Yosemite

I’ve never liked Mavericks. When I got this new Mac a year ago, the first thing it said when I turned it on was that a new operating system was ready to be installed, i.e. Mavericks. I installed it as the least risky time to do it before I started using it.

However it’s always been dog slow and kernel threads seemed to leak memory which required frequent reboots, especially in the home scenario here where there are typically three people logged in at once.

So as soon as Update told me there was a new O/S I decided it couldn’t be worse than Mavericks and so far that has proved to be true. Noticably faster. We have lost GPG Mail but a small price to pay until they fix it.

There’s also the reprehensible behaviour of search data being sent home to Apple and Microsoft, which I have disabled as per https://fix-macosx.com/.

Need to keep an eye on that.

In the meantime, looking forward to finding out what good stuff there is in Yosemite.

A typical IT problem

So here’s an example of a typical, frustrating user level IT problem…

I tried out Windows 8.1 in a dual boot setup on my laptop. All fine and good until something got corrupted leaving me with the known problem described here http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-system/pc-needs-to-be-repaired-file/5db06fb1-d8cc-47e0-b801-e5e341983e1a

The solution is to use reset/recovery media. I have tried making reset/recovery media from a second Windows 8.1 installation and I’ve spent half a day trying to get it to work without success.

I try to make Windows installation media using the instructions here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media.

I get an error saying windows 8.1 isn’t available for online purchase in the country/region I’m in.

There’s many solutions posted to that e.g. http://wind8apps.com/12014-windows-8-1-not-available-in-your-region/

I tried that and I get another error “This platform is not supported”.

At what point do you give up? Really, I feel embarrassed for IT.