Recent Posts

401

Living Room / Re: Mid-range DSLR Camera Recommendations

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 31, 2013, 06:07 PM »

Canon EOS 600D suits my needs and also records full HD video if you need it (though you do have to add a decent microphone).

402

General Software Discussion / Re: Apple and the future of Macs - a difficult topic for me

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 28, 2013, 07:06 PM »

Same goes for Android and WinRT really.

Who wants to create documents of any substance on a small touch screen - and that is just word processing trying to design anything on a tablet beyond a quick sketch is nigh on impossible.

But whilst I agree with you what we have to remember is this where Apple, Google and Microsoft want to head. They don't care what their customers want or need - they just want the disposable 'domestic appliance' market with all its locked in money making capability.

Trouble is Apple, in particular, are very good at convincing massive numbers of people that what they really NEED in their life is a cool iXXXXXX (whatever) - that fact that it serves Apple more than the consumer is skillfully hidden and most people are simply too stupid to realise what they are getting and what they are losing.

Reminds me of a biblical verse "All we like sheep have gone astray" - Apple sees itself as the shepherd and Google and Windows are training up to be sheepdogs. Blackberry is like the lost sheep trying desperately to find its way home!

403

General Software Discussion / Re: Strategies to stay with Windows 7 as long as possible

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 26, 2013, 11:35 AM »

Microsoft Vista made me really resent Microsoft in a way I never had before, purely because of their treatment of Vista Ultimate! Vista Ultimate, while costing a couple hundred more than the other editions, gave me nothing more than the Business or Pro versions, except for the promise of what were supposed to be some fantastic "Windows Vista Ultimate Extras" - which were never released! Oh, wait a minute: they actually DID release some extra language packs and a few "Ultimate Only" wallpapers. That was it. The rest of the Ultimate Extras were dropped and they quietly ended the Vista Ultimate life in early 2012. Quickest End-of-Life in Microsoft history.

-J-Mac (January 26, 2013, 09:35 AM)

The joke is they didn't learn and still released Windows 7 ultimate - which didn't even get the wallpapers!

404

Living Room / Re: Open Letter to Skype

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 25, 2013, 07:00 PM »

Spot on.  The Patriot Act says that all communications will have back doors for government surveillance.  It's the New World Order that the U.S. is hell-bent on achieving.

-Tinman57 (January 25, 2013, 06:25 PM)

So if I use Skype in the UK to communicate with someone in the UK it is subject to the US Patriot Act?

Who on earth would use non-opensource programs for secure communications anyway?

-f0dder (January 25, 2013, 12:15 PM)

Anyone who uses a phone (mobile or land line).

There is already concern that Chinese and Korean built mobile phones can potentially be used to collect data for their parent companies. Currently Samsung are working on buying Blackberry - which is causing some consternation in Canada from a security point of view!

405

DC Gamer Club / Re: THQ is no more...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 25, 2013, 06:53 PM »

Amazon has a THQ "Mega Pack" on sale for $25 so if anyone wants to add to their THQ collection, this is your chance. btw all the games come with individual Steam keys, except for Company of Heroes GotY which is not redeemable on Steam.

• http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B1GFKCA

-lanux128 (January 25, 2013, 05:52 PM)

Limited to US Sales (so I can't buy it to get the missing games in the UK). Note Company of Heroes GOTY edition is not listed in the Steam library (which is presumably why you can't activate it) and there are posts that say when you have downloaded the installer from Amazon it still asks for a disk to be inserted so cannot be installed without resorting to downloaded hacks.

406

General Software Discussion / Re: Who is still runnig XP?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 25, 2013, 10:56 AM »

64 Bit really seems to be the struggling point even now

-TaoPhoenix (January 25, 2013, 10:43 AM)

Really - why?

Been using 64 bit for years without noticing any particular issues.

Just upgraded a 4 year old laptop that came with Vista 32bit HP to Win 8 64bit and it installed fine and found all the drivers it needs without issue. Not got any software that won't install on 64bit (though I have some that won't install on 32bit any more).

I miss the speedy-ness and simplicity of Win98

-Paul Keith (January 25, 2013, 10:55 AM)

I don't especially miss the crashes, freezes and BSODs - plus disk corruption!

Seriously it took me a while to move from XP to 7 but there is no way I would move back now and I'd go to Linux before returning to the misery of Windows 98 !!!

407

General Software Discussion / Re: Strategies to stay with Windows 7 as long as possible

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 25, 2013, 10:13 AM »

Yep Core 2 Duo with 4Gb RAM here too.

408

General Software Discussion / Re: Strategies to stay with Windows 7 as long as possible

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 25, 2013, 09:21 AM »

I have already noticed Win 8 slowing down on my laptop. Doesn't seem much faster than Windows 7 to a working desktop.

Don't have much installed and all my data is on a separate partition.

Granted it is quick to the tiled interface and that works as soon as it has loaded but I have used Start8 to boot directly to the desktop and I don't think I am noticing any huge imporvement - especially as it is a clean install which is only about 1 month old.

409

DC Gamer Club / Re: THQ is no more...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 25, 2013, 06:16 AM »

Note Steam are still selling THQ games - even the ones that haven't been released yet. Beware!

410

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you going to wait for Windows 9?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 24, 2013, 02:25 PM »

Yes I can get into the BIOS OK - just that F8 no longer does anything in Windows 8 so you can't boot to the advanced startup options. Apparently UEFI allows you to force advanced options but on older BIOS machines that isn't available. So to get to the advanced startup settings you have to boot into windows, to get into safe mode you have to boot windows!!!! Brilliant

How long before malware starts to appears that stops you accessing advanced startup options, safemode and system restore altogether. Won't take a genius to write malicious code to stop system refresh and reinstall too.

Given that almost no machines are supplied with a recovery disk or windows 8 installation disk (and anyway you have to know how to turn off secure boot to get an optical disk to boot at all) troubleshoot malware (such as the FBI crapware discussed elsewhere here) is going to be interesting to say the least!!!!

Recovery disk making is also not that easy to find since they obscured the backup system, and don't even call it backup anymore!!!!

411

Living Room / Re: Would a 41 megapixel camera get you to buy a Windows 8 phone?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 24, 2013, 10:30 AM »

41 megapixels is pure marketing BS. Sure it isn't supposed to read 4.1 ?

Can't remember where I read it but there was a technical article I read a while ago that argued the more pixels actually equals poorer pictures unless you increased the sensor size.

412

Living Room / Re: Why touch screens will never rule the world

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 24, 2013, 05:17 AM »

That can help if you have fat fingers.

-Renegade (January 24, 2013, 05:09 AM)

Thanks - but I haven't got fat fingers, its just not possible to be totally precise with a finger compared to a mouse pointer.

413

Living Room / Re: Why touch screens will never rule the world

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 24, 2013, 04:31 AM »

Not to mention sausage fingers make touching small targets very hit and miss and frustrating.

I don't have particularly fat fingers but I find typing on my tablet (the odd email or short document) almost impossible to do without error and then trying to place the cursor to enter corrections is nigh on impossible.

Add to that multiple screen desktop setups and who is going to have the energy to work all day reaching across screen up to 72" wide! Assuming you can keep your desk clear enough to reach!!!

414

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you going to wait for Windows 9?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 23, 2013, 01:07 PM »

PS: Anyone got any idea how to get into advanced startup mode on a laptop with an old fashioned BIOS?

F8 no longer works in Windows 8. You are supposed to be able use SHIFT (and hold) + Restart to get into advanced starup mode - but I can't get it to work on my machine.

Brilliant idea of MS - effectively stops you using System Restore before windows loads if you get an infection !!!!

415

Living Room / Re: Java's Deceptive Installation

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 22, 2013, 07:09 PM »

This bundling of 'value added software' (AKA crapware) really needs to stop - and with this sort of deceptive practice Sun should have a class action brought against them

Practically every computer I see recently has had home pages and search engines changed without consent on an almost daily basis and most users haven't got a clue why.

416

General Software Discussion / Re: Are you going to wait for Windows 9?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 22, 2013, 12:49 PM »

Had Windows 8 on my laptop now for about a month - anyone else notice boot time stretching out?

I haven't installed huge amounts of stuff on it but boot time is becoming quite noticeable (esp. as I boot to desktop, not metro). Even with hybrid shutdown it seems to be taking significantly longer now than when first installed - and, although I haven't empirical evidence, it feels about the same speed as Windows 7 that was installed previously - certainly of the same order.

Microsoft spots this happening and uses the Action Center to try to persuade you to disable startup items - almost all the suggestions are non-MS and I don't want to install useful items.

The other thing I have had to do is disconnect my hotmail account as the login delay before boot would even start was completely unacceptible (and I don't have any emails in my account and no files on SkyDrive). I have reverted to a local account which at least removes MS's delay.

417

Living Room / Re: Computer science student expelled for testing university software security

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 22, 2013, 03:40 AM »

How about looking at this from the other side - university says it is OK to do this sort of thing (which is what a slap on the wrist would say) it would be open season for students to try out hacking skills with no comeback. It would set a terrible president to allow illegal activity to go unpunished.

Having said that if the university had any sense they would have invited him to help with checking the hole wa fixed after he reported it initially.

418

General Software Discussion / Re: Lastpass

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 21, 2013, 04:41 PM »

Strange - I am running FF 18.0.1 and LP extension works just fine.

You sure you haven't got a conflicting or badly behaved extension installed?

419

General Software Discussion / Re: Tips for Windows 8 (got any?)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 21, 2013, 12:47 PM »

CTRL + Shutdown does the same job too. Hold CTRL until the lights go off!

420

General Software Discussion / Re: Lastpass

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 21, 2013, 12:34 PM »

I have over a thousand logins on LastPass and hundreds of secure notes.

By the way it doesn't cost $30-40 either - it is free unless you want to use the LastPass for Applications or on mobile devices such as Blackberry phones in which case the paid for version costs $12 a year.

I also secure my account with a YubKey so only authorised devices can access my account.

Never had a single problem with LastPass forgetting logins or not saving a password correctly.

421

Living Room / Re: Windows Secrets course on facebook safety

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 17, 2013, 05:05 AM »

Can't help feeling that it becoming a good idea to simply dump Facebook if you want security - every time I sort out the security settings on you account Facebook publish an update and change the security settings and restore them to insecure defaults.

I recently discovered that FB had made almost all my timeline public when I always set security to friends only.

Its REALLY annoying!

422

General Software Discussion / Re: Disable Win+V in Windows 8

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 17, 2013, 04:46 AM »

Google isn't your friend on this one - I couldn't find any way to change Win 8 default keyboard shortcuts.

423

General Software Discussion / Re: Remove Hidden Boot Partition

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 15, 2013, 12:18 PM »

You can make the windows partition the boot partition and remove all the others. It is risky though!

First create a System Recovery CD (from the Backup & Restore applet). Next use a third party partition tool from a boot disk and delete the partitions you don't want (I have never seen an OEM recovery partition that cannot be deleted). Resize remaining partitions you left behind to use the space.

Next boot from the Windows Recovery CD and choose repair your computer. Once into the repair tools menu use

bootrec /RebuildBcd

from a command prompt

That will find your existing Windows 7 installation and rebuild the BCD Boot folder on the Windows partition (since there isn't a boot partition).

Three points:

1) I don't recommend this (better to keep a separate boot partition IMHO)
2) Make sure you have a whole drive image before doing it in case anything goes wrong.
3) Don't blame me if it goes wrong


Originally I had Windows 7 dual booting with Windows XP - the boot partition was XP - I used this method to remove the XP installation and expand 7 to the full disk.

424

General Software Discussion / Re: Rumors of Adobe releasing CS2 for free? (true or NOT true)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 14, 2013, 07:47 AM »

Makes you REALLY confident in Adobe Activation servers (and activation servers in general!!!)

425

General Software Discussion / Re: UEFI and Linux in 2013 - the list so far

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 13, 2013, 12:02 PM »

Also, Windows 8 cert requires that you can disable Secure Boot

-f0dder (January 12, 2013, 04:40 PM)

Where does it say that? I thought W8 cert required that SB had to be enabled by default and that it was up to individual OEMs whether they allow disabling SB.