TOTALLY FED UP with Dialup !

[Mr.Fixit]

I'm in a rural location where its good day when I see over 40K from my tincans&string ISP. I just spent 38 minutes waiting to get in here...

why? beeecuze everything on my machine takes priority for it's daily downloads and updates.

According to the cute twin monitors in the toolbar, I sent 308K and rec'd 1.3 Megs before my browser or email could access the web. This stuff is supposed to be running in the background, and what the heck is it anyway? WHY DOESN"T my pal MICROSOFT tell me what is going on with my machine? Where is the incoming coming from? Where is the 300K going? I'd really like to know!

Some of it is McAfee- it blocks my mail until it updates Spamkiller, which can be disabled but I can't disable the updates.

I just checked Task Manager too...I've got 7 instances of SVCHOST running- where do they all come from?

You guys with broadband prob'ly don't even notice this stuff, but its sure getting to be a pain in the can on dialup.

Thanks for the venting opportunity!

[Google]

[Mr.Fixit]

In the background- Today so far this morning :sent 890K, recd 4.5 megs... just to check in here. Firewall sees no probs...

[fussnfeathers]

McAfee is death, I would ditch it, go with AVG. You can set it to download updates manually very easily, and the Pro version has a very good e-mail blocker. The Pro version isn't free, but it's not expensive, either, $39 for a two-year license.

SVCHOST is a Windows program that allows your computer services to start, like Scheduler, Firewall, etc. Each one has a different batch of services in it, which can allow services to stop and start faster. I usually have anywhere from 5-8 instances of it myself.

Turn off automatic updates on Windows, or set it to only notify you, but not download or install without your input. That's what I do.......it's really annoying when you're in the middle of a hot SWG session, and all of a sudden your machine reboots.

Also, check the time your updates are scheduled to happen. If you have them set for, say, 2am, but you're not connected, they'll start as soon as a network connection is detected.
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Big enough to scare you

[geekzta127]

i've used AVG, its a great antivirus software and its free. i've switched to avast antivirus also great, more cleaner and cooler looking interface. overall both are good

[Mr.Fixit]

[fussnfeathers]

Heh.................dialup is a network connection, bro, just a verrrrrrrrrry slow one.
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Big enough to scare you

[Mr.Fixit]

FnF- technically, you got me; but subjectively, its like calling punched cards input.



For some reason, I'm reminded of an example from philosophy- if you've got a pile of sand and take some away, you've still got a pile of sand. If you keep doing this, at some point you no longer have a pile of sand... but where is that transition point?

Today's computers have gone from net-enabled to net-dependent without many people really noticing. Take one off-line for a couple weeks and it will start screaming for updates. Almost all those updates have to do with hardening it against intrusions- from online. I can't remember the last update that actually added to productivity, and try getting any updates except online these days.

Just a couple years ago, dialup was completely adequate for my computing needs- like chatting on forums like this. Nowadays my computer must devote a huge part of its resources simply to do the exact same thing?

Seems to me that if the Windows world is evolving, it's evolving into a turtle. I notice there's a kinda mass movement in Linux towards running OSs from CD, where they can't be tampered with (yet).

Wacky thought: if AI actually came into existence now , imagine how paranoid it would have to be!

[fussnfeathers]

I totally agree. I was on dialup here for a month or so, on an old 466mhz Celeron. It was almost impossible to do anything.........even TweakNews would time out, it took so long to load a page. Most of that is the advertising and the "intelligent text" hyperlinks everywhere.

What you can do to speed things up is add a list of ad servers to your HOSTS file (do a google for ad blocking HOSTS file), which will disable just about every ad banner you can think of........but, be selective, because it can also block things you actually want to see.

It's definitely a broadband world, and it's a tough balancing act for a website owner..........how much content to put in, either for revenue or "bling factor", where to cut it off so people like yourself can enjoy the site without obnoxiously long loading times, and how best to set it up so broadband users aren't bored.
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Big enough to scare you

[Mr.Fixit]

FnF-
you sound like you understand websites; few designers these days understand layout, and their work has all the elegance of the Yellow Pages.

The internet is a highway, or mebbe an arterial system. Clogging it up with 'worse than useless'* banners and faddy features seems awfully dumb to me.

*{I say worse, because many banners influence me to avoid those products due to their sheer annoyance value- starting with popups}

Just another old story- I was on a major highway in New Mexico- flat to the horizon. There was an accident way up ahead- couldn't even see it. The line of vehicles stretched in both directions far as I could see. Everybody got out and just stood around for an hour or so. None of the cars, even the SUVs, got off the road onto the perfectly flat hard desert to go around and go on.

Dial up is kind alike that to me... a minimum backup condition that should be maintained somehow.

Thanks for the tip on HOSTS- knew nothing about it!

FYI- Google & Sun are ganging up- sparks are going to fly around OpenOffice...