More Windows 8.1

More Windows 8.1

The new Start button isn't as bad as I first thought.  In Windows 7 you could get to more stuff, but Windows 8.1 still allows you to access most of the items.

By right-clicking on the Start button in Desktop, you get a menu that allows you to do many things:

Programs and Features -- go to that category in the Control Panel

Mobility Center -- 

You can access a number of Control Panel applications

Power Options -- takes you to the Control Panel Power Options

Event Viewer --

System --  System Category in Control Panel

Device Manager --

Network Connections --

Disk Management --

Computer Management --

Command Prompt --

Command Prompt (admin) --

Task Manager --

Control Panel --

File Explorer --

Search --  Windows 8.1 Search 

Run --

File Searching --

When you left-click on the Start button, you can immediately start tying the file name you want.

Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1

I've upgraded my Windows 8 laptop to 8.1.  I suspect that there might be a number of "under the hood" changes made, but there is less visible change than I expected.

However, there are several things that have been helpful, and this blog is meant to describe how they are useful to me.

Disable the lock screen

If you like your PC to boot just as fast as possible then the new Windows 8 lock screen may not appeal. Don't worry, though, if you'd like to ditch this then it only takes a moment.

First you must open the "Run" window by depressing <Windows>-R and typing regedit into the window.

Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Personalization (create the Personalization key if it doesn't exist).

Click Personalization in the left-hand pane. Right-click in the right-hand pane, select New > DWORD Value, and give it the name NoLockScreen.

Double-click your new NoLockScreen value, set it to 1, click OK, and when you next reboot it the lock screen will have gone. If you decide to restore it for some reason, set NoLockScreen to 0 or delete it entirely.

Go Directly to the Desktop

The second issue for me was that I wanted to go to the Desktop rather than the Metro window, and you can now do this as well.  First you have to be in the Desktop window.  Right-click the task bar and select "Properties," then left-click on the "Navigate" tab.  You'll see the following:

 

All you have to do is click on the check box to "go to the desktop instead of Start."  

A Start button has also been added in 8.1, but it's not like the one in Windows 7.  If you click on it you'll either go to the Metro (Start) window or to a window that shows all of the applications on your computer.  Click on the "Show the Apps..." if you want to see apps, leave it un-checked if you want to go to the Metro interface.  If you want to do a more global search, click on the checkbox just below.

When you have made these changes and hit the Start icon, you can roll up and down (either by clicking on the circled arrow at the bottom of the screen or by sliding up and down if you have a touch screen) to move between the apps screen and the Metro interface screen.

I haven't officially measured the time to get to the Desktop with the changes, but it appears to me that it is much faster than in Windows 8.  My laptop also activates the wi-fi faster now.

Changing Default Applications

Another useful thing to me is the ability to change my default applications directly from the "PC Settings" window.  In Windows 8 I had to go to the Control Panel to do this.  Here is what the new 8.1 screen looks like:

Some of the control panel apps are now available in the "PC Settings" window, but not all of them; so you will still have to go to the Desktop and get into the Control Panel for many of the other settings. 

I'm pleased with 8.1.  It has solved most of my most nagging issues.  Hope this helps you better use your system.

The Verde River

Arizona's Dying Rivers

The Verde River is being threatened and may become another of Arizona's disappearing rivers. It is essential to people, wildlife and plants through its 190 mile excursion across the middle of our state. A film has been produced -- "Viva La Verde" -- (about 48 minutes) on the river and I've included a link to this film here so that you can view it. The proposed pipeline from the Big Chino aquifer to Prescott, Chino and Prescott Valley threatens this river because the aquifer is its primary origin. Depleting aquifers are a major threat to the entire world, so don't think this is just a problem for the high desert.

http://www.cwagaz.org/videos/158-vivavideo

A Water Ethic

A Water Ethic

Living in Prescott, AZ, we are a high-desert area that has been in drought for many years, with more to come.  Water is a precious commodity, and there are constant arguments and discussions about our lack of it.  Aquifers (the Little Chino and the Big Chino) are being depleted at a terrifying rate, and the Big Chino is the headwaters for the Verde River, one of only a few truly natural rivers left in Arizona that will surely dry up if enough water is siphoned out of that aquifer..

Water issues seem to be just about everywhere.  Emphasis today is more on our carbon footprint and very little seems to be directed toward our nation's water.

A book I just read provides a wealth of information about this crisis, how we have managed to mess things up and how a number of countries and cities are taking steps to improve their water use.  Cynthia Barnett's book, Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis, is chuck full of stories on our water dilemma and how we can take steps to improve.  Almost 40% of the book consists of references used in the book, but Ms. Barnett writes in a very engaging way in spite of the citations.

Here is what I feel is any important quote from the book:

Aldo Leopold articulated “The Land Ethic” in his Sand County Almanac with these simple words: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

We have clearly destroyed or harmed our biotic community by stressing growth and profitability, and Ms. Barnett states that we must value our precious water resources more than we have in the past and create a national "water ethic" that ensures we maintain our supply for future generations.

Please consider reading this book and become more aware of the water issue in our country and world.  You'll be surprised at what you can learn and perhaps become an advocate for making things better.

My First Train Trip -- Going Back Home

Going Back Home

We had a wonderful time in Cincinnati, seeing two of our kids and seven of our grandkids.  Even got to attend Amanda's sixth-grade graduation!

Now it's time to go back to Prescott.

One problem with train travel is that you get on when the train gets there, unless you are fortunate enough to live in a city that is the originating train site.  Our train from Cincinnati to Chicago starts in New York City, so the scheduled departure for us was 1:15 am.  Not wanting to stick our kids with this late departure, we arranged for a taxi.  This is not something I'm comfortable with, given the tales of late or never-arriving cabs.  And I like to have at least one back-up plan that was not available to me.  Fortunately, the cab picked us up on time and we got to Union Terminal well ahead of the scheduled departure.  Unfortunately the train didn't leave until about 2:30 am!

We rode coach on this first leg of our return.  There's plenty of room and the seats recline a little, but not enough for me to get any sleep!  Because the train was almost to Chicago, the toilet areas were pretty gross because I suspect they hadn't been cleaned during the trip.  I would recommend coach for relatively short legs, not the nine-hour kinds of trips.

We had a roomette for the Chicago-to-Flagstaff train trip, and we had learned in the outgoing trip that there is very little room; so we put our luggage in a storage area on the first level of the sleeper and only took what we needed for the night to the room.  Because I had trouble sleeping, I took over-the-counter sleeping pills and slept pretty well.

The meals were included with the roomette, and they were good, probably too good because my wife and I picked up a few pounds.  Oh to have an exercise car on the train!  As with the outgoing trip, we met a number of delightful people seated at our tables -- one of the real perks for train travel, in my opinion.

We got to Flagstaff pretty close to the scheduled arrival time, retrieved our car from the parking area and headed back toward Prescott.  It was good to be back home, and our cat Kasi was really glad to see us!

Would I take more train trips?  Yes, but we would change a few things, like taking less stuff.  I had a bag with lots of computer stuff (his and hers, iPod Touch, Kindle e-book reader, Lenovo 7-inch tablet) and will certainly not take all of that next time.  I would schedule our trips well ahead of time, to get better prices on the roomettes.  I'm considering getting an Amtrak credit card to collect miles -- we met one couple from California who took their entire trip on the miles they had on their card, even purchasing some miles to get into the right "zone" for the trip.

I'm suspecting that a rash I had on my legs was from bedbugs, but if this is correct it can happen just about anywhere today.  Might be good to inspect the roomette (which I didn't do) next time.  All of the upholstery is of course a great place for the creatures.

Thanks for reading my blog.  I hope some of this was useful to you.  Now to think about future Randlings!

My First Train Trip -- Leg Two of Two

Leg Two of Two

The next part of our trip was from Chicago to Cincinnati.  Because it's only a short trip and not overnight, we decided to take coach seats instead of a roomette.

The seats are spacious, not like the cattle-car ones on airplanes.  They have adjustable foot rests and plenty of room for our bags above our seats and in front of us below the seats in front of us.  The extra space between seats allows them to be adjusted without squishing the people in the ones behind us.

The so-called dining car was nothing like the one we had for the Flagstaff-to-Chicago leg.  You could get short-order items to take back to your seat or go to a place where a few tables were available and a dinner could be ordered.  Very few choices for dinner, especially since my wife and I are vegetarians.  We selected vegetable lasagna, pretty good but also very expensive.  On our way back home, I think we'll pack some stuff for breakfast since that train departs at 1:30 am and gets into Chicago around 10:00 am.  We have a much longer wait in Chicago going back.  I might check if there's anything around the terminal to see, or we'll just take more time to read books and use the Internet (if it works this time!).

The train had to stop several times to allow freight trains to use the rails, so we arrived at Union Terminal in Cincinnati around 4:30 am rather than the scheduled 3:30 am.  We then took a cab to our condo about ten miles away.

The total trip took about two days as compared to the four or five days we take to drive.  By the time we drive to Phoenix for a plane trip and sometimes stay the night before if we have an early-morning flight, then are wedged into seats for four hours or more after waiting in line and having a body check, a good part of one day or more elapses.  So a two-day train trip isn't that much longer, and the price isn't significantly more.

I'll follow this train-trip blog with at least one other for our trip back home.

My First Train Trip -- First Leg

Train Leg One of Two

We got up from our hotel bed at 3:00 am Friday morning to get ready for our 4:45 am departure.  I checked the train status and was informed that it was running thirty minutes late.  We were already up, so no additional sleep for us.  Since we had to park the car near the terminal, we left around 4:15 am.  When we got in the terminal we found that the train wouldn't be at Flagstaff until about 6:00 am.  Oh, well!  As some of you know, passenger trains defer to freight trains, so the delay was for the train to pull into a side track and wait for freight trains to pass.

Our roomette was much smaller than pictures portrayed.  We had taken two medium-sized bags (and a brief case for me and a cosmetic bag for my wife and a bag of snacks).  Getting up the narrow steps to our second-floor roomette was a challenge with all of that stuff.  Note to self:  put the bags into the cubbies on the first level and carry only a small bag for the things needed on the train into the room.  Here are some pictures of the hallway (about 18 inches wide), the roomette and the roomette with beds unfurled:

I'm a light sleeper, so I had little sleep that night.  The train didn't rock me to sleep, especially since it jerked around a lot.  The train whistle also was distracting since it had to be sounded every time the train was at a crossing.  My wife (being more agile than me) had the top bunk and had no problem with her sleep.

The meals on the train are included with being a "sleeper."  They were very good, and since Amtrak puts other people with you at tables for four, we enjoyed those who were also at our table.  They came from many other places and were traveling to  many locations.  What the trains really need are exercise cars since we ate more than we normally eat and had little space to exercise in.

The train made up its time, and we arrived in Chicago only about fifteen minutes late.   Being "sleepers," we were entitled to stay in the lounge to await our next leg of the trip.  Supposedly, the lounge had wi-fi, but it was not working.  I was told that it is up and down most of the time.  So I just read e-books and played some word games on my Kindle.

I'll cover the train trip from Chicago to Cincinnati on my next blog.  Stay tuned!