The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

Why am I the only user who seems to find Sumatra abominably slow to render?
I have used it on my XP Dell desktop, Win8 Asus laptop, now on Win10 HP laptop. All have been 64-bit machines, with plenty of ram and drive space, and I always find Sumatra takes 6 to 10 seconds to load each page, one at an excruciating time (except for pdfs that are image pages only with no text layer, which are fairly snappy.)

I have tried it off and on ever since it was in beta, donkey's years ago, and my experience has never changed.

PDF-XChange has been my default reader for years now, and I couldn't be happier.

Is there a trick to using Sumatra that I need to know?

I think the problem is the PDF, not the viewer. All PDFs are not created equal.

I believe you do a lot of work with stuff sourced as PDFs from archive.org. Those are problematic. They seem to be page images from a scanner in a PDF wrapper. The challenge for the PDF viewer software is how well it renders those images. (IIRC, the underlying images are TIFF files, as that's what scanners generally save to.)

I see Sumatra bog down on those, but don't care. I don't get stuff like that unless there is no other option. For documents explicitly created as PDFs from input files from document processors, Sumatra behaves as well as any other viewer I've used.

If PDF-Exchange works better for you, use it.
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Dennis

[GrannyGrump]

@Dennis -- thanks for the feedback. I had not considered the pdf source, but you are entirely correct --- almost all the pdfs I need to access are from archive.org, for purposes of ebook rehab. I guess Sumatra will just have to be my red-headed stepchild It is a shame -- nice small footprint, simple gui, etc.

[BetterRed]

Since I upgraded to Win10 1809 this has started up again.

Maybe fixing it was a bug so they unfixed it - grhhh.

BR

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Since I upgraded to Win10 1809 this has started up again.

Maybe fixing it was a bug so they unfixed it - grhhh.

BR

Shot in the dark, but if you had Fast Startup turned off, the major releases often turn it back on? Can't see how that would affect the router when you shut down though. Is it connected directly or through a switch?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Since I upgraded to Win10 1809 this has started up again.

Maybe fixing it was a bug so they unfixed it - grhhh.

And the PC is connected to the router via an Ethernet cable?

Mine is, as the desktop doesn't have built-in Wifi, but I have never seen any of the routers I've used reset when the PC reboots.

I'd have a conversation with TP-Link about it. Windows may have changed what it said to the router on startup in different releases, but the router shouldn't care. It should stay up and running and keep other things connected. The assumption that a connected device might disconnect and reconnect again should be a design assumption.

If it proves not to be, I'd look at replacing the router. Which specific model do you have?
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Dennis

[BetterRed]

Dennis - none of that is worth bothering about, only happens when I shut down or do a restart, and it only takes a minute or so to reset. Doesn't happen with my Win 7 Alien Alpha, it started when i installed Win10 1607 on my desktop (which I've now replaced). Bizarre that it went away with 1803, and came back with 1809 - same router, same firmware, same ISP, same carrier, same cables.

Win 10 should not be interfering with network devices - period. Hmmm, I wonder what would happen if I put a switch between the PC and router, might try that when I've got nothing better to do.

If, and at this point it's a mighty big if, I switch to an HFC connection the NBN are trying to force me into installing they will provide a new router for a mere $10, free if I go to their pick-up depot. But, the cable from the street to my router will cost at least $300, the ISP wants a $100 for a Plan Change, and there's no guarantee that the QoS will be any better the existing ADSL2 connection at the exact same tariff!!

NBN - National Broadband (Bastardised) Network

BR

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Shot in the dark, but if you had Fast Startup turned off, the major releases often turn it back on? Can't see how that would affect the router when you shut down though. Is it connected directly or through a switch?

Thanks for the tip, I've set Fast Start off, didn't know it was there - I'll let you know if it has any effect. If it doesn't I'll inject a switch into the loop, I have one somewhere - maybe more than one.

BR

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Thanks for the tip, I've set Fast Start off, didn't know it was there - I'll let you know if it has any effect. If it doesn't I'll inject a switch into the loop, I have one somewhere - maybe more than one.

BR

FWIW my router is Netgear but I use TP-Link "smart" switches and a TP-Link wifi bridge with no problems. (weird, I know, but I have whole-house surge suppression so can't use powerline devices).

Fast start doesn't seem to buy me much on my 2 Win10 desktops. One is an A10 - Fast start sometimes causes boot errors and it has to start over so I'm quickly reminded to check it after major updates. They always mess up my folder settings too...

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

FWIW my router is Netgear but I use TP-Link "smart" switches and a TP-Link wifi bridge with no problems. (weird, I know, but I have whole-house surge suppression so can't use powerline devices).

Fast start doesn't seem to buy me much on my 2 Win10 desktops. One is an A10 - Fast start sometimes causes boot errors and it has to start over so I'm quickly reminded to check it after major updates. They always mess up my folder settings too...

I don't give a monkey's how long it takes to 'wake up'. It's long been my habit to press the on button, visit the bathroom, go get coffee from the cafe with a brioche, strangle the neighbours cat, look at the phone etc. Often times, by the time I get to the keyboard the monitor's powered down (10min). I was weaned on Ferranti paper tape bootstrap loaders and 360 IPL decks

BR

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I don't give a monkey's how long it takes to 'wake up'. It's long been my habit to press the on button, visit the bathroom, go get coffee from the cafe with a brioche, strangle the neighbours cat, look at the phone etc. Often times, by the time I get to the keyboard the monitor's powered down (10min). I was weaned on Ferranti paper tape bootstrap loaders and 360 IPL decks

BR

Ha - not to be outdone - I worked on a 360 model 22 with 32K and 4 2311 disk drives. Then a bit later on an Intel 8080 development system - I think I still have a box of 8" floppies somewhere in the basement. Those were the days...

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Shot in the dark, but if you had Fast Startup turned off, the major releases often turn it back on? Can't see how that would affect the router when you shut down though. Is it connected directly or through a switch?

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Thanks for the tip, I've set Fast Start off, didn't know it was there - I'll let you know if it has any effect. If it doesn't I'll inject a switch into the loop, I have one somewhere - maybe more than one.

BR

Bingo - just did a Windows Reset followed by a Windows Shutdown - no router restarts

Why didn't MS gurus suggest turning off Fast Start.

Because I never sit around waiting for it to boot, I've no idea whether it took longer or shorter - maybe a minute to get to the desktop (no logon) and another one to get the tray apps settled and a tidy taskbar.

Thanks a heck of a lot - BR

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Bingo - just did a Windows Reset followed by a Windows Shutdown - no router restarts

Why didn't MS gurus suggest turning off Fast Start.

Because I never sit around waiting for it to boot, I've no idea whether it took longer or shorter - maybe a minute to get to the desktop (no logon) and another one to get the tray apps settled and a tidy taskbar.

Thanks a heck of a lot - BR

To be fair, there's no obvious connection between the problem and that setting. I only mentioned it because you said it returned with 1809, and I know my update to 1809 changed that setting.

My question is why the major releases often revert some settings to defaults? And, naturally, without telling you?

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

To be fair, there's no obvious connection between the problem and that setting.

Except that turning Fast Start off stopped my router resetting at Shutdown/Restart, whilst having very little, if any, affect to my start times.

AFAIK my old desktop couldn't do Fast Start. When when I first read about its presence in Win 8 etc I dismissed it as a YAFINNBA (Yet Another Feature I Need Not Bother About). What I've needed for yonks was a simple way to capture screen images - after 30 years they finally delivered.

BR

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Bingo - just did a Windows Reset followed by a Windows Shutdown - no router restarts

Why didn't MS gurus suggest turning off Fast Start.

Likely because it didn't occur to them that it was the problem.

Because I never sit around waiting for it to boot, I've no idea whether it took longer or shorter - maybe a minute to get to the desktop (no logon) and another one to get the tray apps settled and a tidy taskbar.

Thanks a heck of a lot - BR

I've had Fast Start turned off here since shortly after I first started running Win10.

The first machine I ran Win10 on was a Dell Small Form Factor box, and Fast Start was deadly. I had all manner of problems that showed up as BSODs with it on.

Fast Start is a new and improved variant of Hibernation. The assumption is that the machine you are using is a laptop, and you want to shut it down in one place and bring it back up in another as fast as possible. So when Fast Start is enabled, it doesn't actually shut down. It stores the current state on disk and restores it when you power up again. If you are ding something that requires an actual full shutdown and reboot, you have real problems, because it doesn't.

The HP Small Form Factor desktop I have now is a lot better behaved. The underlying problem with the Dell was inadequate hardware. It came with Win7 Pro, and Win10 would install on it, but running it was an unhappy experience. The Dell suffered a hardware failure - the power supply failed - and the nature of the design was that I couldn't just replace the PS. I had to get a new machine. That proved to be a blessing in disguise.

My desktop is normally on 24/7, so boot time isn't usually a factor. On occasions when I do need to reboot, like new software that requires it or fiddling with hardware, it's quick. Win10 Pro is installed on and boots from an SSD, and I can cold boot to a Win10 desktop in about 45 seconds.
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Dennis

[cc_in_oh]

So we were talking about MS Office last week, and today Amazon has Home & Student 2019 for $100, so I read up on it a bit. Excel has some minor new features, plus of course you get all the 365 updates since 2016 was released. But one review mentioned that 365 subscribers will soon be getting some major improvements, so 2019 is basically already obsolete - those improvements won't show up until (presumably) Office 2022.

Sad, but I suppose I have to give MS some credit for still offering fixed-price versions when so much software has gone down the subscription-only path...