COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

It's the 'warm white' variety Ian but it looks white to me. I like the way it comes on as soon as you pull the switch. I generally give the old tubes five minutes to warm up as they are very old. Definitely an improvement but at £20 a bit pricey. I shall let the lights rest for a while but I'll admit it would be nice to have them all converted! Some of mine in the shed are like the one in your bathroom Pluggy but they eventually stop flickering and glowing. The big twin tube ones in the kitchen are the later type with digital ballasts and come on straight away.

[plaques]

Since digital ballasts have been mentioned. One of our digital ballasts burnt out but in all events it was cheaper to replace the whole lamp than fit a new ballast. But I did notice than the price of a ballast to run twin lamps was less that that for a single lamp. The question is ' would a twin ballast be acceptable in a single lamp? They are both the same physical dimensions.

[Stanley]

I had to replace them in my double units in the kitchen and it was cheaper than a new fitting.

[Tizer]

I was relieved to see the bit of the article where it says: "The attacker has to be physically nearby..."
`Wi-fi security flaw 'puts devices at risk of hacks' LINK

[Pluggy]

Still having broadband problems. Another Openreach engineer turned up to day to sort the crackling phone line, which for some reason had decided to stop crackling today. His tests were inconclusive, it reported clear, my wife said it was crackling badly just after 8.00 AM, but it cleared by 9.00 I thought OPenreach had done something outside the property. The engineer said it hadn't been touched today. The broadband speed is still crap and he told me to call in again and report it as a broadband issue rather than a phone issue (complicated internal politics at Openreach, the engineer was a broadband enginner but it was reported as a phone problem and he couldn't do that bit). So I did and they couldn't do a broadband check because I was using my own router rather than EE's They're sending out another router. I know the router isn't a problem, because in the course of my troubles I've tried 3 or 4 different routers, none of them make any difference. The one I use is the one that holds the line best (less disconnects) when it all goes to pot. I've got a posh new master socket with built in filters now, but it was clear he was clutching at straws. As I suspected their outage last week wasn't a related problem. I've got a dicky phone line and its still dicky.

I'll bang my head against a wall, it gives more relief........

[Big Kev]

I had similar issues with Sky and Openreach. New everything from my house back to the exchange, turned out to be a faulty board at the exchange. They did a 'lift and shift' and it's been steady away ever since.

[Stanley]

Commiserations Pluggy, I hate intermittent faults.....
Tiz, I hope the Ubuntu Base upgrade this morning contained the patch...... But it appears to be phones that are the major risk?

[Tizer]

I think it's the routers that need patching rather than the computers and smartphones and I don't know how that happens. Or whether it's all automatic behind the scenes or something we have to do ourselves to our routers. They're a mystery to me!

[PanBiker]

Routers run on firmware embedded in ROM or maybe flash memory in later generation units. If you go into the router interface there may be a built in routine for checking for and applying updates if they are required.

[Stanley]

Thanks to PE I was made aware of THIS yesterday. The Google Clip, an automatic camera that spies on you...... Why anyone should want one of these in their home beats me. According to PE, Google have ownership of any pics it produces..... Big Brother has arrived!

[Tizer]

I received my new router from Plusnet and it all seems to be working OK now. I'm getting the promised 38Mbps speed. A pity it took from 9th August until to now. I commiserate with those like Pluggy who need the Internet for their work but are left for extended periods with no - or faulty - broadband connections. Yet another reason why productivity is low in the UK.

[Tripps]

In contrast -

My new router from Plusnet arrived within two days, and made no difference whatever.

[Tizer]

In fact my new router made no difference - the problem seems to have been somewhere in BT's domain. But the engineer felt sorry for me and said Plusnet should have given me a new one, so I wasn't going to argue!

[PanBiker]

Good news Tiz, your new one will almost certainly have later firmware. Have you found any update settings in the user interface? Mine are in the maintenance tab of the GUI once logged in on my TalkTalk router. I assume you will have had to go in there to set up wireless etc, (if you use it).

[PanBiker]

I did notice last night that I could not get into the settings on my router. I rebooted it last night before I went to bed. All is well this morning, access to GUI restored and stats as below:

Upstream line rate (kbit/s):
7346
Downstream line rate (kbit/s):
39806
Maximum upstream rate (kbit/s):
7346
Maximum downstream rate (kbit/s):
58696

TalkTalk are using Huawei routers at the moment.

[Tizer]

I assume you will have had to go in there to set up wireless etc, (if you use it).

We do use wireless for Mrs Tiz's smartphone but the Plusnet routers are now set by default for wireless when you receive them.

[Stanley]

I just checked mine, 38mbps down and 9.32 up. I looked and mine is Huawei as well.
Funny thing is that as I was typing that I lost internet connection for a few seconds.... Do you think they are watching me?

[chinatyke]

... mine is Huawei as well.
Funny thing is that as I was typing that I lost internet connection for a few seconds.... Do you think they are watching me?

You'll be getting a knock on the door late at night and 3 Chinese policemen will be stood there!

[Stanley]

I shall find a relevant quotation for them from my Little Red Book.....

[Pluggy]

Latest update on the broadband. Its wonderful. Since I had the Openreach bods mobile number I gave him a call the day he came and said ir crackled after he left, it went to voicemail and he didn't get back to me. The line had cleared and the broadband was OK ish at around 7Mb/s and I'd got fed up of spending half my life complaining so I left it. Fast forward to the end of last week, and out of the blue as I was walking home, an Openreach Van and cherry picker came round the corner with me and stopped at the pole that feeds my wire. The same bod got out of the van and approached me and said since its a repeat fault they are trying to get it right. With a bit of jiggery pokery and some luck they found an unused pair on some wiring going to another cabinet and patch my connection into it. The line was clear and the internet speed was really bad when they left but he said if it doesn't improve in a day or two call back in to the ISP. It has got better each day and its now at ~12 Mb/s which is close to as good as its ever been. He did let slip that the wiring in the ground dates from the 70s and its aluminium so the broadband speed will always be somewhat compromised. He also said it would not be as compromised if we ponied up for fibre so our line didn't have to go all the way to the exchange as it does on ADSL. 12Mb/s will do me. It happily feeds the telly and a youtube channel on my computer with capacity to spare, The business is in decline (and has been since I started on my own to be truthful) so I don't need the broadband for it as much as I did. I have reserves, we're not going hungry, and having a lot of spare time suits me. I'm officially semi-retired.

(b*gger it, I've never been unemployed, I've worked enough for one lifetime, odd jobs for a bit of extra spending money will do me, I'm not chasing trade any more )

[chinatyke]

(b*gger it, I've never been unemployed, I've worked enough for one lifetime, odd jobs for a bit of extra spending money will do me, I'm not chasing trade any more )

Exactly as I felt when completely out of the blue I decided to take early retirement at 58 years old, and I've never regretted it. Go for it, Stephen. Good luck.

[PanBiker]

Forced on me at 56, 80 odd applications for full time jobs, one interview. In last three from 72 applicants, lost out for an IT position (40 years experience counted for nothing) to a 23 year old with a Biology degree, he lasted 12 months and the project was cancelled. LCC have been paying me pension since they decided to let me go. Worked part time running an office and then quit when my boss started to take advantage with no give in return. Done exams for the last couple of years. I get my state pension in just over 12 months.

If you are happy to do odds as and when you will be a lot better off, maybe not financially, but that's not what it's all about is it?

[Tizer]

Pluggy, do like many other people who've been looking after folk as you have - cherry pick. Do work for those who you know will pay you on time and treat you like a friend. And make a good cup of tea!

[Stanley]

Quite right Tiz. Pluggy, you are my IT consultant for life whether you like it or not and I promise to pay promptly in notes! It's quite amazing how cheap it is to be retired but of course you have responsibilities, like a family. I hope it works out OK for you....

[Pluggy]

Nobody want dinosaurs on the payroll, decades of experience or not.......

I'll keep the bare minimums of the business going until I get to state pension age. Insurance, telling bone number etc. Its not expensive.