Your Most Annoying Computer Or Internet Headaches

[livinthailandos]

I am posting this due to certain headaches I always seem to get weither its the computer or internet. Its 2010 and although things have improved in some areas they haven't improved at all. My constant headaches are:

1. Printer issues - meaning print job gets stuck and I have to stop the printer spooler, delete the .shd file, then restart the printer spooler

2. Setting up wifi networks - yes it should be getting easier even with the instalunaor manually but there are times when things still go wrong, lately I had to click on force wifi N usb adapter to connect to the SSID,

3. Downloads that quit downloading - as a great example tonight I was downloading a Linux Distro with a download manager - after 30 minutes of downloading and being only 4 mb away from being finished the download speed basically slowed down then went to 0 then after a few seconds my download manager was unable to get the rest of the file and after 10 seconds then started redownloading the entire file. I gave up, what a waste of 30 minutes for nothing.

4. Driver issues - enough said

5. updates that go wrong - windows vista updates probably bring up any memories

6. dealing with crapware - basically having a new computer with windows installed and other companies decide to install there crap on your computer, at least thank god for ccleaner

7. other devices that aren't compatible with your OS, example cameras, routers, etc

8. wifi that you pay for and the speed is still slow ( yes i realize this area also depends on how many users on the network sharing the connection )

9. ISP's that have no clue or any real idea of their own connections, or helping solve problems or answer questions, does TOT come to mind

10. Movie industry which seems to be more paranoid on file sharers and no idea with a business plan, seems apple may have to do the job after all the showed how to redo the music industry

look forward to hearing all your postings

[elkangorito]

My comments in blue.

3. Downloads that quit downloading - as a great example tonight I was downloading a Linux Distro with a download manager - after 30 minutes of downloading and being only 4 mb away from being finished the download speed basically slowed down then went to 0 then after a few seconds my download manager was unable to get the rest of the file and after 10 seconds then started redownloading the entire file. I gave up, what a waste of 30 minutes for nothing.

I use a Firefox add-on called DownloadThemAll (DTA). It can be configured to allow a certain amount of time before it 'gives up' downloading.

Also, the download can be paused & restarted. This is handy when the download goes 'dead'.

5. updates that go wrong - windows vista updates probably bring up any memories.

Did you say Vista?

http://blip.tv/file/340692/

A 15 second advertisement will play before the humorous video begins.

6. dealing with crapware - basically having a new computer with windows installed and other companies decide to install there crap on your computer, at least thank god for ccleaner.

A genuine copy of Windows does not have 'crapware'.

9. ISP's that have no clue or any real idea of their own connections, or helping solve problems or answer questions, does TOT come to mind.

Didn't you know that Thailand's internet is 'horse drawn'?

10. Movie industry which seems to be more paranoid on file sharers and no idea with a business plan, seems apple may have to do the job after all the showed how to redo the music industry.

Are you complaining about difficulties in downloading p2p movies?

One more humurous thing:

http://vistasucks.wordpress.com/

[siamect]

Hmm interesting...

1. Printer issues - meaning print job gets stuck and I have to stop the printer spooler, delete the .shd file, then restart the printer spooler

Happens on Win something with HP printers, been like that since my first hp550 on win95, still they haven't fixed it... never happens with CUPS as far as I have experienced...

2. Setting up wifi networks - yes it should be getting easier even with the instalunaor manually but there are times when things still go wrong, lately I had to click on force wifi N usb adapter to connect to the SSID,

Never had a problem with that, but most wifi routers the providers install with no encryption enabled and usually the password is "admin" and it is reachable from the WAN side... that sucks big time... I don't know how many of my friends who have had this problem. I set it up for them. Then they change the ISP and they get a new wifi router... same shit again...

3. Downloads that quit downloading - as a great example tonight I was downloading a Linux Distro with a download manager - after 30 minutes of downloading and being only 4 mb away from being finished the download speed basically slowed down then went to 0 then after a few seconds my download manager was unable to get the rest of the file and after 10 seconds then started redownloading the entire file. I gave up, what a waste of 30 minutes for nothing.

Never use a download manager

4. Driver issues - enough said

Yeah, last time Belkin USB Wifi plug on WinXP... always disconnected every 10 minutes...never solved that one but it worked fine on Jaunty

And yes I have a noname webcam doesnt work with Jaunty, havent tested on Karmic nor Lucid, but it woked with WinXP

HP 1410 printer driver on Win7 never worked for more than a couple of days then remove/install

5. updates that go wrong - windows vista updates probably bring up any memories

Always my Bluetooth tag stopped working on WinXP when updated and I had to reinstall from the original CD about 5 timed before it magically worked again. Never got that one right... On Jaunty it worked except one update and was bad for a few days then it came back.

6. dealing with crapware - basically having a new computer with windows installed and other companies decide to install there crap on your computer, at least thank god for ccleaner

I just refuse to deal with that now... my wife's netbook had some student version of Office that is still there and Samsungs updater that is annoying, and MCAffee trial version and a handfull of other stuff, but it came with the Win7 factory install.

7. other devices that aren't compatible with your OS, example cameras, routers, etc

Just one Webcam i had this problem with on Jaunty ...

What do you mean "router not compatible with your OS"?? Routers has absolutely nothing to do with the OS!

8. wifi that you pay for and the speed is still slow ( yes i realize this area also depends on how many users on the network sharing the connection )

I have trues package ADSL and Wifi... not that bad at all, I also have DTAC Aircard, and ok speed is not amazing...

9. ISP's that have no clue or any real idea of their own connections, or helping solve problems or answer questions, does TOT come to mind

True is... well helpful at best but the knowledge is maybe not strong but I always make tests with 2 routers before I call them and present myself as "network consultant" or something ridiculous like that... ad they are... nice...

10. Movie industry which seems to be more paranoid on file sharers and no idea with a business plan, seems apple may have to do the job after all the showed how to redo the music industry

They are just trying to run their business like they did in the 50s when the business was to produce and distribute music and films... Since 20 years that is child's play and they still don't get it...

Martin

Edited May 17, 2010 by siamect

[d0ndela]

My comments in blue.

6. dealing with crapware - basically having a new computer with windows installed and other companies decide to install there crap on your computer, at least thank god for ccleaner.

A genuine copy of Windows does not have 'crapware'.

Sure they do, if they come with a manufacturer modified OEM version of Windows.

Buy a Dell computer and all sorts of crappy programs come with it, Internet Explorer is a modified version from Dell. Buy an Acer computer and they have pre-installed their programs with the OEM Windows. Samsung and Sony both have their own update software as well. The list is endless.

[nikster]

My comments in blue.

6. dealing with crapware - basically having a new computer with windows installed and other companies decide to install there crap on your computer, at least thank god for ccleaner.

A genuine copy of Windows does not have 'crapware'.

Sure they do, if they come with a manufacturer modified OEM version of Windows.

Buy a Dell computer and all sorts of crappy programs come with it, Internet Explorer is a modified version from Dell. Buy an Acer computer and they have pre-installed their programs with the OEM Windows. Samsung and Sony both have their own update software as well. The list is endless.

One time Sony offered a crapware-free laptop - for $50 extra! The thing is, margins are thin, and software vendors pay the manufacturers to put trial versions of their software on the computers. In addition to that there's all that software manufacturers use to "distinguish" themselves from the others, IBM was famous for that. Software that is rarely useful but quite often tries to sell you on something else.

The way around most of these issues is Mac OS X. While not perfect either, it does remove a lot of those Windows-issues. No crapware and trialware. Uninstalling an app consists of moving it to the trash (and there's no residue left behind either).

My main beef with Windows is how it ages. Any Windows OS to date starts out blazingly fast, then deteriorates until 18 months later it's very slow. The cleaner software doesn't resolve this (at least on my Windows PC). OS X does not have this problem and that's the main reason Macs remain usable a much longer time.

Of course you can re-install Windows, but heres my second gripe with it - no concept of migration. On a Mac, you have your old environment back as it was about 1 hour after taking it out of the box. I buy a new machine every 18 months or 2 years, don't see why I should spend days setting it up. Removing all the crapware. Installing all my apps. Getting all my settings back?! Can't file under leisure activity as it's not much fun, so this is time that I could be working, and making money. This is how a Mac pays for itself the moment you take it out of the box and try to do something with it.

Right, printers: Printers are a pain in the behind on Mac OS too. I print infrequent enough to just do it at the internet shop, my own printer is gathering dust (and geckos, and other animals) in the shed.

[Familyonthemove]

Oh yes ... I agree with all of your points, especially HP printers and their gigantic but slow driver software and endless updates from Windows and HP that need a reboot.

Also like to add aggressive software that tries to take over tasks. Adobe seems to be bad for this. Every time I plug in a USB drive - Adobe photo album starts and tries to find photos, no mattter what USB device is plugged in! I removed all the free adobe software that came with my camera just to stop it.

I was very happy with my Windows 98 and early version of Word before new, fatter versions came along - I often wonder how fast it would run if I went all retro on a modern lap top?

[dave_boo]

Downloads.....use wget!

[draftvader]

1. Printer issues - meaning print job gets stuck and I have to stop the printer spooler, delete the .shd file, then restart the printer spooler

I can answer so much in detail, but I will say, even with my experience levels, that PRINTERS ARE EVIL!!! Throw them out!!! Why can't ANYBODY write a decent printer driver that doesn't have 85Mb of bloat-ware that makes it NOT WORK? This was the same when I first started in this game some 20 years ago....today it is the same. Installing a scanner (same problems) floored Bill Gates at the 98 launch...plug and pray, plug and pray

2. Setting up wifi networks - yes it should be getting easier even with the instalunaor manually but there are times when things still go wrong, lately I had to click on force wifi N usb adapter to connect to the SSID,

Not meant for mere mortals....sorry. Just make sure that you ONLY use the windows wireless manager. Proprietary managers are ALWAYS rubbish and unnecessary. If you can't uninstall the software then download Scotty and disable the program in the startup programs section. Actually running Scotty is a VERY wise idea anyway. You DON'T need the paid version.

3. Downloads that quit downloading - as a great example tonight I was downloading a Linux Distro with a download manager - after 30 minutes of downloading and being only 4 mb away from being finished the download speed basically slowed down then went to 0 then after a few seconds my download manager was unable to get the rest of the file and after 10 seconds then started redownloading the entire file. I gave up, what a waste of 30 minutes for nothing.

Some useful advice. Check out JDownloader. Much better ability to drop and regain a download. This platform is Java based and automatically updates...awesome and free.

4. Driver issues - enough said

Buy a MAC (I hate, but they are good) or upgrade to Windows 7

5. updates that go wrong - windows vista updates probably bring up any memories

See above

6. dealing with crapware - basically having a new computer with windows installed and other companies decide to install there crap on your computer, at least thank god for ccleaner

Figure that, when buying a new computer, that you will get NOTHING done in the first 24 hours. Strip, clean, defrag, install your OWN choice of (free) security software, then clean, defrag, then install your EVERYDAY software, clean, defrag

7. other devices that aren't compatible with your OS, example cameras, routers, etc

Ah, they got you. Every time you upgrade consider what devices you use and whether there is support for them.

8. wifi that you pay for and the speed is still slow ( yes i realize this area also depends on how many users on the network sharing the connection )

A knowledgeable network manager will be able to resolve some of this for you. Firmware updates and traffic shaping on the controlling router will help.

9. ISP's that have no clue or any real idea of their own connections, or helping solve problems or answer questions, does TOT come to mind

Leave Thailand

10. Movie industry which seems to be more paranoid on file sharers and no idea with a business plan, seems apple may have to do the job after all the showed how to redo the music industry

Best thing to do is get a bunch of people, head down to their finance departments, erect tyre/bamboo barricade and refuse to leave until they agree with everything and then still don't leave because you believe negotiation means taking everything whilst you are on a roll. If you are on a roll in negotiation then ask, why? If the person sitting opposite you isn't an imbecile (Eton and Oxford education tends to lean that way) then think before opening your mouth again, they are trapping you with your greed.

Impossible to avoid tangent at the end there. Hope this helps you.

[Pib]

My comments in blue.

6. dealing with crapware - basically having a new computer with windows installed and other companies decide to install there crap on your computer, at least thank god for ccleaner.

A genuine copy of Windows does not have 'crapware'.

Sure they do, if they come with a manufacturer modified OEM version of Windows.

Buy a Dell computer and all sorts of crappy programs come with it, Internet Explorer is a modified version from Dell. Buy an Acer computer and they have pre-installed their programs with the OEM Windows. Samsung and Sony both have their own update software as well. The list is endless.

Yeap, Toshiba does the same thing.

[Crushdepth]

My main beef with Windows is how it ages. Any Windows OS to date starts out blazingly fast, then deteriorates until 18 months later it's very slow. The cleaner software doesn't resolve this (at least on my Windows PC). OS X does not have this problem and that's the main reason Macs remain usable a much longer time.

Is there any simple way to fix this? My vista laptop is now excruciatingly slow. Reinstalling everything is painful.

[joncl]

Is there any simple way to fix this? My vista laptop is now excruciatingly slow. Reinstalling everything is painful.

CCleaner has been around for years and solves these issues. A must for all windows users. You can download it here

[draftvader]

My main beef with Windows is how it ages. Any Windows OS to date starts out blazingly fast, then deteriorates until 18 months later it's very slow. The cleaner software doesn't resolve this (at least on my Windows PC). OS X does not have this problem and that's the main reason Macs remain usable a much longer time.

Is there any simple way to fix this? My vista laptop is now excruciatingly slow. Reinstalling everything is painful.

Visit iobit.com and get Advanced Windows Care (Free), run and marvel. This is a GOOD start. Uninstalling software using Revo Uninstaller is another.