Computer problems and/or advice-2015 to 2017

[Alan_b]

Graeme, I actually had that problem myself and fixed it as suggested.  But it's a tremendously dangerous fix to get wrong.

John, yes I am confused.  What resources are these 'dead' tiles consuming?  There's space on my hard drive but I have much more than I need.  There's real estate on my desktop but I could remove them if I don't like that.  But I cannot see any evidence in Task Manager that they are consuming any memory or CPU or hard disk activity. 

[Martinr]

Another Windows 10 (might not be its fault!). Since upgrading I get normal sound when viewing videos etc on e.g. the BBC website but no sound on YouTube videos. Any suggestions?

[Alan_b]

I just tried BBC iPlayer and a YouTube video using Microsoft's new 'Edge' browser.  Both managed sound and pictures with no apparent difficulties.

Which web browser are you using, Martin? 

[Martinr]

The problem exists with both IE and Edge

[Alan_b]

If it's a sound issue, perhaps you need to update your sound chip drivers.  Windows will install the best ones it can find during the update but might have got it wrong.  Do you know how to identify what sound chip drivers you have? 

[Martinr]

Alan, got there and tried the update drivers. it says I have the best windows can find. The unfortunate thing is there doesn't seem to be anywhere to roll back to. The roll back option is greyed out

[Alan_b]

it says I have the best windows can find.

Windows isn't perfect at finding drivers, particularly audio drivers.  Is it using a Microsoft driver at present or one from another supplier, Realtek for example?  if you tell me the make and model of your computer I can make an educated guess at what drivers you should be using.  Send me a PM if you don't want everybody to know.

Edit:  Also, when you try to play a YouTube video, have you checked the volume control is not at zero or set to mute? 

[Martinr]

Having tried many options and finding no solution to the YouTube sound issue and coming across one or two other little hiccups I've reverted to Windows 7 for the moment and cured all my little problems!

I will try Windows 10 again in a few months because in general I liked it.

In retrospect I should have followed Alan's cautious approach to Apps rather than John's more radical one which may have been the cause of at least one of my minor irritations.

Anyway now I'm off to listen to some more classic Aly Bain recordings on YouTube

[Maggi Young]

Small world, Martin - Aly Bain is one of Ian's swimming pals when he (Aly) is in Aberdeen, which is quite often. On of our best musicians and a nice bloke too!

[Alan_b]

In retrospect I should have followed Alan's cautious approach to Apps rather than John's more radical one which may have been the cause of at least one of my minor irritations.

I like to experiment so I twice tried a variant of John's radical approach but applied to just one user account.  In both cases Windows 10 went wrong quite shortly afterwards.  Henceforward, I myself will stick to the cautious approach to Windows 10 Apps that I advocated as best for most people.

When you click the Windows 10 start button you see a collection of 'Tiles' on the right side of the pop-up Window. 
Some of these have information which updates but you can stop that happening by right-clicking each tile in turn and selecting 'Turn live tile off'.
If there is something there that you are sure you don't want, some tiles have an Uninstall option.
In principle, just turning off a live tile should prevent it from having an impact on the performance of your computer.   

[rgc]

Hi
For my birthday yesterday, my daughter gave me a chromecast dongle. You plug it into the back of your TV, follow the setup instructions and you can then 'cast' things like youtube videos or BBC iPlayer from your phone or computer to your TV screen. From a computer, you must be using the chrome browser.

I started an Ian Young bulblog video in one tab of the browser and it is currently playing on my TV set as I make this post in another tab.

Does anyone else use this dongle and if so do you have any helpful tips?
Bob

[Graeme]

Hi
For my birthday yesterday, my daughter gave me a chromecast dongle. You plug it into the back of your TV, follow the setup instructions and you can then 'cast' things like youtube videos or BBC iPlayer from your phone or computer to your TV screen. From a computer, you must be using the chrome browser.

I started an Ian Young bulblog video in one tab of the browser and it is currently playing on my TV set as I make this post in another tab.

Does anyone else use this dongle and if so do you have any helpful tips?
Bob

Got one on black Friday last year for £13 from Tesco - and oddly enough the box I selected had a £20 off voucher in as well  - Curry's supplied a LG 55" 4K as well.  The chrome cast is probibly one of the best things I have bought in a long time.  The bit I like is that they have left the source code open so you can rewrite the base code - there are a lot of code hacks for it if you search the internet.  I quite like having my laptops screen cast to the TV - though it does crash the chrome cast sometimes (spreadsheets on a 55" tv is great fun ) - another top quality google product that turns even dumb tv's smart   

[johnralphcarpenter]

Have Microsoft renamed their browser Internet Explorer (Not Responding), or is it just me?

[Maggi Young]

I've been having quite a lot of that on Firefox, too.... and BT email is playing silly devils again ..... #sigh#

[Graeme]

I've been having quite a lot of that on Firefox, too.... and BT email is playing silly devils again ..... #sigh#

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BT are having issues today big style