Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Computer questions you'd be embarrassed to ask any where else!

Options
1626365676870

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,935 ✭✭✭wally79


    I’m fairly sure they need to be on the same Wi-Fi to work.



  • Registered Users Posts: 36 EvoEvo


    Hi Guys, quick question, do you recommend PC specialist? I read good reviews in general...just to be sure.


    Is there any other physical alternative in Ireland ? I'm just a little bit worried about the delivery risks from UK, about damages etc

    Thank you



  • Registered Users Posts: 786 ✭✭✭cnoc


    What is the difference between %temp% files and temp files?



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,122 ✭✭✭waynescales1


    In Windows, anything between % symbols is a variable, in your case "temp" is defined somewhere else on your system, i.e.


    temp=actualFolderLocation


    The similarity that you noticed above is just incidental, the two folders are probably not related in any way.



  • Registered Users Posts: 786 ✭✭✭cnoc




  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 28,429 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Am I exceptionally stupid (don't answer that, its just for dramatic effect) or is Google Docs very obscure and difficult to use? I have just spent 20 minutes trying to find a file that I used a couple of days ago. The file had been emailed to me to fill in, it is only useable within the docs system, as far as I can see. I was muddling in the dark, then suddenly there it was, so I emailed it before I lost it again, but if I need to find it again I am pretty sure I won't be able to. Where are the damn things hidden? Google suggested it should be in downloads on the cloud, but its a very inefficient way of filing anything and very unreliable.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭sundodger5


    if it is a form you filled in for someone else, work etc. You do not get a copy once submitted unless it is setup to do so.

    Two things, the doc may be still in your browser cache and using the history function may find it.

    Best approach with the likes of this is to print to pdf before submitting the form then you have it on file.



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,429 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    I had filled it in previously, this time I needed to adjust it and send it again. I still had a copy of the first one, though I had copied and pasted all the text just to be safe, I found it more or less by chance. However I just went in and found the doc in 'recent' and resaved it with a different name and it is now in a sensible place and findable. Its stupidly complicated though, I don't really have a sense that I know what I am doing.



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,639 ✭✭✭victor8600


    My latest (3 year old) PC is from PC specialist. I like it. The build quality is good, the parts are good, no issues since it was delivered. The only problem is that the motherboard they had installed is smaller than I would have picked myself, with less expansion ports. Though to be fair, I do not need any more cards in that PC.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,130 ✭✭✭RiderOnTheStorm


    Hi. looking to learn to code my own mobile apps. Anyone got a recommendation?

    My coding skills were pretty good as I spent many years in IT on mainframes, but that was all before the internet & Java etc.

    Looking for something free, and something I can do in my own time at home (not person lead).

    I want to code apps for my own phone for my own use.


    have spent a minute on google looking for same but it takes ages to drill down through each offering but none seem suitable and I dont want to sign up to one that later turns out to be coding in Python with no App development later. Or is it the same thing?

    thx folks



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 46,079 ✭✭✭✭muffler


    I'm not sure if this is even the right thread for such a query. There are other forums where it might be better suited.

    On a more general note I think the thread has lost its way for some time now. It was originally meant for discussing basic beginner issues but some if not all posts are really for those who are at an advanced level.



  • Registered Users Posts: 46,079 ✭✭✭✭muffler


    That's the point I was raising. The thread was started for basic queries but really and truly when you look back at what's been posted in the last year or two you could hardly class the content as being basic. Some queries would have been better suited to the computers category.

    Post edited by Boards.ie: Mike on


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,443 ✭✭✭LambshankRedemption


    I think with the sites redesign, even I find it difficult to find the relevant sub-forums. If someone asks an advanced question, you could just provide a link to the computing or development subforums and suggest the poster ask there for more relevant replies.



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,429 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    No, we are not, I vaguely understand in a general sense what coding is, and that's as far as it goes. If people see questions similar, as Muffler says, to some of the more recent ones they might feel that their question is too stupid to ask and they will get sarcastic answers. Those basic questions are the questions that this thread was intended for. I started the thread but I am no longer its mod (or any mod) so I didn't feel I wanted to mix in with the comment earlier. And tbh if you are on the thread feeling that basic coding is beyond simple then you really shouldn't be here either. There are some very computer literate posters who patiently explain the simple stuff without talking down to anyone, and they are very much appreciated.

    Post edited by Boards.ie: Mike on


  • Registered Users Posts: 28,429 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    So bringing it all back to basics, I have a recent problem that only seems to affect Boards but I am not absolutely sure of that. Sometimes - annoyingly often - while I am typing the words on the screen stop appearing, I am typing away and nothing is happening. I have to find the curser and click it back to where the words stopped, then start again. It did it about 5 or 6 times in my comment above, so far it has not happened at all in this answer. Is it likely to be Boards or my (new) laptop?



  • Registered Users Posts: 46,079 ✭✭✭✭muffler


    That's a fair point made above about sub forums being hard to find.

    I'm not being critical of anyone and I'm certainly not singling out individual posters but it just feels as though this thread is the "go to" place for all computer related queries even the more technical queries that some of us might even struggle to read let alone answer.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,381 ✭✭✭con747


    I find the best option to find relevant threads since the changeover is by googling the subject/content with boards.ie at the end of it. I find most threads that way because the search here is beyond useless.

    Don't expect anything from life, just be grateful to be alive.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,130 ✭✭✭RiderOnTheStorm


    this happens to me regularly on my laptop, and I am blaming the touchpad .... i seem to touch / bump it with my wrist as I type (if typing a lot) and then the cursor jumps around. Not specific to Boards however. Do you have a touchpad?

    Again...not Boards only, but some of the websites / software I use for work have some very funny drop-down menus and depending on what you pick from a list, then another box is opened , and this can take several seconds to happen on a bad site / poor speed / busy system. The result is whatever you typed after clicking a selection is wiped when the new box is opened. Anything like that happening Looksee?

    Lastly, the old reliable, delete your cache and/or power off the laptop. Dont just reboot. It has to power down and up. This will clear temp stuff and install new stuff (stop me if Im getting technical). The longer any computer stays up the more links / addresses / etc it has to monitor and so the more that can go wrong. Power down & up will start the programs in the correct order . 25 years in IT and I can swear this works more often that it should ....

    TLDR - turn it off and on



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,429 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Thanks for your reply. That's interesting about the touchpad, I will pay attention next time it happens and see if that could be a possibility, it does seem quite likely.

    I have not been aware of the other issue you mentioned.

    I do in fact turn off my computer completely at the end of the day so it is rebooted every day I use it, hangover from days when you had only a tiny bit of processing power/memory or whatever, and it was necessary. I also clear cache with reasonable frequency, I do agree it is a bit of a magic cure, along with the tioaoa cure which is my go-to action.

    My new touch pad does not have separate left click right click sections, you just aim to hit the corner of the touch pad and hope for the best. I find it a bit temperamental - like a few things on this laptop. I have had randomly touching the touch pad result in a video speeding up briefly, I don't know what that is about, but it is not important.



  • Registered Users Posts: 7,101 ✭✭✭10-10-20


    If you have a trackpad then make sure you have the "disable trackpad while typing" option ticked otherwise your wrists will move the cursor!



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 3,425 ✭✭✭Tork


    I bought a wireless mouse for my laptop and disabled the touchpad altogether. Depending on the way you type and the layout of the laptop keyboard itself, typing can be a right PITA.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,443 ✭✭✭LambshankRedemption


    That is a common problem for me, and there is a setting on my personal laptop to turn off the touchpad for a second when it detects keys being pressed. I assume you are on Windows. Let me do a quick google for a windows based solution for you.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,443 ✭✭✭LambshankRedemption




  • Registered Users Posts: 28,429 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Had a quick look but could only find touchpad by searching for it, then the only option was to switch off the touchpad completely (use keyboard or mouse instead). I will go back and search somemore later.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,443 ✭✭✭LambshankRedemption


    If you can't find these options, try the second method:


    Open Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Mouse > Additional Mouse settings, you should see the touchpad manufacturer tab or its options under the "Hardware" tab, on it, you should be able to change the desired option



  • Registered Users Posts: 28,429 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    I was in there, I will have another look but I didn't see anything about touchpads anywhere in Settings until I did a search, then the info was not very helpful.


    Edit: Ok, did another hunt and found it, only to find that 'hide pointer while typing' was ticked.

    Post edited by looksee on


  • Registered Users Posts: 798 ✭✭✭cobham


    I am guilty of never turning off the laptop... close the lid OK and take power cable out at night. So when it starts acting (sometime just freezes) up that is usually the cause, it needs to do updates when turned back on. Sometimes it can be hard to get it to close espec when in frozen mode so hold the power button down for good few seconds to get it to close.



  • Registered Users Posts: 2,122 ✭✭✭waynescales1


    This is not good practice. You should fully shutdown your laptop at least once a week. Your laptop regularly freezing is not normal behaviour (there is no "frozen mode"), it's a sign that something is going wrong, perhaps as a result of being mistreated. Regularly holding down the power button to shutdown your laptop is not a good idea. Holding down the power button until it shuts off, abruptly cuts the power, rather than performing a safe shutdown. Eventually you will cut power to your laptop while it is doing something important. You might lose data or corrupt your hard drive entirely. It's a last resort to get your laptop to shutdown when nothing else will work, not a handy way to power off quickly.



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,443 ✭✭✭LambshankRedemption


    Not just corrupt the hard drive, if it is writing to disk when the power is cut, it can destroy the hard drive.

    I leave my laptop on all the time. My OS handles updates very differently to Windows. It never freezes and I reboot it once a month or so.

    But thats just me. For a windows machine, I agree with your advice, it should be rebooted about once a week



  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 3,621 ✭✭✭Kat1170


    I just realised that the email address on mygovid is my old, long dead eircom.net one. It seems it can't be changed and that I have to close my account and open a new one in order to use my new email address 🙄

    I presume if I do this all my information regarding. welfare, revenue etc will be exactly the same as my old as account as it's all linked to my PPS number ??


    On a different theme, once you've logged into mygoveid everything is there and accessable but, my god, they made it hard work to get that far 🙄



Advertisement