Computer problems and/or advice 2012

[Maren]

Maren has a bug which she has lived with and resented rather than seeking assistance.

Oh no, she hasn't, and assistance has been sought everywhere without success. I must agree, the Help jargon does not help me at all, however, I will persevere.

[maggiepie]

Maren, are you the administrator?

You can check this in control panel, User accounts, Change your account types.

[Alan_b]

... assistance has been sought everywhere without success.

You have not asked me.  I'll do  my best to help if you would like me to try.  If so, please begin by telling me what the name of your email program is.

Maggiepie is correct in that the problem probably stems from access rights to different areas of the computer.  But it is probably more complex than just making yourself an Administrator.  If you are not already an Administrator then who is? 

[gote]

Fair enough, but what do you do when Outlook Express prompts you to compact the folders?  If you don't do it then they are liable to get corrupted and you'll lose all your emails.  If you do do it then accidentally turn-off or distract the computer whilst the process is taking place then the folders get corrupted and you are liable to lose all your emails.

Outlook Express, and other contemporary email programs, were never designed for the sheer volume of emails we get these days.  If they get too full they just cannot cope.   

I lost all my incoming mail between April and October when compacting.  Fortunately I found the lost ones in the recycle bin so there was no loss that I am aware of. It could have been a problem however since there was nothing to signal that files were lost. I found out when searching for an (important) earlier mail. Had I emptied the recycle bin the mails would have been lost for ever.

As far as I understand, the prompt to compact has nothing to do with the size of the folder. It is a counter running since you did it last. It is possible to turn it off. I have presently 2415 mails in my inbox and that represents ca 0.9 G. The maximum allowed size is 2G.

If the size of the box is approaching the limit, it is not difficult to create a new local folder, name it say Inbox11 and move all mails received last year to that. This may be a better way than compacting - especially since there is a possibility that also a compacted box gets perilously close to the limit.

We once had  Volovo 445 that had the choke (pull) to the left of the light switch (pull) When we changed to a newer one the choke had moved to the right. In those days Ferraris and Fordson small commercial vehicles used to have the accelerator to the left of the brake pedal. RR and Bentley had the gear lever at the door - not in the middle. Today we would never accept confusing design in a vehicle. so why should we have to re-learn every time Mr Macrohard changes the OS? I want to use the computer for doing things not for re-learning how to turn the wheel.

Today I am running XP and W7 on the same computer. A couple of very expensive well working program cannot be run under W7. To replace these would cost me five times what I gave for my latest computer. W7 is faster than XP but I have not found a way to have two W-explorer windows open at the same time and that complicates sorting and reshuffling.

Cheers
Göte

   

[ranunculus]

Tongue in cheek (but only a little ) ...

Oh how you must all envy the pure simplicity, beauty and intuition of a Mac.

Duck!!!  Here come the arrows of the injured.  LOL.

[David King]

Oh how you must all envy the pure simplicity, beauty and intuition of a Mac.

Oh but the poor things can't help it.  Still now they are all buying iPads and iPhones they will realise what they have been missing. 

[Maggi Young]

Well, that's true for me, David - I've been pleasantly astounded by the charms of an iPad since Ian got one ...... I have plans!!

[David King]

Well, that's true for me, David - I've been pleasantly astounded by the charms of an iPad since Ian got one ...... I have plans!!

And another PC bites the dust!   Just got my new iPad.  Wizzy.  That means we could do Facetime then!   There's a thrill for you.  Well may be not!

[Alan_b]

Oh how you must all envy the pure simplicity, beauty and intuition of a Mac.

That is like saying that your sports car is more stylish than my Peugeot 206.  Well, yes; but that is because you have paid two or three times the price for your car(/computer) than I paid for mine.   

[John Aipassa]

Well, that's true for me, David - I've been pleasantly astounded by the charms of an iPad since Ian got one ...... I have plans!!

The danger of these Ipads is that you wake up and go to sleep with it. If you both got one than that is not a problem. If not...... well I expect my wife to start complaining soon  . The forum in the morning, the forum in the afternoon, the forum in the evening and sometimes the forum in the night.

I think I'll understand, if she does.....

[ranunculus]

That is like saying that your sports car is more stylish than my Peugeot 206.  Well, yes; but that is because you have paid two or three times the price for your car(/computer) than I paid for mine.

... It's certainly relative Alan ... but who wouldn't indulge themselves once in a while?

[Alan_b]

I have presently 2415 mails in my inbox and that represents ca 0.9 G. The maximum allowed size is 2G.

That depends entirely on the email program.  Older programs were not designed for the volume of emails we now tend to receive.  You could move to a program like Windows Live Mail and you wouldn't have any problems of this sort.

If the size of the box is approaching the limit, it is not difficult to create a new local folder, name it say Inbox11 and move all mails received last year to that. This may be a better way than compacting

It is certainly quicker.  But most people don't know their Inbox has a limit (because it doesn't necessarily) so don't know if the limit is being approached.

why should we have to re-learn every time Mr Macrohard changes the OS?

We shouldn't - but it took car manufacturers at least six decades to figure out that it was a good idea to standardise the dashboard layout so you may be in for a long wait with computers!

W7 is faster than XP but I have not found a way to have two W-explorer windows open at the same time and that complicates sorting and reshuffling.

That really must make life complicated but I work with multiple Explorer windows all the time under W7.  What goes wrong for you?

[David King]

That is like saying that your sports car is more stylish than my Peugeot 206.  Well, yes; but that is because you have paid two or three times the price for your car(/computer) than I paid for mine.

I don't believe I said anything about style [although of course they are] and if you compare on a fair like with like basis, which most people don't, there isn't a great deal of difference in price. Macs have most things you could want included and all the software integrates seamlessly.

[Alan_b]

I don't believe I said anything about style [although of course they are]

I was quoting Ranunculus, who said

Oh how you must all envy the pure simplicity, beauty and intuition of a Mac.

I took "pure simplicity, beauty" to indicate he thought they had good style and I agree. But I'm used to PCs and I don't find Macs at all intuitive.  When working on Macs I waste tons of time searching for the menus I need and I keep trying to click a right mouse button that isn't there.  Truth be told when we become familiar with something then it seems intuitive.

Now...

and if you compare on a fair like with like basis, which most people don't, there isn't a great deal of difference in price. Macs have most things you could want included and all the software integrates seamlessly.

That makes about as much sense as saying that your sports car is worth two to three times my Peugeot 206 because it goes two to three times as fast (top speed).  The truth is that Apple products are priced as premium/luxury goods.  They are very nicely finished but if you want a car to take you down the shops then you don't need a sports car and if you want a computer for word processing, emails and surfing the web then you don't need an Apple.

As for "all the software integrates seamlessly" see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19664487

[annew]

Oh boy, this might be a good time to have a whole new thread on Mac vs PC!