the ones I am comfortable with in Windows but have not found a good Linux substitute for Outlook. When I find that I'll be working on the permanent switch. I'm just a bit behind the curve.

FRM -

Check out Linux Mint as there are several versions from the same developer group. They have a pretty big following and support system. Many apps available. For example, the Libre Office suite replaced Microsoft Office very well. I found the Excel equivalent called LibreOffice Calc to be an easy transition. Check it out, you might like it.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #26 on:** 23 Dec 2023, 02:46 am »

Thanks for the tips guys, very appreciated.

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #27 on:** 23 Dec 2023, 04:19 pm »

Quote from: JakeJ on 23 Dec 2023, 02:03 am

Thanks for the insight, Yog.

Although I'm new to the world of Linux I like what I see. Currently running Linux Mint Cinnamon 21.1 (another Ubuntu variant) on a stick PC armed with an Intel Quad Core J4125 (@ 2GHz), 8Gb RAM & 256 Gb MMc drive. Came with Win 11 Pro installed. I installed a WD Black SN770 2Tb M.2 NVMe SSD and chopped the first half into small partitions for multiple Linux distros, and partitioned the latter half as storage. Surprisingly fast and stable.

My initial takeaway and greatest reward from Linux was the simplicity and light use of computer resources of Linux overall. I have downloaded many apps to replace the ones I am comfortable with in Windows but have not found a good Linux substitute for Outlook. When I find that I'll be working on the permanent switch. I'm just a bit behind the curve.

FRM -

Check out Linux Mint as there are several versions from the same developer group. They have a pretty big following and support system. Many apps available. For example, the Libre Office suite replaced Microsoft Office very well. I found the Excel equivalent called LibreOffice Calc to be an easy transition. Check it out, you might like it.

Yeah Mint is very good! Sounds like a great setup.

My only suggestion if you are going to store music on it (and this goes for any computer setup., not just Linux) is to keep good backups. Storage is pretty cheap. I'm using zfs and keep multiple mirrors across systems, although I'll probably move to bcachefs once it becomes stable. It has worked out very well for me

JohnR · « **Reply #28 on:** 23 Dec 2023, 04:34 pm »

Quote from: JakeJ on 23 Dec 2023, 02:03 am

have not found a good Linux substitute for Outlook

I'm not sure what features you specifically need but I've been using Thunderbird for SMTP email forever, runs on everything.

I think there's an Outlook web app which would presumably run on Linux.

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #29 on:** 23 Dec 2023, 05:00 pm »

Quote from: JohnR on 23 Dec 2023, 04:34 pm

I'm not sure what features you specifically need but I've been using Thunderbird for SMTP email forever, runs on everything.

I think there's an Outlook web app which would presumably run on Linux.

Same here; I've used Thunderbird for many years for email. It's been wonderful for me.

JakeJ · « **Reply #30 on:** 28 Dec 2023, 04:52 pm »

I tried Thunderbird for Windows 11 but it removes or deletes emails from the inbox without my input. All of yesterday's emails are gone, both personal as well as spam. Today there were 7 emails and now magically there are 3. I didn't even get to open one from a friend! Most frustrating.

The version of Outlook I'm hooked on is the last 2007 Office Enterprise one that displays the incoming email in a similar spreadsheet fashion but emails just disappear. I paid for the full MS Office Suite and upgrades over the years but now they want to a monthly subscription fee. Grrr!

And my Win 10 machine has suffered a fatal crash and now only blue screens. Windows 10 will no longer boot. The last time I did make it to the desktop and opened Outlook I saw those emails that disappeared in Thunderbird.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #31 on:** 28 Dec 2023, 05:35 pm »

Recently W10 had a version that was made constant memory crashes, fortunately I had plenty of restore points tô restore my old W10 from 2012.

Yog Sothoth · « **Reply #32 on:** 28 Dec 2023, 07:11 pm »

Quote from: JakeJ on 28 Dec 2023, 04:52 pm

I tried Thunderbird for Windows 11 but it removes or deletes emails from the inbox without my input. All of yesterday's emails are gone, both personal as well as spam. Today there were 7 emails and now magically there are 3. I didn't even get to open one from a friend! Most frustrating.

The version of Outlook I'm hooked on is the last 2007 Office Enterprise one that displays the incoming email in a similar spreadsheet fashion but emails just disappear. I paid for the full MS Office Suite and upgrades over the years but now they want to a monthly subscription fee. Grrr!

And my Win 10 machine has suffered a fatal crash and now only blue screens. Windows 10 will no longer boot. The last time I did make it to the desktop and opened Outlook I saw those emails that disappeared in Thunderbird.

Hmm, I have been using Thunderbird since its inception and have never experienced that behavior; I can well imagine that would be both frustrating and mysterious.

What email service are you using, and what protocol are you using to connect? (this would be under Account Settings -> Server settings)

JakeJ · « **Reply #33 on:** 28 Dec 2023, 09:32 pm »

It was BSOD's daily, hourly, and finally every few minutes. The following stop codes, in order of frequency, were prolifically displayed during the dying days.

1. Critical_Process_Died - Multiple back-to-back crashes due to this one.
2. DPC_Watchdog_Died - A few of these, not daily.
3. Unexpected_Store_Exception - Only 3 or 4 of these.
4. Kernel_Data_Inpage_Error - twice.

When I searched Google on the stop codes the common thread in each one's description was drivers. I tried checking a few for updates but Win 10 did not seem to want any or it would crash before I could look at a specific device or driver.

Frustrating to say the least but I will remove the drives in it and hook them up to another PC to get relevent files. Fortunately I have a couple of other machines already running Win 11 and/or Linux Mint Cinnamon. I'm running the latest open source office programs on both OS's and they work well and I can open and edit my MS Office files at will. The more I play with Linux the more I like it. I can see it replacing MS for my home network in the near future.

So, going forward what is the best method for an OS recovery plan? Restore point? An image file? A ghost capture?

TIA,
Jake

JakeJ · « **Reply #34 on:** 28 Dec 2023, 09:52 pm »

Hi Yog,

It's an IMAP account so there doesn't appear to be an option to leave messages on the server, if that's what you are thinking. My service provider is a local cable tv company called Spectrum (used to be Charter). When I first installed Linux Mint I installed Thunderbird and it exhibited the same behavior.

Right now the inbox has 27 emails from most recent to the oldest one in the queue from just before midnight last night. All previous emails going back to the point I installed T-bird two days ago are gone! Also the "Deleted Items" folder Has a ton of old spam and there does not seem to a one-click solution to empty it. I suppose I'm spoiled and set in my ways. I think I have much to learn about the software and I need to get hooked up with the Mozilla support website and start digging for answers. Frustrating to lose the personal messages from friends, the spam I don't care about.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #35 on:** 28 Dec 2023, 09:59 pm »

I used the Restore Point option at power on, however it can use a such RP only one time, what save me was I had many Restore Points. After W11 release I started see strange things happen with my W10 quite often, so I always made a RP twice a week.

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #36 on:** 28 Dec 2023, 10:26 pm »

There is multiple help online with wrong advice.
IMO your case seems to be memory card error, or memory card not compatible with W10 or yet recent W10 update with problems if you had one.
Another totally improbable error are HD with defective tracks or sectors.

WGH · « **Reply #37 on:** 29 Dec 2023, 01:11 am »

Quote from: JakeJ on 28 Dec 2023, 04:52 pm

And my Win 10 machine has suffered a fatal crash and now only blue screens. Windows 10 will no longer boot. The last time I did make it to the desktop and opened Outlook I saw those emails that disappeared in Thunderbird.

Last things first

Using two email clients on the same machine will probably be problematic, especially if one client deletes the messages from the server. I'm surprised your ISP lets you get away using 2007 Office Enterprise/Outlook, there has to be numerous mail related incompatibilities by now not to mention ancient drivers (BSOD anyone?). I have used Thunderbird for forever and never experienced random email deletes. That said, backing up all email and addresses before a Thunderbird re-install is a royal PIA. I manually copy everything to a new backup folder I make, don't rely on Thunderbird to do it for you. I never got the Thunderbird Calendar to backup and restore automatically. Last time I had to manually hack the calendar-data/local.sqlite file.

I think after unchecking Thunderbird --> Message Synchronizing --> Keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer
Thunderbird will only download the email headers leaving the email on the server but eventually your server mailbox will get full and really strange things start happening.
This is handy if traveling and want to check email with a laptop. Complete emails are downloaded later using another computer.

I would guess BSOD's daily, hourly, and finally every few minutes is a catastrophic failure. My first choice is a dead hard drive or SSD, over the years I have had both fail. Another point of failure is a clogged processor heat sink, blow out that cat hair. A failing power supply will also cause a BSOD but extremely rare, usually only when undersized. You can try to trouble shoot but in the long run the computer will be replaced so replace now and save yourself a lot of headaches. Of course a new computer will have a TPM chip so good by and good riddance to Windows 10. Your Microsoft account will allow you to upgrade to Windows 11 for free even if everything in the new computer is new from motherboard to SSD.
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=177478.msg1867705#msg1867705

I use the free Paragon Backup and Recovery Community Edition to make backup image copies. I haven't messed with restore points for what feels like over 100 years.
https://www.paragon-software.com/us/free/br-free/#

If you think you have driver problems then download the Windows 10 iso using another computer and make a boot drive on a thumbdrive. Then you can do a repair or clean install.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
If you get another BSOD while installing then it is definitely a hardware failure.

You can also put Ubunto on a thumbdrive and see if a BSOD happens.

WGH · « **Reply #38 on:** 29 Dec 2023, 02:07 am »

One more point of failure: leaking motherboard capacitors

If your computer is 16 years old, the same age as your 2007 Office Enterprise then the motherboard caps could be from the same batch of caps made from a stolen mis-copied electrolyte formula. It happened on two of my motherboards, an Abit and an ASUS, nobody was immune.

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=103836.msg1055820#msg1055820

Look for stuff leaking from the top vents or brown goo at the base of the cap. The results are the same - dead motherboard.

JakeJ · « **Reply #39 on:** 30 Dec 2023, 12:57 am »

I think the primary reason is the unit's age along with multiple Windows updates. This thing started life running on Win 7 and the Win 10 upgrade was over the internet when MS was giving it away to get people off Win98, not from a DVD. The motherboard is a Gigabyte and all caps on it are solid state so I don't think they are the issue. However, the thermal paste on the AMD970 chip and possibly the CPU have dried up. I say this because Open Source Monitor has seen CPU temp spikes to 125 F and the heatsink on the AMD chip hits 155 F so as a last ditch effort I am going to pop them off and clean up and apply new thermal grease to both. The RAM heatsinks and other chips that have heatsinks never get more than a few degrees above room temp. Using a Fluke IR temp gun so pretty accurate. I'm confident FRM is correct about MS putting out bad updates as this all started a few months ago and did seem to get worse after each subsequent one. Or it's just hardware dying.

The Windows drive is a Samsung SSD and it hasn't reported any issues but neither have the ram sticks. I spec'd and built this box like all before it and it has been fast and rock solid for way too long but I have been dragging my feet when it comes to upgrading (and I use that term loosely) to Windows 11. The transition has been pretty smooth, I don't really care for the popup Start menu thingy so I just put a shortcut on the desktop or pin it to the taskbar.

As to mail clients, WGH, only one client per computer. The Win 10 box uses MS 2007 Outlook. No complaints from my service provider about the software on my PC and they provide a portal to one's email throught the Spectrum website. I went there to find the missing email from friend Pete Riggle. Outlook on the Win 10 box had it so I did get to look at the content before the final crash. The Win 11 box is using Thunderbird. So far I do like the look and layout. Just trying to figure it out. I did find Message Synchronizing in T-bird's setting and is configured to keep messages in all folders. Thunderbird is also loaded and configured to get my gmail content on the Linux Mint computer.

No more building PC's unless one needs a serious gaming machine. I'm satisfied with the performance from the mini PC's I have tried so far. Here is my current main PC running Win 11 Pro. Celeron N5095 2.0 GHz, 16 Gb RAM 512Gb eMMC core drive I installed a 4 Tb Lexar M.2 NVMe SSD for additional storage - This one. After the $40 coupon it was $209.99 and not much bigger than a paperback novel. Now they are offering an Alder Lake CPU combined with 32 Mb RAM in the same package. I cannot recommend the MeLE personal computers highly enough. Excellent support as well. I also have the fanless version in my main system as the music server running JRiver Media Center.

I do wish I had gotten on the backup band wagon, and will in the future. I now have a NAS on the network and I did get some of the files transferred from the spinner in the old Win 10 machine to the NAS. I plan on getting a USB to SATA III adapter to get the remaining files off the spinner and the SSD.

During this digital hayride I did suffer one critical loss. I bought a Dell Optipex 7060 Mini Desktop from Amazon Renewed. After getting it all setup and then spending weeks going through all my old photos and slides scanning them into the Dell and it puked and the only recovery option was cloud reinstall of Windows. Sadly it was never stable after that and sits in a corner. Of course all this happened a good six months after the return date. <SIGH> I get to do all that scanning again but this time it will be backed up to the NAS.

It's funny, I started in computers with a 486DX2 PC running Windows 3.11 for Workgroups.

Back then software crashes were fairly common and the best and fastest recovery method was to sit there and format the C: drive, reload everything (in a very specific order) and move on. In those early days I could do that in about four or five hours.

Can't do that now. So I really need to learn how to make images or ghosts of my setups and keep a backup of that backup.

Thanks to all for the input. An update on Thunderbird - It's been open and running at a solid stretch since Wednesday night (12/27/23 22:17). The inbox has been filling up (63 so far) and no messages have disappeared. I'll execute a close all programs and reboot and see what I see then.

Apologies for the long blather.