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Tech Help (Beyond This Forum)

Recycled1 said:
I'm using an 11 year old HP desktop that has to be linked up to my broad band provider etc.
It still gets its 'insides 'checked monthly by HP, who give it a clean bill of health.
I pay (through the nose !) for Norton to keep me virus free.

BUT Chrome says it can no longer up date things because I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium, and I know my hotmail doesn't like me using Chrome.

My daughter says to me "Get a chrome book".

I don't know. I'm so USED to what I've got!
I'm an OAP , not technically minded at all.
I've got a smart phone, but I prefer a decent sized screen.

What have other (older) folk found relianle and easy to use?

Thanks for all ideas.
Click to expand...
An 11 year old PC running Win 7 is probably not secure enough or fast enough in this day and age.
A Chromebook with a good spec is a perfectly reasonable recommendation, if you have no need for anything outside email, browsing and office-type apps. They are better than they used to be.
 
Recycled1 said:
I'm using an 11 year old HP desktop that has to be linked up to my broad band provider etc.
It still gets its 'insides 'checked monthly by HP, who give it a clean bill of health.
I pay (through the nose !) for Norton to keep me virus free.

BUT Chrome says it can no longer up date things because I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium, and I know my hotmail doesn't like me using Chrome.

My daughter says to me "Get a chrome book".

I don't know. I'm so USED to what I've got!
I'm an OAP , not technically minded at all.
I've got a smart phone, but I prefer a decent sized screen.

What have other (older) folk found reliable and easy to use?

Thanks for all ideas.
Click to expand...
  • Windows 7 is obsolete and has been out of support for years. That means no more security updates.
  • Your hardware is obsolete. Five years is about the max.
  • No point in paying for Norton anti-virus - Windows Defender does it for free
  • Hotmail sucks
  • A Chromebook isn't a proper computer, it's a minimum spec computer with a browser and all your content lives in Google, who are evil data pimps
Hope this helps.
 
Herr Cloaca said:
  • Windows 7 is obsolete and has been out of support for years. That means no more security updates.
  • Your hardware is obsolete. Five years is about the max.
  • No point in paying for Norton anti-virus - Windows Defender does it for free
  • Hotmail sucks
  • A Chromebook isn't a proper computer, it's a minimum spec computer with a browser and all your content lives in Google, who are evil data pimps
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
What HC said.

For me, life inside a Chrome browser would be about like living in a minivan. I've had good luck with $500 laptops on sale for $300. With care and some luck, you can get a good machine with an SSD drive, decent processor, and plenty of memory for normal use. This is probably the best time of year to be looking for something like that. My most recent purchase was Ms Popper's replacement for her pokey old desktop. It's an Asus, and seems to be just fine. It came with Windows 11, which is pretty much warmed over Windows 10. They don't seem to have broken as much stuff as usual. I may even switch my own laptop over to 11, if some good reason occurs to me.

I have purchased Chromebooks for family members, mostly for school use. I suppose they are fine for what they are, but if you ever need to do something outside a Chrome browser, then you will be needing to get your hands on a real computer. I don't even use Chrome for anything but a few cantankerous sites that seem to run better there. I've had Firefox set up just the way I like it for years now, and moving to a new computer (or even a borrowed one) is as easy as signing in.

I have not wasted money on Norton or any other such parasitic just-barely-not-a-scam product since discovering Windows Defender. Those products were necessary long ago, but are more trouble than they are worth now, even if you don't have to pay for them.
 
Hmmm.
Perhaps when I've paid for my new gas boiler I'll consider splashing out.
Who would you go to , to buy from? Currys?

(My son works in an IT department, but he has a lap top from work, so he may not be any more knowledgable on what to buy.)
 
Recycled1 said:
Hmmm.
Perhaps when I've paid for my new gas boiler I'll consider splashing out.
Who would you go to , to buy from? Currys?

(My son works in an IT department, but he has a lap top from work, so he may not be any more knowledgable on what to buy.)
Click to expand...
You might find that a small computer shop near you will be able to build a perfectly fine system for you at a very reasonable price.
They'd be more knowledgeable than Currys/PC World, too.
You could keep your mouse, keyboard and monitor - so all you'd need to buy is the main unit.
 
Just an aside - my son does high end software stuff (don't ask me....I have no idea) and his computer is some all-singing, all-dancing, 'bells and whistles' affair, which gets so hot that it has a special water-cooled system with a radiator on it and a fan, like a car engine does!
 
Trevp666 said:
Just an aside - my son does high end software stuff (don't ask me....I have no idea) and his computer is some all-singing, all-dancing, 'bells and whistles' affair, which gets so hot that it has a special water-cooled system with a radiator on it and a fan, like a car engine does!
Click to expand...
No need for central heating! Just turn on the computer to warm the room.
 
Quite honestly I 'm likely to go to Currys or Argos because I want to look at what I'm buying.
I don't drive, so it's got to be somewhere I can get to on the bus!

I've been reading a little about Chromebooks / laptops on the internet.

*I don't want to spend more than the £500 the government has kindly given me.
*I know I want Windows 11.
* I also want a camera that I can turn off, so it's not looking at me ready to scam me!
*I don't mind having to log in with a typed password -I'm used to that.
*I want decent battery life , or the ability to have it plugged in to a socket.
*I want whatever input socket is necessary for me to transfer photos from my old computer to a new one.
*I want WORD or similar for simple excursions into writing.
*I'd rather like still to be able to plug in and use the mouse that I'm familiar with.

Other than that, my needs are those of any elderly lady -emails, Facebook, one or two websites including ebay.

I shall go looking later on this week.
All suggestions gratefully received!


p.s The desktop I'm using at the moment is 12 years old, not 11. :)
 
Recycled1 said:
Quite honestly I 'm likely to go to Currys or Argos because I want to look at what I'm buying.
I don't drive, so it's got to be somewhere I can get to on the bus!

I've been reading a little about Chromebooks / laptops on the internet.

*I don't want to spend more than the £500 the government has kindly given me.
*I know I want Windows 11.
* I also want a camera that I can turn off, so it's not looking at me ready to scam me!
*I don't mind having to log in with a typed password -I'm used to that.
*I want decent battery life , or the ability to have it plugged in to a socket.
*I want whatever input socket is necessary for me to transfer photos from my old computer to a new one.
*I want WORD or similar for simple excursions into writing.
*I'd rather like still to be able to plug in and use the mouse that I'm familiar with.

Other than that, my needs are those of any elderly lady -emails, Facebook, one or two websites including ebay.

I shall go looking later on this week.
All suggestions gratefully received!


p.s The desktop I'm using at the moment is 12 years old, not 11. :)
Click to expand...
Okay. If I were you, I'd get this:

HP 22-df0041na All-in-One PC £379.99
Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus £29.95 (is a download, make sure you keep the Product Key safe)

Or do you want a laptop?
 
Herr Cloaca said:
Okay. If I were you, I'd get this:

HP 22-df0041na All-in-One PC £379.99
Microsoft Office 2021 Professional Plus £29.95 (is a download, make sure you keep the Product Key safe)

Or do you want a laptop?
Click to expand...
Many thanks, I've just taken a picture of that on my phone.

Does it HAVE to be plugged in? Or will it also work as a portable laptop if necessary?
At the moment my desktop has to be joined up to my Virgin modem, but I'm hoping to maybe leave Virgin and find somewhere cheaper.
 
Recycled1 said:
Quite honestly I 'm likely to go to Currys or Argos because I want to look at what I'm buying.
I don't drive, so it's got to be somewhere I can get to on the bus!

I've been reading a little about Chromebooks / laptops on the internet.

*I don't want to spend more than the £500 the government has kindly given me.
*I know I want Windows 11.
* I also want a camera that I can turn off, so it's not looking at me ready to scam me!
*I don't mind having to log in with a typed password -I'm used to that.
*I want decent battery life , or the ability to have it plugged in to a socket.
*I want whatever input socket is necessary for me to transfer photos from my old computer to a new one.
*I want WORD or similar for simple excursions into writing.
*I'd rather like still to be able to plug in and use the mouse that I'm familiar with.

Other than that, my needs are those of any elderly lady -emails, Facebook, one or two websites including ebay.

I shall go looking later on this week.
All suggestions gratefully received!


p.s The desktop I'm using at the moment is 12 years old, not 11. :)
Click to expand...
You can buy a laptop for approx. £500.
Maybe that's a better option for you? You can take it anywhere and it has its own built-in uninterruptible power supply.
 
Recycled1 said:
Many thanks, I've just taken a picture of that on my phone.

Does it HAVE to be plugged in? Or will it also work as a portable laptop if necessary?
At the moment my desktop has to be joined up to my Virgin modem, but I'm hoping to maybe leave Virgin and find somewhere cheaper.
Click to expand...
That one can't be used like a laptop.
It does have wi-fi built in, so you can link to the modem wirelessly.
 
I've reading everything people say, very carefully.

I don't think I would ever take whatever I buy out of the house.
I only really go to my children's houses, where I can have access to whatever they've got.
And I do have a smart phone with google etc., though up until now I've been wary of linking my emails to it.

But I would quite like to be able to move the furniture around in my living room, and at the moment I can't, because I'm joined to the modem.
 
Recycled1 said:
Many thanks, I've just taken a picture of that on my phone.

Does it HAVE to be plugged in? Or will it also work as a portable laptop if necessary?
Click to expand...
That one does have to be plugged in to power all the time.

Otherwise, try https://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/nav/c/new/lbu/everyday/osgroup/windows-11/popularfea/ssd-drive/mc/48361/pt/laptops?sortOrder=1&rangeattribute=1~300~450

Tweak the characteristics on the left. Ignore the brand - they're all made by the same company in China.
 
Need to understand upload and download speeds. I am trying to replace the fairly awful internet provider I currently have with one that is at least the devil I know and they say that they offer a download speed of 300 mbps and upload of 10 mbps. I use a lot of internet and a smart TV. No games, no unusual graphics, rarely download or stream movies. I do use one accounting program that seems to be a speed hog but their specs say 3 mbps minimum upload speed. Can I make the change? I've never grasped the upload/download speed thing. Thanks.
As an edit, I just ran speed test on the current system and I'm averaging 320 down and 11 up. The current vendor promises 300 down,
 
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Me again.
I went to Currys yesterday, nosing round and listening to advertising spiel.
I wasn't keen on Chromebooks -I kept hearing that you had to "download the app".

My son has said he will hunt down a second hand laptop for me, so I will bide my time.
I'd decided to wait for the January sales, anyway.

Question:- What would most of you pay for broadband and a land line (no TV)?

I'm paying Virgin between £50 and £60 a month (as I've said , the desktop is tethered to the modem at present)

People tell me this is too much, BUT I don't have any problems.
I don't lose my internet connection the way some people do. (A lot of trees where I live.)

Thanks again for all comments, and all so far.

p.s. I want a land -line in case I lose my mobile!
 
You may need to know that Virgin are moving away from landlines to internet phones. All the providers are doing it actually. Copper landlines will be a thing of the past eventually and it's a really bad thing in my opinion. I would avoid mislaying your mobile in case there's a power cut.

A refurbished laptop with Windows 11 on it sounds like a good idea. I've had some excellent experiences with second hand tech in the past.

I currently pay far too much for Virgin, about the same as you. I am too frightened to do battle with them over leaving.
 
I was talking to my pet shop man later this morning. He says most broadband providers charge about £40 a month.
He and I were sympathising with each other.
He bought a house with really good T.V.s, but, like my desktop, they are teetering on obsolete.
He has to pay £20 a month for Freeview.
 
Lb8535 said:
Need to understand upload and download speeds. I am trying to replace the fairly awful internet provider I currently have with one that is at least the devil I know and they say that they offer a download speed of 300 mbps and upload of 10 mbps. I use a lot of internet and a smart TV. No games, no unusual graphics, rarely download or stream movies. I do use one accounting program that seems to be a speed hog but their specs say 3 mbps minimum upload speed. Can I make the change? I've never grasped the upload/download speed thing. Thanks.
As an edit, I just ran speed test on the current system and I'm averaging 320 down and 11 up. The current vendor promises 300 down,
Click to expand...

I have just tested.

Download: 51.77 mbps

Upload: 11.44 mbps

I use my computer for very similar to you.

Am not a gamer.

Current speeds do the job for what I need.
 
Recycled1 said:
I was talking to my pet shop man later this morning. He says most broadband providers charge about £40 a month.
He and I were sympathising with each other.
Click to expand...
I've always found plusnet to be a fair price and you get to speak to someone who you can understand if there is a problem. Have a look at them.
 
Trevp666 said:
Real life is somewhat getting in the way of attending to the file conversion thing at the moment, but I will report back at some point.
Click to expand...
So my first real opportunity to check if VLC will carry out the file conversion from WMA to MP3 has arisen.
So following the instructions you advised I have decided to 'batch convert' all my WMA in the order in which they present themselves, by album, with the first one presenting itself for selection being 'Ad Nauseum' by Derek and Clive.
VLC took a little over 6 minutes to work it's way through the 1 hour and 16 minutes of audio (mostly spoken word - dunno if that matters) and then when I opened Windows Media Player to check the conversions, however, they were not visible.......but....suddenly the tracks started to appear, one by one, as WMP 'retrieved' the 'new tracks information'.
VLC saves the converted files in the same location they were sourced from, but interestingly WMP has decided to re-title each individual track according to what information it can find about it online, and some of these tracks are being catalogued slightly differently to their original title.
Never mind - I can edit the titles manually.
Next check will be to see if they will sync onto my Samsung, and if they do, well, happy days.
 
Trevp666 said:
WMP has decided to re-title each individual track according to what information it can find about it online, and some of these tracks are being catalogued slightly differently to their original title.
Click to expand...
Ah, I seem to remember that from years and years ago, when I had first ripped all my CD's to MP3's. I think WMP at the time had updated or something and insisted on renaming all my bloody music that I had already catalogued manually. I was livid. I think there's an option to turn that off somewhere. I'll have to look.

EDIT: Try steps 4-5 in this link. https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...ng-media/ed6794c4-4543-45a3-b855-e5fb166ad0a1
 
Hmm.
A wrinkle.
Now I don't know if this is an artefact of VLC converting the file from WMA to MP3, or my Windows Media Player re-cataloguing the files, but I now find that although all the tracks are showing in WMP (albeit with some changes to the names of the album and/or track numbers, which I can edit), and they will happily all 'sync' to my Samsung, I have ended up with all the tracks being listed under 'unknown' with their 'track number' being part of the track title (EG "02Horse Racing").
I can't seem to retitle them, or move them so that they all group together under one album title.
Unless it's something I can do with the 'DeX' application that links my phone to my PC.
Struggling to find something I can edit though.
 
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