Help wanted: Computers

[DaveR]

I imagine the sites being advertised are all reputable to some degree, otherwise Google would not be willing to advertise them.

[Llechwedd]

This isn't a scam as such just a nuisance.  I am reistered for computer use with 3.  In the last week I have had seven calls from India asking me to upgrade. Although I told them I am not interested and to stop calling they wont stop.  Any advice on how to stop them?  The shop can't help.

[Ian]

I am reistered for computer use with 3.

Can you be more specific?  Bottom line, of course, is next time one of them phones you, simply ask to be put through to their line manager.  Repeat this enough times, and they'll stop.

[Ian]

There’s no doubt that Mavericks will be welcomed by many. It certainly seems more responsive, has a lot of nice features and will be useful for laptop owners in terms of extending battery life, although screen fonts have become smaller, and little indicators showing downloading and other progressive activities have become even harder to find.. However, long-time Mac users, who’ve been using Macs since the very earliest days, will be aware that Apple has a mixed record in bringing out OS updates. Generally, the rule is to wait before installing until the first big update to the main update has appeared.

Unfortunately, in this case, it wasn’t enough.  The bug - and it’s a significant bug - will not affect you unless you use external discs with Firewire 400, 800 or - even more worryingly - Thunderbolt. The bug effectively stops these discs from sleeping, so that they remain spinning the entire time the computer is on.

Not unsurprisingly, there’s a lot about this bug in the Apple support forums and in the MacRumour forums, but this isn’t the first time Apple has done this.  Some years ago a major OS update actually stopped all Firewire 400 ports from working at all. This was rectified in the next significant update, but that bug probably didn’t affect as many users, since Thunderbolt is another Apple technology (exactly as Firewire is) which Apple is pushing hard. However, if you do use discs for purposes such as Backup or media serving - a natural Apple function, you might think - then be very careful about installing Mavericks and even consider reverting to Mountain Lion.

[DaveR]

The bug - and it’s a significant bug - will not affect you unless you use external discs with Firewire 400, 800 or - even more worryingly - Thunderbolt. The bug effectively stops these discs from sleeping, so that they remain spinning the entire time the computer is on.

I was wondering why my external hard drives kept merrily spinning away even when the Mac was sleeping. Is there a solution in sight, Ian?

[Ian]

No word yet, although some are trying a posted Terminal fix. Trouble is, no one has yet said it works, and fiddling in Terminal isn't a good idea.

My temporary solution is to eject the HDs, then shut them down with the power switch.

[Merddin Emrys]

You don't get that problem with a PC!..... :twoface:

[Ian]

Just a whole host of much worse ones... 

[Merddin Emrys]

 :rage: L0L

[Gwynant]

     I switched on my laptop this morning to find an e-mail from "e-billing @bt.com" advising me that they had detected a slight error in my billing information, and requesting that I confirm my payment details by clicking on to a link to verify all my details are correct, otherwise I would have difficulty accessing my account within the next 48 hours.
    As I pay by direct debit and they wanted to know my Credit Card details I smelt a rat but the site was exactly like the official BT Site, except for the "Dear Valued Customer" and spelling "register" as "registre", and the e-mail had come past the Spam site onto my e-mnails. While I was on this site Macafee Security suddenly flagged up a warning that it was a potentially dangerous site and a page full of of Russian/Eastern European writing appeared so I vacated it immediately. I have contacted BT by phone in India and a very polite and efficient gentleman checked that all  was well with my account and told me to change my Password (for the second time in 2 weeks as some unauthorised e-mails were sent randomly to some of my contacts last week without my knowledge), and forward the e-mail to "abuse @bt.com", which I have done. Have any other Forum members received any similar messages from BT Yahoo recently?

[Bri Roberts]

No, but I shall certainly be looking at all e-mails from BT in the future.

Thank you, Gwynant, for drawing our attention to the scam. 

[Ian]

I don't know about Windows machines, but on Macs if you hover over the 'from' address the true sender is revealed.

[Fester]

I don't know about Windows machines, but on Macs if you hover over the 'from' address the true sender is revealed.

On Windows you click on it to reveal the 'true' sender. 

[Yorkie]

In Windows you can click on the Details and get the full transmission details of the mail from the original sender.  The abuse sites like to get this info as it is a trace of the mail's whole journey.
Of course, all your own transmissions carry like information!
 ZXZ

[Michael]

   There are a few computer wizz kids on the forum, so how about this.

  A few weeks ago a large pop up, takes up most of the screen, comes up. It's from BT, that's right, BT, and it appears at anything up to a max of every two minutes.  It wants me to use BT fon for wi-fi when I am home or out and about.

   Now I did use BT for wi fi a few years ago, it was'ent fon then, it was a different name. However I haven't used it for years.

  So I try to enter the site. But no, won't accept what I thought was my user and password. So I try to be reminded of them.

  O k they say, we will email new ones.  Only trouble is they are using a four year old email address to send their reply, and I cancelled that address years ago.

  So I cannot read it.  I write to BT, tell them the position and explain that my PC is virtually unusable because of 2 minute interruptions.

  Their reply, in my language.  "Hard luck, you had better get on to your service provider on your landline (I use Primus) and ask THEM for your password"

   Several messages to Primus but I am just getting nowhere, they are just giving me advice as to how to stop pop ups in the future.

  But today, horray, they say they can help, but they need me to contact their specialist department because they need intricate and various detailsfromme.
   
  I phone up and a recorded voice says "before we connect you be advised that calls to this number wil be charged at 25 pence a minute.
 Obviously going to be a long call and why the hel should have to pay it?

   Any comments from anyone.  Mike

   P.s. In the meantime my iPad is being worked to death ha ha