Computer problems and/or advice-2015 to 2017

[johnralphcarpenter]

Would that be IE(NR)?

[brianw]

Would that be IE(NR)?

Decode please; unless it's rude then Maggie will object ;-) It's IE  ver.11/Win 7 if that helps.

[johnralphcarpenter]

That's Internet Explorer (Not Responding). See reply #102 above!

[brianw]

The not responding prompt I can deal with, even if I don't know why it happens so often. It was the loss of cursor and keyboard that we were talking about I think. There is just nothing. My Acer touchpad is not the most helpful but no keyboard either is a pain.

[Alan_b]

Mine has had the same problem recently (last few months) Suddenly it is dead. No keyboard, no visible cursor.

Certain graphics output problems can cause the screen to freeze so you just see whatever was last displayed.  This can give the appearance of a frozen mouse/touchpad and keyboard but that isn't really the problem at all.  If your computer has indicator lights for Caps Lock and/or Num Lock and these still change when you press the appropriate key then it is likely that your keyboard is still working, even though you cannot see it.

[brianw]

Certain graphics output problems can cause the screen to freeze so you just see whatever was last displayed.  This can give the appearance of a frozen mouse/touchpad and keyboard but that isn't really the problem at all.  If your computer has indicator lights for Caps Lock and/or Num Lock and these still change when you press the appropriate key then it is likely that your keyboard is still working, even though you cannot see it.

Wish I had read this earlier this evening Alan; had another freeze while watching the last episode of New Tricks. Dead when I went back to it. Next time I will try and check the lights. I get the impression the laptop is getting warmer than it used to. Quite hot at times. Does the fact that the cursor disappears mean anything?

[Alan_b]

Does the fact that the cursor disappears mean anything?

It could mean that my conjecture is wrong; I would have expected to see the cursor visible but frozen.  But I'm not sure as I have only witnessed the phenomenon I am describing once or twice.

[David Nicholson]

Going back to the discussion we had back in August on Windows 10 I chose not to download it but I wondered if those who did might comment on how they have found it and whether it's worth while for me to reconsider?

[brianw]

The jury still seems to be out, from what I read, as to whether Microsoft will try and force us to migrate eventually.

I have had my laptop freeze again twice in the last 2 days, after a long problem free period.
1st time no cursor nothing. Keyboard dead; no leds with shift or caps lock. 2nd time dead cursor in centre of screen, well the circling pause cursor type frozen. Used on/off button to recover, normal win start.

Recently turned off auto updates. Cannot live with windows controlling when it wants me to pause my life while it does things.
Turned off 3 weeks ago 45 mins before leaving to go out to do a Powerpoint show. It took 40 mins to close down because of updates. Starting up at the venue it somehow zipped through many 1000's of updates before it got going; fortunately in a matter of 2 minutes. Took a 2nd laptop in case. Surely professionals can't live like this!

[Peter Maguire]

Having applied to download Windows 10 in mid-August to replace the Windows 8 on my laptop it finally downloaded about a month later (took about 3 hours to download and get itself working) and so far I can't fault it - he said with fingers crossed!     I believe that it now downloads within a day or so of asking for the upgrade.

The computer now looks like it's running Windows 7 with a few of the little tiles that made Windows 8 so awful tucked away in a corner where they cause no problem, and indeed are even useful. No more swiping in from the right/left of the screen to find out where the document you've just been working on has disappeared to. Yes, when you look at some of the menus the are a little different, with a style that has been carried over from Windows 8, but I've found them to be fairly intuitive. So the verdict there is so far, so good.

I have not, however, changed the operating system on my desktop machine which runs Windows 7, mainly because I still use it to run Microsoft Money 2002 amongst other things, and there is not really a suitable substitute for my purposes and MS Money does not run on Windows 10. I believe Martin Rogerson said he'd discovered a way around this, but I'm not feeling brave enough to try it.

The desktop is now quite old (a 32-bit machine) and will need to be replaced soon to allow me to use up to date photo software, so I plan to keep the old machine and disconnect the wireless card so it can't access the Internet. This will allow me to continue to use the computer for the older programs without being bothered by continual reminders from Microsoft that my operating system is obsolete.

I suppose that I would therefore summarise by advising that it's probably worthwhile upgrading from Windows 8 to 10, but if I just had one machine which was running Windows 7, I would probably not change. I believe Microsoft are likely to support Windows 7 beyond about 2020, by which time one would probably need to upgrade the computer anyway.

[Alan_b]

I run both Windows 7 and Windows 10 on the same computer.  Windows 10 crashes with a 'Blue Screen of Death' every few weeks.  Windows 7 has never done that (since I reloaded it about six months ago).

The main thing to recommend Windows 10 over 7 is its longevity; it will be supported by Microsoft until 2025 whereas support for Windows 7 is scheduled to end in 2020.  However I prefer 7 to 10 because I find the visual appearance more appealing, I sometimes relax by playing one of the built-in games that are removed when you upgrade to 10 and 10 has no additional features that are of value to me.

Windows 8 (& 8.1) represent an anomaly in that a lot of the controls are different from previous versions of Windows and different from Windows 10 also.  So if you have not yet learned to find your way around Windows 8 then I see little point in doing so.  You might as well upgrade.  You can tweak Windows 10 by adding tiles of your own (for Documents, Pictures etc.) so it behaves quite like Windows 7.  But if you like Windows 8 I beleive it is more stable than Windows 10 is at present.

With regard to updates, Windows 10 uses cumulative udates each of which supersedes the last so you never get more than at handful at a time.  The computer may need to restart to complete the update but you can schedule when that happens.  Every so often there will be a really big update (as happened in November) that may take an hour or more to complete.  With prior versions of Windows, if you first log-off then shut down you get the option to avoid installing any pending updates.     

[JohnLonsdale]

Windows 10 is free, it is the now and the future and it works.  My installations have continued to be completely trouble-free.  Not a single regret here.  The rest is subjective. 

[rgc]

We have two computers; one ran Windows 7 and the other Windows 8.1 which would regularly freeze, requiring the usual hi-tech solution of 'switching it off and switching it back on again'. Changed the Windows 7 machine to Windows 10 a few months ago and have had no problems and it starts up faster. Only got the notification this week that I could upgrade the Windows 8.1 machine to Windows 10 and did it on Tuesday. No problems so far.

There are lots of posts on the web about Windows 10 privacy settings and what to do about them. By default it does a lot of tracking (purely of course to help you by personalising ads etc.) and shares information with "trusted" partners. Various websites tell you how these "helpful" features can be turned off.
Bob

[JohnLonsdale]

A couple of additional comments addressing concerns above.  You don't need to wait to be invited to download W10.  Ever since launch it has been available from Microsoft for you to go and download and install whenever you like. Also, you can schedule updates to be installed at a time convenient to you, they don't have to be either on and installed when available, or off. 

[rgc]

A couple of additional comments addressing concerns above.  You don't need to wait to be invited to download W10.  Ever since launch it has been available from Microsoft for you to go and download and install whenever you like. Also, you can schedule updates to be installed at a time convenient to you, they don't have to be either on and installed when available, or off. 

As usual, the internet gives conflicting advice and some people want to be on the safe side. I quote from: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/upgrade-windows-10-now-wait/
'Users with hardware that did not have problems got the update sooner and users with hardware that has known compatibility problems with Windows 10 are getting it when they are confident the problems are resolved. Many people who aren’t getting the notification are forcing their computer to 10 when it’s really not ready for it and are thus having problems.'
Bob