Computer Fun

"Computer Fun" and I say that sarcastically.  I just spent 4 hours restoring processed and organized pictures that suddenly vanished.  Some background...

I use a Mac Mini.  It is small, but sufficient.  And I like the fact that it is solid state and doesn't need a fan.  It could use a few more ports, but I I have just barely enough and haven't needed more yet. 

I keep my files organized, especially the pictures.  IPhotos holds all the full-sized pictures by date.  When I crop, filter and resize them for blog use, they go into a new folder (like documents and applications do).  I think most people keep their pictures by subject.  I take too many to be able to find them that way.

So, in the Photos folder, I set up 6 subfolders"  Cats, Family, House, Other, Videos, and Yard.  Each of those folders gets a new subfolder each year (2018, for example).  Each year folder gets monthly folders (January 2018 is 1801).  Daily subfolders when I need one (January 20, 2018 would be 180120).  That may or may not seem seriously complicated, but I can navigate to any subject and day in about 5 seconds.

I did spend my career organizing information after all...  ;)

Now, also, Mac has an app called "Time Machine".  Connected to an external hard drive, it keeps automatic backs of all changes in files and by some program I know NOTHING about,  it connects to all past saves so that you can restore individual files, individual folders, individual programs or your entire computer.

And that has saved me more than once for individual files to the whole thing!  I LOVE TIME MACHINE!

So I went to add a Flashback Friday post on Marks Mews.  I choose them by scrolling through IPhotos It displays dates, and when I find one I want to use, I just go to that date in Photos (IPhotos is an app; Photos is a saved personal folder).

The original full-size picture was in IPhotos but the processed picture I wanted was not in my Photos subfolder.    And I discovered that half the pictures in my subfolders from 2016 and earlier were gone!  ARRRGGGHHHHH!

I should mention that while Mac computers have strong anti-hacking software built-in, I do use one called MacKeeper to look for adware, malware, useless files, etc.  And I was using it frequently the past few days.  I made the mistake of trying to download a TV show I wanted a quote from and ended up with a pop-up ads.

I didn't realize how aggressive MacKeeper could be defining "useless files".  It allows you to look at the list of files to be deleted, but file names can be difficult to interpret.  After reading a dozen and not seeing anything that worried me (most seemed to be if I needed to read something in a foreign language), I went ahead and clicked "OK".  It deleted almost a 1,000 files and gave me back   about a Gb memory, so I was rather pleased. 

Until I discovered a lot of processed pictures missing...  Now I'm not saying that MacKeeper did that, just that both things seemed to happen at the same time.  Maybe I got hacked at the same time.  But I am suspicious of coincidences!

So I went into Time Machine and tried restore individual folders from 2 days ago, iy didn't work.  So I looked at the Time Machine backups from a week before and those were blank.  I had to go back to August, and there they all were!

Not to get too technical (unless someone has a question), but I had to select specific folders for Cats, Family, House, Other, Video, and Yard one at a time and save one then then go back and do another. and double check because once it didn't restore (probably my fault, but that's why you check).

BUT!  They are all back now...  The Flashback Fridays post on Marks Mews is proof.

MacKeeper is a good app.  It does find adware, some tracking malware, and actually non-essential files.  But I will be a LOT more careful in the permissions I allow it in the future, LOL!

The Wrist Watch

I have been wearing the same wristwatch for about 40 years.  It is so old, there isn't even one on ebay.  It is a Sears Phasar digital watch.  There is a Phasar 1000 and a Phasar 2000, but not the original unnumbered one. 

I love that watch.  It loses about a second per day, but it does NOTHING other than show time and day/date.  But is a little line at the bottom that underlines the day of week.  There are 2 buttons.  One selects something to change, the other changes it.

Simple, straightforward, and the buttons are so small you can't activate them by accident.  It was a gift from my parents the day I got my first career job in 1975.  I have had the battery replaced about once a year, and every 10 years, the velcro band has worn out and I replace that with my favorite watch band "sharkleash".  It has 2 velcro straps, so working while wearing it, it doesn't loosen.  Watch and band are so part of me.

The watch finally died.  Well, gee, who would imagine a cheap digital watch from 1975 would only last 40 years?  ;)  A jeweler replaced the battery and it only worked when cold; arm-warmth stopped it.  So, time to replace it...

WAAAHHHHH!!!!  I loved that watch...

But everything good goes away eventually, so I looked for a decent replacement.  I learned that I hate all modern watches.  They DO too much.  Alarm features, Stopwatch features.  Even "foreign time zone" features whatever that is.

All I want is time, day, and date.  And small is good.  I don't want some big clunker on my arm.  I would happily wear a "ladies" watch, but they are too small.  Having to put on my reading glasses just to read the watch sort of defeats the purpose.

So I found one that didn't have too many features (and WOW had the sharkleash band), and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.  I struggled for 2 hours to program it.  The manual was only on line and deciding which manual to use was iffy.  No specific model identifications on any of the manuals.   Utter frustration.

I barely got it to show time, but every time I touched the darn thing, it seemed to change displays.  I got permission to return it to Amazon.

But before I did that, I really had to find a better one.  I found one that seemed better at Sears, a Casio Illuminator with a simple resin watch band.  It had fewer features and one less side button.  I went to Sears and bought it.  But I hate the watchband.  Its a buckle type and I LOVE the velcro type.  But it just takes popping the watchband pins and replacing the band.

Wrong!  This watchband doesn't have the old removable pins.  The pin is solid and would not be removed.  Internet searches suggested you could just push the pins out, but these were unpushable.

I DON'T GIVE UP EASILY!

I have a set of watch repair tools.  They didn't get the solid non-spring pins out.  OK, I have bigger tools.  With a small slot screwdriver, I bent the damned pins and pulled them loose with a vise-grip plier.  I was only risking $16 if I destroyed the watch anyway.

The watch repair tool kit has, among other things, a bag of dozens of spring watch pins.  I found 2 that would fit in place of the solid rod pins.

So I ripped the damned solid pins loose and that got the stupid resin buckle band off.  My sharkleash band was wider than the watch so I used a pair of surgical scissors I got from the doctor who removed my appendix in 1968 (I keep everything that seems useful) and cut a notch in the sharkleash band to fit.

It only took 15 minutes of fighting with the spring-pins to get them in.

But now I have the simple straight-forward cheap digital watch I preferred on the watch band I preferred.  It only took 2 online orders, a trip to the local Sears store, and about 3 total hours of work, but I have what I wanted.

For $16 for the Casio watch and $15 for the watch tool kit, I can return the $49 clunky watch I hated to Amazon for free.  And I don't care about the money.

I'm a persistent type, LOL!  I got what I wanted at the end...