Best and worse - things on your computer.

[Norman Verona]

Having spent two and a half days rebuilding my computer I just wondered what really annoys us and what we think is very good about our computers.

 

I don't have any really goods as I've been using them since 1978 and seen them progress so accept all they do as nothing special.

 

However, things that really annoy me is windows filing system. I come from a Pick background (that's a relational database o/s for those that have never heard of it) where the filing is simple. I'm trying to locate where the emails are stored so I can reload all the previous 4 years. I have a file path, it goes c:/users/norman/AppData/......

 

I get as far as norman but there's no AppData visible. I test it by trying to create a folder AppData and it tells me it already exists. I know files can be hidden but never knew folders could be hidden. Also can't find where to unhide files on W7.

 

The other thing that does my head in is not really to do directly with a computer but I've had to delete Google Chrome 5 times and reload it in order to get rid of toolbars that have attached themselves during software downloads.

 

Other than that I suppose I better stop complaining.

[dombanks]

windows telling me i dont have permission to do something..... its my bl**** computer, it says im the administrator so why bl**** not?

 

i really like that thing in windows where you push a window to the side and it resizes to half the screen... a bit sad i know but quite helful sometimes.

[Captain Colonial]

Being continually nagged to upgrade my iTunes software every single time the new version X.X.000X comes out, which takes 15 minutes to download and install and is unnecessary - just make the software right the first time and provide upgrade patches, not entirely new versions.

[martyblues]

I just see them as a necessary evil. Bit like mobile phones, which are computers now i guess.

What pisses me is new versions of operating sytems that make existing applications reduntant because they will not run on the new OS.

[User0083]

Best thing is it just works more than any PC/windows system every and not constant updates for every program and constant freezing and long waits on windows.

Worst is everything is tied to Apple and upgrading something as simple as RAM is virtually impossible!

[Stuart]

I hate them forcing you to do stuff you don't need or want to do.  SWMBO today got given an HP laptop on Windows 8.  Can't use it without giving HP your email address.  Hate flash ads but love it that you can block most of those.  Hate that most videos auto-start so if you open another tab you get two youtubes playing at once.  Love all the wonderful freeware there i out there - I can rip CDs to FLAC, record vinyl to FLAC, name, tag and organise all the FLAC files including the album art for some very obscure stuff.  And all for free.  Revolutionised my music collection which is now all stored on a NAS in lossless format with automatic redundancy - and can be accessed anywhere in range of my router.  DVD boxes all gone too - these also stored on a NAS and watched via a WDTV live box.  Wonderful stuff

[Norman Verona]

Dom, you can turn that off. It's somewhere in the control panel. I turned mine off yesterday but I can't find where now. May be worth a few minutes searching.

 

Scott from personal experience I agree. We've had customers using our system since 1996 (and before that from 1982 to 1992). We issue monthly updates which include new features and corrections. The only time our customers have had to shut down for an upgrade was when we changed from the old green screen system to windows. And the only cost to our customers who wanted to change to windows was to pay for PCs if they didn't have them. In my opinion it's unnecessary  to load a complete system just to deliver some enhancements and the only reason they do it is that it's easier - for them.

 

Stephen, should have bought a PC.

 

Marty, it sells new software.

[TAFKARM]

Really good thing; Being able to see boobs whenever you want. 

[boris77]

Worst, windows in general annoys me, slow bloated, when it goes wrong a pia to sort. MS Word, every new version they have to move something to make it "fresh". All that does is increase my blood pressure!

Best, I do all my real work on pc's in Linux. Reliable, I know where everything is, and if something does break recovery no problem. Oh and its free.

[BigRuss]

Norm, if you haven't already got it:

 

in the My computer type folder explorer navigate as far as you can.

 

click Organize then Folder and Search Options

 

Then in the View tab there is "Show hidden files, folders and drives"

 

Turn that on and it should show the hidden appdata folder

[Norman Verona]

Thanks Russ, I guess they moved it as I used to be able to find it.

[User0083]

Stephen, I should have bought a Mac.

I know, was a computer tech 2001-2007, built many many PC's for friends and using their old bits to build reasonably powerful systems and sell them on eBay or give to family. I was constantly upgrading and changing stuff, then spent £300-£400 on a few bits and made on hell of a fast machine... for a few months. Had MacAir 3yrs and only the hard drive is a pain, use external!

Mac may have a big price tag, but they last much longer and it works out cheaper in the end. But is down to the individual's needs I guess.

[Norman Verona]

A well maintained PC will perform OK. Of course more memory and faster processors will make them faster but that's true for any machine.

 

When I consider the first system we ever installed in 1982 had 1/4 mb (yes megabyte) memory and a 40 MB disk it makes today's PCs seem huge.

 

I spent a few days writing archiving software as we calculated the disc would fill in about 12 months. By the time it came to archive the data the customer bought a disc upgrade and we fitted two 80 mb discs. He did this because he said he couldn't live without the historical data. When you think that 12 months earlier all he had was paper records which, of course, you could never find what you wanted.

[User0083]

I was working with similar systems in the military. Computers that were about the same size of my garage and you walk around! Replaced a 64mb hard drive for a new 128mb hard drive! My phone had more power than this 4 ton machine! Talk about tradition! First in service 5 yrs before I was born!

[dombanks]

tbf its not often in win7 that it happenes. vista was worse.

 

sodding app updates on the iphone get annoying. seems like every day several are moaning saying there was an update.

 

lynus is fine if you know how to use it. some of the poeple use it here for their genetics stuff and seem to have no end of trouble.

 

what i like about pc's is they do what i want most of the time. im a bit of a pc heathen so just want to buy it, take it out of the box and use it. no a**ing about with this that or the other building them. just plug in and play and all of this for as relatively cheap as possible. mac's are alright and ive had/used several but i dont think they are worth the money unless my grant is buying them and even then with the uni discounts i got a laptop and desktop for less than the mac. oh and they dont run labview so that was also a decider