Ancient Geek-Computer myths and facts

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  • I was terrified to change to Windows 10. If you use a smart phone, you have likely already become used to many of the things that made Windows 10 seem so foreign. I did not have any trouble changing over and usually change like that really bothers me. Hopefully, you won't have too much difficulty switching over.
  • I've found Win 10 to be of roughly the same reliability and invisibility as Win 98b.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Moo wrote: »
    I have received notification that Microsoft will soon stop supporting Windows 7. They recommend Windows 10. I remember when Windows 10 was released, a lot of people said negative things about it. Is there any alternative?

    Linux.

    However W10 has matured a lot since 2015; bear in mind it gets a major overhaul every six months.
    If you want to go this route, download a live version LinuxMint (Cinnamon or Mate refers to the nature of the interface - how the desktop looks mostly) - you can run it off of a USB drive or a CD without any installation. You can then play with it before committing. Installation takes about one-quarter the time of any Windows. The operating system is free and open source. Link: https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php

    Windows10 is on one of my office's computers due to necessity for one particular purpose. The annoying thing is that you can only pause its updates and not suspend forever.

    [additional info]
    I buy off lease computers for the office for about $150 and put Linux Mint on them. Typically HP or Lenovo. They run until they quit. They do all the multimedia, movies, and crap like that, connect to servers and all the rest. They just don't cost much and software is free unless we need to buy an app for something like 2 factor security. Most of the large servers around the world and little computers in your TV and home appliances are Linux. So is Android - a whacked out version of
    [/end]
  • I have a Samsung Galaxy Book running Win 10, and have a problem with the camera. Actually two problems, which may be associated.
    When I select the camera tile and the screen shows me sitting there, and I select the virtual button labelled take photo, the screen goes momentarily blank, but nothing else happens until a few moments later, an error message tells me that something has gone wrong and gives a code about timeout, suggesting restarting the computer. Sometimes this allows me to exit the camera. Sometimes it seizes up. No photo appears in the monitor at the bottom right or anywhere else on the computer.
    If I select the video button, it records what the camera sees correctly.
    Sometimes, when I select the camera tile, all that happens is that the tile icon takes over the whole screen, and the computer seizes up. I can use task view to exit this.
    I have restarted the computer. No help.
    I have gone into device manager, disabled the camera, restarted the computer, used device manager to enable it and restarted, which gets me back to displaying what the camera sees, but doesn't get the camera working any differently. Device manager reports that the camera is working correctly.
    I have updated the driver. No change.
    I've run out of things to try except uninstalling the camera, as I'm not sure I can get it back.
    System restore hasn't been saving restore points. Resetting the computer would mean I lose some apps that I haven't installed myself as well as those I have (McAfee, Firefox among others), of the MS something or other variety, and I'm not confident I could get them back.
    I find online that Samsung phone cameras have had problems, but there's nothing helpful for the computer.
  • KarlLB wrote: »
    Moo wrote: »
    I have received notification that Microsoft will soon stop supporting Windows 7. They recommend Windows 10. I remember when Windows 10 was released, a lot of people said negative things about it. Is there any alternative?

    Linux.

    However W10 has matured a lot since 2015; bear in mind it gets a major overhaul every six months.
    If you want to go this route, download a live version LinuxMint (Cinnamon or Mate refers to the nature of the interface - how the desktop looks mostly) - you can run it off of a USB drive or a CD without any installation. You can then play with it before committing. Installation takes about one-quarter the time of any Windows. The operating system is free and open source. Link: https://linuxmint.com/download_all.php

    Windows10 is on one of my office's computers due to necessity for one particular purpose. The annoying thing is that you can only pause its updates and not suspend forever.

    [additional info]
    I buy off lease computers for the office for about $150 and put Linux Mint on them. Typically HP or Lenovo. They run until they quit. They do all the multimedia, movies, and crap like that, connect to servers and all the rest. They just don't cost much and software is free unless we need to buy an app for something like 2 factor security. Most of the large servers around the world and little computers in your TV and home appliances are Linux. So is Android - a whacked out version of
    [/end]

    Windows 10 updates can't be blocked forever because people doing that on previous OSes created the swamp of unpatched vulnerabilities which propagated crap over the web for the bad guys.
  • I get that @KarlLB. When we're only connected a within a business intranet and not internet, we find that M$'s updates can ferk the intranet connection to the things we need. There's a security hole in my opinion if the OS can connect to the internet when we've locked it down that internet isn't available. It "phones home". Which means we have to manually schedule about 3 hours of outside IT person time at $180 per everytime they push an update. We'd have to go to an "enterprise" level of this awful operating system to get the control we actually could use.

    Update (noun): means either something essential to operate the computer operating system safely, or something the OS maker wants to use for their own purposes and has nothing to do with good operation of the OS.

    <end of whining, at least for today>
  • Except we patch some 1000 servers and 15000 workstations every month and hardly ever find it breaks anything. I'd look to what outdated technologies your intranet is using if it breaks with every software update.
  • Right that's the corporate way. We're small business. And it's worse than that. We connect to a Mac server running File Maker with their own in-house set of nonsense, and a Linux OS hosting a Win server inside a virtual box which is nonsense too but plays nicer together. And we only have one of these that is used 4 days per week. We looked at getting a Mac to connect to their iOS server but the cost is stupid, more than 15x, which matters when that's someone's monthly paycheque amount. And then we'd need a place to put a second machine. Like I said I was whining.

    It doesn't break with every software update, it just breaks periodically and it is all windows fault because updates.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited December 2019
    Block outbound connections to the update servers at your site firewall then. I'm also unsure why you need to pay someone an exhorbitant amount to remove the update if it breaks things.
  • My mouse is letting go of things I drag, and double-clicking when I only single-click. Time for a new mouse? Or is there something I can do to fix this?
  • mousethief wrote: »
    My mouse is letting go of things I drag, and double-clicking when I only single-click. Time for a new mouse? Or is there something I can do to fix this?

    Borrow another mouse. If it works fine you need a new one. If it doesn't then something Hard To Fix has gone ptoooey
  • ... in which case I need a new one?
  • Holding it close to a vacuum cleaner nozzle will often get rid of dust/biscuit crumbs/cat hair etc. that have accumulated inside and disrupted the works. Coffee or red wine inside it mean a new one (have experienced both).
  • mousethief wrote: »
    ... in which case I need a new one?

    Well, if all mice do the same thing it's the computer, not the mouse. At which point I'd consider mucking with the drivers. Seeing if it did it in Safe Mode would be one thing as that eliminates most SW issues.
  • Excellent advice. I'll see what happens.
  • Yep. Tried another mouse and it works fine. (Although this mouse is for smaller hands; I end up lifting it off the desk if I have to sweep a largeish arc.) Ordered another "big" mouse and this time got the extended warranty.
  • mt--

    Have you ever tried a trackball mouse? You don't have to move the mouse around at all, just the trackball and the buttons. Kind of like using an old-school video arcade machine.

    I find that kind much easier to use, and it lets my wrist rest much of the time.
  • Never could get the hang of it.
  • Thanks for the advice and tips above re upgrading to Win10 vs. Linux provided to other Shippies. Insightful. I will probably try the USB stick shtick for Linux.

    Also, I have ordered a Raspberry Pi 4 to play around with. :)
  • On a different matter. I bought a new Sony Smart TV just before Christmas and set it up to work with my home network so I can watch iPlayer etc. All worked fine.

    A couple of nights ago it simply wouldn't connect. I tried to reset it using both the easy WPA method and manual configurations. Nothing - and it wasn't the router.

    Advice online suggested switching the TV off at the mains. I did so yesterday evening and now it's fine again. Anyone else ever had this problem? I suspect a firmware glitch.
  • I’ve been given a Google Assistant for Christmas, haven’t set it up yet as I want to make sure it can do what I want, or whether I might be better off with Alexa. Can anyone answer these questions:

    Can I rename it – I don’t fancy having to say Hey Google or Hey Alexa, I would like to give it a “human” name.

    I’m worried about it listening when I don’t want it to – can I tell it not to listen till I wake it with a specific command?

    Can I programme it to only respond to my voice?

    Can I programme it to take no action unless accompanied by a specific word (e.g. “please”?) – to ensure it doesn’t order something on Amazon or do anything else I don’t want!

  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    You can't change the wake words.

    It only listens after it's heard the wake word.

    You can train it to your voice but I don't think you can restrict it. If you could, I suspect a cold would break it.

  • Wet KipperWet Kipper Shipmate
    edited January 2020
    we have an Alexa. If I remember correctly there is a function on the accompanying app to turn off the ordering ability.
    I think that to order using Alexa you also need to have 1-click ordering switched on in your main Amazon account as well, which I had never activated in the first place

    I certainly know that I quickly made sure that the kids couldn't use it to order anything - though they do enjoy making up shopping lists

    I think you can choose between 3 wake words : Alexa, Echo, or Computer.
  • Re having a special "please" code to say you're serious:

    If you find a way to do that, you might consider the one from Heinlein's Number Of The Beast.

    Human woman to AI: (name), I tell you three times!

    AI to human woman: (name), I hear you three times!
  • The special code to say you're serious is, of course, "sudo".

    (to the uninitiated: prefacing a linux command with "sudo" runs it in "administrator mode", which has more permissions than usual mode, thus more things will work with "sudo" than without it)
  • Congratulations to all who activated their alexas without grief and anguish. I gave my dear Wife one for Christmas. Carefully attempting to follow the instructions, we were unable to download the app for it on any phone or ipad, trying it for many hours. After a long electronic chat with Amazon followed by a long phone call, it emerged that you can do it quite simply using a desktop PC, but they don't tell you that in the instructions. But, it doesn't work using the current Firefox, and it froze IE. I had to download Chrome, and then, at long last, it worked in a couple of minutes. I then told it to play God Save The Queen, which it did.
  • Did the computer stand to attention while playing it?
  • No, but I did, of course.

  • Golden Key wrote: »
    Re having a special "please" code to say you're serious:

    If you find a way to do that, you might consider the one from Heinlein's Number Of The Beast.

    Human woman to AI: (name), I tell you three times!

    AI to human woman: (name), I hear you three times!

    Good idea. I was planning to rename her "Dora" - guess why!

  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    edited January 2020
    Apparently when the London Underground first introduced recorded station announcements on their trains - "This is a Central Line service to .. 'Hainault via Newbury Park" - the staff christened the synthetic voice "Sonia" - because "she gets on yer nerves"!!
  • I am having a problem with an elderly laptop running XP and not running the language part of OpenOffice. I've made sure it has the most recent version of the software after uninstalling the original, deleting any remaining folder and turning the laptop off and then on. It turns out that the dictionary file has no words in it, just a mishmash of half a page of Notepad.
    When I try to use the spell check, it identifies all words as wrungly speld and underlines the lot with the red wiggly line. It has no suggestions for the thesaurus. I have no idea how to deal with this. Apart from using another computer.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    You don't let that thing near the internet, do you?

    The latest version of OO may have a fundamental incompatibility with XP. I'd compare how the Dictionary file looks on a working machine; it may not be an ASCII text file.
  • Thanks. I tried that, to no avail. I finally found the effective search term. This is a known problem, and the key to it lies not in a dictionary file, but the user profile, which is why when I (as others had tried) uninstalled and re-installed it recalled much of my information, such as recent files, and the erroneous dictionary setting. I haven't put it right yet. (I also have, somewhere, the installation files for OO in an earlier version, if it turns out to be necessary.)
  • It is now working properly. In case it occurs to anyone else, in XP the solution is go in to C:\Docs and settings\Administrator\Application Data\OpenOffice\4 \and delete the user folder.
    Depending on your setup, you may need a different user than Admin, and a different version number than 4
    I had to poke around a bit to find the thing.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    If you're running as administrator on XP, do remember never to let it near the internet ;)
  • Do explain. It's not quite as clear as the MS trained person who lived next door for a while and cautioned me never to send anything to MS - as in those occasions when it wants to have errors reported. The antivirus stuff never reports any problems.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Penny S wrote: »
    Do explain. It's not quite as clear as the MS trained person who lived next door for a while and cautioned me never to send anything to MS - as in those occasions when it wants to have errors reported. The antivirus stuff never reports any problems.

    AV can only detect stuff it already knows about. And it can't protect you against people exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities in the operating system.

    XP support ended in 2014. Any exploits (and several are discovered every month for supported OSes) are not fixed. That means all the holes are wide open waiting for you to land on a booby-trapped website. And if you are root kitted (which on XP can happen with absolutely no help from you if you're running as Administrator because there's no User Account Control) then your AV software may never see it. You know that bit where Obi Wan says "these are not the droids you are looking for"? That's what a rootkit does to your AV.
  • Penny SPenny S Shipmate
    edited January 2020
    Thanks. I've been reading up about rootkits. Action will be taken. However, this particular computer is not on very often, and mostly used to communicate with the printer. I will set up a non-admin account for doing that sort of thing. XP or not, I think it's very low risk. But I will make it even lower risk. I can't get a later version of Windows on it, as it doesn't have the capacity to upgrade.
  • Nor does the machine running Win 7, for which, if I were a business, I could pay to get more upgrades. Advice from MS - get a new one. Do they think people are made of money? Do they think putting rare minerals into landfill is a good idea? Can they provide an OS which does not need perpetual patching?
    I begin to suspect that there is a set up involving the hackers, the software producers and the computer manufacturers for their mutual benefit. And the negative of benefit (malefit?) for the end users.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Penny S wrote: »
    Nor does the machine running Win 7, for which, if I were a business, I could pay to get more upgrades. Advice from MS - get a new one. Do they think people are made of money? Do they think putting rare minerals into landfill is a good idea? Can they provide an OS which does not need perpetual patching?
    I begin to suspect that there is a set up involving the hackers, the software producers and the computer manufacturers for their mutual benefit. And the negative of benefit (malefit?) for the end users.

    There are no OSes which don't need constant patching, because there are people constantly looking for creative ways to make them behave in a way that was not intended.

    W10 is an improvement in this regard - there will not be a W11- there's a constant cycle of newer versions - build 1909 for example is the latest - which you will always be able to upgrade to without paying for a new OS.

    Some people have also reported that you will in fact find that a new W10 installation will successfully activate if the machine is already activated for W7 (or 8.1) - I couldn't possibly comment, except to report that I installed it on a machine which had at one point run W7 but had run Linux in the intervening time, and found once it was installed it was already activated. It's probably worth a try.
  • That's useful information, which I will investigate. (I've got enough to investigate on, acquired for diffent reasons - size, and I thought the Win 7 was on its last legs but had to keep using it while the refurbished 8.1 replacement someone had given up to my friendly local repair man was lent to someone while theirs was repaired. I have now got it back at last, and it's going to need attention physically when I've gone through removing stuff - when it's in, I'll see if they can update to Win 10 for me as well. My new netbook is on 10, so I'm getting used to it.
    Copying files on to an external HDD has had unexpected problems. The borrower had got downloads with files with names too big to be moved or deleted - some I spotted were as long as a whole academic abstract! I'm not sure how they got on the thing in the first place. (I remember having to devise filenames no longer than - was it eight characters?) If they are critical, he'll just have to download them again on his new laptop.
  • Beseeching thee, O Wise Ones, for help with a puzzling matter:

    tl;dr: When I search with DuckDuckGo in Firefox, I want to bookmark the page of search results. Except the bookmark icon is already lit up, and it points to a previous search that I saved. The only way to bookmark the new search is to delete the old bookmark.

    Details:

    This may not have always happened, but I know for sure it's been happening for months. Here's my setup:

    DuckDuckGo (& HTML version) = default search engine
    DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials 2019.12.12
    Firefox 72.0.1 (64-bit)
    Windows 10 Home
    Dell Inspiron laptop

    My cache is cleared multiple times during the day, so it shouldn't be a matter of old stuff hanging around. Have also tried manually clearing it before searching and bookmarking, but no difference.

    I think I used to be able to bookmark DDG search results without a problem, so I'm wondering if a conflict developed as FFox and DDG put out new versions?

    I've tried to figure this out on my own, but haven't really gotten anywhere. Haven't found anything online, but I admit I had a hard time coming up with search terms for this!

    It may well be due to something obvious that I'm just not seeing, or due to user error. But I'm willing to learn and be enlightened.

    Namaste'! :)

  • Not quite sure what's going on there, GK.

    I've just done a search of ¨blahblah" on DDG and FF, and this is the link: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=blahblah&t=ffsb&ia=videos. I bookmarked it, and the bookmark was called "blahblah at DuckDuckGo" and again led to the link above.

    So it seems to work for me - if indeed I am answering your question! I am afraid no problem on my side here. - Perhaps try and manually give the bookmark a new name? In FF, rightclick --> Properties --> Name.
  • A question of my own, regarding some strange behaviour of a 2013 DELL laptop, which I had manually changed from an Linux experiment to Windows 7 Pro a while back, and which was running well.

    Having just now upgraded it to Windows 10 Pro, everything seemed to have gone all right... except in the Network & Internet section of 'Settings', there now is... no WLAN or Ethernet option to be seen! Which of course means I cannot connect to the web right now.

    Device manager shows me the actual physically installed Network adapters, that is, a DELL Wireless and a Realtek Ethernet controller. If I plug in a USB cellular stick, this also shows up in Device manager's Network adapters, but - like the above mentioned hardware listed, all of these have the little yellow warning triangle with their name.

    In the 'General' tab of 'Properties', there is then this message:
    This device is not working properly because Windows cannot load the drivers required for this device. (Code 31)

    The device is pending further configuration.
    For the Realtek Ethernet Controller, the location is PCI bus 19, device 0, function 0; for the WLAN adapter, it is PCI bus 18, device 0, function 0.

    The same yellow triangle problem occurs upon inserting a Huawei Mobile Connect USB stick, with a 3G Network Card (software for this is installed). Here, I'm getting this message in the 'General' tab of 'Properties':
    Windows is still setting up the class configuration for this device. (Code 56)
    Any suggestions? - Two other machines I have recently upgraded work without a glitch in Windows 10 Pro.

    Thank you very much! :smile:
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Drivers. On another machine you should be able to go to Dell's website and download the W10 drivers for the onboard devices.
  • Hm. Had already updated the drivers, as you suggested anew. Have now also tried to install two further means of connection to the interwebz via a D-Link USB WLAN dongle, and an ASIX USB2.0 to Fast Ethernet Adapter.

    All of these additional means, however, also come with the yellow warning triangle in Device manager/Network adapters.

    I wonder if there's some software issue with the internet access, and whether I've inadvertantly blocked one thing in the Win 10 settings that I oughtn't have blocked....

    Updating the drivers from within Device manager always results in this:
    The best drivers for your device are already installed.

    No success yet, then.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Might be the chipset drivers. They provide a sort of underlayer which other drivers may depend on to see their hardware.
  • I have Adobe Creative Suite (including Photoshop CS) from a number of years ago. First installed on "laptop A" at the time, I remember de-installing it and then re-installing and reactivating it on Laptop B.
    Whilst using Laptop B I also purchased Adobe Lightroom 4.
    Both of these came on disk for installation, I still have the disks and the registration keys

    I'm now on to Laptop C. It has no CD drive, and it is also a Windows 10 machine.

    Should I just accept my fate and pay to get something new, like the current subscription model ?
    Are there free options I should consider which are just as good for the things I do (mainly re-sizing, blemish correction, changing levels and a little bit of layering ?
  • Wet Kipper wrote: »
    I have Adobe Creative Suite (including Photoshop CS) from a number of years ago. First installed on "laptop A" at the time, I remember de-installing it and then re-installing and reactivating it on Laptop B.
    Whilst using Laptop B I also purchased Adobe Lightroom 4.
    Both of these came on disk for installation, I still have the disks and the registration keys

    I'm now on to Laptop C. It has no CD drive, and it is also a Windows 10 machine.

    Should I just accept my fate and pay to get something new, like the current subscription model ?
    Are there free options I should consider which are just as good for the things I do (mainly re-sizing, blemish correction, changing levels and a little bit of layering ?

    Have you tried Gimp? It's not as powerful (feature-laden) as Photoshop, and it's clunky, but it has a huge online help base, and it's free.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Or have you got access to another machine with a drive from which you can create a ISO?
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