Get your cholesterol checked!

[We interrupt the usual series of tech related posts for an important message.]

Get your cholesterol checked!!!

Without going into TMI, high cholesterol poses a serious threat for me. As evidence of a whimsical higher power, I am unable to tolerate statins or any other substance that improves one's lipid profile. In fact, I could make a living as a test subject. If I can't tolerate it, it's probably effective at controlling cholesterol.

Back in late 2004, my profile was total cholesterol(TC) 263, HDL 47, TC/HDL 5.60, LDL 186, triglycerides 152. At my sister's suggestion insistence, I tried Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live diet. Six weeks later, TC 189, HDL 45, TC/HDL 4.20, LDL 128, triglycerides 82!

I knew what I should do to maintain the improvement. I was successful through 2008, when I had a test that showed that things hadn't changed since 2002. I also decided to stop having my cholesterol checked. Since there were no drugs I could use to manage it, there seemed little point in worrying about it.

That seemed like a sensible decision at the time. "My cholesterol will do what it will do. I'm already doing everything I can do. Why let myself panic and ruin my quality of life should things change?"

In retrospect, it was stupid. It assumed I would continue with healthy behavior! However, I'm human and, as one of my colleagues who ran an obesity clinic, once remarked, "Fear is good for about a year." It was certainly true of me. Over time, I got sloppy. I let the occasional exception (luncheon meetings, social get togethers) become the rule rather than the exception. The wake up call came this summer.

My lipid profile at the end of July was curious. While my TC was only 219, the way it got there was not good at all. HDL 34, TC/HDL 6.44, LDL 145, triglycerides 201. Very ugly HDL and triglyceride values. I decided to back to Fuhrman. What else could I do?

While I knew the Fuhrman diet would lower my cholesterol, I wasn't sure what it would do when the total cholesterol, while high, wasn't off the chart. I got rechecked after only 5 weeks rather than 6 because the sixth week would have taken me over the Labor Day weekend and I was afraid I might stray. The numbers are enough to make me wish I'd waited the additional week. TC 201, HDL 39, TC/HDL 5.15, LDL 135, triglycerides 135! (Not a typo. LDL and triglycerides were the same.)

There was movement. It was not as much as 9 years ago, but I'd only gone 5 weeks instead of 6. My plan now is to get retested at the start of October and again in early November before a cardiology appointment.

So, what have I learned from this that I would like to pass on?

• It's very easy to think of treatment in terms of medications. I couldn't take medications, so I couldn't be treated. Wrong! As my lipid profile shows, now twice, diet alone can do much of what medications do.
• If I'd kept on top of my cholesterol levels, I would likely have seen hard evidence of the effect of what my so-called exceptions were doing to me, long before my wake up call.

Anyone in a similar situation--cholesterol levels are an issue and medications aren't an option--shouldn't give up. If I can do fine with careful monitoring of diet and lipid levels, then anyone can!

My final words on backup and synchronization...really!

...in any organized fashion. If I comment further in the future, it will not be because I am trying out many services simultaneously to assess pluses and minuses. It's too stressful and I'm at a point where I've found something that works for me.

So here they are, those final words:

• Every system has strengths and weaknesses that change from moment to moment. Just recently, Copy managed to break the system that worked for synchronizing folders outside of the Copy.com folder. Will it get fixed? I won't be following it. If you're curious you'll have to check their website, this link in particular.
• Many of these systems are new, with even more systems coming online as they sort themselve out to determine who will survive, who will fail, and who might dominate. It is almost impossible for a single individual to keep up unless that person is either compulsive about it (I'm compulsive, but not that compulsive) or being paid to do it. (I am not.)
• Dropbox works just fine. If it will meet one's needs, use it. The only downside for me is that everything to be synchronized must reside in the Dropbox folder it creates. This means that I can't separate my work files from my personal files. Also, anything being synchronized is backed up online. Since charges beyond the initial 2 free GB are determined by the total number of bytes, Dropbox can be expensive for large music or photo libraries.
• Having gone through its startup stage, LetMeIn's Cubby continues to have its fans for two reasons:
  • It allows a user to synchronize any folder, not just the My Cubby folder.
  • The paid version allows unlimited syncing between any number of computers without having to store the files online.
  I like it myself, but there are things that drive potential users away.
  • One is that it does not use delta sync for individual files. If a large file is modified, Cubby uploads the whole file again rather than just the parts that have changed. (Actually, I like this having been burned by Dropbox's delta sync when it failed to recognize that a file had been changed. However, I might not feel the same way if I were dealing with file sizes in the GBs.)
  • Another--the one that got me to abandon Cubby--is that that Cubby appears to be constantly grabbing 3 to 10% of a CPU's processing power. There has never been a good explanation of what it is doing.
• I'm currently using Bit Torrent Labs' Sync to sync whatever folders I choose on whichever computers I choose. I have some folders synchronized between my work computers only, others synchronized between my personal computers only. and others synchronized across all of my computers.
• BTSync does not provide online backup. If I accidentally erase a file or folder from one computer, it is erased from all of my computers. I set up an external hard drive attached to my home desktop computer, which is backed up automatically on a regular schedule. This drive is not linked to BTSync, so I'll always have a backup that is current to the last time it was run.
• I am becoming more and more paranoid about the ultimate disaster that might take away all of the drives at once. For example (knock on wood), there might be some kind of a natural disaster. I'm considering some form of online backup, if only of the most important files that I'd never be able to recreate. Even though I have never used it, Carbonite seems to be a viable option, although if Cubby would get its act together... I'd much prefer having a single service than many services running simultaneously.

So, here I stand. I'm always open to other options, but now it's time for other projects, such as Windows 8.

Windows 8 (mis)adventures: (Re)starting grinds to a halt!

When you get a Windows 8.0 computer, you will undoubtedly be asked to install updates...and your system may grind to a halt whenever it is (re)started. It *will* (re)start, but it may take 20 minutes or more. No, it's not your computer. It's Windows 8. The problem has been around for quite a while. It's a crime that Microsoft hasn't fixed it by now, but presumably it will go away with Windows 8.1 this August.

The problem is with one of the updates. The KB2770917 update will appear to stall at about 13%. Wait 20 minutes (or more? Go to dinner.) and it will eventually appear as though everything is updated, only the update has failed. The computer will now be sluggish to (re)start to the point where you'll be tempted to return it as defective.

Here's a work-around from the Microsoft Answers website that worked for me.

• Press windows key + R at the same time to open Run command.
• Type in "msconfig.exe" (without quotation marks) and press enter
• Go to the Services tab on the top.
• Check the box on the bottom that says hide all Microsoft services (This will allow you to disable all non-Microsoft services easily.)
• Click Disable all (This will disable all third-party services but allow all Microsoft services to run.)
• Restart the computer
• Install update
• After installation, follow the same instructions but click enable all instead of disable all and restart again and everything should be good.

Good luck!

Windows 8 (mis)adventures: Oops! Can I have that back, please?

Remember the delete confirmation dialog?

"Are you sure you want to move this file to the Recycle Bin? (Yes/No)

I say "remember" because in Windows 8 it is a thing of the past. You press Delete and you delete! Many might see this as an advance. How many times have we clicked on or pressed Delete to be asked, "Are you sure you want to move this file to the Recycle Bin?" only to have the thought cross our minds, "Why do you think I pressed Delete?!"

I thought it was cute the first few times I clicked on delete and saw files disappear without further prompting, but it quickly started making me nervous, especially with trackpads that make hair-trigger responses for us. I think of the dialog as like the guard on a power tool. Most of the time it's unnecessary or an annoyance, but if it weren't there the one time you really needed it...

It's a trivial matter to restore the prompt. Right click on the Recycle Bin, choose Properties, and check the box that says "Restore delete confirmation dialog". All done!

Windows 8 (mis)adventures: Some Unprintable Words About Printers

If I were starting out today, I'd have no problems with printers. I'd get a printer that could be networked, network it, and that would be that. I suppose I could disconnect everything, network the pieces as though I were starting fresh, and have no problem, but it's sooooooo easy to stick with what one has! (As I type this, I'm getting tempted to do it even though I resolved my latest issue!)

I got my first printer before there were were networks to network it into. It is connected directly to my desktop PC. All of the laptops in the house access the printer wirelessly through the desktop. This was easy to do when all of the computers used the same version of Windows. Today, the desktop uses XP. (It's old, but it's rock-solid with a quad-core processor, works just fine, and meets my needs.) Each new laptop brought a new iteration of Windows--there was 32 bit Win 7, 64 bit Win 7, and now 64 bit Win 8--bringing its own set of issues. In each case, it was a painful experience that took hours and, when I was done, I was never sure what it was that I did that eventually got things working.

Once again (with Win 8) I went through the exercise, but I may finally have a sense of what's going on. I can't provide a detailed flow chart that guarantees results, but I can describe some things that cost me a few hours each trying to resolve. (At least, they felt like a few hours each. The grief certainly took a few years off of my life...each!}

• Be sure the printer is set up to be shared! Go to Printers & Faxes in the Control Panel of the computer to which the printer is physically connected (the host computer). Right click on the appropriate printer. Go to Printer Properties. Click on the Share Tab, and put a check mark in the appropriate box.
• • Be sure the the latest printer drivers are installed on the host computer. This may have been what was causing the problem with Windows 8. When a new computer seeks to use the printer wirelessly, it downloads the drivers from the host computer.
  • Recheck the share status of the printer. Permission to share the printer may be rescinded at part of the installation process when drivers are updated.
• OTOH, the Windows 8 issue might have been this. (I say "might" because I did this before the previous step. In the end, I ended up doing them both, so I'm not completely sure what got everything to work, especially in light of the next step! Were I to start all over again, I would leave this step last.)

  I tried getting the latest driver onto my Win 8 laptop by downloading it from the manufacturer's site. However, the only way the installation program would run is if the printer was physically connected to the laptop. So, I connected the printer to the laptop, installed the drivers, and then uninstalled the printer (through Devices & Printers) without uninstalling the driver.

  This step may have been unnecessary had I performed the previous step first, but I don't know for sure so I list it "just in case".

• When all the steps have been accomplished and the printer still doesn't work, Restart the computer(s)! I'm so accustomed to having software tell me when it's necessary to Restart, that I don't restart unless I'm told to. However, the only thing I did between the last failed attempt to print a test page and the first successful attempt was to restart the computers.

I don't know if this will solve all issues, but I'm not dreading the next time nearly so much as I have in the past.

Microsoft is getting it right with Windows 8

As I threatened earlier, I'm about to start a series of posts about my (mis)adventures with Windows 8 while they are fresh in my mind. However, I wanted to start off with a short introduction.

I admit it! I bought into the press's feeding frenzy about how Windows 8 was terrible, how the user interface was confusing, how Win 8 was unsuitable for computers without touch screens, and so on. Oh, and how Microsoft (aka M$) is the great Satan. But, I had occasion to get a new computer to familiarize with Windows 8 and I like what I see.

It struck me that Windows 8, with its two interfaces (tiled and desktop), is what MS needs to remain viable. It used to be that the big war was between MS and Apple. Apple won a good chunk of the market, but MS pretty much ruled the roost. Linux has such a small percentage of the market that neither Apple nor MS had anything to fear from it. But, now there's Google's Android and a whole new pricing scheme dictated by the iPhone and Android. Tablets will soon be outselling laptops (if they haven't already) and MS is threatened with becoming another Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)--great in its day, but no longer relevant.

The dual nature of Windows 8 (tile an desktop) will insure its success.

In many ways, I'm a typical over 30 user who's gotten very used to Windows' desktop interface. Small tweaks are okay, but anything more than that would have me sticking with what I already know. Windows 8 with only a tiled interface would never fly. (Even if I were to consider a tiled Windows, I've got 4 tablets--two Android and two Kindles, which use Amazon's version of Android. What do I need with another tiled interface and having to buy my software all over again?) OTOH, anyone under 30 is going to look at a Win 7 type of interface with disdain.

It is often hoped that when two thing are merged, the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts. That's the hope. Windows 8 may be one of those rare instances where the hope is realized. A Windows 8 that can be run as either a modern tiled interface or a familiar desktop-styled interface means that anyone can use it effectively by using only the parts that work for him or her! Anyone who grew up with Smartphones is immediately using Win 8's tiled interface. I go to my desktop, which behaves very much like Win 7. However, the Win 8 tiled interface is there for me to play with as the mood strikes me.

Windows 8 is not a kludge of two interfaces but an integrated system to woo over younger users with its tile interface while allowing long time users to remain comfortable with their desktops.

Microsoft did make one huge mistake with Windows 8 when it removed the Start button from the desktop interface, but it is to be restored with the free Windows 8.1 upgrade due out in August.

Back up your computer!

I've been using PCs for 30 years and I was terrible about backing up my work until the last few years^*. I admit it. BUT, I have an excuse. I've been using computers for 30 years. In the early days, backing things up was a major undertaking, so it often didn't get done. Once you get into any mindset, it's hard to get out of it. Today, there's no such excuse^**.

You are reading what follows at your own risk. I accept no responsibility for what you might do after reading this post.

Sorry for the scare tactics. Backing up your files is A Good Thing (tm), but it is possible to get into all sorts of trouble.

I use SyncBack. When I was looking for backup software years ago, I went to their user forum to get a sense of the program. I found a post in which the writer complained that the software had erased her entire hard drive. And yes, it's possible. However, she had to do the software equivalent of a Rosemary Woods to do it. She likely accidentally configured the program to erase her files, but the program told her that it was about to erase them. It then asked for confirmation...and she gave it! Was it the user's fault for ignoring the warnings or did the program confuse her? Some might argue that a user should have to jump through so many hoops to erase an entire drive that even the least sophisticated user could not do it by accident. In any case, you might want to find your own software by running a search for "Windows backup software".

There are a few points to consider.

• Backup medium: If you can afford it...the Cloud! which is just a fancy name for someone else's file server. For most of us with large amounts of data to back up, the solution will be a hard drive of some sort, although a large flash drive might suffice depending on one's needs. Since I was concerned with backing up my desktop, I chose a large external drive with its own power supply so that I don't tax the computer's motherboard and USB ports.
• File format: Many programs use proprietary formats. This supposedly allows them to be faster and more efficient. Maybe it does, but it also means that the files cannot be recovered without the software that backed them up. This poses a problem if the backup software itself is compromised or when restoring to s different computer. SyncBack stores files in their original format as though the files and folders were dragged-and-dropped to the backup medium. But, that's me. YMMV. Rumor has it that Windows 7 may have all the backup tools one needs.

Like Nike says, "Just do it!" You will rarely need to access the backup, but when you do, you will be so glad it's there. And should disaster strike (spilling your coffee into the keyboard, dropping your computer or having it stolen, or having the hard drive fail), you will thank your lucky stars (and me?) that all was not lost.

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*I wasn't a complete reprobate. My backups were spaced months apart rather than days, and most of my files were duplicated on my home and office computers. Still...

^**There is a new own, however. Many use only a notebook or netbook of some sort. They are rarely connected to the backup hardware. Don't let it be your excuse. Resolve that whenever you charge your computer overnight, you'll plug in your backup device, too. (Maybe Sunday night?) Wireless backup will eventually resolve this issue if it hasn't already.