COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Gloria]

Is anyone else having problems accessing orange emails? There were problems with it being erratic a few weeks ago, but my email has now been down for 24hours. I am able to access them through mail2web, but there is no explaination on the Orange/ee website as to what is going on.

[Stanley]

I can't comment on Orange Gloria but I suspect that all the providers are having difficulty handling the increased traffic. I had a glitch not long ago with Talktalk but after a complaint by phone I was miraculously cured. I suspect that there simply isn't enough staff and resources to adequately service the system so they are all running on a permanent knife-edge.

[Tripps]

I feel under attack - from Microsoft! Not content with keep telling me they have reserved a copy of Windows 10 for me, they now try to install it every time I log on, and the latest tactic is to close down the PC in mid operation, and start the download, without so much as a 'by your leave'. I use Windows 7, in fact I deliberately bought this machine, because it didn't have windows 10 on it. They are cleverer than me - not sure how long I can hold out.

[PanBiker]

I upgraded to Windows 10 on my laptop about two months ago now. No real problems after turning off all the stuff I don't want. The OS is platform transferable, i.e same for the Windows mobiles. It has a lot of features only relevant to that platform but once you have ditched them it's pretty much the same as previous versions with a somewhat different layout. easy enough to find your way around though. I upgraded from Windows 7, my desktop machines are still running W7 but I will probably upgrade them also in due course.

I am with Talk Talk Gloria so like Stanley can't really comment on your Orange problem.

[Pluggy]

You can get rid of the Windows 10 nagware with a piece of software called GWX control panel available here : http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/

I've installed it on quite a few customers machines who were sick and tired of it. There isn't much wrong with Windows 10, but my advice still stands, if you've got Windows 7 stay with it. If you've got Windows 8/8.1, upgrade, you don't have a lot to lose. You'll need to upgrade Windows 8 to 8.1 before you upgrade to 10.

http://oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/viewtopi ... 300#p75939

If your windows install is old, cluttered and full of junk and pop ups expect problems if and when you do upgrade.

i'm an old cynic who gets very suspicious if a company is so keen to ram something that costs nothing down your throat.....

I have an orange email account which I don't use except for getting updates from EE/BT whatever. I just have gmail pull it in like all my other email accounts. Haven't noticed any problems but I only get a couple of emails a month to it.

[Stanley]

I was surprised the other day to get mail addressed to my old Freeserve account.

[Tripps]

Pluggy - many thanks for that. I've acquired the program. 'Free at last - free at last'.

I think they should allow you the lifetime of the device on which you bought Windows 7 before forcing you into another newer version.

[Stanley]

'Free at last'. Exactly why I moved to Ubuntu..... No more 'error messages' or blue screens......

[Stanley]

I've found a marvellous use for my new compressor in the shed. You'd be amazed what a difference it makes to a well used keyboard if you blow the muck out from between the keys with a well directed blast of high pressure air! Don't take my word for it, try it out for yourselves!

[Tizer]

Did it blow out any keys? Did you first attempt at the post look like this?...
"Don' ake my word for i , ry i ou for yourselves!"

[Stanley]

No, no problems, I did it in the shed and it was surprising how much muck flew out!

[Pluggy]

Had an anonymous number call my business line which I answered with a cheery "Good Morning, Barlick Computers". A seconds delay and then click, bzzzzzz.

Sounds like Microsoft with an urgent message concerning the security of my computer......

Not.

[plaques]

Talking of the dreaded Microsoft. For some reason I got it into my head that I ought to do a disc cleanup on my windows 10 machine. After a quick search within windows 10 I couldn't find an access trail to this function. Falling back to a Google search none of these proved positive. Back into the bowels of windows 10 I finally managed to drag it to the surface. All this had taken a good half hour and three nervous breakdowns. This of course may be just because I'm a thicky so I won't spoil the fun for anyone else who likes a bit of a challenge.

[PanBiker]

Automatic defrag is enabled by default in Windows 10. If you do want to invoke manual maintenance, it's all in the same place as previous versions of Windows.

This PC (formerly My Computer)

Right click and select properties on the hard drive.

Select tools tab and then error check or defrag.

[Stanley]

Pluggy tells me that Ubuntu doesn't have defrag because it doesn't need it. Tell me why this is again Plugs.....

[Big Kev]

Linux scatters different files all over the disk, leaving large amounts of free space between them. This allows them to grow wothout the need to split them up. If they do start to fragment you ideally need a bigger hard drive.

[PanBiker]

Horses for courses really, Linux magazine still recommends defragmenting or reorganising the data on ext2, 3 and 4 partitions on occasion. Fragmented files however originally ordered on the disk all have the same effect of slowing down the computer. Linux chucks the files all over the place creating fragmentation to provide room for editing which is fine until the disk starts to fill up. Without a built in utility you then have to manually re order your files or seek out a utilty to do the job for you.

Defragmenting Linux

Windows on the other hand with FAT or NTFS partitions works from a contiguous file position and uses a built in background utility to try and keep it that way. It's transparent to the user.

Both systems will still suffer if there is not sufficient free work space on the drive.

[plaques]

From what I can see on Windows 10 there is an automatic scheduled defrag which you can set at the interval you require. Mine was set at one week. Since I've never played about with it this seems to be the default setting. But what do I know, I couldn't get PanBiker's 'right click' to work. In fact that was nervous breakdown number one at the start of this nightmare.

[PanBiker]

Right mouse click is the standard button for opening up drop down menu's on any Windows driven PC, is your mouse OK?

What happens if you right click on the desktop?

If you get a menu there it should work for any other file or icon.

[plaques]

PanBiker, your 'right click' method was the first one I tried as part of my Google search. The Google replies to this method were favourable so I was a bit deflated when the right click just dropped a menu that was identical to what I was already seeing on the screen listing. With much playing about I found two methods of getting to the accessories. Neither of them involving a right click. In truth its probably my ignorance of the logic behind windows 10 that's giving me my problems.
Evenings are reserved for time on my desktop machine which is still running XP. That should tell you something. Its probably time to go up to the library and get a book on windows 10.

[PanBiker]

It seems like it is just unfamiliarity with the new interface. The shiny new presentation for Windows 10 has to suit multi platform usage (mobile phones and tablets) as well as PC's. Under the surface it's pretty much the same. The method I describe above to get to defrag would hold good for any version from Windows 95 onwards.

There is huge amount of information online about the changes that W10 have introduced and plenty on how to get rid of stuff which is not relevant if you are using it on a desktop PC. It's a pity that the install process is not intelligent enough to deploy according to the platform that you are installing on. The ultimate Microsoft objective though is to make all Widows devices behave the same, it's called seamless integration.

[Stanley]

Ian thanks for the defrag link. I read it and perhaps the reason why I have never noticed any deterioration in speed is because I don't use partitions. I have two separate 1.8TiB drives, one for systems and one for data. They both have 1.7TiB free space so I doubt if anything is getting tripped up by fragmentation. I shall leave it well alone!
A bit later, I have just installed the latest update of the OS. 66mb of new Linux. My understanding of the way Ubuntu updates is that it replaces the old version completely and so there should be no problems with fragmentation on the systems disc either as it has so much free space...... Many years ago my late son in law Big Harry told me that you couldn't have too much space on hard drives or in memory and it looks as though he was right.

[Tizer]

I'm not sure Ubuntu does replace the old versions completely, or at least not immediately. I seem to recall in the days of using Synaptic to handle the software there were multiple versions on the disk. But it doesn't bother me either way. Unlike my previous experience with Windows I've never needed to do anything like defrag on Ubuntu. Like Stanley, I have a much larger hard disk than necessary. But the important fact is that we do our housekeeping, get rid of unnecessary large files and don't burden our PCs with bloated MS software. Most people just let everything accumulate on their Windows PC until it grinds to a halt. I suspect that anyone who makes the effort to learn and use a Linux PC will probably be obsessive enough to do the housekeeping!

Now here's something to worry us...
`The problem with forced tech obsolescence' LINK

[Stanley]

Not this kiddie Tiz! The only housekeeping I do is keep up with the updates and make sure that there is plenty of space. I once tried the System Check function but never finished it as I got fed up with all the Nil reports! Update has just informed me that I have a new Firefox in my inbox.... I shall go and do some housekeeping!

[Stanley]

Just out of curiosity Pluggy, what's the current specification for the dream machine? Is solid state technology getting towards the stage where it is feasible? I love hearing your views on this and one day we will build it! No pockets in a shroud and I have to keep in front of my grandchildren...... (I know, I'm potty but I love cutting edge!)