JowettTalk

Whilst Scott was using my PC before Christmas it decided it did not want to reboot. Not only that it decided it did not like the system image back up. It was only the system which was lost not any of my personal files. There was a problem with some of the Virtual PC images that I use to support the websites but I eventually got those working on the dual boot copy of Windows 7. Anyhow after a couple of weeks failing to repair the broken OS I decided to rebuild and take up Microsoft's free upgrade to Windows 10.

So here I am learning a whole new world. I probably need a touch screen (or touch pad) to get the full benefit. One interesting part of the set-up is where it gives you the option to choose 'express set-up' which basically means all your contacts, location , voice input etc. is sent to Microsoft ' to improve your experience'. This is the same as allowing apps to use your smartphone which everyone does and so the whole world can see what they are doing. Needless to say I asked to block such transfer of info and trust Microsoft to honour that!

Good news is that Jowett.net, JT and JG all seem to work on Windows 10's Edge browser.

What a way to spend a Saturday night......

Prior to my deciding to upgrade, the best piece of advice I got from our local computer guy, was to make sure I had copied all documentation to an independent back up, as he had heard varying experiences from customers. some had had no problem, others lost items & couldn't retrieve them. I spent 24 hours sorting what I wanted/needed to keep (bit like a thorough spring clean, not quite a 'tip trip', but almost!) & then took the plunge! The only thing I haven't successfully managed to work through is how to adjust the brightness to my liking!

I used a tool Windows Transfer Tool that allegedly saves all you want. But I also copied important files as well onto a USB drive whilst also having the 'Backup/Restore' on another drive to fall back on, so in theory I had everything in three places.

I will not restore but I will do a lot of spring cleaning, archiving and organising as the computer has 20 years of backups and files. I will only move current files onto the new system and reorganise the archive.

Also being done is the updating of the Virtual Machines that support the Website. Windows 10 has Hyper-V, a much better environment than the Virtual PC previously available on Windows 7 and XP. This allows me to run a modern Linux server that I hope will better fit with the live systems on Jowett.org and Jowett.net.

As you may know it was not possible to reproduce the Jowett.net ssh and cookie issue in the test system. So hopefully I soon will be able to do that. Busy now building up the UBUNTU Linux server on Hyper-V.

At least it keeps me out of the garage.

Screen brightness.
Right click on desktop. Display Settings. Choose Advanced settings. You then go through the setting of gamma, brightness, contrast and colour. MAKES A DIFFERENCE!

I would also recommend making a backup image of your system before upgrading, although widows does make a restore point before the upgrade it is only available for a short period afterwords to use. Learnt the hard way when the nephew brought his laptop over for me to look at after 10 had done some updates the wifi would no longer work ( disappear after a couple minutes after rebooting) Had to reload 8 in the end to get it back.

After a bit of a break in Toulouse to watch the Rugby, drink a few beers, wine, food and sight seeing I returned to set up the testing server. Previously this ran on Windows XP with a supporting LAMP server on a Virtual PC hosted by Windows 7. Windows 10 forced a move to Hyper-V as the hosting facility which meant I would have needed to reinstall a licenced version of XP (previously it came as part of Virtual PC). Anyway I wanted a more representative test system to the Linux that runs in live. So Ubuntu was chosen as the guest OS on Hyper-V in place of Windows.

Ubuntu hosts Apache as webserver, PHP as the web page language and MYSQL as the database (LAMP). Today I installed the SSL system which also makes the test system more representative (This I did not have on the old test system). All the Jowett.net systems are working on this set up after some slight reconfiguration (eventually I may rationalise what were effectively three systems and many years of development to a more easily supported system).

So now I hope to be able to investigate the issues on Jowett.net and fix them. I have debugging capability now which hopefully will show what is going on with the cookies.
Peter Pfister phoned today so as well as discussing arrangements for the Resto show I managed to lead him through the steps to get over the cookie issue by clicking on a picture in the Gallery. Also showed him that his albums that were given public access had been moved from his Personal Album to the Public Album folder.

Why am I getting a reminder about Windows 10 every time I boot up my computer?
Is it because it's so involved and complicated that not very many people are moving towards it??
I personally couldn't contemplate all the various hoops I'd have to go through, especially having read the posts in this subject.
I don't need an answer, I've only just got to terms with Windows 7, and now I can't get into my Personal Album, but live in hope.
Tony.

Regarding Windows10. There is a limited time when moving to Windows 10 is free (I think until March).

Why do it at all? Eventually support for Windows 7 will end, meaning that security fixes will stop. But you will also start to find that you cannot use some new features or software that will come along in the next few years. Unless you want one of the new features in 10 there is not really much point in going through the hassle. However, the move should be painless for most people with a simple PC and hardware that is new/suitable . I would normally have waited until I upgraded my hardware but I needed to rebuild my system anyway. My hardware was top of the range 5 years ago so was suitable. The Hyper-V system was a good move but some of the other changes need some getting used to. If you are on Windows 8 then it IS a good move.

I have been through this from DOS in the 1980's through Windows 3.1, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 7 and probably a similar number of sea changes in all the software and hardware over the 35 years. On the whole progress has been good, bringing more useful facilities. Some of the basics changed little - such as a simple email or simple webpage view, but manipulating pictures and videos, touch screens (or even mice) required a change of operating system. Things like voice and eye control, hand writing recognition and read aloud are what are driving the newer systems.