This started happening sometime in the last week and a half. I couldn’t turn on the Windows 8.1 option to make all files available offline. There was this message: "you can’t turn on this setting while Onedrive is being set up." The Application Error was in the Event Log.
I had this both on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Uninstalling OneDrive and then reinstalling fixed the problem for Windows 7.
For Windows 8.1, I found a hint on a Microsoft forum to enter (in a Command Window):
SkyDrive.exe /reset
It runs a while and everything was fixed. Took two hours wading through junk to find the hint.
Otherwise, I still love OneDrive. It just keeps solving more and more problems.
I’ve used a variety of Canon products over the years, and it’s a name I have come to trust. It was with a bit of a shock that I discovered the controversy about the low-battery indicator for the Canon PowerShot SX 280 HS after I bought one and had the problem. If you’re interested in the history of this, there are two items I would suggest:
My new camera came with the latest firmware and it supposedly fixed the issue of the camera flashing low battery when taking a movie, even though the battery is nearly full. What the customer sees is that their battery indicator shows 2 or 3 out of 3 bars, but when they switch to movie mode, the low battery indicator flashes immediately or after taking a minute of video. The camera may decide to shut down. Turning the camera back on restores the battery indicator to show the battery near full.
There are, in my opinion, several factors working together to create this problem in the perceived operation of the camera. The first is that the camera is underpowered. The standard 1000 mAh battery is only rated for 200-400 photos or 25 minutes of video. The camera gets noticeably hot when taking long video shots, indicating the power drain. This camera can be a battery hog especially if you use the Wi-Fi and the GPS features. The second factor is common to rechargeable batteries: new ones require a few charging cycles to reach maximum capacity. The third issue is that this camera reportedly requires a huge amount of power to zoom while taking video. Finally, it appears that the battery indicator operates differently depending on camera mode—what’s a nearly full battery for taking snapshots is a nearly empty battery when taking movies. The indicator may well be working correctly for each mode, representing what the camera can do in that mode, but it is confusing when switching back and forth. It appears to me that in movie mode, the battery indicator is overly pessimistic. I take photos, plus an occasional video, so I rely on the photo setting to gauge my battery life, and then am surprised when I find the battery depleted in movie mode.
My experimentation revealed that I got better battery life on the second charge cycle than on the first. I found that on the second charge I could take 39 minutes of video (in two long segments) zooming twice briefly, 6 snapshots, and still have battery left. Now during a good portion of that video shoot the low battery indicator was flashing, but the camera worked OK. The video was shot at the maximum resolution of 1920 x 1280 at 30 fps.
I found NB-6L replacement batteries by EZO at Newegg, two for $14.99. They have the same 1000 mAh rating as the original equipment battery. At that price it’s practical to carry extra batteries when shooting all day. Note: I haven’t used these batteries yet and so this is not a recommendation of the brand.
The camera is new and I haven’t used it nearly enough to form an overall impression. The battery issue is confusing, but it’s not that big a deal. I decided to keep the camera and not return it.
I guess my only real complaint about Windows 8 is that it isn’t finished, not even close.
I currently have a desktop running Windows 7, a laptop running Windows 8.1, a tablet running Windows 8.1 and a tablet running Windows RT 8.1. I’ve used every version of Windows since 3.0.
The challenge is that the same user interface that works in a keyboard/mouse/monitor configuration won’t work on a tablet. There’s a ton of stuff in Windows 8.1 that you just cannot do without starting the Windows desktop, and all of that is what’s not finished.
Fragmented settings
For better or worse, Windows is incredibly complicated—just look at the Event Viewer, or the Group Policy Editor. Probably the single most vexing problem with Windows is that you can’t easily find out how to set things. With Windows 8.1 the problem is even worse because there are more places where things are hidden. Windows 8 isn’t done until there is a tablet-oriented user interface that gives access to ALL of the settings in Windows. The Windows desktop is unusable on a tablet, and a tablet user shouldn’t be forced to use it, ever.
Fix the search
The flexible search on the Start screen is cool, but it needs to default to searching within the application when it’s invoked from within an application, not search everywhere.
Put the Windows 7 start button back
Losing the Start button was the single-most dumb thing Microsoft did with Windows 8. If I understand the rationale, the Start screen replaced the start button—but it doesn’t. Desktop users don’t want the tablet interface—it’s hugely inefficient with a mouse. Also the lack of a start button makes it frustrating to move back and for between Windows 7 and Windows 8 machines when the button in the corner does different things: on one system you have to right-click and the other left click and even then it’s not the same.
A good start
I like the Metro interface a lot. It makes sense, it’s fast and responsive, it’s easy to organize, and it works great on a tablet. Now finish it, so I don’t have to keep switching to the desktop to do stuff.
Tom Wheeler, Chairman Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington, DC 20554
Dear Mr. Wheeler:
The Federal Trade Commission called “Rachel from Cardholder Services” public enemy number one, yet years later these illegal telemarketing scams continue unabated. I believe that the reason the national Do Not Call Registry is ineffective is that telecommunications carriers aren’t doing their part, and consumers do not have the tools they need to help the law to be enforced.
In order to report an illegal telemarketing call one needs the caller’s phone number. It’s possible just to report a name like “Rachel at Cardholder Services” but that recorded message is used by many phone scammers and without a number, no enforcement is possible. If you ask a telemarketer for details about who they are, they hang up. Getting the phone number is made more difficult by the carriers:
1. They charge additional fees for Caller ID. 2. Callers can block their phone numbers from Caller ID. 3. Callers can spoof their phone numbers.
The second tool a consumer might want is the ability to block a number that calls them often. This too is defeated by the carriers:
1. They charge extra for blocking 2. They support blocking only a limited list of numbers 3. Callers can block or spoof their phone numbers.
I support a regulation from the FCC that would require phone companies to implement technical means to empower telecommunications users to stop illegal telemarketing. One suggestion is to implement a way to flag an illegal telemarketing call by entering *SPAM on a phone after the call ends. Such a signal would block the number for the consumer and automatically report it to the FTC. If some number of unique complaints, say 10,000, were received, the carrier would be required to block the number system wide. Other ideas may be better, but my point is that the current system doesn’t work and that consumers today don’t have the tools to deal with the problem.
Another election year has rolled around, and I’m getting a little political (I get more political in a presidential election year). The South Carolina Primary is tomorrow, June 10.
This year we have the unusual election of two US Senators in South Carolina: the usual 6-year election for Senator Graham’s seat, and an election to fill the unexpired 2 years of Jim DeMint’s term , who felt that it was more important to head a conservative think tank than to be a US Senator. Good riddance, Jim. DeMint’s seat had been temporarily filled by appointee Tim Scott.
Republican Lindsey Graham faces 6 Tea Party challengers, for whom he isn’t far-right enough. If Graham wins, things could get interesting according to insiders who say a certain prominent South Carolinian will run against him as an independent, a Ron Paul style candidate that could siphon off any Tea Party votes for Graham in the general election. Graham according to a recent poll has 49% support in the Republican Primary, with “Undecided” in second place at 35%. The SC Democratic Party has endorsed State Senator C. Bradley Hutto in the race against Graham.
It has been a bizarre 4 years in South Carolina with the prospect of no Lieutenant Governor come July 1, and apparently no one wanting the job. Our first Lieutenant Governor of the term, Ken Ard, resigned amid ethics charges. The second, Glenn McConnell, resigns effective July 1 to become President of the College of Charleston, his alma mater. In South Carolina, the President pro tempore of the Senate becomes the Lieutenant Governor upon a vacancy (and leaves the Senate). However, current Senate President pro tempore John Courson says he will refuse to take the constitutional office and has resigned as President pro tem. If no Republican will take the job, we may end up with a Democratic Lieutenant Governor. 😯
About the only accomplishment of the SC Legislature this session was to pass a bill creating a uniform $25 fine for driving under the influence of texting, the next to last state in the nation to address the dangerous practice.
I learned about a very interesting web site maintained by South Carolina Republicans, called GOPwrite.com. They describe themselves as “reasonable grassroots Republicans.” I really like reasonable people.
Meanwhile local Democrats had a standing-room-only crowd at it’s monthly lunch meeting (about double the number expected).
I literally exercised my right to vote today by riding my bike the polling place. It’s not far, but oh the hills.
Update:
Democrat John McGill is indeed South Carolina’s new Lieutenant Governor, and Thomas Ravenel has announced an independent challenge to Graham and Hutto in the Senate race.
Georgia is the state next to where I live. I like to visit the Georgia Aquarium and the High Museum in Atlanta. Sometimes I shop at the outlets in Commerce, Georgia.
I don’t feel safe going to Georgia anymore now that the Governor signed a bill allowing guns in banks, churches, bars, schools (employees) and public buildings. I’m not trying to make a big fuss in the debate over the 2nd Amendment. It’s just a fact that people who are mentally unstable or abuse substances can get guns and that if enough guns are on the street, accidents will happen and people will get killed. I just don’t feel safe in Georgia, and I’m staying away.
I have a large number of beefs about authentications systems, but one of the stupidest things that they all do is to miscount password guesses.
Let’s say that my password is aaaaa and that I am trying to authenticate with some web site, and let’s further assume that my caps lock key is accidentally on. Instead of typing aaaaa, I am entering AAAAA. I don’t know this because the password entry box doesn’t show me what I typed (and very few applications give me the option of looking at the password). Since the password is wrong, I get a message telling me I typed it wrong. So I just figure I typed it wrong and enter AAAAA again. Wrong again. This time I look up the password in some secure file where it’s stored, see aaaaa, and then type AAAAA one more time very slowly. Three misses and I’m locked out. I may have to call customer service or do some messy thing with a password reset (which is typically designed to be much less secure than password authentication). If it’s my email password, then I may have a hard time resetting it. Some email hosts will even firewall your IP address because of wrong guesses.
It’s a mess, and all because password authentication programs can’t count. OK, you whiz kids:
AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA
is ONE wrong guess not 3. This stupid implementation is extra trouble for users and for system administrators. And don’t give me a stateless architecture objection—there are ways to do it. By the way, I am a retired software developer, and I have written authentications systems for commercial software. I did it right because I care about the people who have to use my code.
If I ever get my password straightened out, I’ll publish this article
AI generated content may appear occasionally in articles and will be denoted with the 🤖 [robot emoji] symbol. Content comes most often from Microsoft Copilot, bit may also come from Perplexity, ChatGPT or Deep Seek.
