Beefy's Corner.......For all off Topic threads

Just saw a video of it. Pretty scary.

 

Must be horrific. The ones in the centre next to the gas canister would have probably died instantly. The ones on the outside had the choice between fire and jumping. Horrendous. My dad said they just chucked the gas canisters about, off the trucks etc. so could quite easily have had a gas leak or something. They just don't have the same conscious health and safety efforts in other countries, even if we have gone too far in some instances.

 

Any one else think the Euro is dead?.

 

Nah, it's just ill.

 

I think the single currency is too ill to get back to good health. Still like the idea of a more closely linked europe, but I don't think the single currency will survive.

 

With a few people having problems with double posts, and mentioning the kit they're using, I thought I might give people a word of warning. Perhaps a few in the little story I have that still astonishes me at ordinary people's innocence or stupidity.

The PC I'm using at the moment is new to me. It uses the last edition of XP Home before Vista came in, and is surprisingly good, and I say that very cautiously, considering that, in my opinion, the only properly decent OS Microsoft have ever issued is WinXP Pro. I say new to me because I was helping my niece throw her old sofa away, down at the new recycling centre at Millbrook roundabout, when a PC caught my eye. I'm quite practised at being able to sum up a general spec of a machine, just by looking at it, after years of working in the field, and so picked it up, separated it from an LCD screen, which I didn't need or want to take a chance with, proffered a fiver, and went home. It hadn't been binned, it was just sitting there. It was totally intact, practically scratch free [you should see it, it hardly looks used], and to my surprise, it started up. I'd taken the side off at the recycling centre, for closer inspection, so when I got it home I vacuumed it out first. On pushing the power button it took 25 minutes to get to the point where it could operate.

This is where it gets a bit serious. There was a family of 6 users on the computer, a few with practically all of their personal data intact. I quickly wandered through the data, hoping to see whether I could find something definite so as to contact them. It was clear some had removed their data prior to ditching the computer, so it wasn't a stolen item. I also didn't want any comeback getting to the recycling centre manager who had let the item go in good faith. There were photographs and videos, reports, you name it. On this PC were records of people's lives and they'd just chucked them away, and I probably know why. I bet they bought themselves a shiny new computer, a laptop probably or worse, some Apple product, which worked really fast [and in the case of the Apple, made them a lot poorer] and everyone could have a great time and make new memories like they tell us we should. Well this PC works very fast indeed now, because I have thoroughly erased all the personal data. I have removed the 4 levels of conflicting anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-this, anti-that rubbish, got rid of the astonishing amount of bloat they put on it, and now it's just got one admin - Me, XP Home, a Firewall, Mozilla Firefox and the router. And it boots up in 15 seconds. It flies, it really does and it cost a fiver. Ok, I raised the RAM from 1Gb to 2 and stuck a Data HDD in [I always run one system and one data hard disk], but I had spares. I'm chuffed, but amazed.

The words of warning are... if you must throw your old PC away, remember that, although it might be 2, 3, 4 or more years old, it is a very, very upgradable piece of technology [unlike a laptop, I might add], so hesitate to do it in the first place, and remember to remove the hard disk drive and keep it if you are going to throw the computer away. That's all you need to do. There's loads of unscrupulous people out there who could and would piece together the bones of the data I stumbled across and make it work for them. And don't stuff your PC full of anti-this or that or bloatware. Keep the computer lean and fast. If you don't use certain software, uninstall it. Otherwise you'd almost be better off with the bloody virus, if you put the heavy millstone of conflicting security software and bloat on the back of the poor thing.

BTW, this computer is almost totally silent. I can barely detect the CPU fan. Bargain.

 

I have an old Dell desktop that I haven't used in a couple of years because it has a crappy processor, runs really slowly now and can't connect to the internet for reasons I can't figure out. It's just been sitting in a box in my room. I also have an Acer laptop that is only a couple of years old, but has taken a bit of an accidental beating and currently won't charge, and also has a pretty severe overheating problem. I won't be throwing them out any time soon for the reasons you've mentioned, but I don't have the know-how to fix them up either and I don't want to pay extortionate amounts for someone else to do it. I tried to take the laptop apart the other day and I think I made the situation worse because it's almost impossible to get the damn thing open. So I'm stuck with two busted PCs that I can neither fix nor get rid of, and I'm typing this on a ****ty Toshiba netbook.

As for the OS debate, I consider Win XP and Win7 to be equals. Vista was a waste of time and Win8 is really only necessary on a touch-screen. Also I feel really sorry for your average family who don't know a great deal about this sort of thing and waste their money and computer's efficiency on anti-virus/malware/adware software that they don't need, because their PC came with McAfee or Norton which convinces them that it's totally necessary that they have it, and advisable that they pay for the full version. The best anti-virus softwares out there are free and work great, but your average person is going to be tricked into paying loads for an inferior product. People are being extorted on a massive scale. And don't even get me started on Apple.

 

XP was very solid and reliable, Vista was just ****e and unfinished.

 

You need to cultivate a friendly techie guru, Joe. Or, if you want to try something for yourself, PM me the model numbers of your computers [or reply here], their state of upgrade/health and I'll look up the specs and advise what's worth pursuing and if it might be achieved cheaply.

 

What is its behaviour when you try to connect to the Internet? If it's over Ethernet, does it try to identify the connection and fail, leaving you with 'unidentified network/no network access' or does it simply not recognize the connection at all?

First thing to check would be the drivers; if it's XP, go to the Run dialog and type devmgmt.msc to open the Device Manager. Go to Network Adapters and check to see whether it's displaying the full name of your Ethernet adapter with or without an exclamation mark (which would indicate that it's there, but ain't doing what it ought to be doing), or if you have some friendly fellow by the name of Network Controller.

 

Can't be bothered to go digging around for the old desktop, but I can remember of the top of my head that it's a Dell Dimension 5150. Can't remember much about the specs but it was at the cheaper end of the range about 8 years ago when I bought it. Even if it was functioning perfectly, it would have a slow processor speed by today's standards. To be honest, I reckon I'll make a copy of everything that I still want from the HD and wipe the rest, then salvage the old gal for parts. I want to build my own desktop as soon as I can afford it, so I don't really foresee much need to rejuvenate this one.

My laptop is an Acer Aspire 5742 with an Intel i3 processor, Intel HD graphics, 640GB HDD and 8GB DDR3 memory. It has a serious overheating problem (for reasons unknown to me because I can't get the son of a bitch open), which means it must be placed with the fan vent precariously overhanging the edge of whatever surface I have it on otherwise it reaches 90C and switches itself off. Inevitably this eventually led to it taking a fall, and it landed on the side of the charger port, while the charger was in, which caused the shell to crack open. Now it doesn't charge, and I'm not sure if it's the port or the charger itself which needs replacing. I've decided that I'm not going to go and get this fixed at this time, because it will probably just happen again and cost me more money in the future. Until the overheating problem is sorted and I can properly put the laptop safely on a flat surface, it's going to be out of action.

 

From what I can remember, it acts as if it doesn't have the relevant drivers - i.e. for all intents and purposes it does not even know that the internet is a thing. It's been so long that I've even tried, but I imagine I would already have tried to reinstall the drivers. As I said above, though, I don't really have any desire to get it back up and working, because it would still be crap at perfect health.

 

Hey Banana.

 

This is usually due to one or two things. 1] dust inhalation by the fan system, and/or 2] poor design leading to overheating, maybe with the help of reason 1. You'll be surprised what you can find as regards servicing videos on Youtube or looking on the Net for disassembly instructions. When you're taking things apart, such as laptops, arrange screws, nuts, parts, etc... in an exploded view from the laptop itself. And have a notepad and pen next to you to put down anything to aid your memory. Laptops aren't that much of a bother, even Acers, and you can almost always google an answer to your quirky problem. Your laptop problem is worth pursuing. You could even get the odd required spare from ebay.

 

Here's something Joe. An Acer 5742 disassembly on Youtube.

[video=youtube;Xk65lnGnWUc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk65lnGnWUc[/video]

 

Ah excellent, thanks. I'll give it a try tomorrow and hopefully won't break anything. A lot of the shell is cracked and there are screws missing, so I'll have to be extra careful.

 

Super Glue..? I also always keep a bag a screws accumulated from le god knows how many years I've been doing this stuff for fun or being paid for it. Raid your defunct Dell desktop for any maybe, and keep the rest. They will be standardised screws, so they'll come in handy some time.

 

This is amazing

[video=youtube;TXTocy9d7lA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXTocy9d7lA&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

I always say this when I'm upgrading computer's and stuff to people, purely because these companies take advantage of them and make it seem like they have to pay £60 or whatever for Norton, when programs like Avast! are prefectly good, for free, downloadable from the internet. It's like one big con for your average person if you don't have the know-how.

Completely agree about Apple - constantly upgrading, wasting consumer's money but people are willing to pay. Hate Apple with a passion.

 

Like a lot of people, I've gone totally webmail based. I keep nothing on my own computer, save for important attachments to emails. About 4 or 5 years ago I was trying to update my AVG Free anti-virus software. At the time, I think it was the most popular of its type. It couldn't be updated in the normal way because its own home site was having to barricade itself from attacks by hackers, and so one had to go there and obtain the update. This would take ages because their servers were inundated with update requests. So one day I thought, balls to this, I'm not bothering anymore. I had three operating PCs in the house and I decided that one would do without any anti-virus software. I'd let it get infected and then sort it out. From then on I used it almost every day and NOTHING HAPPENED..! Nowadays all of my computers run without any 3rd party protection and I just occasionally come in and sweep up any bloat or potential problems. I think I was bothered by a piece of malware about a year or two ago, but that was it. It took me about 20 minutes to get rid of it. Most security software companies way overplay the risk your computer runs by not having some anti-stuff running. I use an excellent browser [Firefox], with its own built-in protection [it also advises you not to go to the odd dodgy webpage], the Ghostery and Adblock Plus add-ons for it, and webbased mail servers do their own virus sweeps. Turn your computer off when you leave it and they can't get at you. Turn off your router if you're really panicky.

I know many will suggest that their lack of computer knowledge will inevitably lead them to make mistakes, and that's possibly true. In which case, use the minimal amount of security software you can get away with. If you still have your emails residing on your computer then by all means have some anti-virus, but please, only one, and make it a free edition. Do a manual sweep every once in a while and don't let it start up with Windows [you don't need a thing for Linux, in fact, if you're running a Linux OS [for example, Mint] you don't need any protection at all] and don't be frightened when it finds loads of potential threats. They will just be trackers from media companies or cookies, which mean no direct harm at all. They are just tracking your internet movements - Big Brother is most definitely watching you. If you install Ghostery you won't even get those because they can't track you. Your computer will love you for it and you'll be amazed how quick the old thing is.