 sj |
||
|
||
Need a humane way to kill...my computer
|
|
|
Subject: Need a humane way to kill From: Mick Lowe Date: 15 Nov 99 - 06:49 PM my computer.. it's so slow by the time it's opened a thread I've had to cut the grass twice. Even though it drives me crazy I shouldn't like to think of it suffering when I finally get chance to put it out of its misery And just in case Santa logs on and decides to read this .. could you please send me a new pc.. Pentium 3 with about 6 gig of disc space.. Cheers Mick |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Date: 15 Nov 99 - 06:57 PM I accomplished the same by upgrading from Windows 95 to Windows 98. News is ancient history by the time I get logged onto the internet now. |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Micca Date: 15 Nov 99 - 07:01 PM Hi Mick did you hear about the Titanic? I think shes in trouble. |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Banjer Date: 15 Nov 99 - 07:47 PM Never mind the Titanic, I just read where Lee is thinking of surrendering at Appomatox! |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Lonesome EJ Date: 15 Nov 99 - 07:52 PM Yeah? Well,my computer's so fast some of the stuff in the newsgroups I read hasn't even happened yet...hehe |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: kendall Date: 15 Nov 99 - 07:52 PM I got so exasperated with my old server, AOL, that I went with my local tv cable company. Its called Road Runner, and it is FAST. Furthermore, I have not been booted off the internet once since making the change. |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Jeri Date: 15 Nov 99 - 07:53 PM Try defragging your hard drive if you haven't done it in a while. (I also periodicaly clean out my temp folder.) And more RAM might help. Of course, I'd keep lobbying for a new computer if I were you. |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Micca Date: 15 Nov 99 - 07:54 PM Here are the racing results 1st Ben-Hur 25-1 2nd Metallus Cimber 15-2 JF 3rd Catullus 10-1 |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: AMos Date: 15 Nov 99 - 09:48 PM Pshaw. Get yourself an IMac, and a ROadrunner or Cox or @Home or other cable modem account, and your suffering will be over for good. Joy is ahead. Trust me on this. A. |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: TheMuse Date: 15 Nov 99 - 09:54 PM Kendall, Road Runner is available to me, but it's horrendously expensive. Like 4 times more a month, to say nothing of instalation. How does it compare to AOL? And could the problems you were having been specific to AOL? The Muse |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: WyoWoman Date: 15 Nov 99 - 10:29 PM Ahem, Jeri. Uh, Jeri...(tugging on the hem of her garment...) Uh, what's defragging your drive mean. WW who isn't a compleat idiot about computers, but close |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Date: 15 Nov 99 - 10:41 PM IMax is trailing edge. Get a Mac G4 Richard |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Michael K. Date: 15 Nov 99 - 10:42 PM Speaking of...S P E E D. These three little kids around 7 years old were having a discussion during recess about which one of their Dads was the fastest. First kid says ''My Dad's so fast that when he's playing baseball and at bat, when he hits the ball out into the field, he catches it before it hits the ground.'' Second kid says ''O yeah? Well my Dad's into archery and when he shoots the arrow at the bulls-eye on the target, he catches the arrow BEFORE it hits the target.'' Third kid says ''You wanna talk about speed? My Dad's faster than both of your Dads put together. He works for the city of Toronto, and when he punches out at 5:00, he's home by 3:00 !'' (Sorry I couldn't resist - MK) |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Bill D Date: 15 Nov 99 - 11:20 PM Wyo....as you keep using and re-using your computer, the stuff you look at, download, delete, etc keeps being written and over-written on your drive....and eventually it is like un-sorted closet shelves..things are piled everywhere...pieces of files are in different places, so when you want something, it takes longer to get to it because the pieces have to be assembled for you...this is a 'fragmented' drive so, there is a way to fix that...you de-'frag'ment it..with a program that is built into your operating system....exactly where this is depends on what system you are running... |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Jeri Date: 15 Nov 99 - 11:36 PM Sometimes threads load slowly because of net congestion. If your computer is sometimes fast and sometimes slow, the problem is your connection, not the 'puter. I can get to my defrag program by clicking on the Start button, then Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter. The program itself, which I can double click on to the the same effect, is here: C:\WINDOWS\DEFRAG.EXE "Defrag" (defragmentization)... well, the easiest explanation is it organizes your hard drive, taking all the data that's strewn haphazardly all over the place and putting it away in an orderly fashion. The computer I used to have at work would get bogged down, and it helped a lot to run defrag. Warning: the program can take a long time to finish. On my current computer, I have to close everything by hitting CTRL/ALT/DELETE and "End Task" until I get rid of all the icons on the task bar. (I'm probably doing this the wrong way, but I don't know the right one.) This can get tricky, and I hope you don't have to do it if you try to defrag, but you'll at least have to temporarily disable your anti-virus software. |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Brendy Date: 15 Nov 99 - 11:51 PM Not being a computer expert or anything, but I was told by someone who knows that if your hard drive goes above 1% fragmented, hit the defrag button. Windows 95 tells us, well it tells me, that I do not need to defragment at this time. My friend told me to ignore that message and defrag on a regular basis. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5 automatically emptys your temporary internet files for you at the end of every session if you want it to. I don't know how standard a practise this is among browsers, but it saves even more un-necessary clobber squeezing the life out of your disk space. Bren. |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Liz the Squeak Date: 15 Nov 99 - 11:55 PM Oh just whack the sucker with a tyre iron!! It's called 'percussive maintenance' and works a treat!! LTS |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Jon Freeman Date: 16 Nov 99 - 12:14 AM I am running a P133 which I would guess is a lot slower that a lot of people here have and for internet communications is perfectly adequate and I have no need to upgrade. I have seen memory and software mentioned - I run windows 95 and IE5 and my computer has 32mb ram and 8.4gb hard disk (I had to upgrade on that for other reasons). The only other change I made was to install a V90 modem. There are times when internet communications are slow but this appears to be connected to traffic on the net rather than my computer and there are certain times when I find that switching from one of my 2 free internet accounts to the other speed up communications dramatically especially early evening (sreaming.net - one of them offers free phone calls to connect after 6pm and the service takes a hammering - it can take me 20minutes just to log on at that time). Jon |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Escamillo Date: 16 Nov 99 - 12:31 AM I agree with Jeri. A relatively modern PC (say, at least a 486 100 MHz), is hundreds of times faster than the fastest transmission over a 56k modem, the phone or cable line, your Internet service and the rest of the net. Sure your PC is 99% of its time waiting for something coming through the cable. The solutions are: 1) Get your phone line checked by a specialist. It could be somehow damaged and introducing noise. 2) Try at night, not at peak hours 3) Try another internet provider. In general, this is the most probable source of problem. In my customer's experience, there is a relation between low cost and long waits. Yours, Andrés Magré (as a singer, a good programmer) |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Date: 16 Nov 99 - 01:06 AM Do you still have to 'defrag' if when on-line you sometime get messages that say something like, 'cleaning up 89 files in cache'? I know cache is like overload temporary memory, I think. Is this the same or different? |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Jeri Date: 16 Nov 99 - 01:14 AM Different. When you defrag, you clean up your entire hard drive. The cache a folder where your web browser stores temporary internet files. You could completely empty your cache (I've done so a bunch of times) without anything bad happening except web pages taking a little longer to load the first time you visit them. |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Easy Rider Date: 16 Nov 99 - 11:38 AM The best way to speed up your computer is to add more RAM. Windows 95 can use up to 64 Meg, and Windows 98 can use 128 Meg. Most of the delay accessing the Internet comes from communications delays. You can best speed that up by getting DSL service, from your phone company. DSL is better than a cable modem. It is online all the time, no dial up, and you can use one phone line for voice, fax and internet simultaneously. Check it out. EZR |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Jon W. Date: 16 Nov 99 - 11:55 AM Only one mention of modem speed on this thread, and that only in passing. Mick, if your computer is real old (more than two or three years) it's like likely you have a slow modem (14.4 or 28.8) and you should spend a little on a faster one (V 90 goes at a peak of 56KBPS I think). |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Bill D Date: 16 Nov 99 - 12:39 PM I run Norton System Works, which monitors a bunch of stuff and gives me various alarms if I want... when I got this new machine, I got 128 mgs of RAM, thinking "NOW I can run lots of programs"...but, Windows98 itself EATS a lot of that before I open anything else!... and here is a direct quote from the 'help' section in Norton: .."This sensor reports computer memory usage by monitoring how much of the memory has been committed to running applications. When the sensor reports a 50% memory load, all physical memory (RAM) has been committed. Further memory committment requires swapping data between RAM and virtual memory, which can slow computer operations." It seems it is really hard to win...right now, with Win 98 open and Norton monitoring and a couple of other small things sitting in the background, the monitor shows 74% of my memory is taken...so even without MS Word or other large application open, I am having to be a bit careful...I'm looking into settings that will help this situation |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: SingsIrish Songs Date: 16 Nov 99 - 01:36 PM Mick, I think it is all the songs you have stored in the hard-drive...I know mine has slowed down and I don't have nearly as much saved as you. But nothing would beat a new computer, that's for sure... But as for killing the computer humanely....obviously AFTER you have a replacement...how about this: First, try to get a bargain sledge-hammer (you know, a 5 pound sledge for 3 pounds :-) ) and then let the computer have it! But don't forget the humane part--unplug it first. And if you are careful and keep the casings intact, you could be creative and make garden planters out of them. Okay, okay, I heard the gong and the "ba-doom BOOM!" on a drum. So I know it is time to stop. Mary |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Mick Lowe Date: 16 Nov 99 - 05:59 PM Mary.. It's good to know you remember the jokes I told you..SEG And I knew it would get all you other guys going.. And yes I'm supposed to be a computer "expert" as in that's what I do for a living.. it's just that the one I currently have is a bag of shite.. so please Santa send me a new one for Christmas.. in the mean time if you haven't defragged.. which I do more than I shave... do so now... And ultitmately I know it's down to BT and my phone line.. yeah like I'm going to get a megastream at home.. Mick |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: WyoWoman Date: 17 Nov 99 - 10:25 AM Well, I have a 58.8 modem, but way out here in the boonies we evidently just don't have the phone lines to go any faster. This is where the whole conversation about "infrastructure" comes crashing down out of the abstract into the here and now. ww |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: catspaw49 Date: 17 Nov 99 - 10:50 AM I have the same system as Jeri I think, Gateway 450. Tons of RAM, cache, hard drive space, and a 56K modem....and the WORST phone lines in the world! Two hilljacks with a string between their outhouses 10 miles apart can get better transmission quality. GTE promises upgrades and digital service for this little area..."in the future." I expect Satan's balls to freeze up and fall off first. No help from cable either. Interestingly enough, my local provider has his home here too...and HE's bitchin'!!! I took my tower into his office in Lancaster, just to check it, and it just FLEW!!! Sometimes (rarely) I get a clear enough line here to move right along, but most times its got so much interference that its unreal!!! Spaw |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Barbara Date: 17 Nov 99 - 12:47 PM Mick, for a more creative solution than the discount sledge, come to the Corvallis (OR) DaVinci Days. They offer, at a dollar a pop, I believe, a chance to load your outdated PC into a catapult bucket and compete in the computer toss. Hope you get a new one soon. Blessings, Barbara |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: JedMarum Date: 17 Nov 99 - 12:52 PM mick - load up RedHat Linux on your old, PC, find a browser you like, get yourself a high speed modem and log back on. You'll be amazed atthe low cost, high speed! |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Mick Lowe Date: 17 Nov 99 - 08:01 PM Barbara.. I take it that's Ozzie dollars.. Actualy just having had one of the worst days ever.. I'd like to kill all computers very much inhumanely.. loads of trouoble installing a new pc onto someones network.. if could go wrong, it did... The only trouble is with getting rid of these darn things is, you'd need bloody great flags in order to use semaphore across the pond and even bigger ones to you upside down people Barbara.. If only the world was flat.. it would make life a lot easier.. And I'm still smiling through adversity.. Mick |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: SingsIrish Songs Date: 17 Nov 99 - 08:17 PM Glad you are still smiling Mick!!! Hopefully you'll be smiling more tomorrow (well later "today" since it is already Thursday where you are....)..."Please Mr. Postman look and see. Is there a letter, a letter for me?..." Or even a package...?? Bye...... |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Mark Clark Date: 17 Nov 99 - 11:14 PM Wyo, There's never a humane way to take a life and that of course is what has happened to your hard disk. "Frag" or "fragging," you may remember, is a term that originated in the military during the Viet Nam war; a rather unpleasant business. Since computers are a major source of frustration and anger for most people, some people have been know to go over the edge and "frag" their hard drive. Defragging, then, is the process of bringing your hard drive back into service after it has been "fragged" by one of the troops. Seriously though, the most effective way to speed up a personal computer is to add real memory (RAM). This is far more helpful than adding machine cycles (processor speed). I wouldn't run Win 95 for real work in less than 80MB or so. As I type this note, I'm using a ~330MHz Pentium with 256MB RAM and a 6.5GB hard disk running NT 4.0 Workstation. Did I mention that my hard disk is almost full and I already have the 10GB replacement drive loaded with Win2K? As a rule of thumb, never allow the available space on your C: drive to dip below 300MB or so and, as Bill suggested, defragment your available space so it's all together at the end of the drive. Your OS needs swap space for vitrual memory and your browser needs cache space as well. - Mark
|
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Date: 17 Nov 99 - 11:54 PM It's mostly bad lines that slow the thing down, as someone already said Linux on nearly any ole puter is faster than Windoze. Getting a DSL may be faster some of the time but when the system you're getting stuf from is using 28.8 modem it's back to wait wait wait again! |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Barbara Date: 18 Nov 99 - 08:34 AM Mick, I suppose if the catapult's really good then it might make it across the Pacific to OZ, but don't hold your breath while you wait. OR is Oregon, a part of the US the last time I looked, dang. Upper left hand corner of the map under Washington (the state). Blessings, Barbara |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Date: 18 Nov 99 - 03:40 PM I think the graveyard for computers is next to the one for pet rocks. But maybe that for psychobabble and PC are in between, I forget. And somewhere around there toymakers have space reserved for Barbie and friends, couch potatoes, gi joe and rangers of various spaces and the like.
|
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: Mick Lowe Date: 18 Nov 99 - 08:58 PM Mark.. what will it take to get your machine shipped out to me.. you wouldn't believe the dinosuar I have to live with.. lack of dosh prevents me getting a decent bit of kit.. a pun for any Brits reading this.. forget the BBC's new award winning series.. Walking with Mick's P.C. is even more gruesome.. Now Barbara you lost me with the Oregon reference.. so come out and tell me straight... have I got it wrong?.. I thought you were living in Oz.. there are so many wonderful people on the mudcat and my memory is worse than my pc. people often think I am joking when I say that, but alas senility has caught up with me at the tender age of 46.. hang on I need to check that.. yep 46 it is.. Thanks for all your suggestions Mick |
|
Subject: RE: Need a humane way to kill From: SingsIrish Songs Date: 18 Nov 99 - 09:33 PM Aw, Mick, you ain't senile...it is a symptom of having little kids....and I think a good P.A. is what you need, but not one who is some 8000 miles away. Hmmm, there's a song that the Andrews Sisters sang call "A Penny a Kiss, A Penny a Hug"....
A penny a kiss, a penny a hug. Might be an idea for how to save the moola for a new pc! You know who I am. |
| Share Thread: |