Mom's PC

[DailyDi]

I think Mom's PC is on it's last legs. It's only 5 years old, but has been end-of-life'd by HP so no new driver updates, and the networking has locked at a rate of 57 mbps. Ordered a new network adapter to try and get around the motherboard's crappy one, but we'll see if that works.

Biggest obsticle to getting her a new PC isn't the money, but getting her to remember all her logins and passwords to reinstall and set it up!

[Dubious]

Only the OS matters imo. 

Very rarely  to never update drivers when they are working properly. 

Only updated MOBO because W11 required it. 

[Slomo]

 

23 minutes ago, DailyDi said:

I think Mom's PC is on it's last legs. It's only 5 years old, but has been end-of-life'd by HP so no new driver updates, and the networking has locked at a rate of 57 mbps. Ordered a new network adapter to try and get around the motherboard's crappy one, but we'll see if that works.

Biggest obsticle to getting her a new PC isn't the money, but getting her to remember all her logins and passwords to reinstall and set it up!

Give Last Pass or Proton pass or Bitwarden a try. They're all free and each one manages all of your passwords, secured by just one encrypted master password. I personally use the paid Last Pass, whichbworks across multiple devices. Haven't had a problem with it staying secure in the 10 years I've been using it.

As for the PC. I recommend cleaning and checking it. Run a dos command prompt-- as an administrator--. Individually paste and run each of the lines below into it. They will, check the physical disk, scan the file system, deploy image service manager (to fix any corrupted OS files), fix the boot manager, and reset the network card. Each of these is pretty user friendy, anyone can run them without any real pc knowledge. Just let them run until eachbone return a new command prompt line. (Note that DISM may appear to freeze for a few hours, but it IS running).

chkdsk C: /f

sfc /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

bootrec /rebuildbcd

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

Ckose the CMD window and reatart the PC. There's more you can run from within windows too. Start with a defrag and check windows update for optional updates.

[DailyDi]

1 hour ago, Slomo said:

 

Give Last Pass or Proton pass or Bitwarden a try. They're all free and each one manages all of your passwords, secured by just one encrypted master password. I personally use the paid Last Pass, whichbworks across multiple devices. Haven't had a problem with it staying secure in the 10 years I've been using it.

As for the PC. I recommend cleaning and checking it. Run a dos command prompt-- as an administrator--. Individually paste and run each of the lines below into it. They will, check the physical disk, scan the file system, deploy image service manager (to fix any corrupted OS files), fix the boot manager, and reset the network card. Each of these is pretty user friendy, anyone can run them without any real pc knowledge. Just let them run until eachbone return a new command prompt line. (Note that DISM may appear to freeze for a few hours, but it IS running).

chkdsk 😄 /f

sfc /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

bootrec /rebuildbcd

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

Ckose the CMD window and reatart the PC. There's more you can run from within windows too. Start with a defrag and check windows update for optional updates.

Did that. Spywayre/adware/malware swept it, updated all software and the bios, removed and reinstalled drivers and adapters. Even AT&T's SMart Home software shows it as locked at 57 mbps, though it's really only pulling 20 or so.

[Slomo]

15 minutes ago, DailyDi said:

Did that. Spywayre/adware/malware swept it, updated all software and the bios, removed and reinstalled drivers and adapters. Even AT&T's SMart Home software shows it as locked at 57 mbps, though it's really only pulling 20 or so.

Oh. That's on AT&T then. It's their own locked throttle. Which I'm sure they can unlock for a monthly fee. But if you're normally fine and just pulling 20mbps then a 57mbps lock might not be an issue for you. (Note: you can test your actual upload/download speeds by going to speedtest.net).

 

And well, I'd still recommend doing the CMD prompt checks and cleanups. They go way beyond just spyware and drivers. It makes sure your physical disk is still ok, makes sure your pc is booting good and efficiently, and most of all makes sure your windows operating system files are not corrupted and are the newest file versions (and not patched files too). This last one is a biggie, because over thebyears even windows update can break a while bunch of its own files. DISM fixes all of that (even if it does take a long ass time to run).

[DailyDi]

13 minutes ago, Slomo said:

Oh. That's on AT&T then. It's their own locked throttle. Which I'm sure they can unlock for a monthly fee. But if you're normally fine and just pulling 20mbps then a 57mbps lock might not be an issue for you. (Note: you can test your actual upload/download speeds by going to speedtest.net).

 

And well, I'd still recommend doing the CMD prompt checks and cleanups. They go way beyond just spyware and drivers. It makes sure your physical disk is still ok, makes sure your pc is booting good and efficiently, and most of all makes sure your windows operating system files are not corrupted and are the newest file versions (and not patched files too). This last one is a biggie, because over thebyears even windows update can break a while bunch of its own files. DISM fixes all of that (even if it does take a long ass time to run).

I don't think it's at&t as all my other devices are on the same modem/router and work just fine. Nothing in the wifi settings rate limiting it, just reporting what the device is saying. 

 

Will run DISM shortly

 

[Crinklz Kat]

If you open up the network properties, what does it show as protocol for the wireless?   
If it's 802.11a or g, then it's operating at the maximum possible for that protocol.  Hopefully it shows 802.11n.   I haven't figured out how to manually change that if possible.  Buuuuuttttttt....   that said, my recollection is that if a device connects at a lower protocol to an access point, all other clients on that access point are also reduced to that lower protocol.  I could be wrong. 

[DailyDi]

Set up the new wifi6 adapter and got up to 129 mbps which still doesn't make sense but it a liveable speed for what she does.

[oznl]

11 hours ago, DailyDi said:

Even AT&T's SMart Home software shows it as locked at 57 mbps, though it's really only pulling 20 or so.

57 is your speed limit for that section of your voyage sadly not the traffic speed or lower speed limits somewhere else.  Anyway you've got 129 which is absolutely plenty.  57 probably would have been ok unless you tell me she's pulling ISOs off Azure or AWS 🤣

[Slomo]

39 minutes ago, DailyDi said:

Set up the new wifi6 adapter and got up to 129 mbps which still doesn't make sense but it a liveable speed for what she does.

Yeah, I'm still inclined to believe it's a purposeful software lock made by AT&T . Which again, I'm certain they will "fix" for an additional monthly fee. Of which, they are known for doing.

[oznl]

9 minutes ago, Slomo said:

Yeah, I'm still inclined to believe it's a purposeful software lock made by AT&T . Which again, I'm certain they will "fix" for an additional monthly fee. Of which, they are known for doing.

When I was in the industry we called that "Cripple-ware" and we (the engineering/tech faculty) hated it.  Marketing made us do it.

[DailyDi]

I'm more inclined tot hink it's HP slowly killing her PC now that support is at End Of Life and they want her to get a new one. Just doesn't make sense to me for AT&T to play with one device on my network no matter what connection I use for it.

[CptKirk]

15 hours ago, oznl said:

When I was in the industry we called that "Cripple-ware" and we (the engineering/tech faculty) hated it.  Marketing made us do it.

How in hell is this even legal?

[Slomo]

7 hours ago, CptKirk said:

How in hell is this even legal?

Legal? It's common. Ever notice how the battery life of an older phone or pc is so much worse? Sure there is a little wear to blame, but most of that reduced life is programmed. Doing this sort of thing literally has a name. It's called planned obsolescence. Where something is designed to "break" in order to make you want to buy a new one.

[CptKirk]

I literally that that forced obsolescence was illegal?

[DailyDi]

9 minutes ago, CptKirk said:

I literally that that forced obsolescence was illegal?

I don't know, but we are talking about a company that is trying to force you to have a paid subscription to use your own printer lol.

[CptKirk]

Your serious??? HOW IS THAT LEGAL??? You BUY IT? Yet don't "OWN" it?

[DailyDi]

1 minute ago, CptKirk said:

Your serious??? HOW IS THAT LEGAL??? You BUY IT? Yet don't "OWN" it?

It's an ink-by-subscription program on its base, but if you let your membership lapse they disable your printer

[CptKirk]

Wait...HOW can they disable your printer IF you don't buy ink you don't need??? Is there ANY BRAND to buy/not buy to avoid this?

Forgive me, I know NOTHING about this stuff.

[DailyDi]

6 hours ago, CptKirk said:

Wait...HOW can they disable your printer IF you don't buy ink you don't need??? Is there ANY BRAND to buy/not buy to avoid this?

Forgive me, I know NOTHING about this stuff.

It's HP and their InstantInk printer program.

[foreverdl]

That's strange to me. We have had HP printers for yrs we went through several printers over the last 30 yrs,,, and we have never had to do that, we generally get our ink from Costco..its nt cheap any place, 

[DailyDi]

5 minutes ago, foreverdl said:

That's strange to me. We have had HP printers for yrs we went through several printers over the last 30 yrs,,, and we have never had to do that, we generally get our ink from Costco..its nt cheap any place, 

it's a new thing they are trying. They do make good printers, just scamming right now on the new deal.

[CptKirk]

What happens when a guy like me, who MAYBE needs to buy ink every 14-18 months? The ink won't go bad, but the printer most certainly will fail by the time I use it all up, years later.

[DailyDi]

26 minutes ago, CptKirk said:

What happens when a guy like me, who MAYBE needs to buy ink every 14-18 months? The ink won't go bad, but the printer most certainly will fail by the time I use it all up, years later.

Don't get a subscription program printer lol. I have a color laser at home and haven't had to change the toner in years.

[CptKirk]

Believe me, I have no plans on EVER buying anything "subscription" like a printer! I don't use them enough to need one.