TOPIC: New Computer!

After years (literally!) of procrastinating and "thinking it over" I finally broke down and ordered a new computer for the home. This one has gotten so old and slow pages with lots of pics take forever to load, and watching a video is the pits. Even the aftermarket quit making hardware to upgrade this old monster, so it's time for a change.

I bought a Dell Inspiron 3000, 4GB ram and 1 TB hard drive, Windows 8.1 OS. I don't like change, but hoping this will be worth the money I didn't want to spend and the hassle.

I may (probably) need some help getting used to the new technology, so I hope you computer literate folks are in a sharing mood this weekend! Gotta go pick it up this morning, wish me luck.

mark, I had to upgrade a few months ago. had to relearn everything, nothing is the same or even close to it. still can not open my pic,s . change is hard , but getting older is even harder, frog

I'm using an old used one bought for $35 that had windows XP on it. It was originally from Blue Cross in Wheeling WV. I only have 15% of the memory left. It needs like 17% to defrag. I bought a new HP for my wife with windows 8.

Woo Hoo! More Power! If you hate the Metro interface, Win 8.1 has an option to "boot to desktop" instead of the Metro screen.

Here's a link with tips on how to accomplish that:

pcsupport.about.com/od/windows-8/fl/boot-to-desktop-windows-8.htm

I recently "fixed" my daughter's boyfriend's new Laptop 'cause he didn't like the Metro interface. This was my first experience with Win 8x, talk about Culture Shock! :0

If you'd prefer a more "retro" look and feel, there's a number of free & Pay-for programs out there to accomplish that.

I installed a free one called "Classic Shell" and it works pretty darn good! Actually turned the laptop into a useful device.

If you can figure out how to navigate the new look & feel of Win 8x, more power to ya! If I were going to do that upgrade, I'd definitely install Classic Shell or something similar.

Here's a safe download link at Cnet:

download.cnet.com/Classic-Shell/3000-2072_4-75553853.html

As for me, I'm quite happy running Win 7 Pro 64-bit and have Zero plans on upgrading until/unless absolutely necessary!!!

HTH & Happy Computin'..........ed

that dell should be a good machine, Good luck with windows 8, I still run xp on my machine. 4 gigs of memory should do you just fine, if you find you need more speed, you can upgrade to 6 or 8 gigs of ram no problem...

OMG, what a difference! LOVE the speed and power, hate the Window 8.1. (I told you I didn't like change. LOL) I'm fairly certain I can eventually figure out some of the bells and whistles, but I'm suffering from major IT shock right now.

Ed - Thank you so much for your tips and links, I was truly hoping you'd jump in here and give me a hand with this. I was perfectly content with XP, but you can't get new boxes with it anymore - and support is discontinued from MS net month anyway. I'll try to "boot to desktop" first and try to learn the new stuff, but the "Classic Shell" sounds more like my style. Once again, I do appreciate your help sir!

Shake - The new box is smokin' fast, I love it. Very upgradeable if needed in the future, I read up on the literature before making the purchase. (I can't imagine needing more, but with two Grand Daughters living with us you know it's a possibility.)

Frog - I hear ya buddy, I feel like a fish out of water with this thing. Hopefully Ed's help will benefit us both, I'll let you know how it works out here. (AFTER I get home from dialysis, I don't need my blood pressure peaking up there this afternoon
!) LOL I copied all my pics from the old computer onto a jump drive, so hopefully they haven't been lost forever. I tried using photobucket to save them on, but that turned into a frustrating fiasco since they "upgraded" their site as well! (Back to hating change again, sorry.)

Robert - If I can find somebody to help me clean off the hard drive on the old Del, (Dimension 2300) you're welcome to it! One of the main reasons it slowed down so much was the amount of JUNK my teen-age Grand Daughters downloaded onto it. Just let me know, I'd be glad to send it to you my friend. My wife said to junk it, but I told here somebody would be glad to have it I'm sure?

mark, you can buy a new hard drive at best buy for under 40 bucks, just take your old one with. they are not hard to change. or take the tower with and they will change it for you. takes about 3 min. then take your old one and hammer it to h#ll. frog

Frog - Thanks for the suggestion, the only problem with that is it wouldn't have an OS on it then. (I didn't get the disc when I bought the computer, it was pre-loaded?) We'll see, not sure it's worth sinking any more $ into something I'm not going to use.

Ed - The "boot to desktop" works like a champ, thanks again! Definitely a step in the right direction.

I'm hesitating to load the Classic Shell, maybe I should create my back-up disc before I do? (Not sure how to do that either, guess I'd better read up on it and make it happen before I get much farther?)

mark, what I ment was if you let Robert have your old tower, then he could put in a new hard drive and you could destroy yours, never trust a hard drive clean up program. then the new owner could get there own operating system and install it. then you have nothing to fear. when I get rid of any tower I destroy the hard drive, with a hammer of a good hot fire. frog

same here...if I've done my banking/ income taxes, whatever nobody else is going to have that hard drive!!

Mark, the Classic Shell software can be easily uninstalled if you find that don't like it.

When I installed it on the laptop, it took a while with the machine churning and seemingly doing "nothing", while the software was installing.

But eventually it finished & went back to the desktop, and as I recall wanted a restart to a more "normal" screen with a "real" start button, popup menus, etc.

IMHO it made the computer a lot more useable for anyone who's familiar with XP or Win 7.

At any rate, you can leave your 'puter as is or install the software and see if you like it. If not, away it goes!

Glad things are working out for ya so far........ed

That's what I needed to hear Ed, thanks again. One of the best IT guys I had the pleasure of working with in the past used to scorn my reluctance to change. He told me there will always be updates and changes to computers, "you need to learn the new stuff when it comes out"! Of course back then we had just switched from an IBM .4 mainframe to the "new" System 38. Remember the track feed printers with green and white bars on the 3' wide paper? Had to walk across the building to the computer room to get your print-outs.

I've given 8.1 a few days of trial workout, think I'm going to download Classic Shell this week and see if that isn't more "user friendly" for me. The boot to desktop helped a bunch, but I still don't feel comfortable with this new O.S. I'm guessing you just use the Uninstall program to remove it from the control panel?

Any hints on how to remove the password login when you first sign on, I don't really need it since the grand daughters now have their own lap tops?

update: Classic Shell installed, MUCH better! Thanks Ed.

Heres another thought for those old hard drives. Remember, WINDOWS is in there! Think back to all the times windows told you, sorry, windows has to re boot, sorry program not found, sorry you don,t have permission to do that, sorry unexpected error, sorry this program is not compatible with this version of windows. Is this version of windows authentic? and so on.

Then put on your safety glasses, grab a hammer and hit it once for every problem it caused for you.

Better than blood pressure meds

Another thought about that old hard drive, buy an inexpensive external enclosure, and turn it into a USB drive that you can use as a backup or to store other useful information.

Once it's set up as a USB drive, if you want to wipe it completely after extracting any info you need from it, just use the new computer to re-format the drive and it'll be all nice n' clean n' ready for you to use to its full extent.

Here's a query of a bunch of hard drive enclosures from Newegg.com , sorted by lowest price. Just match the type of drive you have (probably IDE on an old computer, your new one for example should have a SATA drive), and physical size, and picks your choice!

www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007705&IsNodeId=1&Description=usb%20enclosure&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=100

Be sure to read the reviews, as there is plenty of junk out there. If you get one with 4-out-of-5 stars or 5-stars, it should be decent.

Often times you'll find a lot of deals at www.meritline.com so do a search on "USB hard drive enclosure" or something like that.

Or, if you just don't want to look at it anymore, I'm sure you'd find the suggested hammer technique quite theraputive!!!

HARRR!!!!

Regarding removal of the login password, here's some info from the Windows Community forums:

answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-security/delete-password-in-windows-8/7bf03f78-9afe-4346-b498-aebd4edd1151

Whether you decide to completely eliminate the password, or as one member recommended create another account, leaving one with the password and the one you'd normally use without, is up to you.

Either way, just read down the postings and there's also a link with good instructions on the issue......ed

p.s. here's the link, just because!

blog.laptopmag.com/how-to-bypass-windows-8s-login-screen

Mark, I've been on Win 8.1 for about a year now since my laptop crashed and I lost everything. It takes a lot of getting used to but you'll come around, never fear. 8.1 has a lot more security features that are built in that you would otherwise have to add on another OS. Free security upgrades etc.
Hang in there. If I can make the change at 68 anybody can

Progress Report:
The Classic Shell software appears to be a great assist in this old man's attempt to come into the 21st century. (Loving the new computer now, at least I can navigate around and find what I need.) I had Dell Customer Support on the phone to help me create my backup (recovery) disc (actually used a thumb drive, ain't I summpin!), and while we were waiting the nice gentleman on the phone was showing me some things about using 8.1. I can now toggle back and forth, allowing me to learn the new OS as I feel comfortable doing so. There are some neat features on there that should prove useful in time, but at least I don't feel like a dinosaur walking down a modern day street!

Many thanks to all who assisted here, I truly appreciate the help.

P.S. - I just changed the password to something the wife can remember, I think it's a better idea to leave it on there.

I bought a new computer last week. I HATE IT !!! It makes me cuss...a lot! Absolutely nothing is the same as the old one and most of my files are in limbo. I ran a business for 30 years without a computer or a cell phone. Why do I need all this crap? I hate technology. I hate cell phones. I do antique boats and flathead engines. What the hell was so wrong with the late 1950s-early 1960's? I miss phone booths, nylons with seams, drive-ins, soda fountains and Dinah Shore. I CAN'T STAND IT!!!!

OK...I feel better now. Sorry.

take 5 min, and breath deep into a paper bag. then you'll feel better frog

I have an old Smith Corona and slide rule if that would help

Nautilus wrote:

I bought a new computer last week. I HATE IT !!! It makes me cuss...a lot! Absolutely nothing is the same as the old one and most of my files are in limbo. I ran a business for 30 years without a computer or a cell phone. Why do I need all this crap? I hate technology. I hate cell phones. I do antique boats and flathead engines. What the hell was so wrong with the late 1950s-early 1960's? I miss phone booths, nylons with seams, drive-ins, soda fountains and Dinah Shore. I CAN'T STAND IT!!!!

OK...I feel better now. Sorry.

:
i have to agree with you jan...not much for change. ron

Nautilus wrote:

I do antique boats and flathead engines.

Well this might make you feel better. Lake Dora, 2009.





Windows 8 was designed for the smartphones. Even though W7 is not the best version I've used, I'm hanging onto my W7 machine as long as I can, hoping Windows 9 (or whatever) might be better.

normspeed, very cool hydro. if it were mine I would have it in my den. frog