Windows 8.1 problem and solution

Phil C · Guru

Windows 8.1 problem and solution

PeterD · Guru

Phil, you appear to be open to the world. Download Avast Free and install it. You get the same antivirus protection as you would have if you had installed the Avast suite. You will be lacking the firewall so turn your Win 8 one on as well.

Phil C · Guru

Cheers for that PeterD, I will give that a try when my subscription runs out. Gotta say Im sick of paying every year.

Cheers

The Phantom · Guru

Dare I make the suggestion that you migrate to one of the Linux OS's. You don't pay for the OS and you don't need any virus protection.

The Phantom

Phil C · Guru

The Phantom wrote:
Dare I make the suggestion that you migrate to one of the Linux OS's. You don't pay for the OS and you don't need any virus protection.

The Phantom

Thanks Phantom,

Ive been thinking about that as well. May try in the fullness of time after I get my head around win 8.1

Cheers, hope you are well...

03_Troopy · Guru

Linux Mint 17 is pretty easy to use Phil. I've been using it for about 8 months now and pretty happy with it.

Cruising Cruze · Guru

Hi Phil

we've been using AVG free for many years on 4 computers
We never had a problem with it

Regards John

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Now that you have some good advice Phil I will now tell you the "Real" problem.

Mate, you just need to clean windows properly and then there will be no problem as you can see things more clearly and I tell you that for free.

PeterD · Guru

Phil C wrote:
Cheers for that PeterD, I will give that a try when my subscription runs out. Gotta say Im sick of paying every year.

Cheers

Phil, is your security suite still out of action? If so I suggest you install one of the free anti virus programmes and switch it off only to reinstall your subscription one. You can have two or more anti virus programmes on your machine as long as you only have one running at a time. You do however need one running at all times.

Mattt · Veteran Member

Hey guys / gals,

Windows 8 has Windows Defender built in, which replaces MS Security Essentials on older Windoze platforms (which needs to be downloaded and installed on those). IME, it's as good as the others, and is more tightly coupled with the operating system (read: less trouble and faster performance, etc).

The practical upshot is that you no longer need the other solutions, and they can be anywhere between costly and troublesome anyways.

Occasionally, I'll install... say... one of the malware search / scrub solutions temporarily to address edge cases, but it's kinda rare to need to these days.

Of course, for me the above only ever applies to others' computers as I exclusively run Linux variants on all of mine (desktop, laptop, media network PCs and work servers)

Mattt · Veteran Member

Dougwe wrote:
Now that you have some good advice Phil I will now tell you the "Real" problem.

Mate, you just need to clean windows properly and then there will be no problem as you can see things more clearly and I tell you that for free.

Haha... Computers are just like air conditioners - they both cease to operate correctly once you open Windoze :p

Phil C · Guru

Thanks Mattt

I am seriously thinking of Linux, may download and give it a try. Can you run word processors etc with it?

Cheers

03_Troopy · Guru

Yes Phil, there are several full office suites available for linux and they are free, so you can test them out and decide which one your prefer. I use LibreOffice which has built in converters to allow you to import Micro$oft Office documents and edit them, then save them in either Libre formats or Micro$oft formats. Plenty of other very good software available for the same price too.

Edit: While being a bit old, this review might give you a bit of an idea 5 Best Linux Office Suites.

-- Edited by 03_Troopy on Tuesday 21st of July 2015 11:37:28 AM

Mattt · Veteran Member

Phil,

Another vote for LibreOffice here

Also, while there are *many* great "distros" (ie: flavours or types) of Linux, I personally use Ubuntu for others - particularly those new to Linux. It's dead easy to install and use, installs with most of the day to day software you'll be wanting (including LibreOffice), is very mature and hugely supported.

Phil C · Guru

Thanks Matt, this is becoming a very interesting thread. My eldest daughter actually met Linus on a trip to the USA with her then boyfriend who was the Australian rep (a long time ago) never really given it much more thought till now.

Thanks again mate, very much appreciated

exa41 · Guru

I installed Ubuntu on my desk top a couple of years back worst thing I ever did, didn't like it at all. Just my observations, then a pain going back to windows.

The Phantom · Guru

I suggest you take Troopy's advice and look at Linux Mint 17. It comes bundled with a program called G-parted (I think) that allows you to partition your hard drive as you install the OS. It will ask you if you want to keep your Windows OS on the hard drive and allows you to set (via a "slider") the amount of space on the hard drive for Windows. Just slide until you have a suitable amount (I suggest 25Gb). Mint then installs onto the hard drive and you will have 2 OS's available on your computer. The only pain is that you will need to log off one to access the other but, as in my case, I rarely use the second OS. I find that many printers are not compatible with Linux, so I use Linux for my work, save my document to a USB stick, change OS to Windows and print it from there. It seems like a pain but, as I rarely print stuff, it really isn't a big deal. I also now have a Canon IP100 printer that is compatible with Linux so really the Windows OS is only used when I want to play in Google Sketch Up.

Libre Office also allows you to create a document or spreadsheet and then save it in .docx or .xlsx format as well as on .odt (the Libreoffice format) if you want. This is handy if sending a document to a friend that is using MS Office.

The Phantom

Phil C · Guru

Cheers for the information guys. I took a look at the Linux stuff and will download soon. I don't have a HDD on my new laptop, it's a chip, don't know if I can partition it although logic tells me I should be able to. BTW it's only 128 Gig, so I need to keep an eye on what I load up, got 3TB in external drives maybe I could put Linux on one of those.

Cheers

Mattt · Veteran Member

Phil,

You can actually install it on a simple memory stick / flash drive if you like - gives you a chance to have a poke at it and if you don't like it or can't get the hang of it or whatever, no loss. If you do like it, etc, you can install it to your hard drive (or SSD as that's what you have - same thing logically except faster and almost always smaller) - usually straight from the stick installation (at least Ubuntu can do that, dunno about Mint)

Phil C · Guru

Thanks Matt, will give that a try

03_Troopy · Guru

MatttAndDee wrote:
Phil,

You can actually install it on a simple memory stick / flash drive if you like - gives you a chance to have a poke at it and if you don't like it or can't get the hang of it or whatever, no loss. If you do like it, etc, you can install it to your hard drive (or SSD as that's what you have - same thing logically except faster and almost always smaller) - usually straight from the stick installation (at least Ubuntu can do that, dunno about Mint)

yep, can for Mint too.

Mattt · Veteran Member

I just had a quick glance around the Interwebs at Mint - looks like it'd be the better better recommendation than Ubuntu at least to start out with (and probably then to continue on with). It's based on Ubuntu anyways, which in turn is based on Debian (which I run on our Internet servers)...

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Still reckon all ya need to do is clean ya windows properly Phil, mate hmm

Phil C · Guru

Dougwe wrote:
Still reckon all ya need to do is clean ya windows properly Phil, mate

Dough you are 100% correct. The problem with windows 8.1 it a touch screen, therefore every time you clean them they immediately get filthy with little paw marks. Can't win dows lol

cheers

03_Troopy · Guru

Yes Mattt, as a transitional step from window$ to Linux, Mint is pretty easy to start off with.

Bruce and Bev · Guru

Phil.....what a great response to Dougs suggestion of meths/water mix - very clever " cant win dows" LOL

Cloak · Guru

Get the Australian version of Windows... It's call Winduz..

nimrod · Veteran Member

Hi Phil,

I had the same problem with a new laptop with windows 8.1 installed. Returned it to supplier and they gave me a new one - different brand. Same problem.

After a bit of research on the interweb, found that it is a common problem but easy to fix. The problem is that windows 8.1 allows the internet provider to allocate the DNS settings and this can cause problems.with the browser finding the web addresses.

To fix go to control panel then click on Network and Internet. Click on Network and Sharing Centre, then click on Change Adapter Settings from the menu on the left. Next double click on the type of internet connection that you have - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Ethernet, Click on Properties in the box on the left hand side at the bottom and scroll down to Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and double click. On the lower half of the screen you will see two options The top one is. Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically and the other is Use the following DNS Server Addresses.

Click in the circle of the Use the following DNS server addresses Then type the number 8 in each of the top boxes. In the lower boxes type the number 8 in the first two boxes then the number 4 in the last two boxes. Click OK until you get out of Control Panel.

Problem solvered as they say. This has been known for some time yet I find it surprising that many of the techies in the shops and Telstra, my provider, do not seem to know about it.

David

Phil C · Guru

Cheers David, good advice once more.

Cowboy7307 · Senior Member

I have both windows 8.1 and Mint17.2 on my computer i use Mint17.2 for most things but i still have to use Windows for others ,my TomTom gps, and my I Phone needs it to do downloads,

every thing else is Mint 17.2

And Mint costs nothing

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.