Computer Problems 2018

[brianw]

Is anyone else who has a BT/yahoo email address getting annoyed by this email timeout setup?

Introduced recently it is supposed to make you login at preset times if idle but seems almost at random at present. Logged me out today in the middle of typing a long email. Put me back again OK where I left off but still annoying. Usually opens new tab if you use the offered relogin popup for me. I can get round that but still annoying.

[ArnoldT]

I can speak to Yahoo over in the States.

We have had many problems with their groups and email service since Verizon purchased them. 

I'm not sure that the news group and email business is what Verizon is interested in.

The newer uses  ( younger and more Tech savvy) have migrated away from email to texting and all sorts of chat software.

We are looking at moving our group to Google.

[Alan_b]

Is anyone else who has a BT/yahoo email address getting annoyed by this email timeout setup?

I saw somebody who had this problem a long time ago (July 2014).  But it only happened with one web browser, Internet Explorer I presume, so we were able to work around it by using Firefox instead.  My notes don't say if I tried a thorough clean-out of the browser history, which is the obvious thing to do.  I see so many varied and different problems with BT email that my non-specific advice would be to ditch it and use another email provider instead.  Microsoft and Google are the two biggest providers of free email accounts. 

[brianw]

Although I have 2 other email addresses I have used bt for routine webmail since  ~2002, about the time I lost access to a free use of my companies Outlook etc. and now have many years old emails stored by BT, not me. I delete most of what I don't want within days (seconds?) of them coming in but still have many years of my online life "in the cloud".
What do others do when they want to change their cloud storage of emails, or photos etc. ?

[Alan_b]

I believe Google will collect emails from other accounts, if you give it the necessary username and password (so perhaps Microsoft will also do the same).  Thus you could store your old emails in Google's cloud rather than BT's.

Alternatively you could use email client software (of which Outlook is one example) to download your old messages and remove them from the BT(/Yahoo) server.  The problem with this is that there is no universal format for storing emails so if you choose one email client there may be problems if you subsequently want to switch to another one.     

[brianw]

DIY Screen savers
Anyone recommend DIY screen savers. I am thinking of editable text, photos etc. that will come on at meetings before the start, or in intervals, to promote future events, meetings etc. There are many if I Google such things but I have no idea of which might be best/simplest/ most reliable etc.

[Alan_b]

In Windows you can ask your screen saver to work its way through a series of images in a folder of your choice at (I think) a time interval of your choice, using the 'Photos' option.  So if you convert everything you want to display into an image format and put it all in the one folder then I think that should work.   

[Graeme]

DIY Screen savers
Anyone recommend DIY screen savers. I am thinking of editable text, photos etc. that will come on at meetings before the start, or in intervals, to promote future events, meetings etc. There are many if I Google such things but I have no idea of which might be best/simplest/ most reliable etc.

I would use powerpoint to be honest

[brianw]

It's so long since I used a screen saver I forgot about using a windows created screen saver from my own photos, screen dumps etc.
I am not sure if you can use Powerpoint to create a screen saver and run it in the middle of the presentation you are already running using PP. I guess 3/4 of all presentations I go to now use PP. At our local AGS group we normally break any presentation ~2/3 of the way through for coffee etc. I assume a screen saver would come in during a long interval in PP, if I wanted it to, although can't say I have tried it.

[Maggi Young]

You can just add a "slide" created in powerpoint to use as a holding slide  before a presentation or  at any point through it.  This can have any image you wish and  any info text added. 
Ian and some others use this to "advertise" the SRGC when giving talks.

[brianw]

Thanks Maggie but I was thinking of something independent of the "main feature", although 1 speaker was prepared and slipped a teapot slide in at an appropriate point once ;-)  I guess I am looking for a "commercial break". Something I hate normally.

[Maggi Young]

You can use such a slide as I suggest for just that purpose.

[deee]

i think Chiltern seeds maybe having some computer issues with their spambot presently

I certainly didnt expect to type this captcha in to get my new seed catalogue

apologies if this offends - i practically spat my tea out at the time !!