Thread:Mainframebabe/@comment-29088925-20161112164910/@comment-29954643-20161115014207

Hey Jo, read the following only as your RL time allows as it has gotten pretty long-winded, but I hate to delete it all now that it's written :-)

I've made it a practice to never fully upgrade my OS. I do all interrim windows updates, of course, and I keep my pc's up-to-date for that OS, but I wait and see what the users are saying about the new OS being pushed by Microsoft. If it seems to be OK, I buy a new computer pre-loaded, and slowly install my preferred apps from the intenet and wean personal files to the new computer. I have found that to be my best solution and given that strategy, I skipped Win95 entirely and bought a new desk top pre-loaded with Win98 (I called it, Win95 fixed) and subsequently replaced my laptop with a new one pre-loaded with xp. I skipped, Vista entirely and bought a second laptop (have retired all desktops, I think) pre-loaded with Win7 (I called that one Vista fixed) and liked it so much that I stopped using the xp entirely. I kept it this way for a long while, but had a hard-drive failure and had to recoup quickly. It was xmas and I needed another laptop FAST for the holiday break and broke down and got a laptop with Win8 pre-loaded (most have been Dells too), but I feel quite sure that, had I a real choice, I would have skipped Win8 too. I did upgrade to Win8.1 eventually, but I didn't find it to have solved much of anything I could see, however, I suspect that it was internally more stable. I had already found my version of the workaround for the new missiing Start button long before they came up whatever they came up with. I've not ever really liked this computer, but I did NOT fall for the easy, free, Win10 upgrade that they tried to force on us all. Evenually, I managed to get rid of all reminders (threats) and went back to my wait and see approach.

As recently as yesterday, I started pricing new laptops (yes, I'm a Dell girl too for the most part), but I keep getting stuck on the decision to spend a little extra for 2in1 AND touch screen or not. After hearing what you've said, I may just go really cheap now and get a plain back-up laptop without either and get used to Win10 on it. We'll see. Thanks for the screen freeze and overheating problems heads-up.

As for my technical background, it is a little similar to yours to a degree. I started my technical career after 4 yrs as a military officer (loved it) and 1 year in the civilian world of middle mgmt (hated every minute of it). I then became a business pgmr/analyst on an HP3000 (similar to the IBM 38 at that time), but moved on to fortune 500 companies and gov't clients using the IBM360. In 1990, I left the relative safety of my large software vender company and exclusively contracted out my services. I've been semi-retired since 2014 to try to travel, rest and relax.

This is my first foray into the world of on-line gaming and were it not for this wiki, I suspect I would have grown bored with it already, but you and others on here have kept my interest. Again, thank you, for keeping me around and I will let you know when I decide to add new players to my windows game. I checked your profile page and see your friending notes. Interesting idea. I'll let you know if/when Enigma's needs change. I think that the xmas event coming down the pike will award the large diamond award and will need to do blocks then, but that won't start for a few weeks, I think. Thanks and happy gaming       - El