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wmcsnow
Thanks for the invitation to tell something of myself and for welcoming a Yank into your forum. At least I do have roots in England. My mother was born in Walthamstow in the late 1890’s to the Cullum family who later immigrated to Canada then the US. I am also a descendent of Nickolas Snow who sailed to New England 3 years after the Mayflower in the 1600’s. I am retired from a family retail business where I started computerizing the operation with first NCR magnetic ledger cards, then online terminals to data center where I learned to program in assembler and machine language and finally with first a mini-computer followed by several PC based systems I started using a business basic application to develop a POS (point of sale) and Inventory Control system. I am now retired. For my own use I have used a PC starting with Windows 95 to 98 and XP. Now to my reason for joining this forum:
In November I called Dell to order a Laptop that could replace both my Massachusetts and Arizona desktops and the problem of moving files back and forth. I asked for one that would also be excellent for gaming and would run XP. They said XP was no longer an option but that Dell have a very stable problem free version of Vista Home Premium. If I had problems I could call Dell Support. Both of these things were lies. So far Vista has given me more problems than I have ever had with any other system and I found that the Dell support was for hardware only. Any software help was limited to the support persons own knowledge. They did offer for fee paid support from the Philippines. I tried this but they could not solve the networking problem I have.
I have gotten to know much more about Vista x64 and must admit there are features about it that I really like. It’s just that I am frustrated with the time it takes to find out how to do what I did in XP so easily. The application to transfer of my data files and folders was back ordered so I followed the Dell support person’s instructions to move them to the laptop. I do not think it was done correctly because I have folders to which I am denied access. Also it seems some things are in several locations. Backup of the laptop is twice the size.
That said here are some things you may be able to help me with:
1) Both 32 and 64 bit Internet Explorers are available. Many times upon opening a link it will freeze and report “Not Responding”. I have found that if I first open the 64 bit IE then click the link it will function perfectly. Conversely, some applications will only function with the 32 bit IE. How can I improve this?
2) I believe they had me “copy” my data folders to my external backup disk. Then to the laptop. Some may have been copied via my network. If file and folders are correctly “imported” where would they get put?
3) Here in Arizona my network is connected to amy old Windows 98II desktop. I have to keep this for the time being because I a Data Logger that requires full Com Port support to import to a computer. This is not available on my laptop. I can communicate fully from the Vista to the Win 98II. The Win 98 sees the Vista but denies access to what is seen. I believe I have properly set up user and password on both. Is case (upper/lower) of network name or user name significant? On both systems the display is not always the same as the case I typed. I have read all the help available on the laptop with no success. I have no trouble networked with XP. Also the Win 98 networked fine with XP. Any suggestions?
4) I have problems with Windows Mail. The contacts came over with most sorted by first name. I have tried all sorts of things to get them to sort by last name. Is there a way to do this short of changing each one individually?
5) When receiving emails the box that shows the message download process was ver small unless there was an error. Now the full size box is the default and resizing can be done but the next time it is back full size. Can this be fixed?
In November I called Dell to order a Laptop that could replace both my Massachusetts and Arizona desktops and the problem of moving files back and forth. I asked for one that would also be excellent for gaming and would run XP. They said XP was no longer an option but that Dell have a very stable problem free version of Vista Home Premium. If I had problems I could call Dell Support. Both of these things were lies. So far Vista has given me more problems than I have ever had with any other system and I found that the Dell support was for hardware only. Any software help was limited to the support persons own knowledge. They did offer for fee paid support from the Philippines. I tried this but they could not solve the networking problem I have.
I have gotten to know much more about Vista x64 and must admit there are features about it that I really like. It’s just that I am frustrated with the time it takes to find out how to do what I did in XP so easily. The application to transfer of my data files and folders was back ordered so I followed the Dell support person’s instructions to move them to the laptop. I do not think it was done correctly because I have folders to which I am denied access. Also it seems some things are in several locations. Backup of the laptop is twice the size.
That said here are some things you may be able to help me with:
1) Both 32 and 64 bit Internet Explorers are available. Many times upon opening a link it will freeze and report “Not Responding”. I have found that if I first open the 64 bit IE then click the link it will function perfectly. Conversely, some applications will only function with the 32 bit IE. How can I improve this?
2) I believe they had me “copy” my data folders to my external backup disk. Then to the laptop. Some may have been copied via my network. If file and folders are correctly “imported” where would they get put?
3) Here in Arizona my network is connected to amy old Windows 98II desktop. I have to keep this for the time being because I a Data Logger that requires full Com Port support to import to a computer. This is not available on my laptop. I can communicate fully from the Vista to the Win 98II. The Win 98 sees the Vista but denies access to what is seen. I believe I have properly set up user and password on both. Is case (upper/lower) of network name or user name significant? On both systems the display is not always the same as the case I typed. I have read all the help available on the laptop with no success. I have no trouble networked with XP. Also the Win 98 networked fine with XP. Any suggestions?
4) I have problems with Windows Mail. The contacts came over with most sorted by first name. I have tried all sorts of things to get them to sort by last name. Is there a way to do this short of changing each one individually?
5) When receiving emails the box that shows the message download process was ver small unless there was an error. Now the full size box is the default and resizing can be done but the next time it is back full size. Can this be fixed?
