Do you like scary movies?

I think I'm a fan of horror movies. The reason I say "I think" rather than "I am" is that different people have different ideas of what a horror movie is. To me, many movies that are called horror movies are simply gore fests. Yes, that's horrible, but is it a true horror movie? It depends on what you think.

Maybe I'm a fan of some types of horror films. Even then, it's not all that clear. For example, I really like the movie "The Thing" by John Carpenter. Is it a science fiction movie or a horror movie? Yes. Yes it is.

It crosses genre. The 1951 Christian Nyby/Howard Hawks film "The Thing from Another World," also based on the John W. Campbell story "Who Goes There?" is more science fiction than horror. Carpenter's is more horror than science fiction.

"Friday the 13th" (1980) is a horror film. Yes, it has some gore, as does "The Thing," but it's more about the story. And there is one. Plus, the killer -- SPOILERS -- isn't Jason. There's no doubt "Friday the 13th" is a horror film. And while it does have some gore, it's not like the sequels, which seem to me to be primarily gore movies.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying those other films aren't horror films. I'm saying those aren't the kind of horror films I like.

If the fact that I've mentioned moves that are older makes you think that I like older films, you'd be right. But I do like some horror films that are even older. Yes, I'm talking "Dracula" starring Bela Lugosi, "Frankenstein" with Boris Karloff as the Monster, "The Mummy" with Karloff, and others from that era. Let's go back even longer and throw in the F. W. Murnau film "Nosferatu" and the Lon Chaney film "Phantom of the Opera" for good measure.

If you like classic horror films, like I do, then you'll be happy to know that many of them are available for streaming during this month, the month that ends with Hallowe'en.

• "Nosferatu" (1922) is available free on Tubi and Plex.
• "Phantom of the Opera" (1925) is free on Plex.
• "Dracula" (1931) is available on Peacock, as you would expect, since it's a Universal classic horror film.
• "Frankenstein" (1931) isn't isn't free, but can be rented or purchased. However, "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) is on Peacock TV.
• "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (1932) is free on Vudu and The Roku Channel.
• "The Mummy" (1932) is free on Tubi and Peacock TV.
• "The Invisible Man" (1933) is free on Peacock TV.
• "Creature from the Black Lagoon" (1954) is on Peacock TV.
• "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) is on Prime Video and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978) is on Pluto TV.
• "The Incredible Shrinking Man" (1957) is free on Peacock TV.
• "The Blob" (1958) is free on Plex and Crackle, and included with HBO Max subscription. "The Blob" (1988) is free on Peacock TV.
• "Friday the 13th" (1980) is on Peacock TV.
• "The Fly" (1958) is free on Peacock TV, while "The Fly" (1986) isn't free, but can be rented or purchased.
• "The Thing from Another World" (1951) is free from Vudu, and "The Thing" (1982) is on Starz with subscription.

Of course we can't forget "Halloween" (1978) which is free on Redbox and The Roku Channel.

Some classics that are not free include:

• "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1931).
• "The Black Cat" (1934).
• "The Wolf Man" (1941).
• "House of Wax" (1953).

These can all be rented or purchased.

Of course, this just scratches the surface of available horror movies. I focused on the ones I like, but left off several that aren't available for streaming.

If you're a fan of horror movies, perhaps this list will help. Or you can always search your favorite streaming services, or streaming platform, and find the movies you want that are available. Maybe some of yours will be free. Free is good. I like to have more free stuff in my Streaming Life.

Problems with new Plex server

I upgraded my Windows machine recently. Well, I tried to. It's complicated.

When I decided to change my local streaming server from iTunes to Plex, I used a Windows device. It was a rather robust Windows machine that was more than capable of handling the job. But, it wasn't a new machine. It was a few years old. It's seven years old now, and while it's more than capable as a Plex server, it has some drawbacks when it comes to doing other stuff. When I sat down and thought about all the things I needed to do, I decided to get a new computer. So, I did.

The problems began immediately. The device experienced high disk usage. Windows Task Manager showed 100% disk usage. That caused the device to be sluggish, which was the exact opposite of what I wanted. I was less than thrilled. I began researching all the different causes for this, with me wondering if I had a lemon, or if I had erred somewhere in the initial setup. Then, a huge coincidence happened.

In my day job, I do tech support for a local agency. They purchased some new computers recently, and one of my tasks was to set it up. As it turned out, two of the devices purchased were the very same brand and model I had purchased. And they too experienced the high disk drive usage, performing poorly in the process.

That actually became an opportunity. I had a personal computer issue that was driving me nuts. But then work had the very same issue. I could work the issue while at work, because I needed to work the issue for work, and perhaps find the cause and develop a solution. I could also work the issue at home, and anything I learned, apply to work. Finally, I stumbled across information about Killer Network Service. It's supposed to help network performance. Maybe it does. But for the first several hours after it starts running for a user, it slows the machine down to a crawl.

For home use, it's not quite as big of a deal, as I'm the only user. Once it settled down, it didn't act all sluggish. But at work, that was another story. When a new user logs on to the computer on the domain -- they use shared computers -- the whole mess starts over. And, when Windows sends an update that causes setup to repeat or partially repeat, I don't want the users to have do deal with that.

So, I killed Killer. Removed it. Everything seems to be working fine now. But there was another issue on my personal computer.

When I put the 10 TB hard drive into the machine, it wouldn't read it. That was scary, as I was concerned that the new computer, or a poor physical install on my part, had fried it. But that wasn't the case. The hard drive was fine.

So, no easy transfer of data from one drive to another. Oh, did I mention I had a new 14 TB drive in the new computer? No? Well, I did. So all the files needed to be moved over.

Installing the old data hard drive didn't work, so I broke out my USB drive docking station to connect it that way. No luck. The device seemed to acknowledge that something was connected, but it couldn't find the drive enough to read it. I had to use some utilities to confirm it was seeing it, just that it didn't recognize it.

Was my docking station bad? I don't know. But I ordered a new one just in case. It's arriving today, and I'll find out soon enough.

If it's not the docking station, my next task is to put the old computer back together, add it to the network, map some drives across the network, and do the data transfer that way.

My Streaming Life should be a lot easier. I suppose it's my own fault.

Waiting on subscriptions to end

When I did a large cutback on my streaming services recently -- I unsubscribed to services that I didn't really watch -- I had a few that didn't end just then. You see, in the past, I had subscribed to some services on an annual basis rather than monthly. So, when I canceled subscriptions, those services continued to be available until the subscription ends.

That bothers me a little.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm in no way suggesting that the service end immediately. After all, if I paid for 12 months service, and I decide to not renew after eight months, I should still get the remaining four months. I'm not suggesting they end  the service immediately. It's something else that bothers me.

What's bothering me is that I decided I didn't want to continue the service because I didn't watch it, right? But now it's no longer in the back of my mind. I've brought it to the front. Now I'm thinking about that app/service. And I'm more likely to watch it.

Let's take Discovery+ for instance. They offered a good price for a yearly subscription, and I took it. But, I discovered I didn't watch it. During my purge, I canceled. But, with time left on the subscription, I didn't remove the app from my device. I mean, I had time left to watch, so why not keep it, right?

Well, the reason is I might actually watch it. And I might enjoy it. And I might want to keep my subscription.

Is that a bad thing? No, not really. But, if I renew my subscription, I've then undone my cutback, and risk going over budget on my streaming.

So, cancel something else, right? After all, if I'm watching one service more, then at least one service has to suffer from lack of watching, right? Yes, that's true. But then the cycle starts again. I cancel my subscription, then that service comes to the front of my mind. I start watching it, then decide I like it, and renew.

And so on and so on and ... well, you get the idea.

I need a plan for canceling subscriptions. A better plan. Right now, it's simply "I plan to cancel that." And that's really not much of a plan. I need a strategy and I need to stick with it.

Maybe no more annual subscriptions. That way, when I cancel, then if I don't watch in 29 days or less, I don't watch.

Maybe I just need to cancel everything, then if I launch an app and discover I'm not subscribed, then I know I've not been watching it.

I'll figure something out, I'm sure. My Streaming Life shouldn't be this hard. Maybe I'm just making it hard. Easy is the goal. And I'll get there.

The problem with Sling TV

I really like Sling TV. It was my first live streaming service, and it's my go-to service for when I want one. I don't do live streaming year round. Most of the year, I watch on-demand, but during college football season, I subscribe to a live streaming service to watch the games.

For my purposes, Sling TV has one big drawback. ESPN is on Sling Orange, and that plan has a single stream. That means only one person in the family can watch a stream at a time. If someone in the living room is watching Sling TV, no other TV (Roku, Chromecast, Fire TV, Apple TV, etc.) can watch Sling TV. The Sling Blue plan offers three simultaneous streams, but that plan doesn't include ESPN, which has most of the college games.

For other purposes, such as regular live streaming usage -- not how I use it, but how many do -- the problem is that there are no local channels. That's not an issue for me, as I have an antenna, and an Air TV device that integrates the live TV (and DVR) into the Sling TV app. But, for those that don't have an antenna, and where an antenna isn't feasible, Sling TV misses a large part of the content people want.

Now, I don't blame Sling TV for forgoing local channels, since the broadcast fees they would have to pay -- and that the other more expensive live streaming services pay -- would mean higher costs to Sling, and higher prices for their product.

It's the same way with the single stream. ESPN costs a lot of money for Sling to carry. That's why they have two plans. Sling Blue doesn't have the six Disney owned channels, including ESPN, that are on the Sling Orange package, but has more channel 17 other channels, giving it 11 more channels net. Sling Blue also has three simultaneous streams, as opposed to the single stream Sling Orange has.

Those are the main problems I see with Sling TV, but there's one other that some people have. That's the number of channels Sling TV offers. Cheaper services, such as Philo, carry more channels. Of course, more expensive ones carry more channels too. But the selection of channels Sling TV carries is actually fine, as far as I'm concerned.

While there are some things about Sling TV that I don't like, overall it's still my go-to live streaming service. It could be better, but the tradeoff is something I'm okay with. Sling TV is a good part of my Streaming Life. Not perfect, but close enough.

Baseball playoffs

I've been a baseball fan for years. However, I've not watched as much in the last few years. But I still love baseball, and am always excited about the playoffs. But, being a streamer, it's not always easy to watch live sports.

Live sports was not available in the early days of streaming, and some sports have been slower than others to be available for streamers. Baseball has been more available than some other sports, but it still has blackouts that keep streamers from being able to watch their nearest team.

The playoffs is a different situation, though. The only thing you have to worry about is finding a streaming service carrying the games.

Today's games are on TBS. You can stream TBS on:

• Sling TV (Orange, Blue, Orange+Blue)
• Hulu+Live TV
• YouTube TV
• DirecTV Stream

Note that Fubo, the streaming service that touts itself as the app for sports, doesn't carry TBS.

Tomorrow's games are on MLB Network and Fox Sports 1. The services that carry FS1 are:

• Sling TV (Blue, Orange+Blue)
• Vidgo
• Hulu+Live TV
• YouTube TV
• Fubo TV
• DirecTV Stream

MLB Network is on:

• Sling TV (Blue, Orange+Blue) with Sports Extra
• YouTube TV
• Fubo TV
• DirecTV Stream (Choice)

So, what one service carries it all? There are three, actually.

• Sling TV (Blue) with Sports Extra
• YouTube TV
• DirecTV Stream (Choice)

With any of those three services, you can watch the baseball divisional series. What about the league championships? Those are on Fox, Fox Sports 1, and TBS. To watch those games you'll need one of these:

• Sling TV (Blue, Orange+Blue) if you have an antenna for Fox.
• Hulu+Live TV
• YouTube TV
• DirecTV Stream

For the World Series, you'll need Fox, which is on:

• Hulu+Live TV
• YouTube TV
• Fubo TV
• DirecTV Stream

Or, an antenna.

To watch everything, all the baseball playoffs, what services have that?

• Sling TV (Blue) with Sports Extra, if you have an antenna for Fox.
• YouTube TV
• DirecTV Stream (Choice)

So, if you are ready for some baseball, you have some decisions to make, if that's to be a part of your Streaming Life this year.