ChrisR Computer/Internet problems (split-from-new-bandsaw)

[scrimper]

Second attempt to post this, Windows 10, I can’t find words to describe how useless it is, or ones that can be used on the forum. :evil:

Chris, you should not be having problems with windows 10 now, it's 8 months since it was released and all the little problems have been fixed, it's not really much different to Windows 7.

What sort of problems are you experiencing with W10?

 

[ChrisR]

Hi Scrimper.

I am constantly receiving , Windows 10 updates, the last one, about three weeks ago took approx two hours to download, that made my computer un-connectable to the internet ( the message was “this computer does not have the necessary protocol for internet connection”). However the standard switching off of both computer and router cleared that one. The result my computer is now painfully slow, and my internet connection is as slow as, back in the dial up days. My email has been receive only since (Windows 10) first forced its way onto my computer, not being computer savvy, I am unable to resolve that one.

If my computer was old, I would be blaming that, but it’s less than two years old, and a top end (HP laptop), at purchase it cost me over £1000.00.

Purchased new mobile phones for both wife and my-self, at the weekend, was offered phones with (Windows 10) which I instantly refused, young lady adviser was not surprised, she said that she has never been able to sell one, with (Windows 10), just get told by the customers how bad (Windows 10) is. She said that she personally has an (Apple Mac), and that it is very easy to use and has never had any problems.

So from me it’s (Windows 10) Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, and some. :evil:

Take care.

Chris.

Sorry Geoff this is completlly off your original topic.

 

[CHJ]

Chris you really need to get someone to sort your internet/router connection out, I fear you are blaming the computer and windows 10 for poor performance when you are connecting via the equivalent of a piece of wet string.

You can prove that point by visiting a relative or friend/neighbour with your laptop and using their internet connection to update and use your laptop.

Switching machines off in the middle of a slow software update is never a good idea, always a risk of ending up with a corrupt file.

The only machine we have had experience any problems with was one that had filled the hard disk with complex games and a lot of videos to the point that the updates for the operating system and video drivers etc. could not find clear disk space to work properly. The individual had been running network games and downloading new software 24/7 for several weeks without allowing it to update.

 

[scrimper]

Purchased new mobile phones for both wife and my-self, at the weekend, was offered phones with (Windows 10) which I instantly refused, young lady adviser was not surprised, she said that she has never been able to sell one, with (Windows 10), just get told by the customers how bad (Windows 10) is. She said that she personally has an (Apple Mac), and that it is very easy to use and has never had any problems.

To be fair Chris most Mac users are not going to have a good word to say about any version of windows, it goes with the territory, windows phones have never been popular and there is talk of MS stopping supplying them. However windows 10 is a perfectly good OS, if W7 works on your PC there is no reason why W10 won't do the same especially on a PC as 'young' as yours, IMHO W10 is not that much different from W7 in fact I notice hardly any difference between the 2 systems and all the programme that I use on W7 work perfectly well on W10.

As CHJ says you need to be looking more to your router and connections than a fault with W10.

Every windows version that has arrived has always been heavily criticised especially by inexperienced staff who work in PC shops, they think it makes them appear knowledgeable to advise of windows failings. in actual fact most don't really have a clue! some windows versions have been troublesome at first release but others such as Xp Windows 7 and now windows 10 are pretty damn good.

(Sorry to deviate on a bandsaw thread.)

 

[woodpig]

To be fair Chris most Mac users are not going to have a good word to say about any version of windows.

Probably true. :lol: but perhaps there's a reason for that. I worked in mixed computer environments for 25 years and have used most of the offerings from Apple and Microsoft up to Windows 7 and know which I prefer. All the switchers I've met have also been quite emphatic about their dislike of MS products once they'd use a Mac for a little while. Still you can't beat cheap and with PC mini towers costing £299 it's a compelling argument for some. I found this quite interesting.

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-profe ... refer-Macs

 

[ChrisR]

Many thanks all.

Never had Windows 7, I understand that it was a good system, but the new computer came with Windows 8.1, never did understand that. :?

I think I may have to bite the bullet, pay up and engage the services of a computer engineer.

As my computer knowledge on a scale of one to ten, would be about minus three. :roll:

Chris.

Again I apologise to Geoff for distracting from his original subject.

 

[Alexam]

Hi Chris, Get someone n to sort this out for you. If I have problems, thankfully not often, I get an expert who can usually sort most things out within an hour. There is no call out fee and he charges £35 an hour and another guy who charges £40 per hour. It really is 'small beer' to avoid the frustration. I usually list the problems and type them out for him, let him know what they are before he gets to me and he is mentally prepared. Both of them will run over an hour but not charge for that, but now I don't bother to try more than the odd search on the internet about the problem and if not sorted, give one of my guys a call. It really is the way to go if you are not up with computers and I certainly am a real duffer.

Don't be such a tight a...... And save on the blood pressure.

Malcolm

 

[scrimper]

Never had Windows 7, I understand that it was a good system, but the new computer came with Windows 8.1, never did understand that. :?

I think I may have to bite the bullet, pay up and engage the services of a computer engineer.

As my computer knowledge on a scale of one to ten, would be about minus three. :roll:

Chris Windows 10 is far superior to Windows 8/8.1, if you managed to get along with W8.1 you should have no problems with W10 once you get it sorted out.

I wish I lived nearer to you I would happily help you with your PC, have you not got a friend who can help you out.
Computers are not that difficult to sort out but many users don't have the confidence to have a fiddle with them.

 

[nev]

How fast or slow is your internet connection?
http://speedtest.btwholesale.com
Operating system updates can be BIG files, regardless of Win or Mac. If you have a slow internet connection they can take many hours.
(My old house had a 1Mb/s internet connection and any updates would literally take all day.)
And as you've discovered when its updating everything slows down.
Stopping an update mid stream can also mess things up.

If you can, go back to a previous installation of Windows when things were working ok, see here..
http://www.howtogeek.com/206271/how-to- ... ws-update/
Then choose how and when windows updates so it does not do it automatically but notifies you when it is required...
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/wind ... -installed
and then update when it suits you i.e. overnight or when you go out for the day.

Also, something I learned far too late from https://opensignal.com/knowledgebase/th ... egabit.php

The Difference between a Megabyte (MB) and a Megabit (Mb)

One thing that often gives people confusion is the difference between a Megabyte (used for file size) and a Megabit (used for download speeds). People often assume that a download speed of 1 Megabit per second (1 Mbps) will allow them to download a 1 Megabyte file in one second. This is not the case, a Megabit is 1/8 as big as a Megabyte, meaning that to download a 1MB file in 1 second you would need a connection of 8Mbps. The difference between a Gigabyte (GB) and a Gigabit (Gb) is the same, with a Gigabyte being 8 times larger than a Gigabit.

 

[Eric The Viking]

To be fair Chris most Mac users are not going to have a good word to say about any version of windows.

Probably true. :lol: but perhaps there's a reason for that. I worked in mixed computer environments for 25 years and have used most of the offerings from Apple and Microsoft up to Windows 7 and know which I prefer. All the switchers I've met have also been quite emphatic about their dislike of MS products once they'd use a Mac for a little while. Still you can't beat cheap and with PC mini towers costing £299 it's a compelling argument for some. I found this quite interesting.

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-profe ... refer-Macs

+0.75

I like Macs, I really do. I first used one 25 years ago in an environment including HP-UX, Windows and even MPE (big(ish)-iron operating system). The Mac was simply more productive for all but computing tasks, HP-UX was second best, and Windows a poor third.

I've just bought elderly parents an iPad, but although it will suit them well, Apple's lack of attention to detail and price gouging is really annoying* - I wouldn't get one for myself presently, as there are far better Android alternatives out there.

Likewise with their desktop machines. I can make a VERY functional desktop Linux machine for around 200 quid all-in (typing on one now, for example, that cost around 180, all new components). Macs are beautiful things, but Apple's value-add simply isn't what it used to be.

We've been Windows-free for almost two years now, and I rarely find it a nuisance (just occasionally).

E.

*check out the Apple pencil if you want an ironic laugh. Apple want 100 quid for something that came as part of my Android tablet and which works better (and more usefully) on Android. The Apple "pencil" (stylus) also needs power, is fragile, and limited compared to the Wacom equivalent (that needs no batteries). They have the nerve to describe their stylus as "innovative", too. Don't get me started on the cost of their iPad covers (and clip on keyboard) either.

 

[Wuffles]

To be fair Chris most Mac users are not going to have a good word to say about any version of windows.

Probably true. :lol: but perhaps there's a reason for that. I worked in mixed computer environments for 25 years and have used most of the offerings from Apple and Microsoft up to Windows 7 and know which I prefer. All the switchers I've met have also been quite emphatic about their dislike of MS products once they'd use a Mac for a little while. Still you can't beat cheap and with PC mini towers costing £299 it's a compelling argument for some. I found this quite interesting.

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-profe ... refer-Macs

+0.75

I like Macs, I really do. I first used one 25 years ago in an environment including HP-UX, Windows and even MPE (big(ish)-iron operating system). The Mac was simply more productive for all but computing tasks, HP-UX was second best, and Windows a poor third.

I've just bought elderly parents an iPad, but although it will suit them well, Apple's lack of attention to detail and price gouging is really annoying* - I wouldn't get one for myself presently, as there are far better Android alternatives out there.

Likewise with their desktop machines. I can make a VERY functional desktop Linux machine for around 200 quid all-in (typing on one now, for example, that cost around 180, all new components). Macs are beautiful things, but Apple's value-add simply isn't what it used to be.

We've been Windows-free for almost two years now, and I rarely find it a nuisance (just occasionally).

E.

*check out the Apple pencil if you want an ironic laugh. Apple want 100 quid for something that came as part of my Android tablet and which works better (and more usefully) on Android. The Apple "pencil" (stylus) also needs power, is fragile, and limited compared to the Wacom equivalent (that needs no batteries). They have the nerve to describe their stylus as "innovative", too. Don't get me started on the cost of their iPad covers (and clip on keyboard) either.

You seem to know what you're talking about there Eric. And being someone who knows what they are talking about means you perhaps should spend a little time investigating that the Apple pencil thing isn't just a plastic finger-like, dabbing thing as comes with android tablets, it's a bit smarter than that. Not a fanboi.

 

[Eric The Viking]

... meaning that to download a 1MB file in 1 second you would need a connection of 8Mbps. The difference between a Gigabyte (GB) and a Gigabit (Gb) is the same, with a Gigabyte being 8 times larger than a Gigabit.

Sadly you will need at least 10Mbit/s for a 1MB/s download speed, because of parity and error correction/compression overheads.

Then there is that horrid thing that disk manufacturers have done for decades: counting megabytes as millions of bytes, rather than in powers of two.

The other nasty was a crime of my old industry: sizing backup media capacities assuming 2:1 compression ratios - utterly pointless and a total waste of everyone's time, users' and support technicians' time particularly. With most data, a compression ratio of 1.6:1 (in zip files, backups and so on) is optimistic - so many filestructures nowadays incorporate compression, and you can only rarely re-compress something already compressed and gain anything. It's common for me to work on a JPEG file from my camera, only to have it grow slightly when I save my work -- JPEGs are usually pretty efficiently stored.

 

[Eric The Viking]

You seem to know what you're talking about there Eric. And being someone who knows what they are talking about means you perhaps should spend a little time investigating that the Apple pencil thing isn't just a plastic finger-like, dabbing thing as comes with android tablets, it's a bit smarter than that. Not a fanboi.

It's Apple re-inventing (badly) something that didn't need it. My guess is that it's a mixture of NIH and a reluctance to pay for Wacom technology (if their patents are still good after all this time).

Back in the late 1980s/90s Wacom did all the hard work on styluses: detecting pressure, pen angle, extra buttons, etc., and managing to get all that from the stylus inductively, i.e. without the need for internal batteries. I have two Wacom tablets in daily use - one "proper" Wacom one on a Linux box, which I can load macros for, and really fine-tune,etc. The other is the licenced/OEM Wacom technology in my Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. It's not quite as good, but that's a limitation of the OS, not the stylus system. I can still draw with it freehand, and the handwriting recognition is very usable. It's not a toy at all.

E.

PS: My last Wacom tablet worked for 20 years on umpteen different machines, even using a USB to serial converter. There's still nothing wrong with it, but the necessary driver hacks for Ubuntu haven't been done (beyond me, sadly). I'm still keeping it as a spare, as they'll get round to it one day. I'd give the Apple "pencil" two or three years at most before the battery fails (can't be replaced), and/or the power connector is accidentally snapped off. It doesn't even have stylus buttons on it and it has to be paired to the device it's being used with. The Wacom tablets, incidentally, work just fine on Apple desktop PCs, and are very popular amongst graphic artists. Mine is an Intuous Pro. with an A5 drawing area.

 

[Racers]

The main problem with home PC is the freeware that people download, if you think you are getting something fully tested and virus/trojan free think again.

Pete

 

[Wuffles]

You seem to know what you're talking about there Eric. And being someone who knows what they are talking about means you perhaps should spend a little time investigating that the Apple pencil thing isn't just a plastic finger-like, dabbing thing as comes with android tablets, it's a bit smarter than that. Not a fanboi.

It's Apple re-inventing (badly) something that didn't need it. My guess is that it's a mixture of NIH and a reluctance to pay for Wacom technology (if their patents are still good after all this time).

Back in the late 1980s/90s Wacom did all the hard work on styluses: detecting pressure, pen angle, extra buttons, etc., and managing to get all that from the stylus inductively, i.e. without the need for internal batteries. I have two Wacom tablets in daily use - one "proper" Wacom one on a Linux box, which I can load macros for, and really fine-tune,etc. The other is the licenced/OEM Wacom technology in my Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. It's not quite as good, but that's a limitation of the OS, not the stylus system. I can still draw with it freehand, and the handwriting recognition is very usable. It's not a toy at all.

E.

PS: My last Wacom tablet worked for 20 years on umpteen different machines, even using a USB to serial converter. There's still nothing wrong with it, but the necessary driver hacks for Ubuntu haven't been done (beyond me, sadly). I'm still keeping it as a spare, as they'll get round to it one day. I'd give the Apple "pencil" two or three years at most before the battery fails (can't be replaced), and/or the power connector is accidentally snapped off. It doesn't even have stylus buttons on it and it has to be paired to the device it's being used with. The Wacom tablets, incidentally, work just fine on Apple desktop PCs, and are very popular amongst graphic artists. Mine is an Intuous Pro. with an A5 drawing area.

You I have had Wacom tablets for years too, sadly none of them worked on a touchscreen computer, still needed the tablet, perhaps they've moved on.

 

[Roughcut]

I'm certainly not compooter savvy. :roll:
But over the years I've learned the windows updates although annoying are necessary.
If life is too short to sit waiting for updates to complete then maybe set your computer to update overnight or when you are out.
I use free versions of Malwarebytes anti-malware and Ccleaner regularly which help to keep things running smoothly.
My own experiences with Norton and McAfee anti virus were that they slowed up my pc.
I now don't use any anti virus program and have not experienced any problems, in fact the computer seems to run better.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The main problem with home PC is the freeware that people download, if you think you are getting something fully tested and virus/trojan free think again.

Pete

Reminds me of the old quote - if you're on your computer and you're not buying anything, it's you that's being sold.

 

[WoodMangler]

How fast or slow is your internet connection?
http://speedtest.btwholesale.com

Or, if you don't want to give BT Marketing yet more ammunition to deluge you with 'offers', try http://www.speedtest.net/.