Category: Microsoft

Everything about Microsoft

No more Stadia says Google, and user have a chance for a refund!

Paul
Google Stadia

Google calls a stop to gaming

Google told developers and other that the gaming service will end at the beginning of 2023 and all user can ask for a refund of the the gaming system. This comes as a shock to most because no one saw this coming from what I am seeing around the the internet.    My son even both the Stadia when it came out and now he is going to ask for a refund after the 2 years he’s been using it.   I feel like this was due to the cost of constantly fighting all the other gaming consoles out there.   From Nintendo, to Xbox, to even PC gaming that people were doing.    Developers couldn’t keep up from my understanding and even if they did the customers were there to buy the Stadia as much as they bought other gaming consoles because of the wide variety of games available.  In their blog post about this, they say:

We’re grateful to the dedicated Stadia players that have been with us from the start. We will be refunding all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store. Players will continue to have access to their games library and play through January 18, 2023 so they can complete final play sessions. We expect to have the majority of refunds completed by mid-January, 2023. We have more details for players on this process on our Help Center

Logitech Launches G Cloud Streaming Hand Held

I’ve talked  about this last week about the new G cloud streaming hand held system.  I am unsure how this will evolve or how well this will work, but I still believe the Steam Deck is better than the Logitech version.  I’ve got the Steam Deck coming my way and I will talk about it even more to tell you what everything you can do with the steam deck.  According the Logitech:

CLOUD requires a cloud subscription service sold separately to work as intended, such as NVIDIA GeForce Now or Xbox Game Pass.

Each cloud subscription will cost you depending on where you you go and who you are using.   Steam can be streamed to the Logitech hand held but I am dubious as to how well this will work with the current needing to be connected to the internet to do that.

Steam Deck will like last

I don’t know about any others, unlike the Nintendo Switch, or the PSP there will always be those who will play those.  There is the OnexPlayer but that seems like paying to much for the the player at least on Amazon.  They have so many different players and other thing you can you do with these systems but I am not sure if the price would be worth those gaming systems.   You can visit the OnexPlayer Official Site but I am more interested in a gaming system that can be bought for the ones who want to use it.   There are many different hand held gaming systems that rang from 300$ to over 1,200$.   Steam Deck is right in the sweet spot for people who might want to play around with the system and use it for what it is for.  You can play offline and still use the online stuff for when you can get a internet connection.   I’ll be talking more about this in the coming weeks, hacks and how to’s for those who might want to use the Steam Deck to it’s highest potential.  You can do a whole lot more than you can with any other Hand Held gaming systems for this price range.   I know I will enjoy this system immensely.

What would you like me to talk about the Steam deck?  Want to know how to hack the steam deck and install even more games?  Want to use Steam Deck as a portal computer?  These are where I am thinking of going to do?  What games would you like me to try to do?  Minecraft, Or maybe Epic Games, Or even Battle.net Games.  Wouldn’t that be nice to do?  Stay Tuned.

It’s not a Bug but a feature : The Print Nightmare and Microsoft

Paul

It's Not a Bug but a Feature Comic

The Benefits of a central print server

It can be challenging to have a CPS(Central Print Server Infrastructure) due to a lot of demanding things.  This is the nature of allowing users to print to one location can bring on so many problems with how the IT people deal with it can seem almost impossible to some and down right chaos to others. After all, we have to deal with printing issues from time to time and even the unexpected problems that might arise.  For instance just in September, Microsoft released an update to the Print spooler and point to print features to cut off access to a zero day vulnerability called “Print Nightmare”.  Microsoft has stated in the past this was always a feature and not a bug, but I am sure that people may think this shouldn’t of been a feature to begin with.  Even then, you still have issues with having to fix the issues that Microsoft broke in the updates that are supposed to fix those other issues.   The Cost alone of productive might be hindered by the fact that workers can’t print what they need to print or have access to scan the papers they might need to scan to email or to use in production.

IT support

It will cause challenges to the IT support because it might not be as easily seen as you might expect with the current climate of people working from home or remote support.   After all, you don’t have any way to physically touch the printer or to examine the printer in details to know if it is a software or hardware issue.   This can be an issue on itself because some printing issues are both hardware and software in the same light.   One might look like a software issue but later find out it is a hardware issue because the manufacturer has determine the EOL(End of Life support) for that hardware.   In the end the printing to a centralized printer can have some good and bad benefits to all.

Acceptance of Printing

Even the accepting that you can not print can even be a challenge for the office staff.  There will be days you can’t print and there will be days you can print.   The office team will have to have ways to get around those challenges day by day.   They may eve have to come up with backup plans in case they may need to print something that day and we have issues just like this.  Although those are probably few and far between due to the how we are more dependent on email now a day.  It however isn’t something we should over look because of just how much people may need to use a printer.   There will always be a need for paper backups and there will always be a need to snail mail a form.  These are the challenges they will always face and we must accept that we will be there to fix their issues when the need arises.   Do you agree or Disagree?

How I passed my A+ Certification

Paul
Photo by Valentine Tanasovich from Pexels

How did I pass my Core 1 and Core 2?

If you haven’t read about my journey in to getting my A+ certification then you really should go back and read from the beginning. It all started in Sept and it took me a Month to get it. After the first failure, I thought to myself will I even be able to get a good grade on my Core 2? That was the really a good question in my mind. Could I get a passing grade in the Core 2, or would I fail that one also. I did some preparing for Core 2 and that seemed to help. I was sure I was going to fail but I went to take my Core 2 even though I failed my Core 1. You can take Core 2 even if you fail your core 1, I found that helpful to know that you didn’t have to pass the tests in order to get your certification.   It can be quite frustrating to get worry about getting the exam done and getting the certification.   I am sure I am not the only one who had this stress.

So How did You pass the 2 time around with Core 1?

I’ll tell you what I did but I knew I didn’t have to study as much as most because I’ve been doing computer repair for years and I understand some basic concepts well before I even took the CompTIA Tests.   I knew about it due to my life long experience about 10 to 20 years and that is just the beginning on how I didn’t expect to fail the first time around.   The other part depends on your first score was it really low or did you just barely miss the 675 or 700 points needed to pass?   My first score for Core 1 was just shy with 37 points needed to get a passing on the core 1.  You can pretty much do the math but it was 638 was my first score.   So I knew I only had to study  a little bit those with lower scores will probably need to study even more. You can go back and find out how I prepared for the Core 2 but I wanted to pass my core 1 test for sure so I went into depth even more just to be sure.   Here’s how I prepared to take the Core 1:

Even though this is very little I did differently, it obviously did help with my grade as I went up by almost a 100 points after take the Core 1.   If you really need to get your score this is definitely a good step to do to get your points you need to get your certification.   I know this isn’t going to be for everyone but I did learn a thing or two.  Know how you learn is how you get the good grades and this is the first step at getting grades you want in college and even in exams.   I can’t emphasize this as much as I should because people just don’t understand that their way of learning is far different than those that learn a different way.

How did you pass your Core tests?

I’d really love to know how others have passed their core tests.  Why not leave a comment and tell me what you did to help others to get the grades they need to get their certifications.  I am finally certified in A+ and that is a big accomplishment for me.   I worked really hard at it and now I have something to show to employers who might require that to get a job.

Have a good Tuesday everyone.

The Failures of Board manufacturers and Windows 11

Paul

Motherboards Diversity / SML.20120917.164110.IP3

Motherboard BIOS

Don’t try to understand the system but rather see it as a broke system and try to fix it. When Windows 11 came out, you can bet everyone who was wanted the next version of Windows wanted it so they can test it out.  The real problem is Windows 11 made every one get into their BIOS and figure out what needed to be turned on.  Motherboard manufacturers each have their own way of creating the BIOS settings.   They like to call it something you might not know about or even want to try to understand.   Just like enabling TMP can be hard to find since Intel and AMD uses different wording such as PTT (Intel Platform Trusted Technology) for Intel and fTPM (Firmware Trusted Platform Module)  for AMD.  Even this can be frustrating for even the most seasoned IT guy.   There is so many Mother Manufacturers out there, from MSI to ASRock. according to Wikipedia there is at least 7 to 15 different manufacturers of Motherboards.   So each one will make the Bios Menu’s just a little bit different.  It can be quite hard to figure out where you might need to go to enable something or disable something in bios.

The Failure of all parts

It isn’t every time I see Microsoft releases a new OS that I wonder just how much the consumer will suffer from the new systems requirements.    Most of the time the requirements were not that big of a deal but with Windows 11, we now need to enable TPM and Secure boot for systems that may or may not have the requirements to run Windows 11.   This to me just seem an arbitrary requirement because we’ve seen people run Windows 11 on a system that doesn’t  have  a TPM.   Microsoft says this is for security but I can’t see this being for consumers.  I’ve talked about how Windows 11 will fail, and I still think this will happen eventually once people see If Windows is worth upgrading.

The PrintNightmare

With the recent Windows updates the last few weeks has caused more pain for Microsoft.   Since most people who are having problem probably have to buy new printers and those old printers are probably going to the waste side.   Even manufacturers aren’t going to update their drivers for old printers.  Microsoft likes the idea that people will need to buy new printers and maybe even new systems for that Windows 11 OS.   They make their money by people upgrading their systems and getting a new Windows 11 key or even a new system by Dell, or some other OEM.   Every computer technician is having to work harder for people who might want to install Windows 11.  Even then the process of install Windows 11 is not something that can be done very quickly depending on how big the HDD you are going to be converting.

What is to come?

Some people are not going to install Windows and maybe will wait to see what Microsoft does.  We’ve already seen a comparison from Windows 8 to Windows 10 and you know how well Windows 8 didn’t work out well.   Some are probably going to install another OS that won’t require people to have some stringent requirements like Microsoft.   Are you going to Install Windows 11 or are you waiting like I am because you don’t want to worry about all the security requirements to install Windows 11?   I’d like to hear your ideas about Windows 11 and or what your will do in 2025 if they still require all these things.

Windows 11 comes with some Printer Problems and Other Issues

Paul

Windows 11

Printer Issues

It seems that if you have a Brother printer there is an issue with being able to print after the latest updates to Windows 11.   I am not sure why it isn’t on Windows 10 but according ghacks “Printers may not be detected correctly by the operating system if the printer is connected to the device via USB“.   This issue might not only be for Brother printers but more than that.   This is something just coming up on the net and not everyone knows what is going on but the fix for this issue is to make it a network printer and not connected to a USB.   Microsoft hasn’t yet said anything about this issue.

Performance hit using Windows 11 on AMD

This isn’t a surprise to me but I didn’t know about this until as of late.   It seems if you are using Window’s 11 and AMD than you might be getting a 5% -15% performance hit according to Bleeping computers.   It can be up to 15% performance hit if you are playing games on Windows 11.    The L3 cache is the issue with Windows 11 performance issues.   AMD is working on fixing the issue and should have a BIO’s update available later on this year.   Until then, I strongly recommend not upgrading to Windows 11.   You should just keep with Windows 10.

Windows 11 uses to much memory

It seems to be the File Explorer is using way to much memory for Windows 11 and Microsoft is looking into why this is an issue.  Microsoft has issued an update in the ‘Dev’ Channel according to bleeping computers and as of yet isn’t available in the release channel.   It seems to be a memory leak that is causing the file explorer to have up to a 1GB size in Windows 11.

Parts of Windows 11 not translated

According to a Reddit user, there seems to be a problem with Windows 11 not translating to the right languages.  I’ve seen the photo and I am not sure why it isn’t translate but you should check it out to find out what I am talking about.

These are just a few that I saw and thought I’d share with you about some of the problems with Windows 11 and the latest updates.   I am sure this isn’t just Windows 11 but probably some of this might be even Windows 10 but it seems like Windows 11 is getting people’s attention and I thought it should at least be considered to stay off of Windows 11 until they get something done or make something compelling to upgrade to Windows 11.