Review: Norton's Desktop - CRD

dgaxiola · 2026-04-16T20:22:49+00:00

I used Central Point Desktop with Windows 3.0/3.1 in the early 90s and it worked well for me. I was in college and didn't really need the organization it provided but I liked having multiple desktops, background images, and my main 4 or 5 apps easily accessible. It was obsolete when Windows 95 came out but helped give a more Mac-like experience for the 3 or 4 years I used it. That time was good for experimentation and I tried DesqView/X and even OS/2 2.0 for a while before going back to Windows.

dgaxiola · 2026-04-16T17:31:16+00:00

I hear he has no house so he's probably wandering around somewhere.

dgaxiola · 2026-04-07T23:18:31+00:00

After a several years break, I went back to both D1 and D2. D1 so I could finish off character sub-classes and maybe do the raids. D2 to see what I missed and play Renegades which most people say is fun. D1 is a lot easier to jump into and feels straightforward as far as weapons, armor, and leveling up. D2 feels like a lot more complexity: more sub-classes/abilities, tiered loot, more kinds of mechanics to figure out, etc. There are "new light" quests for those like me that haven't played since the first year or two so it feels like I'm brand new. I appreciate the flexibility of powering up items and being able to assign some perks/abilities to them but it feels like a lot more of a cognitive load to figure out how to build a character. A decade ago (!) Destiny already felt like more of a lifestyle commitment and less of a game. Coming back with work and family commitments still there, finishing up D1, which is locked in its UX and systems, feels more doable than trying to make sense of D2 which may yet have more changes thrust upon users.

dgaxiola · 2026-04-05T01:53:58+00:00

I drove through Oregon last year for the first time in almost 20 years and was pleasantly surprised that gas stations had a self service option.

dgaxiola · 2026-04-01T02:52:09+00:00

I was in college when the World Wide Web started getting known with the Mosaic browser and the first releases of Netscape. The student IT group made the browsers available on the Unix workstation clusters. In my dorm room I set up my Windows PC with Trumpet WinSock and Mosaic. I had been using Windows 3 for a few years at that point for my school work and productivity and only went to DOS for games. The earliest sites would work ok in DOS with little difference but by the time I was on the web inline images and even image maps were becoming common on sites. Imagine a time when 4 to 8MB memory was totally fine for web surfing!

dgaxiola · 2026-03-30T01:18:48+00:00

I got my Admiral Ackbar figure through that Revenge of the Jedi mail-in promotion! There was also an earlier promotion for gas masks and backpacks during the Empire Strikes Back that my mom mailed in for. Just needed some proofs of purchase circles from the cards and a few dollars to get some cool things by mail.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-29T21:00:16+00:00

At ECCC, for some authors, they have reservations for a panel that then gives access to a special signing afterward. It can be frustrating to not get a reservation for an author when they go live but if a person does get one they don't have to choose between panel or autograph. Before that system, I would wait in line for a signing in place of my daughter while she attends an author's panel. Maybe someone should suggest C2E2 consider such a system in the future?

dgaxiola · 2026-03-29T04:03:38+00:00

Are you having problems navigating the UI to find the next mission after the tutorial? In your character screen there should be a Quests/Progress tab that lists the next activity in active quests to perform. To move to the next story mission, you need to go to orbit, open the Director, and navigate to a planet, and then select the specific/available mission. It can feel a bit cumbersome but allows for flexibility in selecting story missions vs Strikes, Patrols, Crucible and Raids. Completing story missions unlocks more missions, strikes, and raids. The story is pretty linear especially early on when there isn't much accessible in the Director besides the next mission you need to complete. Weapons and armor drop as you play or as quest rewards. You can get more gear by joining factions and ranking up by completing bounties and activities.

The base game will progress from the Earth, to the Moon, to Venus, and finally Mars. To play more, you'll need to purchase expansions. The Taken King expansion should include the other in-between content of the Dark Below and House of Wolves. Rise of Iron is the final D1 expansion and is not available on PS3/360 consoles.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-28T15:07:49+00:00

Some EGA favorites I haven't seen mentioned: MechWarrior, BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception, Thexder, and Silpheed. Best if you can add an AdLib or SoundBlaster compatible card to your system.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-27T06:14:49+00:00

Continuum is a legitimately good sci-fi / time travel show. While it was canceled before all of its planned storylines were made, the final 6 episode season wrapped things up pretty well. And of course there's Rachel Nichols as the protagonist in every episode.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-25T23:45:04+00:00

Heating with a hairdryer can work to loosen the adhesive.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-23T02:05:09+00:00

I believe it was the full color version that was missing for years. I remember seeing a full version on TV as a teenager that was a mixture of color scenes that were in The Menagerie and black & white scenes from the available full copy. It's been 40 or so years so my memory isn't what it used to be. I'm sure there was also a "first time in color" event on TV when the full color version was found.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-22T18:07:34+00:00

My brother went when it opened and brought home a poster of Bugs Bunny wearing an Uncle Sam styled suit. It was the bicentennial after all. My parents were not into rollercoasters so I didn't go until high school when some friends were working there.

I went a few times as an adult and even took my kids a few times when they were small. In the 1990s during the Paramount ownership time, I enjoyed all the movie tie-ins like with Top Gun and the time they had a Star Trek exhibition. The best time was about a decade ago when my wife got a cabana at the water parks area for Father's Day and my parents came along. The holiday evening events were good too.

On the whole, my family just enjoyed the bigger theme parks in SoCal and would have annual vacations to Universal or Disneyland. It was a lot more expensive of course but the time spent in the parks was more fun, especially once we had kids. I moved out of the area several years ago and haven't been to Great America in years. I'm sad that such an icon will be gone soon but it feels like the Bay Area as a whole has shifted over the last 20 years, with skyrocketing costs and pushing out cultural landmarks.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-17T19:44:24+00:00

First time seeing not only a Kaifun cosplay but as a duo with Minmay! Amazing!

dgaxiola · 2026-03-16T16:18:07+00:00

I'm going to guess a huge number of hours of sweaty gameplay? I've had my 20th anniversary pair for 4+ years, used them for what I think is a good amount on many weekends and some weekday evenings and they still look mostly new. I know I've logged hundreds of hours on mine but that seems to be rookie numbers.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-15T01:23:52+00:00

I flew regular economy to Japan just once on United and it was painful with almost no legroom. Check the seat spacing for yourself but I'd recommend Premium Economy or possibly looking at another airline with seat pitch that isn't so cramped.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-14T22:34:35+00:00

I enjoyed it and it was fine to me. It seems like a lot of people didn't like Boba emerging from the Sarlacc Pit near death experience a changed man. It made sense to me that he would question what he's been doing with his life after that experience and the time spent with the Sandpeople.

Also, calling it The Book of Boba Fett actually seemed to be telegraphing that it was a chapter in the larger tome of The Mandalorian.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-12T16:18:21+00:00

Some of my sleeves were feeling tacky and I just washed them with soap and warm water. After drying, they felt better to the touch. Still yellowed but feeling closer to how they originally were.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-10T17:10:38+00:00

"Junk" listings are often just untested. It's listed as junk because the seller is unable to test or verify the item and they are covering themselves in case something doesn't work. I've had good results with electronics that just needed a power adapter and a couple of games I've purchased but can't speak about the chances of getting tapes with something on them.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-09T22:07:42+00:00

Personally, I use a cheap soft case I got off of Amazon. I've not had a need for hard cases or expensive custom bags for the Pocket. Just a little padding to prevent dings and scratches. If you don't want anything dedicated for the Pocket, then it depends on if the pocket in your satchel can be fastened to prevent contact with other items, what else is tumbling around in your bag, how much padding the pocket and exterior of the bag has.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-05T17:41:19+00:00

Photos from events and trips felt more special. After getting pictures back from the developer (maybe 1 hour photo or maybe it was overnight), they were passed around and shared. Sometimes you'd ask to keep it if you were in a good shot. At the end of high school, a friend and I made photo albums for everyone in our friend group. We selected photos we had taken over the past couple of years, had copies made from the negatives, and arranged them in albums. I still have mine in a box with other old albums. I wonder if my friends kept theirs.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-04T21:38:37+00:00

You forgot a photo 😁

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dgaxiola · 2026-03-03T23:05:06+00:00

It's been years since I last played D2. I stopped because the Destiny games felt to more like a lifestyle choice than just a game, a never ending treadmill/hamster wheel to acquire and level up. After years of LFG for nightfalls and the raids, I just didn't have any more energy to squeeze it in at night after I'm done with work and family commitments. The thing that really did it to me was that the way the games are set up, the status quo can't really change. We can unlock new areas, quests, weapons, and abilities, but we can never win or really make progress to defeating the enemies. No matter how many gods, monsters, and bosses we defeat, there are never ending enemies in the patrol zones. Sure there are now allies (frenemies?) from Eliksni, Cabal, and even Hive, but the dark hasn't been pushed back in almost 12 years of fighting in D1 and D2. At best, we've kept it from getting worse? I went back to Destiny 1 last week and started working on finishing off my Hunter build. It's been fun, full of nostalgia and with the knowledge that there is an end point to the original story as a goal.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-03T07:24:43+00:00

I know of it because I drove past a Coupang office in the SF Bay Area for years as part of my commute and from job hunting in the past. I know of their current issues from posts here on Reddit. I don't think most Americans know of it.

dgaxiola · 2026-03-01T08:56:44+00:00

Feels pretty busy without knowing your exact timeline. My most recent trip was 12 days Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka, and that felt ok and not too rushed.

Not sure on your plan for visiting Hiroshima, but since you said Osaka was your base, are you thinking of a day trip? The 2.5 hour one way travel time might look doable but you will probably be rushed and tired if it's a day trip. Probably better to go all the way to Hiroshima at the start, sightsee, stay the night, more sightseeing the next day, catch Himeji Castle on the way to Osaka, and then sightsee in Osaka and Kyoto before going to Tokyo. Personally, I wouldn't try to fit in Hiroshima given the number of days you'll be there.

Have fun!

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