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Post by Larry Madsen on Jan 4, 2022 20:47:32 GMT -5
I'll be dumping it then. I have gotten use to using the "Norton Search" function. I always felt safer using it ... It kept me from using google. I kind of hate google for reason having nothing to do with it being a popular search function. I ran a diagnostic from Hewelt Packard. It's just part of the basic institutional stuff that came with the computer. I don't really know if it is loading up quicker, but it does seem to be taking care of regular real time business a bit better. The trick with dumping Norton might be getting them to no longer hit my bank account every year.
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Post by modbus on Jan 4, 2022 20:59:03 GMT -5
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Post by Larry Madsen on Jan 4, 2022 21:16:24 GMT -5
Duckduckgo is a good search engine. I think I lean toward the idea of keeping everything as minimal as possible. I guess microsoft Edge should have something. On that front. As noted earlier I seem to be running both Explorer and Edge. Do I need to have both to function? Based on that earlier post and PIC Explorer seems to be carrying the load.
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Post by modbus on Jan 4, 2022 21:35:44 GMT -5
I think they keep IE11 around for legacy reasons, but there preferred browser going forward is Edge (which interestingly enough is based on Google Chrome now, well, more correctly Chromium).
All web browsers let you chooses your preferred search engine in the settings. I always switch over to duckduckgo from the default, which is usually Google.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Jan 4, 2022 22:08:37 GMT -5
This I can say with certainty.
You guys input here today has help me learn quite a bit.
Thanks to all for the helpful information.
I’ll time the start-up in the morning and report back on how long it takes.
Teams should be out of the picture, I disabled it earlier today.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Jan 5, 2022 18:14:09 GMT -5
Ok, here is the result of two test start-ups today.
This morning I fired it up and waited 3:30. I did not seem to have any sign (little blinking light) that it was doing anything. I lifted the front of the tower and let it drop. This activated the little blinking light and in another 2:35 I had a password entry screen.
This afternoon I came home and moved the mouse around to get it started and it took 5:15 to get a password sign in screen.
Now that it's up and running it seems to be doing its usual decent level of performance.
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Post by modbus on Jan 6, 2022 9:47:15 GMT -5
Have you tried running some boot up tests from safe mode?
First, try booting it in safe mode. If it still takes forever and gets lost during booting, I'd suspect you have a hardware failure issue, perhaps a hard drive with a bunch of bad sectors.
If it boots okay, then try safe mode with networking. Sometimes network adapters can hang a system up for a while if they have trouble initializing. If i has trouble here, it may be as simple as going to the HP support website, entering in your PC's serial number, and downloading and installing the latest and greatest network driver.
If it boots okay with safe mode with networking, then it's probably some software starting up that's hanging up the system. I'd then revisit this:
and take a look under the "Startup" tab to see what all is being opened, and see if there are nay "high impact" items that you could get rid of.
On a personal anecdote, I just had the hard drive crash on a Windows 7 laptop about the same age as your PC. I put a new SSD in, and installed windows and all the programs I used from scratch.
The thing boots *unbelievably* fast now, like it was when it was brand new. Starting over completely certainly isn't recommended, but it does work wonders for the old boot up time.
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Post by Vibroluxer on Jan 6, 2022 10:02:32 GMT -5
^Excellent advice.
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gbfun
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Post by gbfun on Jan 7, 2022 4:44:28 GMT -5
I found all 3rd party security programs slowed the computer, and Windows security seems to work flawlessly(so far).
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Post by Larry Madsen on Apr 2, 2022 19:06:21 GMT -5
Well, it finally died. It’s like the power plug was disconnected. It’s not a case of it powering up and won’t work.
Just purchased a new Dell tower.
i3 8g and 1t
I realize not the fastest, actually bottom end processor. I purchased an additional 8g of ram to install boosting that to 16g.
We think this will do a decent job for our use and expectations. Simple internet access, YouTube and the usual Microsoft Word/Excel tasks.
All should show up on Tuesday.
I had some recent stuff on my hard drive desktop that I had not saved to my external drive. I also bought a sata to usb 3.5 cable to hopefully fetch the data off the old drive.
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Post by Mfitz804 on Apr 2, 2022 19:48:04 GMT -5
Probably just me, but I think if you got 8 years out of a computer tower, you got your money’s worth. Probably worth it to invest in a new one with an SSD.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Apr 5, 2022 9:01:12 GMT -5
Last minute question.
How proud are we “really” of our solid state hard drives?
When we went to Best Buy and selected the computer mentioned above Queenie was pretty insistent on buying something.
I did not think to check on SS drive. The unit we bought does not have a SS drive.
It will arrive today.
I need to decide about returning it and upgrading … before I open the box
Looking for some last minute advice.
Queenie is on board either way.
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009
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Post by 009 on Apr 5, 2022 9:20:23 GMT -5
You can pick up an SSD for not too much. I bought one at Best Buy, 250 GB (Toshiba, IIRC), and installed it in my PC before upgrading/installing Win10, and also bought a new 2 TB HDD. (I backed up all the "data" (everything I saved - email, music, pictures, etc. beforehand). Getting a SATA cable to connect the SSD to the motherboard might be tricky; Best Buy should have something. Anyway, I installed Win10 from the DVD I purchased, but I was unable to figure out how to make all my "saves" (all data folders, etc.) go to my HHD. I gave up and installed Win 10 on the HHD, then copied all the data on it, too. I left the SSD sitting unconnected within my PC box; maybe someday I'll figure it out. The SSD, I hoped, would allow for speedy startups and would allow reinstalling Windows OS should I need to.
Oh yeah, I had to buy a $10 Insignia brand (Best Buy brand) adaptor to install that small, skinny SSD. The holes on the adaptor and my drive frame inside my PC box didn't match up; I had to drill holes in the adaptor.
Well, maybe you'll want to return your new computer, anyway....
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Post by Larry Madsen on Apr 5, 2022 9:27:12 GMT -5
I have no desire to purchase a SS drive and then swap it into a computer I just removed from it’s factory package. 😜
We would simply return this unopened box and purchase a higher level unit.
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Post by themaestro on Apr 5, 2022 10:15:40 GMT -5
We would simply return this unopened box and purchase a higher level unit. I would suggest the return. The speed of an SSD is significant compared to a mechanical drive. You will notice the difference in boot speed, application startup and file access. The downside is that an SSD might not have the longevity of a mechanical because there is a limit to the number of writes an SSD can handle, but we should be talking years. I have a couple of old computers that just got really slow because Windows does SO much file access as it runs. Changing to an SSD made a painfully slow computer usable again. Swapping in an SSD will probably kill any warranty on the box, plus the hassle of loading the OS on the SSD. Those are my 2 big reasons to suggest exchanging.
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Post by Larry Madsen on Apr 5, 2022 10:24:48 GMT -5
The one arriving today comes with windows 11 already on it, so it is a concern as well with any drive swap.
Another second thought is “my” computer has always been pretty much just for me to putz around on. With Queenies new position she needs to be able to do work from home at times. Her iPad won’t cut the mustard on that. We need this computer to be up to the task.
Might even consider something better than i3 processor as well.
Sadly, we just got a little too eager to “solve” the computer problem. I entered the building on more of a “fact finding” mission … then watched it turn into a “buy a computer” mission. 😧
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