‘The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned’—such a simple solution for phones

Over the last few years, I’ve had some USB memory sticks go bad. There was one particular type—a cheap one from the Warehouse—that failed once on Windows 10. The error was ‘The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it.’ The problem was that any other USB stick […]

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How to get a perfect 10 in reliability on Windows 10

I’ve had a great week with my new laptop, though it exhibits some of the same traits I’ve frequently seen with Windows 10: settings’ windows vanishing when attempting to load. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog, demo PCs I’ve seen at the store have terrible reliability history scores, and mine is no exception. It […]

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A more honest computing glossary

  Since (mostly) leaving Facebook, and cutting down on Twitter, I’ve come to realize the extent of how outdated traditional computing definitions have become. To help those who need to get up to speed, I’ve compiled a few technobabble words and translated them into normal English.   app: in many cases, an extremely limited web […]

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PS/2 keyboard one way to get your Windows 10 computer back after bricking

Everybody wants PS2. Still from The Professionals episode ‘Servant of Two Masters’. I read this article in The Guardian, thinking: surely, after Microsoft rolled out some terrible updates, it wouldn’t be so stupid as to do one that bricks customers’ computers again? Especially after the bug was reported a month ago.    The April update worked reasonably […]

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When Microsoft says your Windows 10 needs a reset or full reinstallation, they might be wrong

As many of you know, between around December 8 and February 2—dates during which I had Microsoft Windows 10’s fall Creators update without the January 31 cumulative patch—my computer suffered roughly three to six BSODs per day. Going on to Bleeping Computer was helpful, but Microsoft’s wisdom tended to be hackneyed and predictable.    While […]

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The folly of Windows 10

Now that I’ve gone four days without a BSOD, it does appear Microsoft realized it had rolled out another lemon, and, nearly two months later, patched things. Goodness knows how many hours it has cost people worldwide—the forums have a lot of people reporting BSODs (maybe it’s confirmation bias, but I really don’t remember this […]

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The path of least resistance: we humans aren’t discerning enough sometimes

I came across a thread at Tedium where Christopher Marlow mentions Pandora Mail as an email client that took Eudora as a starting-point, and moved the game forward (e.g. building in Unicode support).    As some of you know, I’ve been searching for an email client to use instead of Eudora (here’s something I wrote […]

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Windows 10, with the BSOD-prone Creators fall update, is calming down

I wonder if we have finally got there with Windows 10’s many BSOD crashes.    Since my last post on the subject in late January, I have had a few more BSODs, but (knock on wood) things have been more stable for a few days. Then again, I haven’t pushed the computer quite as much. […]

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Windows Unreliability Monitor

Microsoft should rename Windows’ Reliability Monitor to Unreliability Monitor.    This isn’t too unusual for Windows 10, is it?    I’ve put Oracle Virtualbox and Cyberlink Power2Go back on, because it’s becoming more apparent that Windows 10 is incompatible with my hard drives in certain circumstances. It’s always when a drive (including a phone set […]

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Another program rendered incompatible with Windows 10’s fall Creators update

It’s fast becoming apparent that Windows 10’s fall Creators update is a lemon, just like the original Windows 10.    As those of you who have followed my posts know, my PC began BSODing multiple times daily, on average. There were brief interludes (it went for three days without a BSOD once, and yesterday it […]

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