Microsoft Bob and Cortana

On 01/29/2015 04:05 PM, Tommy wrote:
"Big_Al" wrote in message
...
T wrote on 1/29/2015 2:38 PM:
On 01/29/2015 11:32 AM, Big_Al wrote:
T wrote on 1/29/2015 2:28 PM:
On 01/29/2015 08:38 AM, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
Remember BOB? what a disaster of an app! Hope Cortana doesn't go the
same way.


-T

used any of them.)

-T

The last one I have is 2007. It works, does it's thing and that's
all anyone can ask.
It also doesn't have that obnoxious RIBBON BAR that is so big. But
that's me. Actually I don't use it either, just
my wife. I use Libre Office, it too works and does that little bit of
editing I need on good docs.



+ 1

Also can I add - when saving documents - try to save as "Word 97- 2003
doc" that way it can be opened by practically any other office suite



Hi Tommy,

Give Libre Office a look. It is starting to come into its own.
And the have a new OOXML converter in version 4.4

http://www.libreoffice.org/

It won't hurt to have both going at once. LO is a bit rough around
the edges when it comes to envelope printing.

-T

On 01/29/2015 04:05 PM, Tommy wrote:
"Big_Al" wrote in message
...
T wrote on 1/29/2015 2:38 PM:
On 01/29/2015 11:32 AM, Big_Al wrote:
T wrote on 1/29/2015 2:28 PM:
On 01/29/2015 08:38 AM, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
Remember BOB? what a disaster of an app! Hope Cortana doesn't go the
same way.


-T

used any of them.)

-T

The last one I have is 2007. It works, does it's thing and that's
all anyone can ask.
It also doesn't have that obnoxious RIBBON BAR that is so big. But
that's me. Actually I don't use it either, just
my wife. I use Libre Office, it too works and does that little bit of
editing I need on good docs.



+ 1

Also can I add - when saving documents - try to save as "Word 97- 2003
doc" that way it can be opened by practically any other office suite



Hi Tommy,

Give Libre Office a look. It is starting to come into its own.
And the have a new OOXML converter in version 4.4

http://www.libreoffice.org/

It won't hurt to have both going at once. LO is a bit rough around
the edges when it comes to envelope printing.

-T

"T" wrote in message ...
On 01/29/2015 04:05 PM, Tommy wrote:
"Big_Al" wrote in message
...

+ 1

Also can I add - when saving documents - try to save as "Word 97- 2003
doc" that way it can be opened by practically any other office suite



Hi Tommy,

Give Libre Office a look. It is starting to come into its own.
And the have a new OOXML converter in version 4.4

http://www.libreoffice.org/

It won't hurt to have both going at once. LO is a bit rough around
the edges when it comes to envelope printing.

-T

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing
I'm half contemplating uninstalling Mcafee even though its already paid for
12 months.
Heres where I get my uninstallers :-)
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/down...-removal-tool/

Bleeping is one of the more trusted pages out there

Cheers
Tommy

"T" wrote in message ...
On 01/29/2015 04:05 PM, Tommy wrote:
"Big_Al" wrote in message
...

+ 1

Also can I add - when saving documents - try to save as "Word 97- 2003
doc" that way it can be opened by practically any other office suite



Hi Tommy,

Give Libre Office a look. It is starting to come into its own.
And the have a new OOXML converter in version 4.4

http://www.libreoffice.org/

It won't hurt to have both going at once. LO is a bit rough around
the edges when it comes to envelope printing.

-T

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing
I'm half contemplating uninstalling Mcafee even though its already paid for
12 months.
Heres where I get my uninstallers :-)
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/down...-removal-tool/

Bleeping is one of the more trusted pages out there

Cheers
Tommy

On 01/30/2015 03:41 PM, Tommy wrote:
"T" wrote in message ...
On 01/29/2015 04:05 PM, Tommy wrote:
"Big_Al" wrote in message
...

+ 1

Also can I add - when saving documents - try to save as "Word 97- 2003
doc" that way it can be opened by practically any other office suite



Hi Tommy,

Give Libre Office a look. It is starting to come into its own.
And the have a new OOXML converter in version 4.4

http://www.libreoffice.org/

It won't hurt to have both going at once. LO is a bit rough around
the edges when it comes to envelope printing.

-T

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it
was a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left
bits all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing
I'm half contemplating uninstalling Mcafee even though its already paid
for 12 months.
Heres where I get my uninstallers :-)
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/down...-removal-tool/


Bleeping is one of the more trusted pages out there

Cheers
Tommy





Hi Tommy,

They got you going and coming. Frankenstein (w8) is so bad, I
consider it unusable. Plus Mcafee is just as bad. For a free
Anti Virus, I would go with Bit Defender.

Also, you may have junkware out the nose. Junkware makes
you really S-L-O-W. I love both these two tools (run them
both, one picks up what the other misses), plus MBam to
finish it off. You can find both of these at bleeping
as well:

Junkware Removal Tool's web site:
http://thisisudax.org/


http://www.giga.de/downloads/junkwar...campaign=Badge


Adw Cleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewd.../1-adwcleaner/


Also, you can create an Xfce Fedora 21 Live DVD to test
his hardware and to give you an idea of how a solid
operating system is suppose to operate:

https://spins.fedoraproject.org/xfce/#downloads

I use the Live DVD all the time for troubleshooting
and data recovery on Windows machines.

Love to know how everything turns out.

-T

On 01/30/2015 03:41 PM, Tommy wrote:
"T" wrote in message ...
On 01/29/2015 04:05 PM, Tommy wrote:
"Big_Al" wrote in message
...

+ 1

Also can I add - when saving documents - try to save as "Word 97- 2003
doc" that way it can be opened by practically any other office suite



Hi Tommy,

Give Libre Office a look. It is starting to come into its own.
And the have a new OOXML converter in version 4.4

http://www.libreoffice.org/

It won't hurt to have both going at once. LO is a bit rough around
the edges when it comes to envelope printing.

-T

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it
was a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left
bits all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing
I'm half contemplating uninstalling Mcafee even though its already paid
for 12 months.
Heres where I get my uninstallers :-)
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/down...-removal-tool/


Bleeping is one of the more trusted pages out there

Cheers
Tommy





Hi Tommy,

They got you going and coming. Frankenstein (w8) is so bad, I
consider it unusable. Plus Mcafee is just as bad. For a free
Anti Virus, I would go with Bit Defender.

Also, you may have junkware out the nose. Junkware makes
you really S-L-O-W. I love both these two tools (run them
both, one picks up what the other misses), plus MBam to
finish it off. You can find both of these at bleeping
as well:

Junkware Removal Tool's web site:
http://thisisudax.org/


http://www.giga.de/downloads/junkwar...campaign=Badge


Adw Cleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewd.../1-adwcleaner/


Also, you can create an Xfce Fedora 21 Live DVD to test
his hardware and to give you an idea of how a solid
operating system is suppose to operate:

https://spins.fedoraproject.org/xfce/#downloads

I use the Live DVD all the time for troubleshooting
and data recovery on Windows machines.

Love to know how everything turns out.

-T

On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:41:13 -0000, "Tommy"
wrote:

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing

This sort of thing seems to be a fairly common result of taking a
computer to a shop to get it fixed. I once worked on an ISP helpdesk,
where I had to deal all day every day with with computers that
wouldn't connect to the internet. Sometimes the customer would say
that the fault couldn't possibly be their computer because they'd just
got it back from a repair shop so it must be working properly. I soon
learned that in these cases the first place to direct the customer was
the Device Manager, where it would almost invariably become clear that
several devices were missing their drivers.

The lesson would appear to be that if you have any problems with a
computer, don't take it near a computer shop, but do your best to
learn how to deal with it yourself.

Rod.

On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:41:13 -0000, "Tommy"
wrote:

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing

This sort of thing seems to be a fairly common result of taking a
computer to a shop to get it fixed. I once worked on an ISP helpdesk,
where I had to deal all day every day with with computers that
wouldn't connect to the internet. Sometimes the customer would say
that the fault couldn't possibly be their computer because they'd just
got it back from a repair shop so it must be working properly. I soon
learned that in these cases the first place to direct the customer was
the Device Manager, where it would almost invariably become clear that
several devices were missing their drivers.

The lesson would appear to be that if you have any problems with a
computer, don't take it near a computer shop, but do your best to
learn how to deal with it yourself.

Rod.

In article ,
, Roderick Stewart says...

On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:41:13 -0000, "Tommy"
wrote:

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing

This sort of thing seems to be a fairly common result of taking a
computer to a shop to get it fixed. I once worked on an ISP helpdesk,
where I had to deal all day every day with with computers that
wouldn't connect to the internet. Sometimes the customer would say
that the fault couldn't possibly be their computer because they'd just
got it back from a repair shop so it must be working properly. I soon
learned that in these cases the first place to direct the customer was
the Device Manager, where it would almost invariably become clear that
several devices were missing their drivers.

The lesson would appear to be that if you have any problems with a
computer, don't take it near a computer shop, but do your best to
learn how to deal with it yourself.

Rod.

You get the Brick Bat Award.

--
Duncan.

In article ,
, Roderick Stewart says...

On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:41:13 -0000, "Tommy"
wrote:

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing

This sort of thing seems to be a fairly common result of taking a
computer to a shop to get it fixed. I once worked on an ISP helpdesk,
where I had to deal all day every day with with computers that
wouldn't connect to the internet. Sometimes the customer would say
that the fault couldn't possibly be their computer because they'd just
got it back from a repair shop so it must be working properly. I soon
learned that in these cases the first place to direct the customer was
the Device Manager, where it would almost invariably become clear that
several devices were missing their drivers.

The lesson would appear to be that if you have any problems with a
computer, don't take it near a computer shop, but do your best to
learn how to deal with it yourself.

Rod.

You get the Brick Bat Award.

--
Duncan.

On 01/31/2015 03:20 AM, Roderick Stewart wrote:
On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:41:13 -0000, "Tommy"
wrote:

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing

This sort of thing seems to be a fairly common result of taking a
computer to a shop to get it fixed. I once worked on an ISP helpdesk,
where I had to deal all day every day with with computers that
wouldn't connect to the internet. Sometimes the customer would say
that the fault couldn't possibly be their computer because they'd just
got it back from a repair shop so it must be working properly. I soon
learned that in these cases the first place to direct the customer was
the Device Manager, where it would almost invariably become clear that
several devices were missing their drivers.

The lesson would appear to be that if you have any problems with a
computer, don't take it near a computer shop, but do your best to
learn how to deal with it yourself.

Rod.


Hi Rod,

I see that all the time. And, I fix it all the time.

What you are describing sound like a reinstall of the OS
and the tech forgot to make sure all the drivers were
installed. When I come across something like that, I often
will boot into an Xfce Fedora Live DVD, which has excellent
Ethernet card support, and go find the drivers the customer
is missing.

The real lesson is to find a competent professional.
That goes for all professionals, not just computer guys.

-T

On 01/31/2015 03:20 AM, Roderick Stewart wrote:
On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 23:41:13 -0000, "Tommy"
wrote:

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing

This sort of thing seems to be a fairly common result of taking a
computer to a shop to get it fixed. I once worked on an ISP helpdesk,
where I had to deal all day every day with with computers that
wouldn't connect to the internet. Sometimes the customer would say
that the fault couldn't possibly be their computer because they'd just
got it back from a repair shop so it must be working properly. I soon
learned that in these cases the first place to direct the customer was
the Device Manager, where it would almost invariably become clear that
several devices were missing their drivers.

The lesson would appear to be that if you have any problems with a
computer, don't take it near a computer shop, but do your best to
learn how to deal with it yourself.

Rod.


Hi Rod,

I see that all the time. And, I fix it all the time.

What you are describing sound like a reinstall of the OS
and the tech forgot to make sure all the drivers were
installed. When I come across something like that, I often
will boot into an Xfce Fedora Live DVD, which has excellent
Ethernet card support, and go find the drivers the customer
is missing.

The real lesson is to find a competent professional.
That goes for all professionals, not just computer guys.

-T

"T" wrote in message ...
On 01/30/2015 03:41 PM, Tommy wrote:
"T" wrote in message
...
On 01/29/2015 04:05 PM, Tommy wrote:


Also, you may have junkware out the nose. Junkware makes
you really S-L-O-W. I love both these two tools (run them
both, one picks up what the other misses), plus MBam to
finish it off. You can find both of these at bleeping
as well:

Junkware Removal Tool's web site:
http://thisisudax.org/


http://www.giga.de/downloads/junkwar...campaign=Badge


Adw Cleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewd.../1-adwcleaner/


Also, you can create an Xfce Fedora 21 Live DVD to test
his hardware and to give you an idea of how a solid
operating system is suppose to operate:

https://spins.fedoraproject.org/xfce/#downloads

I use the Live DVD all the time for troubleshooting
and data recovery on Windows machines.

Love to know how everything turns out.

-T


I left in your useful url's, in case someone else needs them :-)

I use either "Dustbuster" or PC decrap...(both on Bleeping)
One or two caveats though
Only ever download from the authors page (or Bleepingcomputer if its noted
there)
Do a backup first before running any _cleaning tools_
And most if not all these crap cleaners work best when installed on a virgin
machine -
Although they will clean up extraneous rubbish :-)

http://the-pc-decrapifier.en.lo4d.com/

I decided to leave him with Mcafee - he is not very internet savvy - he
promised to call me about once a month for a tidy up, and will definitely
let me know when the years subscription is up. Just as a fyi for anyone
thats still with us :-) ... Mcafee shows up over 60 services when I
checked - I showed him this and he half-undertands so 'we' decided its worth
the delay if it keeps him safe.

He's a plumber so we cooperate nicely (I need 2 new radiators and also
replacement bathroom double taps)

Another hand 'startup' is TRK ie Trinity rescue kit - I swear by it - hand
if you lose your window password or your machine is so virus-ridden it won't
start - again a major caveat is "read the directions" -
http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.ph...E_KIT_DOWNLOAD

Cheers
Tommy

"T" wrote in message ...
On 01/30/2015 03:41 PM, Tommy wrote:
"T" wrote in message
...
On 01/29/2015 04:05 PM, Tommy wrote:


Also, you may have junkware out the nose. Junkware makes
you really S-L-O-W. I love both these two tools (run them
both, one picks up what the other misses), plus MBam to
finish it off. You can find both of these at bleeping
as well:

Junkware Removal Tool's web site:
http://thisisudax.org/


http://www.giga.de/downloads/junkwar...campaign=Badge


Adw Cleaner:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewd.../1-adwcleaner/


Also, you can create an Xfce Fedora 21 Live DVD to test
his hardware and to give you an idea of how a solid
operating system is suppose to operate:

https://spins.fedoraproject.org/xfce/#downloads

I use the Live DVD all the time for troubleshooting
and data recovery on Windows machines.

Love to know how everything turns out.

-T


I left in your useful url's, in case someone else needs them :-)

I use either "Dustbuster" or PC decrap...(both on Bleeping)
One or two caveats though
Only ever download from the authors page (or Bleepingcomputer if its noted
there)
Do a backup first before running any _cleaning tools_
And most if not all these crap cleaners work best when installed on a virgin
machine -
Although they will clean up extraneous rubbish :-)

http://the-pc-decrapifier.en.lo4d.com/

I decided to leave him with Mcafee - he is not very internet savvy - he
promised to call me about once a month for a tidy up, and will definitely
let me know when the years subscription is up. Just as a fyi for anyone
thats still with us :-) ... Mcafee shows up over 60 services when I
checked - I showed him this and he half-undertands so 'we' decided its worth
the delay if it keeps him safe.

He's a plumber so we cooperate nicely (I need 2 new radiators and also
replacement bathroom double taps)

Another hand 'startup' is TRK ie Trinity rescue kit - I swear by it - hand
if you lose your window password or your machine is so virus-ridden it won't
start - again a major caveat is "read the directions" -
http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.ph...E_KIT_DOWNLOAD

Cheers
Tommy

On Sat, 31 Jan 2015 13:47:55 -0800, T wrote:

Hahm I just finished tidying up a friends computer a half hour ago - it was
a mess.

I installed Libre, (RE)installed MBam and CC Cleaner

Tell the truth I find it hard jockeying around 8.1 -
He had a problem and went back to the retailer - who put McAfee on it
(charged him for it) and told him that should fix 'everything' -
In order to 'fix' everything, he uninstalled MBam, Spybot S&D, and left bits
all over the place.

Now his machine is reduced to a crawl - &^%%$£ing

This sort of thing seems to be a fairly common result of taking a
computer to a shop to get it fixed. I once worked on an ISP helpdesk,
where I had to deal all day every day with with computers that
wouldn't connect to the internet. Sometimes the customer would say
that the fault couldn't possibly be their computer because they'd just
got it back from a repair shop so it must be working properly. I soon
learned that in these cases the first place to direct the customer was
the Device Manager, where it would almost invariably become clear that
several devices were missing their drivers.

The lesson would appear to be that if you have any problems with a
computer, don't take it near a computer shop, but do your best to
learn how to deal with it yourself.

Rod.


Hi Rod,

I see that all the time. And, I fix it all the time.

What you are describing sound like a reinstall of the OS
and the tech forgot to make sure all the drivers were
installed. When I come across something like that, I often
will boot into an Xfce Fedora Live DVD, which has excellent
Ethernet card support, and go find the drivers the customer
is missing.

In my case, the telephone support desk I was working on was purely to
do with the provision of the internet service, and it wasn't part of
the job to fix computers. In fact, we were specifically told not to.
The customers' equipment was their own responsibility, and if we
wasted too much time on somebody's faulty PC we would be depriving
other paying customers of the service they actually were paying for.
Of course we could guide them through all the standard network-related
settings, and give a bit of general advice when relevant, but missing
drivers or buggy software were our excuse not to get involved.

It's astonishing how many people seem to have "a friend of a friend
who knows about computers" and are perfectly happy to allow them to
meddle with something so personal and so vital, but I would have
expected better service from proper PC sales and repair companies. I
have heard one very well-known name mentioned on many occasions.

Ironically, the most difficult thing in this scenario was not
technical at all, but the task of making the customer understand the
problem. They don't want to be told that their computer is faulty, and
this is the point at which they would usually stop listening (and
sometimes start shouting). Quite a lot can be tested from an ISP's
call centre desk, in that you can often be about 99.9% certain the
service is working, but it's impossible to be 100% certain without a
working computer on the end of it, and that's up to it's owner.

The real lesson is to find a competent professional.
That goes for all professionals, not just computer guys.

Too true.

Rod.