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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Hi SIX, was on to my provider again about the problem. He thinks it is the HMDL cord. I'm not sure which one that is.

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Did he say HDMI?

I wasn't familiar with HMDL and nothing is coming up with a search on it. If he's saying HDMI, that's the cord from your graphics card/mother board out the back of your PC that attaches to your TV.

That orange blinking light you mentioned... Was that on the computer itself somewhere or on you monitor?

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I played around with the on button again last night and unplugged it from the wall. That did nothing really, I mean everything went off then when I plugged back in it just went back to the problem.

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Yeah. You really need to follow all those directions up above or it's not going to help. There's a few chips and capacitors that you will drain by doing so that wouldn't otherwise be completely drained, and the process of pulling that plug completely out of the back of your PC and re-seating it could fix the issue as well.

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Told the guy on the phone that the monitor was cold to the touch. And I think that is the majority of the problem. Because I was starting to take my meds and the sun has come out and here I am talking to you. Ugh!

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Well... Your monitor might be going buggy too. I've had a few of those go out on me too over the years, but it was never due to the cold. It was always because it was too hot.

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It is the cold in my place because the cord for the computer is on an extension cord that is plugged into an outlet on a wall that faces the outside. So cold travels right up and this monitor won't function.

TV and computer are plugged into the modem. When you do anything to the modem that resets the tv.

Yeah, once I get over my fear I will get back to you about backing things up. I know like I said I need to do that.

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Yeah. That's the main focus right now. Better to do it sooner than later and to get you into the habit of doing it regularly. Let me know.

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Sorry, it was probably HMDI. My lousy memory and hearing are a bad combo as specially at around midnight when I called. Don't remember for certain but I think he was talking about the monitor and case.
The orange light was on the monitor.

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Yeah... No worries.

I was pretty confident that it was HDMI you were talking about, but I wanted to make sure you didn't specifically know otherwise. HDMI is one of those more-or-less universal attempts we keep making at standardizing all the plugs and connectors over time. A pretty impressive cable that can transmit both the high definition video picture and the digital audio over a single cable that can easily be plugged in and out of most modern devices.

Yessir, I like it. Got Jack's Seal of Approval.




Well now we're clear that the flashing orange light is on the monitor. I want you to breathe a huge sigh of relief. THAT is the best news of all, given the current situation. I think your computer is just fine.

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Gotcha about the stuff inside. I am not pulling the plug out of the wall again. When I did that this morning everything righted itself.

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Yeah... Leave it alone for now as long as it's working.

But when it happens again, do the following:


STEP 1: WRITE DOWN THE FOLLOWING STEPS SO YOU CAN DO THEM WITHOUT YOUR COMPUTER ON.


STEP 2: Turn off the computer AND the Monitor.

STEP 3: Unplug them BOTH from the wall.

STEP 4: Find where plug attach to the back of your computer and pull it out of the computer. Wiggle it if you need to. It's probably in there pretty decent and is meant to be a tight fit.

STEP 5: Find where the plug attaches to the back of the monitor and pull it out.

*NOTE: Though the computer plug will almost certainly be able to be pulled out of the back unless you guys do things way differently in Canada, the monitor plug might not be. I'll leave that to your own judgement. On these flat screens they're not huge like they used to be and like the computer plugs currently still are, but they're more like the little connectors that you would pull in and out of a Boom Box back in the 80's and 90's. They're still usually something you can pull out. If it's possible to pull yours out, I want to make sure we do that and establish a new, solid connection.


STEP 6: Push the plugs FIRMLY back into place in both the Computer and the Monitor.

*STOP*

STEP 7: Before plugging anything back into the wall, now I want you to pull that HDMI cable out and right back in to where you took it out of, on both the back of your monitor and the back of your computer. We want to affirm we have a nice tight connection between the two devices with this cable as well.

STEP 8: Once you've done all of that, before plugging anything back into the wall, locate the power button on both your Computer and your Monitor, and I want you to just press each one in and hold them for 30 seconds each.

STEP 9: Now plug the monitor and the computer back into the wall and power everything on.

Hopefully no more orange lights.

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The guy on the phone said he has the same monitor as mine and it could be on it's way out. I hope. Too much I have noticed makes my computer slow and it will even freeze for a bit. Then it is moving the mouse all over the place to get it going again.

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Do you ever Restart your computer?

It is possible that maybe you just need to do this and it will take care of some of those odd behaviors. Maybe you've left it in and out of sleep mode for too long without a good Restart.

FYI: Shut Down is different. It powers down the PC, but it packages up the current state of everything in memory and uses that to load your PC up much quicker when you want it powered back on. This means that any current flaky issues that you are currently having are also saved in memory.

To do a pure restart, click on the Windows icon on the bottom left corner of your screen, and then click on the Power button. (If you have Windows 11, it doesn't say the word Power anymore and it just has that Universal symbol for Power now, which is that Circle with the vertical line going through the top of it).

It should pop up a little window with a few options, and you want to select the Restart option and then just let everything restart. As long as there are no viruses and no hardware problems with the PC, this should give you a fresh operating system that isn't bogged down with weeks or months worth of little bugs that build up in the memory over time and largely go unnoticed until they don't.

Getting in the habit of doing regular restarts on your computer is something we should do too.

But let's get you and your important files backed up and at least have that piece of mind now that we know you don't have a major catastrophe on your hands that isn't greater than having to buy a new monitor, plug or HDMI cable.

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You have a point. I think you might be a better teacher than my boss. Asked her one time about using a memory stick and all she did was basically do it and half explain it to me. Which was no help what so ever.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Sorry, it was probably HMDI. My lousy memory and hearing are a bad combo as specially at around midnight when I called. Don't remember for certain but I think he was talking about the monitor and case.
The orange light was on the monitor.

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Yeah... No worries.

I was pretty confident that it was HDMI you were talking about, but I wanted to make sure you didn't specifically know otherwise. HDMI is one of those more-or-less universal attempts we keep making at standardizing all the plugs and connectors over time. A pretty impressive cable that can transmit both the high definition video picture and the digital audio over a single cable that can easily be plugged in and out of most modern devices.

Yessir, I like it. Got Jack's Seal of Approval.




Well now we're clear that the flashing orange light is on the monitor. I want you to breathe a huge sigh of relief. THAT is the best news of all, given the current situation. I think your computer is just fine.

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Gotcha about the stuff inside. I am not pulling the plug out of the wall again. When I did that this morning everything righted itself.

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Yeah... Leave it alone for now as long as it's working.

But when it happens again, do the following:


STEP 1: WRITE DOWN THE FOLLOWING STEPS SO YOU CAN DO THEM WITHOUT YOUR COMPUTER ON.


STEP 2: Turn off the computer AND the Monitor.

STEP 3: Unplug them BOTH from the wall.

STEP 4: Find where plug attach to the back of your computer and pull it out of the computer. Wiggle it if you need to. It's probably in there pretty decent and is meant to be a tight fit.

STEP 5: Find where the plug attaches to the back of the monitor and pull it out.

*NOTE: Though the computer plug will almost certainly be able to be pulled out of the back unless you guys do things way differently in Canada, the monitor plug might not be. I'll leave that to your own judgement. On these flat screens they're not huge like they used to be and like the computer plugs currently still are, but they're more like the little connectors that you would pull in and out of a Boom Box back in the 80's and 90's. They're still usually something you can pull out. If it's possible to pull yours out, I want to make sure we do that and establish a new, solid connection.


STEP 6: Push the plugs FIRMLY back into place in both the Computer and the Monitor.

*STOP*

STEP 7: Before plugging anything back into the wall, now I want you to pull that HDMI cable out and right back in to where you took it out of, on both the back of your monitor and the back of your computer. We want to affirm we have a nice tight connection between the two devices with this cable as well.

STEP 8: Once you've done all of that, before plugging anything back into the wall, locate the power button on both your Computer and your Monitor, and I want you to just press each one in and hold them for 30 seconds each.

STEP 9: Now plug the monitor and the computer back into the wall and power everything on.

Hopefully no more orange lights.

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The guy on the phone said he has the same monitor as mine and it could be on it's way out. I hope. Too much I have noticed makes my computer slow and it will even freeze for a bit. Then it is moving the mouse all over the place to get it going again.

---

Do you ever Restart your computer?

It is possible that maybe you just need to do this and it will take care of some of those odd behaviors. Maybe you've left it in and out of sleep mode for too long without a good Restart.

FYI: Shut Down is different. It powers down the PC, but it packages up the current state of everything in memory and uses that to load your PC up much quicker when you want it powered back on. This means that any current flaky issues that you are currently having are also saved in memory.

To do a pure restart, click on the Windows icon on the bottom left corner of your screen, and then click on the Power button. (If you have Windows 11, it doesn't say the word Power anymore and it just has that Universal symbol for Power now, which is that Circle with the vertical line going through the top of it).

It should pop up a little window with a few options, and you want to select the Restart option and then just let everything restart. As long as there are no viruses and no hardware problems with the PC, this should give you a fresh operating system that isn't bogged down with weeks or months worth of little bugs that build up in the memory over time and largely go unnoticed until they don't.

Getting in the habit of doing regular restarts on your computer is something we should do too.

But let's get you and your important files backed up and at least have that piece of mind now that we know you don't have a major catastrophe on your hands that isn't greater than having to buy a new monitor, plug or HDMI cable.

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You have a point. I think you might be a better teacher than my boss. Asked her one time about using a memory stick and all she did was basically do it and half explain it to me. Which was no help what so ever.

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Was your boss a teacher? Either way, what a nice thing of you to say.

Yeah... When I'm feeling it, and I've got the patience for it, I think I'm pretty decent at it. My Grandma who did go on the computer a lot to see what family was up to and what not told everyone I was her IT guy. I think it's because I've kind of been doing that most of my life with people I know. When I was young, everybody who used to be too cool for computers suddenly wanted in when they could get free music on Napster and other stuff started drawing them in. I taught a lot of people a lot of things back then. More than half that stuff I used to know you don't even need to think about anymore now.

I was always helping out friends and family with their tech. Kinda sad now that everything just kind of works out of the box and nobody needs to really think about it anymore.

Kind of miss it, to be honest.


Let's get you back up and running.

The computer really should be fine in the cold. I think there might be a little more "psychological horror" going on in your mind about things you're noticing because you're hyper-sensitive to them because of the very obvious monitor problems manifesting at the same time.

Let's get everything backed up then get you back to square one with the cords and a proper computer restart and see if that doesn't sort out all the issues for you.

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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Standerdizing is good. And it probably does look like the back of yours. Even in the stores they look the same as this monitor.

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I just put that note in there because I don't want you to keep yanking on a cord on the back of your monitor because I told you to but it turned out it's a permanent attachment. That's not me possibly insulting anyone's intelligence when I do that either. I want to keep people out of trouble is all.

I was doing a job back in my young 20's for my friend's dad. It wasn't the first job I'd done for him, but it was the first time I'd ever been on a bathroom job where we were replacing the toilet. He told me one of the things he wanted me to do was remove the wax ring and wax around the pipe, but I misunderstood what he was telling me to do and I thought he wanted me to remove the whole metal thing that stuck out. I'm no dummy, but I was also completely ignorant of how plumbing worked. I thought he wanted it out, and goddamn it even if it was going to fight me, I was going to get that damn thing out.

And that's how I broke the majority of the cast iron tab that holds in the bolts of either side of the toilet firmly to the ground for a tight seal with my flat crowbar and 200lbs of brick shithouse...



That was the only time I had ever seen this man angry about anything in my life.

Boy, I learned a couple of Life Lessons that day.

There was enough of a lip left on it to firmly bolt the toilet to the floor, but that could have ended up being a catastrophe had the break been just a little worse than it had been.


So when I say, I'll leave pulling that plug out of the back of your monitor to your own discretion, that's all I mean by it. There's an excellent chance that it will come out and if it does I want you to do it, but I don't want you to drive yourself silly pulling at something that won't ever give or even worse, pull something out that wasn't meant to be pulled out just because I said you needed to do it.

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Okay, I will relax. Was going to relax anyways tired of fighting with it.

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Good.

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Yeah. It is better. Sides that wall plugged sparked at me but it is the best one for this. I will write all that down and the next time try it. Service provider is sending me a new HMDI cord incase.

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Do you use a power strip with a switch on it for this outlet?

If you don't, you should. Not a cheapo dollar-store one either. Those can pretend to have safety features built in with LED lights that don't actually indicate anything, and switches that aren't surge protectors and are just pretending to be one.

I haven't priced one out in a long while, but I probably wouldn't plug any of my computers in a strip that didn't cost at least $10 or $15 today.

Computers and the plugs have come a long way and are much more resilient to shocks than they used to be, but having that extra little bit of insurance for so cheap is priceless.

Because you mention that sparking in that outlet has been something you've experienced, I want you to take that seriously. If you ARE using a strip but you know you got it at a dollar store or that it is a cheapo, just get yourself one that's a bit more pricey from a reputable store that isn't a dollar store. If you get a bad jolt in a storm and you've got a good protector, 9 times out of 10 the protector will survive it along with the electronics it was shielding, but even if it doesn't, it was your $15 sacrifical lamb, and not your computer with your book and no backups.

Take a day or two break from stressing now, but we're going to do those backups this week. I think I'm more nervous for you about it than you are yourself. I literally don't even want to think about some of the things I've worked on that I've lost over the years because of bad backup practices, and it would kill me to see you do that to yourself when it's such a simple thing to do.

We just have to get you to the point where you're not afraid of the stuff.

Trust me... They've made it so easy that half of these monkeys that walk around us flinging poo at each other can do them now.

You have nothing at all to worry about.

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I get restart when I want the power and I think that other time I called the provider they did a restart on their end. Maybe they did it wrong.

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See... I don't know how things are up in Canada, or even how they really are here in the States for people who don't know how computers and network really work and have to rely on the cable companies for help when they need it.

I couldn't even fathom an existence where the cable company has the permissions on my computer and network that would be necessary for them to restart my computer from their end. Network/Router, yes... But not my computer itself.

(In the back of my mind I really have just resigned myself to the fact that they probably do have this capability, despite my best efforts to the contrary, and that the Government most certainly does no matter how good you are at computers... But I don't even want to live in a world where that just becomes normalized because people can't be bothered to learn anything under the hood of the tech).


I think what they reset on their end was your network connection though, and not your computer. It would have temporarily knocked out your internet connection and service to whatever TV or other devices you have connected to it, but they didn't reset your computer itself.


What I'm asking you to do is a software based "Restart".

Not a "Shut Down" or a "reset", or any other generic term thrown out there for various ways that our modern tech can be shut down and brought back up.

On a Windows computer, I want you to physically perform a "Restart". There is no danger at all in doing this. It's just an extra step you'll do before powering down for the night. This will ensure a clean, fresh boot of Windows and any sort of odd and flaky behavior like things being "stuck" for a while or unresponsive should disappear for a while, or at least become a lot less pronounced (I don't know how old the tech you're working with is now, so some of this might just be unavoidable with age and as Windows becomes more bloated with updates).

It's not as important as getting you some good backups of your work, but it is something that you should be comfortable with doing anytime something starts acting up on you. It should always be your first thing you do when you notice anything out of the ordinary happening on your computer, as it's the most likely fix for these issues and all it costs is a few minutes of your time.

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Nah, boss was a doc. And one day I asked her about memory sticks but like I said she just basically told me what to do and sometimes I need visuals to help me. She doesn't like it if I walk up behind her to look at something. It makes her nervous.

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I don't make a good trainer at work. Not just because I prefer to work alone, but because I feel like that's a high-paid manager just pawning off his own job responsibilities onto me, and I don't abide that. And besides that, for every 10 people they hire, usually only one of the stick around for any longer than 6 months anyway, so what's the point when I have a job to do?

But I do like helping people figuring out things like this that I know they will have Zero problems doing for themselves as long as they just allow themselves to get over the fear of the unknown. Seriously... You're going to laugh at how afraid of it you were once we get you comfortable with doing it.

These days I save my fear only for things like when I'm going to be adding the generator plug to the side of my house and I have to connect it to the main power which is the single point in my house that can actually turn me into a crispy piece of bacon, even with the main shut down, because I'll be working on live electric that is supposed to be covered up when I'm doing it.

I think on that day I'll give a little prayer to God that things go smooth and maybe catch up a little with him before I give that a try.

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That's great you helping your grandmother and such. I used to have a regular IT guy, a friend. But the last I tried to get a hold of him there was no call back so I am on my own.

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Yeah... It's weird when people just disappear sometimes like that. One of the only people I ever hung out with outside of work in the last 15 years was pretty cool and probably the closest I've come to making a new friend in that time. When I was having car problems he brought his uncle's badass plug-in car charger over and let me borrow it.

Sometime shortly after that, he just vanished... Phone didn't connect anymore. He never really had any social media... just an email he never answered again. I still have that car charger. It's saved my ass more than a few times, and I've even been able to help 3 or 4 other people with it from time to time because it's so lightweight and portable for how powerful it is.

But I'd give it back in a second just to know the dude was alright and still getting by. I think his uncle wasn't doing too good if memory serves, and I think he'd probably tell me he'd forgotten about that thing and just keep it.

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I love my tech and you are mostly right. I just am freaking out.

As I said in second post all is fine now. I got the blinking orange light for a bit but I went back to bed and left it alone.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Standerdizing is good. And it probably does look like the back of yours. Even in the stores they look the same as this monitor.

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I just put that note in there because I don't want you to keep yanking on a cord on the back of your monitor because I told you to but it turned out it's a permanent attachment. That's not me possibly insulting anyone's intelligence when I do that either. I want to keep people out of trouble is all.

I was doing a job back in my young 20's for my friend's dad. It wasn't the first job I'd done for him, but it was the first time I'd ever been on a bathroom job where we were replacing the toilet. He told me one of the things he wanted me to do was remove the wax ring and wax around the pipe, but I misunderstood what he was telling me to do and I thought he wanted me to remove the whole metal thing that stuck out. I'm no dummy, but I was also completely ignorant of how plumbing worked. I thought he wanted it out, and goddamn it even if it was going to fight me, I was going to get that damn thing out.

And that's how I broke the majority of the cast iron tab that holds in the bolts of either side of the toilet firmly to the ground for a tight seal with my flat crowbar and 200lbs of brick shithouse...



That was the only time I had ever seen this man angry about anything in my life.

Boy, I learned a couple of Life Lessons that day.

There was enough of a lip left on it to firmly bolt the toilet to the floor, but that could have ended up being a catastrophe had the break been just a little worse than it had been.


So when I say, I'll leave pulling that plug out of the back of your monitor to your own discretion, that's all I mean by it. There's an excellent chance that it will come out and if it does I want you to do it, but I don't want you to drive yourself silly pulling at something that won't ever give or even worse, pull something out that wasn't meant to be pulled out just because I said you needed to do it.

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Okay, I will relax. Was going to relax anyways tired of fighting with it.

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Good.

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Yeah. It is better. Sides that wall plugged sparked at me but it is the best one for this. I will write all that down and the next time try it. Service provider is sending me a new HMDI cord incase.

---

Do you use a power strip with a switch on it for this outlet?

If you don't, you should. Not a cheapo dollar-store one either. Those can pretend to have safety features built in with LED lights that don't actually indicate anything, and switches that aren't surge protectors and are just pretending to be one.

I haven't priced one out in a long while, but I probably wouldn't plug any of my computers in a strip that didn't cost at least $10 or $15 today.

Computers and the plugs have come a long way and are much more resilient to shocks than they used to be, but having that extra little bit of insurance for so cheap is priceless.

Because you mention that sparking in that outlet has been something you've experienced, I want you to take that seriously. If you ARE using a strip but you know you got it at a dollar store or that it is a cheapo, just get yourself one that's a bit more pricey from a reputable store that isn't a dollar store. If you get a bad jolt in a storm and you've got a good protector, 9 times out of 10 the protector will survive it along with the electronics it was shielding, but even if it doesn't, it was your $15 sacrifical lamb, and not your computer with your book and no backups.

Take a day or two break from stressing now, but we're going to do those backups this week. I think I'm more nervous for you about it than you are yourself. I literally don't even want to think about some of the things I've worked on that I've lost over the years because of bad backup practices, and it would kill me to see you do that to yourself when it's such a simple thing to do.

We just have to get you to the point where you're not afraid of the stuff.

Trust me... They've made it so easy that half of these monkeys that walk around us flinging poo at each other can do them now.

You have nothing at all to worry about.

Quote:

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I get restart when I want the power and I think that other time I called the provider they did a restart on their end. Maybe they did it wrong.

---

See... I don't know how things are up in Canada, or even how they really are here in the States for people who don't know how computers and network really work and have to rely on the cable companies for help when they need it.

I couldn't even fathom an existence where the cable company has the permissions on my computer and network that would be necessary for them to restart my computer from their end. Network/Router, yes... But not my computer itself.

(In the back of my mind I really have just resigned myself to the fact that they probably do have this capability, despite my best efforts to the contrary, and that the Government most certainly does no matter how good you are at computers... But I don't even want to live in a world where that just becomes normalized because people can't be bothered to learn anything under the hood of the tech).


I think what they reset on their end was your network connection though, and not your computer. It would have temporarily knocked out your internet connection and service to whatever TV or other devices you have connected to it, but they didn't reset your computer itself.


What I'm asking you to do is a software based "Restart".

Not a "Shut Down" or a "reset", or any other generic term thrown out there for various ways that our modern tech can be shut down and brought back up.

On a Windows computer, I want you to physically perform a "Restart". There is no danger at all in doing this. It's just an extra step you'll do before powering down for the night. This will ensure a clean, fresh boot of Windows and any sort of odd and flaky behavior like things being "stuck" for a while or unresponsive should disappear for a while, or at least become a lot less pronounced (I don't know how old the tech you're working with is now, so some of this might just be unavoidable with age and as Windows becomes more bloated with updates).

It's not as important as getting you some good backups of your work, but it is something that you should be comfortable with doing anytime something starts acting up on you. It should always be your first thing you do when you notice anything out of the ordinary happening on your computer, as it's the most likely fix for these issues and all it costs is a few minutes of your time.

Quote:

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Nah, boss was a doc. And one day I asked her about memory sticks but like I said she just basically told me what to do and sometimes I need visuals to help me. She doesn't like it if I walk up behind her to look at something. It makes her nervous.

---

I don't make a good trainer at work. Not just because I prefer to work alone, but because I feel like that's a high-paid manager just pawning off his own job responsibilities onto me, and I don't abide that. And besides that, for every 10 people they hire, usually only one of the stick around for any longer than 6 months anyway, so what's the point when I have a job to do?

But I do like helping people figuring out things like this that I know they will have Zero problems doing for themselves as long as they just allow themselves to get over the fear of the unknown. Seriously... You're going to laugh at how afraid of it you were once we get you comfortable with doing it.

These days I save my fear only for things like when I'm going to be adding the generator plug to the side of my house and I have to connect it to the main power which is the single point in my house that can actually turn me into a crispy piece of bacon, even with the main shut down, because I'll be working on live electric that is supposed to be covered up when I'm doing it.

I think on that day I'll give a little prayer to God that things go smooth and maybe catch up a little with him before I give that a try.

Quote:

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That's great you helping your grandmother and such. I used to have a regular IT guy, a friend. But the last I tried to get a hold of him there was no call back so I am on my own.

---

Yeah... It's weird when people just disappear sometimes like that. One of the only people I ever hung out with outside of work in the last 15 years was pretty cool and probably the closest I've come to making a new friend in that time. When I was having car problems he brought his uncle's badass plug-in car charger over and let me borrow it.

Sometime shortly after that, he just vanished... Phone didn't connect anymore. He never really had any social media... just an email he never answered again. I still have that car charger. It's saved my ass more than a few times, and I've even been able to help 3 or 4 other people with it from time to time because it's so lightweight and portable for how powerful it is.

But I'd give it back in a second just to know the dude was alright and still getting by. I think his uncle wasn't doing too good if memory serves, and I think he'd probably tell me he'd forgotten about that thing and just keep it.

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I love my tech and you are mostly right. I just am freaking out.

As I said in second post all is fine now. I got the blinking orange light for a bit but I went back to bed and left it alone.

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Yeah. You'll be fine.

But seriously. Just chill for a few days and breathe. We'll get all this done.

But I want you to buy a new thumb drive if you don't have a good name brand drive. At least one, but 2 or 3 if you can find them cheap either separate or in a bundle. Size does not matter at all, so don't even worry if it's 1GB or 8GB or 64GB or 256GB or whatever size it is. For what you need the very smallest still available on the market would be way more than enough. We just want you to have a good brand name sold by a reputable store at the best price.


Class starts this week. Let me know when you're ready.

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
You are not insulting my intelligence. I have a lot really to learn about these things. I can do a lot of the basics but cables and such. yeah a little over my head.

---

I think you've been great over the years at not misjudging intent behind posts, but I do like to be clear on this stuff is all.

I think you're going to find that it shouldn't be over your head. We're basically just going to teach you a little Desktop and File Management 101 here.

Most anything that you could get into trouble with regarding that is safely hidden away from you by default in Windows, and those critical folders aren't even visible to you in Explorer. Hell... You can't even see or edit the file extensions by default, so you really can't get into much trouble at all.

We'll just keep your stuff mostly on the Desktop to keep things simple and because the amount of work/files you're going to be backing up is small, but that's something you really shouldn't be doing with proper file maintenance either. A lot of people use their Desktop as trash-time, and by having too much stuff on your Desktop you can actually cause yourself performance issues on older PCs like ours.

Our big task this week is to make sure that your book and any other notes or files that you have that are important to you are all backed up twice on two separate thumbsticks.

Quote:

---

Whoa that was job on the toilet. I might have done what you did. I know very little about plumbing myself.

---

I doubt it. There's a reason he was pissed at me. The amount of force that is necessary to be applied to the end of that 4" cast iron, whole-house drain pipe with nothing but a 1 foot long flat crowbar and break it the way that I did is stupid. I was in the middle of my 6,000 calorie per day diet and right around 190 to 200lbs of brick shithouse at only 5' 7".

It's literally something he wouldn't have even been able to do himself in his mid-50's even though he was in great shape, and it's something I probably wouldn't be able to do today myself.

I didn't question a lot back then. I just kind of did what I was told.

Quote:

---

You are probably right it was a reset on the modem because the guy had to explain to me what the colours on it meant. It also reset the tv. Dummy here.

---

No. Not a dummy. You just don't know all this stuff and have little reason to think about it or talk with anyone about it who knows the lingo unless you have a reason to like now.

Don't ever think that way when we're talking. I'm not judging. Don't feel embarassed or nothing. Just try to remember little things like this for the next time is all, and at our age we can just start blaming it on our age if you forget by the next time, right?

I think that may be part of your fear of this that we're trying to overcome.

Trust me. You would really have to go out of your way intentionally or just completely disregard my instructions and add new steps like going to the kitchen sink for a glass of water and then pouring it on your computer to break something here.

I didn't automatically know any of this stuff. Real life isn't like Kaylee just "knowing" what to do and Firefly "speaking" to her. To be honest, if it wasn't my young love for video games and my desire to get ones that my cheap tech couldn't play to work, I probably wouldn't know crap about computers myself today. It was just something I took a young interest in, and now I've got around 30 years of tinkering under my belt and I feel completely at ease around them.

So I just want you to know that, for real, what we're going to be doing here should not make you nervous in the slightest, and there is zero danger.

Quote:

---

Restart. Okay, I will do a double check on this tonight. It is running on Windows 10.

---

Okay. On Windows 10, you should click on the Windows icon and one of the options should say "Power". If you hover your mouse over Power, it should pull up a sub-menu to the side of that and one of the options should say "Restart". That's the button we want to click.

*NOTE: If you haven't updated Windows for a while, these options including "Restart" might also say "Update" next to them too. If it does, that is fine. You can click on "Update/Restart" and it will still do what we want it to do. It will just take a little longer while it's updating, and it could actually restart 2 or 3 times instead of just one before it's finished and you're back into your login screen.

Also note, that when Windows forces updates on you and restarts your computer, it is performing one of these restarts itself. So however long ago was the last time your computer restarted on you to do Windows updates is likely the last time you did a Restart. If that was a month or so ago, that's kind of a long time and I'm not surprised if a forced Restart by you now and every once in a while will help keep those little odd behaviors to a minimum from now on.

Quote:

---

I have one or two power bars and was thinking of moving it but they are cheap ones. Walmart is about the only place close to me that I can get a heavy duty one.

---

I don't want to make you think that size matters here. You don't need one of those expensive and heavy battery backup power bricks or anything. I've never used one of those in my life, even though I probably SHOULD be doing that with stuff that I do. But I've got all my important things backed up in so many places now, and I've got a few backup PCs and laptops I can use to replace what I'm using currently that I don't sweat any of that anymore.



Something like this should be great for you (let me know if the link doesn't work for you and I'll see about an alternative):

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Philips-6-ft-5-Outlet-Surge-Protector-1-USB
-a-1-USB-C-15W-1500J-Braided-Cord-Black/5265004810?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1600


The reason I really love this one for you is because the sockets are spaced pretty far apart so they're easier to work with, especially if you have one or two oversized plugs, but especially because of the USB chargers on the end of it. You can fast charge a device or two off the end of that thing easily if you wanted to.

It's certified, it's from a brand name company, it's got circuit protection packed inside. It's ringing up for about $15 USD by me after taxes. That's about the sweet spot. Unless something almost supernatural were to happen in a thunderstorm, you shouldn't ever have to worry about anything you plug into that thing ever breaking on you in a storm again.


For the thumb drive, this is the brand/company you should buy, and specifically one of the drives that look just like the one pictured here:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/SanDisk-32GB-Cruzer-Glide-USB-2-0-Flash-Dri
ve-SDCZ60-032G-AW46/23350716?classType=VARIANT&from=/search

I find them to be extremely reliable, and of all of the SanDisk models I think it's the best also when it comes to how well the retractable feature works on the end of it. Nice and sturdy.

I have no idea what the price of these will be in your store, to be honest. The smallest one in file size is fine, no matter what the size is, so we're just looking for whatever you can get that's the cheapest here. Even better if they've got something like a 3-Pack of 8GB drives on a holiday sale and you can get a good deal on even more peace of mind.

All in all, you shouldn't walk out of there spending more than $30 USD combined If you don't get a 2-pack or 3-pack on sale, probably only around $25 USD. We don't need to break the bank here.

Quote:

---

My set up is about 5years old. All I had to buy was the keyboard and mouse. Then some speakers.

Helping people is good. And you are probably right. Once I do it once I will kick myself for being a big chicken.

---

Nah... Like I said. No big deal. You'll be happy you know something new and you're really going to feel a lot better knowing that your important stuff is backed up. Possibly, surprisingly so. You never know how much something like that could actually be bothering you every day even though you don't really think about it. Any of that underlying tension worrying about losing your writings will just vanish once you do this.

Quote:

---

Electricity is a wonderful thing but dangerous.

---

Yeah. Lot safer here than most places with only 120 service as opposed to 240, but that doesn't mean you can't still find ways to accidentally CTRL+ALT+DELETE your soul right out of your body in about 5 seconds if you're digging in places you shouldn't be.

Quote:

---

Yeah, a friend's dad actually hooked me back up with him when I got my first computer. And he helped me every so often. Then like I said I called once I moved to where I am now, left a message and na da. Have no idea what happened.

---

Yeah. Sometimes it just happens.

You should get yourself to the point where you can do the basics on your own. Like my friend's dad said about rehabbing houses all the time "It ain't rocket science".

Quote:

---

I have one but I should get another one that is fresh. I can do that on Monday when I am out and about. Ain't moving an inch outside tomorrow. My day to veg.

---

Hope you enjoyed it.

Yeah. Get that extra stick or a bargain pack and your new power strip this week and let me know. I'm rocking Windows 11 right now, so I can't make my own screenshots for you, but I'm sure I can find stuff online to work with if I feel anything could benefit from some visual representation and I'm not doing a good enough job communicating the steps in writing.

Quote:

---

ACK! Don't say things like that to me.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I'm glad that SIX is walking you thru managing your tech, BRENDA. He has tons of practical real world experience. You can trust his advice, he knows what he's doing.



-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Brenda:
You are not insulting my intelligence. I have a lot really to learn about these things. I can do a lot of the basics but cables and such. yeah a little over my head.

---

I think you've been great over the years at not misjudging intent behind posts, but I do like to be clear on this stuff is all.

I think you're going to find that it shouldn't be over your head. We're basically just going to teach you a little Desktop and File Management 101 here.

Most anything that you could get into trouble with regarding that is safely hidden away from you by default in Windows, and those critical folders aren't even visible to you in Explorer. Hell... You can't even see or edit the file extensions by default, so you really can't get into much trouble at all.

We'll just keep your stuff mostly on the Desktop to keep things simple and because the amount of work/files you're going to be backing up is small, but that's something you really shouldn't be doing with proper file maintenance either. A lot of people use their Desktop as trash-time, and by having too much stuff on your Desktop you can actually cause yourself performance issues on older PCs like ours.

Our big task this week is to make sure that your book and any other notes or files that you have that are important to you are all backed up twice on two separate thumbsticks.

Quote:

---

Whoa that was job on the toilet. I might have done what you did. I know very little about plumbing myself.

---

I doubt it. There's a reason he was pissed at me. The amount of force that is necessary to be applied to the end of that 4" cast iron, whole-house drain pipe with nothing but a 1 foot long flat crowbar and break it the way that I did is stupid. I was in the middle of my 6,000 calorie per day diet and right around 190 to 200lbs of brick shithouse at only 5' 7".

It's literally something he wouldn't have even been able to do himself in his mid-50's even though he was in great shape, and it's something I probably wouldn't be able to do today myself.

I didn't question a lot back then. I just kind of did what I was told.

Quote:

---

You are probably right it was a reset on the modem because the guy had to explain to me what the colours on it meant. It also reset the tv. Dummy here.

---

No. Not a dummy. You just don't know all this stuff and have little reason to think about it or talk with anyone about it who knows the lingo unless you have a reason to like now.

Don't ever think that way when we're talking. I'm not judging. Don't feel embarassed or nothing. Just try to remember little things like this for the next time is all, and at our age we can just start blaming it on our age if you forget by the next time, right?

I think that may be part of your fear of this that we're trying to overcome.

Trust me. You would really have to go out of your way intentionally or just completely disregard my instructions and add new steps like going to the kitchen sink for a glass of water and then pouring it on your computer to break something here.

I didn't automatically know any of this stuff. Real life isn't like Kaylee just "knowing" what to do and Firefly "speaking" to her. To be honest, if it wasn't my young love for video games and my desire to get ones that my cheap tech couldn't play to work, I probably wouldn't know crap about computers myself today. It was just something I took a young interest in, and now I've got around 30 years of tinkering under my belt and I feel completely at ease around them.

So I just want you to know that, for real, what we're going to be doing here should not make you nervous in the slightest, and there is zero danger.

Quote:

---

Restart. Okay, I will do a double check on this tonight. It is running on Windows 10.

---

Okay. On Windows 10, you should click on the Windows icon and one of the options should say "Power". If you hover your mouse over Power, it should pull up a sub-menu to the side of that and one of the options should say "Restart". That's the button we want to click.

*NOTE: If you haven't updated Windows for a while, these options including "Restart" might also say "Update" next to them too. If it does, that is fine. You can click on "Update/Restart" and it will still do what we want it to do. It will just take a little longer while it's updating, and it could actually restart 2 or 3 times instead of just one before it's finished and you're back into your login screen.

Also note, that when Windows forces updates on you and restarts your computer, it is performing one of these restarts itself. So however long ago was the last time your computer restarted on you to do Windows updates is likely the last time you did a Restart. If that was a month or so ago, that's kind of a long time and I'm not surprised if a forced Restart by you now and every once in a while will help keep those little odd behaviors to a minimum from now on.

Quote:

---

I have one or two power bars and was thinking of moving it but they are cheap ones. Walmart is about the only place close to me that I can get a heavy duty one.

---

I don't want to make you think that size matters here. You don't need one of those expensive and heavy battery backup power bricks or anything. I've never used one of those in my life, even though I probably SHOULD be doing that with stuff that I do. But I've got all my important things backed up in so many places now, and I've got a few backup PCs and laptops I can use to replace what I'm using currently that I don't sweat any of that anymore.



Something like this should be great for you (let me know if the link doesn't work for you and I'll see about an alternative):

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Philips-6-ft-5-Outlet-Surge-Protector-1-USB
-a-1-USB-C-15W-1500J-Braided-Cord-Black/5265004810?classType=REGULAR&athbdg=L1600


The reason I really love this one for you is because the sockets are spaced pretty far apart so they're easier to work with, especially if you have one or two oversized plugs, but especially because of the USB chargers on the end of it. You can fast charge a device or two off the end of that thing easily if you wanted to.

It's certified, it's from a brand name company, it's got circuit protection packed inside. It's ringing up for about $15 USD by me after taxes. That's about the sweet spot. Unless something almost supernatural were to happen in a thunderstorm, you shouldn't ever have to worry about anything you plug into that thing ever breaking on you in a storm again.


For the thumb drive, this is the brand/company you should buy, and specifically one of the drives that look just like the one pictured here:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/SanDisk-32GB-Cruzer-Glide-USB-2-0-Flash-Dri
ve-SDCZ60-032G-AW46/23350716?classType=VARIANT&from=/search

I find them to be extremely reliable, and of all of the SanDisk models I think it's the best also when it comes to how well the retractable feature works on the end of it. Nice and sturdy.

I have no idea what the price of these will be in your store, to be honest. The smallest one in file size is fine, no matter what the size is, so we're just looking for whatever you can get that's the cheapest here. Even better if they've got something like a 3-Pack of 8GB drives on a holiday sale and you can get a good deal on even more peace of mind.

All in all, you shouldn't walk out of there spending more than $30 USD combined If you don't get a 2-pack or 3-pack on sale, probably only around $25 USD. We don't need to break the bank here.

Quote:

---

My set up is about 5years old. All I had to buy was the keyboard and mouse. Then some speakers.

Helping people is good. And you are probably right. Once I do it once I will kick myself for being a big chicken.

---

Nah... Like I said. No big deal. You'll be happy you know something new and you're really going to feel a lot better knowing that your important stuff is backed up. Possibly, surprisingly so. You never know how much something like that could actually be bothering you every day even though you don't really think about it. Any of that underlying tension worrying about losing your writings will just vanish once you do this.

Quote:

---

Electricity is a wonderful thing but dangerous.

---

Yeah. Lot safer here than most places with only 120 service as opposed to 240, but that doesn't mean you can't still find ways to accidentally CTRL+ALT+DELETE your soul right out of your body in about 5 seconds if you're digging in places you shouldn't be.

Quote:

---

Yeah, a friend's dad actually hooked me back up with him when I got my first computer. And he helped me every so often. Then like I said I called once I moved to where I am now, left a message and na da. Have no idea what happened.

---

Yeah. Sometimes it just happens.

You should get yourself to the point where you can do the basics on your own. Like my friend's dad said about rehabbing houses all the time "It ain't rocket science".

Quote:

---

I have one but I should get another one that is fresh. I can do that on Monday when I am out and about. Ain't moving an inch outside tomorrow. My day to veg.

---

Hope you enjoyed it.

Yeah. Get that extra stick or a bargain pack and your new power strip this week and let me know. I'm rocking Windows 11 right now, so I can't make my own screenshots for you, but I'm sure I can find stuff online to work with if I feel anything could benefit from some visual representation and I'm not doing a good enough job communicating the steps in writing.

Quote:

---

ACK! Don't say things like that to me.

---

Hehe...

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Brenda:
Being clear is a good idea. If I don't understand something I always ask to make sure what I am doing is right.

I hope so. :cringe: I so do not need to make a mess of this.

---

You'll be fine. Zero danger here, literally.

Quote:

---

Yeah, I try to be mindful of how much extra stuff I might put on this thing. So, you are right that I should make sure my writing and anything else I want to keep is safe.

---

We'll start with that. You'll have so much space on these things that you can save whatever you want on them though. The smallest ones you're going to find are probably going to be 8GB now, and those are big enough to almost fit 2 BluRay movies on without any file compression.

If you've got any files of things like cute pictures you've saved from online or emails or whatever you've got, they can all be backed up on these along with your writing with so much space leftover.

Once you're comfortable with backing up you're writing and creating folders to organize them, it's just growing on that knowledge is all. Getting more familiar with where your file are, and where they are most likely to be if you don't quite know off hand.

Quote:

---

So, when Windows updates then I shouldn't tell it to shut down? Because that is usually what I do. And there is a restart button the power drop down.

---

You can tell it to shut down. I'm just saying this specific time when you're Restarting to not shut it down until after you've done the Restart.

The Restart will bring the computer all the way down and purge the memory, then bring everything back up again. Even without Windows updates, it will probably take longer to load your computer up because it's a new start. When it comes back up it's pulling all the info for a new boot from your hard drive, which is slower than the memory. It also has to re-initialize a lot of behind-the-scenes programs that you don't need to think about that just run in the background and keep things moving along from scratch.

When you do Shut Down, Windows packs up a whole lot of information in your RAM memory before turning the computer NEARLY all the way down. There's enough juice still running in there to keep that memory charged and the data from being purged. This ensures a much faster startup when you want the computer to come back on.

But like I said before, when it does this for the Shut Down, it doesn't differentiate between good and bad behavior, so if you haven't done a Restart for a while and you need one because it's acting buggy, it will still act just as buggy when you turn the machine back on because it saved all of that buggy behavior to the memory before shutting down.

Quote:

---

Links both work but I would have to go into the store and see if they are actually there. What I saw on the website said delivery and since I don't shop on line.

---

Yeah. I was just showing you what to look for. You don't need that identical power strip, but something like that by a good brand is what you're looking for at around $15USD.

But you want that specific brand and type for the USB sticks though. Don't matter what size. Just whatever is cheapest.

Quote:

---

I'm sure that I will be happy learning something new. It's just the getting me there that worries me.

---

It'll be fine.

Quote:

---

You would think after all the years we've had these things, they should be easy to deal with.

I did outside of this monitor taking all day and into the evening to warm up enough so I could use this turkey.

Very funny.

---

Quote:

---

Actually here is another question for you. How do you keep a monitor from getting so cold that it won't come on? That is part of the problem here too. It finally came on at 8:30pm my time after my playing with the power button and trying to generate some warmth for it with an old sweater. The sweater finally worked as I said at 8:30.

---

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Brenda:
Being clear is a good idea. If I don't understand something I always ask to make sure what I am doing is right.

I hope so. :cringe: I so do not need to make a mess of this.

---

You'll be fine. Zero danger here, literally.

Quote:

---

Yeah, I try to be mindful of how much extra stuff I might put on this thing. So, you are right that I should make sure my writing and anything else I want to keep is safe.

---

We'll start with that. You'll have so much space on these things that you can save whatever you want on them though. The smallest ones you're going to find are probably going to be 8GB now, and those are big enough to almost fit 2 BluRay movies on without any file compression.

If you've got any files of things like cute pictures you've saved from online or emails or whatever you've got, they can all be backed up on these along with your writing with so much space leftover.

Once you're comfortable with backing up you're writing and creating folders to organize them, it's just growing on that knowledge is all. Getting more familiar with where your file are, and where they are most likely to be if you don't quite know off hand.

Quote:

---

So, when Windows updates then I shouldn't tell it to shut down? Because that is usually what I do. And there is a restart button the power drop down.

---

You can tell it to shut down. I'm just saying this specific time when you're Restarting to not shut it down until after you've done the Restart.

The Restart will bring the computer all the way down and purge the memory, then bring everything back up again. Even without Windows updates, it will probably take longer to load your computer up because it's a new start. When it comes back up it's pulling all the info for a new boot from your hard drive, which is slower than the memory. It also has to re-initialize a lot of behind-the-scenes programs that you don't need to think about that just run in the background and keep things moving along from scratch.

When you do Shut Down, Windows packs up a whole lot of information in your RAM memory before turning the computer NEARLY all the way down. There's enough juice still running in there to keep that memory charged and the data from being purged. This ensures a much faster startup when you want the computer to come back on.

But like I said before, when it does this for the Shut Down, it doesn't differentiate between good and bad behavior, so if you haven't done a Restart for a while and you need one because it's acting buggy, it will still act just as buggy when you turn the machine back on because it saved all of that buggy behavior to the memory before shutting down.

Quote:

---

Links both work but I would have to go into the store and see if they are actually there. What I saw on the website said delivery and since I don't shop on line.

---

Yeah. I was just showing you what to look for. You don't need that identical power strip, but something like that by a good brand is what you're looking for at around $15USD.

But you want that specific brand and type for the USB sticks though. Don't matter what size. Just whatever is cheapest.

Quote:

---

I'm sure that I will be happy learning something new. It's just the getting me there that worries me.

---

It'll be fine.

Quote:

---

You would think after all the years we've had these things, they should be easy to deal with.

I did outside of this monitor taking all day and into the evening to warm up enough so I could use this turkey.

Very funny.

---

Quote:

---

Actually here is another question for you. How do you keep a monitor from getting so cold that it won't come on? That is part of the problem here too. It finally came on at 8:30pm my time after my playing with the power button and trying to generate some warmth for it with an old sweater. The sweater finally worked as I said at 8:30.

---

That's why I want you to power down the monitor/computer, unplug them from the wall, pull the plug out of the back of both of them, pull the HDMI out of both the monitor and the computer and plug it right back in firmly where you pulled them out, and put the plug back into the monitor, hold down the power button on both the monitor and the computer for 30 seconds, then plug them both back in.

I really don't think that the cold is actually keeping the monitor from working. I think what's happening here is that the plug connection in the back of the monitor is just a bit corroded like Sigs said and/or just a little bit loose. And because of the cold right up against the monitor it's causing just a little bit of shrinkage on the rubber sheathing and the connection is getting finicky on you.

Computers and electronics LOVE the cold and they perform the best in the cold. With obvious exceptions, like you wouldn't want to start a brand new TV you just bought in the middle of winter the second you bring it home just in case it just came off a cold truck and has some condensation inside of it from being out in freezing weather for a few days or more at a time. I don't imagine whatever cold draft you have coming in is giving you any problems like that or you would have said something about it.


If you're not ready to do all that other stuff, what I would suggest next time is to at least pull the monitor plug out of the wall and out of the back of the monitor, plug it back into the back of the monitor FIRMLY and then back into the wall.


Other than that, I'm really not sure.

I wouldn't tell you to wrap it with anything, because then you'd be covering up the unsightly vent holes in the back and side of the monitor case that allow the extremely hot electronics to properly vent off that heat. If you do that, you could actually cause irreparable damage to the monitor.

If you're actually feeling a cold breeze coming in right by the monitor, maybe you could get something in between them without blocking off airflow in the back of the monitor somehow? Maybe you've got a smaller pillow on your couch that could be put up there to block any cold going directly onto the monitor without needing to be squished up in between the wall and the monitor to hold it up or something?

--------------------------------------------------

Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

---