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Thread: Computer help!

  1. #11
    Roving RAT ROBCamra's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maldenman View Post
    Well it didn't synch and it's still not working. Looks like an evening on the phone coming up!

    Erm, what's DHCP?
    It's the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. Basically it tries to automatically configure your computer.
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  2. #12
    Former Pubs Galore Coder
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    Now see you had to go and ask

    Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

    Hopefully not something you should ever have to worry about.

    When connected to a network you have an address on that network, using IPv4 which we mostly still do this is expressed as 4 numbers between 0 & 256. So for instance the Pubs Galore website is sat on a computer that has the address 70.85.209.242

    On any network this address is how other computers on the same network find you.

    I may be wrong on the next bit, but - When networking was first getting going it was more usual to just tell your computer its IP, and then network administrators would keep a book with a listing of all their computers and the assigned IP addresses, in this way you could just tell people the address of shared items like networked printers or storage. Moving on though we wanted something a little more flexible and DHCP is part of that flexibility, the key point in a network will frequently have a DHCP server, in your home network it would be the router/modem, in this instance though we are talking about the Talk-Talks computer that connects you to the Internet. When a new device comes onto the network it asks the DHCP server to give it an address, which means you don't have to worry about a lot of the hassle involved in network administration (hopefully, although maybe not in your case ).

  3. #13
    Roving RAT ROBCamra's Avatar
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    It's what Conrad says, much more eloquently put than my version.

    As computer project manager you have to know enough about these things so that the techies don't try and flannel you all the time.

    They don't know how much you know when you can ask a couple of pertinant questions.

    The truth of course is that in most areas your knowledge is a thin layer, but the idea is to not to let them know that.
    A pub is for life not just for Christmas

  4. #14
    Glass Half Empty
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    just a quick question,

    can you connect to your router via wifi?
    this may not help, but it is just a suggestion, try using wireless instead to see if it works. Also, is ur computer trying to wireless connect and cable connect at the same time?
    There might be a conflict.

    Arthurish

  5. #15
    Get some gravy on it. Maldenman's Avatar
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    Cheers Arthurish and others who tried to help. It required a call to tech support who had me up and running in no time, but it would have been impossible without as I needed a Gateway number plus password I didn't already have!

  6. #16
    Inndigestion Strongers's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Maldenman View Post
    Cheers Arthurish and others who tried to help. It required a call to tech support who had me up and running in no time, but it would have been impossible without as I needed a Gateway number plus password I didn't already have!
    I had the same problem with BT and then with Sky a few months ago when I lumped the TV, phone and internet into one - Soon sorted out though - although my machine is now slower than slow when booting up opening new web sites up.
    WE ARE THE BREADMEN - UP THE BEES

  7. #17
    Inndigestion Strongers's Avatar
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    I was chatting to an associate about my machine being slow and he reckons it could be due to me now using McAfee instead of Norton for antivirus software. Seems a bit silly to me, but what do I know - Any thoughts?
    WE ARE THE BREADMEN - UP THE BEES

  8. #18
    Former Pubs Galore Coder
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    Quote Originally Posted by Strongers View Post
    I was chatting to an associate about my machine being slow and he reckons it could be due to me now using McAfee instead of Norton for antivirus software. Seems a bit silly to me, but what do I know - Any thoughts?
    This is the sort of thing that can rapidly turn into a slanging match. Personally I would use neither of McAfee or Norton. For a home user free virus checkers are good enough, AVG probably being the most popular (although again I am not a fan, a few years back they really spannered life for webmasters and took quite a while to admit they were wrong). I have previously used Avast and am currently just telling people to use Microsoft Security Essentials as I hope they will want to protect their brand.

    The trouble with the paid ones like McAfee and Norton (IMHO) is that they need to justify their charging status and chuck loads of bells and whistles on that any user would struggle to make the most of, and these bells and whistles will slow your computer down and get in the way.

    So in conclusion yes McAfee may be slowing your machine down, but I would give Norton equal odds on doing exactly the same.

    I think the biggest slow down on computers I have seen is just how long they have been used without being re-installed from scratch, over time they tend to just accumulate rubbish that runs in the background and it is frequently prohibitively difficult to completely remove it.

    All this comes with the standard disclaimers of being my opinion, being about Windows and it is not my fault if anything goes wrong .

    As aside do you know how to bring up the task manager? You may actually be able to spot if something is hogging your system and making a mess.

  9. #19
    Inndigestion Strongers's Avatar
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    All I have open is this web page and there are 70 processes in task manager - is this a lot?
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  10. #20
    Old & Bitter oldboots's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Strongers View Post
    All I have open is this web page and there are 70 processes in task manager - is this a lot?
    It's a lot for a domestic machine with nothing open but probably OK if it's a corporate one. Hit the button marked CPU to sort the processor time hoggers from top to bottom, "System Idle" should be pretty high up and you can ignore it, things that say something like "scan" or "update" or "LU" point to overactive anti virus apps. Other things may good or bad depending on what's in your hard drive.

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