Damn Computers (in appropriate category)

I'm using an old PC as my newer PC has fucked up & I'm not best pleased about it. It seems like an app is preventing it from opening up ? Turn on computer & all I get is the obligatory blue screen with the little white dots chasing each other round in a circle with the word "restarting". Like feck. I had it on for half an hour & it stayed the same. Don't know how to sort this problem out ? So, using this old PC, that is barely crawling along, for now.

Wanted to get a new computer on Black Friday. Kinda squandered that opportunity. The 2010 MBP is still alive, though it gets very hot sometimes, so I have to be careful how much I do at once.

{{Azreil- do you know how to get into the bios when it starts up? What version of windows are you on? That will help narrow down the steps- if you think it was an app of some sort screwed it then ideally you want to get into safe mode- this will boot up with just the min files needed for windows to run- you can then either try getting rid of the app once in, or if thats not working try a system restore point to restore your c to previous settings when it was working}}}

I'm ecstatic, I'm over the bright shiny moon ! Ive got my computer back up & running !  



I took everything out of the ports, turned PC on, & bugger me backwards if it didn't start up ! Bung mouse, keyboard & all back in & Geronimo ! We're back on track, I'm a happy bunny !

Ah, so it was a hardware bug. Congratulations on a creative solution.  Does it still run with everything plugged back in?

Hello Halfy, yes, so far all is well, just keeping my fingers crossed as I'm not a PC Bodkin by any means

{{{ }}}

Bought a new iMac for my birthday gift to myself. Really liking it so far.

iMacs are great, especially if you set them up with a trackpad.  If I was still using desktops I'd definitely get one; but ever since I had my work desktop stolen and started doing everything on one laptop (with multiple backups), I can't give up the convenience of it.  Truly big jobs I do on big computers, but I set them up and test them on the laptop before transferring them over.

I used to have freeze-up problems, but High Sierra fixed them.  The new file system is awesome, but I was afraid it would break my applications and held out  until I had all my deadlines cleared away.  Almost nothing broke making me I wish I had upgraded a year ago.

Yeah I am missing the trackpad. I am not used to using a mouse, but I'm getting the hang of it. I haven't retired my laptop yet, I will let that happen naturally. As that has lasted me 7 years with minimal trouble, I expect this desktop to last at least 8 years. I think the major problem with my laptop is that it couldn't handle the updates with its limited specs. I think I had tried to update to Yosemite and that lead me into all sorts of trouble.

I tried to transfer Finale 2011 over from the laptop and it wouldn't open. I'm not sure if there's a fix for this. I am not paying $600 for the newest version, that's for sure. Especially now that it's mostly a hobby for me, and not a necessity. I think finding an alternative is probably my best/cheapest option. It'll just be a matter of getting used to new shortcuts.

I think the only spec that would need fixing is the memory, and you can do that yourself with some youtube guidance (ifixit I believe). But if you're gonna lose your favorite app in the process of upgrading the OS you may as well keep it as is and use the desktop for everything else.

I'm noticing that a lot of Photobucket images that had been broken for months due to the company restricting the ability to share images outside of their site are appearing again, most notably Petty's original uploads of the Daily Purist, Awards-related material, etc. Does anyone know if Photobucket gave in on this? Or did Petty pay the ransom fee? I can't find anything recent about it in Google News.

Photobucket is really pissing me off, there are a thousand ads popping up left right and centre, surely this is counterproductive, if you start cheesing people off they are likely to be so angry they start hating the products they are trying to sell you? well that's the effect it has on me anyway.

I  just found out that Google traces everything you have done on your computer in MY ACTIVITY, what the hell! I deleted everything.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/google-knows-literally-everything-about-you-heres-how-to-stop-it_uk_5abb68dde4b06409775b7d2b

{{ Oh thats small beans Figg- Windows now tracks every key press- they know everything you have ever typed- including bank details ect and regardless of what site or program you use- if you press a key windows knows and sends that information home. And to make it worse if you do go into your settings and find all the stuff you need to switch off (I turn it all off) every time Windows does an update it will sneakily switch them all back on again without telling you. So after every update you have to remember to go back and turn all the tracking crap back off again. }}

How do you switch it off Petty? does switching things off effect normal functions? I never knew we were so spied on, Cambridge Analytica has been a wake-up call I reckon.

{{On win10 click on your little window logo in the bottom left corner of the screen- then settings which is the thing that looks like a cog, a window will open up- in it go to apps first-you well get a list (probably big) of all the apps installed on your system- loads you will not have installed yourself they are put on by default and spy on you- any app you dont use or want uninstall. Once you've done that go back to the main settings again and this time go to Cortana and switch everything to do with her off. Next go back to settings and this time select privacy. In the general section turn everything off and then in speech, inking and typing switch off speech services and typing suggestions (it does this by watching what you type!) In contacts switch off letting apps use your contacts list and do the same under calendar, call history, email and messaging. In other devices you might want to go in and manually select what can and can't hook up to your pc.

If after doing this you find an app you use isn't working you can always go back into settings and change anything back. }}}

thanks Petty. I couldn't find Cortana, but I use Windows 8.1 so maybe it doesn't have it. The mind boggles how much invisible stuff I was connected to without my knowledge.

mind you, switching these things off means nice little things like suggesting people's email and phone numbers be linked in one contact, etc will be switched off too. Many of the "suggestions" of these applications get in your way, but some are actually useful.

{{Yup that's why I suggest if you find something you have been using or found useful is no longer working as expected turn the relevant app type back on. But if you dont notice then you never needed it and it was not only gathering info on you unnecessarily, its using a bit of your processor power unnecessarily to do it!  }}

just seen that Cortana is only on windows 10, she looks well creepy. glad I didn't upgrade.

my faithful old 10 year old laptop is dying I don't dare turn it of for fear of not being able to reboot off the poor old rattly hard drive

Do any of you use a password manager? to incript all your passwords, and are they a good thing to have, do they stop people hacking your bank accounts on Amazon and places like that? cheers.

I don't use one because I'm afraid of someone getting a hold of my laptop and being able to skim me dry. But if you're not worried about it being taken I think it improves cybersecurity - being hacked from the outside is harder if you can set harder passwords that you don't have to remember.

yep that's what I thought specially as I used the same simple ass password for everything. which was very foolish and naïve. I downloaded LastPass, its free and seems ok.