WORST OF THE PAST WEEK
December 30, 2025
I tried 4 times to contact Microsoft tech support. Why? My classic Outlook email app suddenly had no margins. It was too wide, ugly, unprofessional looking, and difficult to read any of my emails.
I contacted Microsoft tech support to fix the problem. The bot disconnected me once. I was disconnected twice by phone by humans and at 9:30 AM Tuesday December 30, 2025 the Chat support was not available.
As a result, I cannot continue my nationwide marketing for my new digital download and my free online art show
On my Windows 11 laoptop I keep getting annoying popups from Microsoft about using Onedrive to automatically backup my computer. Her's a screenshot of the popup. I get the fucking thing like every day. It's annoying.
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\November 26, 2025
Microsoft and Outlook suck!
All of a sudden I could not access my main email account in Outlook on my laptop which uses Windows 11. I opened Outlook clicked on my main emil account. It said "log in". Huh? I was always logged in. Oh, well, I would log in. It would not accept my user name and/or password. It said it was incorrect. It was correct. I had it saved in Norton 365. Then, it wanted to add the account. Add it? It was my MAIN email account, it had worked since I started using Outlook (years ago?) now all of a sudden it wasn't in Outlook and wouldn't let me log in to add it again? WTF?
I went online to the Microsoft communities, to see if anyone else had this problem and maybe find a "simple" solution as I am not technical. I tried the Tech Community and the Outlook Community forum. There was nothing there about Outlook deleting your main email account. And Microsoft charges us $99 a year for Microsoft 365 Personal. FU, Microsoft! And Outlook.
I had a professional look into it. He spent like 45 minutes trying to fix it. In the end he said he could not restore my main email account to Outlook and that this is a Microsoft problem and that millions of people around the globe have the same problem. It's a bug. Another Outlook bug. Another Microsoft fuck up.
It is now late November 2025. With few exceptions, there are NO new fictional shows worth watching, and existing good shows are not yet appearing in a new season! It's almost December, when the F is TV gonna launch it's new season? Not to mention that there used to be 20 episodes a season, now we're lucky if there's 10. Not to mention the ads, which now take up 25% of our viewing time.
What about streaming? I subscribe to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video and rarely find anything I want to watch.
As Bruce Springsteen sang in 1992, "57 Channels and (Nothing On)".
That was over 30 years ago. TV still sucks!
In early August 2025, on my Windows11 laptop, I happened to dscover that my default browser, Google Chrome, was no longer my default browser. It was now Microsoft Edge.
I did not chnage it. I was not asked if I wanted to shange my chosen and set default browser, Chrome, to Microsoft Edge. If I did not accidently come across the change I would never have known about it. I reset my browser preference to Google Chrome.
Who did it? Who changed my default browser withot my permission? Not me. Certainly not Google. Probably not the manfacturer, HP. I have not been hacked. My browser choice has been hijacked but I have not been hacked. Who did it? Who changed my browser preference? Who took over my computer and made changes I did not want or agree to?
The likely cultprit is Microsoft.
I was shocked when I went to my local CVS in Burbank, California to pick up a prescription. Inside, at the pharmacy, I stood in line and waited my turn. I noticed a TV monitor mounted from the ceiling behind the counter that said "recording in progress." This was the first time I have ever seen this. I watched as the camera took videos of every customer picking up their prescriptions at the counter. What? We're being recorded? I was recorded picking up my own prescription. WHY was I videotaped? WHY was I under surveillance?
I felt that this was an invasion of privacy. CVS now takes a video of your face whenever you pick up your prescriptions?
All law-abiding residents now get their face surveilled at the CVS pharmacy pick-up counter, to maybe stop the few criminals who might show up and get someone else's drugs, to use or sell? WTF?
Effective February 14, 2025, the price for Microsoft 365 Personal subscriptions will increase from USD 69.99* per year to USD 99.99* per year. "
$30? A $30 increase. That's a 43% jump! I've been using this for like 30 years. And, starting in May 2025, it's gonna cost me 43% more. 43% annual inflation?
Inflation is alive and booming! And Microsoft is now Microhard.
March 27, 2025
I paid $4.97 for gas (regular) at 1 of my 2 my usual stations in Burbank, CA. That's pretty close to $5 a gallon.
And L.A. sales tax is going up .25% to 10.50% in April 2025.
INFLATION IS BACK...AND BOOMING.
UPDATE: On March 31, 4 days later, for gas I paid more than $5 a gallon. $5.07!
Life is tough enough without complicated faulty technology. Oh, wait, life IS complicated faulty technology.
2 years ago
On a Sunday morning before noon I tuned in to the TV show, "Zombie Flipping", on the A&E network channel on cable. It's an interesting show where a group of flippers buy horrible houses (they call them zombies) and renovate and flip them. I tuned in about halfway through the episode and first had to sit through a bunch of tv commercials. I noticed. I said to myself, "Wow, there's a LOT of tv ads. It's very intrusive and annoying". I vowed to find out how many ads viewers had to suffer through the next time the show took a break to run commercials. Soon the show stopped and the ads started. On my fingers I counted the tv ads.
THERE WERE 12 F-ING TV ADS IN A ROW!
Seriously? 12 tv ads in a row? More than 15 minutes in an hour? 25 f-ing percent of a TV show is ads? And the networks and cable providers expect viewers to put up with that? And the dumbass TV execs don't know why TV viewership has declined so much in the past decade(s)?
I let the tv play in the background while I wrote this rant. There were lots of ads. Too many ads. I am now considering no longer watching TV at all, due to too many ads. Or, in the case of streaming and TV networks, lousy or old shows. If only Netflix and Amazon Prime and Hulu, et al, had more new g-o-o-d TV shows instead of hundreds/thousands of ancient shows/movies I've seen or new crappy shows I have no interest in seeing. Or way too many foreign shows. Seriously.
Update:
2 years later. The news channels are also unwatchable due to the number of ads. In 15 minutes per hour there could be 30-50 ads, many of them repetitive and of NO interest to me. I am using the internet news sites more and more to keep up with the news. At least there I can scroll past all the ads and don't have to sit through the ads and hear them, or change the channel, only to find the same annoying issue on ALL the other tv news channels.
Too many ads, and lousy shows, have now ruined the TV viewing experience. Not to mention that, today, most TV shows are stupid and unwatchable (with a few exceptions) and only have 10 episodes per season, as opposed to the 20 episodes in the good old days, and a lot fewer ads.
In 2025, as a result of this, I am spending more and more time watching streaming services during prime time/evening. With NO ads! And have lowered my viewing standards to the level of "stupid". Or I spend time not watching TV in the evening and play my card game apps; Backgammon, Hearts and Gin Rummy. Yes, I am considering going back to reading books, on my tablet.
I used to have high standards. OK, reasonable standards. Standards not so much for people but for things around me, or that I acquired and used. Things like cars. Or computers. Or cell phones. Or live human customer service. Or shower power. Or parking spaces that fit a vehicle. Or schools that educated students. Or TV entertainment that was watchable and good, that offered 20 episodes a season and had few ads. Or clothes sizes that actually fit.
Over the past decade I have had to lower my standards. From high to low. These days, to avoid going insane, I have practically no standards and am constantly upset that something I need or want or have to use that should work properly and is easy to use, doesn't work as it should or is so complicated you have to be a professional in that area to use it.
American society has gone stupid. And lousy. I am now surprised when a product or service I am using is actually GOOD. It's an exception to the rule.
What's my solution? I am waiting for Elon Musk to invent a time machine. And I will use it and go back to the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's, when things in America were good/great and enjoyable...in so many areas of life.
I got a new cell phone. The Apple iPhone 15. As a fine art photographer, with nearly 4,000 photos in my portfolio, I especially looked forward to possibly using the cell phone camera as a sometime alternative to my Nikon camera. In my hopefulness I was dead wrong. The camera does not/will not take photos, it only takes videos! I don't do videos, I only do photos.
I experimented with my new iPhone 15 camera numerous times to take a simple photo. It only took videos. I went online on Google Search and looked up this problem. A number of results offered instructions on how to fix this issue. I tried them all. NONE of them worked. Apparently, at least with the camera I own, it is impossible to take a photo, I can only take a video of a subject. This is 100% worthless to me re fine art photography.
Why is this happening? I assume because Apple and its engineers are clueless and did not fully test the camera settings or did not realize this would be a huge problem for buyers who do photography. Or they didn't care. So far, I have found no fix, no update, no settings that eliminates the FORCED taking of videos instead of static photos. As a result, I cannot/will not use my iPhone 15 for taking pictures and the camera, and all its functions, is worthless to me. To me, this Apple smartphone is a waste of money. And, if I can't trust Apple, there is no other brand of smartphone I would trust.
A suggestion for all technology companies...
BEFORE you launch a new product, do a Focus Group. Not a Focus Group of engineers or techies, a Focus Group with potential users who may or may not be technologically proficient. And fix any/all bugs BEFORE you launch a new product and frustrate users who buy it. Don't make smartphones that are stupid.
My comment on a New York Post news story was rejected by the New York Post. The story headline was
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F Fox News. AGAIN.
March 11. 2025
On the FoxNews.com article re Rosie O'Donnell moving to Ireland I posted a comment, a comment that was denied publication by Fox News. Screenshot is attached.
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Way too many of my funny/not funny reader comments have been denied publication on the Fox News website. If Fox News is going to
censure freedom of speech, speech that is a 100% true and appropriate like my failed-to-publish above comment, Fox.com is no longer a legitimate place for reader comments and
I will notify all relevant U.S. government agencies under the Trump
Administration!
SPAM EMAILS SUCK
Now that Trump is president how about America cracks down on spam emails? Lately, I have been getting numerous daily spams from financial sources I never heard of and am not interested in. Lots of crypto currency spam emails. Lots of investment spam emails.
I did NOT sign up to receive any of these emails. Did somebody, whose site I visited and logged in to, collect and sell my email address? Could it have been a large legit company? Maybe an online news source I visit daily? I don't know.
In any event, Trump/Congress must stop annoying unwanted email spam. ASAP.
Got an email from Netflix informing me that my monthly subscription cost in March 2025 is going up. Going up 16%. Yes, they're raising prices 16%. Have they not heard that Trump is the President and vows to LOWER inflation? Oh. According to Bloomberg news, in 2024, Netflix co-founder, Reed Hastings, a longtime Democratic donor, endorsed Kamala Harris as the president candidate in a post on the social media platform X on July 22, 2024. A day later, Hastings told the Information that he donated $7 million to a pro-Harris super PAC.
This is an email I sent to the CEO of Verizon.
We have been home customers of Verizon for over 20 years. We got 2 new iPhones, and changed our plan (to Unlimited Welcome) but cannot change the payment to autopay.
Here are the outrageous things that occur when I try.
Cannot access our account,
either by phone or by internet
Verizon demands my PIN number. I got my PIN number like 20 years ago. I do not know it, do not remember it, and did not write it down. Without it apparently there is NO access for us.
Same with phone support. I
cannot access a human support agent, without my PIN.
I tried Chat support and was
on hold for 30 minutes before I gave up.
We went to the Verizon Store and they were unable
to help in this matter.
I do not believe I have a Verizon account online at verizon.com. The Verizon website will not allow me to create an account, or access a possible existing account. I found no option to create an online account.
Verizon is also overcharging our monthly bill by like $50. Everything I attempt to do to
simply change my payment plan, or access support, has been made impossible by Verizon. This has
been incredible frustrating and should not be so complicated and difficult, if
not impossible. In this matter, as loyal long-term customers we are very very
very unhappy with the inability for us to access our Verizon account.
Have I gotten a response from the Verizon executive office? Nothing. Nada. Zero.
I could not send a message to Fox News about their FoxNews.com website. Their online contact form did not work. I could not find another way to contact them online. My message?
"The Foxnews.com website is failing to update its news. Some of the stories in some of the categories, like Digital Originals, are 27 days old! If you are going to offer a news category please update it daily, if not hourly."
Some of their website news category offerings are so out of date, news-wise, the Fox News website almost worthless.
Jan 2025
It's Monday, mid-January and, again, there's nothing on TV to watch. Not one fictional TV show, not one episode. This is because the TV industry now only offers 10 new episodes per season instead of the 20 in the old days. And, no, I hate most reality shows and documentaries.
And, due also to way too many ads, I am giving up using TV and radio entertainment. I cannot stand the 25% of ads during prime time TV and sit with the remote control in my hand, switching channels immediately to try to avoid all the annoying ads. The problem is that ALL the network and cable channels have too many ads. I am left with watching Netflix, which, though it costs extra money, thankfully does not have ads, yet. Too many stupid, uninteresting shows, too many foreign non-U.S. TV shows and movies, yes, but no ads. Yet.
As for radio shows and news radio the engagement with the audience is short and they too often interrupt the show or newscast to break for ads. So often that I am giving up that media too. I will get my news online, where I can usually dodge the ads.
As for my long lifetime of watching TV at night I can no longer do it. It sucks. And, no, I don't want to play video games or use social media for my nightly entertainment. Perhaps I will go back to reading books in the evening for entertainment, something I started when I was 10 years old. Or maybe go out and socialize 7 nights a week at a local bar. Ugh.
Posted on Microsoft Community
Andrew the Author
Created and posted on December 16, 2024
Why request blocked???
Once again, as a paying
Microsoft 365 home user, when trying to contact Microsoft support via their
main website, using Chrome, I enter the correct log in info and, viola, what do
I get?
The request is blocked.
20241216T153554Z-1868988d889486wlhC1LAXqx2n000000093g000000000qyz
What the
heck is going on with Microsoft? NO tech support? No phone support? No Chat
support? THIS IS 100% UNACCEPTABLE!
When Trump becomes President in 2025 he should have dominant/monopoly Microsoft (and ALL monopolistic entities) that
ignore paying consumers punished. Yes, punished. A billion dollar fine by the
FTC would do nicely as a starting point. A billion dollars fine a day would
really get their attention.
CBS and “60 Minutes” suck!
November 2024 - CBS has extended the left-wing lousy “60 Minutes” tv show by 30 minutes, some episodes now airing from 7PM-8:30 PM on Sunday. This interferes with the Prime-Time schedule and throws the viewers off for the popular shows that follow: Tracker and The Equalizer. Now, we viewers have to wait another half-hour for Tracker and The Equalizer and are stuck afterwards, at 10:30PM, with nothing to watch anywhere.
Hey, CBS, return “60 Minutes” to 60 minutes or, better yet, cancel it.
(photo of Kamala, unable to copy and paste)
Kamala, 59, Drives Probably the Most
Expensive Car In the world
This USA
News Update story was featured on Newsmax.com. I saw it there on Sunday,
November 17, 2024, at approximately 1:15 AM. I clicked on the headline and
carefully scrolled through the entire article. Kamala was not listed or
mentioned anywhere. The headline is misleading. False reporting.
I got an email from my apartment management in L.A. about how we must recycle some things.
Pet waste and diapers are OK to throw out in the trash. But we have to recycle "paper"? Like our junk mail??? And cartons? Like the small shipping cartons we get for every little thing we buy online? Are you f-ing kidding me? And I probably will have to drive to the recycling "Blue bins" that are somewhere on the property to recycle that stuff.
