Any computer gurus here?

[DougGuy]

FWIW- I don't use many of the MS programs. I run Firefox for a browser, Thunderbird for email, Start Page for a search engine and avoid Google as much as I can.

Well hail, you are halfway to linux already! Linux Mint 19.1 comes with FF and Thunderbird already installed, has a nice home page with a search bar by default, and you have to jump through some hoops to add google search to your FF profile.. Sounds like it already customized to fit!

Of course all the Office programs come installed, it updates but not nearly as offensively as windows.

There is also the Linux Mint Debian Edition where the Linux Mint team wanted to know how well mint would run on Debian, should the Ubuntu that mint is built on, become unavailable. In short, Linux Mint Debian Edition Cinnamon, LMDE3 :Cindy" is what they call a "rolling release" in that it updates on the fly as new packages are added to the repositories, so you don't get a new edition or a new major release, as the rolling release insures you constantly are running the latest version. I like it, you can't really tell the Debian based LMDE3 Cinnamon edition from the Ubuntu based Linux Mint 19.1 Cinnamon edition, they both run smoothly and run fast.

 

[Bret4207]

Is a Debian like a debutante or a deviant?

 

[Pistolero]

Glad the mechanical analogy helped, Bret. Most folks never use Unix or Linux in command line
mode like we usually use it "raw". If you are a computer person DOING REAL COMPUTER STUFF,
not "computer as a com & photo & video tool" as most use it, the command line is very useful. For
most folks, the command line of Linux, Unix or old DOS is/was not useful at all and a PITA because
that isn't what they want. If you grew up programming in the 60s onward, that is what you learned.

Most folks want a picture viewer, e-mail, search engine and a browser. And some simple way to find their files.
I can recommend Bing as a search engine. IMO, it's biggest two benefits are 1) it is NOT google and
2) the give you a beautiful new picture every day, very nice stuff, cheering and interesting. And
not google!

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

Bing is MS BIll, MS and Google are both pretty sketchy IMO, especially the latter. Bing does all the tracking stuff. Of course it's mostly an exercise in futility since even this site shows a google connection when it strats. Pretty much everything does.

I used a little DOS when first getting to learn to use a PC. I don't recall what it was, something dead simple for certain. I can't imagine how people can use that type of system. You'd need a computer to keep track of the commands to use a computer! Way out of my league. I recallt he first comuter I was around, a Tandy (TRS80?)that took up one entire side of an office room in the Corps back around 1979/80. Massive noisey thing that spit out punch cards and reams of the old green and white print out paper. Those punch cards were the life blood of Marine Corps logistics then and were the latest thing. I imagine everything is bar coded now.

I've gone through my laptop and updated a mess of stuff, found some ways to secure my information better and overall become more aware of the scum out there trying to screw with people. I appreciate all the help everyone offered. It's odd, but my wifes laptop is much older than mine, she never does any updates or maintenance to it to speak of and she never has any problems. I installed CCleaner for her and the first time I ran it the program took over 10 minutes just to dump the cookies and logs that were stored! Usually thats a 45 second deal! It will eventually grind to a stop and she'll have me go through and do what I can, downloading 2 year old updates, running the onboard trouble shooting systems, etc. I'm not sure why that thing keeps chugging along.

 

[Pistolero]

Actually, when using the command line, there are about 5 or 10 things you usually want to do, and
once you learn those few commands, that's largely it. Some variations, sometimes. It helps to
be a touch typist. And you started knowing maybe two commands. Then in a day or two, you learned
a third one. Bit by bit, and far less than most think, really. Things like looking at a list of all
your files at the location where you are on the disk. Or go to a different location on the disk,
then you would usually list the files at that location. Then maybe start a program using one of the files.
Pretty simple stuff, actually. Short commands, often just the name of the software you are starting
and the file name you want it to use. Or delete a file, or move it to another location. Really basic
stuff, and commands are really confusing like "del" for delete, and "mov" for move.

Seems mysterious, but isn't much for most normal daily interactions.

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

My MIL had a Commodre 64. She used it in her small real estate biz. I spent maybe an hour and half trying to work that thing and I beleive it permanently altered my brain, or what was left of it. Up until last year we still had some of the old round and square floppies of hers and a mess of the little rigid ones I had from work. It might take 3 of those little rigid "floppies" to store one report of 6 or 8 pages. IIRC you couldn't load a photo on one, not enough room! Seems like only yesterday we got out first PC and were amazed when we got a color picture via email and it only took like 45 minutes to download!!! Used to be on the CB-L List and I thought I was really living! Man, times have changed. Of course the gun rags, and there used to be 15 or 20 of them on our local newsstand, had staggered release dates so there was always something new to read for $1.50! Now it's all free. Times change.

 

[Rally]

Rick,
Your lucky on the phone calls. I get a call on my business line, almost daily, wanting to "update" my Google listing. Number they are calling from changes daily. Usually with accents. I just tell them unless they are giving away $100 bills I'm not interested! Must sell the numbers to different companies every day or so.

 

[Rick]

I just don't answer any call unless I recognize the name and number. If it's a legit call and they want to talk with me they can leave a message. I do have the advantage though that it's not a business number where I have little choice but to answer. Dunno if any of the calls are that google scam because, well because I don't answer and I haven't had a scammer leave a message. Yet.

 

[Ian]

I get 3-4 calls a day from the google listing numnutz. All I can assume is it's people working from home who get paid for every packet of info they can generate and pass on to the google machine. Not scams per se, but data mining that I'm sure google uses to their advantage in many ways.

 

[troj]

Commodore 64? That seems a bit....modern

I will admit that the monitor pains me a bit, but the one that belongs with the system died

 

[Todd M]

Can't be many people that hates windows 10 more than me but my new laptop is much like the one Smokey described for his son. Has Windows 10 Pro and it can be set up fairly easily to ignore all that crappolla that windows 10 has. Life is good again.

Can you tell us how to "dumb down" windows 10 so I can understand it again?? New laptop few months ago and it's a pain at the very least.

 

[DougGuy]

Can you tell us how to "dumb down" windows 10 so I can understand it again?? New laptop few months ago and it's a pain at the very least.

I would suggest downloading and installing a freebie called Classic Shell which can sufficiently yank windows 10 by the short hair into something that you can decipher, most days..

 

[Todd M]

Should this be downloaded and installed prior to installing any programs, such as Microsoft office?

 

[Pistolero]

Very aware that Bing is MS. I have nothing against MS, but I do all I can to stay out of Google's clutches,
unforetunately not enough.

Bill

 

[Bret4207]

Be careful which "Classic Shell" you download!!! I tried that right off the bat on this laptop and the version I got required me to do a total reset to factory defaults. If you can find it from a reputable site like filehippo it's probably okay. Don't just download the first one you come across like I did. Lesson learned.

 

[Bret4207]

Bill, Google is everywhere. I don't think any of us really escape them. That much presence makes me extremely concerned and wondering if I'm paranoid enough!

 

[Hawk]

You're not paranoid enough.
Ever notice how when you search for something, all of a sudden, every add on your next web page is for what you searched for?

 

[Rick]

On the next web page? Two months ago I checked the weather forecast for Nebraska and I'm still getting ads for furniture stores in Nebraska.

 

[462]

Duckduckgo -- no ads, no tracking.

 

[Bret4207]

Okay guys, lets try this one- HP Pavillion DV2500, about 10 years old I'd say, running Win7 Ultimate . Only part of the key board works. Once in great while it all works. An external USB keyboard is not recognized most of the time, but once in a blue moon it might work. I imagine the drivers are so old it just doesn't recognize plug and play stuff. I can't log into the router for the wireless because the keys needed don't work. I figure its either the keyboard drivers or a physical issue with the keyboard, like the ribbon connection is bad. If I get it into safe mode more of the keys seem to work, but not all of them. I'd love to get it working. Ideas? Last updates in summer 2016 near as I can tell, about when the keys stopped working.