Got a new computer

[abunaitoo]

My old computer, HP Win XP, started to act strange.
Yesterday it restarted, by itself, three times.
No blue screen.
So I got a new one.
Dell with Win10.
Took almost all day to figure out how to transfer my bookmarks and address book.
With help from google, I got through it.
Computer guy was going to charge $95 to do it.
So far Win10 is not bad.
We'll see how it goes.

[skeettx]

Good luck!!
I still have XP and so far with the help of Fire Fox things are OK
We shall see how long that last
I hope Win 10 is user friendly
I heard Win 8 was a tough nut

[bangerjim]

You are lightyears ahead of what you had! Just bought my wife a new puter with 10 on it. (max RAM/500G SSHD/2T spinning drive/BluRay burner). She had XP and it was as slow as molasses in January. I could not stand to use the thing. It is in the kitchen for her ease of use. I just stuck to my iPad! Faster and much better. She would try to do something online and it was like watching paint dry. We have a 65MB wireless connection downstairs and it was like 300 baud dial-up! Now it SCREAMS!

But she loves 10 after a few hours of me showing her where all her old stuff was, she is very happy. Now the XP thing is going in the trash, even though it works.....well mabe in someone's opinion!

Congrats on the new addition to your family!!!!!!!!! You will like 10, regardless of what some on here will say.

Two things in this life I have no problem spending money on for new ones.....cars and computers. I refuse to waste money keeping old carp alive.

banger

[DerekP Houston]

That should be a big step up hope you enjoy it! I have heard good things about 10 but haven't made the jump myself yet.

[runfiverun]

Ten is a mix-mash of 7 and 8.

But I like your style, I do the same.
the old one acts up?? the store has more.

[abunaitoo]

The XP was working fine.
It just started acting strange, so I changed.
I still like XP better than 10, but I liked 98 better than XP.
A while ago my XP was really slow. I found out that Internet Explorer was the problem.
Switched over to Firefox and it was like a new computer.
I have Firefox on this new one.
We're all going to change from XP sooner or later. I just wished it could have been later.

[dragon813gt]

I heard Win 8 was a tough nut

It really isn't. It was a big change from 7 which threw people off. Metro mode is the default. And you don't have the start button. Downloading an app, there are many of them, fixes the last two issues which are the biggest ones. After that's done everything is familiar and in places you'd expect them to be. All while being extremely fast to boot and no blue screens of death. I haven't had a single crash yet.

I'm holding off on 10 for as long as possible. Had some printer and iPhone(jailbroken) issues when I upgraded from 8 to 8.1. If 10 is anything like either version of 8 you will like it a lot. Any questions can be answered by a simple Google search but a lot of people seem to forget this. It cuts frustration levels down to practically nothing.

[rancher1913]

anybody know how to turn off upgrades on w10. upgraded due to the blue screen of death on our xp and now the upgrades are eating up our allowable usage and costing us money. tried everything I know and the machine won't let me turn off upgrades just change when they happen.

[dragon813gt]

I don't think you can. You can sort of turn off all the spying the OS does.

[Finster101]

I don't think you can. You can sort of turn off all the spying the OS does.

Exactly why I don't want it.

[Hickok]

I keep getting the prompts to update to Windows 10, but I am afraid if I do.....

[rancher1913]

I don't think you can. You can sort of turn off all the spying the OS does.

thats what I was afraid of. they cost me 15 bucks this month in overages already. might be cheaper to go buy a mac.

[flyingmonkey35]

http://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-...ading-updates/

[RogerDat]

Using XP is putting a target for hackers out on the internet, sort of like using a gun in poor shape for max loads. Sooner rather than later bad things happen. Microsoft stopped providing security patches and support for XP so any flaw discovered won't be fixed.

I would be reluctant to just throw the hardware out. Salvation Army might take it or local school. One can install Ubuntu or other free Linux/Unix operating system on it that is lean enough to use limited hardware with good performance. At least for the basic stuff most people use a computer for. Web browsing, email, some document and spread sheet. Maybe a digital camera if your not needing the latest version of Photoshop for image processing. Rock solid, secure operating systems that don't have the bloat that requires massive ram or processor to run. Heck you can copy the whole thing to disk to dump back onto the computer in the event you get a virus or malware.

[runfiverun]

I think some here forget many of us only use a computer to get on cast boolits and maybe 1 or 2 other web sites.
a complete melt down of my computer would be a 2 second tragic event in my life. [as I carried it out to the trash bin]
I would lose no data, no pictures, could care less what others had for dinner, and I know what my brothers kids look like.

[rancher1913]

thanks flyingmonkey, hopefully that will help.

[Walkingwolf]

anybody know how to turn off upgrades on w10. upgraded due to the blue screen of death on our xp and now the upgrades are eating up our allowable usage and costing us money. tried everything I know and the machine won't let me turn off upgrades just change when they happen.

Yes it is very simple, install Linux...

OK to be fair you can delete the hidden backup files on your drive, but you will also lose your DRM codecs. I had to do it on my wife's 8.1 laptop, I went to Microsoft to download the DRM codecs. It took some searching to find them. I gained 90GB by deleting these files that are put on your drive each update. For the life of me I cannot understand why the upgrades do not overwrite leaving one with storage space. Never mind I know why, to force consumers to buy new stuff.

[RogerDat]

Yes it is very simple, install Linux...

A Knoppix or Ubuntu *nix live disk is part of my rescue tool kit. For those with files they care about not losing it allows me to boot up, move files off to external drive THEN worry about what to do with the "sick" box. Have rescued more than one pile of family photos that way.

Linux is fine for just hitting a few web sites and getting email. Low barrier to adoption in the home. Using Open Office is pretty easy too. Trying to use for more involved stuff tends to require more investment in the learning curve. With fewer friends and neighbors able to assist since they don't use it.

[walltube]

mac. Try it once, and you'll never look back.

My Dearly Beloved could not, at first, believe that the monitor (screen) was "IT". "Keyboard and mouse? Is that all there is to this thing?" One demonstration, and that was all it took to convince my Doubting Thomasina.

iOS complete with top-of-the-line "Monster" brand surge protector and out the door we went. The courteous Best Buy crew carefully loaded the whole package into the Grand Cherokee. "Geek Squad" tech arrived two days later to complete the home installation.

For the curious, a 90 day 'same as cash' financed $2800.00 was the price. Worth every inflated penny.

We Be Happy,
Wt.& J.C.

[Walkingwolf]

A Knoppix or Ubuntu *nix live disk is part of my rescue tool kit. For those with files they care about not losing it allows me to boot up, move files off to external drive THEN worry about what to do with the "sick" box. Have rescued more than one pile of family photos that way.

Linux is fine for just hitting a few web sites and getting email. Low barrier to adoption in the home. Using Open Office is pretty easy too. Trying to use for more involved stuff tends to require more investment in the learning curve. With fewer friends and neighbors able to assist since they don't use it.

I keep personal data files on a Micro SDHC card, plus they are on an external hard drive. On the wife's laptop we use Lubuntu, 8.1 is terribly slow for the speed of the dual core processor. With Lubuntu the browsers are up in a couple seconds compared to a minute sometimes to fully load in Windows. Most of the tasks that are exclusive to Windows are reserved for my older Dell 755 which are blinding fast compared to the only 3 year old laptop. Video conversion tasks on the Dell are cut to 1/4 the time it takes on the laptop.

I wish there was more support for Linux, especially in the streaming category, but I believe that is intentional on the part of those who get special treatment from Microsoft. It is getting better, both Netflix, and Amazon are now streaming on the newer versions of Linux without doing anything special. Hulu is still not providing the codecs for it to work on Linux without tinkering.

My wife uses her laptop for the web, facebook, weather, and email. All things that Lubuntu does quickly, and easy to access. We strictly stream on the TV using Roku, Chromecast, and Android sticks, so unless traveling she does not need it. And then she watches her videos on her Android tablet when traveling. She has become a tablet person, I hate them myself. Even at home she is on the 50 buck Fire then on the computers.

I personally like Android computers, but again the support is lacking in the distros for laptops, and desktops unless they are factory loaded. Plus Android PC's are treated like tablets when trying to access most network streaming. Either restricted, or delayed, same problem with Roku. The sites will ask you to sign in with cable provider, and the whole point for many of us it to cut the cable. On PC's there is mostly no restrictions, but I expect that to change.