IrishAyes

IrishAyes's Journal

August 2, 2015

Chemistry Question

Okay, at first glance this might appear to be in the wrong forum because it started with a DIY topic on another website. But those other groups don't necessarily have any SCIENTISTS, much less chemists, and I want the very best answer to my dilemma.

It all started when apartmenttherapydotcom said don't use vinegar for a softener in dishwashers and washing machines anymore because it's hell on the fittings and hoses. Since I have heard about water softener systems screwing up the plumbing in houses, that brought me to a screeching halt.

So I started looking up DIY liquid fabric softeners and except for one, ALL have vinegar in the formula. The one that doesn't says use epsom salts instead.

Question: Is the alkaline epsom salts just as bad for rubber hoses and fittings or less so? than vinegar on rubber hoses and fittings? If it is, can a real chemist tell me a better way to do this?

August 2, 2015

Special ? about Windows 10 Nobody Else Will Answer

I have great friends on another website (as well as here). Some are very tech savvy, and they honestly mean to answer my question but they still don't although I've rephrased it twice. I hope someone here can do it.

Here's what I posted elsewhere:
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"Tech question! With Windows 10 now available for free download, I've learned some things but still haven't found the answer to a major question.

Okay - if you download and install the program, you have something like 9 months or so to switch back to your previous OS. Fine. You also have up to a year (?) to download and install.
What I still feel unsure about is exactly what happens when you do download. Does the program demand to be immediately installed, thereby wiping out your files etc., or does it download and just sit there quietly until you're ready to install later? I have plenty of room for 10 but also tons of files that I don't have time to move out of potential harm's way just yet."
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All sorts of great advice follows, such as wait the full year allowed to download a free version so the bugs will already be addressed, etc. But no answer to the question I asked! Maybe they assume it no longer matters since they're telling me to wait. But I still want to know!

Part of the trouble is that I don't 100% trust MS to give us that year-long period for a free download. And I do have a massive hard drive with tons of memory so if the download will sit in the corner quietly and NOT auto-install on download, I could easily go through the patch process after downloading.

Oh, and I'm running a 64-bit Windows 8.1 btw.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Profile Information

Gender: Female
Home country: US
Current location: retired to MidWest
Member since: Mon Feb 18, 2013, 10:15 PM
Number of posts: 6,151

About IrishAyes

Still an ardent Irish-American Catholic damnYankee Yellow Dog Democrat socialist after all these years. (cue Simon music) Army brat and wife for many years, now have been on the loose far longer than I was married. After my two red chows died, I took in a mini-beagle cross that I named Molly Maguire, thinking she might need a good Irish name like my original real one. Later she got a baby sister, a smooth-coat JRT I named Brigid after the greatest of the ancient Celtic goddesses. My great-grandfather and his son fought for Michael Collins and barely made it out of Ireland one step ahead of John Bull. They slipped over to Wales for new identities and then forward to the States for a fresh start. That makes me second generation of illegal but certainly justified immigrants. There are precious few people to whose defense I fly immediately, but the list includes Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama even when I disagree with him - it happens! - and living Irish patriots Gerry Adams and Martin \\\'Mind Your Kneecaps\\\' McGuiness. I pray earnestly for a united and free Ireland rescued from all official British occupation, with every square inch of alleged \\\'ancestral lands\\\' now held immorally and illegally by the invaders returned to the rightful owners. Irish-only rule for Ireland. No foreign masters anymore! I find it passing strange when Brits chide ME about \'interfering\' in Irish politics!