[tooseevee]

      All of a sudden this morning the font got so tiny I had to go get a maggerfrying grass to read it, all the avatars are gone, "Quote" is gone and the messages are one whole single line sentence stretching to infinity off to the right. And I didn't have to Login. I waited 'til now (12:30 EDST) to write - still same.

[Richard230]

No changes for me - yet.   

Something to do with daylight savings time, perhaps?

Yesterday when I turned on my Sony VCR, the language on the screen prompts was in Spanish. 

[Bilgemaster]

I haven't noticed any weirdness lately with this Forum on any of my devices, running a variety of flavors of Android or Windows. What are you using for a machine and browser? Windows 10 (and possibly other versions) has been pushing out an update to users. Maybe some digital flotsam's gumming up your specific machine? I assume you've tried rebooting it?

[tooseevee]

I haven't noticed any weirdness lately with this Forum on any of my devices, running a variety of flavors of Android or Windows. What are you using for a machine and browser? Windows 10 (and possibly other versions) has been pushing out an update to users. Maybe some digital flotsam's gumming up your specific machine? I assume you've tried rebooting it?

           It's almost 10:30 the 13th here in RI and I've spent an hour here and there since I first posted trying to figure out what happened.

           First off, I've been using my first ACER Aspire with Windows 7 Home Premium since 2012. After getting it I also used my PC with Windows XP for another year before throwing it all off my 2nd floor deck onto the driveway, smashing it further with my 4 pound harley hammer and then taking the pieces to the dump. The 2012 laptop has been more or less totally satisfactory once I wrenched needed control from Windows and made it do what I! wanted it to do. Oh, and I use Mozilla Firefox and this is being written on the 2012 ACER which now has the same problem as described originally.

           Secondly I HATE Windows (I go back to the days of making boxes of punch cards to feed into the main frame in the university admin building basement to create one small graph, then COBOL, RAMIS, Fortran, Apple IIes and floppy discs) and I swore I would never get another computer that had Windows. Remember early '80s FIDOnet?

           So in 2017, what did I do? Yup. I got a new ACER with Windows 10. Dummy!! I hated 10 from the beginning and hated Google Chrome even more. Windows 10 seemed to INSIST I use Google Chrome and fought me at every turn when I tried to get my old little Google search window back. Never succeeded. Windows 10 makes you use the browser address window as your search window.

           Windows 10 also FORCES you to allow Windows Updates. You cannot do ANYthing until you allow the Update. And then you have to go in and reset some of your settings because Windows has gone and put them BACK to what you DID NOT WANT!

           This happened the night of DST so that might have something to do with it. Windows must have done an Update at the same time. BOTH computers were effected.

            If I click on Reply (not Quote) I can then Scroll down to the message with one long sentence into infinity to the right and click on Insert Quote. After clicking Insert Quote I can then see the message in total in the way it was written (IOW in normal paragraph form) but ONLY if I click on Reply.

           ALL the avatars are gone. Paragraphs are one long sentence with no way to get to the end so Quote does not appear on those messages because I can't get far enough to the right. On messages with single or multiple short sentences all is well.

           And on the 2017 ACER, I no longer have to Login to get permission to answer messages. On the 2012 I do.

           I'm not writing this expecting any solutions. Just ranting. I made my living using technology for 30 years. Now I hate it. I really want to live at the end of thirty (30) miles of bad road with no electricity, a 1950s pickup and a dog, but I can't escape the house and property I've put 30 years of my life into and is at the end of ONE HALF mile of bad road and only has 4 houses on it all 4 owned by just me and one other lady who is the best neighbor in the world. We see each other about once a month and she does not "drop in to visit" or borrow my lawn mower, but we are the best of friends 

             As long as I can one way or another read and answer what I want to read and answer I'm good to go. Maybe I'll figure out what's going on some day. That goes for all the rest of this insane world also. It seems that the lunatics have finally wrenched all control of the asylum away from those who still have half a brain.
 
           

       
           

           

       

[tooseevee]

           It's almost 10:30 the 13th here in RI and I've spent an hour here and there since I first posted trying to figure out what happened.

           First off, I've been using my first ACER Aspire with Windows 7 Home Premium since 2012. After getting it I also used my PC with Windows XP for another year before throwing it all off my 2nd floor deck onto the driveway, smashing it further with my 4 pound harley hammer and then taking the pieces to the dump. The 2012 laptop has been more or less totally satisfactory once I wrenched needed control from Windows and made it do what I! wanted it to do. Oh, and I use Mozilla Firefox and this is being written on the 2012 ACER which now has the same problem as described originally.

           Secondly I HATE Windows (I go back to the days of making boxes of punch cards to feed into the main frame in the university admin building basement to create one small graph, then COBOL, RAMIS, Fortran, Apple IIes and floppy discs) and I swore I would never get another computer that had Windows. Remember early '80s FIDOnet?

           So in 2017, what did I do? Yup. I got a new ACER with Windows 10. Dummy!! I hated 10 from the beginning and hated Google Chrome even more. Windows 10 seemed to INSIST I use Google Chrome and fought me at every turn when I tried to get my old little Google search window back. Never succeeded. Windows 10 makes you use the browser address window as your search window.

           Windows 10 also FORCES you to allow Windows Updates. You cannot do ANYthing until you allow the Update. And then you have to go in and reset some of your settings because Windows has gone and put them BACK to what you DID NOT WANT!

           This happened the night of DST so that might have something to do with it. Windows must have done an Update at the same time. BOTH computers were effected.

            If I click on Reply (not Quote) I can then Scroll down to the message with one long sentence into infinity to the right and click on Insert Quote. After clicking Insert Quote I can then see the message in total in the way it was written (IOW in normal paragraph form) but ONLY if I click on Reply.

           ALL the avatars are gone. Paragraphs are one long sentence with no way to get to the end so Quote does not appear on those messages because I can't get far enough to the right. On messages with single or multiple short sentences all is well.

           And on the 2017 ACER, I no longer have to Login to get permission to answer messages. On the 2012 I do.

           I'm not writing this expecting any solutions. Just ranting. I made my living using technology for 30 years. Now I hate it. I really want to live at the end of thirty (30) miles of bad road with no electricity, a 1950s pickup and a dog, but I can't escape the house and property I've put 30 years of my life into and is at the end of ONE HALF mile of bad road and only has 4 houses on it all 4 owned by just me and one other lady who is the best neighbor in the world. We see each other about once a month and she does not "drop in to visit" or ask to borrow my lawn mower, but we are the best of friends 

             As long as I can one way or another read and answer what I want to read and answer I'm good to go. Maybe I'll figure out what's going on some day. That goes for all the rest of this insane world also. It seems that the lunatics have finally wrenched all control of the asylum away from those who still have half a brain.
 

[Bilgemaster]

Before it follows the desktop out the window, just for shits and giggles, why not try some distro of Linux like Ubuntu on that old 2012 laptop, and see how you like it? It's a freebie download that sometimes gives elderly hardware a new lease on life and contains minimal bullshit. You can install it alongside Windows just to check it out.

[tooseevee]

Before it follows the desktop out the window, just for shits and giggles, why not try some distro of Linux like Ubuntu on that old 2012 laptop, and see how you like it? It's a freebie download that sometimes gives elderly hardware a new lease on life and contains minimal bullshit. You can install it alongside Windows just to check it out.

           Your above is just one Lonnnnnnnnnnnng sentence that I cannot even scroll to the end of unTIL I click on Reply. THEN I can click on Insert Quote and see the message as it was written (a paragraph).

           I was going to switch to Linux in the late '80s and just never did it. Too busy with computer and OCR stuff at work; so much so that I didn't even want a computer in the house. Then I just let Windows go on. And on....... code upon code upon code...... Repeat.

           I have SO many bookmarks and addresses and thousands of photos, pictures and documents and other stuff on these two laptops and have devoted SO much time to them. Plus Windows would find out and retaliate in some way. I know. I've attempted other things also. It's like shooting the Devil in the back. You'd damn well better know what you're doing.

            BTW the "elderly" laptop still functions just fine. I had to replace the AC inlet and the keyboard a while back. THAT was a learning experience, but I went slow(ly) slow(ly) and caught the monkee. 

[Grant Borden]

tooseevee,

Have you tried another browser such as Googles Chrome?

Grant

[tooseevee]

tooseevee,

Have you tried another browser such as Googles Chrome?

Grant

          No. Thanks for the suggestion, but if you reread my original massage you'll see that I hate Google Chrome  

           I've been perfectly happy with Firefox for a whole lot of years and also just plain old Google. On this new laptop with Windows 10, it took me a while to wrench back control of my own computer from both W 10 AND Google Chrome.

           Everything else is still perfectly OK. Only this forum was affected and I have figured out a workaround that's just fine.

           My older laptop with W 7 Premium and Firefox is also perfectly fine except for THIS forum and the same workaround works there also.

           This happened to both laptops the night of the switch to DST. They are both ACER Aspires. The new one is a 2017, the older a 2012.

           

[Grant Borden]

Tooseevee,

I did go back and read all the prior post, you are correct it was not read prior to my posting.

Even though Chrome also is not my favorite browser it, among others, are used when some of the other sites or applications are giving problems.

Grant

[tooseevee]

            Just an update on the Strange Things that happened the night of the Daylight Savings switch:

             Strange Thing 1: The very first time I went on this morning EVERYTHING was back to normal.
                                       and I said "Alleloolyah!".

              Strange Thing 2: The 2nd time I went in, it was all back again; 4 mile long, single line paragraphs, tiny, tiny print. missing "Quote", missing avatars, etc..

               Strange Thing 3: I no longer have to Login every time I go out and come back in.

               Oh, well. My workaround still works so all is well     

                 

[Adrian II]

Your old lap top might have enough disk space to run Windows 7 AND a user-friendly Linux installation.

A.

[tooseevee]

Your old lap top might have enough disk space to run Windows 7 AND a user-friendly Linux installation.

A.

           I've spent a lot of time researching and reading various forums on the ins and outs of downloading Linux. There are a lot of considerations to consider 

           There seem to be a lot of ways that you can go astray and it could become a nightmare for me to deal with PLUS I could lose the W 7 that actually works very well on the elder laptop if I do something wrong. As it is, the elder laptop works just fine for many many things we use it for.

            I really have no huge problem (with either laptop) as the ONLY thing effected on both of them is this forum and my work-around works just fine. It's just not worth the nightmare I might get into trying to download Linux (although I realize how good it is vs. Windoze).

            I also HATE the format I get when I Google something on this laptop with W 10. Google Chrome forces it's way in and I cannot stop it. I much prefer the results I get with just plain Google on the laptop using Windoze 7.   

[Adrian II]

Download the Opera browser?

A.

[tooseevee]

Download the Opera browser?

A.

          Nah. Thanks, but I'll stick with the devil I know    Switching to new stuff is sometimes like trying to shoot the devil in the back; you better be sure what you're doing and have a large magazine. My magazine holds less every year and my frustration tolerance is even smaller. I've had pretty good luck with Firefox and Thunderbird for many years and I know them well, the ins and the outs, the ups and the downs. Start over with a whole new set of ins and outs?; me thinks not.

[Bilgemaster]

You could try a fresh installation of Firefox, if, like me, that's the browser you prefer. I've had to do that more than just a few times to flush out the goobs, especially on my "system managed" rigs at work. If there are bookmarks you wish to keep, just export them first as a single file named like <bookmarks.htm> (I think that's the default name given under Firefox' Bookmarks-->Export menu), save that somewhere on your drive. Next, uninstall Firefox from Control Panel-->Programs. Fire up Explorer or Chrome or whatever other browser remains, head over to getfirefox.com, download and install the browser. When you first run it, it should ask you if you want it to be your default browser. Choose yes, and the other browsers should henceforth leave you be. Oftentimes the old bookmarks will just reappear by themselves. If not, just browse to your saved <bookmarks.htm> file and bookmark that. Presto!

Like I said, I've done this Firefox refresh many many times, both for myself and for coworkers, chiefly to override our network-preferred Windows Explorer browser, since it measurably ran like iced molasses on some of the online databases we used for research. Eventually the network admins cooked up a special dispensation for our department to run Firefox.

Anyhow, that might expel your text-handling gremlins and reel back your margins from the far horizons, Tooseevee. The whole process takes only minutes.

[tooseevee]

You could try a fresh installation of Firefox, if, like me, that's the browser you prefer. I've had to do that more than just a few times to flush out the goobs, especially on my "system managed" rigs at work. If there are bookmarks you wish to keep, just export them first as a single file named like <bookmarks.htm> (I think that's the default name given under Firefox' Bookmarks-->Export menu), save that somewhere on your drive. Next, uninstall Firefox from Control Panel-->Programs. Fire up Explorer or Chrome or whatever other browser remains, head over to getfirefox.com, download and install the browser. When you first run it, it should ask you if you want it to be your default browser. Choose yes, and the other browsers should henceforth leave you be. Oftentimes the old bookmarks will just reappear by themselves. If not, just browse to your saved <bookmarks.htm> file and bookmark that. Presto!

Like I said, I've done this Firefox refresh many many times, both for myself and for coworkers, chiefly to override our network-preferred Windows Explorer browser, since it measurably ran like iced molasses on some of the online databases we used for research. Eventually the network admins cooked up a special dispensation for our department to run Firefox.

Anyhow, that might expel your text-handling gremlins and reel back your margins from the far horizons, Tooseevee. The whole process takes only minutes.

           OK -I bit the bullet. Did a clean out of Firefox then went and downloaded it fresh as a baby's butt. Did all my settings and preferences and all that and

            NOW! Everything is perfect; all the avatars are back, everything's in nice paragraphs, "Quote" is back

            UNLESS I Login! As soon as I Login, it all goes back to what set me to bitchin' and moanin' in the first place.

[Bilgemaster]

That's semi-baffling--Might it be some persistent garbled text formatting preferences data in a cookie left on your machine by this site? Try deleting cookies by going to about:preferences#privacy in Firefox (cut-n-paste blue text into address line and hit <Enter>), and under "Cookies and Site Data" click <Clear Data>, Restart machine, and as they say in the Haynes manuals, "observe effect on performance".

Or, before you mount it onto the nethermost regions of your choice AVL, you might try manfully waving the wee Gremlins-Be-Gone Bell over your laptop that I sent you yesterday afternoon in thanks for that OEM silencer and bonus horn you'd sent me. Go ahead and sound it over your keyboard "nicely thricely" in keeping with the Olde Ways, just to see if its sweet tinkling chimes will coax and trap the evil pixies from a laptop as well as a roadway.

[tooseevee]

That's semi-baffling--Might it be some persistent garbled text formatting preferences data in a cookie left on your machine by this site? Try deleting cookies by going to about:preferences#privacy in Firefox (cut-n-paste blue text into address line and hit <Enter>), and under "Cookies and Site Data" click <Clear Data>, Restart machine, and as they say in the Haynes manuals, "observe effect on performance".

            Tried that before, doesn't work. As soon as I Login I get the two block long sentences from anything that is a paragraph, the avatars disappear, no "Quote", etc.. I have to Click on "Reply", scroll down to the post I want to respond to and click on "Insert Quote". Then I see the message with normal paragraphs and can add my response under the [/quote] at the bottom of the post I'm responding to.

            I'm all set, it works for me and I ain't a'marchin' any more to figger it out (as Phil said). I will not worry it to death any longer. 

[Bilgemaster]

[...Snip!]. I'm all set, it works for me and I ain't a'marchin' any more to figger it out (as Phil said). I will not worry it to death any longer.

Well, it can't hurt to try the bell! Should be there by tomorrow or maybe Friday.

[tooseevee]

Well, it can't hurt to try the bell! Should be there by tomorrow or maybe Friday.

           Bell not here yet, maybe today. Do you have any ideas what I might look into about this Login glitch? Everything is perfect if I'm not logged in. As soon as I Login it all goes to shite.

            Maybe I should go to our local computer genius shop? They're all grown ups now who were hacking ATMs back in the '80s when they were 13  It must be something to do with how my Firefox connects to this site or vice versa.     

[tooseevee]

           Bell not here yet, maybe today. Do you have any ideas what I might look into about this Login glitch? Everything is perfect if I'm not logged in. As soon as I Login it all goes to shite.

            Maybe I should go to our local computer genius shop? They're all grown ups now who were hacking ATMs back in the '80s when they were 13  It must be something to do with how my Firefox connects to this site or vice versa.   

           Bell arrived yesterday. Very cool. It will keep my son's bell company; a gift when I first got the Enfield. Interesting that you had never heard of biker bells (maybe it's just a harley thing?). More later next week. Surgery tomorrow. Feel like warmed up shit sandwich (with no mayonnaise).

[Bilgemaster]

Well, good luck with the kidneys...must have been all those miles on shockless bobbers back in the last century fizzing up those Pabst Blue Ribbons, Eh? If you get bored while catching up on your Jello, gimme a holler. I'll PM you my number again, just so you'll have it handy.

As for the weird formatting issues, my best guess to resolve it was dumping those cookies. I can't think of anything else that might cause such an issue so site-specifically as just this Forum. You didn't happen to configure any of those 'Windows Accessibility' features for those with poor vision or tweak the default font or other formatting display options under Firefox, I take it? What about screen display settings? I cannot guess why any of those might affect just this Forum, but I think we've long since established that its installation could have been less "buggy".

Anyhow, take care and get well. The great riding times are on the doorstep, and we're all pulling for you.