Tag: Windows

Xbox One Game Controller for Windows

On By Michel McDonaldIn EverQuest, GamesLeave a comment

Xbox One Controller for Windows

I’ve been playing computer games on my Windows PC since the late 90’s using keyboard and mouse with pretty much success. I bought a game controller some time in the late 90’s that never really worked right. I’m sure it worked, I just couldn’t figure out how to make it work for the games I was trying to play.

In 2002 I was reunited with my aunt in Simi Valley after more than a decade of no contact, and my cousin introduced me to a new style of gaming that I wasn’t even aware existed. MMORPG which stands for massively multiplayer online role playing game. This was literally the first time I’d ever played a game where there were other people also playing. Mind blowing! That game was called EverQuest. I tried using the game controller for EverQuest, but I could never get it to work.

So recently I bought a game called Terraria from Steam which I already own on my PS4 and PS Vita, but I bought it on my PC because I wanted to see how it is to play on another format. Playing EverQuest with the keyboard and mouse were easy, but playing Terraria with the keyboard and mouse was difficult. I would place blocks in places I didn’t want to place them, and then when I tried to break them with the pick axe, I would end up breaking the pieces I actually wanted to keep.

I received this awesome Xbox One game controller for Windows that I bought on Amazon and got in the mail 2 days later with Amazon Prime shipping. I can actually place blocks in the place I want them to be, and I can remove blocks I want to remove without breaking blocks I want to keep. It’s so weird that I’m super excited to play a game with a game controller lol.

One of my other options was the Steam controller, but I read the reviews of those, which were terrible. I mean just terrible lol. Yes, it bears repeating. Many people said to just use a Xbox One controller. I wondered what about Xbox 360 controller, and many people said Xbox 360 controller works, but Xbox One controller is better. I don’t have the 360 controller to compare it to the Xbox One controller, so I’ll just have to take their word for it. I tried using my PS4 controller, but it didn’t work at all.

The Xbox One game controller for Windows that I bought came with a wire. There is an option to buy a USB , I’m just gonna say dongle. I don’t know if it’s the right word, but it sounds silly so I’m just gonna say dongle. There was an option to buy a USB dongle (LOL) to play wirelessly, but the Xbox One game controller doesn’t have a rechargeable battery, so you literally have to use 2 AA batteries that aren’t even included. LAME! I don’t care about playing wirelessly, and I’m not going to waste hundreds of dollars on batteries, so I can play with the wire.

The Xbox One game controller works with Minecraft as well as other Windows games. I considered if I bought a Steam controller, would it even work with the Xbox for Windows games? So I’m glad I bought the Xbox One controller. I haven’t tried EverQuest yet, but I would be interested to know if it works. I also used to play a game called Lord of the Rings Online, and I don’t know if it works there, but I’m sure it does. I have The Sims 3, and I tried loading that game, but it crashed after I waited literally for 10 minutes for it to load. I don’t have that much time to sit there wasting on a game to load. I have better things to do, like I don’t know, putting tape on my nose and attaching it to my forehead so I have a piggy nose.

I’m not going to switch over to Windows games because it annoys me how PC games crash all the time and how slow they are to play on my slow ass computer, I just wanted to have the option to play games on my computer with a game controller, and now I have the option.

Warming up to Windows 10

On By Michel McDonaldIn App, ComputerLeave a comment

Windows 10 logoI wasn’t happy with Windows 10 when I installed it because it took hours to install, then everything took forever to load. I couldn’t get the Start window to come up, and when it finally did come up, it would go away because I was clicking the Start button too many times in frustration. I also hated the new Start window because when I would try to move things around, the icons would disappear, and then there would be huge gaps with no icons, so I took out ALL icons and just added them again in the order I wanted to see them, like this…

win10startThe first couple of days using Windows 10 was a learning experience, and things have gotten a lot faster since I started. The Start window comes up immediately now and when I click All apps, the list of apps comes up right away, although, there are times when it takes a few seconds longer, but I’m patient.

Now the only thing that still concerns me is Microsoft Money. Someone tweeted me a link to a blog that tells me that all I have to do is go into my Registry and change something, which isn’t always the best idea, especially coming from a stranger. Oh sure stranger, I’ll screw things up even more, thank you. And the sad thing is I went into my registry and looked for that string, but it wasn’t there. I’m actually glad I didn’t find it because it would’ve been a disaster if I screwed things up and had to start over again. I hope Microsoft comes up with an update to fix this issue so I can use MS Money again.

This is the error message I am getting when I load MS Money.

money needs ie6When I started using Windows 8.1, I wasn’t using the browser to use Facebook, Facebook Pages Manager or Twitter, I was using the Windows apps instead. Gradually those apps stopped loading quickly until they just stopped loading at all. Eventually I had to go back to using the browser.

When I installed Windows 10, those apps load quickly, and in a small window. In fact, all of the apps, including Windows Edge, their new browser, all open in a small square window. I have a widescreen monitor, not a square one, not that Windows really cares. But still, when I use Edge, I have to stretch it on both sides to see everything on the website. When I close the website and Edge reloads when I click a link, it opens in that square box again. Not that that is a real issue for me, I don’t really care about that. I’m not bitching about anything, I’m just saying this is what’s happening when I open Edge.

I had mixed feelings before installing, and I was outraged after I installed, but I’m warming up to the new version of Windows and believe it or not, I’m happy I installed it.

For anyone who just installed Windows 10 without burning it on a DVD, you should probably think about downloading the ISO file for both 32bit and 64bit and burning them to a DVD or putting it on a USB drive. They give you both options. You’ll regret not doing so if/when the day comes when you have to reformat or even if you buy a new hard drive and you have to reinstall Windows 8.1 and then upgrade back to Windows 10. After a year, you won’t have the option to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. It’s just a suggestion, and trust me, you will thank me later.

Recuva from @Piriform

On By Michel McDonaldIn Computer, Daily Blog1 Comment

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I’ve been making backups of my documents from my hard drive to my backup hard drive because I am getting ready to reformat my hard drive to install Windows 8.1. Instead of copying all my files, I moved them so that they were no longer on my hard drive, well, I learned the hard way that that was a huge mistake.

On the backup hard drive, in order for me to get to the My Documents folder, I had to go through several other folders, so I wanted to make it so when I went into the D drive, I would immediately see the My Documents folder. You see, my backup hard drive used to be my main drive, so it still has the Windows installation on it, so I had to go through documents and settings. Anyway, I tried moving the My Documents folder and an error occurred with moving one file and the moving stopped which for some reason deleted everything in the My Documents folder from My Pictures down. Ouch!

So I went into full panic mode. I googled on my Nook how to recover deleted files because I couldn’t access my D drive recycle bin. I found Recuva from Piriform. I am familiar with their program called Ccleaner because I’ve been using that since 2002 or 2003. I did a deep scan which said would take 4 days, and it scanned all night and most of the next day. I was chatting with someone on my Chromebook and accidentally used my desktop computer’s keyboard which canceled my scan, but it still showed me all the files it found to recover. It took 13 hours to recover all but about 5591 or so files.

Recovering all of my files is a huge weight of my shoulders. Now I can continue where I left off so I can reformat my hard drive so when Windows 8.1 comes, all I have to do is install it.

I have Recuva in my list of programs to install with the new operating system so I will be prepared for future disaster, if that ever happens again. Also in my list are Ccleaner and Defraggler. I highly recommend these programs to anyone who needs them.