General Issues with W8

[Mustang]

@ whs: The self help group is an anonymous recovery fellowship, if you get my drift. As part of the recovery process we also help each other with personal problems that are within each inidividuals orbit to be able to do so. It's totally up to each individual to decide when, where and how to apply that. We communicate by having regular meetings locally, nationally and internationaly; and also by normal means of one-on-one social meetings, phone, email, SKYPE, letters, etc. There are also central offices in each state, and monthly printed magazines inidividual to each country/state. We rely on attaction rather than promotion for new members. Very similar to a tech forum in many ways.

To be totally honest, I'm not really as altruistic as it might seem, because I enjoy doing PCs as a hobby. And fixing other person's PCs also provides a challenge. What's more I get payback, because in helping others I get the spin off of applying stuff I learn to my own personal problems with PCs.

I learned more about flying radio controlled planes teaching others to fly than I ever learned simply flying them myself. I remember teaching one guy and he lost the plane in the sun, and paniced, and it was literally screaming down in a vertical dive straght at us at about 100 mph. I was bellowing at him to pull the control stick back to make it go up. That's one lesson I'll never forget! lol!

Although I have a professional qualification in Electronic Engineering which I did in mid-life, I actually avoided getting into PCs at home. Aside from doing a small unit of programming as part of the uni course, I only used computers at work and usually with pre-defined apps. I let other persons sort out the problems back then. I have never done a formal study course in PCs. It's all been learned from hands on experience from day one of using a PC. Although my background work experience helped a lot.

Cheers M

 

[whs]

Very interesting. Looks like you enjoy giving a helping hand to others. I often do not have the patiencei if those I want to help do not grasp the idea immediately. When I gave classes at our local computer club, I always got nerveous when people asked dumb questions. I guess I am not a good teacher.

Regarding classes for computers - back in 1958 when I first put a hand on a computer (a Zuse Z11) at my university, there was no formal computer education of any kind available. Our math professor had installed that system. Then when I made computers my job in 1961, it was all learning by doing. Someone who had joined 3 months before you was 'the expert'.

The first professor teaching computer sciences at a university in Germany was appointed in 1967. It was one of my collegues with whom I had worked for a couple of years in our company.

And when I started with PCs, it was learning by doing again. One just has to be curious. Then you get the hang of it.

 

[Mustang]

I find your background likewise very interesting. As far as I'm concerned you can't beat hands on. My first encounter with computers was in the Treasury Dept in 1964 in Canberra, when punched cards were the order of the day. I understood the basic concept of binary related to an electric current being on or off for a one or zero, translated to the card as no-hole or a hole. But that's about as far as it went. I had tried several universtiy courses when I was young but never finished any of them. I got three quarters of the way through a maths degree, one year into a psychology major, and as far as final year in a pharmacology degree. None of them really appealed to me. It wasn't until I went back to school in 1982 that I finally found what I wanted in Electronic Engineering, but hadn't discovered PCs in their own right at that point. That came around 1998, with Win98. But by then I couldn't be bothered to go back to formal education but just did it as a hobby that became an all embracing obsession.

And I can certainly understand your nervousness in answering dumb questions. But I don't think you are a bad teacher. I have found your posts on technical stuff to be very informative and helpful; and very easy to follow. That was a great link re the basics of trim and garbage collection for SSDs. It explained it very clearly without being too technical.

I recently repaired my brother's laptop which he uses in his business every day. He runs retirement seminars for staff of private businesses and government departments. He had sent a client a scanned document in a .tif format, and they said they couldn't open it, and could he re-send as a pdf. His printer didn't show the option to scan as pdf. Also he couldn't delete any of his emails in Outlook. He had over 500 in sent items and a similar amount in received items. He asked me what pdf was, and I said it was just one of many different formats in which a document could be written. He replied: "What is a format?" At that point I stopped trying to teach him anything. When I got the problems fixed I said: "Don't think. Just do what I tell you!" I then made him do repeated scanned docs until he could do it without thinking. He didn't even know how to do a multi page pdf scan. When I suggested he think about attending a seniors' PC class his face had a look of horror on it as if I had asked him to fight a lion bare handed.

When I repair a PC I do an Acronis back up image of the OS and store it in my files. I also give the owner of the PC a maintenance sheet of jobs to do daily, weekly and every 2 or 3 months. Things like running Safety on Internet Explorer, Cleanup, (Steven Gould), Glary registry cleaner, antivirus, anti spyware, etc. Most times if I need to go back to one I repaired, they haven't done the maintenance. On one callback, when I ran cleanup which empties recycle bin, cookies, caches, etc ... it removed 58GB!

Yes, I can fully understand the nervousness in front of a class at the prospect of God knows what they might ask. To be honest I don't really teach much ... just repair. I take my hat off to you for doing that! I would probably chuck a wobbly half way through the class if I were teaching, and storm out!

I've never been to Germany but have several connections with it. My son had a German girl friend Marlen, and lived there for quite awhile. He said the speed limits on the autobahn were quite terrifying. And my son in law's father migrated to Australia from there back around 1946, and son Karl is an electronic engineer. Also I had a very close friend for a number of years, Bob Mutch, who was in the SAS, (Special Air Serivices) in Australia. His father had orignally also migrated here from Germany and settled in the Barossa Valley wine district in South Australia. And last but not least my brother majored in German language from University. Likewise he's never been there, but he has many pen friends he corresponds with. He was once in a supermarket when he noticed a couple speaking in German and having trouble understanding the local idiom. They were quite amazed when he spoke to them in fluent German, as it's not a common language in Australia. He and Marlen got on famously, and he constantly plied her for knowledge and hands on language lessons!

 

[whs]

You should make a trip to Germany - in May, June which is the best time with the least rain and pleasant temps. There is a lot to see - especially in the southern part. I know it's a long haul and I myself dreaded to go to Australia. I was invited a few times to computer conferences there - and also in Japan. But I always declined because of the long trip.

Nowadays my longest haul is from Germany to Florida and back which I do once per year - each way. That is 23 hours door to door and that is enough for a 75 year old. In Europe we travel a lot to France (which is next door from where we live) and Austria. The wife likes to go to Venice where we sometimes go when we spend time in the south of Austria. France is my favorite country. I lived and worked there for 9 years (in Paris and Nice). French is my second mother language so there is no problem getting around.

I lived in quite a few countries over the years. My company always gave me these 2 or 3 year foreign assignments which I enjoyed a lot - during about 25 years. The part that I did not like was that I had to move my household 24 times. But that went with the territory.

 

[Mustang]

Wow, you've certainly been around. And I envy your experience in doing that. Also I strongly identify with your abhorrence of shifting the whole household. I've done that on about 20 occacsions in different parts of Australia, and that was bad enough, without adding the additional encumbrance of going across seas.

Unlike yourself I have never been out of Australia, aside from an off-shore holiday island called Rottnest, which is about 12 miles off the west coast. lol! However, I have met many, many persons from many different countries, and after viewing endless travel videos, almost feel I've been to most places. While I would love to visit Germany, like yourself though, the thought of being in a plane for over 24 hours is quite terrifying. I'm a little behind you at 72 years of age, but even two years ago when I holidayed at my daughter's home in Brisbane, which is on the east coast, and 6 hours flying time from Perth, it stressed me out to the maximum. I get claustrophobic, and was constantly getting up and going to the rear of the plane to talk to the stewardesses.

My son on the other hand is a well seasoned world traveller. Unfortunately his relationship with Marlen ended, (with no bad feelings on either side), because it was mutually agreed neither of them wanted to reside permanently in another country. His current girl friend lives in Brussels, so I don't know how that's going to work out.

I also forgot to mention I had two Volkswagen beetle cars between 1959 - 1964, and they were an incredible machine. Having no radiator and being air cooled in a hot climate like Australia was a huge plus. We would go on fishing trips and use them like a four wheel drive, off road vehicle, and go across scrub covered sand hills near the beach. Even in the worst case scenario if we got bogged, it was a simple matter to get out by simply letting the pressure down in the tyres. Currently my son has a BMW which I often get chauffered around in. I don't mind being a passenger at my age.

 

[whs]

Hmm, Brussels is a nice place too. I lived there for 2 years. And it is easy to get to Paris - just a bit over an hour by train. It is this kind of train.

I owned a couple of VW Beatles too - in the 60's. And like you we were roaming in the Dunes of Normandie with them without any problems. Years later I went to the same places with a Jeep (International Harvester Scout II) and nearly got stuck. That Scout II was a lot heavier and sunk into the sand a lot more.

Nowadays I get driven by the wife most of the time too. Because of my poor eyesight, I cannot drive all the time. In Germany I had to buy a new car with an automatic in October because the wife cannot drive with a stick shift - she is Americaqn and never learned that.

BMWs are nice cars, but I prefer Mercedes. I have owned a lot of different makes but my really best car was a Citroen CX Prestige. That was the most comfortable for long distance driving. I owned a few Fiats and Renaults and despite what people say about their poor quality, I never had any problems with them. Some of them were real fun. Japanese cars I do not like because they usually do not have a very refined chassis. Even the Acura Legend Coupe I once owned felt wrong on the road - especially at high speeds. And that was a very expensive car at the time (1990).

Because of all my assignments, I used to have to change cars frequently. But now I keep them for a long time - like 12 years. I go by the old saying:"If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

 

[Mustang]

My son has been on that train and took a video straight out the window at right angles to the direction the train was travelling and it was incredible how fast the scenery was racing past. The trees and bushes close to the track were just a blur.

Have to agree re the Japanese cars not having an orthodox chassis. You reminded me of an incident with the VW, which I'd forgotten about. We were crossing a farm field at night at a fairly fast speed, and hit a small ditch. The car actually jumped it but hit the far side with huge bang. At the time everything seemed OK but half way home the engine seized up due to an oil leak from a crack in the sump pan. After it was repaired I thought all was well.

A year later I was living in Canberra ACT and my brother had bought the car from me. He drove it across the Nullarbor Plain from Perth to Canberra ... a distance of 3,723 kms. All the way across he could hear a metallic clicking noise. On the way back on the rough road it got progressively worse. He finally pulled into a service station ... they were hundreds of kilometers apart as it is very isolated. Turned out the chassis was cracked completely from one side to the other. And all that was holding the car together was the body work. The fuel tank in the front had to be removed to weld the crack. It was a real tribute to the quality and toughness of VWs.

Strange you should mention Fiats, because the night the engine seized up, my cousin came to the rescue and picked us up in his Fiat. That car was a great little runner and he got many years usage from it. He bought it on the recommendation of a local repair shop owner/mechanic who had migrated from Italy, and had worked in the Fiat factory there before coming to Australia. So he always got top quality servicing.

Probably the most economic car for endurance and reliability that I ever owned was a Volvo. I had two of them, and the first one saved my life. I came around a bend on a country road where the speed limit was 100 kph and was facing an oncoming truck that was on the wrong side of the road. I was forced off the road and into a tree. The car was totaly demolished from the front end to the firewall, but the engine went under the car, else I would have been killed instantly. And safety was one of the main reasons I bought it apart from long life and reliability. Ironically I had a glass bottle of lemonade on the front seat and it wasn't even broken. Don't ask me how! That first Volvo had been across the top end of Australia twice, and that's as tough as it gets anyhwhere in the world.

I'm sorry to hear of your driving being restricted by your eyesight. But at least you're not off the road altogether, and fortuitous to have a wife who can drive you.

It's been really nice chatting whs. If I ever did make it to Europe it would be nice to meet up with you. Kind regards Joaquin.

 

[whs]

Sure, we'll meet when you come to Germany - or to Florida where I stay from November to end of April.