How bad is Win 10? Options

[pandy]

Guess I confuse 7 with 8 then. Didn't have any of them.

[pandy]

Just got an security update. Seemed important so I let it reboot the computer right away. I usually do, since I'm afraid they'll force reboot in the middle of something otherwise, when I haven't saved what needs saving.

It hung. Took a while before I realized. The screen just said Restarting, static, no Working... or anything and the discs were all silent. I had to turn power off. Then it installed the updates during boot up. But it was scary. I didn't know where it was at and if something could screw up when I turned power off.

[Christian J]

That's never happened to me, fortunately. Do you know what caused it to hang?

[pandy]

Their sloppy code, assumedly. 😈

No idea. Never had a problem with rebooting manually. Maybe it's safer to tell it to do it later and then reboot manually. The update should happen then and hopefully windows won't try to reboot at a later time.

I was scared a while because I got a black screen a while until the update started, so for a second or two I feared things were broken.

[Christian J]

I guess it could be a coincidence as well. But if you don't usually have hang problems during boot that seems unlikely.

[pandy]

Highly.

I also had a phone call from Liberia today. It's adding up.

[Christian J]

Is this normal?

I almost never use the Edge browser, but after opening (and closing) it, a few minutes later a semi-translucent orphaned Edge Search field suddenly appeared all by itself in the middle of my Windows desktop. Also some kind of icon appeared in the taskbar. I did find a menu button next to the search field that let me remove it, though Task Manager still shows five Edge background processes running.

[pandy]

It wasn't that desktop search bar whatever they call it that reinstalled itself then? Don't remember how it looks.

No, never happened to me. I use Edge daily for some stuff where I expect to get cookies aplenty. I never use it otherwise so the spy cookies can lie there and rot.

[Christian J]

It wasn't that desktop search bar whatever they call it that reinstalled itself then? Don't remember how it looks.

Thanks, found it! https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/203448-...ndows-10-a.html

Maybe Windows didn't get the opportunity to install it until I opened Edge today.

No, never happened to me. I use Edge daily for some stuff where I expect to get cookies aplenty. I never use it otherwise so the spy cookies can lie there and rot.

I'm sure it's just a matter of time until browsers find an excuse to steal each other's cookies, history and bookmarks. To help the user, of course.

[pandy]

OK. I had a faint memory that it turned up out of the blue for me once, so I thought that could have happened to you too.

The time we spend on getting rid of sh*t and getting what's left to work as we want...

I was on the phone for an hour with my mobile provider today. I lost access to mobile data during the holiday, probably exactly at the turn of the month. Because I was out late on Valpurgis night and everything was dandy. Later when I had gone to bed and wanted to listen to the radio - oops, no data. So something happened when they loaded the new month's allotment, I figure.

It took time because the settings I needed to check were grayed out while I was on the phone (why?). So we had to hang up, I checked and the support guy called me after 5 minutes. Again and again. At last we decided he would just email me what I needed and we could talk again tomorrow if I didn't sort it.

Turned out the Access Point Name (don't ask...) was changed to Halebop. Huh? I have Fello which is owned by Telia. Why would they change anything to Halebop? I made the correct choices as instructed and it worked. For 10 minutes. Then I recalled that when I got this phone it didn't work with the recommended settings and I tried all the APNs in there until I found one that did work. When I saw the name now I recognized it. Alltele Internet. Don't even know what that is! And neither did the support person I talked to when the phone was new, but he said it was safe to use anything that worked. And it has worked, until this happened. So now I'm back on Alltele and everything is fine.

How is one supposed to figure out these things when not even the people that are paid to know everything about it understand it?

[pandy]

Right, Halebop is also owned by Telia. I thought it was 3. That maybe makes it more probable that it could happen, but still very odd.

[Christian J]

Valpurgis night

Interesting, didn't know her English name was Valpurgis (Walpurgis, Walburgis). Reminds me of Hrotsvitha (Hroswitha).

Turned out the Access Point Name (don't ask...) was changed to Halebop. Huh? I have Fello which is owned by Telia. Why would they change anything to Halebop? I made the correct choices as instructed and it worked. For 10 minutes. Then I recalled that when I got this phone it didn't work with the recommended settings and I tried all the APNs in there until I found one that did work. When I saw the name now I recognized it. Alltele Internet. Don't even know what that is! And neither did the support person I talked to when the phone was new, but he said it was safe to use anything that worked. And it has worked, until this happened. So now I'm back on Alltele and everything is fine.

Assuming an Access Point is what I think it is, could it be that your house only has one nearby from Alltele, and that it had a glitch at the turn of the month? If so the phone should still have worked in other places.

How is one supposed to figure out these things when not even the people that are paid to know everything about it understand it?

I suppose ordinary support staff barely know anything either, while the ones with more advanced skills are much more rare and don't have to deal with the usual simple customer problems. Makes you wonder how many people actually know about a city's network of Access Points, maybe it's just one or two.

[pandy]

Probably it's Walpurgis. Didn't bother to look it up.

I don't think so, but I'm not sure. I don't remember I have ever needed to touch those settings before. It has just worked out of the box once the card is in.

I think it has to do with my China phone. But I don't know what it is. Neither did the first support person I talked to a couple of years ago, and he really got engaged in the problem, talked with technicians and got back to me a few days later and said they couldn't solve it.

[Christian J]

Probably it's Walpurgis. Didn't bother to look it up.

Seems all the spellings are used on the web. AFAIK people spelled things more or less like they wanted until just a couple hundred years ago, so who knows about the Middle Ages?

I don't think so, but I'm not sure. I don't remember I have ever needed to touch those settings before. It has just worked out of the box once the card is in.

I think it has to do with my China phone. But I don't know what it is. Neither did the first support person I talked to a couple of years ago, and he really got engaged in the problem, talked with technicians and got back to me a few days later and said they couldn't solve it.

With "Access Point" I of course meant the nearest mobile transmitter. But surely phones are able to use any of them when you're moving around, not just the one you've specified. So why specify one in the first place?

[pandy]

It must be something else since you are supposed to choose one. I haven't bothered to find out what it is. Maybe tomorrow. Or never.

[Christian J]

With "Access Point" I of course meant the nearest mobile transmitter.

That seems wrong too. Not that this made things much clearer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Point_Name

My phone settings only contain one APN, same as my mobile carrier (so I guess it comes from the SIM card). I've never had to choose it manually. Does your phone let you choose between several APNs, or can you type them in yourself somehow?

[pandy]

Yeah. I looked it up too.

Maybe you look somewhere where it displays the chosen APN? There's a sh*tload to choose from. You on Android? Here how I get to the list.

Settings | Network & Internet | Mobile Network | Advanced | Access Point Names

I think I may have missed a screenfull... But you get the picture.

[Darin McGrew]

How is one supposed to figure out these things when not even the people that are paid to know everything about it understand it?

We recently switched internet providers because we were very frustrated with our previous provider.

When we first moved to Knoxville, our apartment was served by Comcast/Xfinity and WOW (a local internet provider). Comcast/Xfinity doesn't have a great reputation for service, but I couldn't get questions answered by WOW customer service either. Comcast/Xfinity was a pain to work with, but the employee who showed up to install and configure our service got everything sorted out (and it looked like this was routine for him).

A year later, we bought a house and moved to a new neighborhood. Our only choice were Comcast/Xfinity and AT&T. I've had previous bad experience with AT&T, so we stayed with Comcast/Xfinity. But they botched moving our service from the apartment to our house.

Then our utility company (electric, gas, water, sewer) started offering fiber internet service. The utility company has been great to work with for other things, so naturally we switched as soon as we could. And it was all driven by the quality of customer service.

[Christian J]

Maybe you look somewhere where it displays the chosen APN? There's a sh*tload to choose from. You on Android? Here how I get to the list.

Settings | Network & Internet | Mobile Network | Advanced | Access Point Names

That's where I looked.

[pandy]

The utility company has been great to work with for other things, so naturally we switched as soon as we could. And it was all driven by the quality of customer service.

Yeah. It sucks when you don't get help. I have that situation with our ISP. I live in an apartment, so I can't do as I want. There's something wrong with MY connection specifically, it doesn't affect the others. First time I was without internet was when covid raged and they hardly had any technicians standing (another company again that's hired to do service). I think it took 3 weeks. I was understanding then, because of covid. They said our gear down in the cellar was too old, and should be replaced. That didn't happen, they chose an emergency solution. I overheard the phone call between the technician and his boss.

This Christmas I was without Internet over both Christmas and New year. Thank heavens I have a large mobile account so I could connect my computer through the phone. But I use my computer as TV too, only watch online. I had to limit that a bit.

Then it happened once again, in January, I think. But this time they fixed it in a couple of days.

The first two times I was offered a compensations - a network cable. Great. I already had a new onE. Now I have three. That really covers the extreme phone bill I would have had hadn't I already had a large account. Buying extra data traffic is expensive here. They knew nothing about that. I asked them to send me a card for the phone with only data on it (they are a phone provider too). They refused.

Even worse is that when I was on the board I fixed a good deal with one of our best providers. We would get away from the city network (if that's what it's called). They are totally their own. The crap provider just sells what they have no control over. Faster connection and and same speed up and down. Just a little higher monthly cost. There was a small initial cost though, but not unreasonable. When I called them one of the bosses answered. He would send out someone to check if our gear down in the cellar was good enough. He called me back within the hour. He had been here himself to check our stuff and it was OK. That kind of service and effectiveness I like!

My proposal was down voted because the crap company, that has maybe the worse rep in the country, offered us new routers if we signed up for another 4 years - at a higher cost, of course. Turned out the routers were worse than the ones we already had. My neigbours say. I don't use their router. I have my own.

Even if the mobile provider can't figure out why I can't use the recommended APN, they really do their best. And the phone works with my own solution. Since I really think the problem is my China phone I don't hold it against them.