This is a supplementary post that is just to explain why I am using the tools I am using. 

The DALL-E image creator is part of the Edge Browser in Windows. I can use the Microsoft Rewards points to create images straight from there. I said in a post earlier that if you do not have the Edge Browser, you should get it and you should. 

For years, I would only use Firefox because the others were pretty rubbish but that is no longer the case and if you are running Windows there is not anything to compare with it. 

I bought a new PC a little while ago and after six weeks, the hard drive failed. Although I have a backup drive, it was connected to a different PC at that time. In times past, I would have had to spend days, finding, and restoring files, adding favourites, bookmarks, and passwords etc. 

I did not do any of that. Because I was signed into Windows with a Microsoft Account and into the Edge Browser with the same, I simply plugged the new drive in, signed in with my Microsoft Account and waited. After a few seconds, a message appeared on my desktop telling me that my files had arrived. Everything was where it had been when the old drive failed, and my browser had all the bookmarks and passwords available.  

There will be people wondering about privacy, I know many use the Chrome Browser because of issues but privacy online is a fallacy. You have NO privacy online. Everything you do can be tracked. I see the adverts for VPNs on YouTube video’s all the time, and I read comments in newspapers urging the readers to use them. They are useless, they do not protect you at all. There is always a record of which machine connected to which machine and your device has a unique address associated with it that you cannot spoof without knowledge that you do not have if you are using a VPN. 

The TOR browser does work but it does not work straight out of the box. If you do not have a good understanding of networks and protocols, it will not work for you. If you are using the internet for illegal purposes, let me assure you that at some point you WILL be caught. 

The Edge Browser is as good for protecting your privacy as any out there and if using Windows, particularly with the Office 365 suite, nothing compares to it. 

I will mention why I have the Office 365 suite briefly and I hope it does not bore you. I got it primarily for the extra One Drive storage. Rather than buying space on a server that may or not be safe, for backup purposes, I bought 365. I get one terabyte of space and it backs up instantly. I save a file on my desktop and a moment or two later a green tick appears next to it. 

This is good enough by itself, but I also have push turned on and all these files appear on all my computers. If, fingers crossed it does not happen, this drive fails while I am typing this, I can just turn on my laptop and continue typing on that. 

What Microsoft are doing is awesome. I have used Linux in the past, but I never will again. I do not use Apple so I cannot comment on their software, I never understood the attraction to a closed system with mandatory software installed. It takes all sorts though. 

I should mention Microsoft Teams as that’s what prompted me to write this post. I was talking with Angela yesterday. You probably know her, everyone does. We spoke using Teams as she lives in Canada, and I do not. She is into spooky stuff and is in the process of designing a set of Tarot cards. She was using a certain App for this because she did not know that you can use the Image Creator with Microsoft Reward points if you sign into the Edge Browser. 

Sadly, she has a Chrome thing instead of a proper computer and because of this, most of the benefits that I have mentioned above are not available to her, even though she has an Office 365 subscription. She will install the Edge Browser on it anyway, but she did not realise how good Microsoft had become. 

I am fully aware that I sound like a Microsoft salesman, but I assure you this is my genuine opinion. With all the tools I have available to me in Windows, I could almost certainly run the entire world from my front room. 

Anyway, the AI stuff will be back soon, and I will be trying to find the best prompts and the best AI image creator, for creating Tarot Cards for Ang. 

Okay that is enough for now, see you in the next one, 

Cheers, 

Old Man