Exec,

Timely post about that Sandisk Key.

I bought Mrs TP a Sony Vaio netbook for Christmas. She is in her seventh decade and never switched on a computer in her life. Now so many of her chums are organising their schedules (especially her AmDram group) by email she has relented.

The deal was that she found a teacher (she found a lovely man called Mr Patience!!) and I bought the machine. I went for the Sony as it came in pink - a great incentive for Mrs TP.

I'd thought of passing her over an old Asus laptop that I'd owned and re-loaded with Linux as its original XP had forgotten how to Plug and Play. But I felt that a pink machine might tip the scales when it came to wanting to learn how to PC.

However, what I have done is to load Firefox and Thunderbird on the Vaio and that is what she is learning to use. My logic being that if the Win 7 ever got too slow I'd whip it off and install Linux.

I need a memory stick so she can back up her two Mozilla programs with Mozbackup. It would have been nice it had been pink but......

It is interesting to see a total novice finding their way around the netbook. Already she is getting impatient about the length of time it takes from switching on to being ready to use. Later today I plan to remove as much of the Startup rubbish that I can - but compared with Linux it is a joke at the moment.

Most of us around here have computers that are on 24/7. But for someone just wanting to have a look to see if they have any messages switching on a machine with Win 7 is a real bore. I guess I also ought to have a look at Hibernation - but one does hear of horror stories there.

I ramble.

TP

Has anyone on here ever fallen foul of the Shopper Discount and Rewards offer?

It generall introduces itself after you have finally checked out of some online shopping and done the credit card deal.

And then on the last page of all, it says something to the effect of:

Would you like a 10 Cashback?

Most people would click on 'Yes'. That's when some small print tells you, and not very clearly either, that you are going to get some Cashback but you are also going to commit to paying out a 10 per month subscription.

I've bumped into this scam twice just recently.

1. At the Misco site above.
2. At APH Airport Parking's web site.

To get a better idea on it, have a glance at these 35 Forum pages of angry punters, who have been taken in by the Shopper Discount & Rewards scam:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=819869&highlight=shopper+discount+rewards

Remember the name: Shopper Discount & Rewards

TP:

I think Mrs TP should go for hibernation (of her computer, that is). I use a Lenovo T500 running XP, it stays on most of the time, but when I travel to the office, I hibernate it. I've never had a problem that I could attribute to hibernation.

It's a good idea to reboot every so often, but you tend to have to do it once a month anyway after 'patch Tuesday'.

Cheers,
MM

Thanks MM,

And, with a bit of luck, Safe Mode will recover a machine that will not come out of hibernation.

TP

Do people here use those optical mice with the red light thingies? I prefer them to the ones with balls because they don't get littered with crumbs, but I get very frustrated when I go to touch the mouse and the cursor seems to shoot to the opposite corner of the screen.

I've Googled the problem and it seems to be a common complaint. People have suggested that it's something to do with the surface of the desk confusing the camera inside the mouse and that it's an idea to use a plain sheet of white paper as a mouse mat, but I've tried that and it didn't really work.

Does anybody have a solution that works?

I don't like my balls littered with crumbs either !

How do you like your balls then, Skinners?

hilary,

I use a very old plastic 'cutting pad' on this PC and a piece of off-white card on the other machine in my studio.

However, it does not seem to like grained wood, which might be your desk surface.

TP

I have no problems with a Logitech optical mouse on most surfaces. Shiny is not good, neither is a glass-topped table. A regular mouse-mat should be fine.

The cure to skinny's problem is to put your underpants on before you have your toast.

I had the same problem. The only thing I found that worked was using a one colour, dark, non glossy mousemat. I found that any surface with multiple colours or textures confused the cordless laser mouse & the cursor emigrated to the top right hand corner of the screen. (Sadly my Lewis Hamilton Christmas present mousemat does not conform!)

Thanks guys.

I guess the problem is down to my wood veneered desk which concurs with what I'd read about the problem previously.

The trouble is that I don't really want to use a mousemat and I don't want to stick bits of card on the desk either. I don't like fluffy balls either, so I guess I'll just have to either live with it or get a new desk.

Hils, I had the same problem, but am now using a Logitech MK 300 wireless k/b and mouse, and don't seem to be having the problem any more.

I'm using a Logitech optical (with a cord) mouse right now on a light oak woodgrain desk in the office and having no problems. Perhaps a recommendation for Logitech??

I have two cheap (Argos 4.95) USB optical.
They both work on multicolour mat, plain white
and also varnished mahogany.

Ta muchly. I'm not bothered by wires, so I'll give a Logitech one a go. The Logitech Pilot is about 9, so I'll try one of them to begin. If it works, I can replace the others later.

Possibly dust in the little red window at the bottom of the mouse, causing reflections? Or maybe just a cheap mouse?

You could try a trackball, takes a bit of getting used to but brilliant once you are.

Re Logitech, after they replaced a faulty trackball with the latest, very much more expensive, model for me years ago I wouldn't buy anything else.

This is what Logitech gave me free of charge. I would never have paid anywhere near that for a mouse, but after having it for a few weeks I would not be able to go back to a simple mouse. It has programmable buttons, I just click a button for Back and Refresh on the browser.

Mind you I did plug it into a little power brick since I don't like the battery issue with the cordless models (some just recharge on a cradle).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001N04SV8/ref=s9_simi_gw_p23_i3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1CWA7ZCRP9VCVKBKT92H&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467198433&pf_rd_i=468294

I don't think I'd be able to steer a trackball properly, K. It looks too complicated for me and I even struggle with the Sky+ remote.

:o)

I did wonder about dust being a problem, but one of the mice is brand new and it still does it. As for whether they're cheap or not, I really wouldn't know. They're bog standard HP mice which were packed with the machines.

hilary

Some optical mice work on infra red it might be worth trying one. Possibly your desk would not reflect that frequency in the same way.

My mice have red lights anyway, Opti. Is that the same thing?