Eric

I suspect the issue is support for GPT (GUID Partition Table) vs the older MBR (Master Boot Record).     It's odd if Windows 7 supports it, but the backup software they supply with the OS does not.   Since it's not an issue of OS support, better backup software would solve the problem if you don't feel like re-partitioning the drive. EaseUs and Acronis True Image Home both support GPT.

I keep hearing that peanutbutter and fluff sandwiches are a Maine thing.  Is that true? I had no idea.

It looks like just another average storm this far north, only 8-15".    And don't bother going to the store for bread and milk or whatever people are always buying before a storm.  If you're going to stock up on anything, it should be booze and snacks.

  I'm still not sure if Jack's chinese food response had anything to do with me offering to eat the chocolate lab with lava cake for dessert.

I'll take both, I didn't have lunch.

It's really is a bit of a pain.    If adding a hard drive to a computer is the kind of thing you could do without googling it, and you understand what partitions/partition tables are, then you can probably do it yourself.    If not, then I'm with Jack--take it to someone.  Especially if the data on the drive is something you don't want to lose.  It doesn't hurt to back up your data before you hand over your computer either.  Some technicians aren't as qualified as you would think.  Not to make you nervous or anything.   If it's a Samsung SSD, they offer decent software for doing the migration.

I don't have anyone prepare my return because I keep terrible track of my expenses (doing my taxes involves an extensive and careful search through my email over the past year for receipts). 3/4 the reason I don't claim OIH is because I'd have to dig through EVEN MORE records. I'll do the simplified OIH method this year though. With the amount of money we spend renovating our home, and the size of my office, I know I could get more, but I don't care. I can't be bothered. And I'm sure that's the worst kind of client to have, so I'll save you all the trouble--seriously. The shameful disorganization of my finances should be my burden to deal with. The level of discomfort that I feel when dealing with these things is so high, that there is no tax refund amount that could get me to file before April 10. I could win 100 million dollars in the lottery, and I would put off receiving it as long as possible due to the paperwork that would be involved. Nice of you folks to offer though, thanks anyway

  I would consider myself an average taxpayer, but I am WAY too paranoid to take that route.  The closest I get is "it's unfortunate that I have to check that box, my return just took a nosedive" You're right though, they shouldn't show the average person their dollar figure in real time--it's probably irrelevant and just acts as a temptation to be dishonest.   I've never used their online service, which at the price mentioned seems awfully expensive considering their home and business software for doing a Sch C costs less than that, even if you include federal and state efile.  I find that it's pretty thorough, but it takes me FOREVER to get through my return.  I read and re-read every stupid box that pops up to make sure I'm getting everything correct, and then i leave my desk because reading that much gibberish makes my head hurt after a while.

Well I guess would explain the whole microwave oven thing that I've never really understood or looked into. That may be another reason wireless/induction charging hasn't been done with pacemakers yet--it uses a magnetic field to generate voltage in the device.

Won't be long before they can add wireless charging to those things like they have in many cell phones.  I imagine things like brain implants and pacemakers are too deep in the body for the exact same technology to work.

Well if nobody provides feedback as to why it's important to be able to hide their own posts without the help of a moderator, I'll disable it and wait to see if there are complaints.   As far as editing goes, I believe the only configurable option I have available in that area is a time limit.

I understand a member hiding their own posts in a thread would still lead to confusion, but the threads would still be left intact from a moderator's point of view so at least they can still easily see what went on.   The only way to completely solve the issue is to not let people remove/delete/hide their posts at all. When you said "Even if you limited the hiding up until the time someone responded to it" that's not really an option anyway, since there's no way to detect when someone responds to a specific post.  Hiding/Deleting posts is either enabled or disabled.   Long story short, it's a simple question of whether members are able to remove their own posts or not.  I feel weird about removing that ability, but I guess I can't articulate why.

  Of course.  Same goes for permanently deleting a post or thread.  If sensitive information went up that shouldn't have, we've got no problem permanently deleting it from the site, rather than just having it hidden.  Also, I'm a chronic post editor.  I'm never happy with how I worded something the first time through, so I may remove the requirement to show the Edited By line after an edit.     What do you folks think?

I learned an important lesson in my early 20s about the internet: don't publish anything that you don't want to stay "out there" forever.  It used to be that if you googled my name, the first result was from a site called PoopReport.com where there was a heated discussion over the proper way to hang a roll of toilet paper, whether the paper goes over the front, or down the back.   It's not a serious thing, but it's still retarded, and I preferred not having it as the top search result for my name.  I contacted the admin of the site years later, and he thankfully removed it.  I'm sure you can still find it using one of those website caching sites like the wayback machine or whatever.   I feel terrible for kids growing up through middle school and high school with social networking.  They don't have brains enough to think about what they post.  They're all out there posting cringe-worthy selfies and verbal diarrhea for the world (and potentially their future employers / business associates) to see.   Think before you speak, as my mom would say.     There's no real way to know when a post has been responded to.  The quote function doesn't communicate anything to the server, it simply adds the quoted text to your reply window.   Would people who follow threads/forums still get a hidden post? Depends on how they choose to receive the emails, I think.  I've never really tested it, but if they go the Daily Digest route, I'm going to assume that the site wouldn't email posts that are hidden.  If they choose to get every followed thread's posts as they come in, then yes, they would get them before they are hidden.

I made some changes to the forum a few days ago.   There is a time limit on how long you can edit your posts.  If you notice mistakes, you can edit your posts to fix them for 5 minutes after the post is made.  I figure we'll try this out for a while, if the time limit needs to be modified, we'll eventually work it out based on feedback.   Second, instead of deleting your own posts, you can hide them.  It's actually not that different than before, since deleting posts didn't actually remove them permanently, just stuck them in a recycle bin of sorts.  Either way, they become invisible to members.   Both of these changes are to discourage extensive editing/deleting of posts which turns entire threads into swiss cheese.  Sometimes the threads don't make any sense anymore because it looks like people are responding to posts that don't exist.   If anyone has any issues with this, this is the place to talk about it.

Sean Brock's Elvis Presley Milkshake From Come In, We're Closed: An Invitation to Staff Meals at the World's Best Restaurants Serves 4 to 6 5 thick-cut strips of smoked bacon 2 very ripe bananas 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter 1/4 cup Buffalo Trace bourbon 3 cups vanilla ice cream, softened slightly 3 tablespoons of bacon fat, cooled In a large skillet over medium-high heat, fry the bacon until very crispy, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain the bacon on paper towels. Reserve the rendered bacon fat separately, allowing it to cool slightly.   Place the bananas, peanut butter and bourbon in a blender. Add the cooked bacon and 3 tablespoons of the reserved bacon fat and blend until smooth, about 45 seconds, scraping down the sides if necessary. Add the ice cream and pulse to incorporate into a smooth shake, about 30 seconds. If you'd like, you can also incorporate the ice cream by hand by mixing it in with a whisk or an immersion blender; this will help keep the shake in a more frozen state. Serve immediately. Transfer any extra shake to a lidded container and reserve in the freezer. Because the alcohol prevents it from completely freezing, it turns into a scoopable ice cream.

  Ours has a counter as well, but the printer has feature to override it. There are a couple of steps to remember, but yes, well worth it for the cost savings.

Brother seems to be the company that takes the least drastic anti-refill measures.  Many manufacturers are chipping their cartridges so that they can't be refilled without replacement or reprogramming of the chip built into the cartridge.  They count copies and require replacement no matter how much toner is in the cartridge. Two years ago when I was shopping for a printer, that wasn't the case with Brother, and hopefully it still isn't. 

The $650 HP is probably a laser printer too, isn't it?  What's the model number?

Aww, you look so happy!

You rang up my pop tarts 37 times.  I'd like to speak to the manager.

Since there aren't any other responses yet, I'll tell you what I use for freelance website development.     http://www.freshbooks.com/   It has time tracking through the web interface, but I primarily use the android app on my phone to clock in and out of specific projects/clients I'm working on.  It has decent reporting features and does invoicing, and allows clients to pay the invoice online with a credit card.   The cheapest $20/mo package works for me because I don't need more than 25 clients.  Most of my clients are marketing/design firms who outsource their website development to me, so just a few of them bring me most of my work.  The next step up is $30/mo and unlimited clients.   If you're looking for more standard desktop computer software, I guess QuickBooks is a common choice.  There are apparently time tracking applications available that integrate with it, but I don't have any experience with that. http://marketplace.intuit.com/v2/f-time-tracking/software-solutions.aspx

As Catherine said, simple questions like that tend to be better at fooling automated "bots" which are are much more efficient at making a big mess than a real person.    You are right though, most people who are manually creating accounts and spamming forums are able to google most questions to find the answers.  This is where the new spam detection service comes in.  Our forum connects to the service for every single new user registration to check them against a database of reported spammers.  Every user who registers gets a score of 1-4... the higher up on the scale, the more likely they are a spammer.  Anyone with a score of 1 or 2 is allowed in (as long as they can answer the security question)   Any user who gets a score of 3 is held in a queue for me to decide if they are allowed in or not. Any user who gets a score of 4 is allowed to register, but then is automatically banned from the site.   If any spammers do get through and start spamming, I or the Mods will mark them as spammers, and that information is sent to the central database for the service.  As you can imagine, with tens or hundreds of thousands of forums constantly reporting spammers, the service becomes quite robust.

My immediate reaction to seeing this article on the ATX/CCH site was that the title should have read Get Ready For “The Worst Tax Season Since 2012”

Mods and Admins get the reports, but everyone has their own notification settings.  Personally, I have mine set to send me an email notification when someone reports content.