The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

GDB2222

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm sure it'll be wonderful and the PC and I will enjoy the next 10-15 years happily together without problems.

I'm afraid that 5 years is more realistic.

PasturesNew

Well... this is typed on the new PC.

Didn't expect it to take so long. I knew I'd not "prepared" and was winging it, but there was some stuff I didn't expect.

I expected to plug it in, turn it on and it'd load up and go "Hello... here you are ... " and I'd be on.

It went through all sorts of setup and updates downloading. Then it wanted me to create a Microsoft account. Then when I tried to come here BT Broadband kept getting in the way telling me I should download their broadband helper (that then gave an error message, so I just pressed "continue" and skipped it), then BT wanted me to choose parental settings or no - and I was poking at "No" but couldn't tell if it was doing anything.

I eventually got beyond that .... and after that it was the entire raft of "not got my passwords... they're on the other PC" ... try to use the USB stick .. ah, need the software ... ah, no idea where the data file is on the stick/can't find it ... so I'll guess at MSE... couldn't guess, so went for a reset, but couldn't remember my GMAIL, so had to get that reset, then get the MSE one reset... now I'm logged on.

This new PC: I can't BELIEVE how small it is! I thought the measurements must've been a typo or something... it's the size of what used to be a CD/DVD drive in the late 90s! So tiny it's almost pocket sized.

And it's quiet ... it's utterly, utterly silent. So quiet, I can hear the 24-hour timer slowly ticking round across the other side of the room. No noisy fan - I've been used to the drone of a noisy fan, and a VERY noisy fan when the CPU usage used to get high (which it usually was). This is so quiet you'd not know it was on!

So far: It looks awesome

We'll just have to see how I come unstuck in the following days/weeks as I hunt for things.

EDIT 1: Not liking IE. I'll probably switch to Chrome. I minimised the window to see "what's on this desktop". I pressed "Activate Windows" - not sure what that's all about, so I shut it quickly again. Then Cortana(?) popped up and made a sound (hey - does this mean I now have sound on my PC???? I'll have to check, no speakers connected, so will see what happens)... I specifically didn't ask to be able to speak to Cortana during setup, so that was a bit annoying. I hope she s0ds off. It was annoying I couldn't see where I'd minimised MSE to - no bottom toolbar - maybe there's one I can switch on. I found it by using the old Alt-Tab, but I'd like to see what I've got on the go...
EDIT 1a: Ah, I can see the bottom toolbar now... I have just learned to zone out IE over the years and hadn't spotted the icon meaning this webpage was there.

EDIT 2: Just loading YouTube to try something/anything out that might yield sound. What is disconcerting is that (due to my broadband speed) I get a white screen for ages when I want to go to any webpage... there are no clues anything's happening for ages. Youtube's just suggested I use Chrome to browse, so I said "yes please" and that's now downloading.... it could be some time No idea if I've a login for that ... I might have. That's the trouble with setting everything on your PC to "remember login", you're not really sure what you've got/not until you use another and suddenly think "doh".

EDIT 3: Downloading Chrome appears to have kicked off Google's "I want to do an update" ... so it's doing that now. Downloading Chrome also suggests it'll take 15 minutes (I thought it said it was a 1MB file!)

EDIT 4: Bit of an odd one... I have a black stripe down both sides of the screen. By this I mean that the physical size of the monitor and the display area aren't agreeing with each other - maybe I need to alter the screen settings at some point. The display area thinks my screen is not as wide as it is.... although it's there on the desktop, but the IE browser window (yes it's on full screen) doesn't fill the available screen, but "leaves" a 1" wide strip both left and right. The mouse doesn't go into that strip area either; it does on the desktop as that's where the icons are... but not in a browser.

EDIT 5: It's a good job I made this list - I'd completely forgotten I was off to YouTube to load something/anything to see if I had sound.... and Chrome still wants another 6-8 minutes to download... and sometimes says it wants 17. Oh God I wish I hadn't looked... just saw one that said it wants 2 hours... and another that said 5 hours!! Slow? I could walk to the Head Office, burn it to CD and drive it home in less time! We're all Chrome-a-go-go here now... and I've set it as the default browser and pinned it to the Taskbar.

EDIT 6: I have sound!!! By magic. It plays sounds... proper sounds, not just bings and bongs of the system Blimey - a whole new world..... if only I could watch some iPlayer or similar life would be complete wouldn't it! I guess at least now if I really wanted to watch something I'd missed, then I could just let it download overnight and leave it on pause until morning, when I could watch it. Might try that ... apparently Poldark's on again, not seen any of that... and I've missed all the Who Do You Think you are new series.

[will edit to add stuff]

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

I'm afraid that 5 years is more realistic.

Oh well, £2/month isn't a bad price is it I'm sure I'll manage to stretch it beyond 5 years, the last one lasted 12 years and was basic/cheap back then (£200), so that's cost me £1.40/month.

I suspect, too, it might end up being "my last ever PC"... time marches on and all that...

GDB2222

If you discovered that today there is a price reduction on an item you ordered a couple of days ago and which had only just arrived, would you contact CS and ask for a partial refund? About £10 or so.

Pyxis

GDB2222 wrote: »

If you discovered that today there is a price reduction on an item you ordered a couple of days ago and which had only just arrived, would you contact CS and ask for a partial refund? About £10 or so.

You can ask!
They could argue the price is what it was when you ordered it; however, as a gesture of goodwill, they may give you the difference.

Some firms, like Lakeland for example, are very good at things like that.


After all, you could return it and then reorder it at the reduced price, but if they just refund you the difference, it saves them paying for postage twice!

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

If you discovered that today there is a price reduction on an item you ordered a couple of days ago and which had only just arrived, would you contact CS and ask for a partial refund? About £10 or so.

I'd just kick myself for missing out and/or not being patient enough to wait until/if it were ever on sale.

As a rule ... no. You missed it. You bought at the price they offered it at. You received the goods. Deal done.

Else we'd all be doing it for everything we bought .... with apps to track the various shops' returns policies/dates and dates of purchase of specific items to "alert" us to a cashback opportunity ....

... is my guess.

SingleSue

The relevant OT has just been and has approved the recommendations from the council OT. So I am getting the bathroom and toilet knocked into one and, a wet room and a wet/dry toilet installed, a stair lift and level ramped access to the front which will require a new (widened) front door.

All measurements taken, just got to wait for the paperwork, she estimates it should all be in in around 2 to 3 months.

vivatifosi

I also have BT and have had the exact conversation with them that goes... I'd like to know my broadband usage per month for the past year and also my average monthly usage. I think they did, or they may have given me the highest, lowest and average.

They definitely can give this info out, and I didn't find it on the web either.

ETA... But be mindful that you'll probably want more if your webpages don't take 10 mins each to load.

PasturesNew

This utterly silent PC has enabled me to hear the minutae of local businesses working and commercial traffic passing... I've never thought of this place as "noisy" before, but it really makes a difference having a 100% silent PC -v- a whirring noisy fan 2' from your ear!

vivatifosi

Sounds like you're pleased with it PN. Really pleased for you.