Trying to figure out what programs I will use if I move from Mac to PC

I have been talking about it for ages, and have used Apple Computers since I was 7 and got an Apple IIC. I love my Mac, but it getting old, and the next macOS Sierra has end of lifed my 4,1 MacPro. Luckily I can hack it to become a 5,1 with a simple firmware hack, so I can install Sierra, but it is likely the last Mac OS my computer will run. And big Adobe updates usually require the latest Mac OS. And the new "MacPro", the trashcan is a joke that has not been upgraded since it's release in 2013. It isn't upgradeable, nor can it have more than one harddrive internally, so it isn't pro. And it's use of a Xeon processor is not a boon. Xeon's are usually a few generations behind on technology, the big difference is that Xeon's don't have an integrated graphics processor (which doesn't affect you if you us a high end graphics card) and they 2 processors! But the trashcan can only use one! And yes it can have 12 cores (for an insane price), but i7's have now reached 8 or 10 cores and are newer tech, so why not use those if you are only using one processor. I really don't get it!And yes I could build a Hackintosh, but I have been using a Quo at work,mand while it is great, upgrades are never too fun, and you must disable security features to even install El Capitan.So it is looking like my next computer is a PC, cause I can put an NVIDIA Geforce 1080, but I need to figure out moving away from many of my current programs.I know I can move iTunes to PC, though I hear it doesn't work as well on the PC, but my library and ratings will make it over.I can export and move my mailboxes, browsers and the like pretty easily. There is nothing to easily move my Photos library to Windows, but I can import my Library into Adobe Lightroom and it will take my Keywords, then move to PC so it will work there. Pages and the whole iWorks suite is a pain as I need to open each file and save it out to word (hopefully I can automate it).Making my web sites is more of a pain. I have used many programs over time, starting with Net Objects Fusion before it went Windows only, and I have even used Dreamweaver, though my HTML skills have gone to hell, and I don't want to code anymore. So currently I use Rapidweaver, which makes it easy and I have 2 different web sites for me and my mom's web site, which can link to much web site content. Now I am starting to look at Adobe Muse as an alternative, but I am not sure it will easily plug into all the content I currently use, from YouTube, Vimeo, 500px, or Flickr, so sites you can easily upload things…

Should the XBOX ONE be called the XBOX ZERO?

I have been a gamer since I was a kid, and have had a lot of game systems through the years, but as of the Original XBOX I have really been a Microsoft Gamer. Sure I had a Sony Playstation 3, but I had only 3 games for it, and really only used it as a blu-ray player.I went from the Original XBOX to the XBOX 360, and had 6 Red Ring of Death failures on it, before it finally went out of warranty and died and I moved to a slimline XBOX 360 finally with HDMI out. I loved the system and it's online capabilities or I would have given up with all of it's failures.And I was so excited for the XBOX ONE, and even luckier that my mom ordered me one for my birthday (getting it on release day). It sounded like a great idea, a center for your media in your living room. You can even play television through it, and it would really be the main thing you need, but just hasn't quite worked out that way, even if it is a good game system.First off the ONE has been $499 VS $399 for the PS4. And the excuse was that it was because of the Kinect it came with, which was integrated into the system for motion and voice control. The problem is that there was no killer Kinect game that showed the need for it. It should have come with Kinect Sports Rivals at least, but even that is only a decent game (not better than the previous XBOX 360 Kinect Sports Games). And the system control with the Kinect is not even that good. You have to repeat yourself, and the movement controls are awkward at best.Sure the ONE is a very good gaming system, but the fact that Microsoft went for a cheap video card, means it is much less powerful than the Sony Playstation 4, and really isn't capable of doing 1080P output. More like 720p. And that is really unacceptable in this day where basically everyone has a 1080 HDTV. Really it should have been able to do Rock Solid 1080P 3D out of the box.And the ONE has huge overhead, running literally 3 OS's at once. For the system there is the Gaming Layer, the system layer, and the TV layer (which is not a DVR, but will just let watch TV and control it somewhat with a new guide and vocal commands, but they don't work very well). So you are running 3 OS's at once, and having to run the Kinect as well, further eating performance. Sure it is really cool to be able to instantly jump out of what you are doing and into the main menu and then jump back, but it does eat system power, which would be fine with more power, but since for raw power the system is already behind it's cheaper rival the PS4 (I know not anymore), you are…

Got Windows up last night then ran Advanced System Optimizer and it tanked my system

In fact it was the same problem as before, so it seems that it was the Registration Optimizer that killed my BootCamp install to begin with, or at least once I managed to get it to reboot one time. It seems the Registry repair just doesn't work!I just tried a system Refresh, and the computer came back up, and ran the Bootcamp installer, and on it's restart it went back into the system repair loop failure. So I am trying a Refresh again, and hope the computer makes it. I could do a full install again, but I want my documents, only because all of the downloads are already there, so I can quickly re-install them.Now I have been considering moving to Windows because of the lack of expansion in the new MacPro, but honestly if Windows is this picky, I might not. I was going to make a Recovery DVD when I got my system back up, but it was a 55 Gig backup, and that is a shitload of DVD's. I need to do this, but I need to use a hard drive to make the backup, so when I screw the system up, I can recover back to exactly my system, and not go through all this crap again!

Never got Windows to boot again, just had to wipe and re-install

So I was never able to get my Bootcamp Windows 8.1 install to boot again or get it to repair, so i finally just used. Bootcamp Assistant to wipe the partition, and re-partition.Now I ended up having to do this 7 times, as 6 times windows on it's first restart it came to an error message loop saying "The Computer Restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error. Windows installation cannot proceed. To install Windows click OK to restart the computer, and reinstall Windows." I finally found a fix for this ( https://avatargamingpc.com/support/951869-The-Computer-Restarted-unexpectedly-or-encountered-an-unexpected-error-during-installation-of-Windows ) but the Windows install had totally tanked by that time, and on the next re-partition and re-install, the install actually worked.Have spent the day upgrading, and am now installing 8.1. Then time to re-install everything, and make a backup disc!What a pain in the ass!

After one good restart Bootcamp Partition is toast

So after coming up yesterday and me running utilities, Windows needed to restart to fix Registry issues, and I never got it back up. It would not let me re-install over the old partition, and it would not let me do anything that would fix it, and the problems seemed to get worse until it is totally tanked, I am going to have to re-install. Activation will require a call to microsoft, but hopefully it will work, and they will let me re-install. Might be a problem because it is an OEM version, but those have to be re-installed.What a total pain in my ass! I am mean seriously, I can't believe how they make it to repair windows if there is a problem! The tied down OS is really such a pain. With Mac I can easily use another hard drive with another system install on it and run repairs at least.

After restart Windows was caught in a loop again

So after I ran the utilities Smart PC Care on Windows it needed to restart to finish fixing the registeries, and the computer got caught in a restart loop to Windows install dvd. I zapped the PRAM a couple of times to try and reset the startup disc, but that didn't work, so i also reset the SMC, buy that didn't work so I had to open the computer to eject the dvd from the tray and then the computer wouldn't start at all.Eventually i reseated all the hard drives and swapped out my PC GTX 670 for my GTX 270 and that managed to boot into OSX, and I set it as the startup disc. Windows is going in Automatic Repair again, and will likely fail, wonder if the MBR thing will work?

Got Windows 8.1 in BootCamp to boot, though not with USB Install

So I tried the whole re-install the system and it said that the USB Windows 8.1 was not right, so I was not able to use it, though I don't know why. They are both Windows 8.1 Professional 64 Bit installs.I then tried the command line, but 'sfc /scannow' failed and wouldn't work. So I did more googling and tried 'bootrec /fixmbr' to fix the Master Boot Record and it quickly said it succeeded. Still I restarted into Mac and made a Windows 8.1 install DVD in my Parallels install and set the restart disc to it, to try to use repair off of it, but amazingly when I restarted it restarted into my Bootcamp, which seems to be working fine now.I plan on running Smart PC Care on it, but it isn't starting now, so I am going to re-install it and run some utilities, just as soon as my NVIDIA GeForce Experience update finally manages to finish! Then I am installing my CalDigit drivers so I don't kill BootCamp if I happen to have something installed in it. And then I am making a backup DVD so I can try and repair from that.I am actually amazed that there are no Utilities to run from a second hard drive installed in your Windows PC to fix another install. I guess it is finicky about that, but I easily boot into my Parallels, so I could run a Utility on my BootCamp install, but am not allowed to.

And today it is Windows 8.1 Bootcamp Issues

So I tried to boot into my Windows 8.1 Bootcamp Partition and it was a no go. Showed the green windows window then went black and restarted back into Mac.I think the problem is that because of my USB issues I had moved my keyboard and mouse to the USB 3 Ports of my CalDigit SATA and USB 3 PCI card, but I have not installed drivers as of yet in Windows. It was fine without them before because I never plugged anything in, but without the drivers, it sure was not happy, and would not restart. So I need to make sure to install those drivers if and when I get Windows working again.Now I am lucky in that I also have a separate Windows 8.1 Parallels install, for those times when I don't want to fully boot into Windows, or do anything Graphics intensive. With that I was able to use a USB Key to create a recovery partition, and let it run it's utilities to fix Windows, but they didn't work, neither the auto fix or going to a backup.So then i downloaded the Windows 8.1 Setup program to try and create an ISO so I could have a Windows 8.1 Installer and wipe my drive except my data (a pain, but I don't have that much installed), but I ran into another problem. The program only works with a Windows 8.1 Serial number, not a Windows 8 serial number, though it was a free upgrade to 8.1! WTF!Luckily with a little google searching I was able to download the Windows 8.1 ISO thanks to PC Advisor. You basically have to download the Windows 8 Install program, and enter your license number, and get it to start downloading, then quit the program. Then from the same link download the Windows 8.1 installer and run it, and it won't ask for your serial. When the program finishes you can either make a USB by clicking install by creating media, or create an ISO, which you can use multiple times.To do the ISO to a USB stick you need to download the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, and install that, and point it at the ISO you saved. Once that is done you need to copy a file to it as explained by PC Advisor or it will make you use the same serial number as the one you used to download, instead of whatever one was used for your install (since I have 2 installs).Once Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool finishes, it is time for me to try again. I will restart into Windows with the Recovery Partition in, and tell it to re-install but keep my data, and will insert my painfully created USB stick with the Windows 8.1 Installer, and then it is time to re-install all of my programs! YIPEE! And I have had to use a 3rd USB key to use Boot Camp Assistant, to redownload the latest Bootcamp drivers so I can get…

My Microsoft Trackball Explorer is dying!

I am a trackball user, and have been for a long long time. Back with my Mac Classic I used a trackball (kensington) and have used them every since. Eventually I ended up with the Microsoft Trackball Explorer, the greatest trackball ever created. Of course Microsoft stopped making them years back and no one has made a similiar or even OK replacement. Luckily back in the day I had bought 3 of them, and one of them died, but since then a second is not working so well and my main one keeps shorting out. The lights flicker and then the trackball dies. Now I have gotten it to work again for the time being, but there just isn't anything in my future as a replacement.Yes I also have a Kensington Expert Mouse that I bring to work with me, and I like it and can use it, but it isn't as ergonomic and just not as well designed as the Trackball explorer.And I do really like Kensginton as when one of the plastic rollers broke off on one of mine they gave me a new one for free.Now Logitech used to make the Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman (I never understood the need for a wireless trackball, it is not like you move it around much!). It looks like the closest thing I have seen to the Microsoft, except they have moved the second button to the right of the trackball and the back and forward buttons to the thumb position and not quite as well shaped for your hand, but even if it is, they don't make it anymore, so…Now I have found a web site that talks about fixing a trackball explorer on your own, which I might have to do soon, and their is a seller on ebay selling repairs including upgrading the bearings to ceramic, refinishing the ball, and for on top of the $60 they will fix the electronics and plastic parts. So I might have to at least send in one of my 2 failing trackballs to fix them, as I have never found a good replacement for the awesome Microsoft Trackball!

PC World on Windows 8 Improvements

PC World has a good article on improvements in Windows 8 over Windows 7. This is needed, as mostly I am hearing complaints about windows 8 and it's Metro style, which is great for touch screens, but awful for desktops (I mean getting rid of the Start menu, WTF Microsoft).And it is great that Microsoft has looked at Apple and brought down the price of Windows 8, but I think I will stick with 7 in my Parallels Virtual Machine for the time being.