Monthly Archives: August 2015

Bluetack.co.uk

Unfortunately Bluetack.co.uk is down and is unlikely to come back. I will share here the last 3 posts made to the blog on their site before it’s demise. I have put this here so that people know what has happened and what they need to do to clear up some lose ends.

The post are as follows, two of made by Moore and another by The Netweasel, unfortunately the site suffered two major blows that have put it out of business:

Posted By:  The Netweasel @ Aug 11 2015, 08:26 PM
My dear friends,

I am so sorry to have to write this at this terrible time, but events conspire to rob me of whatever time there might have been. The website may run out of operating funds any day now, and I am also set to expire soon. I had hoped to wait a little longer before making this announcement, but I can’t afford to.

Just as we were learning as a group that our cherished Tozzano is gone from us, I was learning personally that I have terminal, stage-four lung cancer. The progression of the disease is such that I think I am probably down to days, but it’s impossible to say. Nonessential organs are shutting down, and my ability to think is diminished and intermittent.

Thanks for the leadership and kindness everyone has shown me here. I love you all and wish you the best!

Richard Reed
a.k.a. The Netweasel

 

Posted By:  Moore @ Jul 27 2015, 06:55 PM
Dear all,

With the death of Tozzano, our premium subscription system is finished. Tozz is the PayPal account holder and I do not have access.

For all Premium subscribers who have an recurring subscription, please accept my sincere apologies.

Recurring subscriptions will continue to be charged indefinitely. You will need to cancel your BISS Premium subscription from your PayPal account

I’m sorry, but PayPal will not give anyone else access to the account, and they won’t close it either without a whole lot of information I will never be able to get.

Without access to the PayPal funds, I will not be able to maintain the payments for the server, nor will I be able to keep the site running on my own without Tozz.

I don’t have the resources to fight a legal battle with PayPal to prove that Tozz has died, so I can’t close the account either. I can’t find anyone from Tozz’s family to help.

The PayPal requirements for closing an account are difficult if you aren’t a direct relative :
https://www.paypal.com/ca/webapps/helpcente…COUNT&m=TCI

We tried to get a death certificate online and got scammed $25 instead. It’s very difficult when you live in another country to cope with a situation like this.

Tozz has been our heart, soul and backbone for many years. He was the one who kept us going all these years when no one else could. I always looked to him for help and advice and he never once let me down.

Tozz was our senior systems administrator, SQL DB admin, PHP programmer, Blocklist Manager developer and my closest friend. It’s hard for me to find a file on the server that doesn’t have a helpful or funny comment somewhere from Tozz in it. I miss him.

We were working towards setting up an LLC for BlockList Pro, launching a new site and new projects to replace our old stuff.

I’m sorry for the situation that we are now in, I wasn’t prepared for something like this to happen.
I’ll do my best to keep the site running as long as possible for all current subscribers, but at some point soon the site / server will be closed down.

I would like to thank everyone for your support, we couldn’t have done all this without you.

 

Posted By:  Moore @ Jul 7 2015, 07:55 PM
Dear friends,

It breaks my heart to bring you news about the passing of our much loved administrator Mike Tozzano.

For over 10 years Tozzano has been my best friend, and part of our family. He is the most caring and dedicated person I’ve ever known.

Everything we’ve accomplished would not have been possible without Tozz, and I don’t know how we will survive without him.

What I do know is that Tozz will always be with us in our hearts and it will be impossible to ever forget him.

QUOTE
Nothing is easy and goodbye is always hard

In peace may he rest

Windows 10 Update P2P Distribution

In Windows 10 there is a new feature added to Windows update, the P2P distribution of Windows updates. This is done to to reduce the load on Microsoft’s servers and that’s probably pretty heft given how many Windows computers are actually in the world, but maybe not so good for people with data caps or excess changes on there data usage.

Lots of people have panicked about this with some major sites saying you should turn this feature off completely, which is a stupid move on their part. This feature can be leveraged in your favour to save you some metered data.

My advice is to set this feature to On and set it to only use PCs on my Local Network.

Follow these steps:

  1. Search for “Check for updates” in the Start menu.
  2. Under “Windows Update” choose “Advanced options.”
  3. Under “Choose how updates are installed” click “Choose how updates are delivered.”
  4. Click on the option “PCs on my Local Network.”

Windows 10 Updates Advanced Settings

This will restrict the sharing of updates files to your local network meaning other Windows 10 computers in your network will be able to leverage updates that they all have saving you data by only needing to download the update files once.