Getting old or just normally frustrating?
Upgrading to windows 7 has been chock full of many little irritations.
Today's escapade included trying to use the new "Windows Live Movie Maker". In addition to fighting with the fact that every tool I use was moved or missing, apparently I can't make a "just audio" movie like I have in the past.
In addition, what is this nonsense?!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rder_Vista.png(Granted this was Vista, but I skipped Vista)
Who thought it was a good idea to not be able to listen to the thing you just recorded? Or be able to cut audio from a point? Nope. Record. Save. SERIOUSLY?!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ecorder_XP.png
This has been the norm since the beginning of Windows in 1992 (for me anyways). I know how it works. I can record stuff, I can cut stuff. I can record over stuff I didn't like. I can put the cursor to a specific spot and delete or cut or whatever. Simple simple simple.
Google search and downloading three different free programs all result in the same "I can record but I'm not going to let you listen to or edit it before I save" DERP.
More searching tells me this is more or less my only option:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/abou...inux-small.jpg
Which requires a manual in itself. It won't record the first three seconds from my mic even though sound activated recording is disabled. I've had to say the same thing 12 different times just to get it to record correctly nevermind being able to edit the darn thing.
Why can't I just have the basic program back? :( I was hoping to have this up by the end of the day because it's BF's birthday tomorrow and we'll be busy for the next three weekends or so.
To top it off, Windows Live Movie maker tells me that .wav is not a recognized file format so the wrestling I did with audacity to get it to work was for nothing.
Fantastic.
Re: Getting old or just normally frustrating?
Anything to do with Microsoft = Frustration
I remember when Windows 95 came out. I was used to using Windows 3.11, It was a shock, couldn't use it for weeks and weeks and in the end I went back to 3.11.
My home computer has XP (avoided Vista like the plague and at the time Istaria didn't work on Vista/Win7), but my work computer has Windows 7 on it. Again interface completely changed. I know what I wanted to do, just couldn't find where I need to click etc as its all changed.
Office 2003 to Office 2007/2010. Same problem completely changed interface, I waste so much time trying to find where the button is hidden or what the new command is in Excel to be able to do something.
Then there is Microsoft protected view. I hate it, it blocks you being able to edit and save attachments inside emails you have received because it deems them 'potentially unsafe'. Took me hours to work out a way round it and I ended up having to hack the registry on my computer to get it to work how it used to in older versions.
MS Office 2010 online license key registration. You complete the registration, it says the software is licensed. Then randomly it decides to unregister the software (but doesn't tell you inside any MS Office apps, I tracked it down using event viewer eventually). A hidden service running in the background (you don't see it on task manager) decides that every 3 hours its going to try and re-register the already registered software and locks up the whole of Office while its doing so. Had this happen on a few computers so far (on XP builds using 32 bit Office 2010).
You can't use Office 2010 64 bit edition on a computer that has Blackberry DTM software installed as they are incompatible.........
Everytime Microsoft sends out a Windows Server or Exchange update it knocks out the blackberry BES/BIS exchanges. Microsoft and Blackberry do not get on with each other.
The new version of Windows search. Downloads via an automatic update. Screws up fileservers by causing massive slow downs as it 'optimizes'. When we have a fileserver speed problem first thing we look for is whether Windows search is running as a service (or Google desktop.....).
And so on....
http://istaria-guides.com/images/Startrek-BSoD.gif
http://community.istaria.com/forum/w...rtrek-BSoD.gif
Re: Getting old or just normally frustrating?
Sounds like someone needs to make a "Windows Classic Sound Recorder".
Or, something you could do, if you still have a WinXP machine sitting around somewhere, right-click the Sound Recorder icon in the start menu, and find out what .exe it is pointing to. Go to the Windows folder, copy that exe to a flash drive or something, rename it as something else, and then drop that on your Win7 computer along with the old Movie Maker.
Should work unless there's some stupid DLL requirement (you can copy the DLLs too as long as they don't share the same name as DLLs already on your computer).
The *only* reason it might not work, is if the WinXP version still uses 16-bit code, as Win7 will not support 16-bit apps. If THAT happens, well, DOS emulators are easy to find, and Win3.1 CD ISOs can be found on the internet and they're only like 8MB downloads. I've used that to play an old Win3.1 favorite of mine, Castle of the Winds because Win7 won't run it.
Re: Getting old or just normally frustrating?
My only problem with Windows7 is the whole "standby" memory "feature". I know that it may be faster for a much used program to already be in memory, but what if I'd rather have all that memory sitting Idle.. not actually doing anything? No off switch for the feature.
As for the other stuff mentioned in the OP. I, myself, started using windows using win 2.0, with 3.0+ shortly after. Going from the early Window's versions to win95, was a jump. To me I liked that change because 95 seemed less clunky then 3 or 2 were. My biggest issues with it were, compatibility with programs I already had. The games, for instance, would run quite oddly, as even a game like say... Lemmings... would have speed issues where the clock would count down from your max time limit (usually around 10 mins) down to 0 in around 20 secs... and the sprites would move so fast around the screen you couldn't control anything.
I don't do much movie or audio manipulation, mainly because I am too impatient for the compilation of them to be completed, yes, I know I have a short attention span, but what can you expect from someone that grew up in the "I want it now" generations.
I currently am running Win7. I refused to get Win Vista, that thing had too many problems to fix nicely. But.. Win7 is basically Vista cleaned up considerably. Though, I still have problems with it "collecting" zombie memory information. I mean seriously, if I don't reboot nearly every day, my Memory usage goes from 18% on a fresh reboot, to 40%+ in no less then 24 hrs. I don't know if that's just me, or if that is the way everyone's stuff is, but it is ridiculous that one should have to reboot a system every day to keep the memory clear of zombie data. I also decided that I'm no longer investing in Windows Office products. When I upgraded to Win7, I found out that my office 2003 would not install on the system, I would have to upgrade my office program again, so I did, I put in Open Office, and I have no problems.. Nor do I have that annoying paper clip trying to tell me how to write papers, or fix up a spread sheet.
I tend to wonder sometimes why Msoft changes their interface stuff around so much.. if it is to clean stuff up, or to make it so they can earn more cash by having tech support there to be able to help people find stuff on their own systems. Meh.. no matter, I refuse to pay them any more then I already do to use their software. If I crash my system a couple of times and have to restart.. So be it.
Re: Getting old or just normally frustrating?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Fratricide
My only problem with Windows7 is the whole "standby" memory "feature". I know that it may be faster for a much used program to already be in memory, but what if I'd rather have all that memory sitting Idle.. not actually doing anything? No off switch for the feature.
Never had a problem with this, but then I'm sporting 8GB.
Quote:
As for the other stuff mentioned in the OP. I, myself, started using windows using win 2.0, with 3.0+ shortly after. Going from the early Window's versions to win95, was a jump. To me I liked that change because 95 seemed less clunky then 3 or 2 were.
I messed around with 3.1 a little, and... yuck. People actually USED that? Clunky as all heck.
Quote:
My biggest issues with it were, compatibility with programs I already had. The games, for instance, would run quite oddly, as even a game like say... Lemmings... would have speed issues where the clock would count down from your max time limit (usually around 10 mins) down to 0 in around 20 secs... and the sprites would move so fast around the screen you couldn't control anything.
Timing issue. Software at the time didn't account for computers vastly out-powering the program, and so no "timing" was programmed in; the stronger CPUs of newer computers would process the data faster than the programmer had intended. They eventually fixed that though, I haven't run into a game that has done that yet.
Today's emulators are smart enough to account for this; they have the ability to fine-tune the emulator's processing power to keep the timing right for most games.
I highly recommend DOSbox. You can load Win3.1 on it, or you can play DOS games straight from it and there are front-end programs out there. I've never seen DOSBox fail to run anything at perfect emulation. It even correctly emulates legacy MIDI software; I remember the 2nd Level of Heretic's music got all screwed up when they seemingly changed the MIDI format a number of years ago. That level's music never did sound right afterwards.
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I don't do much movie or audio manipulation, mainly because I am too impatient for the compilation of them to be completed, yes, I know I have a short attention span, but what can you expect from someone that grew up in the "I want it now" generations.
Don't do much of that myself, for a different reason: Lack of reason and/or lack of creativity. lol.
Quote:
I currently am running Win7. I refused to get Win Vista, that thing had too many problems to fix nicely. But.. Win7 is basically Vista cleaned up considerably. Though, I still have problems with it "collecting" zombie memory information. I mean seriously, if I don't reboot nearly every day, my Memory usage goes from 18% on a fresh reboot, to 40%+ in no less then 24 hrs. I don't know if that's just me, or if that is the way everyone's stuff is, but it is ridiculous that one should have to reboot a system every day to keep the memory clear of zombie data.
I never leave a computer on when I'm not actively using it -- that's a waste of energy, unless you are having the computer actually doing something in the background. Not only does it generate heat (which is quite unwanted in the summertime), but it also uses electricity (which gets more expensive every year since they de-regulated it here in PA).
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I also decided that I'm no longer investing in Windows Office products. When I upgraded to Win7, I found out that my office 2003 would not install on the system, I would have to upgrade my office program again, so I did, I put in Open Office, and I have no problems.. Nor do I have that annoying paper clip trying to tell me how to write papers, or fix up a spread sheet.
Why pay for M$'s software when you can do it for free! That's the way I always thought of it. I never used office formats myself, but I always have this person here, this person there sending me *.docs when RTFs would have worked just fine.
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I tend to wonder sometimes why Msoft changes their interface stuff around so much.. if it is to clean stuff up, or to make it so they can earn more cash by having tech support there to be able to help people find stuff on their own systems. Meh.. no matter, I refuse to pay them any more then I already do to use their software. If I crash my system a couple of times and have to restart.. So be it.
They want you to keep buying new software every couple years, that's why they invalidate their own file formats, that's why they make sure that the new stuff is not compatible with the old. They wouldn't make any money if lots of people decided "Meh, Office 2000 is good enough". They want you to buy Office 2012, not use Office 2000 or some-such for the 10th+ year in a row. They don't make any money that way.
Thank God for Open Office, lol.
Also, Thank God for Kazaa Lite Codec Pack.
Not to be confused with the Kazaa P2P software, this Codec Pack includes Windows Media Player classic and nearly every Codec found on the internet, so that you can play any sound and video format you find, anywhere, no questions asked.
Also, WMP Classic works much better than Windows Media Player that M$ keeps pushing out.
You'd think after things like Open Office, and WMP Classic being so wildly popular, that Micro$oft would get the idea that we don't want new and shiny, we want simple, clean and efficient.
Re: Getting old or just normally frustrating?
Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Fratricide http://community.istaria.com/forum/i...s/viewpost.gif
My only problem with Windows7 is the whole "standby" memory "feature". I know that it may be faster for a much used program to already be in memory, but what if I'd rather have all that memory sitting Idle.. not actually doing anything? No off switch for the feature.
Never had a problem with this, but then I'm sporting 8GB.
Ya... Im actually running 12GB atm... Like I said.. the thing is kind of weird, leave it running and I get all kinds of mystery items stored in memory that aren't directly linked to any programs... apparently... and logging fully out has no effect on the thing.
And I typically leave it running because a lot of the time, Ill have a Terraria server running for some folks to play on, though not always.
As for the Dosbox program.. Ill have to look into that. I hadn't found an emulator that I liked that would run those old programs.
Re: Getting old or just normally frustrating?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Fratricide
Ya... Im actually running 12GB atm... Like I said.. the thing is kind of weird, leave it running and I get all kinds of mystery items stored in memory that aren't directly linked to any programs... apparently... and logging fully out has no effect on the thing.
And I typically leave it running because a lot of the time, Ill have a Terraria server running for some folks to play on, though not always.
Probably memory leaks or the OS not cleaning up properly or something.
Quote:
As for the Dosbox program.. Ill have to look into that. I hadn't found an emulator that I liked that would run those old programs.
You will want a front-end program like D-Fend or something; there's lots of .ini files and crap to mess around with otherwise. If you use D-Fend, it sets everything up for you (and gives you a very easy-to-understand configuration system) and you can set up profiles based upon each game, etc.
D-Fend + DOSBox has run everything I have, anything between Warcraft 1 to Heretic to Win3.1 without a hitch. It is so simple and easy to use that once you get it set up, anybody can use it. Even set up Warcraft 1 for my mom, even, and she could use it and she has almost-zero tech knowledge.
Re: Getting old or just normally frustrating?
DOSBox is marvelous.
I still play Master of Magic from time to time on it, or once in a while my all times favorite: Alien Legacy
And not to be completly offtopic - what i missed most from winxp is Hyperterminal, but they removed it due to licensing issues
Re: Getting old or just normally frustrating?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Shian
Upgrading to windows 7 has been chock full of many little irritations.
Today's escapade included trying to use the new "Windows Live Movie Maker". In addition to fighting with the fact that every tool I use was moved or missing, apparently I can't make a "just audio" movie like I have in the past.
In addition, what is this nonsense?!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rder_Vista.png(Granted this was Vista, but I skipped Vista)
Who thought it was a good idea to not be able to listen to the thing you just recorded? Or be able to cut audio from a point? Nope. Record. Save. SERIOUSLY?!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ecorder_XP.png
This has been the norm since the beginning of Windows in 1992 (for me anyways). I know how it works. I can record stuff, I can cut stuff. I can record over stuff I didn't like. I can put the cursor to a specific spot and delete or cut or whatever. Simple simple simple.
Google search and downloading three different free programs all result in the same "I can record but I'm not going to let you listen to or edit it before I save" DERP.
More searching tells me this is more or less my only option:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/abou...inux-small.jpg
Which requires a manual in itself. It won't record the first three seconds from my mic even though sound activated recording is disabled. I've had to say the same thing 12 different times just to get it to record correctly nevermind being able to edit the darn thing.
Why can't I just have the basic program back? :( I was hoping to have this up by the end of the day because it's BF's birthday tomorrow and we'll be busy for the next three weekends or so.
To top it off, Windows Live Movie maker tells me that .wav is not a recognized file format so the wrestling I did with audacity to get it to work was for nothing.
Fantastic.
have you tried Nero? works for me
