Just one of those crazy computer days...

So I read where Windows 8.1 has become available, that it's a free upgrade for current users of Windows 8, and that it's an improvement over Windows 8 (not hard to believe at all, except that it's coming from Microsoft). So I head on over to the Start screen, which I have configured to basically never show up, and click on the Microsoft Store. The tile goes full screen for a moment and then reverts to its original size. Nothing happens. I try this again, and the same thing happens. That's probably a good sign, but does not advance me toward my goal.

 

Rather than explain all of the steps I went through to find a solution, I'll cut to the chase and note that after about 40 minutes of research, I catch an almost throwaway reference to the fact that you can't run the Microsoft Store from an Administrator account, and while my default account is not Administrator, my account does have Administrator privileges (sometimes). So I fired up my 'ghost' account (the one I use if I need to run two instances of programs that insist on opening new files inside of a single instance and therefore make it hard to do an eyeball comparison of file contents) because I know it has not Administrator privileges, and the Store opens up with no problem at all.

 

Would it have killed anyone at Microsoft to have the application throw up an error message to the effect of "Accounts with Administrator privileges cannot run the Store app"?

 

While the upgrade is downloading, I go looking for a suitable Android Twitter app, and decide that something called Falcon Pro might just fit the bill. Unfortunately, while the app is "available," it would appear that Twitter has this, um, feature that limits the number of people who can use a particular app, and apparently Falcon Pro is so popular, it ran up against this limit a long time ago.

 

It turns out the workaround for this is to register with Twitter as a developer of an application that interacts with the service. Doing so creates some unique identifiers, which apparently can then be used with Falcon Pro to get around the limitation. In the end, I ended up with a working copy of the app; now, I just have to come up with a good use for Twitter.

 

As far as other areas are concerned, progress is slow. Something did come of the files promised for yesterday, but the result fell far short of the promised flood. It seems to me this is going to be a good time to sharpen the saw.

 

Cheers...

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