Current one is heading towards 6 years old: Lenovo X1 Carbon 14" / Windows 10. It still works fine, but Microsoft is dropping support for Win10 in the fall, so it's time to move up. I'm having a hard time finding what I want, which is pretty specific. 

I want a 14" model, very durable, excellent keyboard, touch screen, and as many USB ports as I can possibly get. I also want Windows 11 Pro, not the crippled "Home" version, but may have to buy that separately and upgrade. And no, my geeky friends, I have no interest in running Linux. I was all about the Linux when I worked in a networking lab, but it does not meet my needs at home. 

Connectivity is the hardest thing. It is increasingly difficult to find laptops with more than one USB-A port. I do not understand why people don't care about this. Although 95% of the time I use my laptop as if it were a desktop (connected to a hub with 2 monitors and a fancy keyboard) I seem to be constantly plugging and unplugging devices from the 2 USB ports I have. Webcam, DVD drive, RFID mouse, thumb drives, external backup drives, occasionally even an Ethernet dongle. And that's not even counting the keyboard and whatever else is connected to that steaming hot USB-C hub. 

Anybody have suggestions?  I won't really need it until October, but with the on/off tariff situation I might want to make a purchase before prices go through the roof. I don't think there are any laptops manufactured in the USA, and even if they are they are probably using mostly imported electronic components. 

So far, the ASUS Expertbook line looks promising.

COMPUTER TIP OF THE WEEK for all Windows users:  download the latest FREE version of Treesize!  I had some older versions of this that were just okay, but Ver 4.2 is amazing! This little utility fills a huge usability hole in Windows by scanning any portion of your file tree, reporting the sizes of every subfolder, and neatly sorting them by size. Unlike the old version I was using, this one is lightning fast: scanned my entire C drive in seconds!  
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tldr;  I managed to spend almost a week Getting (some of) My Affairs In Order.  The fireproof lockbox now has a justification for existing.

Two or three or five days ago I was inspired by The Internet to add a few things to the fireproof lockbox in the office closet. All that was in there was a folder with passports, birth certificates, and the like and one folder containing the giant abstract for the house. The Internet puff piece that crossed my digital desk suggested a few other obvious things to keep in there, like vehicle titles and emergency cash. Well, that sounds easy enough, right? Let's just add them.

But the most obvious thing to add was the Family Survivor Document and Password List that was started about 10 years ago and desperately needs updating. A lot of the updates are scrawled on the old hard copy in the pink binder, so they just needed to be transcribed. But the Password List had of course ballooned to the point where it needed its own document.  So I figured I'd start with that. I do, of course, have all my passwords recorded in various places, so I started with that. Because my record-keeping impulses tend more towards intermittently obsessive that truly organized, I naturally discovered that the multiply redundant places I had recorded certain passwords did not agree with each other. So I had to login to all of them to see which version was  correct. While I was at it, why not update some of the passwords on Loyalty accounts where I had carelessly reused the same password? That shoujld be easy, right? Which led to the unwelcome discovery that most of my credit cards and loyalty programs had changed their password requirements, in many cases forcing the use of email addresses as login names (which I HATE). So in order to change my password I had to abandon he handy "username" I had chosen and check/update my email contact info, which is surprisingly difficult to do on some of these awful websites. Alaska Airlines was excruciatingly difficult, eventually  resulting in my disabling Richard's account completely. I still have to call Customer Service to get that fixed. *sigh* But I did get the passwords updated to something unique on the accounts that still work.

Then I moved on to the main Family Survivor Document, which actually took a lot less time than the passwords. Although I had a hard time finishing either one because just as I was about to print the hard copy I thought of something else I had forgotten to add. 

Then I discovered that the giant abstract, although interesting as a historical document, does not include any actual DEEDS. I finally found a couple of extremely poor copies of our deed in a file folder marked "CLOSING DOCUMENTS" and just added that whole folder. Also, while I was at it, the Social Security and Medicare folders. And my latest insurance policies, which was one of the things I started out to do but had almost forgotten by this point. 

Then it occurred to me that I might as well throw in some digital media with backups photos and important files. That led me down the path of doing a little bit of file cleanup and reorganization, and I'm still in the midst of that. And that's when I downloaded the new Treesize, which was the high point of this whole process so far. 

So my computer suddenly quit working - Windows login screen just kept flashing on and off but you couldn't do anything. After much trouble-shooting I concluded that it wasn't hardware: my installation of Windows 10 had gotten corrupted  somehow. So I reinstalled Windows, selecting the option to preserve my files. To my unutterable astonishment, it worked!  My files ARE still there, although the desktop shortcuts are a mess and my monitors are reversed. But all my installed programs (or "apps" as Microsoft is now calling them) are gone. As are most of my settings and customizations, of which there are too many to count. For the record, here are the installations and customizations that I absolutely cannot function without.

• Download Chrome and make it my default browser. Microsoft tries really really really hard to talk you out of this. Do you REALLY want to download this POS browser? Why not use Edge? No, wait, you don't want to make Chrome your default! Edge is so much better! But I persevered and I'm back in Chrome world and logged in to Google.
• My Vault files! This is a little old piece of freeware that lets you create simple text files organized hierarchically. I have almost 50 of these files, each with dozens or even hundreds of subfolders and directories. Everything I know is in these files, including how to set up my computers. Do you see a small error in judgment here?  Yup, when the computer is down, I can't get to those notes. Fortunately, those files are all backed up online in iDrive. But wait - how do I login to iDrive? It's in that vault file! Fortunately I didn't need to restore from iDrive, since this scary process actually DID save all my files. 
• Customized mouse buttons. Okay, I found the relevant vault file and am updating it as I proceed. But the Cut/Copy/Paste buttons on my fancy mouse aren't set up and it is driving me crazy! Okay, set up the mouse. Wait, can't do that without installing the special Logitech software. It's on this computer somewhere, but where? All my desktop shortcuts are a mess. 
• Okay, the installer must be in the Downloads directory. But... what is this mishmash? Oh, fer... Windows Explorer has defaulted to some incomprehensible format where it's classifying all my files by ones I really like, ones I don't really care about, etc. WTF? How do I fix this? Google it. Oh Christ, there's now a huge "ribbon" for configuring folders and it has a Group By category that has to be disabled. Okay, that's better. Install. Oh no.... it's restarting my computer! And when it came back up my shortcuts were scattered all over again. 
• Open Logitech G Hub and configure buttons. Hey, it's working! I can cut and paste again without thinking about it!

It's going to be a  long day....

NOTE TO SELF  
Start a list of essential logins and contact numbers and write them down on paper! 

tldr; I now have a USB webcam, so next time we have a virtual meeting where people insist on using the video channel instead of the nice friendly text chat, I can participate. I still prefer text though, unless my grandchildren are involved. 

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Should have done this a long time ago. Webcams aren't very expensive or hard to install. Unless, of course, you are trying to get them to work with Skype (spawn of Hell. At least since Microsoft acquired them. So maybe adopted spawn of Hell)

Our iPad died. The only thing we really used it for was Skyping with Amber or for Richard to look at pictures on Google Photos, either of which could be done more easily on a Windows laptop anyway. So I fired up my 6-year-old Lenovo laptop, which is still running Windows 7 and has a too-small hard disk, and one slightly wonky USB port, but otherwise works pretty well. Only to discover that the built-in camera is totally non-functional. I spent half the day updating drivers and so on, and finally gave up. 

Borrowed Thorin's webcam briefly to see if it would even work with Windows 7, and after some fiddling about it did. Some of the "check your webcam online" sites did not work with Windows 7, but this one did. So I ordered the exact same webcam from Amazon. It arrived the next day. 

Then I set about getting it to work with Skype. Lord in heaven, what a mess! In theory, you just select a new camera from a dropdown list, but doing that caused absolute mayhem. I ended up reinstalling Skype three times and suffering through a hard hang on my Windows 10 computer that could only be resolved by a complete power cycle (Restart didn't even work). After the reboot Skype had disappeared from my computer. But I downloaded and installed it again, and this time it came right up with the webcam. So now we have two choices for Skype (or presumably Zoom or Discord or whatever other conferencing platform): dinky little laptop with the advantage of mobility or my main computer setup with two glorious monitors. AND... I have finally got the backup laptop in condition to use: sensitive files removed, new account for Richard, fingerprint sensor finally working reliably. Yay!

Okay, that wasn't a very interesting entry, was it? But somehow I spent all day on that project, so it's front and center in my mind. That's why we have tldr.

 

 It's a perfectly lovely router with dual band wireless, a main and guest network, easy to use browser based administrative interface, and 4 Ethernet ports. It works great, even penetrating the walls in my rambling old house full of plaster and brick and chicken wire.

 Yep, still dinking around with Windows 10, which I am liking better and better the more I get to know it.

I am still unreasonably tickled to have access to Linux and bash, and am starting to remember some of the things I used to do with it. Really, Linux is all about files. Linux essentially sees the world as a bunch of files, including all forms of I/O. And who can't use some low level tools for file management? 

I was chatting with someone at the Minnstf meeting who maintained that LInux over Windows did not have direct access to Windows files. Maybe it didn't with Cygwin, but Ubuntu over Win10 definitely does. Your C Drive is at /mnt/c.  Can't get much simpler than that, right?

I found a trove of my old work scripts and aliases and used them to customize my bash login. I was crazy for aliases, starting with quick ways of positioning and viewing the file system. I'm still relearning the syntax and can't quite remember why some of these are so complicated, but I'm sure there is a reason. Anyway, here are a few of my favorites, revised to reflect my local filesystem.

 I wasn't going to touch this thing, but was seduced by the ease of transitioning my dynamically changing files from the old PC to the new. It sounded like a knock-off of Apple's dreadful iCloud, but it's actually a whole lot better. The settings for what gets synced and what doesn't are pretty clear and the syncing activity is extremely transparent. Best of all, you can login to your Microsoft account and manage the master filesystem at its source. And if you accidentally delete something you didn't mean to, you can get it back again for 30 days. 

But I'm still confused and annoyed by being forced to sync my desktops in addition to specific folders of files. What does that even mean? I'm in the habit of putting lots of shortcuts on my desktop, and I don't want them propagated from one computer to the other. Usually they aren't, but every now and then I do things in the wrong order and BLAM! Garbage shortcuts with broken links all over the highway.

And the constant subtle pressure to delete all my files from local media and just trust Microsoft to take care of everything makes me very uneasy. I have no intention of doing that, but there are so many settings to be aware of. 

Is anybody else using OneDrive, and what do you think of it?  Any tips? 

 Yes, this will be boring for people who don't over-focus on their computer tools. I was perfectly happy with Windows 7, but since I am being forced to make the switch I now feel compelled to spend the next week learning everything I possibly can about this new thing and customizing it in every way possible. I gather that most people just take the default configuration and learn to live with it, but what can I say? I'm the type that actually reads User Manuals. Not that modern computers even come with a User Manual. Some poor fool still has to write one, but the result no longer gets printed on paper and shipped with the product. Am I the only person on the planet that heaves a sigh of frustration when I see the tiny bit of folded paper labeled "Setup Instructions" and immediately goes to the manufacturer's website to download the User Manual?  Yeah, probably.

In brief, my new computer is a Lenovo X1 Carbon Thinkpad. It's a lot like my current Lenovo but thinner, faster, with more RAM and a larger hard drive. Beth, it's very much like your Yoga Thinkpad but without the 360-degree hinge. It's sleek and fast and the fingerprint reader actually WORKS on this one, which is an improvement over the old one. But the biggest improvement is the touchpad, which is FANTASTIC.  I have been trying unsuccessfully to get comfortable with a touchpad for 20 years, and this is the first one I've actually been able to use without having the urge to pick up the laptop and sling it across the room. It's sensitive and precise and actually has 3 buttons you can see without having to find pretend buttons hidden somewhere under the touchpad. But it turns out that I don't need them after all because the gesture shortcuts work so well. One-finger tap for left-click, two-finger tap for right-click, and two-finger drag for scrolling. Those were perfect right out of the box. I configured three-finger tap to take me directly to the all-purpose search box (probably the best new feature in Windows 10). None of that will matter much once I get set up with a docking station, but it's making the transition phase a lot more pleasurable than I expected.

This computer has a touch screen, something I didn't particularly care about and probably won't use much. However, I have been using it a lot during computer setup to move icons around on the desktop and drag files from one folder to another. Drag and drop is easy with a mouse, but I still find it awkward with even an excellent touchpad. 

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In other news, I managed to start the day by dropping a raw egg on the floor after I had it in the pan and starting to cook, a marvel of klutziness that I don't think I have ever achieved before. Somehow I bumped the handle of the frying pan in such a way that it flipped the egg into the air and back down onto the front of the stove where it slid all the way down to the floor, leaving a mess behind it like a suicidal giant snail. To make matters worse, it was the last egg in the house. Not the most auspicious start to the day.

I do most of my online shopping on Amazon for many reasons: price, selection, reviews that are actually helpful, ease of ordering, etc. But I decided to order my new laptop directly from Lenovo so I could select exactly the features I wanted. What a nightmare! Navigating the website was fricking confusing, as there seemed to be multiple ways to characterize the type of laptop I wanted. When I started with Laptop I saw one array of products. When I started with Thinkpad, I saw a different non-overlapping array. Neither list contained the one I was actually interested in, so I just googled Thinkpad X1 Yoga and found a THIRD list of models. I spent an hour or so customizing the one I thought I wanted and then saved the configuration while I went off to do a little more research.

When I came back later (entering from the AAdvantage portal so I could get American miles), my saved configuration was gone. I painstakingly recreated it, but this time the price was notably different. Various coupons had been automatically applied each time and they produced different results. I went off and looked for available coupons, came back and tried again. My recreated configuration had a new price now, different from the first two. And each time the estimated delivery time was radically different (ranging from 3-5 days to 3 weeks). After an hour of two of this I finally came up with the configuration and combination of coupons that seemed like the best deal with the shortest delivery time. I hit Purchase and the delivery time INSTANTLY changed from 3 days to about 3 weeks: "will ship on Oct 21 or 22." Well, that seemed okay. I wanted the computer before I left for Oregon, but I didn't actually need it immediately. On October 22 I got an email sorrowfully declaring that there was an unforeseen delay in my order but that they would "do our best to get to it within 30 days."  I followed the link for track my order and it said:  Estimated shipping date: January 31, 2020. Not okay, Lenovo. I'm only buying a new laptop because Microsoft is forcing my hand by discontinuing Windows 7 once and for all on January 14. I googled around and discovered many many complaints RIGHT ON LENOVO'S OWN CUSTOMER FORUMS of exactly this behavior - delivery windows changing from days to months when sale was confirmed. I guess I should have searched on that earlier, but I've been spoiled by years of dealing with Amazon. It just never occurred to me that respectable companies still pulled crap like this.

So I cancelled the order (which at least wasn't too hard) and placed a new order on Amazon. The downside is that I had to search for a while to find a preconfigured Lenovo that was close to what I wanted instead of being able to specify component by component. On the plus side, I think I ended up with a computer that is less glamorous but probably a better fit for me. I abandoned the Yoga feature and went with a more powerful processor instead. But the big win is that when you order something from Amazon it f*cking shows up exactly when they said it would. I got my new Lenovo X1 Carbon Thinkpad in two days, right within the 2-hour delivery window promised. Now I have to figure out if I have a Microsoft login so I can set the damn thing up. It's been 5 years since the last time I did this, and I have no idea. 

 Okay, probably nobody reading this will care, but I just learned a great tip on how to make the painfully limited Google Sheets feel a little more like Excel. I like to fiddle, and I am constantly sorting and resorting my tables in different ways (now by first name, now by last name. Can't make up my mind). I often put multiple tables on the same page and of course I want to sort them separately, not mix them all together. Excel has an easy way to quickly select an area of contiguous data, but Sheets does not, so you have to select and drag every time to get the table you want. Similarly with printing just one area of a spreadsheet. Easy in Excel, harder in Sheets. 

Here's the workaround. 

• Select all the cells you want to group together for sorting or printing
• Right-click anywhere in the area and pick "get link to this range"
• Create a text cell somewhere off to the side labeled "print range" or "sort range" and paste the link into it.