Maybe these tips will help you.

Most of the problems encountered with computers today are because of their age; and their software being out of date too. If you have a relatively old computer your browser may not support the new technological features of today.  Your browser, and computer, will not automatically be upgraded and updated any more if it is very old. An old computer (more than four or five years old) will probably not accept the most recent and up-to-date versions of browsers and software anyway. (especially older AppleMacs.)

1. *   The old St. Mary’s web site pages keep coming up instead of the new pages:
   

This is because the storage area (web cache) in your computer stores all the pages you have ever visited and it is quicker for your computer to get that page and display it than go to the server site for the page. This means that you only get ‘old’ pages and not the new fresh and up-to-date pages. You really need to clear your web cache to get rid of all the old pages (see notes below). This will also free up Memory in your computer and make it work faster. Another solution is to ‘refresh’ or ‘reload’ the page that you are on (the old page) by looking at the very top row of your web browser and looking for the ‘refresh’ or ‘reload’ symbol which is like a line circle with an arrow at the end. Click this symbol to refresh the old page and it will collect a new up-to-date and fresh page from the server. Most browsers also have a “Clear History” facility which will delete the cache of visited pages.

Many people do not know that their Broadband WiFi system (or fixed line Modem system) also holds a cache, as outlined above, so in order to obtain really up-to-date new internet pages is well worthwhile to switch off your WiFi, or Modem, for ten minutes, before switching it back on again. This gets rid of old frequently visited pages and sites, and will clear its cache. You really need to do this quite often, but once a month will usually suffice.

*    Pages and graphics seem quite dark:

Your computer screen needs to be brighter so increase the brightness, usually by selecting the key on the very top row of your keyboard that looks like sunlight, often key F2. Key F1 will decrease the brightness. Whilst you are doing this you will usually see a graphic appear on your screen showing the status bar of the brightness.

*    The sound on my computer is too loud:

Again you need to use the keys on the very top row of your keyboard. Key F10 will switch off the sound (mute), F11 will decrease the sound, and F12 will increase the sound. Whilst you are doing this you will usually see a graphic appear on your screen showing the status bar of the sound.

1. *   Videos, LIVE web cams and/or music files will not work:
   

This is usually because your current browser does not support more modern types of video or music files. You need to upgrade or update your browser (see last paragraph below) to the most recent release; or even upgrade your computer if it is relatively old. Be sure that you have Flash Player, Quick TIme Player, Real Player, or something similar, installed on your computer as a “plug-in”. The  “Safari” and “Google Chrome” browsers will usually play the old Shock-Wave-Flash ( .swf) files for music and video, but the old “Firefox” browsers usually don’t. The new “Opera” browser will definitely not play the older  .swf  files. Some browsers will prompt you to download the newer video and music players and will give you links to do so, but some do not. You would think that in this modern day and age all browsers come as standard and are all the same - but they certainly are not!!

*    Google maps and street scenes don’t work:

Most probably this is because an older computer , and older browsers, will only show up “lite” versions of pages on Google, or similar sites, for the reasons stated above. Newer computers and browsers will almost certainly show up the most recent versions of Google and its sites.

*    Pages do not show up on my Smartphone or Mobile phone:

Most phones are so new that they will all have all the recent technological software for internet use without any problems. If you do have any problems it’s probably better to contact your supplier, manufacturer, or system provider.

*    Pages seem to take ages to load:

There are many causes of this. A slow or over-burdened Broadband connection can slow down the receipt of your data into your computer and browser.

Another reason could be that your computer’s memory is becoming full up, (not usually the case with new computers because they have so much more memory now) but it will increase the speed of your computer anyway if you regularly delete history files, web cache files, downloads folders, deleted files from your computer system and cookies etc from your browser, and all the other old files that seem to disappear into the wilderness!

Every action on a computer will store a file in its cache (storage) and keeps a copy of what you have just done. You may not know that your Email facility stores all its graphics and attachments in a Download Folder and this will very quickly fill up with files and take up a lot of valuable space. In this folder will also be all the files that you have downloaded from internet sites you visited. Internet chat programmes (Messenger etc) and social networking sites (Facebook etc.) will also keep many files in a cache or history folder.

If you have never removed these files and your computer is about three or more years old then it will certainly start to slow up. Use a software package, usually already installed into your computer, such as “Clean My Mac” or a similar version for PC’s and Windows to clean up your computer. If your computer does not include this software then downloading it and using it is quite easy to do, but you may feel that an expert can do this for you for a small charge. This will free up lots of spare space and will definitely increase the speed of your computer. Regular use of this software will keep your computer up-to-speed and will alleviate slowness problems.

If you have an old hard-wire (cable) modem (much safer than wi-fi) that is over three years old then your modem probably needs upgrading to a new one to increase its efficiency - contact your Broadband supplier for a new modem.

Purchasing a higher package from your Broadband supplier will almost certainly increase speeds too.

*    The text on some pages is all over the place, or pages won’t load correctly:

Sometimes there is just one page that will not load correctly when using one type of browser, even though all the other pages load correctly! What will load correctly on one browser might not load correctly on another. It’s probably due to a bug or a corruption in the browser and so sometimes it pays to upload a new copy of your current browser, so it overwrites your browser and repairs any corruptness or bugs.  If this does not work then it is best to delete or uninstall your browser completely and upload and install the latest browser version. It pays to have another browser on your computer so that if the other one does become corrupt you have a spare browser to upload a replacement for the corrupt one.

*   Some information about “Cookies”.... How to protect your own personal information from data harvesting.....

“Cookies” are a very small files that will be placed on your computer every time you visit a web site. This not only helps the site to function correctly but they will also collect information about ALL you activities on your computer as well as noting all the sites you visit. The sites then collect all this information, collate it, and then send it on to third party data collection sites and businesses; in other words they sell all the information they collected on you to anyone else who will pay them for it!! Cookies dropped on to your computer will also allow further cookies to be put on your computer from “other interested parties”. Here is a simple example: after visiting a web site about a holiday hotel I started getting adverts on my Facebook page about hotels for weeks!!

If you block the cookies on your computer some web sites pages will not show up and your Facebook page will not work! So how can you overcome this problem?

The best way is to delete all the cookies AFTER you have finished visiting web sites, and this includes social media sites and email sites. I visited my email web page then went on to my Facebook page then looked up my cookies list and found that 34 cookies had been dropped on to my computer just from visiting these two web pages!!

So if you want data protection delete all the cookies after visiting web sites.

There are some software packages that will do this for you, including deleting your browsing history - which is also an important and protective thing to do. Here’s how to do it manually yourself....

Chrome browsers: On the top left-hand corner click on “Chrome” and then choose “Clear browsing data” then follow the instructions to delete cookies and history files.

Safari browsers: On the top left-hand corner click on “Safari”, choose “Preferences”, “Privacy”, and click on “Manage website data” to remove all cookies, you will be surprised just how many are there!!

Firefox browsers: On the top left-hand corner click on “Firefox”, choose “Preferences”, “Privacy and Security”, then tick the button or box to include blocking “cookies from unvisited sites”. Also at the same time check the box to “Do not track” - this will stop your personal data from being sent on the third party sites via cookies.

For any other browsers the methods are very similar to those above, so if you have a PC it is best to search for a page on Google about the particular PC browser you are using and how to delete its cookies and history files.

Any other problems? Contact me on internet@saintmarysharborne.org.uk for advice.