The Enid Blyton Society

Keith Robinson wrote: I always have a pang of worry when you talk about clearing your C drive!! Gosh, I hope not. But I know what you mean.

I'm just following the instructions, Keith, for the lap top. The heading reads, Keep a Clean Machine. Quote-; when Disk Cleanup starts, this is usually the C drive. It only clears away the ticked boxes, such as internet browsing.

I know, Julie, it's just that you said "clear" rather than "clean," bringing to mind something entirely different. Clearing the C drive... that's like reformatting, wiping everything off, putting it back to its original blank state before any programs or even Windows was installed. Cleaning the C drive is a little more selective.

I can imagine the reaction if you worked in an office and told the IT department, "I have a problem with computer. I've cleared the C drive, but..."

"You've done WHAT???"

By the way, if you haven't already, I thoroughly recommend CCleaner as a quick and easy tool to clean things up. You can get it from http://www.ccleaner.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -- a small, free program, and once installed you can use it to clean things and, perhaps more importantly, fix registry issues. When the computer starts it looks at the list of files is needs to go find, and often (especially after the removal of a program) it will try to find files that are no longer there. This causes things to slow down on boot up, and may generate popup errors (like xxx.dll is missing). Repairing the registry is quick and easy with CCleaner.

Keith Robinson wrote: I can imagine the reaction if you worked in an office and told the IT department, "I have a problem with computer. I've cleared the C drive, but..."

"You've done WHAT???"

Brilliant, Keith. That gives me an idea for the Caption Competition.
(Check it out )

I finally thought I would do that internet test today, as I was exasperated by the slow speed (even on IE8, the latest browser!). Our old desktop has finally stopped working, so I'm doing this on the laptop:



Hmm, I think it must be the lowest of ALL the tests ever done! Really... but the fact is, the speeds are same every place here. I can do nothing.

Keith Robinson wrote: I thoroughly recommend CCleaner as a quick and easy tool to clean things up. You can get it from http://www.ccleaner.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -- a small, free program, and once installed you can use it to clean things and, perhaps more importantly, fix registry issues.

I see it doesn't run on Macs.

Are you aware of a Mac equivalent, Keith? (Loving my Mozilla Firefox )

I already repair disk permissions on a weekly basis (equivalent to defragging, I think...)

I also have a Mac, 221b.

I'd be interested to know if there is a Mac equivalent, Keith.

If you have Macs, I don't think you need to worry about CCleaner! Mac computers don't suffer from problems like Windows does.

I have a Mac too, but I run Windows on it, so have the best (and worst) of both worlds. But I rarely do anything in Mac mode. If all I did was browse the internet, then I'd switch to a Mac like a shot, because it's lovely to use. But my favorite programs for my website work (an HTML editor, an FTP program, and Paint Shop Pro) are not available on a Mac, and so far I've found nothing even remotely close.

So I'm still using Windows... and CCleaner to keep it running nicely!

Many thanks for the information, Keith. I have always had Mac computers and I really think they are great, especially when using Photoshop. However, my present Mac (an iMac G5) is three years old and vertical lines have started appearing on my screen. Do you know if there is any reason for this and is it something I should be concerned about in terms of security and computer performance? I haven't experienced this problem with earlier Macs (G3s) and I wonder if it means that the life of my present Mac is limited. I'd be grateful for any advice you could offer.

Is this the sort of thing you mean?

If so, it's definitely a hardware issue, Eddie -- your screen is on the fritz. This has absolutely nothing to do with security or computer performance though. I have an old flat screen monitor (for my desktop) that has a single thin vertical line on the far left, but if I tap the side of the screen, it goes away. I know someone else with a laptop whose screen has terrible lines all over it. You can either replace the screen now, or live with it until you can live with it no more and THEN replace the screen -- or the computer! Unfortunately it's not going to be cheap.

Philip Mannering wrote:Hmm, I think it must be the lowest of ALL the tests ever done! Really... but the fact is, the speeds are same every place here. I can do nothing.

Philip, I'm stunned!! And it says Bharti Broadband too. What's broad about it? Looks like Bharti Narrowband to me. Or Bharti Nanoband. It would be quicker if you got up, left the house, got on a bus, and traveled to wherever the website is hosted and viewed it there, rather than trying to use the internet!

Seriously, you should send that screenshot to your internet service provider (Bharti?) and show them. Ask them if that's supposed to be normal for your area. In fact, tell them it's NOT normal, and see what they say. If they say outright that it's normal, then perhaps it really is... but they might say, "What?? Are you kidding?? There must be a problem with the line...."

There are lots of possible reasons for a slow connection. It could be your computer, first and foremost, like a bad network card or cable, or maybe a software issue. If everyone on your road has the same problem, then it could be a bad cable outside. Any of the cables or connections leading back to the provider could be bad. I had a similar-ish problem a while back, where my cable kept dropping out. They assured me there was no problem at their end, sent an engineer out, and the engineer found a bad connector on the pole outside my house. Another time I had ants up the pole, which caused my telephone line to crackle.

There are lots of possibilities, but you need to take the first step and complain to your ISP. They won't do a single thing about it unless you ask them to, because they probably don't know there's a problem. Unless it is, as you say, the same kind of terrible cable service everywhere, in which case they have no business calling it broadband internet!! Seriously, you'd be better off on dial-up.

Keith Robinson wrote:

Philip Mannering wrote:Hmm, I think it must be the lowest of ALL the tests ever done! Really... but the fact is, the speeds are same every place here. I can do nothing.

Philip, I'm stunned!! And it says Bharti Broadband too. What's broad about it? Looks like Bharti Narrowband to me. Or Bharti Nanoband. It would be quicker if you got up, left the house, got on a bus, and traveled to wherever the website is hosted and viewed it there, rather than trying to use the internet!

Bharti Narrowband, now that's a bull's-eye name.... Or how Bharti Slowband?

Seriously, you should send that screenshot to your internet service provider (Bharti?) and show them. Ask them if that's supposed to be normal for your area. In fact, tell them it's NOT normal, and see what they say. If they say outright that it's normal, then perhaps it really is... but they might say, "What?? Are you kidding?? There must be a problem with the line...."

It's a long story, Keith. Whenever my eldest brother complains to the company (unfortunately I'm too young to do things like that!) that the speed is just too slow, they reply: "It's normal, Sir. It will soon go higher." Soon? Err; I should think they meant a thousand years later. It really IS normal!

There are lots of possible reasons for a slow connection. It could be your computer, first and foremost, like a bad network card or cable, or maybe a software issue. If everyone on your road has the same problem, then it could be a bad cable outside. Any of the cables or connections leading back to the provider could be bad. I had a similar-ish problem a while back, where my cable kept dropping out. They assured me there was no problem at their end, sent an engineer out, and the engineer found a bad connector on the pole outside my house. Another time I had ants up the pole, which caused my telephone line to crackle.

I think it's a bad cable, since everybody in the neighbourhood have got the same slow speed! nOt that they care about it very much, for reason best known to themselves.

There are lots of possibilities, but you need to take the first step and complain to your ISP. They won't do a single thing about it unless you ask them to, because they probably don't know there's a problem. Unless it is, as you say, the same kind of terrible cable service everywhere, in which case they have no business calling it broadband internet!! Seriously, you'd be better off on dial-up.

They know the problem. I think, as you say, that they seriously have no business calling it broadband. Dial-up; now that's a funny thing, I'm sure it was slower.....

Keith Robinson wrote:Is this the sort of thing you mean?

If so, it's definitely a hardware issue, Eddie -- your screen is on the fritz. This has absolutely nothing to do with security or computer performance though. I have an old flat screen monitor (for my desktop) that has a single thin vertical line on the far left, but if I tap the side of the screen, it goes away. I know someone else with a laptop whose screen has terrible lines all over it. You can either replace the screen now, or live with it until you can live with it no more and THEN replace the screen -- or the computer! Unfortunately it's not going to be cheap.

Thank you so much for your reply, Keith. It is greatly appreciated. The lines are exactly like those on your link. I shall act on your advice and learn to live with the vertical lines until I can afford to replace my Mac. I am very grateful to you for putting my mind at ease regarding the computer's security and performance. A BIG thank you.

Eddie Muir wrote:A BIG thank you.

You're welcome, but there's no need to be so polite! You'll have Nigel in a bad mood at this rate.

Philip Mannering wrote:I think it's a bad cable, since everybody in the neighbourhood have got the same slow speed! nOt that they care about it very much, for reason best known to themselves.

Oh golly, this is the sort of thing that makes my blood boil. My first reaction is to STOP PAYING THEM for broadband services when you're getting nothing anywhere close. What can they do -- disconnect you? That might actually SPEED UP your internet.

I know you're too young to deal with this, Philip, and I feel for you, as well as everyone else on your street. But seriously, any company that acted like that here in the US, or in the UK, would be laughed out of business. "Normal" my foot.

If my math (sorry, Tony, I mean "maths" -- private joke) is correct, 0.18 mbps is 180 kbps, and the fastest basic dial-up you can have is 56 kbps, with the slowest around 23 kbps (which is what I had to suffer when I first moved here). So yes, your narrowband is faster than dial-up, but only about three times faster. Three times faster sounds like a lot until you consider that even the very slowest average broadband speed (1.9 mbps) is at least 33 times faster than dial-up, and about 10 times faster than yours. My own connection is, I know, quite a bit faster than other countries, but this is really how it should be:



That's 163 times faster than dial-up, or 50 times faster than your connection, Philip. Seriously, Bharti actually charge for your narrowband?

50 times faster than my connection.... I can HARDLY dream of that--

Stop paying them? Another long story, I'm sorry to say. While the result shows "Bharti Broadband," they are, to us, invisible. A big company, more like. We don't talk to them - we talk to the smaller batches who supply us with that Narrowband network. Only a month has passed since we changed one of those smaller comoanies - from 7Star (which was even slower than this!!!!) to Airtel (which is, incidentally, one of the most famous companies in India for mobile phone sim cards) but while, there has been a little improvement, it's really unnoticeable!! At first they said the speed would slowly go up after use (15 days or such), but, as with 7Star, they seem to have no understanding of time!! ( ). A month has passed: the speed is the same. Why? There's no real change, since the network is the same, that Bharti Narrowband! If we stop paying them, then - well, no internet! After all, something is better than nothing!

Henceforth I shall call it Narrowband though.

My Mac continues to be a problem, Keith. Half my screen has now gone black and it would cost me in the region of £500 to have it repaired. So it looks like it will be better to buy a new computer. I shall try to continue posting on the forums, but this will depend on whether or not this machine packs up completely. If it does, I will endeavour to return as soon as possible (if/when I get a new machine)!