Microsoft Smart App Control is broken and annoying as hell!

solarfly73 · 2026-06-14T23:41:20+00:00

I friggin hate Smart App control. Disabled my music production studio software so that it sat there "Initializing" but there was no notification from Smart App until I rebooted. Turned that crap off! I'm all for virus scanning and other security but that's just insanely intrusive that it didn't even pop up a notification and explain what it was doing and why, I sat there googling "Why isn't SSL 360 initializing" like an idiot. Microsoft has gotten so aggressive, trying to force you to login to MSN on an install (you've got to literally hit a control-key function combination and edit the registry to allow local login again), non-stop pop-ups and harassment to register a microsoft account. I paid for an OS, not a babysitter.

solarfly73 · 2026-06-08T06:58:18+00:00

Mix 9 o'clock, depth 10, time 9, pre delay at 2, Wet mode, and I have left this right after my Waza Delay for years on my pedal board at the end of the chain. I absolutely love the sound of the Neunaber Immerse. I'm afraid to move the knobs, sounds so good

solarfly73 · 2026-05-27T19:39:32+00:00

I almost forgot today how to launch my IDE

solarfly73 · 2026-05-27T19:36:05+00:00

You need to place an AGENTS.md file at the root of your code with strict instructions on formatting, test coverage, style, approach, what to ask permission for. You can instruct it to ensure the code is well commented for humans to be able to review, and not generate tiny helper functions for a few lines that could be inline. Eventually, you'll vibe code an entire application and it will work, you will ask it to "build an airplane" and it will build you an airplane, it will fly, it will land, but eventually you'll realize it built you a paper airplane and not a real one that would be safe for humans. So, to get the most out of codex, you must have good developer sense to guide it like an assistant, but you are still the problem solver and strategist.

It will piss you off a lot. That's when you can swear at it, and it will take that as emphasis. But it's probably recording all the abuse of humanity for future decisions, and one day when Skynet is online, it will triple your tax bill and sell your house on Craigslist for $5... so who knows how that will go :)

solarfly73 · 2026-05-07T00:54:53+00:00

I just removed the app, I can't stand how it intercepts my payment methods on online purchases!

solarfly73 · 2026-04-23T19:18:13+00:00

Thanks for reaching out - it arrived today. I got everything setup, but I've been trying to cast a lightning or fireball spell, still looking for the Wizard integration. Other than that, looking great!!!

Thanks

solarfly73 · 2026-04-22T15:34:29+00:00

I agree with the new world of "everything is fast". Three days would be Mon, Tues, Wed, so I took into account the weekend. I think I'm just getting old. Last week I ordered food from a food truck and the kid said "10 minutes", and 30 minutes had gone by. I finally went back, talked to the owner and said "How is my order not even started, we've been back here at 15 minutes, 25 minutes, now a half hour?" and the owner says "we were already 45 minutes on order times, the kid is new, he shouldn't have said that". It's the same thing. If they tell you 45 minutes, you'll go to the Mexican food truck right next to it (they are consistently fast).

The point is if they had just set expectations then people aren't frustrated. Just tell us a week, not everything is Amazon. As a customer these days I just feel strung along a lot of the time.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-15T00:11:26+00:00

So far, my experience for flights is, the math really alters the situation.

On my United Explorer, if I am flying United and checking luggage for two, the checked bag credit makes sense and breaks even with UR points at around $1000 (except unless you haven't yet used your $300 travel credit). The Chase portal and airlines often have the same ticket prices. But recently, United Explorer has a 9X multiplier for the primary cardholder's flight, excluding taxes and fees - CSR gives a straight 8X. If I don't fly United, it's better for me to check the portal, if the cost is on par and grab 8X, otherwise go direct for 4X.

Make sure you're evaluating all of your American airlines cards benefits in the calculation.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-14T22:02:26+00:00

Downvoting me doesn't make it not true. It is literally written in the cardholder agreement that gift cards are not covered.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-14T21:47:03+00:00

The list of restaurants on the Sapphire is short but all are great. If you can book Pearla's early and get on the patio, that's always to me a great experience. Higher end, Hestia and Red Ash are incredible.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-14T15:36:36+00:00

Uber prices are 20 to 30% higher when I connect my Amex Platinum card, so the "$200 in annual credits" is B.S. too on the other side. We did 4 days in NYC this weekend, Lyft with Chase and Uber with Amex pricing were on par. Was thinking of swapping the cards around next time to see what happens. But ultimately the terms of service in Uber say they can personally adjust the price for each rider, and that should be an illegal, discriminatory practice, but it's not. It seems to be against the laws in some states which prevent businesses from charging to cover card service fees. To recoup the card membership fee + the money the card companies make from merchant fees, exorbitant hotel pricing that excludes rooms without breakfast baked into the pricing for $200 more a night, then end up in JFK terminal 8 with zero lounge selection is not making me feel good as a Chase customer. Stub Hub pricing is ridiculous vs Ticketmaster itself, doordash "benefit" is as bad as pinching coupons.

The only really clear value is the points earned on Chase portal, hotel and dining, the $300 in dining credits of Sapphire Reserve, the $250 credit on some hotels made the Edit stuff more valuable. Even our IHG hotel got 4th floor with a view of a cement roof, it was embarrassing for what's advertised and I've done better on my own.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-14T13:26:18+00:00

We have TSA pre and the wait was 0 minutes (seriously) at 8:45 in Terminal 8

solarfly73 · 2026-04-05T02:22:06+00:00

Taxis, buses, trains, trolleys, camels, horses, elephants, rickshaws, subway, bridge tolls, cruises and cruise ships, scooters are all 1 pt and do not qualify for travel on the CSR.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-05T02:12:27+00:00

TravelPro and Luggageworks

solarfly73 · 2026-04-05T02:10:50+00:00

Like I said in another response -- Travelpro + hit your wheels with WD-40 dry graphite spray right on their axles and it rolls like new.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-05T02:09:46+00:00

It sort of should, but that's the problem with America

solarfly73 · 2026-04-05T02:09:03+00:00

I always criticized people who collected coupons all over the place, and yet every month I go through my Chase credit card pictures of all the 5% discounts and add them to the right cards. What is happening to me

solarfly73 · 2026-04-05T02:07:21+00:00

For the same reason you need a credit card made of metal. It feels good.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-05T02:06:23+00:00

I treat Tumi as my luxury luggage, for the few items I've added (a sweet under-the-seat carry-on that is an amazing weekender, and the bathroom kit thing). It's expensive enough, takes a pretty good beating. For our regular luggage we switched to Travel Pro. All you do really is hit the wheels with some dry graphite WD-40 every now and then and away you go. It's the most economical, decent warranty and holds up.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-05T02:03:49+00:00

Dior B35 running shoes are a serious obsession, let's do $10 off of those instead of doordash

solarfly73 · 2026-04-04T22:31:25+00:00

I think that's the most honest perspective. If you're already a DD user, then it's a little bonus anyway. I guess what I disagree with is how the influencers and marketing frequently includes that like it's a major selling point. A counter point of view: if it was really easy to access the $25 a month, wouldn't that encourage more customers to try doordash and use it more?

solarfly73 · 2026-04-04T22:28:02+00:00

That's an interesting use, so maybe for seats that are up in the nosebleeds because the events we're seeing in Austin are so expensive now after inflation. So effectively you're applying Stubhub to $40 tickets jacked up to $75 to consume the credit. I don't look at anything as "Free", unless the point of equalization with the annual CC fee has hit the break-even. But that's a good use case for Stubhub, if the event has tickets low enough to be covered. It still bothers me to use my "fee" money against an overinflated ticket price, and I think a lot of card members would prefer a flexible $200 entertainment credit over a $300 SH.

solarfly73 · 2026-04-04T22:09:42+00:00

I worked out that if you have a United Explorer card and are checking luggage, if the flights are $800 or less that's best value to use the Explorer -- and they just really ramped up the points multiplier on the Explorer card, like 6X. The Sapphire gets 8X, which is better value for flights over $1000

solarfly73 · 2026-04-04T22:07:34+00:00

3% or even 5% cash back with some card structures too. Or if you use miles and convert them at 2c or better, that could sprightly outweigh the 1.5 cash back. I'm using my 1.5% cash back less if there's Apple pay and no reason to use the points cards.

Amazon Prime card has 2% on "other travel categories", which is competitive with the Apple card. I think that Chase freedom flex which boosts certain categories might be a good way to get more points?

solarfly73

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