Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with internet and windows

Simplistic front end for Windows?

jorlando — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:16:17 -0800

Is there an ultra-simple and bullet proof front end for MS Windows thats suitable for elderly folks? My dad is 87 and uses his computer for very basic things like Skype, email, and limited web browsing. He's always messing up his desktop or losing icons because of uncoordinated and impatient mousing. Sometimes he opens applications by accident or gets confused by notifications and solicitations that pop up. He hasn't been scammed but probably is at risk no matter how much I warn him.

He lives alone so the computer is an important lifeline for him. I've been able to help somewhat by remoting with VNC but sometimes he kills his connection and cant get the computer online

I'd like to install some kind of Windows shell for him that enables only those features that he needs and isolates him from everything else. It will turn off drag and drop and the need to double-click anything. A one-button mouse would be good too.

It doesn't even need to be Windows based if it supports Skype and web browsing

Any ideas?

Thanks

Bluetooth Automatic Syncing Between Laptops

0bvious — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:35:59 -0800

Syncing between laptops: How can I easily and automatically sync files and documents between two laptops using Bluetooth? Ideally I want to load up one machine in the vicinity of the other and have all my recent data (documents/data/RSS feeds etc.) syncronised with NO hassle. Any good apps out there? I already have a not-very-portable WinXP laptop, with bluetooth. I am also awaiting arrival of a new ASUS EEE PC. I will probably end up installing Windows XP on it, but might opt to stick with Linux.

The internal Bluetooth was a key component of my purchase.

I am interested in using the Asus as a portable addition to my writing and reading routines. I'd love to load it up and have all my recent file changes synced on both machines without me doing anything. Just like the way iTunes syncs my iPod, but with Bluetooth as a sweet bonus.

I would also LOVE for all recent RSS feeds to be downloaded in FULL and sent to the Asus, ready for me to read on the train.

Any hints would sure be grand

A new kind of dial-up internet hell.

Jimbob — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:11:25 -0800

Archaic Windows dial-up networking question; why do I randomly lose internet connectivity (with dial-up still online) and can't get it back without restarting the computer? OS: Windows Vista

Due to a recent move to an internet black hole (Tasmania), we've had to resort to dial-up internet. We've been having a problem where we will randomly (as far as we can tell) lose network connectivity. Browsers (Firefox, IE, Opera, whatever) will no longer access sites, saying the sites "Exist but cannot be reached".

Similarly, other software (Yahoo messenger, Putty!) will also refuse to connect.

However, if I open up a command prompt, I can happily ping, nslookup, tracert without a problem.

Killing the dial-up connection and redialing doesn't help at all. Rebooting the PC fixes the problem 100% of the time.

I've tried disabling the only thing I can think of that might cause a problem, the anti-virus software (Avast!), but that doesn't help.

Any ideas how I can diagnose this problem? Why would every program that accesses the internet claim it can't connect, but low-level command-line utilities can?

Help! No internet in Windows on a Mac

backwords — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:37:28 -0800

Running Windows on my Mac and having some internet woes... I am running Windows on my Mac through VMwareFusion. I am connected to the internet fine on the Mac side, but on the Windows side I can't connect at all or the connection is really slow. This just happened in the last couple of hours and I haven't changed anything in Windows.

Any ideas how to fix this?

When I check in Windows it says that I am connected, but websites don't come up and more importantly the software I need for work isn't connecting.

How can I create or add a group of Favorites in Internet Explorer?

Wagging Dog — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:15:36 -0800

How can I turn a long list of hyperlinks into either a list of filenames in Windows Explorer or a list of Favorites in Internet Explorer? Say I have 1,000 hyperlinks in a list so it is 1,000 entries long (could be in an Excel file, a Word file, or on a web page). I want to have these 1,000 hyperlinks as Favorites, which seems to be the same as converting them from the content of one file to the file names of 1,000 files. I can manually save each hyperlink as the name of a file, but if there are 1,000, and if they need to be updated every week, that would be a killer. I need an automated solution.

What is your favorite Online Backing Service? and why?

omaralarifi — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:06:43 -0800

What is your favorite Online Backing Service? and why?

Automagic FTP Upload

booticon — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:33:06 -0800

Is there a simple program out there that you can drag a file onto that will automagically upload to a pre-configured FTP server and copy the URL to the clipboard? I was previously using OSX 10.5.1 and fell in love with Dockdrop. As it implies (and as I mentioned previously), you configure it with FTP information (server/path/username/pass), and it'll sit on your dock. You drag a file to it, it'll upload and copy the URL to your clipboard right away. Googling has come up with nothing. Bonus points if the program has the capability of uploading to predefined directories based on filetype (ie, .jpg/.gif/.png will /images, .zip/.rar to /downloads).

Running Vista x64 right now. Thinking the Windows equivalent would be something that would sit in your system tray.

configuration of vista breadcrumb bar/firefox second tab row

lrodman — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:15:34 -0800

Is it possible to trim Vista Breadcrumb sections so that the breadcrumb bar doesn't clip off most of the path in long titles? I.e. anything over say, 10 characters gets cropped, so that long paths can be shown? Also, is there a way to fix the glitchy second row of tabs in firefox? I want the second row of tabs to have the same height as the first, so that graphics don't go all screwy.

Wireless Internet Stops and Starts After SP2 Installation

ktoad — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 10:03:35 -0800

My internet is stopping and starting and it's driving me nuts. I'm running Windows XP on a slightly older (3 or 4 years) machine. We have a wireless router in the house running Roadrunner cable service. My device is an Edimax EW-7128g wireless antenna I got through NewEgg awhile back. Works like a charm. Read on for a description of the problem... Up until recently I hadn't really felt the need to update XP. The system worked, I had other virus and firewall protection. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, as they say. But then the last month or two I couldn't get an external drive to appear via the USB ports, so I decided to finally get SP2 to see if that fixed the problem. Immediately after doing all of the latest XP updates, my internet imploded.

Now, I get about 15-30 seconds of internet access as usual, followed by 30 seconds of no internet at all. I updated the wireless drivers and any other drivers I could see that seemed connected to internet devices, all to no avail. I'd really like to get my internet back, without reformatting and starting all over again if possible. Thanks for any help you can provide, my MetaBrothers and MetaSisters.

How can I connect to my university's VPN network?

jordanian2 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:53:32 -0800

I'm trying to connect to my university's wireless network with VPN. I keep getting a 619 or 721 error. This is with a new laptop that has Windows XP Pro SP3 on it. How can I fix this problem?

Why can't my computer connect to the internet reliably?

entropic — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:56:07 -0800

I'm having an intermittent problem connecting to the internet, and the problem appears to be narrowed down to one computer, as others on the network are not affected. I say intermittent because if I click links or enter a url enough times, it eventually connects. My desktop at home has Windows XP installed, and I mostly use Firefox (although the problem is not solved by switching to IE). When I attempt to click a link on a webpage, usually nothing happens. If I click enough times, eventually the status bar and/or indicator on the tab open will show that it's working, and a connection will be made. Same thing happens if I enter a url in the address bar - at first, nothing, but if I hit enter enough times, eventually the page will load, although often incompletely.

I know the problem is isolated to my computer (and not a router/ISP problem) because my wife's laptop connected to the same network has no problems at all. Additionally, the problem exists whether I'm connected with an ethernet cable or using a wireless adapter.

I've tried rebooting, but this seems to do nothing. I'm not really sure where to start a google search for this issue, as I find it difficult/lengthy to explain and I'm not sure what terms I should be using.

Are there certain settings in Windows that I can reset to defaults or check for problems?

Why does Windows eat my internet connection?

judge.mentok.the.mindtaker — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:07:53 -0800

Why does Windows eat my internet connection? I have a dual boot system. Windows XP 64 on one side, Fedora 7 64 on the other.

Whenever I boot from Fedora to Windows, I notice two things happen, although I am not sure if they are related to each other.

This is when I switch back to Windows:
1. My clock is set 5 hours in the future, and every time I try and reset it, when I go back to windows it is always this way. Fedora appears to be self correcting, but windows can't deal.

2. My internet is fux0red for about 10 minutes after I boot into windows. I can get some traffic out, and my connectivity comes back slowly, like I can connect to some sites and not others. The other people in the house also notice issues with their connection whenever I reboot my computer back into windows. 5 - 10 minutes after I reboot, internet connectivity returns to normal with no apparent human intervention.

I should note that when I boot back to Linux FROM Windows, I have immediate connectivity and noone in the house notices.

This makes me suspect that there is some DNS caching issue going on with my router, but if that is the problem, then how could my computer be causing the router to dump its cache? Could the solution be as simple as "buy a new router"?

T.I.A.

Best OS for these requirements.

DJWeezy — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:45:07 -0800

Best *nix distro for SSH, RDC, router and print server. Or i could use windows if that would satisfy the conditions. What is the best OS that will be good for using as a router, SSH machine, and print server? I recently purchased a server closet on wheels for my dorm room. I also got a new case for my computer to make it rack mountable. Now i am going to be buying a mediocre 1U rack server in order to satisfy some of my other needs. I would like to know what the hive-mind would recommend for such a use. It will be on nearly 24-7, needs to have SSH, be able to launch a RDC connection to other computer once in SSH, router, and would work for a password protected print server.

Wow now that i write it out that sounds like alot of qualifications. I am kind of a nix n00b so any step by step tutorials for this would be great.

Only IE doesn't work

punishinglemur — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 15:27:52 -0800

Internet works everywhere but IE. On a friend's computer, the Internet works everywhere but Internet Explorer. All other programs, from Firefox to SpyBot's updater, work fine. I tried uninstalling IE7, and the IE6 copy it reverted back to worked fine. But after I reinstalled IE7, it stopped working again. What could be causing this?

How to get a simple VPN set up without using standard ports?

rc55 — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:10:43 -0800

Trying to set up a VPN at a managed office where a third party manages connectivity with an iron fist. I currently work for a company that has offices with Regus.

The company wants to go multi-site and link their systems together via the internet - so I figure VPN is the solution (I am somewhat new at this but comfortable with most technical things).

The problem I'm having is that Regus offer internet connectivity, but for VPN passthrough they want to charge a collassal monthly fee to enable this facility. They do however allow the opening of specific ports, but I think specifying the ones used for VPN would obviously make them want to charge the collassal amounts.

I've looked into Hamachi but the 5.x.x.x IP addresses confuse me somewhat, and although performing actions like pinging hosts works ok, I'd rather have it so a remote user would be part of the same subnet, even if it's via some tunnelling software adapter so the server would be 192.168.16.2 and the client over VPN would be 192.168.16.xxx (DHCP).

Is there any solution anyone can think of where I can specify ports to tunnel VPN over on the sly reliably and easily? Does anyone know a good software solution.

Ideally I'd like it that someone on the other end could turn on their PC connected to a router, and login transparantly to the Windows Domain in the main office without having to do anything.

Thanks in advance!

Fix my WiFi

punishinglemur — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:33:48 -0800

Suddenly, my laptop and wireless network aren't playing well together. Over the past few days, my laptop has been having a great deal of trouble connecting to my home wireless network. While surfing a night or two ago, I noticed that pages had stopped loading. I checked the wireless connection icon in the status bar, which showed that I had gone from a connection to the Internet to a "Local Only" connection. However, I could still access the Internet from my desktop, which is plugged into my router with an Ethernet cable.

Today, when I woke up, my laptop was no longer connected to my wireless network. I chose to connect to the network, which gave me Internet access for only a minute before it reverted to "Limited Connectivity." I disconnected and reconnected again, but after several minutes of waiting and a message from Windows that it was taking longer than usual to connect, I couldn't get a connection. I cancelled the process and started again, which eventually gave me an Internet connection. But once again, it only lasted for about a minute before dumping me back to "Limited Connectivity."

I have a laptop running Windows Vista Home Premium with an Intel Pro/Wireless 3945ABG wireless adapter. The router is a Motorola WR850G. I have another laptop and a wirelessly connected desktop that both have no problems with connecting. Unless I'm forgetting something, the only changes that have happened since this problem started were the purchase of the other laptop and installation of the latest round of Windows Updates.

What's wrong? How can I get my wireless back?

IRC Client for Dummies

Jimbob — Tue, 22 May 2007 02:34:27 -0800

IRC for dummies - what's the best client to reccomend for serial Internet Explorer users, that supports irc:// links? I manage a forum for my better half, and we've been looking for a way to include real-time chat functionality. After having found PHP browser-based chat scripts to be slow and clumsy, and some of the new flash-based chat options (like Meebo Rooms) to be unconfigurable, I've decided that good old fashioned IRC might be the best way to do things.

A certain percentage of members on the forum would probably get frustrated by installing and configuring a separate IRC client, particularly if they have to configure the server and room options (clients tend to come packed with dozens of IRC networks built in). For Firefox users, I'm going to send people a link to install Chatzilla, then provide an irc://... URL for them to click on to enter chat, and that works great. My problem is with IE users - I can't find any add-on for Internet Explorer with the equivalent functionality as Chatzilla.

So, my question specifically is:
- Is there an IRC add-on for Internet Explorer available, that works with irc:// URLs?
- If not, what's the simplest free Windows IRC client that reliably supports being opened by irc:// URLs?
- Failing that, any other ideas? I've ruled out a browser-based IRC client, like PJIRC, on the grounds that all the ones I've tried have pretty much sucked - have been slow, and buggy, and haven't worked for a certain proportion of users.

Crazy port-forwarding setup

jacobsee — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 23:14:52 -0800

Complicated port-forwarding situation not working: ICS on Win 2000 into WRT54GL, trying to port-forward to uTorrent. I have an old Windows 2000 (SP4) box with my internal pci DSL modem supplying my internet connection. This is running Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to the LAN which feeds into a Linksys WRT54GL router. I'm trying to set up uTorrent on my main Windows XP (SP2) pc with a port forwarded from outside but can't get it to work.

I'm pretty confident that I have the router set up correctly, following the instructions here

I'm less confident about my ICS forwarding setup. I've gone into the ICS setup, Services tab and added two services for uTorrent, one for UDP, one for TCP, with the correct port number. But I'm unsure of the IP address to use. I've tried every combination I can think of without it working yet. I've redialed the DSL connection each time, unsure as to whether the changes take effect without resetting the connection. One thing I haven't done yet is to reboot the Win2000 box because it takes forever to reboot.

Ip of Win2000 gateway is 192.168.0.1

Ip of my linksys is 192.168.1.1

static IP of my PC inside the linksys is 192.168.1.11

I've tried all these plus the computer name of the pc.

I've disabled the XP firewall on the pc and no firewall is running on the gateway computer.

uTorrent is working but very slowly. Apparently if I can get this port forwarding to work it will speed things up. Thanks!

Windows Media Encoder

lemonfridge — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 05:46:00 -0800

I'm trying to broadcast video using Windows Media Encoder, which works fine over the LAN, but not over the internet. It'll generate a LAN address, but when it tries to generate an internet address it simply says: (could not be detected). Im using a netgear dg834g firewall, and have opened the port that its trying to use (1283) for both incoming and outgoing connections. Ive also tried port 8080 as it seems pretty standard.

I've also tried connecting to my external ip manually even though WME couldnt detect it. but that didnt work either.

What am i missing?

Re-installed WinXP Won't Show CSS Images

ao4047 — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 20:09:32 -0800

Re-installed Windows XP on my old laptop (Sony PCG-SRX87). Let it run through all the updates. Now neither IE nor Firefox will show CSS background images. Example: when I view Gmail or Google Spreadsheets, there's no background images for any of the rows. Searching Google for css, background images, service pack 2, firefox, internet explorer, troubelshooting, etc... checked Internet Options, Windows Firewall, turned off firewall, turned off virus scanner. Any ideas?

Bonus and maybe related: text sizes in IE are huge. I go to View > Text Size and it is set to Medium but if I got to AOL.com homepage the headlines are massive.

Network tech support brain-twister

frenetic — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 08:02:38 -0800

Riddle me this: there are two Windows XP computers (desktop and laptop) on the same Internet connection, behind the same router, connecting wirelessly to it. The laptop often (but not every time) takes a really long time (30 seconds+) to send email and connect to certain websites. The desktop never has this problem. What's going on? Here are a few things I've checked:

- Wireless signal strength is fine
- When the laptop is taking a long time connecting to sites others work fine at the same time
- Scanned for spyware/viruses with MS Anti-Spyware and Spybot Search & Destroy (clean)
- Has the web problem in three different web browsers (IE6, Netscape 7, Firefox 1.5)
- Has the email problem in both Netscape mail and Outlook Express
- Windows firewall is disabled
- Disabled Javascript/Java/Cookies in Firefox
- Disabled any virus checkers/resident anti-spyware
- Cleared everything out of the tray
- Checked network setup, it's identical to the desktop

One of the sites that's reliably slow (though again, not every time) on the laptop but not on the desktop is tremblant.ca.

All I can think of at this point is that something's been fundamentally hosed and the laptop needs a full XP reinstall. But I'd love to know what the heck's going on if anyone knows.

got r00t?

delmoi — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 12:24:38 -0800

Where's a good place to get cheap Unix or windows hosting, meaning a server that I have root/Administrator access too? I don't need much bandwidth, but most of the deals out there that give you admin rights are high bandwidth and high cost. I'm just looking for something to play around with and put up personal services. I guess I'd prefer Linux. Anyone know of any good deals for something like this? A virtual server would be fine, as long as it had it's own IP and I could run whatever I wanted.

WHy does Windows periodically decide it can't find the internet?

ajp — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 11:11:25 -0800

Why does my Windows XP laptop keep losing the internets? Seemingly randomly, Windows decides it can't resolve domain names. This could be immediately after bootup, or more often, after a few hours of use. Filesharing programs like Azureus seem unaffected - their downloads/uploads continue. But browsers simply stop working, and pop up "Domain cannot be found" when I'm trying Gmail.com etc. In fact, I've noticed that the problem seems to be more frequent when I have a lot of P2P connections open. Could this be consuming some sort of Windows resource, and preventing other apps from making DNS queries?

It happens irregularly but often, like once a day. A reboot of the laptop usually fixes things, but logging in and out of any account doesn't.

Also, occasionally the signal strength of my wifi connection drops to near zero, even when the laptop is mere inches from the router. This doesn't happen often, and is again remedied by similar sledgehammer tactics.

I have no idea how to get into the bowels of Windows to debug, so any pointers to useful tools will be greatly received. Maybe it's time to put this box out of it's mysery and install a real OS :-)

Setup is:

Windows XP on a Clevo notebook

Belkin wireless USB adapter (model num F5D7050)

Buffalo Airstation WMR-G54

ISP is Zen ADSL

Thanks for any suggestions.

error message in IE using proxy server

shoos — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 20:52:05 -0800

Apparent proxy server problem with Internet Explorer on Win XP. I get "Cannot find server or DNS Error" messages on an irregular basis when accessing sites which require use of the proxy server. I don't have a problem initially getting onto the protected sites, but at random intervals the browser will give me the error message while I'm on them, and the only way to get back onto the sites is to restart IE. Is there a setting somewhere that I can change to fix this?

Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with internet and windows

Simplistic front end for Windows?

More MacBook Questions

Bluetooth Automatic Syncing Between Laptops

A new kind of dial-up internet hell.

Help! No internet in Windows on a Mac

How can I create or add a group of Favorites in Internet Explorer?

What is your favorite Online Backing Service? and why?

Automagic FTP Upload

configuration of vista breadcrumb bar/firefox second tab row

Wireless Internet Stops and Starts After SP2 Installation

How can I connect to my university's VPN network?

Why can't my computer connect to the internet reliably?

Why does Windows eat my internet connection?

Best OS for these requirements.

Only IE doesn't work

How to get a simple VPN set up without using standard ports?

Fix my WiFi

IRC Client for Dummies

Crazy port-forwarding setup

Windows Media Encoder

Re-installed WinXP Won't Show CSS Images

Network tech support brain-twister

got r00t?

WHy does Windows periodically decide it can't find the internet?

error message in IE using proxy server