[Hendricks266]

Today I found out that even Anti-Beacon's Optional hosts file blocklist broke Skype. Undid that.

[Duke of Hazzard]

Hendricks266, on 22 November 2015 - 03:18 PM, said:

Today I found out that even Anti-Beacon's Optional hosts file blocklist broke Skype. Undid that.

With every Windows, MS moves espionage closer to the system's core. It'll become much more difficult in the following years.

Forge sent me some stuff to block this telemetry functionality but it broke my Start Menu and the search bar.

[Person of Color]

Hendricks266, on 21 November 2015 - 09:29 PM, said:

Spybot Anti-Beacon. Run it on all your Win7, Win8, and Win8.1 machines too.

Viper is probably going to link you to some ghetto batch script on GitHub. I looked at it and decided against running it.

Duke of Hazzard, on 22 November 2015 - 03:16 PM, said:

These batch scripts are shit and usually break a lot of stuff.

I have been using this batch script on over 30 repaired computers at work and it's fine. There is nothing ghetto about it.

It uninstalls the telemetry and Windows 10 upgrades, then orders Windows Update to check for updates in the background and hides them so they won't install again.

The other two batch files block the telemetry servers and don't effect Skype.

Why do I do this? Windows 10 is shit and has a habit of not upgrading properly on old hardware. It saves the customer trouble, and it just automates shit I used to do manually anyway.

Anti-Beacon is far more thorough. If you run it afterwards, you'll notice not everything is fully blocked.

[DustFalcon85]

Looked at Windows 10 Wikipedia page and caught a glimpse of this:

Quote

Windows 10 was also criticized for limiting how users can control its operation; in particular, Windows Update installs all updates automatically, no longer allows users to selectively install updates, and only the Pro edition of Windows 10 can "defer" the installation of upgraded versions of the operating system.

Looks like I'll be sticking to Windows 7 then. Microsoft needs to allow people to install whatever updates they wish.

I'll be asking this question once again.

WD 1TB 7200RPM HDD or SeaGate 1TB SSHD?

[Inspector Lagomorf]

That statement needs a [citation needed] tag because that's not how Windows 10 updates work at all.

[Person of Color]

Only Enterprise editions can actually shut off the telemetry. Not Pro.

[DustFalcon85]

Deleted

[DustFalcon85]

Person of Color, on 13 October 2016 - 10:23 PM, said:

Get a Dell Latitude. Fuck Lenovo. Between those spooky gooks with their BIOS adware and spyware, and their shit tier build quality, they're off my radar.

Go compare a Chinkpad to a Latitude or HP Elitebook and you'll immediately change your mind. I'm talking physically holding and interacting with the unit - Lenovo sucks dick.

As far as repairs go Latitudes are God tier. Super easy to work on and parts are readily available. Elitebooks are a pain in the ass to service and Chinkpads are hit and miss. All three are reliable but the Chinkpads are way easier to break, and has the worst ergonomics.

Went to Best Buy to look at the laptops they've got. I asked if they have any Dell Latitude series of laptops and they said they don't carry them. Bummer :-/. All they have is the Inspiron series and HP Omen and Pavilion series. Those laptops are the ones that stand out I think. I'm done w/ gaming laptops for good, thanks to the NVidia Optimus shenanigans, NVidia Optimus-related diagonally screen tearing, heating, fan noise concerns, IPS glowing and bloatware. I think I'm gonna prefer the laptops that has the the G-Sync or the ones w/ an Intel: CPU and AMD Radeon: GPU combo. MSI, ASUS, Lenovo and Alienware are the ones I'm avoiding. Laptops I'm gonna look for in the future are for homes, businesses, and schools.

Person of Color, on 16 July 2014 - 06:14 PM, said:

Just get a fucking desktop.

This ASUS G20CB-WB71-GTX1080 Performance Tower Desktop is what interests me.

[Person of Color]

Honestly Skylake has really nice on board graphics. AMD's A10 is still better for gaming but the CPU performance isn't nearly as good.

The Dell Factory Outlet is a great place to get laptops. Best refurbs ever. Full warranty and serious quality control. You don't need to try a Latitude before you buy it - you'll love it. My E7440 is the best computer I have ever owned. 3.5 lbs. workstation with 256SSD and 1TB HD, 16GB RAM, 2.6GHz i5 dual core w/HT, Intel HD 4400 GPU, backlit keyboard, great trackpad, good speakers, and a 14" 1080p LG IPS LCD. The keyboard puts the PGUP and PGDN keys right next to the up arrow key so I can navigate entire websites one handed. The BIOS gives me full control of EVERYTHING except overclocking. I can access the entire system for upgrades via two screws and a main access panel. The tri-metal magnesium alloy casing is so good it fell off my bed, onto my foot, and gave me a deep tissue bruise for two weeks. It's a featherweight tank. I love this thing to death. This is the first laptop I have been rough with and it simply does not care. It's indestructible.

It's the closest to perfect I've found yet - plus it looks sexy as hell. It LOOKS super expensive, and it is! This configuration would normally set me back $1200+, but I got it as a back of truck discount for $100 and added a HD, more RAM, and a better screen.

The outlet sells them cheaper, as does eBay.

[DustFalcon85]

POC. I may give Dell a shot. Will this laptop be any good. It's got an m.2 SSD slot I can install w/ an Samsung 500 GB SSD as primary and install an Hitachi Travelstar 1TB HDD as a secondary. Keeping the stock SSHD as back up.

https://www.amazon.c...piron%2Bi7&th=1

or still getting a desktop?

[Person of Color]

That laptop looks good, but I'd rather get a desktop.

[Sanek]

My laptop is Acer Aspire 5336. I never liked it very much, because after just 5 years of work it seemed to fall apart. First, the headphone socket was broken, so I can't watch or listen anything when I'm in public. Second, the youtube video works awfully, I can't watch anything in HD. And finally, some buttons stopped working. Since my PC went down for a few days, I try to work on a Duke map from my laptop. But since shift and forward buttons stopped working, mapping became a real pain in the ass.

[Person of Color]

1. Get a USB sound card since you clearly aren't comfortable opening the laptop and seeing if the headphone jack is on a separate daughterboard

2. Update your video card drivers (or reformat and do that, something tells me you don't reformat often)

and

3. New keyboards are like $15-20 on eBay, just get one from a seller close to you so it doesn't get bent in shipping and make sure it's new

Seriously, stop being such a fucking noob. There might be keyboard screws on the bottom too, these are usually marked with a keyboard symbol or a K. Be gentle with the keyboard connector flap when you flip it open, and make sure the cable is seated properly. There might be tabs on the cable that need to mate with tabs on the connector.

Easy shit.

[DustFalcon85]

Since I successfully built a new PC. I'm might get this laptop for backup/traveling purposes next year for over $800!

https://www.amazon.c...piron%2B15&th=1

[DustFalcon85]

Which laptop should I get? I want a backup PC and one laptop I can take with me to trips and such.

The Acer?
https://www.bestbuy....p?skuId=6212602

This Dell?
https://www.bestbuy....p?skuId=6162034

Or this used Razer Blade 14 inch from Device Pitstop for cheap?
https://www.bestbuy....p?skuId=5753110

[Forge]

If you have the money, out of those three, get the Dell..

If you want to go the less pricey way, get the Acer & an external back-up storage drive.

If you care about 4k UHD display, buy the upcharged Razer.