been told I need a new computer

taddy · 30-01-2020, 15:50

My Kids, (now middle aged), are telling me that I should spend some of their inheritence (Ha Ha, little do they know); on a new electrical driven computer instead of my old Windows XP steam driven one before the hard drive gives up the ghost and I lose whatever is on it.
My problem is that it has taken me hundreds of years to master the one I have got, what are the perils, (not to mention costs); of a complete new system, IE, computer, screen, keyboard, mouse, etc,etc, etc.
Any price above a few pints of real ale is not acceptable,(only half joking)

Margaret Pilkington · 30-01-2020, 17:05

Taddy, it depends what you want to do on your computer.
I bought a new set up three years ago...ok, it was a factory reconditioned rig.....and I did not need a monitor.
I think I paid less than £300 for a computer that has a huge 2 TB storage space.
The same computer to buy today is £125 from a firm in Burnley....the drawback is it rins on Windows 7.... though you can get similar with Windows 10 for a little bit more.
If you are getting used to something new, then I guess that opting for Windows 10 is the better option.

If I were looking to,rplace my system I would save up and get an apple mac desk top.(don't know what this would cost reconditioned)
It is different from Windows, but as I say...if you are having to learn something new anyway.
Get your middle aged children to help you choose....and get them to show you the ropes.

Margaret Pilkington · 30-01-2020, 17:12

Just had a very quick look at the cost of an Apple Mac all in one machine.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-iMa...AAAOSwHF5ckUxc

It is more than a few pints of real beer....so guess that rules it out

taddy · 30-01-2020, 17:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

Just had a very quick look at the cost of an Apple Mac all in one machine.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Apple-iMa...AAAOSwHF5ckUxc

It is more than a few pints of real beer....so guess that rules it out

Thanks for that Marge, the thing that bothers me is, will I be able to transfer all the information on my current computer to the new one without losing what I have saved (as in my favorites);over the years ?

Ryewolf90 · 30-01-2020, 18:51

You can export favourites/bookmarks from IE and Firefox as files which can then be imported on the new computer.

Margaret Pilkington · 31-01-2020, 08:07

You can get a special cable to link the old and the new computers and this will transfer whatever you want to keep.
Some programs may NOT be compatible with a new operating system(that's my beef with changing over the W10...well and the fact that it feels clunky)
Do you back up your computer to an external drive.....it may be possible to transfer you info from whatever you back you info up on.
As I said before....get your children to show you the way.

taddy · 31-01-2020, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryewolf90

You can export favourites/bookmarks from IE and Firefox as files which can then be imported on the new computer.

Sorry but the only export I know of is the name of a pale ale, my "search" engine is google crome, (I hope that I've spelt that right)! are the files on that capable of being transfered?
I am sorry again for being such a Ludite/pain in the nether regions, regards
Taddy.

taddy · 31-01-2020, 10:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

You can get a special cable to link the old and the new computers and this will transfer whatever you want to keep.
Some programs may NOT be compatible with a new operating system(that's my beef with changing over the W10...well and the fact that it feels clunky)
Do you back up your computer to an external drive.....it may be possible to transfer you info from whatever you back you info up on.
As I said before....get your children to show you the way.

Thanks again Marge I will try to get my oldest daughters husband to sort me out with some info, my daughter reckons he is a bit of an anorak with computers.Yours, Taddy.

Margaret Pilkington · 31-01-2020, 10:54

If that is the case Taddy, use his skills...get him to show you....after all why keep a dog and bark yourself?

taddy · 31-01-2020, 11:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

If that is the case Taddy, use his skills...get him to show you....after all why keep a dog and bark yourself?

Will do, by the way whilst on the subject of computers, when I had a look at my E.mails yesterday, "reminder" came up saying that my television licence expired that day; after digging it out, I found that it does not expire until July.
Thr E.mail was asking me to click on it in order to pay the licence fee. must be a scam, BE CAREFUL.

cashman · 31-01-2020, 13:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by taddy

Will do, by the way whilst on the subject of computers, when I had a look at my E.mails yesterday, "reminder" came up saying that my television licence expired that day; after digging it out, I found that it does not expire until July.
Thr E.mail was asking me to click on it in order to pay the licence fee. must be a scam, BE CAREFUL.

good job yeh looked taddy

i never click on links that ask me to pay online, unless i checked first,

DaveinGermany · 01-02-2020, 18:43

Check out you "Oldies" being tech Savvy!

From an insolent, disrespectful Pup.

taddy · 21-02-2020, 09:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by taddy

Will do, by the way whilst on the subject of computers, when I had a look at my E.mails yesterday, "reminder" came up saying that my television licence expired that day; after digging it out, I found that it does not expire until July.
Thr E.mail was asking me to click on it in order to pay the licence fee. must be a scam, BE CAREFUL.

Whilst on the computer yesterday my phone rang and a well spoken female voice informed me that Quote, "Because of your illegal use of the web, your internet access will be closed down within 24 hours; please press number one to talk to an internet technician.I simply replaced the receiver but the same thing,same voice, same message happened again a few hours later. (BE CAREFUL)
Yours an angry old, sorry, (slightly over middle aged), Taddy the Lancashire Ludite.

RainbowSix · 22-02-2020, 11:05

My wife got that call too, we laughed and waited.
and waited.
Still waiting - still working

RE your favorites etc.
It may be best to back them up now, save them and put it in a safe online location.
Perhaps get yourself a gmail account (comes with plenty of online storage too) and save them in the cloud.
Same with your pictures, just have eveything marked as private and not public.

Although a more secure way of dealing with it would be to get another hard drive, add that to your existing machine and copy everything to that, then you can remove it and add that into a new machine when you eventually get one.

Or buy your new machine and copy the files over to it (you can take your existing hard drive and put it in the new machine to then copy the files over).

RE learning windows 10: There are add-ons that will make the desktop look and behave like windows 7, other than that - its still windows just it's gonna be a damn site faster.
Just beware of buying a 2nd hand system thats got win10 on yet is not really capable of running it well.

Margaret Pilkington · 22-02-2020, 12:20

Rainbow six, Taddy is a Luddite....he has few computer skills....so putting his old hard drive to a new machine to transfer his files would be beyond his capability.
As for Windows 10...making it look like Windows 7 does not make it act like Windows 7.
Also, it maybe that many of the programs that Taddy has been using are no longer compatible with Windows 10...for some people(me included,) this presents a problem....if I can no longer open saved projects then a lot of my work is useless....and has to be done over in new programs....incurring another expense.

I hate Windows 10....I have really considered getting the xtra pc USB....this has Linux loaded on it and can be plugged in and this might be a better option for Taddy(cheaper and removable if it does not suit....and can be used on an old computer as long as it has USB port)
I have posted a link to this product....I have no commercial link with this company by the way.