Surviving without a computer

I have been having so many probs with this computer lately that I have survived 3 days without it and am beginning to think that I do not need it at all.
These things are just a big pain in the a...s.
I will be switching back to paper bills and hand writing stuff.
I wonder if there is anybody out there who can remember how to write?

Hi Adrian
I recently started using Xubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) Operating system free.The great thing is it runs of a thumb drive,loads very quickly and shuts down in 10 secs.Its incorruptable as read only(I use a HDSD card with read only switch) so if any virus or malaware decides to have a go I just turn of the computer..The version uses firefox browser.So everything works better and quicker than windows,its an 1.8g download and you can also install it on a hard drive if you are using one in the computer if so desired.

Thanks for the info but I think I am over computers. I have 5 here with each one being a so called Up grade from the previous but they all have the same problems as the very first one I had: great at first but then total crap after 12 months or so. Too slow, crash more time than a drunk driver on a wet road in a storm in peak hour traffic and get loaded up with viruses that nobody knows how to get rid of without destroying half my stored data..

I would be lost without my computer and my latest one is the best so far, and still have several old ones that are still useable.
Yes, after a while they can get to be clocgged up with crap and bits and pieces wear out (such as keyboards, batteries, power connectors, etc. but they can do things much better than can be done on a smart phone.

My current laptop is a Windows Surface with 16gb RAM and 1TB of SSD (instead of a hard disk) so is quite quick and agile and has a reasonable amount of available storage. The keyboard is also removable and in that mode (Tablet) you mainly use the touch screen, but can still use a rodent if desired. I can't say I am a favourite of that type of use, but it comes in handy sometimes.

I guess that it all depends on what you want/need to be able to do and one of my main needs is to be able to run MS Access databases as I have developed and support a few of those for a business. I also do quite a lot using spreadsheets and oodles using Word for documentation, PowerPoint for training sessions, etc.

Yes, there is always something that is frustrating with computers. But, be that as it may, it is now so easy to get information on just about anything. As a former journalist I recall the time taken up with finding some basic background information that involved going through library references and reams of paper clippings.

With that I find waiting at airports or wherever I often seem to be the only one reading a book. Everyone else is fiddling with ipads. Living in Indonesia it is a bit startling to see so many people texting and using their ipads while riding motorbikes in heavy traffic. The extent to which we are dominated by the technology is clearly a matter of choice. I doubt I will stop using my laptop despite the annoyances.

For what it is worth, there is a free downoad for a system called CCleaner which I use at least every other week to clean out cookies and other accumulated stuff that slows the computer down.

So, Adrian if you haven't tried the regular clean up you might do that before you toss your machine.

Now that everyone is receiving daily loads of emails I have gone back to sending letters if it is something important. There have been a number of issues with organizations from freight companies to banks and even Jetstar where I have used the computer to get details of the CEO and a forwarding address and write a letter. I suspect that getting a letter now has become so unusual that they get read. And when the CEO turns to an assistant and says, "Get this sorted" it happens. Trying to work your way through an organization with emails is pretty well fruitless.

I am reluctant to download anything to this computer because just about everything else that I have downloaded has dumped a load of crap that I didn't want into my computer.
It took me 8 tries to finally get logged into the forum just now.
Comp says I am connected and signal strength is excellent at 58 Mbs.
The Available networks says I am connected but when I try to log in the display says Unable to connect to the internet. I says "Stuff Ut"

After Windows 94 , I moved to a Mac. and I do not regret the change . On my 3 rd. s/hand Mac , had to update for faster speed . This one is 2011 on High Sierra .

Gotta agree. Comps a pain in proverbial.
20 years on comps with windows, all eventually died from virus diseases.
Now got a apple ipad (last 2 months) took me this long to figure out how to use it. First post.
Much easier walking around the paddocks chaseing gold Gday all

Comp crashed while trying to respond to this and took 7 attempts to reconnect.
I will be getting paper bills from now on because this piece of crap computer cannot be relied on to deliver emails.

I have most of my bills on direct debit, that is the way to go. Just buy a Mac. this one cost me $500 from Gumtree . I did not have any problems changing from Windows to Mac .

Trouble with direct debit is that if you forget to put a stop on it when an account is paid off some dodgy operators will keep on taking your money even after you are dead.
AVG did that to me for three years before I realised that they were still taking my money after I was no longer using their anti virus program. I told the bank to put a stop on it but AVG are still sending me emails saying that they cannot access my account. P***ks!

Adrian, Are you using windows 10 if so have you used "disc cleanup"?
Type in search "disc cleanup" when it opens click on "C" drive.
You will see a message bottom left of box "Clean system files"
Click on that one and again select "C" drive.
Windows updates running in the background can accumulate TG not MB's of useless data.
I do this cleanup every few weeks.

Hope this helps.

I was only talking about direct debit for Telstra , electric , gas , water rates , council rates. Those are the ones I have on direct debit . They will charge you for sending out letters .

I also do direct debit for all main recurring bills that will accept direct debit.

I have had a problem with Netflix still charging my Credit card, and they won't listen to you wanting to cancel the subscription.

Get your bank to charge Netflix  back , or not except  their  debits.   Try consumer affairs or what ever they call them selves these days .....

BTW I think there is a computer market in   Canberra ,  once a month ?

Thanks, but I believe I have Netflix issue in hand.

That is the best , to have it in the hand .....

Nightjar wrote:Adrian, Are you using windows 10 if so have you used "disc cleanup"?
Type in search "disc cleanup" when it opens click on "C" drive.
You will see a message bottom left of box "Clean system files"
Click on that one and again select "C" drive.
Windows updates running in the background can accumulate TG not MB's of useless data.
I do this cleanup every few weeks.

Hope this helps.

Thanks mate. I do a Defrag and disc clean up and dump visited sites, temp files and internet files n cach memory, recycle bin etc almost every day now. Sometimes this helps. The prob is in the comp because I have a laptop and tablet that work fine from the same WIFI connection as the comp.

Well wonder of bleeding wonders!! The comp is finally connected to the NBN and after some on line help from a nice lady at Telstra Cust Serv, the comp is working fine again. and the phones even work....after a bit of messing about from the lady from Telstra    Speed is nothing to write home about but is better than previously.
So Touch Wood. Hope I have not spoken too soon.

My Download speed is around 18Mbs. Ping 16ms and upload  4.6Mbs. Is that good or bad.
The comp seems about the same as it was when I first purchased it and before nbn 3 years ago

We were having a lot of NBN dropouts, finally they sent a Telstra tech around to check setup.
The only landline we have is the NBN connection. The tech had a little hand held gadget that he put near each unused phone socket outlet, if it "buzzed" it was live.
He then went outside and disconnected all sockets not required.
No more drop outs.

The only other line I have is to the Fax and the Fax is disconnected.
I am not having any more drop outs but I was expecting faster download speed.
The NBN is optical to the street junction box but is still copper cable from there up the street to the house. ( about a klm of copper) The whole NBN deal seems to be pointless.

G'day Adrian.

Yes computers are so frustrating, even for those that know what they are doing. Just finished building my latest PC. Video integrated with the chip, but that didn't work until after I had set it up with a video card installed. The RAM in the manual had the wrong configuration. So frustrating. Hours spent on troubleshooting.

Anyway, if you are getting 18MB/s then it sounds like you are on a 25MB plan. That is a good speed, especially your UPLOAD speed of 4MB.s+. If you're on a 50MB plan then that is concerning. It should be faster.

Previously used Optus coax connection. I was getting 30MB/s Download and 1MB/s Upload on a wired connection and 3MB/s Download on a wireless connection.

Since going to the NBN on a 50MB plan with Optus I am getting 40MB/s Download and 15MB/s Upload. Much faster, and it was the same over the wireless connection.

All these speeds can change depending on who is on at the time as well.

The main problem with windows is it bloats. Windows 10 is updated every 6 months or so and after the update it will place a windows.old folder on your hard drive. It shouldn't affect the speed but it will take up space on your hard drive. It will leave them there for about 4 weeks, just in case you need to go back to your old configuration. You can't completely get rid of it by deleting the files. The easiest way to dump the folder and files is to change your date setting to 2 months in the future. If the day you update is in May then change the month to July. Leave it at the new date until the folder disappears, then go back to the current date. It shouldn't take more than a few hours for the folder to go.

It's easy for me to tell you what you SHOULD do but without the extra equipment or the know how it can be expensive for someone else to set you up right. I don't know where you are getting all these viruses and malware from but I only use the Windows Defender from Microsoft, and a program called Malwarebytes. In the many years I have been using my computers I can't remember getting a virus. I'm not saying I've never had one but I can't remember. I don't think I have dementia either, but I can't remember.

Here is what I do. When I build a new computer the one thing I must have is a hard drive caddy. This is a drawer that sits in one of the 5.25" bays and it allows me to remove the hard drive from the computer without having to open the computer. I have 2 hard drives, (in reality I use 4), one for WORK and one for INTERNET. Hard drives are cheap enough and if you say you have 5 old computers then use those older hard drives.

My WORK hard drive has a static I.P. address. This means I give it an address that is completely different to the one your router/modem gives your computer whenever you connect to the internet. With this static I.P. address it cannot connect to the internet, nor can anything from the internet connect to it. You can use a small hard drive for this, say 120 G.B. in size (an SSD one will cost about $40.00) and a large capacity external hard drive (1T.B. or larger) to hold your data. The external drive should connect to your PC using an USB 3 cable for faster data transfer. You can transfer data from your data drive to your internet drive using a SD card. DO NOT use a thumb drive as these have NO FACILITY to WRITE PROTECT the data. At least none that I know of. A SD card that has a Micro SD card and an adaptor can be write protected and keep from transferring viruses and malware from the internet to your precious data drive. My wife's new laptop only has facility to read Micro SD cards which cannot be write protected without a SD adaptor, so I need to use an external card reader for her laptop.

My INTERNET drive is used ONLY for connecting to the internet. It is given an I.P. address from your router/modem. You can set up a second INTERNET hard drive and use that only for accessing your bills and banking, and the other one for general browsing.

I know you see one problem. You don’t have the knowledge or equipment to do this. You will have to make good friends with someone tech savvy to set this up and someone who knows how to use Acronis (a backup program).

The laptops I use are Lenovo ones. I have rarely had any problem with them and if you do have a problem during the warranty period, they will send someone around to your residence to repair it if they can. I have been more than happy with their product.

I have given you something to think about so all you need now is a friend or family member with the necessary knowledge. If you wish to know more about this set up then please feel free to PM me at any time.

Regards Axtyr.

Thanks for all of that info mate.
You are correct, I know SFA about computers.
You have however given me a few things to think about that should give my comp a bit of a boost up if I can incorporate them.

Cheers.
Adrian

When I have my camping days I understand that I don't need a computer and my phone at all. Just in cases when I need to take a photo of great landscapes around me.

Jackie wrote:When I have my camping days I understand that I don't need a computer and my phone at all. Just in cases when I need to take a photo of great landscapes around me.

Yeah! I had similar feelings, when I visited my parents. The live in a village, and cellular is very bad there. But I came back, I realised that smartphone is the best way to relax after a tough day at work

I use a pen and paper again and I can tell you that it's more convenient for me than write it on my phone. But I can't give up on my phone, unfortunately