My computer ramblings today, June 11, 2026
This post was brought on by watching YouTube videos, many of them talking about switching to Linux, which I believe is Great for some people.
I understand the frustration with Windows 11. Just to simply use Linux has become very much easier in the past few years.
To start your Linux journey and possibly to keep for the long haul I recommend Linux Mint.
It is one of the more stable and easy ones to use. Linux overall is a
stable OS. It does not crash much when used with a decent running computer.
I also use Pop_OS, sometimes MX Linux and Ubuntu.
The Linux distro I use the most for the last few months is Pop_OS.
I tend to use one distro for quite a while, then experiment with one distro or another here and there.

I don't know that I like Pop_OS better than Mint, but I am now using more.

The best Linux Distro, is the one you use!

Recent Trend towards AI

Artificial Intelligence

I am not a fan of how AI is being pushed!
I know I am not alone that it is, too much too soon, with what seems like disregard for consequences.
Much like what is happening with data centers. In my opinion It does not make good wholesome sense!
I am rambling, but that is on my mind a lot these days.

I use Windows, Mac OS & Linux. It is not as simple for everyone
to just switch to Linux, like many of the Linux users / fans say.
I do believe more users can switch than they realize if they use a browser for most of their computing which is quite common
for email, social media, and shopping.

They can use Libre Office which comes with most Linux distros, including Pop_OS, Linux Mint, Ubunto and many more distros for perhaps a letter or spreadsheet here and there

For work, I use Windows 11 - right, wrong, or other,

I have to use it.
To the "Simply switch saying people", that is not realistic for many of us).
I do truly think it is great that there are "Linux Only" people.

Apps / Tools I use on different Operating Systems and trying to find similar or equivalent apps on Linux:

So far I like iMovie (Included with Mac OS) better than Kadenlive.
Kadenlive can be used on: Linux, Windows, macOS, and BSD.
Perhaps I will get more proficient with Kadenlive, but now it seems less user friendly than iMovie.

ShotCut on Windows was okay but does not have the polish, and ease of use that iMovie has.
I am not going the M$ ClipChamp route either - one more thing to sign up for.
To use all of it;s features, you must pay $11.99 / per month at the time of this post.
PikiMovie (no download) - not too bad - all OSes that have Chrome, Chromium, or Edge browser
(no download /browser based)
can work with it without downloading software, also
PhotoPea (no download / browser based) is pretty good for Adobe PhotoShop-like program, but
likely not as powerful.
Inkscape - I have seen it in action and reviewed on
YouTube, it gets pretty good reviews but not yet where Adobe Light Room is.
I have not used it.

What works well for me on Linux other than browsing and using Libre Office is:

K3B - for ripping Music CDs. (Yes I still do that - get cheap CDs from Thrift Shops - sometimes eBay.)
MakeMKV - for ripping movies
VLC for watching movies.
VLC on my iPhone along with KDE Connect - to share the MP3s that I ripped from Linux computer to my iPhone.
I also save playlists in VLC on my iPhone and use it for a music player app.

KDE Connect:

NOTE: Somewhat complex.
You must download PhoneUtils, PhoneLib, and a couple other helper apps / tools that make it all work.

NOTE 2: KDE connect also allows you to copy your photos from your phone to your computer.

You can use KDE connect as a back up - or use your photos to create movies in Kdenlive.

I know - too much information, but in order to actually
consider switching to Linux, or partially switching
(which is only as far as I get, and possibly ever will get, maybe).
Other than using a computer for work I get on social media,
buy things through Amazon, or eBay, sometimes Facebook Marketplace.
I also use for a music and movie entertainment and study tool - via YouTube and reading various articles.
I also use a computer and phone for reading the Bible every day.
I have had a few people in person and many people that I follow on YouTube
that mention switching to Linux. If i use "Linux only", to me that is like being
a mechanic and only use a pair of pliers, when many times another tool would be much better.

If and when some day I retire from my job as a tech support / customer service representative for a company, I may fully leave Windows.
I don't use Photoshop that much really at all. I actually have an older version
of it on an old Window XP computer. I recently had to replace the hard drive on the old 2004 computer.
The Photoshop version I have is not Windows 10 or 11 compatible.
So, I could venture away from Windows fairly easy, if and when I
retire some day.
At the time of this writing, I am not ready to retire. I work
less than 5 days per week generally, but not ready to hang up the routine and
the money, quite yet.

I am a Linux user - but not a "You all need this only", type of person. At least not so far.
I understand where those people are coming
from and respect and appreciate them.

Regarding Linux, I do have fun with it. It is more work to set it up and make Linux do what you want it to do
than Mac or Windows, unless you are just using a browser and Libre Office for documents and
perhaps a Spreadsheet now and again.

IF YOU WANT TO RESURRECT AN OLD 2014, or 2015 Intel or AMD based machine, possibly an old Mac

Then Linux is the way to go IMHO!
Speaking of old Macs - IR1.

Using Linux as a tool and replacing what I did or do on other computers is a challenge!

Sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating.

I am a Mac user since OS 7.6.1 I am a Linux User since Caldera 2.3, and other
distros of the late 1990's era. Though I did not use it as much starting out.
It was and is an adventure. I am a DOS user since DOS 4, a Windows user since 3.0.
I took my first computer class "DOS and Intro to BASIC" classes in College in 1985.
I have used MS Active Directory on Windows Server 2003, 2007 and 2012 and 2016.
I have used Windows 2000 and NT3.5 -and NT4 - but not that much.
M$ improved from Windows 3.1 to Windows 98 (Millennium blipped for a short while - what was that?)
and Windows 7 (then pooped out Vista) and 8. I understand some
liked 8 and I appreciate that. I could use it but did not like it. Windows 10
was pretty good - then M$ pooped on us all with Windows 11. It has some good
points except for the OneDrive, CoPilot, Ads junk it dumps on us, and M$ has no
respect for privacy. Some of those settings can be improved on as well - look up
Windows 11 Privacy settings. Many Youtubers have videos on using settings to
make your computer more private and likely run better. Perhaps an update will
reset our privacy settings, perhaps a good idea to check setting after upgrades.
The Windows 11 Start Menu Items - and right click context menus - I don't like -
not an improvement to me - but not too bad to me either. You can turn off ads
pretty easily in settings - search it online - pretty easy to find. It should be
a simple choice though ,shouldn't it? My non-work Win 11 machine is set up with
a local account. Best to you all - many prayers! If you got this far, you are
likely the only one.

I am going to create more art because I love to create images. Cows & horses are my favorites at this time.
I do like to draw & paint butterflies and nature scenes.
Here is an example of some of my latest painting work.
I plan to post more soon.

How to read checksums for downloaded files

Make it easier to read checksums for downloaded files, download Hash Tool from the Windows Store.
Or use command line tools, I tell you how below.
I have not downloaded many files lately, but when I do from a non-Microsoft site, other than, say Google,
or mozilla, or Adobe, you get the idea, main web portals. Then I usually do not check the checksums to
verify the file I downloaded agrees with what was downloaded.

If you are not familiar with checksums, it as an encrypted way of verifying a downloaded file, has the same long, encrypted characters as the original.

Checksums are generally MD5, which are less secure at 128 bit encryption, or
Sha-1, which are more secure at 256 bit encryption.

I download a version of Linux at times, or today, Haiku, based from BeOS.
I wanted to verify the checksum, so I duckducked it or googled it.
It was not as simple as you would think.
Microsoft has a checksum tool for MD5 checksums. It is not a program you can just download and run.
Microsoft states to put the path in your Windows path statement in order to use the tool.
I can do that, but why?
Not just anyone can do it, and it takes time, yes, why should it?
Microsoft could simply make a small program that is built into Windows that you can use in the GUI.
The GUI, for those who do not know, is a program that has a shortcut in the start menu, and you can just
click to run it.


You can download their tool, then put the path to wherever you save it in your path variable, then run the commands from an elevated Command prompt.
It is a usable solution for the technically experienced and inclied, but to others, not so much.
It is not handy to anyone!
NOTE: I entered Microsoft's website to download the tool below, if you choose to do so for whatever reason.

Built-in CertUtil

There is a built in command in Windows that you can use to read 256 Sha-1 checksums.

To run the easier built-in command, open a command prompt as administrator, by typing the word command
in the Windows Search box by the Start menu, when you see the command program listed, right click it and
choose, run as administrator, from the drop-down list. You will be prompted by Windows with the

question, Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?. Click on Yes, in order to open the command prompt as administrator.

In order to use the command that is built into Windows 10, which makes me wonder why Microsoft has a download version available, run the following in a command prompt as administrator, also known as an elevated command prompt.

To check an MD5 file run the following command:


CertUtil -hashfile filename MD5

To use a Sha-1 or SHA256 check, enter the following command:

CertUtil -hashfile filename SHA256

NOTE: In both of the commands above, you would put in the actual filename of the file that you are checking.

One more thing to mention, in order to run the commands, you will want to run them from the folder that the downloaded file is in.

In Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, that would normally be in:
C:\users\username\downloads
The username would be the actual username of your Windows account.

Should you want to download the Microsoft File Verifier Integrity Checker (FVIC), you can download it
here

I hope this helps someone.
Let me say one more thing, as with many computer related topics, an encrypted hash and a checksum are
two different things. With this post, I am wanting to relay how to check the checksum, in order to make
sure the file you downloaded is the file that the author, or file repository intended.

Since writing this article, I found a hash file checker named Hash Tool.
You can look it up on Google, or DuckDuckgo dot com or you can download it from The Microsoft Store.
You can run command line tool, but if you download quite a few program from the Internet, it may
serve you well to install the small tool.
I verified it works quite well. You can select from several encryption options MD5 and SHA256 to name two. Thanks for checking in with The Virusfighter's blog.

Dell Primary Drive Not Found OR Secondary Drive Not found 0 or 1

Dell Dimension 2400 Boot error Primary - OR - Secondary drive 0 or 1 not found The error can be for Windows XP or 7 - or other. Error is seen upon boot up before the Operating System loads so is not Operating System Dependent When you see the error upon boot up - you should be able to select F1 to continue or if you want to fix the error / problem Try the following. Enter the BIOS Setup by pressing F2. Turn on Caps Lock, Scroll Lock and Num Lock. Press ALT + E then ALT + F (should hear beep) then ALT + B When Pressing the keys, Hold down ALT, then hit the second key while still pressing ALT, then let go of both keys, repeat until all 3 have been ran. This will reconfigure the boot devices.

unable to parse command line error when trying to launch your Citrix desktop

For Windows based computers using Windows 7 or 8
For error:
"unable to parse command line"
when trying to launch your Citrix desktop.

What needs to happen is, Citrix receiver needs to be associated with

wfcrun32.exe (and not) wfica32.exe

Go to your companies Citrix website.

Click your Citrix Desktop icon (whatever it may be called) you will be prompted to open or save the launch.ica file.

Click the “down arrow by Save” you will see a "Save as" option -
(as the answer to what do you want to do save or open), After selecting "Save as",
Browse to and Click to save on desktop or wherever as long as you can locate the file.

Right click on the "launch.ica" file, click "Open With"
- Select:"Choose default program".
Leave check in "always use the selected program to open this kind of file", which will correctly associate the files opened with Citrix.

Select (Browse), navigate to
"C:\Program Files
(or Program Files (x86) if 64 bit Windows)
Citrix\ICA Client, and select wfcrun32.exe, select Open then OK.
Close then reopen Internet Explorer (or whatever browser you are using.

Launch the Desktop.

Thanks for visiting The VirusFighter's Blog

Please consider signing up for the Blog!

Get the latest version of Microsoft RDP client for Mac OS X

Get the latest version of Microsoft RDP client for Mac OS X.

To connect to a Windows computer from your Mac via RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), here is the site to download the latest Remote Desktop Client software (RDC)

You can download the latest Remote Desktop Client for Macintosh from Microsoft by clicking the link below.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=18140

Citrix not taking keyboard commands Mac OS X

Citrix not taking keyboard commands Mac OS X.

When on a Citrix server, you type and nothing appears, do the following.
Go to Finder on your Macintosh, by hitting Command + Tab and release at the finder Face,
(You may have to hold down command and hit Tab more than once, releasing at Finder),
then click on your Citrix receiver icon on the dock at the bottom (unless you moved it).
Or hit Command + Tab again and release it on Citrix Receiver.
Once back in Citrix, your keyboard should work.

For a permanent fix (hopefully)

It has been reported on Citrix Forums that updating your Citrix to version 11.9 or higher should fix the issue.
Thanks for visiting,
The Virus Fighter Blog