The computer I use for everyday tasks (25 March 2021):-
A Gigabyte Z490 Vision D (Hackintosh compatible) motherboard.
An Intel Core i7 10700 2.9GHz (Comet Lake) processor.
Two dual-channel 16GB DDR4 2400MHz RAM modules.
A Blu-Ray writer LG 16x SATA drive.
A Corsair Graphite 780T E-ATX full-tower, white case.
A Corsair RM1000X, 1000W modular power supply.
A Gigabyte ATI Radeon RX-580 (8GB - 3640x2160@60Hz) video card.
8. And some internal drives:–
a Western Digital 4TB Hybrid HDD (PC/Mac/Linux - all file and folder, backups),
a Samsung SSD 860 QVO 1TB SATA SSD (/dev/sda Manjaro KDE Linux)
a Samsung SSD 860 QVO 1TB SATA SSD (/dev/sdb NTFS blank)
a Crucial nvme M.2 1TB SSD (macOS 15.2.3 Big Sur)
a Crucial nvme M.2 1TB SSD (MS Win10Pro x64bit)
and a TANDBERG RDX USB 1TB Tape drive.
I have now come to a stage where I don't completely trust the Anti-Virus
and Antimalware security software available for use on today's computers.
I do however still use Malwarebytes, which I find is an excellent piece of
anti-virus/malware software.
I have now been using for over a year, a Virtual Private Network (VPN)
piece of software called Nord VPN which has an almost 100% track record
when it comes to the prevention and stop age of hackers and any kind of
Virus / Trojans / Worms from entering my computer system. I also run
this version of Nord VPN on my web-browser (Google Chrome).
Only time will tell if this VPN proves to be a really good alternative to the
conventional Security and Antivirus software on the market at the moment.
.
I have always, right through from my early days in computing (late 1970’s),
had an interest in playing computer games, whenever I am able and can
spare the time to do so, just as part of my hobby in computers. 😊
Sometimes, when I get a quite few hours, at the end of the day, at night, you can find me quite often playing some of these games in Virtual Reality (VR).
I use an HTC Vive headset (first released in early 2016), for the many games that support VR.
My favorite of all computer games, these days, is Elite: Dangerous Horizons (ED), a space
flight simulator and very much a fun game to play. It accurately simulates our Milky Way galaxy, of about 200 to 400 billion stars, all with their proper names, distances, etc.
The game uses real-life Physics, Science, and Astronomy, of course, to do all of this seamlessly. I have played this game, on Windows-PC (Steam), Apple Mac (Steam), and GNU Linux (Steam) platforms. Another great Space game, which is very much like ED, is Star Citizen. This game is not complete as yet, having being in development for the last 10 years. It too, promises to be an excellent space flight simulator and fun game.
If you're looking for a good, solid, Role-Playing / Adventure / First Person Shooter type
of game, then you have to try Deus Ex - Human Revolution and its more recent offering,
Deus Ex-Mankind Divided. Both of these games are simply excellent at what they do and excel in all aspects of gameplay, story, adventure, and technology.
My other choices for more, excellent computer games, are XCOM Enemy Within,
XCOM Enemy Unknown, and more recently its sequel XCOM 2. Another excellent
Space Flight Simulator with more fantasy elements in it than ED is No Mans Sky.
No Mans Sky portrays the entire Universe (not just our own Galaxy, like ED), in a way,
their game developers and designers call Procedure Generated.
I also like playing MS Flight Simulator 2020, as a great aircraft, flight simulator and
educator of the basics in real-flight training, if you don't mind using a good HOTAS (hands-on throttle and joystick setup), such as my Saitek X-56 Rhino HOTAS system.
All these above games and space/flight simulators, I have mentioned so far, I dare say, are much better than any other game offering of a similar kind, out there today, in computer gaming land.
These days, I also find myself, quite often, helping our Residents, in our Retirement Village, with their various computer hardware/software-related problems.
It may take me as little as 10 minutes to fix a problem, or sometimes, as much as 5 hours to get to the proper solution.
I try and carry out my work for our Residents, for free most of the time, as I
find myself always learning something new, and it is after all my part of my hobby. I do get paid for my help, on some occasions, as some of our Residents want also to give back for my time and efforts.
Here in our Village (Macarthur Gardens), we have a total of 264 homes, in
which a total of about 400 people have their homes. Most are married couples, but quite
a few of them are widowed, with the other partner having passed away - it could be a
lonely life if it was not for the friendly atmosphere and plenty of day-to-day activities
on offer by the Village management staff.
Kind regards,
Howard Pew.
2 - 3 April 2018, May 2019, March 2021.
