old_rider wrote on 04/08/14 at 19:34:21:

Well, its always a good thing to read the manual first, that way maybe you can figure out what you need to do.

There usually is a trouble shoot section in there...

And you can always go to the local computer repair guy and ask what they charge. But if you are not computer savvy some of those guys will take advantage of you, not saying all of them do, I would ask around and see who is recommended. See if the business has a website or check you local town internet info and see if there are any complaints or recommendations there.

Yeah...i'm goofing around trying to get the .iso image burned from mate 16  64bit... but it isn't working no matter what I do the discs won't work, so I downloaded 15 cinnamon  and its loading as I type, worked first time.
Now downloading 16 mate 32bit to see if it will work.......

When 17 LTS comes out, there will be a lot more information about tweeks and problems/fixes this and that.

People tend to just flinch past the boo boos in the little stutter burp 6 month versions since they aren't around very long anyway -- and since Linux Mint takes up only 15-20 gigs they also tend to keep the last 2-3 versions that worked really well on their hard drive and if they get really irritated at something will just revert to a version that worked totally well for them.   This last one was very solid until Firefox began to screw up, so I guess I'll just Chrome along until Mint 17 comes out.

Point being this -- the LTS versions get the needed effort to come out relatively polished and more flawless use-wise, and they tend to get more little things fixed over the course of their 5 year run -- and as you mess with it more and more you will learn to stick with the LTS versions that work well for you for as long as you can.

Next point, Firefox has a lack of skilled people issues right now and is cutting back on problem fix/control because of this -- Chrome is beginning to be the predominate browser both in Linux and in the rest of computing as well because it is working relatively better at all of the things you use a browser for and is coming across as more flaw free as well.  

It may in fact be a better browser long term going forward.

I don't like it, I wish it wasn't so -- I have loved Firefox for a long long time now and want it to get back on its feet and roll forward again.  But things like the YaBB text list thing can't continue -- it is enough to make me switch.

PS.   The YaBB thingie starts out when you copy/paste something -- it is like it stays stuck in the paste buffer and every time you do anything selecting with the mouse it drops what is in the paste buffer in that spot as a little symbol that later on (when the screen rolls) blows out into a full paste.

PS, the issue may be with YaBB text boxes and something modern standards-wise, YaBB isn't noted for keeping up in general.  

And Mysterious doesn't run the current version of YaBB either -- sometimes is 2 back from the current intentionally as upgrading YaBB is a pain in the butt plus YaBB current is always sorta buggy.   YaBB is more like a programmer's tool box anyway, not an app or a program or a distro like we like to think about them.


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Selecting which OS to boot.   One of the magical things Boot Repair Disk will do is let you re-rank the boot order of your stuff.

Even if you have 3-4 different OS versions on there.    

So, not only does it fix Windows root kit attacks it can let you keep backup versions of Linux Mint easy at hand, and let you roll an old one to the fore again if you get tired of what you are currently playing with.

And you will go distro hopping, eventually.   Peppermint, Centos, lordy there are just so many things to try out there that you just can't help yourself.  I just gotta go sample one every once and a while.  

I can comfortably hold 4 distros on my 80 gig hard drive at a time, but generally keep it trimmed to the current best and the beloved favorite oldie and one "current experiment".   The experiment tends to get its partition cleared if it isn't as usable as the current Mint LTS and I have kept Mint Mate 9 (last Gnome2 natural version) as my oldy goldy for the longest time now.

BTW, you can download the ISO and burn a copy of the old Linux Mint releases, all of them are available from the Mint repository.   So if a hard drive were to totally just drop dead you could still get back the one you loved the very best.

Art, fear not, we are discussing issues that long term Mint users have between various upgrades of the distro.   And of various upgrades of browser varants which come and go much more fequently.

Issues with the text box on YaBB posting box (the list here) likely have to do with YaBB but only show on the latest version of Firefox (which seems to change every month or two now).

Issues are issues, they come and go.   Glad you are making some progress, sounds like you be able to will heal up your XP to a certain degree and get your Bios battery replaced.

Check the free version of https://www.malwarebytes.org/ out as a one shot anti-everything, I keep a copy of it on my wife's machine and I run it after Avast has done its best to find the rest of the crap that constantly gets on her machines at school.   You never find it all, really ....

My wife lives in a virus pit called a University and they too are struggling to survive with a whole lot of old XP machines everywhere.   They are likely to temporarily spend the money to buy Microsoft's cost you out the butt coverage for a few years until they find some other path to take.

And believe me, somebody will come up with a path.  If the world crunches on MS enough over the XP killing thing, Windows 9 might come out and be suitable to run on an XP box and by then Microsoft will be suffering enough to be amenable on the price.

But that would depend on MS being able to write a decent OS for Win 9 that people would really want -- which so far shows no signs of happening -- preliminary builds look like Win 8.1 still according to the pundits.   There was a Windroid for a short time, but it looks like it isn't being pursued now.

Something about losing two of their software packages to FOSS suits over copying FOSS code I understand.

Been trying to get the old PC (Compac Presario) to accept the 32bit version of mint 15 cinnamon, but it don't like it...

It keeps coughing and sputtering as it is loading, I am going to try to defrag it and try again. This puter' is probably 8yrs old and is my trial for complete Linux OS.

LOL, only thing is I don't think I have a xp disc anywhere, i'll look around, this was the mother-in-laws old PC, it was LOADED with little bugs (she literally clicked on anything that looked interesting).

I also have the wife's old pc, that if moms won't work out then i'll put it on hers. It is about 6yrs old and I built it personally from bits and pieces from tiger direct. I used to build all the families PC's according to what they needed them for, sent my super gaming machine to my son in Illinois and he broke it...sigh... it is now about 4 years old, wish I had it back to play with.

I also have a couple of old hard drives with windows on them laying about and i'll try to load some real old versions of Linux on them just for giggles, if I can get them to recognize all the stuff in the wife's puter.

Raises my blood pressure on occasion, and I cuss a lot, but it helps me forget my current situation and it keeps my mind from turning to pudding (its jelly now).

well it turns out avast was a bad thing,  my computer basicaly quit working, at least for net, and was dragging badly at other tasks too
removed avast, comp is back to functional, though annoying
I still didn't get the manual printed out, spent most of the day today fixing a flat on the rear of the S40