Originally Posted by
gale
I'm pretty handy with the computer. However, I have some friends that are not and the service pack 3 update on windows xp (remember that mess?) pretty much screwed up their whole system. I had told them to hold off on the SP3 update but they insisted they wanted to keep auto updates on. I can see your point but after what I had read about all that, I glad that I hold off on OS updates. I had problems with an update a long time ago not meshing with my kids' homeschool software. That was a mess that held up schooling for about a week.
I do wholeheartedly agree that simply not doing updates is a really really bad idea though.
I'd like to think that they've learned from the XP SP3 fiasco. I had no trouble with 98+% of the machines we did it on. I had one blow up, but it was fixed by reapplying the update, and one that just wouldn't play nice and it stayed downgraded to SP2 for a few years, because something with HP was incompatible. Luckily that was my own laptop and I could handle it security wise. I just didn't have the energy or inclination to figure out how to fix it, after HP publicly announced they were looking into it and didn't get back to the community any time soon. I still have that machine, and it's on SP3 now, and stable. *shrug*
Part of the problem if I remember right was at least partly HPs (And therefore also Compaq) fault. They shipped their machines with both the Intel and AMD drivers for the CPU (which should never happen, bad things happen with incompatible drivers on a machine), and Windows went and looked for the drivers to determine which CPU was in the machine and guessed wrong 50% of the time. (or some other %) They should have been reading hardware IDs but it looks like they weren't for some reason. By far, the majority of the machines I had to address with a failed SP3 update were "as shipped" HPs. There's always a small percentage otherwise that will fail. There are millions of different hardware combinations, they're bound to find an incompatibility with a few.
I bet the other issue was browser related
IE is too invasive as part of the operating system, it's why we can't remove it easily. If it's updated before a piece of software that relies on it is updated to manage the new version, things go boom.
Originally Posted by
sewnsewer2
I have mine set for updates already.
It's really strange that you would still be on IE8 then.
The reason you don't see the nag to go to IE9 anymore is that FF doesn't care if your IE is out of date.
Originally Posted by
Kcmomto2
Same issue over here. I use both a MacBook laptop and an iPad. Doesn't happen on my laptop, just on the iPad. I emailed the webmaster for the board, and she said it's an iPad issue. (IMO, probably iOS issue in general) She suggested I download an ad blocking app, but, since she told me she "only uses real computers", couldn't tell me where to find one.
In my view, if you are a webmaster and care about your user's interface experience, you will be on top of how your site appears on ALL devices your users are likely to be on.
I suspect you're right about the iOS, but with the number of iPad / iPhone / iPod users on the internet and on this site, I think it needs to be addressed. I use a PC to do most of my surfing, but when I'm out on the road I use an iPhone, and it irks me to pay for the ads (in bandwidth). I've downloaded adblock for iOS, and will try it out over the next few days and report back.
Kijiji.ca and the QB are both really bad for ads and I try to avoid using them when I'm on the road because of it.
There. I said it.
I avoid using the QB because of the ads.
I run a forum and 4 other websites and none of them have ads on them for that reason, and my users tell me they appreciate it. Less ads means more real estate for your site's content. Not to mention the site loads faster, and many many people block them anyway. I would be interested in knowing the click through rates these days, and if they're even worth it. The ads don't work if people don't click on them.