@PBJ3 9/20/2021 5:51:53 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 1:

OMG, that's awful.  I would be madder than heck.

Kosh's Shadow 9/20/2021 5:59:32 PM

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Reply to @PBJ3 in 2:

Oh, I have been for some time, since it has been almost a month. Fortunately, I got a cheap HP during the Mass sales tax holiday; that and the broken system are the only ones I have under warranty now. The HP only has a 256GB SSD, so I need an external drive with it, but it does run very well.

When this is all done, Dell corporate will get a very nasty email.

As far as I am concerned, they should replace the system with a better one and give me 4 full years of support from when I get the new one.

The likelihood for that is about 0, but I had better get back a system that does what I need. I won't do large file transfers away from home, but the wired connection drops out, too. 

Barely had the system a year, too. Most people would not notice the problem, but I was experimenting with game development, and those files are huge and showed the problem. The Wifi adapter really does not work right, but they probably can't replace it with a different model except by replacing the computer, as the configuration would not match the model any more.

@PBJ3 9/20/2021 6:04:38 PM

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Kosh's Shadow 9/20/2021 6:23:09 PM

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I figure I'll start getting Acer or Asus. Made in Taiwan (OK, once Biden hands it to China, I'm stuck)

That's why my cell phone is a Google Pixel,  made in Taiwan. The LG and Samsung phones are more fragile; I've had to replace LGs because they were damaged.

@PBJ3 9/20/2021 6:28:50 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 5:

My sister has had no problems with her older Acer laptop and daughter and her significant other love the Google Pixel.  They get beautiful pictures with those phones.

PaladinPhil 9/20/2021 6:30:44 PM

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@PBJ3 9/20/2021 6:35:10 PM

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I was a little nervous about this since our daughter is in Spain. 

@PBJ3 9/20/2021 6:37:28 PM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 7:

It's nice to see you!  Keep us posted about the election there.

Occasional Reader 9/20/2021 7:02:44 PM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 7:

here’s a cheery little piece about the Canadian elections.

https://www.steynonline.com/11704/return-of-the-minority-mammy

PaladinPhil 9/20/2021 7:03:00 PM

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Reply to @PBJ3 in 9:

Still too early to call. The Liberal party is currently leading, but it's still early and a few polls in Toronto still have line ups in a quite a few ridings. I am interested in the People's Party of Canada. Doing better in the popular vote than last time.

PaladinPhil 9/20/2021 7:10:58 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 10:

Yeah, Erin O'Foole has pissed me off and a few of my friends. Especially his flip flop on firearm rights. Think the liberal wife voted PPC because they are talking sense.

Kosh's Shadow 9/20/2021 7:12:12 PM

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Reply to @PBJ3 in 6:

The Pixel phone has a fantastic camera and its phone has an "assistant" to screen calls. Spammers hang up when they hear it.

The night mode is fantastic

Occasional Reader 9/20/2021 7:12:35 PM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 12:

I wish we all had better choices.

Hoping for DeSantis down here for the next go-round. 

@PBJ3 9/20/2021 7:19:21 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 13:

Wow the night mode looks awesome!  Maybe I will consider a Pixel phone in the future.  I am certainly sick to death of spam calls.  I didn't have them until after I got my Covid shots but I get around a dozen per day now.

Kosh's Shadow 9/20/2021 7:23:29 PM

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Reply to @PBJ3 in 15:

The Google assistant lets you screen calls. It types what it is telling the other end, and then does speech recognition should there be a reply.

So when I see something about an extended car warranty, I block the number. Most callers hang up. Legit ones do say why they are calling. 

As for the house phone, when I see a repeated spammer I have the printer take it as a fax call. They get faxed.

PaladinPhil 9/20/2021 7:33:07 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 14:

Haven't had a chance to use the lesser evil response yet. I consider both main choices to be evil now.

@PBJ3 9/20/2021 7:34:52 PM

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In #16 Kosh's Shadow said: As for the house phone, when I see a repeated spammer I have the printer take it as a fax call. They get faxed.

What a great idea.  Our cat killed my printer so I couldn't do that now.  I'm not sure my printer could have taken it either, it was just an inexpensive HP Deskjet.

PaladinPhil 9/20/2021 7:35:18 PM

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And the news channel I am watching is calling it for the Liberals. :/

Still have the mail in ballots to count and the advanced ballots. Things may change by the end of the week.

@PBJ3 9/20/2021 7:37:33 PM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 19:

I would imagine that a large number of the mail in ballots might come from senior citizens.  Seniors are often more conservative.

PaladinPhil 9/20/2021 8:29:46 PM

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Reply to @PBJ3 in 20:

Not going to make a difference sadly. Anyway, early shift tomorrow and I am up way past my bedtime. Night all.

@PBJ3 9/20/2021 8:37:19 PM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 21:

Sweet dreams.

Kosh's Shadow 9/20/2021 5:19:17 PM

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I think I will have to start building my own computers (very hard for laptops, though)

Dell has become totally incompetent..

System had problems where backing up a lot of data over wifi would cause the wifi adapter to stop working. Most likely needs a new driver that Dell doesn't routinely ship.

I pay for ProSupport. First tech had me install a special update utility - not supported on my computer. 24 hours between responses. I found the adapter had problems with newer Windows versions, so I tried rolling back to a restore point. That (Microsoft's fault) screwed up the OS, so reinstall time. Did that. Problem still there. Was getting very annoyed after all this that it sill didn't work. So they sent me a new SSD with the "correct" OS on it. Settings - system - about showed that the laptop was a desktop. Their regular update program said there is an updated driver, but installation repeatedly fails. Meanwhile, they closed the support case and stopped replying.

I opened a new support call. Could not download their remote support tool. Agent said they'd ship a box to have the computer go to an advanced resolution center for more sophisticated repair;

Box arrived today. SYSTEM DOES NOT FIT IN IT with the packing material! The box would burst if I tried to ship it.