Mynotsoperfectpc WordPress Disaster

Before the disaster that bollixed my blog, I had downloaded the blog to my computer. That was what allowed me to restore most of what was lost.

I found most of the images in the wp_content-uploads, all nicely sorted by year and month. But for each of the original images there were thumbs images (all sizes) and other files as many as 11. Each file had to be checked for the original. The original file was just saved as (name of file).png.

I have made it a practice to keep a Microsoft Word copy of every post. I keep them stored in folders by year and month for each post. This enabled me to see which picture belonged to each post.

The folder path on my computer:



This was a long and tedious process and I hope to never need to repeat it. Now I also keep a copy of each picture in an images folder for each post. In the event another disaster occurs this will save me hours of reconstructing pages to the original state.

This shows all the images for ‘My Windows 10 is Sleepy.



The process was as follows. I opened each file for a post in the order I had posted them, using my previous saved files.

I opened each of the year and month is the saved wp_content-uploads and searched for the original picture.



Once I located the original image, I inserted it into in the partially restored post in WordPress by first removing the blank photo:

 





Then by uploading the picture using ‘Add Media’.



This process took many hours and days. I am almost certain there are still a few broken links and I have no doubt some issues will show up later.

This for instance: I get this error when I log on to my blog.

 

I can log on by clicking the Logon button again, but this didn't happen before my disaster. then there is this: Once I log on the favicon for marthas-web shows.



Minor issues for sure, but still there and I haven't resolved them yet.

I learned a huge lesson.

If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it!

eM Client vs Microsoft Outlook

This email program (eM Client) is my default email reader. I used Outlook for many years, but Microsoft keeps ‘fixing and adding stuff’ to Outlook until it is no longer an option for me.

Outlook.com is my main email provider. I have a lot of folders in Outlook.com so I can keep my email sorted. I like to keep my email downloaded to my computer, so a good email program is necessary for me.

With Outlook, I occasionally would lose track of a folder due to me having accidentally moved it to another folder. With eM Client when I accidentally try to move a folder, I get a warning!



This is something Outlook should do but doesn’t.

The Help files for eM Client are superb.



No searching and searching to find how to as Outlook requires. (There are hundreds of websites for fixing Outlook problems!)

I am constantly finding things that work better for me in eM Client. No problem sending HTML email to a recipient, no changing font sizes for just one area (I don’t know why anyone would want font sizes to be different in each area, but what do I know?) I think Microsoft just tries to make all those customizations so they can sell new versions of Office! Outlook is now harder to negotiate than Windows for me.





Those are just a few of the places I had to customize to be able to read email comfortably.

And no unexpected errors with no explanation when I try to send to a list.



I can use a theme in EM Client and there are about nine choices.  I could also just change the text color and background color but I like the dark theme, as evidenced from my screenshots.

I am finding more and more things to like about eM Client all the time.

Not Recommended

I visit a number of tech related sites quite frequently. If I have a computer problem these sites can often have an answer that will solve my problem.

I have often noticed a link on some of these sites, but I have not investigated this link as I am generally focused on my problem and just skip over it.

Today I decided to check this link to see where it took me.

The link:



Malwarebytes said, "Oh no you don’t, bad site!”



Now I was curious, this was supposed to be a safe site and Malwarebytes has never had a problem with this tech site, so what is wrong with ‘fix Windows errors and optimize system performance’?

I searched for ‘link.tweakbit.com’ and this is what I found.

Lots of sites are recommending it, but some are not.

Should I remove it thinks you should remove it if it’s on your computer. (This is a really cool site!)

The sites that are promoting it most likely are affiliates for this program. They tell you ‘Go here to buy TweakBit FixMyPC from the official store. It is currently available at $29.95. The scan is free, but to fix the issues, you will have to buy the software.’ No link here, if you want this program you can search for it.


Recommended by me:  Get CCleaner by Piriform and fix the issues for free.

Malwarebytes is not letting me go to link.treakbit.com due to the fact it is considered a ‘pup’, potentially unwanted software.

 

More Web Site Stuff That Bugs Me

Back in December of 2016 I posted about Web Site Stuff That Bugs Me. Since then webmasters have found even more stuff that annoys me.

Videos that require Flash! Flash is constantly needing to be updated due to security holes. It isn’t really needed to view videos, as flash videos can easily be converted to HTML5.

When I see this for a video:



I just leave. I have no Adobe products on my computer except what Microsoft has included with Edge and that is disabled.

I hate scrolling windows for videos and social media icons following me down the pages. Too distracting and again I leave. Example on this site. The only way for me to view this page is to disable JavaScript and reload the page.

Slide shows. I find them extremely annoying. Unless it's something I really NEED to see, I just leave. Unfortunately for me, more and more sites seem to be using slide shows. I am not sure why web designers think it is cool to make folks click and click to see content unless it is just a way to display more ads to the viewer. Since I use an ad blocker I don’t really know. It could also just be the designer thinks slide shows are cool. (They aren’t cool.)

It seems that once a web designer does something that other designers think is cool, a lot of others will copy the idea and make it part of their design. I can only hope some of these ‘cool’ ideas are fads and will eventually go away.

Chrome is Getting Too Annoying!

I recently made Chrome my default browser due to Firefox problems.

I always keep Chrome installed on my computers, you never know when you will need a second browser.  Edge is still being developed and is like an afterthought for me.

I was really beginning to think Chrome could remain my default browser until it updated to version 59.

What happened to Settings! Something called ‘Material Design’ took over Settings. I had to click, click, click to get to where I wanted to go.  Not cool, at least not for me. Did Google want to make users just give up and use the settings Google wants?

Fortunately, someone else didn’t like Material Design either and figured out a way to disable it, at least for now.  Winaero to the rescue!

Clicking on a link on from most places including is just too annoying! Chrome seems to think I might go to a site I shouldn’t by popping up with this little sucker:



If you click ‘trust’ you would think it wouldn’t ask again for this domain, but you would be wrong. If you want this domain to really be trusted, you need to go into Settings/Advanced Settings/Content and look for Manage Exceptions. If you haven’t disabled Material Design settings, good luck finding the right setting!

Clicking ‘allow’ will open the site and clicking background will also open the site, but you will need to click a tab to get to it. Just click and click again, too many clicks!

I know the powers that be for Chrome are just trying to make it safe for users. But when I try to go to ZD net and get this:



That is a bit too much.

Firefox is now my default browser.

Fun With Firefox 'Not'

Firefox has been my favorite browser for a long time.

Sometimes when browsers start acting up and nothing seems to fix the annoying issues, the only option is uninstall and start over.

Sites wouldn't load correctly or at all, but they worked just fine on Chrome.

Troubleshooting

I disabled add-ons and when that didn't help, I un-installed add-ons. After making Chrome my default browser I just decided to try a new Firefox.

Getting ready

I exported my bookmarks to a file, made note of all my extensions and uninstalled Firefox with Revo Uninstaller.

I had upgraded Firefox to 64 bit and then I saw in Revo I still had the 32 bit installed. I uninstalled both versions and downloaded and installed a new 64 bit Firefox.

Tweaking the new install

All my settings were gone of course, and I am still tweaking to make Firefox work for me.

To make Firefox work best for me, I enabled the Menu at the top of the browser:



Menu bar enabled.



After installing my must have extensions, setting my Home page and tweaking what I want Firefox to do:



Now I had to stop videos from auto-playing and asking for alerts.

Type about:config into a new browser tab



Click ‘I accept the risk’

Type 'autoplay' in the Search field



Stop Firefox asking for notifications (disable all web notification prompt)

Again, type ‘about:config’ into a new browser tab and click ‘I accept the risk’.

Type 'notifications' in the Search field and highlight/click 'dom.webnotifications.enabled to change true to false.



I imported my bookmarks using the file I created when I backed up my bookmarks.

So far it is almost like I want it, but I am still using Chrome as my default browser.

I like Chrome! I would like it better if it had that menu bar at the top.

 

 

eM Client, Again

Back on March 2014, I posted a brief article about eM Client.

I am now using this excellent program instead of Outlook and email frustrations are gone, at least for now.

In Outlook, I must go to each of the different settings to change font sizes and some font sizes just can’t be changed. There are tons of websites helping folks figure out how to change fonts alone! With every version of Outlook, Microsoft changes how to do things (makes it more difficult) and it just made it more frustrating for me. I have vision problems and all those tiny fonts that are default in Outlook just don’t cut it. Just look here to see what I mean.

With eM Client, just one page sets it up.





Click ‘Apply’ and everything is set. Cool!

I don’t like the Message pane. Every email program provides the option for the message pane, it is usually set as Default. With Outlook, every folder had the message pane set to Default. With eM Client, all I had to go was change it in one place. (I think that’s true with most email programs, I know it is for Thunderbird.) Why does Outlook have to be so different?



I still have Outlook installed on my computer as it is part of Office and I use Word, Excel and OneNote. I even have a few accounts set up on Outlook. But eM Client has Outlook beat hands down, at least for me.

I have a suspicion a lot of folks struggling with Outlook and it's oh so many settings would be just like me and really love eM Client!