Category Archives: Advice

My new mouse doesn’t work

Computer Aid Posted on by

I helped a gentleman setup his new computer…

He said it had been a few years since he last used a computer… so naturally, I assumed a certain level of knowledge.

A few days later, he calls, saying he is have a great amount of difficulty using the mouse and that maybe I incorrectly changed a window setting to cause this…

So I go through some basic troubleshooting:

  • Did you try a different USB port? (He tried all 6 ports)
  • Do you have another mouse you can use? (he had already gone out & purchased a new mouse, but same problem)
  • OK, so what happens when you click the button? (either nothing, or some funny arrows appear, or a menu appears… but clicking on an icon doesn’t work (nor does double-clicking)… & sometimes it makes the screen move in unpredictable ways…

After a bit of head scratching, & asking him to right-click this & left-click that, he admits that there is no left or right button… just one in the middle…

Hmmm, did he buy an apple mouse by mistake?

No, its a logitek

OK, is the button on the left or right side?

“Its in the middle… & its a bit narrow”

Narrow?

Now the penny drops: He’s been using the scroll wheel as “The” mouse button…

So now I have to explain that the flat surface on either side of the “button” are the actual buttons… push them & they will make a clicking sound… but they don’t

So now its a leverage problem: move your finger further up towards the edge of the mouse & a fit further to the side…

Ah, finally he gets it… he’s totally amazed that the front flat surface of the mouse is actually 2 “secret” buttons that he never knew about!

Android battery life, Kitkat vs Marshmallow

Computer Aid Posted on by

I recently got 2 samsung i9506 (S4 galaxy) phones

i’ve had such a bad experience with lollipop battery life, that I went back to using kitkat

But now that I have 2 identical phones, I decided to compare kitkat with the latest android: Marshmallow

Although the phones were not setup identically, I did give Marshmallow some big advantages as follows:

KitKat phone:

  • running standard Samsung kitkat 4.4.2
  • uses my current SIM card, used as a normal phone
  • I rooted, & disabled as much Samsung bloatware as possible
  • Running GSam battery monitor
  • Connected to WiFi
  • Max screen brightness
  • Fully charged
  • about 5 different gmail accounts activated, with notifications active
  • various other accounts setup (eg trello, firefox, etc)

Marshmallow:

  • Running AOSP Cyanogenmod (from sometime in May 2016)… IE a bare-bones android with no bloatware
  • no SIM card
  • GSam battery monitor
  • Connected to WiFi
  • max screen brightness
  • Fully charged
  • Only 1 gmail account

Now, since I use my phone a lot, what concerns me the most, is the battery drain while the screen is on, & I’m active browsing, reading emails, & playing some trivial games like hill climb racing.

So I used both phones, side-by-side, and spent about 30 minutes on various activities… the same stuff on both phones, side-by-side.

I then went into GSam, & looked at the battery “rate of change” chart, to see how efficient each android was…

Surprisingly (and disappointingly), I found that MM would drain at around 35% to 40% per hour… ie it would go flat in under 3 hours of constant use.

Given that KitKat was also powering a 4G SIM card, it should have been worse… but it drained the battery at around 20% – 25% per hour… ie it would go flat in around 4 – 5 hours.

Just to be sure, I swapped the batteries, & did the test again… & got the same results… so I’ve ruled out any differences in batteries.

As a result, I can guess that both Lollipop & Marshmallow have some major flaw, or an inefficient OS design.

As such, there is no way I will be moving away from Kitkat anytime soon.

The only reason I would recommend MarshMallow, is for those who only use their phone for 2 or 3 minutes per day, as MarshMallows “doze” mode means the battery barely drains while the phone has the display off.

YMMV (Your mileage may vary)

Optus emails disappear

Computer Aid Posted on by

Optus-NO2I had a customer that was having some emails disappearing, or more accurately: never arriving.

As with most people, she was using an email program (Mozilla Thunderbird) to download email from her ISP account at Optus (an @optusnet.com.au email address).

The first obvious step was to check the thunderbird spam folder: nothing there.

Next: did she delete them accidentally? No, the Trash was clear.

She then mentioned that sometimes she get warnings about her mailbox being full.

So I figure: ah ha… optusnet shouldn’t get full… so maybe thunderbird is misconfigured… I check the pop3 settings, & I see thunderbird is set to delete emails from the server after 14 days… all quite standard.

So… I’d better check the Optus webmail & see whats going on there.

As soon as I login to Optus webmail, I can see a problem: about 1500 emails sitting in the optus spam folder.

Hold on… did I see that right?

Optus diverts emails to spam BEFORE they can get downloaded to Thunderbird?

I spend some time marking all the spam as “NOT spam”… & while I’m waiting (yes, the Optus webmail is not quick), I do some research:

Turns out Optus Implemented a “new” webmail system in early 2013… customers have no option of disabling the spam filter… none.

And it gets worse: Optus is not good at detecting spam, so occasionally legit emails will go to “webmail spam”… where an average customer will never see it unless they use webmail.

In this case, I noticed some Optus “your mailbox is full” emails in the spam folder!

OK, so someone at Optus is brain-dead, fine.

Maybe I can get around this by re-directing (forwarding) the emails to, say, a gmail account?

No: Optus do not allow mail forwarding.

What about abandoning optus email, & going with one of the free ones like gmail? No: customer has many people who have this address & will not change email address.

So I now have to setup a desktop “webmail login” icon for the customer, & tell her to login once per week, & flag spam emails as legit… she struggles to understand why, but I do the best I can.

In the end, she will probably have to move away from the optusnet email, even if its a gradual “weaning” process.

Looks like Optus have taken a leaf (or a few chapters) from the Telstra/Bigpond customer dis-service manual.

How to Pick Out the Right Tablet

Computer Aid Posted on by

There’s no denying that the tablet market has blown up in a major way.

Indeed, it seems hard to cast your mind back to when many people considered the iPad a ridiculous invention that would never catch on.  Those seeking a tablet in 2014 have a whole host of different options to choose from, which is why we’re going to take a look at how to go about choosing the right one, whether it’s a tablet hybrid from Lenovo or a Nexus 7:

Picking a camp

The first major decision in choosing a tablet is which operating system you’d prefer to have.  It’s an entirely subjective thing (despite what many of the more passionate fans might say!) and it’s simply a matter of trying them out and seeing which one works best for you.

iPads will obviously use Apple’s latest operating system, with Android supplying the operational software for most other manufacturers including Acer, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Samsung.

It’s also worth noting that there are now some affordable Windows 8 tablets making their way onto the market.

Apps

Needless to say, apps remain a key reason for the success of the tablet market.

For some people, they offer the ability to watch movies or YouTube videos, for others they provide the ability to edit photos.  Others, of course, simply like to relax and read a book.

The Apple App Store is certainly very well maintained, with nearly half a million programs and games available right off the bat.

Android has certainly stepped up its game in recent years in a bid to compete.  However, the Android store also has a reputation for being less well regulated in terms of security: a lot of malware-affected apps originate there.

The visuals

Needless to say, the size of the screen also plays a key part. Tablets vary by a reasonable amount, usually between 10 and 7 inches.

Fortunately, most of the major models (iPads, Nexus Tablets and Kindle Fires) all come in different size, so you don’t have to be stuck with one brand just because you like the size.

Screen resolution is another important factor.  The more detailed the activities the tablet is being bought for, the bigger and more detailed the screen will need to be.  The Kindle Fire 8.9 currently offers the best in terms of pixels at 2,560 by 1,600.  The iPad’s retina display (at 2048×1536 pixels) is also excellent.

Wi-Fi and other connections

This is actually a major characteristic, and one that inexperienced users will often forget to take into account.

Different tablets will have different connection options, with some only able to connect to the web when there is a Wi-Fi hotspot nearby.  This means that they won’t be able to connect to the net when out and about like a smartphone does.

The ability to connect to 3G/4G is something that does add a bit to the price but for those that want to access the web when out and about, it’s not really optional.

Those that just want to use the tablet at home, however, could probably get away with just Wi-Fi.