Algorithm - Wordsmith.org

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I made a New Years� resolution not to bother you guys so much with "technical questions.� But let me violate it just this one last time

It drives me to distraction that after my No. 1 Son, a highly-paid and immensely competent Info Tech, went to so much trouble to install a red button on my PC front panel for the purpose, Bill Gates has subsequently made some changes in his software to thwart us. It used to be that after a jolly day at the keyboard I could exit and shut down by a single push of that button. I could press it once and leave the room, whereupon it would shut down all active programs then turn off my PC

But in the meantime Bill has made some changes requiring me to first manually shut down (1) anything in Windows Outlook, (but only on Friday through Tuesday in months containing a C or a J) ; and (2) anything in Word containing more than 3.0473 megabyte; as well as (3) any program containing a page including a window requiring attention, such as a misspelled word containing an initial capital letter between D and K or the sequential letters J,M, and V

I suspect there are thousands of additional conditions under which Bill will refuse to let me shut down but I just haven�t yet encountered most. But I know his elves are working on an algorithm (last time I�ll use the word; promise) intended to make shutdown so tedious that we simply can�t do it. He wants us to just leave our PC�s on 24/7, because he has an agreement with power companies worldwide

Used to be I could write a macro to perform such complex tasks but I�m getting too old and have only about 15 years remaining on Earth. I would ask my PC-savvy Son but he has come to ignore me

Am I expecting too much in Bill�s convoluted world

Or is it that he hates us all

Sometimes it seems like I spend a half hour shutting down open programs before I can push the button and go about my daily chores. DOS booted in 15 seconds and shut down instantly. Why is Windows so much better

You can always just unplug it.

Fal: That's true, and often I do just that. But when you next boot you will get all kinds of threatening messages from Bill telling you how bad you are, and which are obviously intended to discourage the non-geek from doing it again

Get a decent OS.

Fal: Thank you, that's exactly what No. 1 Son says. However, as I indicated I am so very old that by the time I had mastered it I'd be 95

Quote:

Am I expecting too much in Bill?s convoluted world

Or is it that he hates us all

Bingo.

You could leave the machine on.

You can't just go to your Start menu, and Shut Down from there? Without closing anything beforehand, I mean. For me it's three clicks, then I wait to turn the monitor all the way off.

hyperbole, Jackie; hyperbole.

Whose?

I don't use this kind of software, because I like to check each individual program before I log off to ensure I quit/save as appropriate; however, I'm sure that such programs are available either for purchase or as freeware.

Do a search for "shutdown utility" or "auto-shutdown utility" with PC.

Windows is a "real" OS. It's just not a real good "OS". It is an improvement over DOS and some of the previous incarnations of windows (which were just extensions to DOS). DOS itself was little more than a monitor program. The main technical problem I perceive with windows is that it doesn't do resource management very well. The main philosophical problem is that it is obtrusive. Clippy was just the natural fruition of their general disregard for the user. Windows is rude.

I remember the first computer I ever used - about 30 yrs ago now. It was a PDP-8 marketed as an edusystem 25, I think. It took maybe 45 minutes to boot from paper tape. Nowadays I get impatient when my 2GHz, dual processor takes 90 seconds.

Anyway, I think Bill Gates is brilliant. He might be many other things to boot, but he's also brilliant. Even brilliant people can do stupid things.

zm: Every watt you leave on costs about $1 a year. Fal has been doing this stuff 30 years. If your PC standby is only 10 watts, it would have cost him $300 not including inflation and the $300 additional interest he could have accumulated had he invested the initial sum; min total $600

This doesn't count the monitor

Fal: Thank you, I shall ask my No. 1 Son to find and install the auto shutdown if he can and will. Tho he's getting pretty sick of me asking for help

I was sort of kidding about DOS; but had it survived and were it improved over the years I daresay it would be far sup[erior to Windows and surely would be immune from virus

Bill Gates is very competent when it comes to organizing charities