Test from Mike's new laptop

Testing from Mike's new Acer Aspire 1640 Laptop.

Rabbit...

It's not your birthday, it's not Christmas,I don't think you were in
Portugal last week to buy a lottery ticket, so you must have been a very
good boy :-) Enjoy and have fun Mike. Oh and could you wait 12 hours or so
and post the lottery numbers for us please :-)

It'll be OK when I get used to this keyboard!

Rabbit...

Well I've had mine since 2001and I still don't like the keyboard :-(

DC...

You to?
I'm typing this on my new Acer 4021 Travelmate & I'm ingding the
keyboard a PITA!

Enjoy your new toy.
(Done any memory upgrades yet? I went shopping at Crucial quite
quckly. 256 MB is not enoughfor XP.)

MCC...

Splodge...

He's the only bloke I know who can send letters one day in advance - so the
calendar and the clock are up the creek:)))
Splodge

MCC...

When did I send a letter one day in advance, Splodge? ;-)
My rememberer is letting me down (again!).

It came with 512 MB so that'll do me for the time being. I ain't spending
any more money for a while ;-)

David C...

Fairy 'nuff.

My Acer was ex. Tesco, so I had to take it as it came.

FWIW, 512 MB is enough, I just wanted to fill both memory slots &
Crucial offer 2 x 512 as a reasonably priced package.
(Psst. Anyone want a 256 MB SODIMM DDR 2 at a very good price?).

David C
(Still some mistakes even though it's typed on a real keyboard!)

David C

MCC...

Splodge...

Oops, notta letta, but an email dated 11th Feb
Splodge

MCC...

A mere slip of the brain :-)

Sorry about the date and time! I had set the time zone and keyboard etc.,
properly but never gave a thought to the actual time!
Should be OK now as I have installed Dimension 4 from Thinking Man Software

pmj...

Yep, seems OK now!!!
:-)

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 19:03:28 +0000

to keep my computer clock synchronized to an atomic clock.

BoyPete...

Mike, I've just looked at some info about that prog., and it says XP has a
similar capability. Any idea where that hides? :)

BunnyHare...

Double click on the time in the task bar. This opens a window. Click
on the Internet Time tab - put a tick in Automatically synchronise with
an internet time server. Think that does it

pmj...

Yep.
That's it!

LOL!!!
I've just come in & saw Mikes Post about his Shiny new PC
(& all the Posts pointing out that the Time was Set wrong on it)
& his Reply, saying he had Installed a thing to Synchronise it

& I just wrote out a similar Reply to what you said!
:-)

Before I saw this bit of the Thread.
Anyway, it's nice to have what I Post up confirmed by someone else.
:-)

BoyPete...

Thanks Barb. Was already ticked.............learn sommat everyday :)

BunnyHare...

:-)) Can I be a trainee techie now?

pmj...

But doesn't this New Acer Laptop of yours come with WinXP?

If so, it already has a *built-in* Time Synchronising thingy!!!
It Automatically Synchronises with an Atomic Clock Time Server.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Mine appears to automatically check at weekly intervals, but you can
maually overide that.

pmj...

DoubleClick the Clock in the SysTray (or RightClick it & Choose
"Adjust Date & Time", or Open the "Date & Time" Control Applet)

Then have a look on the "Internet Time" Tab

Make sure that there is a Tick in...

[/] Automatically Synchronise with an Internet Time Server

You can pick one of the existing NTP (Network Time Protocol)
Servers from the DropDown List &/or you can also Enter your own
Choice(s)

You can (if you want) also alter the Frequency (how often) that
it Synchronises the Time.
Post back for more Info if you want to change that.

MCC...

~~seadancer~~...

Yes, it's OK, now.

I've had a 'conversation' with Dave Lear about this a while back.
I think Zone Alarm might be blocking my attempts to use this facility on
both this PC and on the shiny new silver laptop because I get an identical

pmj...

Oh dear!!!

error message on both.
"An error occurred getting the status of the last synchronization. The RPC
server is unavailable."

pmj...

Ah!
No.
That's not (directly) a *Network* (Firewall) prob...
The *Time* Server (which *does* need to be accessible over the
Network) is an NTP (Network Time Protocol) Server, using Port 123

But that Error message you are getting isn't saying it can't Contact the
*Time* (NTP) Server, it's not even getting as far as finding out
when the Time was last Synchronized!

Cos the *RPC* Server (not the NTP Server) is "Unavailable"...

The "RPC" Server is something different - it's the "Remote Procedure
Call" thingy.
& that Runs on your *own* Machine.

So, you need to look in the "Services" Administration Console[*1]
thingy, to find why it's not Up & Running (or if it *is* Running,
then something *is* Blocking it & that might be your Firewall.

RPC is actually used by quite a few things in windoze, so it does
(normally) need to be up & Running (& accessible).

But (obviously) it should only be accessible by your *own* Machine.
It shouldn't be accessible from outside (from the Internet)

[*1]
if you don't know where the "Services" thingy is (or how to get to it),
there have been a whole load of Posts about it recently, (about CD
Burning) have a look at some of them? - the CD Burning thingy also
needs a "Service" - the IMAPI Service - so people were asking
& finding out about how to get to the Services Console.

MCC...

No, I don't know where the "Services" thingy is, and as I had marked all
the threads about CD burning as 'ignore' I won't find anything about it on
this computer.
A search in the help files was unproductive, but it's not important. The
clock correction thing seems to be the only bit that doesn't work and
Dimension 4 is a more than adequate substitute so I'm not bothered.

However if you'd like to give me a clue as to where I might find this
Console I'd be obliged ;-)

JoeH...

Control panel - Administration tools - Services

pmj...

Or Start Menu>Administrative Tools>Services
Or Start Menu>All Programs>Administrative Tools>Services

(both of those depend on whether or not you (or the OEM Manufacturer
of your PC) has chosen to have them showing on the Start Menu.

If they aren't showing there (& you want them to (or vice versa),
You can Set them like this...

RightClick Start Button (or TaskBar)>Properties>Start Menu>
[Customise...]>Advanced

Will give you a List of stuff that you can Add to (or Remove from)
the Start Menu & also (for some of them) you can change the way they
are Displayed

& (in addition to the Start>Run services.msc [OK] that Boo mentioned),
you can also use:

RightClick My Computer>Manage
& then look near the Bottom of the "TreeView" (on the left) for...
"Services & Applications", then Select "Services"

MCC...

Thanks pmj.
I tried just setting the Internet Time applet to automatically synchronize
even though I was getting the error message. I then re-booted and Dimension
4 gave me a warning about not having privileges to re-set it. So it would
seem that Dimension 4 disables the Internet Time thingy so that it can run.
I'm happy with that because Dimension 4 is infinitely more tweakable than
that Internet Time thing. And I don't need to go into the registry to do it
;-)
Thanks everyone for your help.

MCC...

Thanks Joe.

I ain't going a-googling

JoeH...

errrr.....check the clock.......and test again LOL
(or it might be the timezone)

Unless you have a time machine!???

pandamonium...

Nah, Time went bust didn't they? Or was it Tiny?

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Yes and Yes I believe. :)

Jackie...

Looks good except for the date and time - I still prefer the PC with
keyboard!
Enjoy `fiddling` or experimenting!!

BunnyHare...

Great Mike. Hope you have fun with it. Keyboard does take a bit of
getting used to. Noreen had problems on mine last week.
Seems as if my laptop has been borrowed at the minute - daughter has it
upstairs

Tickettyboo...

ooh lubbly jubbly! Once you get over the expenditure, maybe you can start
saving for a wifi router and then can truthfully tell Mrs C that you
intend spending more time in the garden :-)

MCC...

~~seadancer~~...

Good luck with the new laptop. Are you Mike?
I see that the date/time is off, according to my date/time column.
Your post lists: 2/11/06 (Feb. 11, 2006) - 4:41 AM.
The other nearby posts in the column still say:
2/10/06 (Feb. 10, 2006) about 2:30 PM.
Are you in Australia, by any chance?

pmj...

Actually, even if he *was* in another Country (TimeZone), his Posts
would &*still* show the same Time as yours & everybody else's!!!
(Assuming the TimeZone Setting is Set Correctly)

That's what the "TimeZone" Setting does...
It makes your PC (& every body else's, regardless of where they
are) show the correct (Local) Time - *Adjusted* for your Time Zone,
taking into Account the "Offset" between your Local Time & theirs!
:-)

For example - The Posts that you say are showing up as about
2:30 PM (over there, in the U S of A) are all showing up as about
19:30 (that's 7:30 PM) here!!!
:-)

That's cos of the 5 Hour Time Difference between your TimeZone
& ours.

Look at the "Date:" Header of any of your Posts (use CTRL+F3 to do
that) & you will see that there is a "-0500" bit in it.

Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 14:37:28 -0500

That is to tell *our* Newsreaders, that your (local) Time is 5 Hours
behind us, so our Newsreaders adjust the Time shown to *our* Local Time.

& vice-versa - you see our Posts showing up with *your* local Time!!!

& try looking at (the Headers of) Posts from Tyke etc, in Australia
& you will see they have an Offset of something like +1000 (+ 10 Hours)

I've already overspent the agreed budget so any further expenditure is
highly unlikely in the near future :-(

Tickettyboo...

Maybe Santa will come up trumps next time he calls :-)

MCC...

My birthday in June!

Tickettyboo...

Okay, so start looking for which one you want and leave the details in
prominent places round the house.
I love surprises! lol

MCC...

At the moment I haven't got a clue what I might be looking for. I'll be
asking for advice and information once finances have been replenished.

As it's only me who ever uses the computers I find it quite simple to
unplug the USB ADSL modem from the PC and plug it into the laptop.

pmj...

Simple, yes, but a bit of a "faff"?
Possibly.

& also certainly detrimental to the life of the USB Socket(s) on
the PC & Laptop.

Yes, they *do* actually wear out & become a bit "dodgy", over time.
But obviously once in a while won't matter.

Tickettyboo...

Yes, but that limits you to the length of the cable..its fun to be able to
play on the poota in the garden or elsewhere in the house.

MCC...

No! Can't see me wanting to do that. I've got my own little computer room
here. If I go in the garden it is to feed the birds, have a barbecue or
have some fun with the grandbairns. Can't envisage wanting to use my laptop
out there

I'm assuming I can't have two ADSL modems connected to my phone line at the

pmj...

Maybe not...

But with a *Router* you *can* have 2 PCs (or more & any mixture
of Desktop & Laptops) both Plugged in (& Connected up!) at the
same time.
:-)

You can get Routers that Connect up to the PCs with ordinary
Ethernet (RJ45) Cables or by WiFi (or both!), but obviously,
if you use WiFi, you would need a WiFi thingy (USB Dongle or Card)
for the PC/Laptop that you want to Connect up by WiFi, if it doesn't
have built-in WiFi.

You can have one PC (the Desktop?) Connected to it by Cable
& the other (Laptop?) by WiFi, or Vice Versa.

Routers can have built-in ADSL Modems, or you can get a Router
without a Modem & Plug a Modem into it.
(But, in that case, you would need to make sure that the Modem
you want to use with it has an Ethernet Socket).
An ordinary (USB) ADSL Modem won't work with a typical Router.

Tickettyboo...

That seems to be a no no, though from what little I understand, you can
have two, but you would have to unplug one before plugging the other into
a different socket.

MCC...

Yes, agreed, but what I have done is have this PC downloading through the
ADSL modem and the laptop connected via the in-built V92 modem. That works
fine, but oh dear! how slow dial-up is now!

The laptop is wireless enabled so maybe I'll take it out with me one day
and see if I can find a wi-fi hotspot :-)

MCC...

P.S. Forgot to say that the main reason for getting the laptop was so as I
could spend time in the living room of an evening with SWMBO but still
using a computer rather than being up here in my little eyrie and her in
solitary splendour downstairs feeling all neglected

Rabbit...

Camillaland, not free through but in the past I've managed to get vouchers
for a free trial. Unfortunately I was never near enough to one to use it in
the given time :-(

MCC...

Thanks Sandra.
Two in Falmouth, both in pubs. Now what does that say to you?

Rabbit...

It says you're luckier than me, the only ones within 15 miles of here are in

Tickettyboo...

may be slightly over the 15 mile mark for you ( but not much) Prestwick
airport..wifi access anywhere in the terminal with BT openzone ( voucher
will cost about £6 for an hour)

Rabbit...

I didn't see that one. Drawback is that it costs an arm and a leg to park in

Tickettyboo...

roflmho..I 'think' the idea of hotspots is that they are there to use if
you happen to be in the location..not really a day trip to do what you can
do in the comfort of your own home?

Rabbit...

Hey I remember when a day out at the airport was fun and they all had
viewing areas. Prestwick in particular 'cos you could sit in an outdoor cafe
right next to the runway. Mind you it did then run across the main road too.
They did bring down barriers to stop that road traffic when a plane was
using the runway :-) As I got older the cafe/bar was the only place open
after 11pm and great business it did then too, many a romance blossomed in
there :-)

btw, freedom2surf seem to sell the vouchers ( which can be used at BT
openzone hotspots) for £4.50, which is £1.50 less than buying from BT
Openzone...still adds up to 7.5p a minute though :-( but better than 10p a
minute!

Rabbit...

Ta for that, I've kept promising a friend I'd show her the wonders of WiFi
( can't even get her off a dial up yet) I'll try that when we are out and
about some day and I remember to take the laptop with me.

the car park :-(

Macdonalds :-(

same time.