i-Macs

blister pus

Surf-Matt wrote:

We use Norton 360 Premier which is meant to be good and backs up our data. I'm assuming it's probably not though (it was pricey too!). I clean the laptops up every few months..

And therein lies your first problem. Running Norton 360. That in itself is enough to put a substantial drain on any system and especially on start up (and especially machines with generally less juice, like laptops). It's extremely invasive software which leaves a large footprint and your poor laptop has to load all the ridiculous Norton baggage at start up.

If you wanted to make a start cleaning things up get individual programs that work and are lightweight with little overhead.

Razer_MTB

I had problems with norton using huge amounts of processing power and slowing things right down. I ended up switching to bullguard (ok, the 3 year 3 pc licence i got free with my laptop helped)

Also found that Norton wasn't that great at detecting trojans etc. My dads pc, (quad core overclocked to 3.8Ghz running xp) was running terribly - ran a Norton scan, uninstalled norton, installed bullguard, and found 8 different viruses that Norton had missed.

In addition, Bullguard didnt use much in the way of resources either. I think you can also use Bullguard to backup as well. Might be something worth considering.

Currently trying out McAfee, not too bad, but i think i'll be buying Bullguard again when the time comes to renew.

Razer_MTB

Almost forgot,

you can also go into the startup menu (start>run type msconfig for xp, just type msconfig in the start menu search bar on vista), and you can disable a whole load of programs that start up immediately that you dont really need. (google update, itunes, quicktime etc), it means a very slightly longer load time when you want to use the program, but also means a quicker pc start up.

Andy

Totally off topic but good to see you back Matt. Good festive period?

Surf-Matt

Yep - had a great time thanks Andy. And yourself?

Razer - sounds interesting. I'm definitely not sure what to do now!

Andy

Aye can't complain

Razer_MTB

what might be worth doing is trying out another AV program on one of your machines and see if it runs any better. (might be worth doing a search on google to find the best way of removing Norton as i seem to recall it being a bugger to get rid of)..

I know that Bullguard do a 30 day free trial on their software

http://www.bullguard.com/default.aspx it says 60 days but i remember installing it for a friend and only getting 30 days (cheeky bassas).

If you still have the same problems, then probably upgrade time, but if it ends up running better, then the cost to upgrade to a mac might not be worth it

Surf-Matt

Our systems are 2GHz dual Core 2s with 2GB and 120ish GB hard drives. Very little in the way of bells and whistles (basic graphics and sound cards).

It might be time to move on anyway - LED screens seem to be good (I reckon they will help eye fatigue - we both get it a bit after a long day), the processors are a fair bit quicker and the RAM is useful. But not 100% sure.

Will have a mull.

PITA spending £80 on supposedly good AV software and then finding that it's actually cr4p. DOH!!

blister pus

You use the Norton Removal Tool but find alternative programs to fill the gap beforehand. Like you'll be wanting a back up program to back up your important work files (Acronis True Image) along with a decent anti virus / malware package (NOD32 or Antivir Premium). But after you've removed Norton you'd clean up using CCleaner first. Then install the new stuff.

It's a bit of bind changing softwares and re-learning it but a whole lot cheaper and easier than forking out for entirely new hardware and system.

jay12

bails87 wrote:

Windows 7

Sorry Matt! But it's brilliant, massivley quicker than Vista, I had a free upgrade to it, so was using it about 2 weeks after it came out, I've had no crashes, freezes, driver issues or anything. It just works.....isn't that a Mac ad line?

A mate has got a Mac, we normally laugh at him because it does silly things in an awkward way. He tries to tell us it's intuitive, but then he has to go onto a forum to find out how to do a print screen :roll: That, and it's slower than an equivalently priced Windows machine, and overheats, and you can't upgrade/replace bits yourself and his is now held together with parcel tape (build quality? ha!). Other than that it's great......

Also: HT, flats, tubless tyres, mudguards

And Linux (someone's going to mention it!)

i bought a new laptop last week. it has win 7. it's not much different to vista but waaaayy faster. i always put all the songs from my mp3 player. on the old laptop it took about half an hour on the new it took about 5 minutes. when uploading anything it takes no time at all. so far i can't fault it. we'lll see in time how it does

GHill

Possibly obvious, but thought I should state this anyway:

1) There is a learning curve associated with using any operating system. Macs are no different in this regard, it can lead to frustration and lost time (which may be a business consideration).

2) Mac OS X behaves differently to Windows (any version). There is no guarantee that you will like it no matter how long you use it.

3) You would also have to buy new licenses for Office and any other software.

As stated above, I like and use Macs, but I'm not a zealot.

rowlers

Just whack unutu on your laptops, tthey'll fly!
I'm from a windows background (was MS certified ), now just don't use it. Have it on my Acer Laptop, but it is dual boot woth ubuntu, which I use for the majority, only use WinXP for Video converting, and for my Zune.

I have Crunchbang Linux on my Aspire one netbook which I use daily. OpenOffice is 100% compatible with MS office and free.
Windows 7, is still slow by XP standards, I think Windows is DEAD!!!

Worth looking into?

blister pus

rowlers wrote:

Worth looking into?

Absolutely not for a business. For more reasons than you can wave your penis at.

camerauk

Just pop into apple shop and have a play with one
I would go all mac get the imac's and a mac book for the laptop
I would also give open office a go instead of office and its free and does everything that I want ie word excel etc and can save in windows format as well
I used windows all the time until vista and that was the last straw changed to a imac 20" and now added a mac book pro never looked back even my daughters changed to mac

rowlers

blister pus wrote:

rowlers wrote:

Worth looking into?

Absolutely not for a business. For more reasons than you can wave your penis at.

I'd like to know why not...

blister pus

mainly practical serviceability that's local and available to a client (MS technicians are dime a dozen if you can't fix things yourself. Linux tech to pull you out of the sh!t when needed, well that's a whole different matter). And that's a big enough reason on it's own.

Then the learning curve involved in anything other than operating the front end gui (gnome) if you're running a business you haven't got the time or inclination to fuck about in completely unfamiliar territory figuring the finer points of Linux out and the learning curve is steeper than either of the other two. Hell, I've seen people lost period in gnome and KDE ui without even delving.

And good as open office is it still doesn't have the bells and whistles (polish) that MS office offers. Bearing in mind you'll be communicating with other businesses who will only run MS office - from 97 upwards with no compatibility and conversion packs. Office 07 files are still a bag of sh!t to open and save in open office and if it's a presentation it won't always translate exactly how you intended. It's just not worth the bulk of businesses fucking about on balance. And yes, M$ do have things by the balls in that respect. It's why they spend the bulk of the R&D budget on office, it's where they generate the hard cash.

are the main reasons.

I'm fine and dandy running a FLOSS business and I'm happy with the performance, but then I know what I'm doing and can fix things if they go wrong. You probably can too, I don't know. I know over the years the bulk of people I've dealt with simply don't click with *nix , it certainly isn't for everyone as I've found out (to my cost) over the years.

rowlers

@Blister, all fair points..
with the limited stuff Surf-Matt said he was doing, it just seemed the perfect option, but I do get your points.
Linux aint for everyone, for everything else there is XP (still thin Win7 is sh|t!) and whats left the Macs can cover!