Before I submit and buy a new PC. ...Help!

[RogerS]

....
I would be pleased to accept RogerS's apology and forget it.

Roy

You have it.

 

[RogerP]

now all I have to do is get Virgin media to set up on the main PC

If you have Virgin Cable Broadband you shouldn't need to do anything providing you have a working Ethernet port - just plug in. Or if wireless it again should just work (with the password if it's protected). Anyway that how it is here - any computer plugged in or a with wireless just works.

It just won't run wireless. God knows why. Move it more than a foot from the router and it goes offline.

Sounds like you could do with a new (better) wireless router.

 

[Chems]

Change the wireless broadcast channel. If its connecting but loosing at range that's about all it can be. Leave it along time between changes while your trying to find a better channel as its not instantaneous with my Virgin router.

 

[Benchwayze]

How do I do that Chems?

Cheers.
John

 

[matt]

How do I do that Chems?

Cheers.
John

You'll find it in your router. Login via your web browser using the URL for your router. Once in, got to the wireless settings and you'll find it there. You can get software (inSSIDer, for example) that helps determine which are the most crowded channels in your area, thus allowing you to avoid those ones.

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks Matt.

I have to admit though, I am lost. I will alert No. One Son, later today and get him to look into this!

Obliged.

John

 

[Chems]

I enjoyed reading the off topic posts in here about how people thought macs can't get viruses and there was a related new story this morning:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13453497

According to one of the big computer security firms they believe that mac users are more susceptible to pishing and conware. This is including the iphone as well as the desktops. There line of reason was that a lot of people who don't have the knowledge to keep PC's going (lets face it they crash and break a lot and you all need to know someone to help you out once in a while) turn to macs as they are seen as the easier lower maintenance option. Now these people they said were more likely to click malicious things a more advanced power user would not. Then they translated it to the iphone and said iphone users were 70% of the victims of smartphone related harmful software and phishing attacks. They cited again that smart people in buisness had a blackberry and techy people who weren't apple lovers all had android handsets. But I think that the iphone one could be attributed to how many children/young people have them as they are a status item and they are very susceptible to such things.

Food for thought. Did you change your wireless channel John?

 

[Pvt_Ryan]

I was going to post that but decided not to kick the hornets nest.. Since someone else kicked it what the hell:

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/05/1 ... -Questions

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/05/1 ... -Explosion

and for reference to the fanatical apple zealots:

http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/05/1 ... ns-of-Fans

 

[Dibs-h]

How do I do that Chems?

Cheers.
John

You'll find it in your router. Login via your web browser using the URL for your router. Once in, got to the wireless settings and you'll find it there. You can get software (inSSIDer, for example) that helps determine which are the most crowded channels in your area, thus allowing you to avoid those ones.

I ripped out our Netgear wireless router (Cable not ADSL) and replaced it with a Linksys WRT54 router reflashed to DD-WRT, which is Open Source and the signal in the opposite corner of the house, 1 floor away is very acceptable as opposed to non-existent.

Like it so much I bought a few more to re-flash and turn into Wireless Repeaters. Not to mention that my VOIP\SIP phones run a lot better thru these than with the Netgear.

Dibs

 

[gus3049]

i still think all the virus / trojan bit is irrelevant. Now that Macs are more popular there are bound to be attacks and more dumbos opening things they shouldn't.

I use a Mac because of the way it works. We have already been through the car analogy.

 

[devonwoody]

I am happy with my PC because I have many programs that will not run on a Mac.

But is there a basic mac or system that just works the web, I dont want a mac for anything else.

Blackberries or whatever?

At a low price and running cost.

 

[Benchwayze]

I enjoyed reading the off topic posts in here about how people thought macs can't get viruses and there was a related new story this morning:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13453497

According to one of the big computer security firms they believe that mac users are more susceptible to pishing and conware. This is including the iphone as well as the desktops. There line of reason was that a lot of people who don't have the knowledge to keep PC's going (lets face it they crash and break a lot and you all need to know someone to help you out once in a while) turn to macs as they are seen as the easier lower maintenance option. Now these people they said were more likely to click malicious things a more advanced power user would not. Then they translated it to the iphone and said iphone users were 70% of the victims of smartphone related harmful software and phishing attacks. They cited again that smart people in buisness had a blackberry and techy people who weren't apple lovers all had android handsets. But I think that the iphone one could be attributed to how many children/young people have them as they are a status item and they are very susceptible to such things.

Food for thought. Did you change your wireless channel John?

I haven't done that step. On my home page, I can't find any buttons that relate to channels or any editing links whatsoever. I will have to call Virginmedia I guess!

Regards and my thanks.
John

 

[Chems]

if you press windows key and r at the same time it will bring up run. In there type cmd, hit enter. Then type in ipconfig hit enter. You'll get a load of numbers etc. Look out for one that starts 192.168.something.something

Type that in as a web URL, that will take you to your router home page. Then look in there for wireless settings and change the channel. I'm assuming when you mean on your home page your just talking about your normal virgin media home page not your routers home page?


DW - There is a free Mac type operating system called Unbuntu, you can just use it for the web. Its very very fast compared to windows. Perhaps if you wanted just a web machine get an old second hand laptop and put Unbuntu on it.

 

[tekno.mage]

Niaive users of any type of computer system are more likely than more experienced users to be caught by trojans, viruses, phishing and any other scam that happens to plop into their inbox or on to the screen of their browser. It's likely that the current high fashion status of Apple products has resulted in more niaive users being attracted to buying Apple computers and other items.

I've used and supported many kinds of computers including mainframes, minis, BBC micros, PCs and Macs over the years. Prior to 1999 I used PCs running Windows (3.0 and onwards) for several years, both at home and at work. I currently use a second-hand Apple G5 machine which is now 7 years old and still does everything I need it to (graphic design, DTP, general office work, swapping files with users of other operating systems, PC, Mac or Unix etc). My 11-year old second-hand G4 (my first ever Mac) is also still functional and is kept as a backup machine. It's main drawback is (like older PCs) it does not support the faster I/O peripherals now available or (internally) very large hard disks. However, it can still run all the software I use on my G5 as they are both running the same version of the Mac operating system, albeit a little slower, and can access all the data I have on external FW800 disks connected to the G5, albeit using the slower FW400 interface. Not sure this would be true of an 11-year-old PC.

The main reason I moved to Mac was the poor reliability of Microsoft Windows (Windows 95/98 & 2000). I hadn't realised quite how bad this was until I worked at a printing company who used both Macs and PCs. The Macs were switched on in the morning, used all day and never needed a reboot part way through the day because the operating system had mysteriously "hung up". The PCs all needed a least one reboot a day to clear a Windows "hang up" - which often resulted in work having to be redone because the operator hadn't saved it frequently enough before the crash. Added to this were frequent Windows or Windows Applications problems that could only be resolved by a complete Windows re-install. Font and colour management were also more complicated and unreliable on the PCs - even with Adobe products which included their own font and colour management software. There were no similar problems on the Macs. I was also able to see just easy it was to transfer PC data to a Mac and found all the programs I wanted to use were available on both platforms.

In terms of hardware reliability, that simply comes down to getting what you pay for. High end PCs costing as much or more than the equivalent Mac should be just as reliable in terms of hardware, but cheap low-end PCs will probably not be purely because they are made down to a cost and use cheaper, less robust, components (particularly the power supply).

Things may be different now, Apple have switched to using Intel processors and Microsoft may have massively improved the stability of their Windows operating system (although I hear friends still complaining about the instability of later revisions of Windows, and the need for frequent reboots to sort problems out.)

However, having made the move to Mac, I don't see myself going back to PCs. I personally find Macs easier to use and to support.

I am however somewhat worried about the "high fashion" cult status Apple products now have. I can see this as the start of a slippery slope which ends in the company taking it's eye off the ball in terms of producing stable and reliable software platforms that are suppported for many years after they've been introduced.

A "cool" look to a computer is all well and good (and I much prefer my brushed alloy G5 tower to a nasty beige plastic box), but I'd much rather have a reliable computer in a horrible-looking beige case than a cool looking piece of technology that's unstable and crashes all the time. What to me just seemed a bit of fun when Apple first came out with the colourful iMacs and G4s, then the metal-boxed G5 towers and iMacs that looked like angle-poise lamps could well being going much too far down the road where looks are more important than functionality/reliability/stability of the product.

 

[Benchwayze]

I'm much obliged Chems.

I have Virgin set up on a laptop that I bought in an emergency, when I lost two machines to various maladies! However, for me a laptop isn't viable for regular use. I have a problem with Spondylosis, and I need a monitor that is at eye level. I find with a laptop I am crouching over the thing, and for long periods that is not good!

So I am trying to get my desktop PC online, as it was before the virus wiped out Windows! I reinstalled okay, but although the router socket is live, and shows an LED, (Should that be a LED?) the router won't pick up and install itself on the desktop machine. No. One son is going to try, but that will be when he has time off work! Which isn't often.

Thanks though, and I will try what you suggest too.

Regards
John

 

[Benchwayze]

Niaive users of any type of computer system are more likely than more experienced users to be caught by trojans, viruses, phishing and any other scam that happens to plop into their inbox or on to the screen of their browser. It's likely that the current high fashion status of Apple products has resulted in more niaive users being attracted to buying Apple computers and other items.
.

I wouldn't call myself a naive user. I have messed with PC's since the 1970's in one way or another.

My Avast anti-virus signalled a virus to me, and asked if the file should be deleted. As it was a trusted program (Avast that is) I said yes. Result? Avast wiped my rundll.exe file, so I was unable to open any programs from shortcuts. In the end I had to reinstall. So I don't think I was naive. I think I got caught by a fault in the avast system.

Unless my reaction was instinctive, and I hit yes too soon! :mrgreen:

John

 

[Chems]

How are you currently connected, hard wired or wireless?

 

[Benchwayze]

Chems,

The laptop is 'hardwired' to the router, which is plugged to the modem, which of course is connected to the fibre-optic cable.
The Desktop PC needs to have the 'mother' connection on it.

When it was working, the laptop was wireless, but if I moved the laptop more than a yard or so from the 'mother' PC the laptop wouldn't stay online. I have a feeling there is no Ethernet card in the main PC TBH. But as it is, I shall be getting a new PC altogether and solve the problem in one fell-swoop! I hope. :mrgreen:

Regards
John

 

[tekno.mage]

I wouldn't call myself a naive user. I have messed with PC's since the 1970's in one way or another.

My Avast anti-virus signalled a virus to me, and asked if the file should be deleted. As it was a trusted program (Avast that is) I said yes. Result? Avast wiped my rundll.exe file, so I was unable to open any programs from shortcuts. In the end I had to reinstall. So I don't think I was naive. I think I got caught by a fault in the avast system.

Unless my reaction was instinctive, and I hit yes too soon! :mrgreen:

John

I didn't intend to suggest you were a naive user - I was following on from a comment that a lot of new Apple users are more likely to fall for trojans etc. than PC users because they are naive.

As you say, looks like there is a bug in your version of the Avast anti-virus software. Although simply deleting an important system file like rundll.exe is hardly a sensible thing for any anti-virus program to do without first warning the user of the possible consequences - a message like "If this file is deleted you may have to re-install Windows or restore your system disk from a non-infected backup" would be useful!!!

 

[Benchwayze]

No problem Kym.

I was just pointing out that we can all fall foul of viruses, however savvy we might be.

At least my machine moves faster now it has had a fresh set-up! . Fortunately I was able to shift my fles onto an external drive!

John