COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Pluggy »

plaques wrote: 14 Aug 2019, 08:59
Pluggy wrote: 14 Aug 2019, 08:49 With a more typical Pentium or Celeron, 4GB of ram and a hard drive expect 3 hours +
That's the one I've got. The annoying thing was that there was no indication that this was a major update before you set off. Once in you are told 'this may take some time' and ' your computer will switch of and on several times. So here I am on my steam driven desktop.
Windows 10 is like that, it rarely says anything about updates, it just gets on and does it. On the plus side, updates are less likely to break things or itself than earlier versions of Windows, on the negative side unless you have a good spec machine, updates will bring it to its knees. The RAM and Hardrive are usually reasonably straight forward to upgrade on most machines. Alternatively abandon windows and install Ubuntu or another Linux variant which are usually kinder on older machines than windows 10. If you just use it as an internet terminal or doing the usual run of the mill stuff its no hardship. Having said that the later versions of Ubuntu are still fairly hard on machines. You can run Ubuntu 16.04 which still has a couple of years of life left in it on fairly low end kit and not suffer too much.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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PanBiker wrote: 14 Aug 2019, 09:32
Pluggy wrote: 14 Aug 2019, 09:14 I don't have an iron grip on OGFB, Ian has already taken over the day to day maintenance and encouraging donations etc and just pays me to keep the hosting going. Anyone who thinks they can do a better job is more than welcome to take over and do it any way they want.
Indeed and nothing is cast in stone. I am now on the annual MRI rollercoaster with my brain surgeon buddy and owing to the nature of my journey, circumstances could change in an instant. We don't bother about that though at the moment just crack on. I am in agreement with your feelings though.
With my declining health as well, we may be forced into passing it on whether we want to or not. Old age eh ? As I now say on my own website :

"Advancing Years and declining health means I am now semi-retired. However I will continue to work for customers as long as I am able. I have reduced my web presence and advertising and I no longer chase trade"
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

We're very lucky to have both of you so stop talking about iron grips and possible trouble! Just carry on basking in the approbation of all members! I agree with Plugs about the devil you know.
Updates, 65mb of Ubuntu received and loaded yesterday in well under five minutes including restart. A testament to their systems and Pluggy's expertise in designing fast systems. How long has FM3 been going now Pluggy? Still faster than I am!
Later at 06:00. The site has slowed down....
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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It's not advances in technology that worries me, it's people not using it carefully that causes trouble...
`Biostar security software 'leaked a million fingerprints'' LINK
`More than a million fingerprints and other sensitive data have been exposed online by a biometric security firm, researchers say. Researchers working with cyber-security firm VPNMentor say they accessed data from a security tool called Biostar 2. It is used by thousands of companies worldwide, including the UK's Metropolitan Police, to control access to specific parts of secure facilities.....According to VPNMentor, the exposed data, discovered on 5 August, was made private on 13 August. It is not clear how long it was accessible. As well as fingerprint records, the researchers say they found photographs of people, facial recognition data, names, addresses, passwords, employment history and records of when they had accessed secure areas'.

`It's crazy, just crazy," Noam Rotem, one of the researchers who found the data, told the BBC. He pointed out that biometric information such as fingerprints could never be made private again once lost. He said he and his colleagues had had difficulty when trying to report the exposed data to Suprema. "We started calling all of the offices one by one and had to deal with people just hanging up the phone," he said. In total, 23 gigabytes of data containing nearly 30 million records were found exposed online. "This could be used in a wide range of criminal activities that would be disastrous for both the businesses and organisations affected, as well as their employees or clients," said VPNMentor in a blog about the discovery. The data leak was "horrendous", according to Simon Birchall, managing director for Timeware, a British firm that installs Suprema fingerprint readers. Mr Birchall said Timeware had developed its own software for the devices and did not provide Biostar 2 to clients. "It looks like someone has taken the standard Biostar 2 product and installed it on an open network," he told the BBC. "It's just silly what they've done."'
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Pluggy »

I built the FM 3 in 2013 Stanley. Had a couple of upgrades since. The 2013 I7 processor is still in high end I3 / low end I5 desktop territory today. It is still faster than almost all laptops in 2019. Its certainly faster than anything in my collection of computers. I'd deny big kev a bit longer yet. :biggrin2:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by PanBiker »

My desktop is an I5 with 8Gb of Ram and a SSD drive now for the OS. Runs W10 no problem and boots in about 5 seconds, plenty fast enough with the applications as well.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Big Kev »

I have an i5 now with SSDs so it'll be a while before I look at upgrading, it has 16gb of RAM too so copes very well with W10 and Photoshop. There's not much else on it :-)
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

Sounds as though you're all catching up with me now but remember Pluggy did this six years ago and If I remember rightly people questioned why I needed something on this level. I love it..... Thank you Pluggy!
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

The site has just slowed down seriously, it's been fine all morning up to now.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by chinatyke »

Stanley wrote: 17 Aug 2019, 06:07 The site has just slowed down seriously, it's been fine all morning up to now.
It's because all the kids in the northern hemisphere are on holiday and have nothing better to do than clog up the internet by playing online computer games which are very demanding on bandwidth. It will improve when they go back to school.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by plaques »

Here's a light hearted totally pointless use of computers Box. Just as productive as a games machine.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

Brilliant! Reminds me of those old cast iron money boxes where you placed a penny on a tray and the lid slowly opened, then a hand shot out, grabbed the penny and the lid slammed shut. I want one!
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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That box was designed for use in voting booths if there is a second referendum on Brexit. If a voter pushes the switch to the Remain position the little arm pushes it back to the Leave position. There are thousands of the boxes stacked ready in warehouses up and down the UK. It's known by the Brexiteers as `Taking Back Control'. :smile:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Why Oh why does my windows 10 laptop keep popping up the message. 'Your PC ran into trouble and we need to shut down. Collecting data for analysis etc.' After wasting 5 minutes getting its act in order and requiring you to restore the page you were reading you find everything you had read previously has moved off screen leaving you to switch to 'active topics'. This isn't once every blue moon but probably two to three times a week and this is after the enormous update.
Has Microsoft got a grudge against OG?
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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How old is your laptop? It could be the update corrupted one of the drivers (mine was the graphics driver). Check everything is up to date in Device Manager.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by plaques »

I'll have a look at that Kev. About 4 years old. Don't keep any files or pictures on it and there's no extra apps other than what Microsoft have added. This has been going on before and after the big update. You are sat there having a quiet read, touching nothing and not asking it to do anything when Bingo. Its shut down time.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

Sounds like the old blue screen P. Commiserations. Go and kidnap Pluggy and get him to install Ubuntu for you.... 85mb of upgrade this morning for Libre Office, took about two minutes.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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This is worth knowing about...
`The new mobile phone scam delivering a problem' LINK
If you've had an unexpected delivery of an item you didn't order, the `bottom line' is this: `If a courier unexpectedly comes to collect an item at your home, do not hand it over. Check their credentials and call the company they claim to be representing. If you have any fears, contact the police. "If you receive an unexpected high-value package such as a phone, contact the retailer immediately and arrange for it to be sent back, as the scammer may have attempted to intercept the delivery or will pose as a 'courier' to collect the item," said Mr French.'
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

As I say so often, there are some cunning buggers out there... Thanks for that Tiz.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

See THIS BBC report about BA and the 'email error'. You have to wonder what level of resource is invested in IT at British Airways. Only a few days ago it was the baggage handling system. Perhaps they need to employ some hackers.....
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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I note that BT has supplied two of the Western Isles in the Hebrides with full fibre 1gbs connection. But they point out that it is a massive job to roll this out nation wide.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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It's no wonder people find their identity being stolen...
`Google finds 'indiscriminate iPhone attack lasting years'' LINK
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

I heard the report on the news Tiz. Thanks for the link.
I wonder if any of us has escaped losing data ? It almost seems like the price you have to pay for accessing the web.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by PanBiker »

Since the last major upgrade to Windows 10 which I did on my laptop and desktop last week. I have noticed a few changes in functionality:

When on the initial logon screen there is a subtle change to some of the icons presented.

When logging on, the background image blurs for about a second before presenting you with the desktop. The logon is considerably faster than the previous version.

I have noticed also that on my laptop it always starts with Firefox already open and on the index page of OneGuy which is my default start page. This despite always closing all applications and the browser before shutting down in the previous session.

When on "Active Topics" on OneGuy, the "ghosting" of the last clicked "jump to last post" icon has returned. Very handy for seeing where you have got to in the list. This feature disappeared with the initial release of W10 but looks to have been reinstated with this one. :smile:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

There's always something lurking to upset your world. This morning it was the problem of a router that had died during the night. It was getting power but not reacting, like the Python Parrot it was F****** dead!
My old router is functioning OK, now I have to go through the faff of getting a replacement.
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