[oldtimer]

Almost there. Need to physically put the new HDDs in the case and get SWIMBO’s approval for new desktop and lock screen.  Then a few minor fiddles of no real consequence.  Not bad for a week’s work 🙄 but it is several years since I did anything like this and the little grey cells are glowing much dimmer these days.

Eventually tracked down the cause of the freezes.  Before I started I did a clone of the old W7 system just in case and put it in the spare partition on the SSD/system drive because the other drives were going to be replaced.  I did not realise that W10 would also decide that this would be a good location for the swap drive/virtual memory.  Too much in too little space in the end and every time windows needed more temp space it just stopped.  When I put the new larger data drives in I could move the clone to somewhere else and only had one freeze since then.

I have certainly re-acquainted myself with lots of old knowledge and supplemented it with some new.  Trouble is I shall have forgotten it all again by next week.  I guess I am getting too old for this as the saying  goes.

Having said that I might just go for 64bit on another spare PC that is lying around if I can find out a bit more about how to change and if I can do it for free.

So thanks for your support and advice.  As someone said in another post – never mind Google when there is this forum to turn too.  And it really is simple when you know how 😀😀😀

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Thanks Ed.  I will remember that if there is a next time.

However this time despite all the modern electronic wizardry the good old fashioned way won out and so did SWIMBO.  Whilst I was searching for some electronic IT angel to guide me, she had her head in a box of dusty crumpled manuscripts.  From which she emerged triumphant.

One up to the old ways of doing things 😀

It does make me think (and not for the first time) what good is my “password vault” on my PC if that goes belly up.  Of course I can re-load a backup but that is  time consuming and not as much fun and nostalgic as rummaging through old files. 😁

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

A very sincere thanks to you all for your patience.

First the good news.  Having executed something akin to a clean instal courtesy of W10 things are now moving at a reasonable speed, but I now have to reinstal so much software. More good news – it has rather forced things with regards to the oodles of software that had accumulated. Bad news I did it by accident and now lost the password for my wife’s email account.

Since we are both on BTInternet, would it be the same as mine?

 

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Hi Boris

Thanks for the link, but I have been there and it says “out of stock”  and “no sellers found”.  I guess it will have to be 2X4GB in the final attempt, but I am sure I read somehere that Windows does not like excess memory, so that means 64 bit.

But before that, I will try a fresh instal.  Thanks to Graham, but I am on Home now so to go to Pro which I believe is 64bit would need a new licence.

The first job is to transfer all the data to the new drives when they arrive (hopefully tomorrow) but at current speeds that might take a week.  I must find out what happens if I clone a multi-partitioned disk to a new disk.  Will it keep the partitions intact?  Perhaps I can do a bit of tidying up of the IDE drives first.

But could I remove the IDE drives, do a clean instal, and then plug the ide drives back in again ready to transfer the data. Now it is all about tactics.

Eeh lad, ain’t life grand? At least the sun is not beckoning me into the garden!

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

To get to a “useable” takes at least 65 seconds, but much longer before the spinners stop.

To get to a browser is variable but takes from a couple of minutes to never!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Hi Ed

what can I do to strangle Cortana

Also, if I do a clean instal can I use the existing key?  Will Jellybean find it?

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Many thanks for the replies

The Mobo is a gigabyte Z77DS3H which might not be state of the art but is younger than the other PCs running W10 acceptably.

All PCs are 32 Bit and all have 4GB memory, although as I said this is the only one with one stick.

All PCs have SSDs for the OS with ample room on them.

The CPU is IIRC an i3 but I know not what sub-breed

The problem one also suffers from having 2 old IDE HDDs for data

So step one is to order 2 new SATA drives which should speed things up a bit if I can transfer the data across.

Step two is to try and persuade my wife to remove the oodles of software she has accumulated but that might be a bit difficult.

Step three is to continue the search for a pair of suitable 2GB memory sticks

Hope that helps

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Thanks again Dave.

From what I can see, this comes fitted with a 2TB drive so not bad value

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Thanks Dave

I looked up TonidoPlug but it seems a bit more than I can handle these days.  If it requires mores than simply plugging something in and following a curser then it does far more than I need.  The normal NAS type kit might be good and a few years back I might have gone down that route, but now I am afraid it is a step too far.  My current solution miight not be very elegant but it has served me well and it is simple. Speed is not really important for me – just nice to have.

Perhaps I should just get another TPLink.

Or I could set up an old unused PC to do the job if only I could find out how to access it through W10.  I can get to the drive but then it asks me for a password but I have never entered a password for it and under W7 it worked perfectly without passwords.  The other problem is that it is a sledgehammer to crush a nut

I will keep thinking about it and thanks again for your interest in my problems

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Thanks for the input.

I am a luddite who strongly believes in the old maxim “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” which is why I still use Office 97.  I don’t understand UEFI although I have tried several times to get to grips with it.  Maybe one day I will be forced to convert but at the moment I am totally BIOS orientated. By the time I am forced to change, I might be like  Monty Python’s parrot.  So it works at the moment so I won’t fix it.  Anyway, some of my kit is so old it probably doesn’t support UEFI.

The point of this posting was simply to try and dispel (patially at least) some misconceptions about getting W10 for free. I have tried obtaining activation codes for free from various sources but just get “code already in use” so I have given upon that.

I suppose  (if I was really keen) I could try re-installing W7 under UEFI and then upgrading, but that would be a right PITA.

Anyway, the point still stands.  You can be able to upgrade to W10 for free if you are lucky..

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Hi.  Just about getting used to W10.  So much so that I have upgraded another machine.

Having read another article that suggested that upgrading W7 in situ would automatically install and activate W10 for free I gave it a go.  Simples.  Just make sure you have the right ISO – eg you cannot go from Home to Pro.

Also apparently it is not guaranteed.  Perhaps it does not work for preloaded W7.  My version was installed by me from CD which might make a difference.

Still, worth a try.  I took a clone first in case things went belly up, but it worked a treat.

The next step is to try and upgrade my laptop because all machines were from a “family Edition” CD that allowed three systems but all with the same code.  How does that work? Maybe it will not upgrade to W10.  Only one way to find out.

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

A Ha. They are moving again, even if they are all overshooting the runway!  Still better than nothing. Using Flightradar24

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Interesting.  Something for one of those days when I am looking for something experimental to do.??

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

I’m with  the rest of them.  Have a good one.  Let us know what the river cruise is like.  SWMBO keeps wanting to go on one.

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Seems to have worked!

 

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Pehaps I did not express mysf properly.

Re Excel Col Width.  Right click on the top of any column then select Column Width.  Up pops a box with a number.  This refers to the column width.  On an unmodified spreadsheet this states 8.43 which I presume is the default width. It is perfectly wide enough for 8 characters plus a decimal point and I have always assumed it refers to characters.  Do the same in LO and up pops a box which states 2.6cm.  It does not seem to be as user friendly but in time I could get used to it if there is no alternative.

Re Word.  I had a major “melt down” a while back which wiped out the OS and the compatibility update files.  Sadly MS does not have the old files and although I have tried the newer files they say there is no software on the PC that is compatible with the compatibility updates.  However I might have struck lucky on this because I have an old machine which had been updated and I think it might still have the upgrade file on it.

Fingers crossed!

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Thanks Folk.

IIRC it was Flight Radar I used a couple of years back, but then it really was “live” and you could track the planes into LHR (or anywhere else for that matter) but now it is “dead” – no movement at all. To simulate movement you have to keep restarting the flight – unless I am missing something.

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Dave referred to the look on the man’s face.  What I noticed (and I watched the clip several times to be sure) was the look on HER face. It starts off surprised or even angry but half way out it suddenly turns to a satisfied grin when she realises she was on telly being “manhandled” by a tory. There is more potential in that than in anything she could say, or any disruption she could cause.

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Hi Dave.  Thanks for the reply – reliable as usual.

On the day I looked the AOC was £69 but they had an HP on offer at £79.  The reviews seemed slightly btter (if you can believe them) and HP is a good company so I went for that.

Just arrived this morning and using it now. It is certainly good enough for what I need these days.

Thanks again

Its easy when you know how

[oldtimer]

Nearly 3 months down and still trying.  I have a working system after a fashion.  Getting used to it now (in much the same way as I got used to my back problem over 30 years.  It is still there but at least I have learned to to ignore it most of the time!!  In those two and a bit months I have had problems with my SSD drive, DVD writer, several pieces of software, boot-up and more.  The throw away box yielded replacements which perhaps suggests they never were obsolete ion the first place.  Do i like W10?  Not yet but it took several months to get to like W7.  Now my monitor is playing up.  It takes about 5 minutes to fire up.  Unfortunately I do not have a spare.  It is linked to a bank of 4 PCs via a manual KVM switch.  If I switch to another PC I get similar problems which suggests it is not a PC fault but the funny (not really funny) thing is that this did not start until W10 started.  A Monitor is an expensive thing to buy if it turns out not to be a monitor fault.  That leaved the KVM switch but if that is the problem then all 4 ports are faulty.

Any advice please

Its easy when you know how

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