Hijacked by Windows 10

           

            On Sunday, May 22, I got up half an hour later than usual. After washing I usually spend about five minutes checking my email and the progress of any downloads that might be underway. This time though I got an unpleasant surprise. Over night Windows 10 had installed itself without my permission. Over the last few months I’d been getting these pop-ups asking me if I wanted to upgrade. Frankly, I didn’t even think they were from Microsoft. They looked kind of cheap, and I suspected that it was some kind of malware. There didn’t seem to be an option to cancel, but rather to just move it forward in time. I thought that the final decision would be mine though. I restarted to see if I could get back to Windows 7. The option was there, but having a Windows 7 disk was required and my Windows 7 was a copy installed by Hitek Direct. Finally there was nothing I could do but move forward and accept Windows 10, even though I still wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t some form of Russian ransomeware like I’d had to deal with a few months before. I discovered though, to my relief, that all my files were intact and accessible. I had to re-download Google Chrome though, and once I’d done that and gotten a new password, I did a search about Windows 10. It turned out that I had not been the only one whose computer had been hijacked by the operating system upgrade. A lot of people were as pissed off as I am. I wonder if no one at Windows had any kind of ethical dilemma about implementing this kind of violation.

            I started my yoga about an hour later than usual, after changing my Gmail and Facebook passwords. Because of this I had to cut my song practice in half. Just finding my way around the new system chewed up my day so that I got a lot less done than I’d planned on doing. By the time I got around to doing my laundry, there was no time afterward to take a siesta, so I just took my bike ride out to the Danforth. At Castle Frank there were cops and firemen all around because there’d been a four-car crash up. I found out later that five people had gone to the hospital. Cyclists were directed to the north side and then at the beginning of the viaduct we were allowed to go back to the right.

            I rode to Langford and then up to Aldwych, across to Dewhurst and then down, dipping over on the side streets to Donlands on my way south. The alley behind Dewhurst had a little more of that slick high school graffiti but there was also a little tagging as well. The alley behind the stores and bars at the northwest corner of Danforth and Donlands was a lot more interesting, not so much because of graffiti but just the state of the backs of the buildings. Their age and state of decrepitness gave them a certain charm. I stopped to take a few photos.

            On my way back east, the cops were still directing traffic away from the eastbound lane at Castlefrank. I got off my bike and carried it over the broken glass.

            Some kind of bug flew into my eye while I was riding. I think there must have still been a piece of it in there after I’d wiped it out, because it irritated me for the rest of the night.

            I watched the last episode of the first season of “Gunsmoke”. Some of it was entertaining but none of the shows were keepers. I deleted the folder and I won’t be downloading the second season.

            I watched the first episode of the first season of “Have Gun, Will Travel”. Richard Boone was older than I remembered. It was rare for a TV hero to have a moustache, but I guess it was supposed to add to the mystique of Paladin being a sophisticate in addition to being a gunfighter. I remember that this show appealed to me when I was a kid, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it was because the character was a wealthy adventurer or that he was a good guy who dressed all in black.

            The face in the full moon looked surprised.