lproven: Linqage: How to give a tired old PC a spring clean

Liam Proven (

lproven) wrote,
@ 2007-09-18 14:52:00

Entry tags:

blog, linqaqe, plug, writing

Linqage: How to give a tired old PC a spring clean
When I'm cleaning Winders

Currently riding at #3 on the Inq charts. Which is nice.

[Aside: Do I need a word for blogging that's also plugging? A blug post, perhaps?]

(Post a new comment)

	ajshepherd 2007-09-18 02:01 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, I remember back in the day when I'd do a complete reformat and reinstall once or twice a year to make my Windows system squeaky clean. Mind you, on a 40Mb hard drive that was a hell of a lot easier! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-18 02:05 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, a few readers have said that in emails! :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	vatine 2007-09-18 02:27 pm UTC (link)
	Well, "blug" or "plog" seems like the most likely neologisms foprmed from "plugging" and "blogging", though plogging has, possibly, a nicer ring to it. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-18 02:55 pm UTC (link)
	:¬) Nobody would know what it meant, though, and for it to catch on would require a degree of honesty and introspection that I suspect is rare in the blogosphere. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	vatine 2007-09-18 03:31 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know, I really don't consider myself as part of "the blogosphere" (no matter that I have two what-would-be-called blogs). (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-18 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	Good for you. Me neither. This is probably why my Technorati rating is quite low. Still, I've got one, which obscurely pleases me. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	vatine 2007-09-18 06:12 pm UTC (link)
	Hah, I've actually gone to the trouble of creating one for the other "blog" (see www.advogato.org, username should be bleedin' obvious). (Reply to this) (Parent)

	metahacker 2007-09-18 02:34 pm UTC (link)
	Well, it didn't even clean up a gig of space, but I imagine having 10,000+ files removed is useful for general speedliness. Thanks! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-18 02:54 pm UTC (link)
	:¬) Glad it worked! (Reply to this) (Parent)

steer
2007-09-18 03:27 pm UTC (link)

The rate "Software rot" seems to decrease with every version of windows... perhaps it is just my impression though.

There was a lovely humour piece a few years ago describing the "stages of windows install" starting from

1) Pristine.
through
2) OK but a few drivers are out of date and one or two programs crash occasionally on start up.
and finishing with
4) Runs slowly, systray has 30 icons, crashes every two hours. Office doesn't save some formats and the printer won't work.

The original was much longer but it well described that inexplicable computer senescence that sets in. It's made me fear that anything whatsoever in systray or the Start Up menu is essentially the lump that eventually becomes a tumour.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

daveon
2007-09-18 04:02 pm UTC (link)

Apart from the BSOD invoked by bad video driver design from our friends at Logitech I've had not one jot of trouble with my main XP box which is pushing 3 now.

Certainly nothing compared to the woes that befell me with 95 or, gods help me, ME. I've got through enough laptops but that tends to be hardware failures given the way I treat them.

What I have also found helps is remembering to uninstall the drivers from hardware and peripherals you've binned over the years but not told the system you don't use anymore.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

lproven
2007-09-18 05:53 pm UTC (link)

XP is streets ahead of any of the 9x family. I still kinda prefer W2K for desktops, though. No themes, no crap like Windows Movie Maker, less RAM, all the important functions.

XP's sole benefit for me is the faster suspend/resume. Handy on a laptop, not worth a lot on a desktop. Bit quicker booting but the cruft quickly outweighs that.

Lots of things now say they have XP-only drivers or require XP. I personally have yet to meet a single 3rd party product that can't be installed on 2K. I've heard of it, but every one I've seen, you can click "yes I mean it" a few times and it works, from printers to TV cards to apps.

2K is faster running, just as reliable, uses about 25% less RAM and 50% less disk than XP.

Vista: don't even ask. They must be having a laugh.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	del_c 2007-09-18 04:37 pm UTC (link)
	I thought the stages of Windows installation were Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	steer 2007-09-18 04:48 pm UTC (link)
	Denial... never. Actually, windows does make me angry and depressed. Does this mean I can't get over windows until I accept it? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-18 05:53 pm UTC (link)
	I advise avoidance. (He typed on an Ubuntu box.) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	steer 2007-09-18 06:32 pm UTC (link)
	(Grin) This laptop only runs Ubuntu -- actually, not quite true it has a vestigial windows install hogging 2Gb of disk which our (rabid) sysadmin insisted on because "Dell might not do a repair if it does not have windows". On the other hand, frankly, it sucks as a game playing OS. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 02:13 am UTC (link)
	It happened to some poor zeeb with PC World recently. He nuked Vista, put Gentoo on it (if he knows enough to run Gentoo, he knows better than to buy from PC World, I'd have thought). The hinge broke. He took it back. Tough, they told him, warranty void. Negotiations, as they say, are ongoing. PC World are gonna lose. But still...! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

vatine
2007-09-19 06:08 am UTC (link)

Last I heard, they'd admitted they were in the wrong. Don't know if he's been issued a warranty repair and (hopefully) some free goo.

As for buying from PC World, if I were to buy a laptop, I'd buy a Levono from whoever flöogs it cheaper and where I can walk and hand the thing in for warranty repair (or be guaranteed that there's a FAST "mail me a box that I can return straight off" (or, even better, courier shows up with box, I stick laptop in box and it returns with the courier). If that is PC World, then so be it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 01:53 pm UTC (link)
	Fair call. Actually, from my experience, there's a fair chance it'd be Shyamtronics on Tottenham Court Road. Recommended. Although I'd be very tempted by a MacBook, these days. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	steer 2007-09-19 08:05 am UTC (link)
	Yes, I read that one. Dell on the other hand, currently sell Ubuntu machines. Plus, we're a large university department which gives you certain leverage. In my previous role as "Computer officer" (when not being researcher and lecturer) I never had any such problems. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	bellinghman 2007-09-18 05:40 pm UTC (link)
	I assume you mean this piece from Verity? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	steer 2007-09-18 06:36 pm UTC (link)
	That's the one -- and a thing of beauty it is! (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 02:14 am UTC (link)
	Verity Stob is the finest IT humourist in the world, I reckon. I believe I actually know the person behind the pseudonym, tho' I'm unsure I've ever met them IRL. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	vicarage 2007-09-18 03:53 pm UTC (link)
	Well, you are blogging and pimping, so blimping seems the thing... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 02:14 am UTC (link)
	Oh, splendid! Does that make me a Colonel, though? [Looks worried] (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	vicarage 2007-09-19 02:19 am UTC (link)
	Sssh, I'm just tidying my laptop according to your instructions! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	ajshepherd 2007-09-19 10:16 am UTC (link)
	Nah, it just signifies your expanding waistline! (Pot, kettle, I know...) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 01:54 pm UTC (link)
	:¬P (Reply to this) (Parent)

	andrewducker 2007-09-18 04:13 pm UTC (link)
	Your link has escaped HTML in it... (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-18 05:54 pm UTC (link)
	Hmmm? Oh, the apostrophe. Middle-click pasted straight from the Inq. Why, is that a problem, or merely a solecism? I am rather naive when it comes to HTML. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	andrewducker 2007-09-18 11:35 pm UTC (link)
	Not a problem - just looks crap. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 02:14 am UTC (link)
	Good heavens, what in? Looks fine to me on Firefox. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	andrewducker 2007-09-19 08:07 am UTC (link)
	In Internet Explorer it shows the & apos bit in the middle... (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 01:54 pm UTC (link)
	My gods, why do you use that insecure POS? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	andrewducker 2007-09-19 02:12 pm UTC (link)
	Because I have no choice at work. Installing Firefox would be what we call a "sacking offence" (as would installing _any_ piece of software). At home I use Firefox, of course. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 05:57 pm UTC (link)
	OMFG. There are so many IT managers in this world who badly need sacking and banning from ever working with anything more complicated than a calculator again. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	andrewducker 2007-09-19 09:24 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, I'm entirely in favour of this one. We have billions of dollars floating around the place. Fifteen minutes after you allowed people to download whatever they liked there'd be trojans installed on half the desktops in the company. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-20 02:07 pm UTC (link)
	Oh no no no. Not the no-installations rule. That's fine. Entirely approve of that. No, I feel that an IT manager that mandates that all web access shall be through a buggy, insecure program like IE, especially in a financial environment, is insane. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

andrewducker
2007-09-20 02:29 pm UTC (link)

I'd be willing to agree with this, up to a point. I don't know how many exploits there are in the wild for a fully patched version of IE nowadays. I do know that we would have to do a major exercise in-house to check all of our web apps (both bought in and self-written) to see whether they worked with Firefox. With 10,000 desktops and goodness knows how many apps to check, I suspect someone has decided that so long as IE is kept patched the risks are slim.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-20 02:41 pm UTC (link)
	[Glum nod] And thus do monopolies lock their teeth into the leg of Big Business. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

andrewducker
2007-09-20 02:50 pm UTC (link)

Oh absolutely. I mean, I suspect that 95% of our apps would work perfectly in Firefox or Opera. But some of them will have been coded to work in what was available at the time, and nobody will have had the time/money to test them generally.

Externally facing apps have to work in Firefox and IE7, of course. It's possible that once more of our apps are used internally and externally they'll be compliant and a shift will be easier.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	ex_the_major316 2007-09-18 04:49 pm UTC (link)
	I find dropping the machine off the desk works wonders. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-18 05:54 pm UTC (link)
	Well, that /changes/ its performance, certainly. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	ex_the_major316 2007-09-19 06:36 am UTC (link)
	Worked for me. That annoying buzz disappeared and it upgraded from 1 ghz to 3 ghz. It even upgraded itself to 3D autocad. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	lproven 2007-09-19 01:55 pm UTC (link)
	Ah. I mean, arrr! (Reply to this) (Parent)

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