antrobuscp

Even though "manuals" might have been provided with earlier versions of Windows, I always used to go out and buy one of the, usually very thick, alternative manuals which usually provided more explanation in more understandable language than the basic MS version. Interestingly, as I've only just realised, I haven't bought a manual since WinXP, and I haven't really felt the need as so much is available online, in forums, and on the MS website(although much of the latter tends to send you around in circles). Also, my computing needs are now fairly basic. I have more trouble with Android on my wife's tablet and phone - maybe I should buy a manual!!

Colin

I'd bet folding money on any introduction of such technology, being accompanied by pressure to reduce the training and licensing requirements for the "secondary drivers" with only the lead driver holding a full HGV, and a new category of driver evolving, restricted to driving in convoy between marshalling stops on the motorway network.

I know, let's call them "Guards".

Maybe not.

Colin

I was just imagining Corporal Jones in charge of the platoon.

Given how crowded our roads are, I can't really see this working but I suppose a test is fine so long as it is a real world test. Personally I feel it is an example of the art of the possible as opposed to the practical.

Colin

I've been with Yahoo for email (and the old EGroups if anyone remembers that old useful resource before Yahoo messed it up!) since 1999.  I would like to move my email address elsewhere as Yahoo is quite frankly awful but it is the utter faff involved that keeps putting me off.  This development on the other hand may change things.

A bit like me when the Freeserve service ended, except that I had bought domain names (for different purposes) some years ago and had been using email addresses based on them ever since. I would suggest buying your own domain name (I use 123-reg) who provide a forwarding service to wherever you decide, or they provide their own email service if you prefer. I actually use a mix of those services just in case individual services go down at any time. I did this after a long time ago realising the problems of notifying changed email addresses after leaving Compuserve.

Hope this helps and apologies if you already know all this.

Colin

I don't actually use my Win10 machines very frequently, but they had had ample opportunity to update to v1703 by this last week. The routine updates went through, but the basic version was still 1607. I therefore used the software to "request" the update. It took a good 12 hours(overnight) and some repeat goes before the update software told me one program should be un-installed before it would go ahead. This was done, and 2/3 hours later, the update completed and I re-installed the offending program, which seems to work fine.

I had expected to receive the 1607>1703 update much earlier, but the delay certainly suggests that the update is phased to different users.

Colin

Way beyond my powers of endurance. I can only last 60-90 minutes at most behind the wheel before I have to have a break. Four hours at a stretch seems like suicide to me.

I would take a break or stop completely if I felt it was necessary, but I've been used to the trip to Cornwall(from Liverpool) for 40 years. I'm beginning to find it slightly harder now, but I think we will be stopping twice rather than once in future. I find, personally, that lack of concentration caused by a boring road and lack of traffic is likely more of a risk than tiredness or stiffness on its own. The flat stretch West of Bristol to around Taunton is the worst for that(for me).

I must admit that my current car, a 10 year old SAAB that I've had from new, is by far the most comfortable car I've had for the journey. I previously had Vauxhalls, and often had to stop due to a pain behind the knee joint in my right leg. Something in the set up of the driving position that I could never eradicate.

Colin

And beyond that statement I wonder if there is (or maybe will be in the future) a second agenda.

 

Your 360 mile trip implies a 6 - 7 hour journey and with no fuel stop, I know a lot of drivers who would do this as a single run without a break - - without suggesting that this might apply to you.  (French forums are littered with posts of people who only took 10/11/12 hours to get from the Channel port to somewhere in the deep South of France with just a pee stop.]

 

We are told that tiredness kills and professional drivers are required to take a half hour break every 4 hours.

 

So I wonder if battery life that allows a comfortable 4 hours range but an uncomfortable 5 hour range could be used to force drivers to take a 30 minute break every 4 hours or so, while their cars are recharged.

I would drive for about 4 hours, give or take a few minutes, before taking a break, regardless of refuelling. Not because I knew the recommendation, but because it seems sensible.

Setting a future date for major change will now engage minds and encourage investment by industries. Change may come in unexpected ways. My comment about "supermarket re-charging" was an example of applying current logic to a possible problem. Equally, the usage pattern of such sites may well change beyond recognition by then - or they may be "dinosaurs" themselves.

Colin

Quick question, not found the answer anywhere.

 

Does this include Hybrid cars?

I could be wrong but I think I read that it would be EV only, no Hybrids.

Colin

I hope the government have read and understand this. (Dec 2016). A National Grid document - and if they don't know then no-one does !!

 

Millions of electric cars charged at home ? - No way.

 

http://fes.nationalgrid.com/media/1221/forecourt-thoughts-v10.pdf

 

Brit15

Seems to me that if the assumptions in the National Grid document turn out to be accurate, 400/500 mile range EVs would most likely be charged in the supermarket car park whilst you do your weekly shop. This would work for many, with lower rate trickle charging(where possible or necessary) in between. The range is the key. I regularly do 360 mile single journeys without the need to refuel, and with a reserve of about 140 miles.

At the age of 93 in 2040, I doubt I'll be worrying though, as if I'm still here and fit I'll have taken myself off the roads by then even if no one else has.

Colin

If I thought I'd still be here, I'd start looking forward to the updated and enhanced 2050 edition of "Summer Saturdays in the West".

Colin

A few days ago I posted some sunset photos. This was a photo taken the following evening at the same spot - Porthmeor Beach, St Ives. The day of the severe storms in Cornwall.

St Ives sunset on 17th July 2017

Likewise, I removed all Freeserve accounts from my pcs. I did, after a posting on here, attempt to log in via the Orange login page - which accepted the login and just went to an EE services page.

Colin

I don't know what more modern Sat-Nav equipment is like, but my 10 year old built in kit gives a green/yellow/red notification for problems on my route, or in my vicinity without a route set. You then have to press various parts of the touch screen to get any detail. I hate it, it's far too distracting. I much preferred the old Trafficmaster Freeway system which gave you, an admittedly limited, audio notice of problems on the road ahead up to about 10 miles distance. I would certainly prefer an option to switch on audio rather having to push buttons on the screen to find out what the problem is. Generally, because of this, I don't take too much notice unless the sat-nav starts asking me if I want to divert and/or if someone is in the car with me to push the buttons.

Colin

Edited to add - I should also say that I don't really use the sat-nav for directions, but I do set it up on long journeys to cover the very rare occasion when, as a result of diversions or re-directions, I end up leaving my intended route. My son, on the other hand, can hardly leave the house without it's assistance.

According to a question that I asked several weeks ago, Kernow  assured me that they will NOT have a coreless motor, unlike the D6XX Warship.

 

Terry

Pleased to hear that. It wouldn't, on it's own, stop me buying, but I much prefer a traditional motor. Pity about the Warship, but I've always wanted one. The coreless motors will stop me buying some other models, though.

Colin

All a very long time ago, but I think when Freeserve came along I opened a few accounts, with the intention of leaving Compuserve for which we had to pay. I realised back then the problems related to switching email addresses and bought a few suitable domain names which gradually became the ones carrying all our business and private email. This has made the recent Freeserve closure relatively painless through re-direction of the email away from the Freeserve servers. I stopped using the Freeserve servers over a month ago but checked the accounts regularly finding hardly a handful of people to notify.

Sad to see the service end, it was good while it lasted, but I had anticipated it would happen particularly with the BT takeover, and following on from the loss of the webspace.

Colin

The major advantage with Windows 7 updates is that I can just install the security ones. That said since I bought a new computer, lumbered with Windows 10, it's only had one set of updates that didn't take any longer than Windows 7 ones. No Creator's Update yet though, I guess it'll be forced eventually but I don't see any point in getting it earlier than I need to.

I take your point, but on none of my machines do I restrict updates to security ones only. In all cases, going right back to the inception of regular updating, I have set the machines to accept all levels of updates. Only on odd occasions, perhaps as few as two or three, have I consequently had serious problems - these were all prior to W10, and it was a case of identifying the offending update and rolling back from it. My comparison of the time taken to update and the number of reboots is, therefore and so far as I am aware, a fair one. The update experience with W10, rightly or wrongly, makes me feel that the OS is less stable. I have to say, though, that once the updates are "in" W10 works - no better/no worse than W7 or XP before it(W8 was poor).

I have a tablet pc running Win 8, and it cannot be upgraded to Win 8.1 or 10. I downloaded and installed the MS patch as it did not appear to have been previously installed despite the machine having been updated. Not sure if Win 8 is still supported. Something else to check.

Colin

I assumed some of these "embedded" systems do not have HDDs or other normal memory storage devices so nowhere to store extra code and quite often devoid of many of the interfaces found on normal PCs so how do they get hijacked?

 

Keith

I don't know for sure now, but I seem to recall reading that the embedded version was used in POS systems and behind cash machines and the like. There must obviously be the need for updates given that they run until 2019 for XP. I also think a lot of bank systems are very old bespoke systems which have given problems in the past when banks have come together. I don't know how valid these points still are.

Colin

People keep acting as if it is a surprise that XP is still so popular.

 

The purpose of an operating system is to run applications for the user.

 

If a new version operating system removes necessary compatability and the software is not easily replaceable the operating system vendor is creating business risk.

 

Lets take a piece of software, lets have it using a VGA mode, seen this on a few occasions, in fact I have done it myself in the past, and also running client server.

 

It is in a Dos compatable language and the writers cannot get comfortable with event driven coding (basically Windows), and there is not the money coming in to employ more staff, but it runs perfectly under XP and just WORKS.

 

Vista comes along like a bad smell, and the new graphics mode kills full screen dos and the ability to run the application in a VGA mode, anyway the writer can squidge things up and lose some stuff, so it will run in 80x25 mode, but it is easier to FDISK and put XP on..

 

Now Windows 7 comes along, luckily 32 bit (64 bit no chance)  and the company HAS to go 80x25, and it does work but it cannot connect to the server.

 

Some PITA has removed NETBIOS

 

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb870913%28v=VS.85%29.aspx

 

Anyway it all still works well on XP, and the company staff are retiring soon, not enough money in it to sell the company.

 

This is a real type situation, specialist software is often from companies started many years ago, they managed the change from minis to PCs OK, they managed to make a nice looking reliable system which is DOS compatible and use it, then it is pulled out from under them.

 

And these systems can be huge as well!

This actually was a similar situation to my own old business, except that we carried on using the old software because it continued to do all we required. It was a DOS program which ran on everything from DOS 4 through to Win 7 32 bit. From Win 95/98(I think) onward, I ran it in a window, not full screen, but it was fine to run full screen if required. Because it was used with 2 other programs, one of which wouldn't run under Win 7, I proved it would all work in XP mode under Win 7, and similarly tried it under Win10. This was precautionary in case I continued working longer than I anticipated - thankfully, it was not necessary.

We used other later programs where necessary, and I would have moved to something modern had I the need to work much beyond the date I'd planned for. "Making Tax Digital" would have ensured that anyway, I think.

As you say, I'm not surprised that people continue to use XP - it worked, with a wide range of old and new software, it became the accepted interface(even now I make Win 10 replicate the XP interface as far as possible) and, if I'm honest and purely from a user's perspective, I wish MS had made XP the basis for their "Windows as a service" concept rather than Win 10, and had kept the compatibilities built in to XP. In the end, it is my view that it is the reduced backwards compatibility, coupled with the longevity and high cost of replacement of some equipment, which is at the root of current NHS updating problems.

I posted this link in the Win 10 thread. This links to the MS update catalogue page for the patch in question - unless an updated version has been issued in the last day or so. You can download and run the update if you need to before anything else.

http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4012598

Colin

I'm guessing here, but I take it that much of the cost of the NHS upgrading from Win XP, or the inability to do so, stems from software having been specially written to drive specialist medical equipment. In a small organisation, you may be able to isolate old machines from the network in order to continue to run a program or machine, but in a medical environment I simply don't know if that would be possible. If you can't economically or quickly update the software, or is it's simply not possible, what do you do? The cost of some of these machines will vastly exceed the operating system upgrade costs, and yet the old machines are a way into the systems.

As with many things, I suspect that the question of upgrading systems is not as simple as it seems, is the result of decisions made long ago, and is probably very expensive.

Colin

Have W7 at work and that seems to have as many updates as W10; indeed since the Creators Edition update have not noticed any W10 updates. At work the updates on W7 are more problematic than the home pc updating itself on W10 as they only make their presence known when shutting down.. cue delayed departure from the office and timesheet adjusted the following morning.

I find the W7 machines make clear that they have updates pending, but W10 doesn't seem to. Often, the first I know is when the machine is shutting down. Because I don't use the W10 machine a great deal it seems to spend too much time updating. Further, it seems to spread the updates out, the last 3 times I've shut it down, it's had updates to do. W7 machines just seem to get on and do the job - and don't often take a number of goes to complete.

Colin

Re Windows 10, I have a machine which I do not yet use a great deal as my main pc is on Win 7. It is used occasionally, almost as an additional HD for backup purposes. I find that because of this it spends too much of its time installing updates and, without warning, installing them on shut down. I prefer to keep an eye on machines updating and don't normally leave them overnight.

I do however agree with the heat cycling point raised above. When I was working, we had two offices, and in mine we always started the machines in the morning and left them running until we knew they would not be needed again that day. The other office practice was to turn the machines on and off as required. I always believed that they had more hard drive and other failures. I tended to replace machines when they became too slow or otherwise outdated whereas the other office had to occasionally make unplanned purchases through failures. Not a big issue, but it was noticeable.

Colin

Re the Ransomware issue.

I have a couple of machines still on XP but which are kept for a specific purpose and not used very frequently. MS have, to their credit, now issued an update to close the vulnerability on these machines. This address will take you to the download page :-          http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4012598

Colin