Forcing Windows 10 upgrade ... (failed)

Windows 10 was supposed to roll out on July 29th and many have received their updates but if you read the fine print, Windows 10 is rolling out in waves and it may be days or weeks before it is finally rolled out in your area.

I waited two days before curiosity got the better of me. Is there a way to force at least a download of the files? Apparently there is and I am going to try it now.

For the interested, these are the steps. (all credit to Venturebeat.com)

1) Navigate to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download and delete every file in there. (replace accordingly if you have Windows installed in a different drive or folder

2) Run Windows Update (but don't do anything with it yet)

3) Run command prompt with administrative privileges.

4) Type the following command wuauclt.exe /updatenow into the command prompt (but don't press enter)

5) Go back to Windows Update and click Check for Updates

6) Go back to the Command Prompt and enter the command you already typed in

7) You should see Windows Update downloading Windows 10 - this is where I am now.

Windows 10 is a 2.7GB download on my computer and it now says "Preparing for Installation"

Be back when it's done!

Edit 1: Had to redo it and it now appears as a 5,412.1 MB download ...

Edit 2: It failed at the installation part and I repeated the steps and it's now showing as a 8,112.2 MB download

Edit 3: I'm a sucker for punishment! Failed at installation again, redid all the steps and it's now a 10,842.2 MB download. Weird.

Final Edit: I tried it two more times and it failed both times. Interestingly, the downloads went back to 2.7GB and then 5,412.1 MB. I am pretty sure if I tried it a third time, it would've reported 10.842.2MB. (it was doubling up in size each time).

So, I guess I'm back in the queue!

Might give this other method a try on another day if my copy was yet to arrive.

One Time Password (OTP)

Gonna file this under good to know and put it down so I can reference it when needed.

Been wondering for a while how we were going to manage our DBS Internet banking OTP codes once we made the move Down Under and today I learned how.

 For DBS, the following is needed, Country Code, Area Code, Mobile Number.
Australian mobile number is needed of course.

So the number should be in the following format: +61 0 4********

Hopefully its the same for the other banks.

 

Sample: Not my number

Windows 10 Free Upgrade!

It's almost July 28th as I'm typing this which means there's two more days till Windows 10 is released.

If you have a computer running Windows 7 or 8, you're entitled to a free upgrade to Windows 10.

The problem I had though was getting the Windows 10 Upgrade notification app to show up in the system tray.

Finally got it to show up!

 After much trawling through the web and much cursing and swearing at the screen, it basically boils down to this;

1)  If you're running Windows 7 SP1 (my laptop was), you'll need to have the following updates installed via Windows Update

• KB 3035583
• KB 2952664

2) If you're running Windows 8.1, you'll need to have the following updates installed via Windows Update

• KB 3035583
• KB 2976978

 3) Hopfully, the notification app shows up for you here if not, carry on!

4) Go to this website (if you want to read the nitty gritty), there's a dropbox link that you'll need.

5) Download that file, unzip it and run the file with administrative privileges.

6) Use 1. to verify that you have the updates installed

7) Then run Method 1 and the notification app should appear in your system tray. At least it did for me!

Good luck reserving your copy of Windows 10.

Walked off the plank

It's done. 24th Jul 2015.

I've served notice that I'll be leaving the service.

There's a sense of freedom mixed in with a sense of trepidation.
Surprisingly, a sense of loss.

I will miss teaching, that interaction with the students, that feeling that each day is different because you can never tell what moods you're going to face throughout the day. Perhaps I'll talk more on that in another post. I should.

Today's is just to mark a point of departure.

What lies beyond the darkness? (take at Apollo Bay)

Double Taxation

To rent out our home or to sell it once we move over to Perth?
We've been mulling over that question and we've yet to come up with a good answer.

In favor of renting the place out;
1) Our families want us to maintain the home over here, citing the reason - "in case it doesn't work out over there"

2) There is a passive stream of income, which hopefully balances out the rental we'd have to pay in Perth.

3) We do have an emotional attachment to the place - if we do come back, I'd rather come back to the familiar.

 In favor of selling the place;
1) There's no greater motivator to succeed than having your back against the wall.

2) We receive a lump sum without worrying about whether the flat will be repossessed by HDB in the event that rental regulations are flouted by the tenants.

3) To rent out the place entails ads, rental agents, management agents, tenants, increased property tax (yes you pay more tax if you're not living in it) and rental income tax.

It was in the midst of reading all these that I came across the issue of double-taxation.

Being a Singapore citizen, I'd be taxed on my rental income but would I be taxed again because I'd be a Australian PR?

The following links are extremely useful in shedding some light on this issue.
1) www.guidmesingapore.com

• Singapore-Australia Double Tax Treaty Guide
• Guide to Singapore Double Tax Treaties

 2) Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore

3) Treasury.gov.au - a list of tax treaties that Australia has with the rest of the world.

4) A case study -

5) Another case study - this one from the Australian Taxation Office - interestingly enough

I have to admit. My eyes started glazing over after a few sentences of taxation technical terms.

The gist of it though is that,

Real estate income (read rental income) is taxed in the country the property is located in. That means we'll be paying the Singapore Govt taxes on our rental income.
This is on top of the property tax that we'll be paying.
Ho hum ... will it still be worthwhile to rent it out then?

On the Australian side, since we'd have paid tax on the rental income in Singapore, we would be able to claim a tax offset on the tax already paid in Singapore. When the Australian returns are processed, we'd receive a refund. (Another admission, read this multiple times but am still confused - will just have to see how it goes, I guess)

Suffice to say this is how you will feel.

Perth Suburbs

A month or so late but better late than never as I find details of my trip to Perth's suburbs fading from my memories.

We visited quite a number of suburbs - Kelmscott, Byford, Roleystone, Canning Vale, Thornlie, Atwell and Baldivis.

Atwell was very quiet. Very quiet. I know that I'm looking for a little peace and quiet but this was even beyond me. It is for want of a better word 'retirement' quiet.

Thornlie was where we stayed for the week and it was a pleasant stay. Maybe it's because we didn't know the place well enough but we failed to find a decent park to wander around in. I was also struck by the lack of activities around the area. Still liked the place though. In the one week we were there, I managed to memorize the road to the supermarket. Heh.

Kelmscott. There are moments in life that are marked by a single incident and this was one of them. We liked Kelmscott and we will always remember it as a friendly place because as we were perusing a school, some students waved at my kids. S liked that gesture. I think it gave her confidence that she could handle the switch to an Australian school. Liked too that it was near the Darling Range Regional Park.

Roleystone was a suburb that I really loved. That I could really imagine myself living in. Properties surrounded by tall, shady wooded areas. Lovely. The only obstacle was the high cost of property around the area. Well, that and J's reluctance to live in a semi-rural setting. The school itself was also situated in the midst of trees. Surrounded by nature reserves.

Byford. To sum it up in one word? Possibilities. The suburb is so new that there's construction everywhere yet it is littered with parks and playgrounds. There's something appealing about a new start. The lack of infrastructure was our concern after visiting Byford. Greatly like the fact that Byford is situated right next to Darling Range Regional Park too.

Then there's Baldivis. It's far enough from Perth that it's affordable. Near enough to lakes and the coastline to give me the illusion of moving to a different lifestyle. Actually, that's not the truth, come to think of it. It would be a different lifestyle. We walked around quite a bit in Baldivis and liked the parks that dotted the suburb. Liked the homes which were generally newer with it being one of the younger suburbs. Liked that it was more developed compared to Byford. Liked that it was less than 20 minutes to the beach. Ticked many of the checkboxes.

Lastly, Canning Vale. Well-developed suburb with no want for infrastructure. We drove around a lot as there were many schools that we were keen on. Property is out of reach of our purchasing power though so it'd be rental, rental, rental. We had the feeling though that there were Asians living in the area based on the decorations that appeared on the facades of the houses.

Tipping Point

It's a weird feeling.

Ever since I went and sat for the IELTS test, applied for the visa and had it granted and talked about it endlessly in preparation for our move to Australia -- it still doesn't feel real.

There seems to be a safety line holding us back, allowing us to change our minds even at the last minute and carry on as if nothing has changed. We could drop all our plans and stay on in Singapore - just tell everyone that we got cold feet.

That safety line is my job.
Staying on means a steady income - allowing me to exist in a state of mind when most things seem possible.

Well, that line is about to be cut. Once that happens, there'll be no looking back. We'd have crossed the tipping point. We'd be committed to the move and whatever changes it might wrought. It's a scary thought.

Why is it scary? Because Singaporeans spend much of their lives building up pillars of certainty. We are constantly reminded from a very young age that we need to study, to do well in our studies so that we can get into the schools of choice, so that we can land the careers that matter, so that we can earn the money that will see us through life, so that we can pass on that same well-trodden path to our young.

Resigning means there's now a huge gap in that well-planned out path. There's no job with no pay. Does that mean the rest of the path falls into disarray?

No.
I think it just means that it is up to us to find a new path.
It is up to us to explore, seek out the wonders and pitfalls and go wherever the path might lead.

An alternative to the Certificate of Entitlement

In that one single word - entitlement, lies my beef with how we as a country, Singapore, deal with our car ownership problem. The problem lies in the fact that we're a small country crawling with an overpopulation of cars. The system we came up with to deal with said problem is coined as the "Certificate of Entitlement".

Basically the COE is a licence that Singaporeans can bid on. There is a quota every month - July's was 1429 for Category A. Say there are 20000 bidders and the lowest 1429th bid was $50000, everyone (who bid higher than the 1429th bidder) would pay $50k for their successful COE bid. Successful bidders would then pay not only for the COE but also the price of the car. An important note to remember would be that the licence has a validity of 10 years - after which the car has to be scrapped or a new COE purchased to 'extend' the lifespan of the car.

Toyota RAV4:
Toyota USA reports the car with a retail price of US$23680  =  (SGD$31867)
Toyota Australia reports a price of  AUD$30886   = (SGD$31245)
Toyota Singapore has it at SGD$174888   = (SGD$174888)
Pretty insane no matter which way it's looked at.

July 2015 COE results


Paying these kind of prices (that obviously favors the rich - they can afford to bid more) sticks in the average Singaporean's craw because, we have a pledge (which I have to recite daily) purporting to uphold justice and equality.

Let's be clear. It is not equality when equality is built upon maintaining a status quo which favors the rich. To rub salt in the wound? Let's call it a Certificate of Entitlement - you know, a Certificate where one is deserving of privileges or special treatment - where said privileges or special treatment is conferred by the amount of money you have.

I believe Singapore is fast approaching that time when it will be awfully obvious that only the well-to-do can afford to maintain and purchase new cars every decade (heck, make that every year). This is being foreshadowed by the increasingly common calls by various ministers to Singaporeans urging us to switch to public transport. Extrapolate that if you will. It could take 10, 20 or maybe another 50 years but we can see the end game - the common man will be squeezed off the roads of Singapore (if they haven't already), unless something changes.

I came across an interesting page ( Inconvenientquestions.sg) with some points being raised there (from just 3 posts) and I summarize as thus;
1) When people make the switch to public transport, will it be used to justify an increase in fares?
2) Owning a car will became a thing that only the rich can afford.
3) How to determine a need for a car from a want.
4) What about people who need to travel for work or the disabled?
5) COE adding to cost of having a bigger family.
6) COE as a system has failed (or rather hasn't been equitable) because richer families tend to have multiple cars whereas the common man must toil to afford their single ride.
7) some alternative ideas about bidding for and transferring ownership of COEs.

Singapore desperately needs something different. Our planners need to think out of the box - pronto, especially if rumours to increase the population are true.

Car ownership is obviously a problem.
We have tried to tackle that by increasing the cost of owning a car.
That has worked to some extent but  has come at a cost of delineating the line between the rich and the 'not so' rich.

Let us start by removing car ownership.
Yes, that's right. Rather than telling some Singaporeans that they are entitled to a car because they are rich enough to buy a certificate, let no one Singaporean own a car. In the process, we'll score another first - "1st nation with zero car ownership!"

For this to work;
1) Make a bicycle network has to be beefed up - make it part of the public transport system.

• Dedicated bicycle lanes
• A Singapore-wide public bicycle rental ala this bicycle rental scheme in Barcelona. With rentals stops at all MRT stations/bus interchanges.

2) The private car population in 2013 stood at 540,063, while the taxi population stood at 27,695. Statistics gleaned from Land Transport Statistics 2014.

• Remove all private cars (rich or poor) and increase the taxi population by tenfold or more.
• Taxi fares to be reduced and simplified - no nonsense about peak hours, pick-up surcharges or what nots.
• Profit sharing among taxi drivers.

3)  Buses run more frequently with a higher degree of predicting their arrivals times must be implemented.

4) A re-imagining of the roads. The lane closest to the curb should be the bicycle lane, the second lane the bus lane, the 3rd and 4th lanes (if any) for the taxis and goods vehicles.

5) Public transport must be profitable. That cannot be denied but the profits cannot be excessive OR if profits are excessive, they must be funneled back to society.

• Taxi and bus companies have profits limited at a certain % of their operating expenses. Enough of this nonsense about increasing their bottom line every year with fare increases.
• Excess profits past that % be distributed amongst the drivers.
• OR funneled to charity purposes, maintaining public transport (for example the bicycle network)

6) Staggered work/school times.

• This will NOT work if the whole of Singapore is still going to work or school at the same time.
• Perhaps a different starting and ending time for work and school for the different zones so that the taxi population can cope with the numbers.

What are the benefits?

• Increase the number of taxis - increase employment
• No more over-crowding on roads.
• Hopefully less accidents between bicycles and vehicles
• Less pollution.
• Easier for emergency services to get to their destinations.
• Better health - from increased cycling activities.
• Think of the industry that'll spring up from maintaining all them bicycles on the roads.

I like my plan but I've probably missed out on a million and one reasons why it wouldn't work. The primary reason probably the same reason we still have cigarettes despite everyone Tom, Dick and Harry telling us it is bad for our health.

Still it is good to daydream. Especially on a lazy Sunday.