HawkDawg

I can't answer your question, but I can give you a small tip on posting using acronyms. Using your post as an example, you could use this BBCode. [acronym=If I Remember Correctly]IIRC[/acronym] Which would give you this - IIRC. Hover your mouse over the acronym to see what it stands for.

Ya' know folks. Me thinks this thread got just a wee bit off topic.

I like that. A great compliment.

Microsoft only wishes they could collect as much data about you as Google does. Google knows more about everyone than the US government does. And just like Facebook, Google is well known to violate their own privacy policies. They share everything they collect about you across all their various platforms. They even scan all email that goes through their servers. I just wish I didn't have to deal with folks that use Gmail, but - unfortunately I do with my website.

I've read quite a few articles about Win 10. Most not complimentary, at least in regards to privacy concerns. I don't use Google for anything, for the same reasons. Nor do I visit Facebook or any other social sites.

I have SP3 so that's not an issue. I think I'm going to dig out an old hard drive and install XP from scratch and see if I can still get the necessary security patches. I agree with you. Every other OS was the better version, in the order you mentioned, although I think that tradition went out the window (pardon the pun ) with Win 10. I have run all the OS's, starting with Win 3.1 - up to Win 7 (with the exception of Win 2000 and Vista) and I'm of the opinion that we are paying MS to beta test new OS's.

I have run Ubuntu before, and liked it. My problem was back when I ran it, there wasn't a really good way to run the games I like. I believe Wine was still in it's infancy, or at least not up to the task. I understand it does a lot better now. I didn't have any real problems running Linux, but I never did dig too deep into it. I guess getting familiar with the command line structure (I think that's what I mean ) would be the biggest task.

Hey! Another user of Karen's Replicator. The back up I have on one of my external drives is an exact bootable copy of my primary drive, but it is a copy of my drive - as is. I guess, in case of fire, I would have to remember to grab it on the way out as I don't have any off site storage, although I guess I could make a copy and keep it in my safe deposit box. I've been chatting with A Nonny Moose in private about Ubuntu so I'm thinking of giving that a try.

On the subject of backups, I have 2 internal hard drives and 2 external USB drives (all 500 GB or less Western Digital). I use a small utility called Karen's Replicator that runs in the background nightly and backs up files and folders I've selected from the primary internal drive to the secondary internal drive (the secondary internal drive is nothing but storage). Once a week I plug in one of the external drives and again, using Karen's Replicator, I back up the secondary internal drive. When that's done I unplug it and plug in the other external drive and using a bootable cd version of Mini Tool Partition Wizard, I make an exact backup copy of the primary internal drive. Both external drives are unconnected from the computer and power source when not in use. So far I've only had to reinstate the data back from the copied primary external drive once, and that was due to an abysmally failed uninstall of an A/V app. I also have my primary internal drive partitioned into 6 partitions, for organization purposes only. One of those partitions is nothing but empty space, which I can use to resize (larger or smaller) any of the other partitions using Mini Tool Partition Wizard, should the need arise. I do not use a cloud service back up. I built this computer about 8 years ago and have only had to replace a video card once. I do try to reinstall the operating system every year or two but I think that idea is no longer an option since I still run XP and I don't think I can get the security patches anymore. I am starting to expect a hardware failure some time soon, since this stuff is becoming so long n the tooth. Should that happen I guess I'll just use this box as a door stop and go off-line from the Internet, since I can't afford to replace any hardware now; living on Social Security. But at my age, and with my health, I wouldn't have to do without a computer long.

I wish you all the luck in your fight against cancer Nonny. I have a very, very close friend fighting this enemy right now, but he's stuck in the US Veterans Administration, which is a joke, and he's not really getting the treatment he needs. I hope the Canadian system works better.

I am also running the disk version on XP SP3. As a newbie to this game myself I think this guide would be invaluable, whether someone is using the disk version or the download version. I do think both versions should be addresses though. It would also be helpful to include the actual name of mods instead of just the acronym, to make searching for it on websites easier. Of course links would be ideal but with a proper searchable name, probably not needed. That said, I believe the acronyms should also be included because they're used extensively thought the forms; most times without the acronym BBCode, which can make things a little harder for newbies.

I guess you missed my edit.

I downloaded and unzipped the Basic SimPeg Agricultural Mod and the MTP Super Pack and it looks to me like the contents in both zips is identical. Edit 1: Never mind. I goofed up.

Ah! OK! I found it, sort of. Thanks! I guess it was the site upgrade that causes a lot of links to files to just link back to the topic the link was found in instead of the file page. Very frustrating.

Thanks guys. It's nice to have a good meaning for SPAM, for a change. I'll definitely look into these mods. Edit 1: Well, a search here on the STEX turned up nothing on the CDK3 but a tutorial, and a bunch of posts.