u/Not_Invited

Hi, I've just installed the app as an extension on Vivaldi, I'm a student who really needs to focus on their last assignment and I'm really stressed!!!

I tried the app today, and for some reason it blocked Google Drive??? Why??? It is not blocked anywhere from my side and I need it for my papers, I'm so confused???

So I'm almost finished with University, I've got one last paper to write and then I'm done. However, I think because of the stress of it, I went a bit crazy lately. I'm AuDHD and dyslexic so I do have a level of learning difficulties. Former alcoholic and smoker, so I definitely struggle with vices. I'm disabled so I think sometimes being physically unoccupied can also make it easier to fall victim to spending.

At first, I just got myself a few CDs I'd wanted. I hadn't spent for a while, what's the harm? Then I noticed a couple of things I "needed", like a storage item here, stationary and books for Uni here, another household thing there, then I just spiraled and got a bunch of shit from horrible manipulative apps that rinse you for money for absolute shite. Sure, a lot of it is definitely useful and my life will be better in some regards, like buying a little bag to organise the meds in my backpack and some new drawers for my bathroom, but did I have to buy all of it fuckin right this second??

I am safe as my partner covers the household bills and we only have one shared account that is for paying bills and I do not touch that account because that would absolutely be over the line for me. He is very, very understanding, especially as some of the purchases are to make our home better, but I definitely feel like I'm disappointing him. My ability to work is limited because of my health and Uni, so I've been spending what I don't have, which is of course, frightening.

I'm confident when I'm out of Uni I'll be able to raise my dopamine in a way which is less financially destructive, because I won't feel the responsibility of always needing to be working every second I'm awake. I also really want to get out of debt next year. It's nothing crazy, I calculated everything and it (well, was) about £3k last I checked, which to me definitely feels manageable. I do have some savings which are invested for a rainy day, and they're really difficult to pull out frivolously so I think I'm okay. My debts are mostly overdrafts and a single mostly-paid loan, but I do have a horrible credit card. Either way, I hate all of it!

But yeah, just feeling pretty embarrassed and ashamed. Trying to utilise some of my other addiction soothing thoughts but man, it's really hard.

Yesterday, my Mum was rushed into hospital following catching something from my Dad. The most embarrassing part of all of this is my parents are both retired healthcare workers. They know better than anyone else about these things.

My Mum had to undergo a few rounds of radiation last year or so, so she is now immunocompromised. They have also both had COVID multiple times. They also both have COPD, with my Dad's being much worse. Mum has masked on an off still, but I honestly don't know right now. But she also doesn't tend to get out much beyond shopping. I don't live at home but me and my partner both mask as much as possible, but don't tend to mask in open air.

My Dad stopped masking around 2022. It was weird, he just said something about "I don't want to live my life behind a mask" and just stopped. He then started actively socialising with a local club biweekly, which is also full of vulnerable older people.

Since then, he has caught COVID again, which prevented me and my Mum spending time together during a really important period of my life. He also went into hospital himself with a mystery disease that we never figured out why it happened, but that wrecked his ability to walk for a long time, something he still suffers with. He's had chest infection after chest infection, and yet he still goes to that fucking place.

Today things rose to ahead. I rang home to check on my Mum, and she is still a bit out of it and trying to get back into usual routines at home. She's clearly still not quite with it. She put Dad on the phone and he started doing the very British moaning about this whole carry-on, sort of thing and I just tried to gently ask him to take precautions.

He said "I'm not living my life behind a mask."

And I just snapped and said "You should to protect your fucking wife???" and he just hung up on me.

Now I'm just baffled. Mum could have died, and it still isn't enough.

I'm absolutely beside myself. I have my final paper to submit for Uni in three weeks and I can't let this distract me anymore. I'll try and submit special circumstances or something for it, but Jesus Christ I feel absolutely powerless. I am worried about them both, but I have so much less sympathy for my Dad when he is educated about these things and brings home diseases to my mother who does not need to suffer like this.

Hello!

I had an iPod as a teenager many moons ago and the feature that I found most useful was syncing my library either by iTunes or later on via foobar2000.

I am currently using a RG Nano with Rockbox which has been excellent. I have a folder on my PC which is specifically my Rockbox Library. I often adjust my files for various reasons, such as finding a higher-quality version or fixing an artists name. Trying to overwrite this folder can cause duplicate tracks. I sometimes just need to delete the folder and move the tracks over again, which now I'm at over 2000 tracks, takes a while.

Are there any Windows programs that would allow me to "sync" the folders, so that only the files that need to change are changed, and files that are no longer present are removed automatically?

TIA!

I've been using Vivaldi again for about three or four months. I used it a lot on old PCs and never ran into any problems. I use Windows 10.

However, in the last few weeks I've noticed being logged out of websites constantly when usually I would be remembered. Today I just ended up getting really frustrated because my plug-in StayFree has wiped itself of all of it's blocks again.

I also notice that my browsing history is super inconsistent and the browser will seemingly not keep the history of websites of that same day. I do not want my history to wipe but there is no seeing that I can see to change to stop this.

Help please! Thanks!

I do not use a user profile.

I can't believe we ever abandoned the flip phone for these stupid glass slabs! I could sit on the Doro for hours honestly, it's so comfortable.

So I'm in my final year and about to finish my final module with my EMA hand in at the start of June.

However, I still haven't had my last TMA results back. I did hand in late because of various issues, however I handed in on April 11th, which was four weeks ago.

Because of when COVID began, the course I am on has it's biggest intake ever because of people being stuck at home and deciding to start Uni.

I have emailed my tutor and they have mentioned in lectures that they are snowed under with coursework, but I'm not sure how long to wait before I contact student services? I'm empathetic which is why I didn't email when it was 10 days past hand in, but I need the feedback to be able to work on my EMA, and time is just rolling on.

What would you do? I'm desperate to do well but I just don't know where I'm at in my grades as this is a new tutor, too ):

Edit: I've emailed student support and will ring them on Wednesday as I have a full day today.

Edit 2: Emailed my tutor and had a swift reply that they will be marking my assignment on Friday, so fingers crossed it's not much longer...

I put my dumbphone life on hold for a year because of University and I got overwhelmed by the stupid company I got my sim with (Asda, never again) so I've dug my Doro 6820 out and I'll be purchasing a new sim soon (1p mobile I think is the one!)

I was wondering if there's any clip-on plastic cases for the Doro 6820? Or even other colours? I wanted to maybe decorate my phone but the only thing I can find are those ugly-as-sin leather cases.

I am open to 3D modelling one myself in a few months as I have some experience, I'll just need to figure out how!

So I've just begun taking data preservation a bit more seriously.

I recently backed up the majority of my music collection and while that's only two back ups, I already feel better about it.

Now I'm turning my attention to the storage I have at home, and where to go from where I currently am.

I have:
- A bunch of laptops. One of them has been turned into a server for Jellyfin, but I need to reinstall the OS because I installed too many things and it goofed it up. They vary with age, but willing to turn more of them into servers or whatever.
- A bunch of different storage devices, the oldest of which is an old external hard drive which is probably about 15 years old now. It has not been used frequently, but appears to still have capability. I don't know exactly how much space I have, especially reliable space.
- A desktop PC built in 2018 with a 1TB storage drive. I upgraded the C drive to 1TB last year, which was incredible foresight on my behalf. I'd like to upgrade the storage drive to 4TB sometime over the next year or so as I would like I download my Google Photos collection. It is a fairly happy PC, doing very well for it's age. I suspect it's because it's not often used.
-Steam Deck. I definitely have mods / saves on there I'd like to back up. I'd also love to remove the Stream DRM on my very favourite games so I have them backed up if I ever need them.
- Duplicates. I have my music collection duplicated across almost every device I own. I am scared of deleting files, which is silly, but I'm always worried I won't have a back-up somewhere else. And that's just my music. Probably the same for my games, photos, documents, etc. Documents would be particularly horrible to sort because of modification dates.

If I could just guess a figure, I probably have 6 TB of data scattered around that I would like to have organised and stored safely.

So, where would you begin? I'm pretty happy with how my music is looking right now, but everything else needs sorting out. I'm not flush with cash at all, so budget is best, but I currently spend £8 a month on Google Drive. I am more than happy to spend that on a different Cloud service if I'd get more bang for my buck.

TIA!

Over the past 2 years, I've amassed a huge FLAC collection on iBroadcast.

Now, however I'm considering physical storage because as we all know, services go down all the time. I have a buuuunch of old MP3s on my desktop PC that have moved with me from computer to computer, but I am absolutely unable to store the mammoth online collection I've been growing.

I've started downloading and converting my most listened to albums from FLAC to MP3 320. I just don't have the space for FLAC right now, especially while storage is so expensive.

Anyone else doing similar? MP3s are just more compatible. I guess I could download everything in .ogg aswell and convert when needed...

What would be the best software to compare two music files to each other? I will be sorting through my old MP3 collection in a few months and I want to be able to compare files and keep the best quality version of each one. What would be the best software to do that?