dddave

A friend purchased a Z2 4/64 at Powerbuy, Central World last Monday. B11,500

Only had red color but since most cases replace the back cover it wasn't an issue.

How is your virus protection???

Avast free version, kept up to date.

Dave in many cases it's the Thai Wife's bloody feckless Kids that makes many of us ask Why stay here. I sent hers to bording school, but they still get on my nerves 20 years late.No Work Ethic pisses me off bigtime

Yup; that too.

No wife, no live-in girl friend, occasional guests when I so desire= contentment.

It will be interesting to see what impact the release of the low cost 4G RAM/64G ROM Zenphone-2 will have on the memory aspect of the phone market. They just released a version in the USA which gives it world wide exposure. I wonder if it will signal a rapid rise in onboard phone memory just as the Samsung Note dramatically affected screen size.

I envy the OP in that he is a knowledgeable enough user to know what workarounds are available to try. Most of us just sit there, chin on hand saying "<deleted>??".

I hope you will at some point soon post your impressions of Lollipop vs. KitKat. I'm still undecided what I will do when the Lolipop upgrade to my Zenphone-5 finally (if ever) becomes available. So far, I see no advantages considering my own usage, I only see perils.

There are repair shops in both Fortune Tower and Pantip (and probably other IT Malls as well) that sell tablet replacement screens but whether they have the specific Nexus screen would be really hit or miss. They can be ordered online but be sure you determine whether or not the price includes the digitizer as well as the screen. If your cracked display doesn't have blotches and bleeding colors then your digitizer is probably ok but it's easy to damage when removing the cracked pieces.

In my own experience, devices with replacement screens did not work well; lots of dead spots.

Isn't the Nexus-7 made by ASUS? Maybe an Asus screen would be compatible.

For many retirees such as myself, without a wife and young family, the idea of having to return to life in the USA as an old person is pretty dismal.

However, I can see how expats who have families here in Thailand face really hard choices when they consider their children's future. Unless hey have the considerable resources it takes to pay the huge tuitions of the few truly competent International Schools, they must accept the reality that their kids will suffer lifelong consequences from the totally inadequate educational opportunities available here.

I don't just mean "the three R's". The entire passive, Confucian system inculcated here, of accepting what you are told without challenge, to never question authority and to pay undue respect to tradition stifles dynamic and original thinking. Ambition is viewed as a negative trait as is individuality.

Kids reared in the educational system here face the real risk of being trapped here, despite having Western passports simply because they will lack the personal skills; not to mention linguistic skills it takes to forge any kind of successful career in the competitive Western environment.

For many parents, the only means to decent education for their kids is to return to their home countries. I can understand it being a wrenching decision, especially if one parent is Thai. It is probably very difficult for the kids as well who have to make huge adjustments to life in countries that may be openly hostile to anybody viewed as an immigrant.

Tough, tough choices I feel lucky not to have to face.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/internet/how-stop-autoplaying-ads-videos-media-on-web-pages-3497991/

That was actually the site I originally went to before my OP. What baffles me is I already had the "Let me chose when to run plug-in content" option selected, yet the videos continue to autoplay.

I suspect marketers have found a way to bypass personal control.

I'm glad to hear this. It's sure a lot easier to have it fix itself. Did you uninstall the updates and either leave it or reinstall them, or did it just start working? I agree it was probably what you think it is and changes in startup services and programs are actually done by editing the registry but we often have a GUI that will do it.

Once the machine seemed to return to normal after running "sfc/scannow", I happily left it alone. I figured whatever flaws the update had were pretty well fixed at the same time and that seems to have proven true.

Good luck to you and your family.

Hey Mods!!

A whole paragraph of my OP disappeared, then when I tried a clarification post below (I was unable to edit the OP it in 3 tries) all but the last line "kind of a mystery" also disappeared. Lets see what happens to this one.

Kind of a mystery

I prefer reading news stories rather than listening to some newsreader with all the attendant hype and breathlessness. Unfortunately, many news sites now post video reports embedded within text which insist on telling you what you've just read.

I then went to "Content settings" then "Plug-ins" I was surprised to see that I already had "Let me choose plug-in content" ticked.

For some reason it's not working as almost every video on webpages I read open's with autoplay without any input from me.

Any suggestions how to kill autoplay?

If you decide to buy a printer w/ink tank, make sure to buy from a shop where their English is clear enough to explain the solutions to some issues that will probably come up.

First among those issues will probably be your printer warning you with flashing lights that there is a print cartridge problem usually something about "Un-Authorized blah blah" In other words, they will try to stop you from using the ink tank instead of their outrageously expensive cartridges. You may also get a host of "Low Ink" warnings even though the tanks are full.

There are work-arounds for these warnings but each brand has it's own methods so be sure they do explain what to do when this crops up.

B7000 p/m including utilities (I assume you use ac maybe 30-40% of the time? Hard to get lower than that, really. I lived 3 years in Bangkok without ac, fans only. It wasn't easy but it can be done. There are B2000 to 3000 rooms in outlying areas but then that would be counterbalanced by increased transportation costs. Is there a possibility you could find a reasonable place within walking distance of your workplace, thus eliminating a portion of transportation? If you are already cooking most of your meals, then the only way to shave off costs of that is what you buy and where you buy it. I find the vegetables and fruits at wet markets to be fresher and cheaper than supermarkets by far. If you like fish, the fish killed when you buy it can't be fresher. Most wet market pork sellers are pretty careful and because pork can be cooked well done, I've never had a problem. I avoid the beef because it is always very tough and unlike pork, even worse well done. If poultry looks fresh and smells fresh and is kept on a bed of ice. it is probably OK...just wash it thoroughly and cook it thoroughly as well.

I've had times in my life when I have to live on a super tight budget. I found keeping a money log, detailing every penny spent really can show where you can save. Often I found that I was spending a lot more monthly on something I thought was insignificant.

Check the Bangkok Post and some of the free magazines such as BK. They have many listings of free events, some of which are really entertaining and fun and better than a movie.

As the majority here have pointed out: a better paying job is the best overall solution.

Kluaynamthai Hospital is just off Rama-4 on the Phra Khanong end, a 10 minute walk from the BTS station.

Though I have not personally used their services, I did take a woman friend there who was having a medical issue. She was treated respectfully at admissions and was quickly seen by a Doctor. She was given X-Rays and a thorough examination and happily, her issue turned out to not be serious.

​She was given some meds and told to return for a follow-up visit in 3 months.

All in, charges were less than B2000 but I don't recall the exact amount. I though they responded very well to a walk-in patient in her situation.

The physical plant is older, not shinny new like many local hospitals but everything seemed well maintained and sanitary. There were comfortable waiting areas with TV's and water was offered by an attendant.

English is not generally spoken but an English speaking staffer was summoned to explain my friends situation. She told me that there is always at least one English speaking staff member available at all times.

I did not get the impression at all that it was primarily a facility for the elderly. I saw patients of all ages while I was there.

I suggest the OP just go there before he has a medical issue and check it out.

Just to report back; now 5 days after my "Group Policy" issue was resolved. No GP pop-ups since; computer operating normally.

I wonder if in this case its simply the Group Policy Client service is not set to auto start?

My Google results suggested this was the most likely culprit. A WIN-7 update had recently installed and this process may not have installed properly.

Friend also bought a Zenphone-2 last week at the Sirikit show 4/64, B11,500.

He got busy right away disabling whatever bloatware he couldn't delete...only kept a few of the basic apps as better apps in every category can be found on PlayStore.

Once he did that, his battery life improved greatly. So much of the bloatware runs constantly in the background and is forever updating and reporting home...even the battery monitor app leaks power...get rid of them!!

I do recommend that anyone buying a SIM and data plan such as"AIS FREEDOM PACKAGE" do it only at a AIS or Telewiz (or TRUE & DTAC) kiosk or office. Ask that any promotional or 3rd party SMS's be disabled. Have them check your phone for data leaks...they are usually pretty good at that. make sure you understand the terms of the voice and data plan and make sure you aren't signed up for any default services like "Calling Melody" or other such useless garbage.

Not far off the subject; sometimes my ThaiVisa forum REPLY box overscans lengthwise....Type just keeps going right without going to the next line. It's intermittent and usually eventually goes away but I'd like to know how to deal with it at the time.

It's usually an oversized photo in a previous post failing to resize correctly and stretching everything to match.

So, really nothing one can do except maybe log-out, then back in?

JEEZUZ! I thought we were having a civil discussion, then how quickly this turned to mud slinging, name calling, resentful crap. Shame on every one of you that can't keep this a decent debate!

"Lively discussion" is a better characterization...testy at times but never violent, except of course when Windows discussions are interrupted by members of the Apple Fanboy Cadre.

7/11 is owned by CPall, part of the CP conglomerate, TrueMove is also owned by CP. Doubt that they'd stop sell TrueMove H SIMs? Maybe Norwegian or Singaporean SIMs?

Yes, the 7-11's near me still do sell TRUE products including boxed phone packages and Internet promotion scratch cards. Not sure about individual SIM's. No AIS, no DTAC. Every retailer I've seen in the past month requires a passport (or copy) for SIM registration; no more vendors selling SIM's on footbridges.

I assume the OP will be coming thru one of the airports and both DMK & BKK have kiosks in Arrivals representing all the providers selling one month Tourist SIM data/calling packages in the B299 range.

Not far off the subject; sometimes my ThaiVisa forum REPLY box overscans lengthwise....Type just keeps going right without going to the next line. It's intermittent and usually eventually goes away but I'd like to know how to deal with it at the time.

On the subject of Win-XP, I have a 13 year old Toshiba laptop (Win-XP(2002), Pentium-4, 704 mg ram) that I have not used for a long time. I am considering using it as a machine dedicated to downloading torrents only. I once tried to upgrade the ram but it turned out the entire keyboard and inside components needed to be removed to access the memory slot.

Not really worth it because the older RAM for this machine was very expensive. No point in just going from 704mb to 1gb so I would have had to buy 2 1gb sticks to make it worthwhile...got a new laptop instead.

Is it even advisable to try to upgrade the OS? (I'm really computer inept) What would be the maximum size HD I could download to?

LINUX has been suggested to me but I am a (very) old dog and that is a new trick.

I'd like to go straight from Udon Thani Airport to Vientiane, with no hotel overnight in Udon. But if no storage is avail at Udon airport and I have to go into town first to leave a bag, and then take the bus to the border, I'm OK with that.

May I inquire why then you are even carrying a bag if you do not plan to overnight in Udon nor carry the bag to Vientiane where you will overnight? I must be missing something.