I sat down to write and then the computer decided it was time to update itself. Which is fair--I guess it's been years. Maybe it'll be a speedier snail when it's through? 🤞🏻
@MLClark Have you looked into using Linux?
A properly configured Linux system can be much, MUCH lighter/faster than Windows, and it won't force updates / reboots / ads / any other BS on you.
There are even Linux distributions capable of making a 20-year-old machine feel relatively snappy.
Oh, and virtually any software you can run on Windows can also be run on Linux these days, thanks to a compatibility layer called Wine.
I've been exclusively running Linux for many years. Never looked back.
The laptop that died on Sunday literally could not onboard Linux, because it wouldn't read even an earlier-gen USB from the BIOS setup. Just a quirk of a really bad system build on that machine.
I will probably be able to make the attempt on this machine, but I *just* pulled it out of storage and have been trying to catch up on lost workflow from the laptop dying on Sunday, so the attempt will come when I have more time to lose to a system swap. Cheers.