Lehaut

I was given a couple of old laptops and have used a USB wireless key to connect them to my Neuf box.  I leave them running over night or during the day when I am not using the main desk top.  They are just uploading stuff I have previously downloaded to keep my ratio up (usually about 2). They use less electricity than the desk top and are (I believe) somewhat protected against thunderstorms as they run off a transformer when connected to the mains.  The Neuf box needs to be on for the telephone and is "protected" by a surge adaptor. It certainly works for me, and reduces the workload on the main computer hard drive.

... on the numerical keypad!

Mmm software maybe, simple 0s and 1s, things men can understand, but the computer must be female, otherwise why does it all hinge on the mother board??  :)

Have tried saving the files in several different locations. Althought, taking the point in a post above, my French Vista was allegedly saving the downloaded files in c:\user\...\temporary file which is strange as that is in English whereas the usual locations are in French. Having given up last night, when I booted up this morning, everything works as it did before - downloads saved where I want them.  I changed nothing!   Confirms my suspicion that all computers are female and so their reasons for doing things are beyond the understanding of a mere man!   

The downloads are nowhere, not in the folder I send them to nor in the "téléchargement" folder in the names user (admin) section (there is only one user, at admin level).  Until yesterday, I had no problem in sending download files to any folder, drive or USB key.  Have just tried a download on a second computer I have running another version of Vista and it put it straight on the designated USB key, no problem (although it is to use a second computer just for downloads!). When, for example I tried downloading 8 megs to a USB key with 20megs already on, the computer goes through the full download sequence, but when you examine the USB drive, there is still 20 megs on it, not 28! I did notice that on the second computer, Vista appears to put the download in a temporary location before transferring to the designated location, something I cannot see happening now on the problem computer. Its not always easy to be sure, but to my knowledge I have not altered any of the normal configurations, not installed any download managers etc.

Sorry if this has been brought up before, cannot find it in "search" mode.  Without getting involved in a Vista War (!)  until yesterday I had been getting on OK with it, started with Home now using Intégrale, with IE8.  Suddenly I cannot find anything that I download.  Have let Vista decide which folder to put it in, have taken off AVG (which some say cause the fault), have disactivated and activated the UAC , have tried to load to a USB key,  all without success.  I can watch the file load, it will even delete the original file if I am loading it to the same place as a previous version, but does not show the new one.  Have tried "run" instead of "save" when downloading an application, but nothing happens.  Have Googled and found many with the same problem but no effective solution (its also said to be a problem with Firefox too!) Would appreciate any advice, its driving me mad.  

We have a completely free option which we use.  Neuf offered a free Sim card with 10 free minutes per month as part of their package (8mb broadband, 9GB on line storeage, free telephone calls etc).  If you go over the limit then you pay their normal charges.  We ordered the card, fitted it in an old portable our neigbour gave us and have used it without problems for the last year or so.  We got a new 06 number with it and can consult the bills on line. We have a "normal" SFR card phone with lots of credit on it so ringing the other mobile is never a problem.  The most we have gone over the 10 mins limit is 1euro 50 cents.  Once the card is activated there is no monthly charge or revalidation involved. You have to be with Neuf (now SFR) to get it if they still do the offer.  Mind you, reading some of the other posts, some might think the downside of certain ISP's make this an risky "free" option!!

Interesting, my wife was recently stung by a wasp at the recylcing site in the village. She had a similar arm swelling reaction. This week a French female friend of ours who previously had no reaction to them was stung It spread up her arm and right across her chest, neck and face, closing one eye. She needed injected antihistamines. The previous Sunday a Spanish friend was stung in front of me over lunch. I poured cider vinegar on it straight away, she had no adverse reaction

A local French friend started making speciality jams for the local markets here.  All his fruit etc has to be bought from registered producers to prove "traceability" - he cannot accept gifts of fruit from our garden, for example, to keep his costs down! His jams have to be made in premises that are allowed to do bulk cooking.  To this end, we (the local council) allow him to hire our village hall to make his jam in it.  This has an industrial type kitchen and meets the requirements.  He pays a very nominal charge for half a days hire and actual costs for the gas, electricity and water. This has avoided him making a large initial outlay to buys his own gear. Might be worth asking for the same permission in your village if the facility exists.    

I too have been using AVG in its various forms on several computers for some time without any problems.  Have just cleaned out the 7.5 and installed AVG 8.00 (twice!) and initially it worked fine.  However, the last few times I have started up the computer, the screen resolution has defaulted to 4 bits colour and 800x600.  It is not possible to change this resolutions via any means.  System is completely up to date XP and a Nvidia 7600gt video card, again with the latest Nvidia driver. I built the system 8 months ago (Shuttle) and this is the first time this sort of thing has happened. The only way to get things back to normal is to restart the system several times.  If AVG does not start, the resolution is fine.  If AVG does start, then the resolution is either degraded or fine.  Have CCleaner and Advanced Windows Care which have both been run after each install/de- install. Has anyone else had similar problems/ideas Thanks in advance.    

Having got a bit fed up with the number of power cuts we had/have (13 micro cuts in one night) I installed battery back up supplies for the children's computers and also "mine".  Am I right in thinking that an UPC also protects against these spikes? Thanks    

Be interesting to know how many of us are now taking an active part in the communities we have chosen to live in.  I too have now been elected (responsibilities include Buildings and Roads, Schools and Education (have two children at the local college who started school at 2.5 yrs), and flowers and gardens).  Unlike some of the posts above, there has been little leeway shown towards my lack of understanding of either the system or the language so far, which is a bit of a surprise to me. So far, its all interesting stuff - budget meeting last week at two days notice, and every meeting ends with a meal or drink.  Church today for the "Congrès Cantonal des Anciens Combattants" with visiting Senator from Paris, village "band" and a Vin d'honneur.  Will my liver last the full 6 years?  

Have to agree, ours has been up and down for the past two days!

Have just tried our Neuf telephone to the UK (15:49, 28 Feb) and it works OK.  However, have had the same problem before that you are encountering. Try this link for a status report on your line http://neufassistance.neuf.fr/neuf/support/etatreseau.do?type=LimitlessReportSheet&archives=true It does show that they have had the same problem this month on the 6th and 13th. On another tack, I ordered a TV decoder from them in Dec .....still waiting!    

Wonder if this will muddy the waters a bit, although there appears to be a sting in the tail and we know the French pick and choose which bits of the EU Law they wish to implement! EU: File-sharer identities protected 1:04PM, Tuesday 29th January 2008 The EU's highest court has ruled that ISPs can refuse to hand over the names of alleged file-sharers. The European Court of Justice says that under EU law, ISPs only have to disclose their users' identities in criminal cases, not civil litigations."Community law does not require the member states, in order to ensure the effective protection of copyright, to lay down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings," the court says in a statement. The court was ruling on a dispute between Spanish music rights holders' body Promusicae and Telefonica. Promusicae was seeking the identities of alleged file-sharers, by forcing Telefonica to match their IP addresses to contact details. The court refused the request, arguing that although several EU directives are designed to protect copyright, personal privacy rights are paramount. "Such protection cannot, however, affect the requirements of the protection of personal data," the court says. Individual legislation The court did note that EU rules do not preclude individual member states from legislating to compel ISPs to reveal personal data in civil proceedings. "The directives on the protection of personal data also allow the member states to provide for exceptions to the obligation to guarantee the confidentiality of traffic data," the court explained.

I was, thanks!

ErnieY, When I decided to change to Neuf, I asked those living near me how they got on with the Phone side.  They said it was "OK".  When I actually got Neuf it was 4mb/164kbs.  It was totally impossible to use the Internet and the Phone at the same time.  When I revisited the neighbours, it turned out that their internet usage was very limited and rarely were they in the position of transmitting info and using the phone at the same time.  Having spent 6 month battling Neuf, I spent 20 mins with a tech bod who eventually admitted that for a service that could handle both sets of traffic (ie out going phone line and up loading data) then 300kbs was the minimum.  I am sure our house is no different to many others but with 4 people using the internet at the same time there is a lot of traffic being up loaded, sharing the same band width as the outgoing telephone line.  I was not alone with this problem as witnessed by the comments on the JustNeuf forum! The info given to me by the tech bod and my understanding may be wrong, but the more upload capacity you can have, the better.  We had to physically disconnect the internet everytime anyone wanted to make a call before, even then the receipient had difficulties with the spech being cut.  Now its fine - but then we don't video call/use the second VOIP telephone line facility yet.  Neuf have already told us that they are increasing the upload speed, but will remain ADSL.  The only symetrical provider I know of is Nomotech who gave us 2mb/2mb, but their service left a lot to be desired. But this is only based on my expereince, I am not an expert but always willing to listen!  

We are with Neuf, degroupage.  Pay for 8mb down and 800kb up (critial if you are VOIP), actually get 6.6mb down, 666kb up.  Our neighbours on Orange get 2mb on the same French Telecom line.  Even the French telecom engineer could not explain that.  Our other French neighbour had just changed from Neuf to SFR and regrets it as the speed/service is not so good.  So there appears to be other factors at play as Neuf/SFR use the same physical cables as French Telecom but have their own connection to these cables at the exchange (we lost our phone line for a few days when we changed over as Neuf disconnected from the FT exchange).  We are all the same approx distance from the exchange. The only down side is that if there is a problem with the line, FT put us at the bottom of the list when it comes to repairs.  Be warned however, that in our experience what another FAI (ISP) promises in their literature and what you actually get may be wildly different, even if they test the line.  It took us 6 months and threats of legal action to get Neuf to give us a service that actually works. Lehaut

Not sure it falls exactly in the bracket, but we received our letter kicking us out of the CMU today  ( 15 December 2007)  from St Lô.  We have been here 11 years.  In the same envelope was the bill for the new quarter's payment. It invites us to challenge the decision through the CRA.  We will certainly do that in a polite sort of way, sending them a copy of their own new rules and pointing out that they came into force on 23 November 2007. Left hand this is Right hand over??   Lehaut

Have had the same problem with thick walls and two children and a wife  all wanting access in different places.  I use a second Neuf box connected with some cat 5 to the first one.  The second one is high up so only the roof tiles affect the signal.  Even so I had to get a directional ariel and attached it to the outside wall of my wife's workshop which is 20 meters away in the garden.  Have managed to have all 4 computers connected (mine to the Neuf box direct and the other three on wireless).  Did have the plug in the wall system which worked fine in the house (all on the same phase).  However, they started to make the Neuf box stall. The only thing that drives me mad with WiFi is that one computer runs fine for a while then drops the connection to the internet, even though the signal strength is excellent.  Sometimes it reconnects and other not.  There are no electrical devices near the Neuf box.  We do have three wireless phones, none of which are near the box but I understand that they do frequency hop around the 2.4ghz band which is thought to cause problems.  Anyone a magic solution?  (have tried allocation individual IPs or allowing the system to allocate) Lehaut  

Do let us know how you get on, have a look at the Golf when you are there.  Personally I prefer wrapping the excrement in newspaper, setting light to it on the door step then ringing the bell.  Stamping on it whilst hot seems to spread it further.[+o(]

Hi, Some elderly French neighbours came to me yesterday.  Their son had found in Ouest France a 2003 LHD French registered Passat for sale in Scotland.  Price 4500 euros.  They contacted the person via Email and had a reply.  It asked them to send 1200 via Weston Union to an outfit called Pet-Forwarding Inc.  The person selling the car one "Steve Thompson of 10 Crown Street, Aberdeen" then undertook to transport the car to France when the balance was to be paid.  Five minutes research showed the Pet-Forwarding site to be suspended and also listed on the 914 scam list.  My advice to them was to leave it alone, sad they cannot get the car for well below market price but better not to risk it.  I gather that there is a VW Golf now listed in the paper for an equally silly price. Do you know of this one? Lehaut

Ian, I signed up with Neuf 9 months ago.  It took 6 months and threats of legal action to get the system to work.  They allowed us to sign up for a system that even their own technical support people admitted would not work. Basically an upload speed of  164kbs was insufficient for the internet and the telephone line to work at the same time. To use the phone we had to disconnect the internet. Even then the transmission was broken up. However, I did not sign up on line, but went into a local shop (SFR) who offered the service.  At least then, I could go back to the shop and deal with someone face to face.  The rep was responsible for testing the line, assuring me it would work and so I had no compunction in badgering him to badger NEUF. Even our next door neighbour, who is French, has had the same problems, so its not just the language barrier.  NEUF themselves advised us to use the unofficial NEUF forum to find out what's going on.  If you read the articles in the French equivalent of WHICH, you will see that the small claims courts are full of people taking ALICE, FREE, NEUF, FT etc to court over all their services. Have to say now, after much effort, NEUF is great.  Second SIM card for 10 mins free calls per month, on line storeage, free music download, PC and Numeric TV etc. Would advise anyone to sign up in a shop rather than on line.  

[quote user="cooperlola"] Thanks Lehaut.  I had also heard that a circular was going out, and also that the "5 year" rule might be clarified to CPAMs but nothing as to its true content. Thanks for that. Can we put this reply on our website? Pretty please? [/quote]   Fine, if it helps others.

Those of us who have the 5 year residency box ticked may be interested in the following which I have just received from the Embassy in Paris.  Have been pushing them for a reply for some time:   Dear .....   We understand that this situation is very frustrating.  However, I assure you - as I said in my previous email - that our Health Attaché is in regular contact with the French Health Ministry regarding this measure and is representing your concerns.  Because this measure has only recently been instated, not all CPAM offices have yet received the updated information from the French government.  The French Health Ministry will be sending a circular to the local CPAM offices clarifying the directive on residency very soon. This is French law and the French Ministry of Health has to issue this information to its own local offices.  We are working with the French government to make sure that they do this as quickly as possible.   Kind regards Sara Gill Press and Communications British Embassy