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Important Announcement if you are running Windows

Started by Vekseid, July 21, 2015, 01:28:01 AM

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Vekseid

Quote from: Darwishi on July 22, 2015, 12:24:51 PM
Sooo.. what if you can't ditch Flash? XDD  I'm an animator.  Part of making a living relies on Flash Pro CC, is there some way that I can just... avoid everything without totally uninstalling everything Flash related?  I have similar issues with uninstalling Adobe Acrobat DC...

Well, Windows 7 Professional comes with free virtualization software. It's rather slow, and agonizing if you don't have an ssd.

If your living relies on it than there's not much to say, I'm afraid. The writing is seriously on the wall for flash, though. : /

Fenrisulfr

Some alternatives for the windows platform (well, they work for more platforms...). The main drawback is that each virtual machine will require quite a bit of space on the hard drive.

Commercial product: VMWare Workstation, http://www.vmware.com/se/products/workstation/

Open source: VirtualBox, https://www.virtualbox.org/

VMWare is somewhat more efficient, but VirtualBox is good. From licens point of view, the virtual installation is a full installation.

Both have "Snapshots", which means you can store the current state of the computer, install programs and do testing, then revert back to the snapshot which removes anything that have been done since that point.

Both gives the option to share folders with the underlying operative system.

TamaRose

I find Silverlight to be awesome but that is just my personal opinion.

Fenrisulfr

And about relying on flash as an animator? Are we talking about using tools that are made in flash, and have not found any good substitute yet; or developing animations in flash?

If the former, I'm sure there will be more and more tools available that don't rely on flash.

If the later, I guess you should look into, for example, HTML5 and CSS. A lot of things that required flash is not possible to make without it. Still, it is the problem with every browser interprets things its own way and Internet Explorer have been lagging behind.

Darwishi

I'm going to have to PM some of you, or start a new thread, about this virtual desktop thing.  I do some other work that could benefit from multiple "computers" and only needs roughly 2GB of RAM each. 

That said, I do animation for clients that want to use Flash.  I've been pushing them away from Flash for years because it's clunky and a pain to work in versus, say, After Effects.  I may just uninstall it and use it when a job comes along? Does that work or would it still need to be on a Virtual PC?

Also, all of my "fun" photos are on Photobucket.  Will uninstalling Flash really mess up that site? And by fun, I mean all of the photos that I link to characters and such.  I'd move them, but I'm pretty sure they number in the thousands. >.>

jouzinka

Uninstalling flash might affect your usage of Photobucket when you browse (but wouldn't they have moved to HTML5 by now?), but hotlinks/hyperlinks and your files on their servers will be untouched.
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Darwishi

I just know that if flash crashes then it's really hard to use photobucket.  Basically my experience with it will be unusable due to no Flash.  I need to copy the image urls somehow...

Oniya

Quote from: Darwishi on July 22, 2015, 04:43:12 PM
I need to copy the image urls somehow...

Right-click, 'Copy Image Location', Paste into Notepad?
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Vekseid

Photobucket does a lot of crazy crap. I don't know why anyone still uses it, personally.

Oreo

I only use it to put frames on my pictures, then I delete the picture and upload it to my wiki.

She led me to safety in a forest of green, and showed my stale eyes some sights never seen.
She spins magic and moonlight in her meadows and streams, and seeks deep inside me,
and touches my dreams. - Harry Chapin

Haibane

I still can't update. BITS is running, Windows Updater is running... it just tells me the service isn't running when I try to update. I now have no idea what to try.

Vekseid


jouzinka



I had no problem digging this out of the depths of my 'bucket with Unity as a substitute for Flash. I think I posted the link to an article with the best substitutes for flash on the first or second page.
Story status: Not Available
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Working on: N/A

Geraint

#88
Quote from: jouzinka on July 23, 2015, 03:59:50 AM


I had no problem digging this out of the depths of my 'bucket with Unity as a substitute for Flash. I think I posted the link to an article with the best substitutes for flash on the first or second page.

Actually, I have had no trouble at all so far with Photobucket, without Flash or any substitute.

I can post pictures (including drag and drop) and find and retrieve links to post, which is pretty much all I do there.  I suspect that is because their ads seem to work all too well without flash.  It's the ads there that control the experience, as they always have priority over allowing work with pictures.

And it doesn't even nudge me to install Flash.

edit.  I should probably clarify that I didn't see any new problems with Photobucket after uninstalling Flash  and not replacing it with anything else.   But it may well be that I simply don't use the parts that need flash. 

Photobucket still has a lot of problems, but I have a decade's worth of content stored there.  And one can still load a picture, grab a link and display it here in less than a minute (assuming one doesn't try to do it in prime time). 

AmberStarfire

#89
I've also found Photobucket to be a very good, free site. I haven't tested it out since I got rid of Flash so I might try it and let you know. I've been using Imageshack much more lately and it works fine, but it's not free (after an initial trial).

[Edit] Photobucket works fine without Flash but ew, they've got more ads and popup windows now. That's new. It didn't used to be riddled with stuff like that.


Darwishi

Yup, Photobucket works without Flash, which is good!  I actually like it since I can crop on Photobucket when I feel like using a picture...rather than saving it to my desktop on my beastly computer (I have a laptop too that's purely for writing on E), and then using Photoshop to crop it, and then upload it again.  Too many extra steps.  While PB has a lot of ads, it doesn't bother me all that much...it's free and they need money somehow. =P  Plus, that little edit feature is nice.

Haibane

#91
Quote from: AmberStarfire on July 23, 2015, 05:44:50 AM
Photobucket works fine without Flash but ew, they've got more ads and popup windows now. That's new. It didn't used to be riddled with stuff like that.
Get an ad-blocker for your browser. I have one and it's without equal (apart from Lazarus). I never see ads on the internet, anywhere, ever. Not on Photobucket, not on YouTube. Nowhere.

Quote from: Vekseid on July 23, 2015, 03:28:27 AM
Try the fixit? https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2730071
Yes. All this does it make sure BITS is running. Mine wasn't and now it is thanks to this link but I still can't update :(

EDIT: I have BITS running, Updater is running and set to update at the same time each day. I sat by my PC as that time came and went... and nothing. Anyone got any more suggestions please?

AmberStarfire

Quote from: Haibane on July 23, 2015, 10:58:05 AM
Get an ad-blocker for your browser. I have one and it's without equal (apart from Lazarus). I never see ads on the internet, anywhere, ever. Not on Photobucket, not on YouTube. Nowhere.
Yes. All this does it make sure BITS is running. Mine wasn't and now it is thanks to this link but I still can't update :(

EDIT: I have BITS running, Updater is running and set to update at the same time each day. I sat by my PC as that time came and went... and nothing. Anyone got any more suggestions please?
[/quote

An adblocker is a good idea. Can you click on 'check for updates' and will it show the updates you need successfully, or doesn't it let you reach that step?


Haibane

Amber, I get this message:

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=233237.msg11472338#msg11472338

I also can't install the update manually from the MS website. I found out two days ago my Windows 7 installation has had no updates of any kind since Feb 2011. This is why it may refuse to apply the current update.

My problem now is I can't get it to perform any updates.

jouzinka

Story status: Not Available
Life Status: Just keep swimming...
Working on: N/A

AmberStarfire

#95
Quote from: Haibane on July 23, 2015, 02:15:59 PM
Amber, I get this message:

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=233237.msg11472338#msg11472338

I also can't install the update manually from the MS website. I found out two days ago my Windows 7 installation has had no updates of any kind since Feb 2011. This is why it may refuse to apply the current update.

My problem now is I can't get it to perform any updates.

Are you sure that you don't have any malware on your PC, blocking it? What kind of antivirus and firewall do you use (usually it's Windows or the one that comes with the antivirus software)?

And are you sure BITS and that other process (wuauserv) are running? Like in this article: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2730071


Haibane

I use AVG and after advice in this thread also installed ESET NOD32. ESET found 8 threats but they were all in software I had downloaded, stored in my "Downloads" directory but never used. I just deleted all the affected products.

I ran MBAM today and it found nothing.

I use the built-in Windows firewall.

Yes, BITs and wuauserv (which is Windows Update itself) are running. I have gone through that article's instructions.

Jouzinka - you mean reinstall Windows? I suppose I could but I've never done it and am scared to in case I lose stuff.

AmberStarfire

Have you tried running it from safe mode + networking?

It sounds like you've covered most of what you could do already.

Sometimes antiviruses can block things but it shouldn't, especially when you're using the Windows Firewall.


Haibane

I made a bit of progress just now. On an MS help page I found out my Windows Updater was out-of-date. So I updated my updater and its now up-to-date. I rebooted and windows updated... something... it was very quick though (about 30 secs). I didn't think it took anywhere near long enough. I then went to my Windows Update and.. I get the same error message. *pulls hair out and bites the door frame in frustration*

Twisted Crow

Stupid question but... Are Adobe Flash and Macromedia Flash the same thing?