Messages

76

Adventures of Baby Cody / Where is Baby Cody

« on: August 27, 2016, 06:35 PM »

Last post about Baby Cody seems to have been in 2014

Anyone any idea where the little guy is now?

77

General Software Discussion / Re: Help! WINDOWS 10 ----> WINDOWS 7

« on: June 24, 2016, 06:14 AM »

Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Go Back to Windows 7

That option should be available for 30 days after upgrade

If that option doesn't exists the only option is a factory restore of your system - or try installing windows 8.1 drivers for your hardware

If you system has a manufacturer's recovery system it shouldn't have been affected by the Windows 10 upgrade unless you re-partitioned.

If all else fails order a set of recovery disks from the manufacturer

78

Living Room / Email problem

« on: February 15, 2016, 04:37 AM »

I am a bit stumped by a problem for a client - anyone got any ideas

She uses MS Outlook from Office 365 to deal with email via IMAP

It sends and receives email fine everywhere EXCEPT in her own home. At home IMAP syncing appears to complete normally without error but nothing is actually synced.

I visited her home and deleted the IMAP account and set it up again from scratch  and it all worked fine while I was there but next day it wasn't working again.

She has satellite broadband (remote rural area) with a supplied modem and a bought router.

She is using Windows 8.1 with built in MS antivirus and firewall

Given that nothing else is behaving oddly at home I have no idea what is going on.

I have suggested rebooting all the network gear but she says she has done that.

Anyone any ideas? TIA

79

General Software Discussion / Microsoft - Windows 10 aggression

« on: February 04, 2016, 05:50 AM »

It is official - now Windows 10 is part of the recommended updates for Windows 7

http://www.theverge....e-recommended-update

If you have the default Windows Update settings it will download and start the installation. Ok you can stop it but I can see my life getting busier over the next few weeks.

Not sure if this isn't actually criminal - I have some programmes that are not Windows 10 compatible that I rely on for work - an automated update would really mess with my business!!! Wait for the law suits

If you want to block Windows 10 upgrades altogether create these registry keys (you can create a .reg file in notepad and cut and paste the following - then double click the file and add the entries automatically):

[Select]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade]
"AllowOSUpgrade"=dword:00000000
"ReservationsAllowed"=dword:00000000

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade\State]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\GWX]
"DisableGWX"=dword:00000001

80

General Software Discussion / Re: Sync Laptop & Desktop

« on: February 02, 2016, 08:56 PM »

What about Syncback Pro?

Very flexible - you can specify what replaces what (with optional prompts) and also if things are deleted if you delete one device.

http://www.2brightsp.../syncback/sbpro.html

There is a freeware version with reduced features too - but it works well.

Only drawback is it isn't realtime - you can schedule though or run a sync manually.

81

General Software Discussion / Re: Agnitum (makers of Outpost Firewall and AV) has been acquired by Yandex

« on: January 28, 2016, 12:37 PM »

I have given up using anything other than built in security software ... most of it seems to do very little to combat online threats these days which mostly seem to be drive by and don;t get picked up by commercial packages.

I use MSE (on windows 7) and Windows Defender on Windows 8 (and 10 if/when I bother to upgrade)
The built in firewall
And Malwarbytes AntiMalware (lifetime licenses).

IME the latter is the only one that seems to pick anything up these days.

82

Living Room / Re: Holy S***, I've been here for 6 Years!

« on: January 28, 2016, 08:58 AM »

Cor can't believe I have been around for 11 years come July - not that my presence has been obvious much in recent times (though I do still read a fair amount and lurk  )

83

Living Room / Re: Very slow internal network speed - any ideas

« on: January 23, 2016, 08:06 PM »

Thanks - with a bit of judicious rejigging of cables I have got the PC back on 14Mbps

You are right though I need to get the whole mess tidied up!

Thank you everyone for the suggestions - really appreciated.

84

Living Room / Re: Very slow internal network speed - any ideas

« on: January 23, 2016, 04:32 AM »

Just updated the driver - has improved it somewhat to about 5Mb (still not the 14 I get on WiFi).

Maybe it is my ethernet setup.

Until recently my ISP only provided about 6Mbps. So maybe the cabling/switch combos I have are slowing things down.

I have an 11n router (ISP supplied) with 4 ports and three of those posts have 4 way switches attached. Not sure if it is entirely Cat 6 or Cat 5 cabling either. Need to do some checking.

Oddly my Sony TV connection (wired) is faster and that goes through one of the switches and powerline adapters!!!

85

Living Room / Re: Very slow internal network speed - any ideas

« on: January 22, 2016, 07:05 PM »

Think it must be a hardware issue - I have installed a dual boot copy of Windows 7 and that gives the same readings.

It is a Realtek built in NIC on a Gigabyte mobo

I will try a USB wifi connection and see if that improves things.

86

Living Room / Re: Very slow internal network speed - any ideas

« on: January 22, 2016, 06:19 PM »

The NIC says it is connected at 1Gb speed

Network isn't flooded - if I close the browser window there doesn't appear to be much traffic happening at all.

Not a problem with the ISP as my phone, internet enabled TV, laptop etc. all report high speeds - just my desktop.

I is connected via a 4 port switch which is connected to the router but I have tried connecting the router direct to the PC and it made no difference at all.

Installed Glasswire Free - can't see anything unusual or suspicious accessing the connection - and no excessive usuage.

87

Living Room / Re: Very slow internal network speed - any ideas

« on: January 22, 2016, 02:08 PM »

Upload speeds seem unaffected.

If it was downloading in the background wouldn't that have a knock on effect for other devices on the network?

88

Living Room / Very slow internal network speed - any ideas

« on: January 22, 2016, 11:10 AM »

My main desktop computer has started accessing the internet slowly - other devices on the network don't seem to be affected.

My laptop gets 14Mbps via wireless but my desktop is getting 1.7Mbps via ethernet.

As far as I can see the driver for ethernet hasn't been updated (well there isn't a roll back option).

I did a bit googling and someone suggested disabling AMD QuickStream but I can't find that on my system (AMD processor, mobo and graphics though)

Anyone got any ideas what is going on or how to fix it?

System Windows 7 x64 - loads of memory and fast CPU graphics

89

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Windows 10 a trojan?

« on: January 15, 2016, 01:36 PM »

You can block windows 10 and the tray prompts by applying this reg file

-Carol Haynes (January 14, 2016, 12:44 PM)

Thank you Carol, but how do you do the "applying"? Sorry, I'm not versed in this at all.

-dr_andus (January 15, 2016, 04:29 AM)

Download the file - change the extension from .txt to .reg (couldn't upload a reg file) and then double click the file - allow it to make changes and then then restart you computer.

I also disable OS upgrades (not Windows Update).

-Carol Haynes (January 14, 2016, 02:01 PM)

hi Carol,
anyone know how ^this^ is done?

On this machine I only see 'Windows Update' (no relevant settings), and 'Windows anytime Upgrade' (which has no settings at all).
Note: on this and on my other Windows 7 machine I'm not getting any update to windows 10 messages, (possibly because I mostly only ever install security updates).

-tomos (January 15, 2016, 05:20 AM)

It is a registry setting - see the reg file I uploaded up the page


This registry file stops the nagware and the tray icon.

90

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Windows 10 a trojan?

« on: January 14, 2016, 02:01 PM »

The registry file I posted above has worked for me. Apply the registry edit, restart and gone. I also disable OS upgrades (not Windows Update).

91

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Windows 10 a trojan?

« on: January 14, 2016, 12:44 PM »

You can block windows 10 and the tray prompts by applying this reg file

92

Living Room / Re: The End of my Macbook Pro Experiment

« on: June 08, 2015, 07:41 PM »

Intrigued by the "Apple make better hardware" at the top of this thread? They use motherboards from Foxconn just like many PCs - as I understand it they are pretty much identical and quality. They use standard graphics cards (usually a generation or two behind window), standard intel cpu, RAM and hard disks and SSDs

Apart from the white box with an apple on it what is so much better than a bog standard Windows laptop?

For the price you should get gold plated keys !!!

Given the number of people using Mac these days I get about the same proportion of Mac users phoning up and saying "my Mac is very slow" as I do Windows users. In 7 years I have only had one person phone me and say can you help - I use Linux.

93

Living Room / Re: Simpler tax forms? Intuit says NO!

« on: April 16, 2015, 07:32 PM »

They are currently trying to scare everyone into using their cloud solution for QuickBooks. Sorry I don't want to store all my data in the cloud thanks very much!

94

General Software Discussion / Re: Make Windows 8 login/lockscreen transparent?

« on: March 16, 2015, 08:35 AM »

Is it just me or am I the only person in the world that sees absolutely no use for a lock screen?

95

Living Room / Re: Sorry, Ebooks. These 9 Studies Show Why Print Is Better

« on: March 03, 2015, 04:07 AM »

Paper books all the way for me - spend too much time staring at screens as it is.

I can see the argument for going on holiday and taking a library of novels but for me that is all eBooks can replace. Anything with content other than text paper wins every time. Also anything that needs concentration seems to work better for me on paper.

Plus it is nice to lend then to people or give them away to friends or charity shops when you have finished with them.

96

General Software Discussion / Re: Win7 update loop

« on: February 14, 2015, 05:16 AM »

Probably a bad download that can't install properly - why not reset windows update and let windows do the update properly - or else download it and do it manually?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

97

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: February 02, 2015, 10:40 AM »

LOL 

98

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: January 27, 2015, 09:00 AM »

These are the strings I am using:

http://www.thestring...st-cello-strings-set

It took a lot of experimenting - I have been through 4 sets of strings (not all that sort of price) in just under two years.

One set I got as a free sample (they were priced over £200 but free was far too expensive for them - they stayed on for 2 days and then were gone - not even useful as spares!), one set I got at 30% cost from the manufacturer (the ones I am using - but I have already had to replace the A string because I wore it out).

These are the ones I would like to try ... http://www.thestring...re-cello-strings-set

Also getting through lots of bow rehairs - I play a lot :-)

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Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: January 27, 2015, 03:30 AM »

Imagine...two quality instruments for the combined price of approximately five sets of Tomastik-Infeld flatwound strings. The mind boggles!

-40hz (January 26, 2015, 08:21 PM)

That bass is considerably cheaper than my cello strings :-)

100

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« on: January 26, 2015, 07:50 PM »

wow, that's really impressive Carol!

-tomos (January 26, 2015, 12:05 PM)

Thanks.

On instruments - modern Chinese string instruments seem to be getting there these days at affordable prices.

I bought a Chinese cello (list price around £1400, ~$2100 US) and as a student instrument it is very impressive. My teacher really likes it and I showed it to another teacher who didn;t know the history or make and she thought it was probably worth about £5000. Like all instruments there are better and worse instruments so you have to be careful.

There is a lot of snobbery about instruments and where they come from - people pay a premium just for a name. There have been Stad violins that have been more or less destroyed and then restored and they still go for silly prices even though they are mostly not Strad (and the bits that are are glued together!).

In blind testing people are often surprised at what they actually like best.

Bows are similar - some shops/dealers have trial schemes and suggest you try a bunch for a while - often it isn't the most expensive bow that sounds best though I have to say bows are a bit of a black art! Just bought a new bow which I am very pleased with but it was a nerve-wracking minefield!!


40Hz - if you can play instruments tuned in 5ths I reckon it takes about an hour to adapt to the new spacing. I have tried various cellos and they are all a bit different in size (even full size varies enormously) but I have tried 3/4 and 7/8 models too. It is surprising how quickly you adapt!

So long as you are not using German bowing on the bass cello bowing is similar but obviously lighter and more responsive than on a bass.