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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: HEAVEN: Ancient Geek - the computer thread
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
I haven't used it on a live site (although I have been playing with it) but LightnEasy is about as simple as it is possible for a CMS to be.
You can update the pages with either a wysiwyg editor, or with html via the site rather than by ftp.
[ 03. February 2010, 16:36: Message edited by: Drifting Star ]
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
If you have some basic PHP/MySQL skills and the bits that you want to automate aren't that intricate, code to pull the content from a DB and generate the menus isn't too bad, as long as you just want a simple framework.
There's a sort of gap between noddy home-rolled as above, and the all-things-to-all-people of an open source CMS project :/
Of course, if you don't have any PHP/MySQL stuff, forget about that route ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Snags, don't have, could quite easily get. I have not really done database development for fifteen years but having spent an hour on php last night quickly realised I probably could get it again. That is with the php, I was already working out the queries I'd have to run on mysql and then how to put them into html syntax. Some loops a few arrays and otherwise pretty straight forward.
It does help that I do have a good working knowledge of another syntax writing language, no you won't have heard of it, two reasons, first it is obscure, secondly it does not have a real name it is known as SPSS Macro commands. What it does is write the SPSS code which then SPSS does. I am a programmer but rarely in mainstream languages.
In other words that was exactly what I was thinking of doing last night. On the other-hand drifting stars suggestion seems to be a something that does what I need and no more. It also seems to have a small learning curve!
Pasta La Vista, thanks for those suggestions. Looked at them and had the same feeling of not quite know what I am doing as I did looking at Drupal and Joomla just a few days ago. Still do with Joomla but just by working through tutorials think I am beginning to get a feel for Drupal.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
OK, this is a bit of an involved Word 2003 question (on Windows XP).
Normally, in Word you can open an image with editable text by double-clicking on it, which opens the image in a new window. Once edited, right-clicking -> convert -> save as MS Word Image will restore the edited image to the document.
However, on one of my machines, when I start editing text in the image in the new window, I don't get a little "text" menu and more annoyingly, when I follow the procedure to return to the main document, the image does not resize to fit, so I can just see one corner of it.
Does anyone know what might be causing this or how to fix it? I've had little success asking around. Opening the same document with the same version of Word on another machine works fine. I'm guessing it's a software conflict or something, but I really have no idea.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
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Posted
I've always found that the Word image editor completely borked any image I was trying to edit - I copy/cut the image to a dedicated image editing prog, do the changes, then paste it back in.
In fact, I kind of assumed no one ever used the Word image editor. Ever.
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Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
What, one in which you can access Word text boxes just like that? If so, what is it?
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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monkeylizard
Ship's scurvy
# 952
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Posted
Eutychus, are you perhaps using the MS Office Picture and Fax Viewer (or something like that)? I don't recall the exact name in 2003. It's what Office 2003 used to OCR a non-text document, like a scanned document. OCR = Optical Character Recognition and it's used to convert a picture of text into actual editable text. Perhaps that option wasn't installed on your second computer when Office was installed.
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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Posts: 2201 | From: Music City, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
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Posted
Sorry, as you were. I misread your original question.
I've never used an 'image with editable text' within Word, so ignore me! ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by monkeylizard:
Eutychus, are you perhaps using the MS Office Picture and Fax Viewer
Nope*, it's an embedded image in the Word document which, when double-clicked, opens the image in another Word window with the same filename and allowing you to edit each zone of text. The only way out of that window on this machine is to close it with the result I explained. You can't even resize the image as a whole in the new window - each zone of text can be resized but not the image as a whole.
Again, as explained, normal behaviour is for the image to rescale automatically once you close the window, but on this machine that doesn't happen for some reason.
*I think you're thinking of Microsoft Document Imaging, which is one of the Office suite's best-kept secrets and a great way of extracting text from (most) pdfs.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
Not entirely sure what you are describing - is the 'picture' actually part of a Word document embedded in the original document? If it is, you could try this:
- save the embedded document under a different name
- copy the text you want to see
- choose Edit/Paste Special and re-insert as a Word Document Object.
That should be resizable. I know you can keep original formatting for embedded Excel snapshots by choosing edit or open but I don't think that option is there for Word docs.
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
The top bar in the new window opened by double-clicking on the image says it is an "image in [document name]".
I tried your workaround (saving the window it opens in under a different name and inserting it using copy/paste "special")... with the result that it inserted the entire document in a recursive nightmare.
My current workaround (apart from actually using another machine ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) ) would be to make a screenshot of the edited image at a suitably large scale, save that as a jpg and insert it as an image. The major drawback with that for my purposes (translation) is that nobody can then edit the new version (for correction purposes).
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
Oops. That's an unusual way of editing Word documents. Don't you end up with very large files? OLE and all that is nice in theory but can get very awkward in practice.
If it works on one machine but not another it sounds like there is a conversion or filter component missing somewhere. If you have the installation CD, then re-running setup and looking through the options may give you the answer. Comparing what is installed on a PC that works may help.
I've switched now to Office 2007, so can't do more than general advice I'm afraid!
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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monkeylizard
Ship's scurvy
# 952
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Posted
Eutychus, take a look at the Tek-Tips forum on MS Office. I've often found the site to be a good resource. They may be able to help.
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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Posts: 2201 | From: Music City, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
B1 - right clicking anywhere on the desktop and selecting 'Properties' should get you into the various tabs which allow you to change colours, resolution etc.
B2 - maybe looking for the 'safely disconnect hardware' icon on your taskbar? See if it still knows it has the external hard drive? Disconnect if it does. Or if it doesn't, then unplug the drive and replug, so that it recognises it again?
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
B1 - right clicking anywhere on the desktop and selecting 'Properties' should get you into the various tabs which allow you to change colours, resolution etc.
B2 - maybe looking for the 'safely disconnect hardware' icon on your taskbar? See if it still knows it has the external hard drive? Disconnect if it does. Or if it doesn't, then unplug the drive and replug, so that it recognises it again?
B1 ... hmmm. Not sure. Gave me scary options but didn't seem to change anything except when I changed the resolution down, then it went even fuzzier. Ugh. But I can live with that.
B2 .... nothing seems to show up that says the computer knows the drive is there. I suspect it's been pulled out sometimes without doing the "safely unplug" thing. It doesn't seem to exist any more (despite in reality sitting next to my right elbow). ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
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shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
B1 - sounds to me as if video driver has changed. Follow Firenze, you need to be on the setting tabs, there should be a drop down menu called "display". In there it will list the drivers available. You could try setting it to an alternate option and see if that gives you a greater range of display settings. Or you may want to google the driver named and see if you can find an update to install.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Thanks to Snags, it took me all of one evenings reading of a book bought years ago about php to sort out a quick dirty work around! No CMS, but content which is either stationary or going to be updated often in lots of files are simply put into a file which is included by a php statement!
I am guessing that long term we really do need to look at a proper content management system, but this may well do us for the next two or three years. By which time we will know where we are heading. The future is unknown at the bottom of the scale is a self funded website by two friends following their shared interests, at the upper limit is a semi-commercial website which may even be partially funded. I am trying to ignore the upper limit at the moment.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Mamacita
Lakefront liberal
# 3659
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Posted
I am in dire need of help from you experts. Something very bizarre has started happening on my w*rk computer. It has Microsoft Office 2003. (Yes, I'm a church employee, and everything is old, including me.) Things have been functioning just fine, and last week Microsoft Publisher 2003 started opening whenever I open a file in the My Pictures folder. Publisher just inserts itself in-between me and my photos. It opens with a dialog box that says "File Conversion" with three options (Windows/MS-DOS/Other) and then I can't get to the image itself, no matter what I click on. This means there are 5 years worth of church school and yoof group photos that I can't access, as well as all the illustrations I need to print out for this week's lesson, which I can't access. Does anyone have any suggestions? Do I need to un-install Publisher?
[ 23. February 2010, 22:25: Message edited by: Mamacita ]
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Posts: 20761 | From: where the purple line ends | Registered: Dec 2002
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
Mamacita, the most likely explanation is that Publisher has somehow got associated with your picture file extensions. The following example assumes that your pictures are JPEGs (.jpg extension) so modify it if they're actually .bmp, .tif or whatever[1].
To change the association back to your preferred program, open up any Explorer window (My Comupter, My Documents etc.) and do the following:
Tools > Folder Options > File Types
Scroll through the "Registered file types" until you find .jpg (or whatever extension it is) then click on it once to highlight it.
In the "Details for 'JPG' extension it will say "Opens with: Microsoft Publisher" (if this is the problem I think it is). Click the "Change..." button and scroll through the list of programs until you find the want to use, then pick that, and OK your way back out.
If the program you want isn't in the list, it gets a bit more complicated!
If the "Opens with" bit doesn't say Publisher, then there's something else going on, so ignore the above and report back.
Hope that helps!
[1]If you can't see the file extension, open your pictures (or any) folder and go to:
Tools > Folder Options > View and in the Advanced settings bit un-tick "Hide extensions for known file types" then click "OK".
[edited for bad grammar]
[ 23. February 2010, 23:05: Message edited by: Snags ]
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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Mamacita
Lakefront liberal
# 3659
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Posted
Yes, they are jpegs, and this sounds like something I might actually be able to do! Shall try tomorrow and report back. Thank you, Snags!
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Posts: 20761 | From: where the purple line ends | Registered: Dec 2002
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Mamacita
Lakefront liberal
# 3659
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Posted
IT WORKED! ![[Yipee]](graemlins/spin.gif) I was able to bypass not only Publisher but some old clunky Adobe software that wasn't working properly. They are happily routing to Microsoft Picture Viewer and I'm back in business. Thank you, Snags!!
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
Posts: 20761 | From: where the purple line ends | Registered: Dec 2002
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
I have a lot of old videos that I haven't got round to transferring to DVD. In the meantime, is there any way of hooking my old video recorder up to a laptop so I can watch them on the laptop screen? The laptop has a S-video socket, would that work?
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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blackbeard
Ship's Pirate
# 10848
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Posted
Fairly common problem I expect ...
My computer must be around 7 years old by now. It's a Pentium 4 running Windows XP and has McAfee antivirus firewall etc etc. After some years using AOL I have now gone fibre-optic with Virgin.
Problem is, it's a bit slow. It takes - has always taken - a few minutes after being switched on for Windows to organise itself. Web pages typically (it varies) take a few seconds to load.
Is this normal and to be expected or do I have a problem?
Should I consider buying a new computer (always a bit reluctant to replace something that sort-of-works)?
Came across a programme called RegCure, is this likely to help (for a fee of course)? or Comodo (no fee apparently?) (I'm a bit reluctant to add anything to the existing collection of sundry programmes, mainly in case it fouls something up!). Have tried using the clean-up/defrag bits of McAfee, to no effect.
Posts: 823 | From: Hampshire, UK | Registered: Dec 2005
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Ann
Curious
# 94
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Posted
I've noticed that computers tend to attract accretions like barnacles - the obvious way to get rid of them is to scrape the bottom.
Personally I would make sure I had all the install disks for Windows and any programs I use, back up all of my document and similar files (if I have a 'D' drive or big external drive, the documents go there for the duration), make sure I could re-install drivers for the video card, sound card, scanner etc (make a list from checking out the hard drive and My Computer properties) and save my email program's data file.
Then re-format the hard drive and re-install everything from scratch. Then get all the service packs, updates, security patches from the net. Then restore the documents and email files.
Or, if finances aren't too tight, I might buy a bigger 'C' drive, install everything onto it and put the old drive as a slave to transfer files across - this has the main advantage that the email files are still there - the main crossing of the fingers comes when I try to back up and restore the email.
On the other hand, I am not you - and I have done this before (usually every couple of years) - and occasionally forget something which is then lost forever.
[eta - back up web browser bookmarks/favourites and make a list of any passwords]
[ 25. February 2010, 13:47: Message edited by: Ann ]
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Ann
Posts: 3271 | From: IO 91 PI | Registered: May 2001
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monkeylizard
Ship's scurvy
# 952
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Posted
<<ETA: I agree with Ann. If that's not an option, see below:>>
MSConfig may be of some use.
Start..Run..
Type in msconfig and click OK
Go to the startup tab and uncheck anything that you KNOW what it is, but don't want it running all the time. If you're not sure, leave it alone or research it (google) first.
Example: My HP all-in-one slows down my PC with all the poorly written bloatware that it needs ro run to be able to scan. Since I scan almost never, I have this turned off. If I ever need to scan, I can start the HP software from the Start menu.
And be sure to run a good anti-spyware program. Spybot Search & Destroy is a good free one from Safer Networking
[ 25. February 2010, 13:53: Message edited by: monkeylizard ]
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The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. ~ Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Posts: 2201 | From: Music City, USA | Registered: Jul 2001
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Snags
Utterly socially unrealistic
# 15351
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Posted
Blackbeard: what Ann and MonkeyLizard said, plus (if not going for the blow it away and start again option):
- pair Spybot with Malwarebytes as a malware solution
- personally, ditch MacAfee in favour of almost anything else (although AV software is a highly subjective and emotive thing)
- clean out your temporary folder of accumulated crud (Start > Run "%temp%" will take you to it, and then zap everything that isn't locked and in use)
- check that you've got a good 10-15% of you disk space free
- use Disk Management to find out how fragmented it is, and if heavily fragmented, de-frag it
- download CCleaner and use it to clear out any accumulated cruft in the registry
The above, coupled with the other suggestions, can breathe a modicum of new life into an old system, although at the end of the day, if it's old and slow, it's old and slow (I have a similar issue with the laptop I'm writing this on, and basically with a single core processor and comparatively limited RAM, it just struggles when loaded up with modern AV, browsers and such like, and one has to be patient).
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Vain witterings :-: Vain pretentions :-: The Dog's Blog(locks)
Posts: 1399 | From: just north of That London | Registered: Dec 2009
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Firefox 3.6 question here.
In the olden days, right-clicking allowed the possiblity of opening a link in a new tab - and the new tab being positioned furthest to the right in the line of tabs already opened.
In this version, the new tab seems to open immediately to the right of the current one, which I find annoying. Annoyinglier still, there doesn't seem to be a way of changing this. Am I missing something?
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
I don't know - and suspect not - but it's my absolute favourite new feature!
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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The Revolutionist
Shipmate
# 4578
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Posted
The extension Tab Mix Plus gives you lots of options about how your tabs behave, including the option to revert to having new tabs open on the far right.
If your mouse has a scroll wheel, then middle-clicking opens links in a new tab as well, which is a bit quicker than using the right click menu.
Posts: 1296 | From: London | Registered: May 2003
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Hmm, thanks. I don't think Firefox extensions and I were made for each other and this one is no exception. I was hoping for a built-in option, but at least Drifting Star is happy now...
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Paul.
Shipmate
# 37
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Posted
Eutychus:
- Open a new tab
- in the address bar type "about:config"
- click the button to accept the warning
- type 'after' in the 'filter' box at the top and look for the line with browser.tabs.insertRelatedAfterCurrent
- right-click on it and choose Toggle so that it now has a value of false instead of true
That should do it.
Posts: 3689 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2004
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Brilliant, thank you so much!
So many of these types of thing seem to have whole software suites (some of them for a fee) or begin with instructions like "go to Windows registry..." when all the time there is a simple way of doing it.
Then again, how many of the answerers on this thread are using the Tech Support Cheat Sheet?
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
I have it pinned to my noticeboard.
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
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Posted
Hello. I'm thinking of getting a Network drive (vis an external drive - I wanted it plugged into the router so I can access it LANwards).
Does anyone have any experience with say, a 1Tb* drive?
(*remembers the ZX81's 16k ram-pack fondly...)
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Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doc Tor:
Does anyone have any experience with say, a 1Tb* drive?
I'm running an IOmega terabyte drive via an ethernet cable to my router. It comes with its own software CD for a specialized, slightly-goofy, means of keying individual computers to be able to access it. It would have been annoying if I had already assigned drives W: through Z: for other things. But I'm happily accessing the thing from both my Windows and Mac machines (and, indeed, remotely via 3G connection to the iPhone for watching videos).
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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Doc Tor
Deepest Red
# 9748
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Posted
About that software - is it for loading onto the drive, or onto each networked computer?
I'm running a PureNetworks LAN (to save me from the MS LAN protocols, which are stupid and ugly), and it 'sees' other networked peripherals without doing anything to it.
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Forward the New Republic
Posts: 9131 | From: Ultima Thule | Registered: Jul 2005
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
Back in the world of browsers, I now have a separate problem on a separate machine. Firefox says it is running 3.6, but a browser mirror (and warning messages from sites like YouTube) suggests it's running version 2. Uninstall and reinstall doesn't seem to make any difference. I'm also running AVG Internet Security (a paid-for version). Has something got under my protection and/or any suggestions for a fix, anyone?
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
OK, fixed that one by running Firefox from start menu and creating a new profile. You may return to your terabytes.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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RooK
1 of 6
# 1852
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doc Tor:
About that software - is it for loading onto the drive, or onto each networked computer?
Onto each networked computer, sadly.
Posts: 15274 | From: Portland, Oregon, USA, Earth | Registered: Nov 2001
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Doc Tor:
Hello. I'm thinking of getting a Network drive (vis an external drive - I wanted it plugged into the router so I can access it LANwards).
Does anyone have any experience with say, a 1Tb* drive?
WD MyBook World Edition II here (aka the 'white light' version - it has, errm, white lights). 1TB NAS drive, working happily feeding Macs and a PC on our home network. Also works well as a media server to iTunes and a Freecom Musicpal. Has a friendly web based setup, though some of the sharing and quotas can get tricky to set up. Uses its own linux based software, so nothing to set up on the computers except pointing at the network share.
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
OK - I need some help. I have a computer that's about 8 years old, running Windows XP SP2. I use Opera, occasionally resort to Firefox and rarely use IE. Firewall is Windows generic, I have Zone Alarm but it takes 5 minutes or more to load on top of 5 minutes pc booting-up time, and I can't do anything on the computer until it's settled in.
Some time on Sunday afternoon, connectivity suddenly dropped to a crawl, so that clicking on a link resulted in a page hanging indefinitely and not loading. I thought it might be an ISP problem, but I still have it this morning. A broadband speed checker tells me I have connectivity in the morning of up to 4Mbps, which is OK with me, in the evening, it drops to somewhere around 1.9-2. I might as well be on dial-up.
Oddly enough, occasionally, it's normal speed for a couple of minutes, then it goes back to hanging.
Reasons for this slowness could be several:
On Sunday in an effort to speed the pc up a bit, I ran CCleaner and may have deleted something I shouldn't - I've restored the backup file, but it made no difference.
Same day, I also tried to stop some unused programs loading at startup, because it takes so long to start up.
I'm unable to do any system restores from any point. It simply won't do it, no explanation given. I've run two virus scans with Sophos and AVG in case I have a trojan, and neither have found anything.
Any suggestions? (Please don't suggest anything that takes ages to download.)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Foaming Draught
The Low in Low Church
# 9134
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Any suggestions? (Please don't suggest anything that takes ages to download.)
Probably silly suggestions:
- Have you reached your ISP download limit?
- Are you on cable, which degrades as other people use it (like when you most need to use it)?
- If you have, say, 8MB free on your hard disk, download Ubuntu GNU/Linux overnight (with regard to question 1), run it from a live CD and see if that's as slow as your present set-up. If it is, it's an ISP issue, if it's not, amend for your past sins and run a proper operating system.
[ 16. March 2010, 09:14: Message edited by: Foaming Draught ]
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Australians all let us ring Joyce
For she is young and free
Posts: 8661 | From: Et in Australia Ego | Registered: Feb 2005
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Mr. Spouse
Ship's Pedant
# 3353
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
I've run two virus scans with Sophos and AVG in case I have a trojan, and neither have found anything.
Do you have both AV applications installed? You should never run more than one anti-virus application, as they tend to fight one another for priority. It could be worth booting into Safe Mode (F8 during startup) and uninstalling Sophos, AVG and Zone Alarm completely - there are instructions on the web sites how to do this. AVG is one of the worst AV programs I have ever tried to uninstall (or install). It works ok but nowadays includes too much bloat, in the guise of selling their paid-for products.
My current personal preference for firewall is the free version from Comodo - much more flexibility than ZA - and they have a free AV add-on as well. For pure anti-virus, Avast! is very well thought of.
If you have a decent backup have you considered reinstalling Windows from scratch? That way you can update to the current version - you should really be running SP3 of XP - and be selective about which applications you put back.
It's a pain when PCs start to slow down, as there are so many possible causes. Good luck in sorting yours out!
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Try to have a thought of your own, thinking is so important. - Blackadder
Posts: 1814 | From: Here, there & everywhere | Registered: Sep 2002
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Foaming Draught
The Low in Low Church
# 9134
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Posted
Ariel, with an 8 year old machine, you should not be running Windows XP SP3. Any advice to the contrary is uninformed and unhelpful.
If your present machine does what you want (and if "what you want' is word processing, e-mail and the Net, then you're typical of the great bulk of lay users who will go on to spend unnecessary bundles on the latest and greatest technology) but with speed limitations, for heaven's sake install a Linux variant. PM me for enlightenment.
Or spend lots of dosh on a new gizmo with whatever Operating System the sales lad talks you into.
FD
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Australians all let us ring Joyce
For she is young and free
Posts: 8661 | From: Et in Australia Ego | Registered: Feb 2005
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Any suggestions? (Please don't suggest anything that takes ages to download.)
Spybot Search & Destroy is I think free and, while some downloading is required, not that much. It's certainly helped my machines and found things AVG didn't.
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
Thanks for that reminder Eutychus. I generally use Search and Destroy regularly, but hadn't for a while. A scan found 31 issues - nothing that looked scary, but my browser speed has just gone from acceptable back to superfast.
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Ariel, it sounds as if you might be where I was around Christmas. Same thing, PC about 6 years old: ISP fine, broadband connection fine, no discoverable viruses or trojans - but the web just running like wet cement uphill.
Tried no end of fixes - many of them suggested on this thread. Virtually everything would produce a brief improvement, then it would slow again. I came to the conclusion that everything just expected more resource - particularly memory, and that ultimately it was the hardware that was the problem.
I had intended just to buy more memory, but then there was a HP dual processor with 4 Gb on offer at yer local PC megastore for three hundred and something and I thought wotthehell. Not only has it fixed the original problem, but I get Windows7 (which is very pretty) and - despite using the same monitor - marked visual improvement because of the better graphics card. And it's smaller, and quieter, and has more ports for plug-ins, and expansion bays.
Everyone has their own priorities for spend, but in terms of how much I need the computer, that was worth it for me.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Thanks all, for the suggestions! I've downloaded Spybot and will try it out tonight, also I may try booting up in safe mode to see if it will do System Restore then, and see how it goes from there.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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