Clever s*ds - help required please!!

[Bunnylump]

Should you not add a disclaimer "PuzzleBrains accepts no responsibility for Bouts of food poisoning"? I KNEW I should have kept that larder. Tsk. Progress.

[MBH]

There is almost nothing that Publisher can do that Word (or even OpenOffice Writer!) can't do if you are prepared to learn it.

Publisher is just another tool in the 'dumbing down' of computers... it used to take a 'trained professional' to make these machines do anything at one time. But to be fair regarding your comment - I've had a group of altzhimers sufferers over the moon at creating little posters are greetings cards for their family in Publisher, and I really don't fancy my chances of teaching them the tricky bits of Word that would let them do the same.

[No - the next time we went back they were NOT able to do the same job again, but they did enjoyed 'learning' it again A nice bunch of people]


If this speed (varing from 54 Mbps to ZERO) and signal strength (seems to be stuck on 'low' now) don't sort themselves out I'm going to log off... I'm having to do everything at least 4 times and the puzzles themselves are frustrating enough

[clvrlad]

The fridge?

yep the condenser inside your fridge/freezer can create interference

[clvrlad]

mbh im assuming this is not normal but a new problem?
as the setup changed anyway?

[MBH]

No - no change in the setup. It has been working all afternoon for my friend (who downloads music and buys dvd on Play.com), and although it has gone slow sometimes it has never dropped out. But when I use it at night it is becoming worse and worse.

[clvrlad]

hmmm afternoon when the kids in the area are out and about and evening when there back home on their computers...
definately a wifi prob? take it youve done the usual

heres the 10 best tips for wifi
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/wirelesstips.aspx

[clvrlad]

almost forgot dont forget other things use the same frequency as wifi including phones and other modern toys if your neighbour has a new baby the baby moitor can be on a similar freq

[Scurra]

I rarely try trouble-shooting WiFi problems remotely, because there are far too many things it might be. , especially if it's a time-variable thing. I suppose a good question to ask is whether you can test the connection with a "real" cable, to see if it is actually a WiFi problem and not, say, someone using up all the bandwidth elsewhere (not that that ever happens, of course )

[clvrlad]

strangely thats my prob at the minute my internet dongle is usually great except between 4pm and 8 pm..... no idea why

but recently (since july) its poor most of the time except really late on.... ive got no idea why....... honest

[Bunnylump]

You know, I could recommend a good remedy for problems with your dongle between 4 and 8pm. But I won't.

[LAT]

Oh go on! Don't be reticent.

[Bunnylump]

Says the woman with a strapping black man she's just about to....*^&($&££"

...sorry having problems with my dongle((&&^^&%&^% must be the fridge....

[clvrlad]

...your having problems with your dongle now.......

[Bunnylump]

Yes, that's my little secret. You'd never guess, would you?

[giraffe]

If I'm making Posters / Party Invitations I have a cheap little programme called Printmaster that i find easy to use. I've had it for ten years and I think it cost a fiver, and it has done all sorts of things for me. When I've got stuck and couldn't get it to do complicated things I've done half in word and the other half on Printmaster and stuck it through the printer twice! As long as the paper goes in straight it's fine and with a couple of practice runs to fine tune the position of things I've done flyers fr school fairs, quiz tickets and all sorts.

The school computers can only be used at certain times and they have to book in advance. When our home PC packed up at the end of term just as kingsley had a major IT project to finish they gave her a school laptop, so I suppose they would say that you don't have to buy one, but they only have a few and you would probably have to jump through hoops to have one on permanent loan.

The one that really gets me is when they tell them they can do something by hand or on the computer, like write a story at primary school level. What's wrong with pen and paper?

[MBH]

Thanks bunny I'll try. Not very good at attaching things to emails. We are talking very uncomputer-literate.

I was VERY good at the Reading Meet - with the people there I could have so easily put a computer class together

There are certain little techniques that can make all the difference to real-world computer use (and totally eliminate the need for double-passes of paper through the printer). If only I was closer I'd set up a weekly class.


I totally agree that at primary school the writing should be pen and paper. My English in high school would have been much better if I could have typed my essays, but I'm sure my rubbish handwriting would have been even MORE rubbish if I could have avoided it in the lower schools

IMHO computers in schools should be used to learn computer use. Or for educational games the 'sneak' learning in when they think they are playing (There are some good ones of these). But they shouldn't be a necessity for having in the home. The library and encyclopedia still exist and the bar shouldn't be raised to such an extent that you NEED the Internet to do the work.


As for the so called young 'computer experts', it still amazes me the number of kids looking at the Library Home Page on the computers and saying "How do you get to MSN?" Do they even know what an 'Address Line' is? Or think of Googling if they don't know the address?? [Which then brings the question "How do you get to Google" ]

[giraffe]

So is the next meet on the computer bus?

I agree they should be taught to use computers, but they seem to think we've got an interractive whiteboard so can we use it in every lesson, instead of just using it when necessary. When the kids want to research something on the computer for homework I usually ask what it is and often we have a good book on the subject and I hand them that instead. It can be so time consuming googling and going to 20 useless pages before you find a relevant one.

[Scurra]

I hate to say it, Giraffe, but the lesson there is to learn how to use Google*, not to trawl through pages of useless results
It's like turning up at a Library and, although you went to the right section of shelves, you then randomly took books out hoping for the best.
(*other search engines are available.)

Not that I don't agree that using a book is almost always better...

[giraffe]

Yes, obviously! But even when you have a useful website a book is so much easier to use.

(Crawls back into the cave with the other dinosaurs)

[fernando]

Sometimes the books that you think will help us are on completely the wrong aspect from what we need them for our homework though. Also you there is always something about absolutely anything on the computer whereas there are only limited subjects in the books that you possess.

Also, you can't copy and paste a book!!!