Map of recent visitors to Betty's

[Betty]

Map of recent visitors during the past 30 minutes.

[Betty]

Map of visitors during the past 30 minutes. About 4am my time, 9am UK time.

[Betty]

Map of visitors to Betty's in the past 30 minutes, their browsers, & OS, at almost 1am E. USA time. Most of Europe is asleep, but it seems a lot of America never sleeps.

I'm impressed that there are so many Pale Moon browser users tonight... the most safe & secure browser in the world, but they're only as safe as you make them. Pale Moon, is based on Firefox, with a little added extra security, & all the useless fluff BS removed. PM & FF aren't the safest by default, but because they're the most customizable browsers, you can set them the safest too.

I also see tonight, wise users are using the best OS in the world too, Windows 7. Granted, if you're more used to touch screen portables, & your primary computing or inernet needs/skills is to play games, music, youtube, visit Facebook on a toy, or email Grandma, then PM, FF, & W7 may not be for you. They're most liked by people who need their machines to actually accomplish something, or get some critical work done quickly, efficiently, secure & safely. But we can have fun with them too... one of the advantages of a customizable system. We can have it our own way.

However, most windows users not on W7, are on something else because Microsoft, it's partners, & sales people want them to move onto something else. So they tell you something else is better, & a lot of the sheep follow. It's sort of like the commercials on TV telling you need a new car & phone every year. Besides, Windows 10 was forced on most of us as an unwanted & uneeded update, that we were constantly nagged to up date to, or just discovered one day it had converted to Windows 10 without their knowledge or permission.

They say PC sales have been down for the past year, & claim PCs are old fashioned as the reason. But my numbers show they're still getting used a lot in the home & office. Perhaps PCs sold less during the past year because the store shelves are full of Windows 10 machines that most wise people don't want. So are just keeping their old machines, or using their mobile devices more instead. In the daytime or some afternoons, sometimes more than half our visitors are on a mobile device. But they still use their PC or full laptop when they get a chance to sit at home or at a desk.

You can visit Betty's on a $30-$60 android phone or tablet, or a $250-$10,000 computer, or on a device you already own, or on a used one that works fine. Some people will not buy new, or spend, just because the sticker on the box says, "New & Improved."

Did you know government, military, & corporations pay $400 a year in Microsoft support for each machine to still use XP on their machines? XP is supported in China until 2020. So if they're smart there are ways around $400 a year. Just type the XP install is for China, but you want it to be English, & you get the same XP that costs everybody else $400 a year in support. But if you're that smart, you're already using W7 tweaked your way anyway so don't need XP.

Microsoft did not stop supporting XP. They just figured out how to charge $400 a year to keep using it, or force people to buy a new OS or machine. They're still making millions off XP. It's a very efficient OS that will run on almost everything.

W7 will be supported until 2020. With a few clicks & tweaks we can have it act like W10, W8, XP, any OS X, or android. If you shut down a few useless services, & remove some pointless fluff, it can be almost efficient as XP. But make system restore, backup, & get an install disk (free & legal if you know where to look, if you machine has a license stamp on it), just in case you make a boo boo poking with it.

[Betty]

Windows 10 update nagging, ruins the weather.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMPeTrHNX1U

[Betty]

Map of visitors during the past 30 minutes.

Europe awakens as America sleeps, but some of us never sleep or sleep when we're supposed to.

I'm still amazed that we get more people from Europe during their mornings than any other time of the day. What is the morning fascination with Betty's in Europe rather than afternoons, evenings or nights? Sissies for breakfast?

[Betty]

Map of visitors to Betty's over the past 30 minutes, with the OS, & browsers they used.

I guess vacation time is over for most, as we had over 16,000 hits to Betty's Sunday, & over 17,000 on Saturday. Going by averages, anything above 11,000 hits a day is a lot for us.

The map looks almost like normal again after a rather quiet summer compared to last year. It's not unusual for summers, especially July, our typically quietest month to be slow, but we experienced almost no slowdown last summer for the first time ever.

I see more of our regulars back from vacation, as clearly shown by the increased usage of Pale Moon & Firefox browsers, plus the usage of Windows 7 & Linux... a favorite among our most seasoned users.

Damn shame about all those people forced to use Windows 10, or who ignorantly switched to it. Don't use it! Betty's don't support Windows 10, Edge browsers, or explorer browsers & NEVER will. But most of Betty's will work good enough if you insist on using them. However, if your privacy & security setting is Windows 10, Edge, or Explorer are set to their default settings, your device is too insecure & intrusive to visit Betty's & you may accidentally get yourself temporarily or permanently banned.

Betty's carries some underground or hidden pages not intended for the general public. We can't have people with an OS or browser operating below internationally established web standards running rampant on our sites & servers without creating problems for us, our other users, & you.

Ironically, you can visit Betty's with the cheapest andriod phone or tablet, or an iphone without any problems. We even have a separate & independent feed of Betty's for them specially designed for portable devices that works great. It's not exactly what you would see on a real computer or laptop (a chromebook is not a real laptop or computer), but it's easier to use our special feed for your portable device, rather than our normal web site for everybody else.

Our system automatically knows when you're on your portable device, & automatically sends you a version of Betty's specially designed for your device. I made that all by myself. It was not software downloaded or out of a box that installed in a few clicks, I had to write the mobile device feed personally, & install it manually.

[Betty]

I just noticed we've have 2,936,430 hits to Betty's so far for 2016. That's very busy, but a little down from this same time last year. Last year was our busiest year ever with a little bit over 5 million hits for 2015. Things always slow down a little over our summers, as more people get out, or take their vacations. Last summer, we didn't get our traditional slowdowns in traffic like we get every summer. Perhaps being a cooler summer, people stayed in more on their computers, or used their portables more. Or perhaps the mindless sheeple are too busy with Pokemon on their portables this summer to visit us as much.

We had 359,597 hits to Betty's in the past 30 days. At that rate, along with the typical slower summer traffic, I don't think will hit 5 million for 2016.

At our current averages, we'll get about 4.5 million hits this year, which will be a busy year, but we've had that many in a year, often before... In the late 1990s, 2005-2007, & 2012-2014 we always had around 4.5 million hits in a year. To break 5 million this year with only a little over 4 months to go until the end of the year, we'd need about 110,000 hits per month above our normal average.

When you figure in that our servers do their bi-annual big upgrades/updates somewhere between Nov.-Jan. which slows Betty's down, I don't think we'll get 5 million this year. We've also spread out onto 2, YouTube channels, & special private feeds from my google drive this year, which don't have our hit counter, so their hits aren't included. But hey, 4.5 million is very busy, & we can't break a record every year.

[Robyn Jodie]

Love your post about showing the Windows 10 airplane.

Unfortunately, according to something I saw on Slashdot, Microsoft is planning on making their monthly updates a single bundle -- update everything or don't update anything, with each monthly bundle including all the previous bundles so they only need to make the current bundle available.  Easier for them, I guess.

[Betty]

That is to stop people from disabling W10's telemetry, spyware, adware, data mining, turning on your microphone/camera, etc.

I swear, for the high level of spying, telemetry, & data mining in Windows 10, they must have been paid by the NSA, CIA, or something. It's most certainly NOT very secure in any way. You don't see high level government officials, scientists, & NASA using that crap, golly many of them are still using XP. And they're trying to dump that garbage onto other versions of windows too.

People been disabling all that crap only to find it is re-enabled by the next windows 10 update. So there was a community that was checking the updates, so we can block the offending ones. By putting them in a single bundle, they stop people from blocking their offending updates.

Since they started to force people to upgrade to W10, & install nagware to constantly harass you to upgrade, many people have just cut off updates entirely, except for their third party security like antivirus, their browser updates, or driver updates directly from their hardware manufacturer.

Then they started downloading W10 into people's machines without their knowledge, while installing a lot of the same telemetry, spyware, & data mining that's in W10 into W7 & W8 machines through their updates.

All my machines are running W7 & Linux in dual-boot except for an old laptop which I downgraded from W7 to a commercial & military version XP that is supported until 2019.

I have had all windows updates disabled since the end of January because it became too much to bother with anymore. Their updates were constantly trying to convert my machines into something I don't want, & dump garbage into them. It just got to be too much of a pain to keep track of which updates I want, & which to block. And the ones I blocked would become mysteriously unblocked the next month, or replaced by another update just as bad. How dare they meddle in my computer, & unblock items that I made a decision to block for very good reasons.

With no more windows updates, I haven't got any viruses, malware, & haven't been hacked. I do tread in some more dangerous territory than an average user, & test all sorts of strange software, even some that I know had embedded malware. No problem! There are a few experts out there who insist they don't need any microsoft updates ever.

My newer "used" laptop is running a version of windows 7 with updates in it no newer than December 2014. It's running excellent, safe, & secure, without a hitch. It's more secure than any Windows 10 machine, android, or iphone. I may never get new windows updates for it. Browsers & antivirus are up to date though. Even those aren't on auto-update. I update them about every month or 2, & I'm fine.

I have Linux Distro Astro on it too, for dual boot. I've started a new habit with Linux too. No updates. It pisses me off after I spent days or weeks getting a Linux version I actually like, & getting it to work the way I want it to, that after a Linux update, it's broken or all phucked up again.

I used to be a Linux Zorin fan. But with updates, or their new versions, it's nowhere near as great as it used to be. Why do software writers insist on taking something great, that everybody loves, & screw it up just for the sake of a new upgrade or update? I see IT critics whine about software that hasn't been updated in a year or 2. Well, if the software runs great, & everybody likes it, why the hell would any sensible person decide to change & update it for no good reason?

Firefox used to be the best browser in the world for years when it got updated about twice a year. Now with updates every week or 2, it's become bloatware.

Everybody's become update/upgrade crazy. Here's a lesson I learned way back in the mid 1990s: Every Windows update would break something, slow the machine down more, & I'd lose something or some feature I really liked.

Can you imagine artists going into the art museums every month to upgrade the art by painting over or touching up the old art? How about if Ford came to your house once a month in the middle of the night just to change things around in you car? One morning you get up to find they moved your turn signals switch to under the seat, the steering wheel into the back seat, & the switch for the headlights has been placed in the trunk.

Then they offer comfort by giving the lame excuse that everybody resists change, & that we'll get used to it if we try. No, I want my steering wheel in the front seat, & I will not go to my trunk to turn on my lights.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[samantha1]

Betty,
i also had too block all windows updates as they were driving me mad,and i have no intentions of going to windows 10 as i do lots of market research on my computer and most will not accept window 10 anyway.