Click to ENLARGE. Windows 10 Lock screen the last couple of days.
As soon as I saw it I knew it was ‘Downeast‘, Maine. Just had to establish whether it was my ‘Bold Coast‘ or ‘Acadia‘. That wasn’t hard. As soon as I looked closer I knew EXACTLY where it was. It, a decade ago, used to be ‘my’ secret.
‘Ravens Nest‘, close to the start of of the Loop Road, in Acadia’s Schoodic. Because of safety concerns it remains UNMARKED.
I actually included Ravens Nest, with pictures, in my ‘Bold Coast, Maine — Cut to the Chase‘ book (last year). See here … {Left, print edition in b&W. Right, eBook in color. Notice that my 1st picture (on left) is the same view as that of the Lock Screen.}
But, it was cool to see this image, a view I am very familiar with, suddenly appear on my PC. In case you were wondering, I was last there last year (I think). I did go to Schoodic a few weeks ago BUT didn’t do the Loop Road.
Unlike this desktop, which I use for many hours a day, daily, my recently acquired ‘Dell’ laptop is NOT mission critical, i.e., I will not be frantic if something went awry with it. So, unlike with the desktop I can afford to be cavalier with it. Which is why, for a start, I got it with Windows 11.
I, however, no better than to leave laptops idle for months on end. If nothing else it is good to have the monthly Windows installed.
So, that is how I ended up installing this HALF-YEARLY feature update.
It was nothing like the NIGHTMARE when I updated my desktop to Windows 10 21H2 last year. That was scary.
Though I had my laptop LAN connected (with 800Mbps Internet) it took close to an hour to download the update. I wasn’t sitting around looking. So, I can’t be 100% sure. All I can say is that it took some time.
But, once downloaded the installation itself was pretty quick. Maybe 1/2 hour. The restart was very quick too. So, it would appear Microsoft has learnt from 21H2 & streamlined the process. I am glad.
Bottom line: I had no issues or nightmares updating Windows 11 to 22H2.
Unlike ‘Sigiriya‘, the other Windows 10 lock screen featuring ‘Sri Lanka‘, I cannot claim to have much, actually ‘any’, familiarity with ‘Mirissa’. It was not developed when I lived in Ceylon (today’s Sri Lanka) between 1953 and 1969. Yes, I have been through it more times than I could even count, but it had to have been but an insignificant village in those days.
We as a family would visit the Hindu temple in ‘Kataragama‘ at least 6 times a year. To get there from Colombo we would take the southern coastal road. And that passes through Mirissa. But, I am sure we never stopped there — for anything. Yes, we would stop at ‘Galle’ & ‘Matara‘ — but now in-between. That is why I am sure that I have never visited Mirissa per se. In those days much of the southern coast in that area was not that developed. Fishing, farming & the production of lime.
But, it was cool to see this image appear on my PC.
Click to ENLARGE. Adobe’s current subscription pricing for Acrobat. No bloody way, Jose!
A couple of hours ago I submitted my latest print book to ‘Amazon’ ‘KDP’ for proofing. The body of that book, which has to be in PDF form, was created, very successfully & painlessly, using Foxit PDF Editor Pro. This is the first time I have published a print book without using Adobe Acrobat. I had been using Adobe Acrobat, albeit not without headaches & heartaches, since around 2001. So, yes, I had been an Acrobat user for 20-years. I have published over 26 books (out my 36 (or so)) using Acrobat. I will admit that I had got to the point I could use Acrobat, to produce books, in my sleep. It was down to muscle memory. Bang, bang, bang … & I had a camera-ready PDF for publication.
Then last year, after 12-years, I finally got a NEW PC. Wow. There was one downside which I knew in advance. My copy of ‘Acrobat 9 Pro’, which I had purchased in 2009, was not going to work on ‘Windows 10‘ on my new PC. I, of course, looked at the Adobe offerings. I was disgusted by the pricing. Yes, I can afford it, BUT it feels like outright exploitation. Plus, it wasn’t as if I hadn’t had my share of grief with Adobe. So, I avowed, last year that I would NOT go with Adobe. I, as is usually my want, have been true to my avowal. I did NOT get Adobe Acrobat.
Instead I got Foxit PDF Editor Pro for a one-time fee of $179. That is the same as a 1-year subscription to Adobe Acrobat DC. That is crazy.
Foxit PDF Editor Pro tries to be so alike Acrobat. To I it was seamless.
I, to be fair, only need three functions: create high-quality (clean) PDF files from Word, to be able to merge multiple PDFs into a single PDF & use the SEARCH capability to INDEX a book. I managed to do all of these, effortlessly, with Foxit.
By habit & choice I use the Print Driver to create PDFs. Have done it so for decades. Foxit provides a nifty Print Driver & I quickly edited a profile for my needs with high-quality image printing. Merging PDFs is even NICER than with Acrobat! Extremely easy. As for SEARCH, it is a mirror image of what I am used to with Adobe. Piece of cake.
So, I am happy camper.
I have NOT seen the Amazon printed proofs as yet. I will get them next week, on Wednesday. They will tell me how the image sampling worked. Yes, I am a bit nervous about that. Fingers crossed. I will, of course, let you know.
But for now, I am GLAD I went with Foxit. Screw Adobe. I don’t like to feel that I am being exploited.
I knew what it was as soon as I saw it. I have never seen it like this from the air, but I know this ‘Rock Fortress’ well. During my time in Ceylon, viz., 1953 to 1967, I was lucky enough to visit it quite a few times. We, i.e., my adoptive parents & I, even took a three- or four-day holiday there — there being a ‘Rest House’ within quarter of a mile of it. During that stay, I climbed it, from top to bottom, multiple times, four times in one day. I think admission was free in those days (i.e., mid-1960s) or I had some exemption. (My adoptive father, a BIG muckety-muck in the government, was always on ‘official duty’ (even if we were on holiday) & I, as his adoptive son, got the official concessions.
My last time there, when I climbed it so many times, in the mid-1960s, was before the last (sad) vandalism of the lovely, historic fresco of the topless beauties. There were no cages or glass. You could crawl in there & enjoy it at eye-level.
I had been happily & very productively using Google’s Picasa since about 2015. I am a big proponent of Google (not to mention a shareholder) & am willing to try most things they offer (though I have never bothered with their Google Docs etc. since I am wedded to Microsoft when it comes to the ‘Office’ suite). Given it was from Google, I opted to try it. I liked it. It was fairly easy to master & it did what I wanted. Yes, sometimes it was sluggish & would take for ever (& a bit longer) to add images to it. But, I persevered. Plus, it was free. Ironically, Google stopped updating it soon after I started using it! I didn’t have any major issues.
When I started to seriously think about getting a new PC I knew that Picasa (or Picasa 3 as was the version I was using) was going to be an issue. In theory, Picasa 3 did NOT run on Windows 10. That is not really the case, but Picasa 3 on Windows 10 is more sluggish than it was on Windows 7.
I, however, managed to find a safe download for Picasa 3 (at ‘Techspot‘). I did download it & use it on my new PC (with Windows 10). I was, to begin with, delighted. It worked. I thought I was in luck. But, it started getting sluggish & more sluggish. And it is true that my image library was growing & was quite large. But, I got fed up waiting, & waiting, & waiting for image files to get loaded into Picasa. In the end I decided I had to find a better alternative.
I did some research. I looked at some paid options — but NOT Adobe. I am done with Adobe.
Faststone Image Viewer kept on getting recommended.
That intrigued I. I was a paying customer of their dynamite ‘snipping tool’, ‘FastStone Capture’. All captured images you see on this blog where realized with that. I used it multiple times a day.
I downloaded Image Viewer 7.5. Unlike Capture it is totally free. Not that that mattered. I would gladly pay FastStone. They provide a great service & deserve to be paid.
Image Viewer 7.5 is ULTRA SLICK.
Opposite of Picasa 3 in terms of performance. Quick. Quick. Quick. Plus you don’t have to add files. It automatically discovers them. That is beyond great.
So far I have been in awe. Great product. No fuss. Just does what you want it to do.
I highly recommend it. Give it a spin. Retire Picasa. You will not miss it.
Click to ENLARGE. My dual monitor setup on my new Windows 10 PC.
My dual monitor setup for context.
I have been using my new ‘Windows 10‘ PC, from ‘AVADirect‘ as my main, work PC for the last 12 days. I am still sorting out some issues BUT the transition has not proved to be as traumatic as I had feared.
As I slowly go through all my options I decided to customize my PC background. Well, it was pretty obvious what I would opt for given all the thousands of images I have of the ‘Bold Coast‘. I liked this one.
In case you are wondering, it ‘Quoddy Head‘ but approaching it from the rarely ventured side, i.e., ‘Carrying Cove’.
Click to ENLARGE. ‘Carrying Cove’ is to the very left. So, this is I accessing the ‘Coastal Trail’ from that side.
55 minutes to restart my 6 week old PC after this feature update. I have never seen anything like this & I have been using computers since 1969 (which as 52 years ago).
For 45 nerve wracking minutes BOTH my monitors were solid BLACK. Noting. No rotating icons, no progress bars … NOTHING. NADA. Just black screens. Nothing to indicate that anything was taking place. It looked dead, very dead.
My dual monitor setup. Both screens were just BLACK. Nothing. NADA. Just dead.
I had to call my PC guy — who luckily had already encountered this ‘dead computer’ scenario with a couple of his other clients. He told me to sit tight. Give it at least an hour. After 45 minutes the ‘ASUS’ logo from the motherboard appeared. But, nothing else. But, at least the screens were no longer solid black — dead. Then about 5 minutes later a rotating circle (as in Windows) appeared on the ASUS screen. Another 5 minutes later Windows 10 was up — as if nothing had happened.
This is NOT acceptable — not in 2021.
There should be at least some indication that the PC is still doing something — as opposed to looking dead.
Given that I was on Windows 7 for many years, WITHOUT any Windows Updates I had forgotten how dreadful the update process is. It has NOT got any better from what it was 12 years ago. AMAZING.
To be fair, the ‘Do You Want to RESTART‘ message did indicate that I could wait until the PC was ‘inactive’ prior to the restart. I should have taken the hint. I just don’t like having my PC restart all by itself when I am not around. I had NO IDEA it would take 55 nerve wracking minutes.
Click to ENLARGE. Yes, the two BENQ monitors, 27″ & 22″ (on purpose). The PC is on the ground, on the left.
Click to ENLARGE. The PC is the BIGGER box. The smaller box, with the two green lights, is my 3TB, RAID 1 ‘Drobo’ that holds all my photos from the last 5 years.
The specs for this new PC, from ‘AVADirect‘ — to replace my 12 year old PC. Yes, until a few minutes ago I was using a trusty ol’ PC that I had, hand-built, in October 2009! So, this is a BIG DEAL for I. As my friend ‘Joe’ would say a ‘BFD‘.
Click to ENLARGE. I did NOT go totally overboard. i5, rather than i7. But, splurged on 32GB of memory. I know what is important. 6-cores is overkill for one. Just 2, at most, would have sufficed.
The HUGE difference between Old & New — power consumption & heat dissipation.
Click to ENLARGE. My office. Colorful like I & surrounded by my toys — the once that are not in the garage, family room or drive.
I fully appreciate that this is a very indulgent & ego-centric post. Sorry. But, this is a ‘BFD’ for I. To say I am fussy, persnickety, fastidious & paranoid about my MAIN, WORK PC is an understatement. Given that I spend at least 8 hours, each & every day I am at home, in front of my main PC means that I form a very close personal relationship with it. It has to be just right.
That is part of the reason I did not get this new PC till now — 12 years after the last one. I new it would be traumatic.
You can laugh. It took me 3 years to get around to finally getting this one. The family get on nagging me in that they knew the other one was old, very old.
This PC was delivered on October 27, 2021 — exactly 4 weeks ago. It has taken me that long to get it to the level that I would be comfortable using it! To be honest, I thought it would take much longer. I was planning to keep on using my old PC until it died — & keeping this (‘$2,000’) PC in ‘mothballs’. But, once I started playing with it, I liked it.
My old PC ran ‘Windows 7 Professional‘. I was worried that I would, given my old age, have difficulty mastering ‘Windows 10’. I was wrong. ‘Microsoft’ has done a good job.
So, here I am. Seated at a new PC after 12 years. Please wish me luck. I am going to need it. Thanks.
Click to ENLARGE. PDFs of the 1st main page of my last book created using ‘Soda PDF’, ‘Foxit’ & ‘Adobe Acrobat’.
Click to ENLARGE. Trial versions of ‘Soda PDF’ & ‘Foxit’ side-by-side on my old Windows 7 PC.
Click to ENLARGE. Creating a PDF straight from Microsoft Word. I will need Foxit or Soda to merge the PDF files since I split my books into multiple Word documents for ‘safety’.
Click to ENLARGE. Adobe’s current subscription pricing for Acrobat. No bloody way, Jose! Click to ENLARGE. Those Adobe does its darnest to keep it hidden, there is a non-subscription version of Acrobat too. But, it is NOT that cheap. Click to ENLARGE. Using Acrobat has NOT been easy. I maintain all these settings. This is the one I use for most of my books.
Truth me known, one of the reasons I DELAYED getting a new PC was because I knew I would have to get a new version of Adobe Acrobat. I have been using Acrobat 9 Pro since 2009 — when I got my last PC. Acrobat 9, however, does not work with ‘Windows 10’ & my new PC, of course, is running Windows 10.
Yes, of course, I can afford to get either Adobe Acrobat 2020 for $299 or the subscription ‘DC’ for $155/$179 a year. Money & affordability is NOT the issue here.
Microsoft (for all its inherent deficiencies) gives me ALL of MS Office & 1TB of ‘OneDrive’ for $69 a year. Yes, $69 a year. That is reasonable. So, I pay $69/year for ALL of Office (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Notes, Access, Outlook) & BLOODY Adobe thinks I should give them $155/year just for Acrobat.
No bloody way, Jose.
Just a matter of principle. I don’t know about you, BUT I don’t like being exploited.
So, over the last few days I have been playing around with ‘Foxit PDF Editor‘ ($159 one-time) & ‘Soda PDF Professional‘ ($48). See images above. They are BOTH good. Appear to work flawlessly. I am still LEARNING to fine tune them to get my IMAGES to the extent I desire.
To this end, I have to tell you that Foxit has been BEYOND AMAZING. They appear to have 24×7 telephone help — & good help at that. I called them — even though I am still on the trial — & asked for help. They have been WONDERFUL. So, responsive & helpful.
Soda, on the other hand, only appears to have e-mail support. Given their prices, I can afford to buy them BOTH & have them side-by-side. Plus, the option of saving to PDF directly from Word & then using Foxit or Soda to combine the PDFs into a book.
Yesterday, I was feeling a bit dejected. That Adobe had won. That I had no choice BUT to buy a new Acrobat. But, not so today. I have a third option! SMILE. I have two old PCs, running Windows 7, that BOTH have Acrobat 9. I can just keep them in mothballs & use them when I need to produce my FINAL completed PDF for a book! Remember, I have contingency plans for my contingency plans.
But, right now, I am growing more & more impressed with Foxit & Soda — Foxit, the BEST, because of their support. I like to know that there will be support if I run into trouble. For now, I am happy to say, with conviction, SCREE Adobe!
