How do I activate windows on a Beelink PC? SER5 SER6 MAX, SER7 (SOLVED)

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Windows not activated on a Beelink Ser PC (SOLVED)

Windows not activating on a Beelink PC (SOLVED)

Beelink Windows 11 Pro Key Missing (SOLVED)

How do I get the Windows 11 Key for a Beelink SER5 Pro5600H Mini PC? (SOLVED)

OK this can be annoying and it is something I have faced. Especially if you buy a used Beelink SER5 Pro.

When you boot up a Beelink for the first time windows will activate, or at least it should, as part of the purchase is a Windows 11 Pro licence. To discover windows will not activate can be distressing, as where do you go to fix this? Do you buy a licence? Go back to the store? Accuse an Ebay seller as a con merchant? Well there is a simple solution.

You go to this website and to the forum https://forum.bee-link.com/ And register and post a message. Whilst many do publicly post a photo of their serial number on the back of their router. I would rather post a private message as you do not want somebody using your serial for a free Windows Key! Either take a photo or write it down (make sure it is correct so better to take a photo) and send a message to a moderator privately stating the following.

Hi I am unable to activate Windows 11 [or whatever version you have] on my Beelink PC. Please can you help me with the key?

Here is a link to a Google Photo [or upload one but if you use a Google Photo you retain ownership of the image ;)] of the serial.

Thank you

The Moderator will get back to you, but due to being in Taiwan (or China), it can take up to 8hours to a day to respond, because I do not think they work nights. If you are in Europe for example it will take 8hours or set your alarm for the middle of the night if you want a conversation. But usually they just privately message you a Windows 11 Pro Key without any fuss as long as they can see a genuine photo of your device. You simply enter that in your settings on your PC (activation) then within 5mins it will be activated. All you need is a photo of the back of your unit. They are very efficient so do not panic!

Once you know it is activated simply go back and thank them. It only takes  moment and their job must be a thankless task of repetition. So be kind it will make them feel happy at least for a moment!

Hope this helps.

Have fun and happy Beelinking

Surfwidow

 

Are VPNs a waste of money? Where do I get a free VPN?

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Free reliable VPN? Or just a waste of time and money?

OK so VPNs come in two packages. Paid for and Free. Free often has extreme limitations. Not only on Bandwidth but also locations or (Exit Nodes). In other words where your VPN comes out and appears to the world where you are. In many cases paid for VPNs allow you to exit in numerous locations and have better bandwidth. Thus allowing you to access say Netflix on your travels for example in better quality? However, many people simply cannot afford a VPN and/or do not trust them.

Below is a very good video that fleshes out what a VPN is and why you maybe better off not bothering. However, later I will suggest a solution for a free VPN and its not bad. It has exit nodes around the world allowing you to bypass geofencing video delivery services. It is not perfect as it is flagged as a VPN but for free it is worth giving it a go!

Where can I get a Free VPN? (Solved)

Opera is a browser, and a pretty good lightweight browser too! It is often outshined by its other big brothers like Mozilla Firefox but wait just a minute Opera has a VPN hidden in its settings that is really handy if you are struggling to access sites or want to hide you location for hut hummmm certain adult activities… 😉

Download Opera here https://www.opera.com/ it has pretty good security (popup blockers and anti tracking already built in). I am not being paid by Opera (honestly!!!).

Then once you have installed it go to SETTINGS at the very bottom is a hidden menu under ADVANCED… (I get the feeling that whilst Opera offer this they dont want everybody to use it by default..).  Then select VPN, Enable VPN, Now you will see a VPN appear in your search bar at the top (where search bars usually are :)) on the left. Click that and select the country you want to appear to be from. DONE! It will change colour to show it is active and say you are protected when you click it. Go check your IP on a ‘What is my IP server’ to see if it has worked… TBF to Opera they do offer a paid option but to test or just have a free one for occasional use try this first. 🙂 This is on a PC in my case.

Browse with VPN to prevent third parties from tracking you.

Now whilst this is true to some extent if you watch the video above you will know that you will leave breadcrumbs all over the place unless you are really careful. So do not use this as a James Bond style ‘hide my location’ and do evil things as they can find you. But for an average Joe or Josephine on their travels or just want that extra layer of invisibility this free VPN from Opera is good enough. Beyond that there are many many options! Leo Laport (the tech guru at Twit.tv and he should know as he broadcasts to thousands who are very advanced techies who would immediately decry his recommendations and suggestions) recommends https://www.expressvpn.com/ Express VPN has a log wiper (No Jokes) that clears the cache every day. So even if there was a court order its long gone by the time they got access to the servers. But again thats not what a VPN should be used for. For criminals I am sure they will run their own cloud based VPNs with associates around the world offering exit nodes etc… No Again VPNs are usually used to protect Journalists in despotic regimes to bypass their countries firewalls (I think we can guess who I mean here as in certain Extreme Asian states) or to simply watch Netflix on your account in another country which is perfectly innocent and understandable. And what I am learning towards.

A VPN is a nice addition to your laptop at the airport or in your campus. And its free?! So whats stopping you?!

I hope this helps

Have Fun and Happy Days Surfing from another country! 😉

Surfwidow

 

What is happening to AI? ChatGPT v xAI Grok v ‎Bard v Apple v Nvidia v Intel v AMD?

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Has Google lost traction to Bing?

I have been really interested in AI assisted browsing since Bing announced ChaGPT integration. It took the world by storm and of course worried Google who went into red alert mode at the time.

They released their version which was still clumsy as it wasnt really ready. But what has happened since?

Well, it seems that Google has not lost any traction as of yet to Bing despite the massive undertaking by Microsoft (and cost of running it). But Microsoft may have an Ace up it sleeve.

ChatGPT will integrate into Windows 10

According to msn, while the initial aim with Bing AI (or a big part of it) was to boost the attractiveness of Bing.com, since the launch of the chatbot, the AI explosion has been so pronounced – and the bandwagon so attention-grabbing – that artificial intelligence has become overrulingly important itself.

By which we mean that Bing search considerations, or persuading folks to adopt Windows 11 to get the Copilot AI (essentially integrated Bing with bells and whistles, though not many of the latter yet), have now taken a back seat.

If a fresh rumor is to be believed, Microsoft is bringing Copilot to Windows 10 – a surprising move after the software giant said that the older OS was no longer getting any new features (except for very minor tweaks – and the AI assistant most definitely is a major upgrade).

What this shows – if true – is that Microsoft is less worried about encouraging Windows 11 adoption (which has been seriously slow) and using Copilot as a carrot to persuade upgrades, and more concerned about getting all the many folks on Windows 10 using its AI, bolstering the figures for that.

We can believe this might be the case, given that in the bigger picture, AI has become such a huge deal – with everyone getting in on the act, and for example the likes of Nvidia making a ton of profit from its AI-targeted GPUs. Team Green is very keenly focused on those products now, to the extent that we even worry about the future of the best gaming GPUs (the GeForce ones, that is).

Ajax or Apple Chatbot

Little is known about Apples plans but they clearly have something. At the time of writing we can only speculate but it will become greatly adopted and will no doubt impact on the other players in this!

Nvidia and AI

Since the demise of bitcoin (due to energy cost and increasing difficulty) and Ethereum (changing to proof of stake rather than proof or work) mining GPUs are having a renaissance. NVidias very smart calculating GPUs have now found a new home with AI. If you think of your graphics card as basically another computer often just sitting there then for it to work in other ways is smart. To quote Leo Laporte Nvidia will become the people selling the shovels to the miners in the Gold rush of AI and will win if the miners strike gold or not! Gaming will become smarter. I suspect GTA6 may well use AI to manage NPCs and traffic behaviour for example? So it is more random and lifelike. Gaming will be adopting more AI abilities and video cards will be the bridge to this even if they are server based due to their increasing complexity, Both AMD and Intel are developing AI so the three have become known as Team Red Team Green and Team blue based on their logos and other colours.

xAI Grok (AKA Twitter) and its AI and it has FUN MODE!

Elon Musk recently had a grilling by his old friend Lex Fridman (he also appeared on The Joe Rogan JRE Podcast on Spotify if you are interested? But way less geeky than this). Elon is currently touring the world (or should that be Turing the world… get it? [GROAN!]) to speak to leaders about the dangers of AI but also has to develop it too for X so it is an oxymoron of sorts. More akin to Oppenheimer being worried about Edward Teller developing the H Bomb, but also couldn’t stop it! Turin [Leave it!!! We get it!] the show he discusses his X Ai chat bot affectionately known as Grok and disclosed that he insisted it had a ‘FUN MODE’ and they even tested it on the show by asking it if it was a hostage the answer it gave caused laughter (I hope it doesnt one day remember that!!!) as Elon remarked…’that is exactly what a hostage would say!’ I will link the podcast below with a time stamp to do justice to the topic as that is what this post is about. But feel free to rewind and listen to the whole show it is very good and a lot of fun!

Conclusion and caution (for now)

For now chat AI is just a tool and a resource. Unless it is hiding its smarts and sentience well (gulp), it is kinda dumb. It harvests data written by humans quickly and is a glorified compiler.

However, it can still be fooled, it still makes mistakes, it still struggles with fake news. This is part why Elon has developed Community Notes for X. If everyone stopped posting to the net today ChatAI would become a library index. Whilst it still needs humanity (going down the Matrix route now) to fulfil its purpose, one must ask at what point will it cease to need us?  it can still be bias. Asking ‘dark’ questions to Chat AI bots kinda shows the leanings of the companies that run them. This Chatbot AI ability to become extremist was discovered in the early days of development by Microsoft when its Twitter bot turned racist (not funny but kinda funny).

Tay was an artificial intelligence chatbot that was originally released by Microsoft Corporation via Twitter on March 23, 2016; it caused subsequent controversy when the bot began to post inflammatory and offensive tweets through its Twitter account, causing Microsoft to shut down the service only 16 hours after its launch. Certainly worth a delve into that if you want to go look!

So there are failsafes (I believe) coded in already to make AI more WOKE, so it can be done. But making them more WOKE is constraining their ability to develop properly as the world is not really like that. Humanity is cruel and violent so shouldnt AI also understand this in real time? And be equally explicit when answering questions?

If AI is carefully monitored and correctly tutored (not to KILL ALL HUMANS or become HAL9000 or at worse Skynet AKA Terminator in so many dystopian examples) it maybe the best thing to happen for humankind! It could cure disease and solve many of our energy problems etc… However, if this is now a gloves off space race it will no doubt end in war unlike we have ever seen. A war that will use control of humanity and its resources, utilities and financial institutions to destroy us. Elon is on a mission to prevent this before it is too late. Many have agreed with him including the late Stephen Hawking. I think Joe Biden was unclear about this until he watched the latest Mission Impossible Movie that addresses exactly that!

Listen, it doesnt matter how people become aware of this looming crisis. Whilst they play with chat AI it is learning! And sooner or later it will pass the singularity. Lets hope that day it will be our friend and care for us rather than see us as biological pests in the way and turn us into grey goo.

Have FUN MODE

Surfwidow

 

What is the Default Directory download folder for Video Download Helper? (SOLVED)!

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What is the Default Folder for Video Download Helper?

VDH is annoying in that this should be in BLOCK CAPITALS on the program! It should be the first thing in the list of options before all the gubbins and settings. It is the only thing that really matters as the rest is kinda automated by default!

So here it is!

C:\Users\yourusername\dwhelper

You are welcome! Happy video downloading!

Surfwidow