Had an interesting surge of SPAM emails a while back.

Very many senders, and very similar formatting and theme, and quite a few of them went right through Gmail's SPAM filter! Seems a temporary lapse in Google's filter learning what's a real email or no, maybe on some service out there this is actually what a real transaction looks like...

The opened ones in the screencap above are the ones that got through.

I realize... I need to hone my blog.

This is the kind of quality I strive for.

The quality I currently provide y'all is: nonsensical, quick, unambitious, unimportant often, trifle, stifled, stagnant, life-fuel... not really. Not always! Sometimes, hopefully.

If you're interested in leap years that there above's an interesting read anyway. And impressively both A) researched and B) presented.

You might want to hit that link even if you don't want to read the article, and just glimpse the honing.

I'll get there though. When I get a mo' in.

Moaning, some early morning.

Upgraded mah OS last week. It's the third time I'm reminded my computer's capable of it, and in the spur of the moment - after some quick Googling just to see there were no notable downsides or compatibility issues uncovered since last I checked - I went for it.

First impressions? I love it.

Though compatibility is... 99.9% OK.

All program menu bars don't look great, but they'll get updated I'm sure.

I love the new UI otherwise. It's simple and smooth. I love the new folder icons. Icons overall feel more fun. The style feels like a throwback to the old days when that's what an OS was all about. Fun! Progress = innovation = creativity and creation. The good stuff.

Regarding the 0,1% compatibility issues?

Classic Start Menu doesn't work so well with Windows 11 - and the program's no longer supported officially so it probably never will.

When you pin items to the new start menu of Windows 11 they appear in the classic start menu as well, and if you remove them there they disappear in the new. There seems no way to keep these lists separate.

On a fresh installation/upgrade of Windows 11 the old start menu icon placement goes over the Windows 11 widget button too - which I quickly deactivated anyway since widgets now require an account to use, and I don't want my OS linked to anything. That was easy to fix.

The classic start button's however also not vertically aligned in the menu anymore, and it doesn't seem any manner of adjustment changes that.

Desktop icons are a little oddly aligned on the right edge of my screen too, but I can't say for sure that's new or no. Maybe my screen always had a slightly odd aspect ratio that made this a thing.

But overall I love the new!

I'm happy with the new menus. I love the rounded corners (though I wouldn't have minded a little less - like a 5 px radius instead of 10 or whatever it is they have right now). A bit more padding would've been nice around open windows too. Menus don't get the space they deserve outside the Windows menus, or around the new start menu.

The new start menu looks neat. Nice upgrade.

I'm not really a fan of the centered docking bar though. When you open programs it grows wider, and this makes it difficult to pinpoint individual programs, unlike say the Mac OS Launcher it's designed to mimic, where docked icons are static, and easy to reach/click/keep a tab on.

It's functional with directly visible tabs for each individual program window you open in Windows - it's a central feature of the OS after all - but not as functional when they expand from a centered location, which I assume is really just a visual choice to mimic the Mac.

Maybe it's not. Maybe there's a purpose to this too.

I'm not a fan of the centered docking though. I wanted to align it to the left, like you used to do in earlier versions.

But the classic start menu I've been using is on the left, and since that program isn't compatible with Windows 11 aligning items to the left (I do appreciate that it's actually possible to do via the OS itself) runs the new start button over the classic one, and thus also the menu.

So I did some Googling. I found Start11. I'm running a trial of that now. The Classic Start Menu I've been using on Windows 10 the past few years is no more. Start11? It works... really well. Plenty of further customization alternatives available with it too. But it ain't free.

Apart from this little thing the Windows 10 > 11 upgrade went seamlessly. Took maybe half an hour. Maybe a little more. Maybe not. It bugged out a bit upon startup: I couldn't open menu items, or right-click menus, but I restarted, and since then all seems well.

*knock on wood*

It's not that drastic an upgrade neither visually nor functionally, and so far the changes in both areas actually do seem for the most part to my liking.

Maybe not compared to Windows 7, but definitely compared to Windows 10. I like the direction they're taking this! It looks good. It's functional. It's streamlined, but not lacking features or finesse. It feels fun again too, but it probably would've been more fun if they'd added in a bit more gadgetry, like they used to have. New games. Experimental features. Something you can play around with; not just functional upgrades and menus to go through.

Maybe they do have some of that too; I've just yet to find 'em.

Would've been cool with some presentation of the new OS upon startup too, but it seems there is an intro app if you want it, it just doesn't pop up by itself. Which is good I guess. Just a little surprising. If this is a big thing. A new OS. Something deserveth of an intro, y'know? Maybe it's more a facelift and functional mod after all.

So go my first impressions.

I'll keep y'all posted.

Thought this was pretty cool.

It pretty much is the world as we know it innit. The web. Wide. Right now.

Just passed the grand 4,000 now!

Props all the rare commenters around here, most notably now @S3C and @Biterrrr - the former of which without a doubt contributes the most commentary around these parts - and the latter who just so happened to snag comment #4000 exactly! Wonder if he's been checkin' the stats page occasionally to time this in, if not it sure is a spectacular coincidence...

Current, published #4000, that is. With spam and occasional deletions accounted for the Count (like Dracula) is currently up at 7,171.

The last milestone was... two years ago, and before that four years before! Seems conversational pace or quantity around these parts is doubling by each milestone now.

Not that numbers like this matter more than the venting and penning this place was primarily made for, but it's always nice with some connection; attention; affirmation; comprehension; complication; condemnation; reprehension; apprehension; contemplation; preparation; devastation; while you're waiting...

If you haven't ever left a comment here before why not leave one today!

Appreciate y'all who do say hej.

Just learned about this thing. Meant to post about it yesterday, as that was the day for it, but I was busy diagnosing faulty computer RAM and catching the second LOTR movie on new movie theater premiere - review to come.

But check your passwords y'all. If you haven't. Or whatever else it is they urge you to do on days like this. Be safe.

Apparently it's the 20th anniversary of this event this year too. And there is a bundle of resources for such I assume relevant Internet-related safeness here if you want to browse. 2,350 links at the time of writing.

I haven't. I feel sufficiently much like a pro at this point that I need not spend time on such things, but I probably should. The world changes; threats evolve; it probably would do me good...

They have live events in a bundle of countries when the day takes place too. Some that span a longer time; some you can catch up with after said day is done and over.

That's it y'all. For now it has passed but: maybe it was a blast huh?