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  • Facebook Messenger is leaving the desktop – how to get it back!

    Facebook Messenger is leaving the desktop – how to get it back!

    I hate Meta. Just read the news, both about them and their founder, and you’ll see why. I don’t use Instagram anymore, my profile on Facebook is intentionally inaccurate and only live because I need it for messaging with people. And that’s where I’m stuck – if friends aren’t on Messenger they’re on WhatsApp. So I keep an account and just use the messaging apps.

    Now, for reasons unknown, Meta have pulled their desktop apps, making you message from your mobile device or the web. Urgh.

    The app has already gone for new downloads and the Windows app will stop working after December 14th. The Mac app soon after.

    But you can get it back. Kind of.

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  • Full marks to Elgato customer service

    Full marks to Elgato customer service

    I spend a lot of time on this blog writing about poor customer service, but it’s important for me to highlight where it’s blindingly good.

    The whole thing about any kind of customer support is that the base level expectation is for it to be good. You’ll only really get complemented if it’s truly exceptional. On the other hand, anything even slightly less than good will garner complaints (and rightly so).

    And, Elgato (part of Corsair) deserve praise.

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  • The Sims 4 Not Starting: How to Fix

    The Sims 4 Not Starting: How to Fix

    I’m told The Sims 4 is a great game. I don’t play it myself, but my daughter has more hours on it than she’s probably spent doing homework. No, not probably. Definitely. And I’ve probably spent nearly as much time fixing the damn thing.

    You see, if you play The Sims 4 on PC or Mac, you can add third party content, known as “mods”, “scripts” or “custom content” (CC). This is (or rather should be – long story, but let’s just say it’s a heated debate in the Sims community) free and, let’s say, my daughter has a few of them (15,000 at the last count, each of them being a separate file. Urgh).

    EA doesn’t guarantee that their updates won’t break due to someone else’s mod, so often that’s exactly what happens. And you’re then left hunting the thing down.

    This week, though, no update occurred but, none-the-less, her game stopped working. Rather than something in the game break, the game itself just refused to load. I fixed it after about 2 hours of work and I have no idea even now what the cause was or, in fact, how I did fix it. None-the-less, I thought I’d share some useful resources and ideas on what others can do. Particularly stressed parents in the same situation.

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  • Using IPv6 with TP-Link routers and Zen Internet

    Using IPv6 with TP-Link routers and Zen Internet

    So, after quite a lot of time of trial and error, I’ve finally managed to get my TP-Link Deco routers working with an IPv6 connection to my ISP, Zen Internet.

    Zen’s instructions on it are vague, and really only tell you anything relevant for their own-provided router (although, even those instructions appear to have now gone from their site).

    I’m going to share what I did here, as it may help others, even if your configuration is not the same as mine (so, settings it up for Zen on another router, or setting up another ISP on a Deco router).

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  • Wireless CarPlay Adapter Options

    Wireless CarPlay Adapter Options

    Last year I reviewed a cheap Wireless CarPlay Adapter. It’s still going strong and in another car to what I started with.

    One of the lesser explored options is that you can access a web panel, via it’s own Wi-Fi signal, where you can find assorted settings and even a firmware update feature.

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