Computer questions you'd be embarrassed to ask any where else!

looksee

Picking up on a point raised by Ramette, lets see if there is any interest in a thread for 'stuff you don't understand about computers and the internet'.

'How do I...?' 'what does this mean...?' Any questions you want to ask but are worried that you will look stupid, well you won't, we all had to start sometime.

Serious, sympathetic answers only. No messing, or smart remarks. No jargon answers or bunches of initials unless you explain them.

As you use a computer you get to a stage where, if you don't understand something, you know how to find the answer. At the start though it can all be a bit of a mystery, and there is no obvious way of figuring it out. If you are at that stage, this is the place to ask!

paddyandy

I hope nobody reads this and i think i've looked everywhere what is the 'signature' on boards.ie.

looksee

Look at one of Old Goat's posts, he has a banner affair about 'Boards photography yearbook' and also a list of forum charters. That is his signature.

If you can't see it it is probably because you have the signature tick box unticked in your user control panel.

- Go to Boards.ie in the menu bar at the top of the page. Click on 'Control Panel' on the dropdown menu'.

- Under 'Your Control Panel' - 'Settings and Options' - click on 'Edit Options'. You will find the Signature tick box in there.

If you want to create a signature you can do it in 'Edit signature' in the Settings and Options box.

When you make any changes you have to go alllllllll the way to the bottom of the page and click 'save changes'.

Hope this helps

Rubecula

Well I do have trouble with multi quote. No biggie as I just post more than once or cut and paste.

Cicero

Rubecula wrote: »

Well I do have trouble with multi quote. No biggie as I just post more than once or cut and paste.

Multi Quote is an easy one Rube....firstly, click the quotes you want to reply to, using the "multi quote" icon to the right of the post (the one with the inverted comma and the plus sign...then click "post reply" which is the icon at the bottom of the page of the thread you wish to reply to..

all the quotes appear in your reply- just like I have them below...you can edit these quotes to just concentrate on the text you want to reply to by deleting the rest of the unnecessary text...

looksee wrote: »

Picking up on a point raised by Ramette, lets see if there is any interest in a thread for 'stuff you don't understand about computers and the internet'.

'How do I...?' 'what does this mean...?' Any questions you want to ask but are worried that you will look stupid, well you won't, we all had to start sometime.

Serious, sympathetic answers only. No messing, or smart remarks. No jargon answers or bunches of initials unless you explain them.

As you use a computer you get to a stage where, if you don't understand something, you know how to find the answer. At the start though it can all be a bit of a mystery, and there is no obvious way of figuring it out. If you are at that stage, this is the place to ask!

paddyandy wrote: »

I hope nobody reads this and i think i've looked everywhere what is the 'signature' on boards.ie.

looksee wrote: »

Look at one of Old Goat's posts, he has a banner affair about 'Boards photography yearbook' and also a list of forum charters. That is his signature.

If you can't see it it is probably because you have the signature tick box unticked in your user control panel.

- Go to Boards.ie in the menu bar at the top of the page. Click on 'Control Panel' on the dropdown menu'.

- Under 'Your Control Panel' - 'Settings and Options' - click on 'Edit Options'. You will find the Signature tick box in there.

If you want to create a signature you can do it in 'Edit signature' in the Settings and Options box.

When you make any changes you have to go alllllllll the way to the bottom of the page and click 'save changes'.

Hope this helps

Rubecula

Thanks for that Cicero that was pretty good info I will have to give it a go soon.

chucken1

How do you do this thingy? Where someone writes click here and it goes into another link?

Stained Class

Good thread.

I can't post photos or do links.

I've read instructions on these things, but can't seem to take it in.

Guess I need to 'borrow' some younger person for an hour or so....

*Looks out window*

Cicero

chucken1 wrote: »

How do you do this thingy? Where someone writes click here and it goes into another link?

Click on "post reply" (as opposed to the quick reply icon)- this will give you the larger reply menu...

select the word you wish to post a link to by highlighting it with your mouse (left click and highlight as if you're about to bold it)

Look at your reply menu...one of the icons is a globe with a link on it

while keeping the word you want highlighted, click on the globe/link icon..up will pop a box where you input the URL you want..for example...O&O Forum....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1480

click OK...the word is now a "clickable link"....like this one.... here



you can colour the word as well if you want to. The word will appear with a line underneath it indicating that it's a clickable link

looksee

Well! There's a thing, thanks Cicero, I had tried to sort out the multiple quote thing but without success. I don't often have need of it, but I had been trying to be much too complicated!

Cicero

looksee wrote: »

Well! There's a thing, thanks Cicero, I had tried to sort out the multiple quote thing but without success. I don't often have need of it, but I had been trying to be much too complicated!

No worries..:)

BTW folks , there's a lot of help on boards for boards related queries like the ones above..


Top 10 Questions:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056232089

Some more help here....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056265452

I'm no expert at all but feel free to ask your Question in this thread and I know someone will eventually answer it for you...

Zaph

Hi guys. There's also a lot of information and "how to" guides in the FAQ here.

Rubecula

Thanks Zaph, is it user friendly for old fogeys like us? Many of us need help in finding the keyboard, our dentures, glasses and wooden legs let alone understanding some stuff.

Thanks for the link though, It will be useful for those who have yet to find it.

looksee

Yes, you see you get so many answers on the faqs pages, its much easier to just cope with one at a time!

Zaph

Rubecula wrote: »

Thanks Zaph, is it user friendly for old fogeys like us? Many of us need help in finding the keyboard, our dentures, glasses and wooden legs let alone understanding some stuff.

Thanks for the link though, It will be useful for those who have yet to find it.

It's split into sections, including one called "How do I..." which may be useful for some people. I appreciate however that there's a lot on the page and it could be a bit daunting for some. However there's always plenty of people around to assist, and don't forget that Shield and Spear are great at explaining stuff in the Newbies & FAQ forum.

Rubecula

Rubecula wrote: »

Well I do have trouble with multi quote. No biggie as I just post more than once or cut and paste.

Cicero wrote: »

Multi Quote is an easy one Rube....firstly, click the quotes you want to reply to, using the "multi quote" icon to the right of the post (the one with the inverted comma and the plus sign...then click "post reply" which is the icon at the bottom of the page of the thread you wish to reply to..

all the quotes appear in your reply- just like I have them below...you can edit these quotes to just concentrate on the text you want to reply to by deleting the rest of the unnecessary text...

Rubecula wrote: »

Thanks for that Cicero that was pretty good info I will have to give it a go soon.

Is this how it is done Cicero?

Wow it worked perfectly Ty.

Cicero

Rubecula wrote: »

Is this how it is done Cicero?

Wow it worked perfectly Ty.

Ha!...well done Rube...you've got the hang of it..:)

Alice1

Rubecula wrote: »

Is this how it is done Cicero?

Wow it worked perfectly Ty.

Rubecula wrote: »

Thanks for that Cicero that was pretty good info I will have to give it a go soon.

Cicero wrote: »

Ha!...well done Rube...you've got the hang of it..:)

Hm, just trying - not sure about it still

BBDBB

Great thread


Can I ask how I find out what my computer is currently whirring away at at any given time

there are occasions when its really slow, the little lights flash and on screen I get the egg timer or equivalent telling me its "thinking" but on what? cos when I press Ctrl Alt Del the panel tells me what I already know to be open, so whats slowing it down??

Alice1

BB, maybe it is just cooling down - does it get very warm?

Orrr, it could be updating something (mine does that sometimes)

Orrr, maybe it is just getting old like us:D

BBDBB

whirrr whirrrr

dials spinning:D


you could be right, yes sometimes its downloading an update to my security thing - Macafee, but other times its not and I worry its copying my stuff to some hacker somewhere on the other side of the world or giving me a virus or something

odds_on

Recently, in my answer to a post, I wanted to refer readers to another post on boards.ie. Gave up as I had no idea how to do that. I had to use the search facility to find the other post myself, found it but couldn't work out how to make a link to it.

How do I .......?

Cicero

odds_on wrote: »

Recently, in my answer to a post, I wanted to refer readers to another post on boards.ie. Gave up as I had no idea how to do that. I had to use the search facility to find the other post myself, found it but couldn't work out how to make a link to it.

How do I .......?

hi Odds on...your post on any thread has a number..your post in this thread is 22 ...you'll see that in the top right hand corner of your post...click on 22...a window/tab will open with your post in it....copy the link and paste it into your reply wherever you're replying to...

odds_on

Testing .. 1, 2, 3, Testing .....

showthread.php?p=74902454#post74902454

Just pasted the link here and in the preview it automatically made a link:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74902454#post74902454

Here I used the "link" button -"insert link" on the tool bar above; actually did this before just pasting the link in the test above:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74902454#post74902454

Seems funny that as the link is in boards.ie, we still have to use the full address - http://www.boards.ie ..........

Thanks anyway Cicero; much appreciated.

Skerries

BBDBB wrote: »

whirrr whirrrr

dials spinning:D


you could be right, yes sometimes its downloading an update to my security thing - Macafee, but other times its not and I worry its copying my stuff to some hacker somewhere on the other side of the world or giving me a virus or something

well there you go, you found the answer all on your own
seriously McAfee is the biggest pile of resource hungry piece of shít out there and you should think of ditching it
I deal with it in where i work and we just hate it, it is really bad for slowing pc's especially if they are old when it does a scan
get rid of it and download the free anti-virus Microsoft Security Essentials
Surprisingly considering it comes from MS it is very good and unobtrusive and it is what all my fellow IT colleagues use at home

BBDBB

Thanks for that

Ramette

ha ha i was about to post the same question about the pc making a lot of noise but no action (now what does that remind me off?:P)
I have MacFee too:(

I guess i load the other antivirus software first before deinstalling mcfee?

odds_on

Personally, I'd download another antivirus (I have been using Avast Antivirus (Free version) for more than 8 years and find it great).

Then disconnect from the internet, remove your current AV and the install the new AV.

Finally, reconnect to the internet and allow the new AV to update itself.

P.S. Don't have two AVs running at the same time.

Spread

odds_on wrote: »

Personally, I'd download another antivirus (I have been using Avast Antivirus (Free version) for more than 8 years and find it great).
........................................................................................................

P.S. Don't have two AVs running at the same time.

Ditto. Avast is very popular and brilliant.

Rubecula

Everything on my computer is working fine. I can go through my various files at a faster speed than I really need.

However my internet connection speed is getting slower by the day for some reason. (It has always been slow due to things outside my control.) but in the last week it has gone so slow I go and make a cup of tea and have a bite to eat while I am waiting, and it seems to have trouble doing two things at once.

(I like to listen to music while I potter around on here, but there are a lot of 'breaks' and stop starts.

Not sure what I can do about it, any ideas that may help?

Bruthal

Ramette wrote: »

ha ha i was about to post the same question about the pc making a lot of noise but no action (now what does that remind me off?:P)
I have MacFee too:(

I guess i load the other antivirus software first before deinstalling mcfee?

No, remove the mcafee first, this will usually require a mcafee removal tool you download, its called mcpr (McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool) and can be found here, along with instructions. Mcafee is very rescource heavy as other said.

The removal tool download link is halfway down the page in the windows xp instructions.

DeVore

Rubecula wrote: »

Everything on my computer is working fine. I can go through my various files at a faster speed than I really need.

However my internet connection speed is getting slower by the day for some reason. (It has always been slow due to things outside my control.) but in the last week it has gone so slow I go and make a cup of tea and have a bite to eat while I am waiting, and it seems to have trouble doing two things at once.

(I like to listen to music while I potter around on here, but there are a lot of 'breaks' and stop starts.

Not sure what I can do about it, any ideas that may help?

Well, start with:

Who are you with for ISP?

Where do you live?

What flavour of windows do you run?

DeV.

Rubecula

DeVore wrote: »

Well, start with:

Who are you with for ISP?

Where do you live?

What flavour of windows do you run?

DeV.

I am now with BT, I live on the island of Anglesey in a fairly rural location and I use XP.

Oddly the computer itself is compounding matters now by running slower. I think it needs a good clear out, but this is not my original computer and I am not sure how to give it a clean. I did a system restore and got rid of a bit of stuff that is not required, but it hasn't improved matters.

looksee

System restore just takes you back a couple of days or wherever you go to, it is useful if you have downloaded something that is causing trouble, but it will not speed things up.

The easiest thing to improve things is defragment. (Is that what you meant?) Go to: Start - My Computer - Control Panel (category view) - Pick a category - Performance and Maintenance - Rearrange items on hard disk - when the window opens click on Analyze. It will tell you whether you need to defragment. If you do it can take quite a while so don't set it going if you are pushed for time. It can improve things quite a lot and it is 'harmless'.

The other thing is Free up space on hard disk. Or do this http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-vista/Delete-temporary-Internet-files. The only problem with this is that you will find yourself having to put in all your passwords again. Its a bit of a nuisance but could be worth it.

Rubecula

looksee wrote: »

System restore just takes you back a couple of days or wherever you go to, it is useful if you have downloaded something that is causing trouble, but it will not speed things up.

The easiest thing to improve things is defragment. (Is that what you meant?) Go to: Start - My Computer - Control Panel (category view) - Pick a category - Performance and Maintenance - Rearrange items on hard disk - when the window opens click on Analyze. It will tell you whether you need to defragment. If you do it can take quite a while so don't set it going if you are pushed for time. It can improve things quite a lot and it is 'harmless'.

The other thing is Free up space on hard disk. Or do this http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-vista/Delete-temporary-Internet-files. The only problem with this is that you will find yourself having to put in all your passwords again. Its a bit of a nuisance but could be worth it.

Thanks for this. Done the defrag thingy and it does seem a lot better. I will see how it goes from here before I go any further. (By the way regarding that setting for performance and maintenance, it has totally altered the screen appearance, but that's nowt to worry about LOL) Thank you again for that.

DeVore

You should go here: http://www.speedtest.net/

and run the Speed Test (great big BEGIN button, top of the site. Dont mind any of the "perform a scan" ads).

When you get your answer, paste it in here. Mine, for example, on a fairly fat UPC line is:


(to get that, click Share Results, and then the Forum tab to copy the right code).

DeV.

shootermacg

DeVore wrote: »

You should go here: http://www.speedtest.net/

and run the Speed Test (great big BEGIN button, top of the site. Dont mind any of the "perform a scan" ads).

When you get your answer, paste it in here. Mine, for example, on a fairly fat UPC line is:


(to get that, click Share Results, and then the Forum tab to copy the right code).

DeV.

Finally ^ ^

BBDBB

My download speed is 6.98 Mbps
the Upload speed is 0.85 Mbps

what does this mean please?

& is it the Upload speed thats causing delays?

golden virginia

Well i reckon its low for download and upload, but I suppose...so what.
Internet speed had gotten very fast here in Ireland ( not all parts).
If you are just doing average use - ie not trying to download TV or movies or upload you should be grand.
My test performed just now is upload - 6.51 upload 0.29
This is grand for me,, and I'm always online,, I watch my TV online even!

I read in the posts above that your computer is getting slow,,, try empty your caches. http://www.ehow.com/how_2293053_clear-cache-windows-xp.html Also what works great is to clear your hard-drive and reload your XP discs. Try this if your cache clear doesnt work.

Caches - each time you visit a website it leave a tiny bit of memory - cache. Over time this really builds up,,, its best to clear these about once a month.
I never remember to do this,, the last time i did it, it took my mac about 4 hours to clear them!

golden virginia

Sorry BB got you mixed up with Rubes posts - your internet is faster than mine ( eircom basic dublin) so I cant see a problem. i was slower but a few months ago Eircom were trying to sell me a phone package - i declined - but they said that they noticed i was on orginal 2mb broadband scheme and offered to upgrade me to 12mb for free - they said this was now the standard package for same price - it did speed things up so maybe ask them for this if yo dont have it .

Also - clearing caches does make a big difference!

BBDBB

I think the cahes could help

and I might try the re-frag above too

thanks for your help guys

Rubecula

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1573805951.png

I can't seem to post the image for some reason but the link shows my amazing speed

Not good is it? But it can't get better until they replace the worn out old wires and cables and stop leaving me as an 'end user'

*sigh*

Thanks for all your help though folks.



Oh a quick edit LOL I got it up. (The image guys, the image) Anyway you can see it now. I don't like to say anything is crap, but that is just... well crap really.

BBDBB

on the plus side..............youve made me feel much better about mine

Rubecula

BBDBB wrote: »

on the plus side..............youve made me feel much better about mine

You git.

OG Ban him ban him LOL

BBDBB

if only I could find the delete key I wouldnt get in half the trouble I do:o:D

Rubecula

rofl

DublinWriter

BBDBB wrote: »

if only I could find the delete key I wouldnt get in half the trouble I do:o:D

I'm still looking for the 'Any' key.

BBDBB

DublinWriter wrote: »

I'm still looking for the 'Any' key.

no wonder its in hiding, everyone is looking to hit it!

paddyandy

Don't tell anybody you er' saw me here but (some of my posts don't make me too popular with a few rough types)What if the Shinners decided to trace me(whisper) how safe is my identity here on boards.??always greatful for a wee tip.
SERIOUSLY I MEAN.

golden virginia

paddyandy wrote: »

Don't tell anybody you er' saw me here but (some of my posts don't make me too popular with a few rough types)What if the Shinners decided to trace me(whisper) how safe is my identity here on boards.??always greatful for a wee tip.

Arrah, you'll be grand if you cook us an Ulster Fry every morn, wee paddyandy.Lots of sausages and I prefer me wee eggs over easy. If the shinners trace you , they will be so distracted by the wee grub,, you'll manage to slip away out the back.

OldGoat

Plenty of space for banter and chat in the chat thread. Lets keep this one a bit more specific to handling 'puta issues. No problems with a bit of humour but the humour and chat should be tied to the thread topic rather then just for the sake of chatting.