Is anyone ever going to bother their *** to update this forum?

[Catalpa]

I use Vista and Firefox on one pc (this) and a recent Windows and Firefox on a laptop which is about a year old and this forum is slow on both - has always been, in fact, since the unfortunate update that puts some faded photo of lavender fields up as wallpaper behind this forum. I regularly lose the will to live as I wait for the forum to load, topics take the same sort of time and going from page to page in a multi-page topic can take a minute between pages or the loading just hangs and I have to start again.

No other forum - or website, for that matter - takes the time that CF takes to load (apart from AngloInfo and no loss there [Www]) but I'm fond of CF and its long-established and well-respected (snigger [6]) posters and am genuinely a bit sad it's now so antiquated and knackered.

But do I expect Archant (it is still Archant, isn't it?!) to plough any money into improving it? No, not at all. Why would they? I'm sure CF magazine is a shadow of its former self and there just aren't the number of people hoping to relocate to a rosier future in LFB any more so circulation figures must have dropped. Therefore, invest money improving the forum... don't think so.

Best bet is to have JCMBetty start a new free forum for us... [:D] [6] [:-))]  Betty...!

[suein56]

[quote user="Catalpa"] I regularly lose the will to live as I wait for the forum to load, topics take the same sort of time and going from page to page in a multi-page topic can take a minute between pages or the loading just hangs and I have to start again.[/quote]

It must be very frustrating but there is plainly something not quite right with your computers, or the way they are set up. I have a 2nd hand Win7 laptop with a really-quite-naff processing unit and even that manages to take just 4 seconds to load the pages of a topic on here ie from page 3 to page 4 of this topic.

[quote user="Catalpa"]

No other forum - or website, for that matter - takes the time that CF takes to load ... [/quote]

IMH experience using my laptop there are a few websites and fora which are slower.

On the other hand my 8 years old Toshiba laptop zings along with XP and FF, so the processor and the motherboard (both better quality on that machine) do make a huge difference but so does the way you have it set up.

Sue

[PaulT]

Of course, a large number of fora have advertising on the pages which finances them. Seems that this forum is not interested in adverts apart from for its magazines and calendars so it derives no other income. Perhaps, if the owners were a little more business minded........

[YCCMB]

@ Catalpa.?

Anyone can do it! Please, feel free! My helpful days are over...

[Catalpa]

[quote user="suein56"]It must be very frustrating but there is plainly something not quite right with your computers, or the way they are set up. I have a 2nd hand Win7 laptop with a really-quite-naff processing unit and even that manages to take just 4 seconds to load the pages of a topic on here ie from page 3 to page 4 of this topic.[/quote]

[:D] Sue, you're very sweet, but concluding there is something wrong with my pc based on the fact you can do something on yours doesn't really take us any further!

For all I know, you have no security on your PCs which may be why yours work so easily. Just because you can do something in Chrome does not invalidate someone else's difficulties with that browser on this site; just because I use Firefox and encounter none of the difficulties others do with Firefox doesn't invalidate their difficulties and doesn't lead me to conclude - in a topic about the well-known, well-documented shortcomings of CompleteFrance's forum - that the problem lies with everyone else's setup.

I do use a third computer while in the UK - not mine, it's a Mac with Safari - and that one has difficulties with CF too. Three quite different computers in two countries all of which which CF can't cope with? Hmmmm. [;-)]

@Betty - but you did it so well last time... [:-))] But it wasn't a serious suggestion. [kiss]

[suein56]

[quote user="Catalpa"]

For all I know, you have no security on your PCs which may be why yours work so easily.

[/quote]

On the contrary I am extremely security conscious.

Last night I had real problems accessing, and using, quite a few sites and it turned out the latest upgrade on my Avast anti-virus was screwing things up. So, after fruitlessly trying many work-arounds, I uninstalled it and put on something else. Now all is fine and fast again (well as fast as my Win 7 machine goes).

The lesson I learnt is nothing stays the same and adaptation is the name of the game.

Sue

[mint]

Sue, I am so glad I read your post.

Avast has been offering me new updates but so far, I have firmly resisted![:D]

[AnOther]

FWIW: 3 laptops, 2 PC's, 2 tablets, 2 smartphones, Firefox, Chrome, IE, all appropriate security, Chrome compatibility issues excepted no undue problems with this site at all. I've checked !

I run AdBlockers too which can tend to slow things sometimes.

No, from this and comments from others the only logical conclusion to draw is that whatever your problem is it's with you machines(s) or your ISP not the site.

Something in very badly amiss if it's taking a minute to move through pages and hanging the browser.

Don't shoot the messenger !

[AnOther]

[quote user="mint"]Avast has been offering me new updates but so far, I have firmly resisted![:D][/quote]Why would you do that, they don't issue them for fun ?

Running an AV programme with an out of date virus signature file is almost as big a risk as using none at all !

[suein56]

[quote user="mint"]Sue, I am so glad I read your post.

Avast has been offering me new updates but so far, I have firmly resisted![:D]

[/quote]

My problem, seemingly, is quite specific to a Windows 7 64 bit machine, especially, it seems, my secondhand one.

There seems to be something somewhere in it which Avast is messing up but I am not sufficiently techy to be able to diagnose what.

Along with others in my situation if Avast is uninstalled then the problem goes away. So that is what I have done and on this machine I am now using another AV.

XP and Win 8 and 8i machines are not affected. Our other 2 machines (both XP) are fine with the Avast upgrade/update.

So if you have any one of those then you should be OK to update.

As Another says it not a good idea to have an outdated AV.

Sue

[Spyder]

[quote user="AnOther"]

Something in very badly amiss if it's taking a minute to move through pages and hanging the browser.

Don't shoot the messenger !

[/quote]

I agree. I have no problems with this site. I'm using a Win 8 PC, Win 7 laptop and iPad - all have up to date, appropriate security software

[YCCMB]

@Catalpa...I knew you were joking..?

@everyone else: this forum is becoming increasingly like the average hardware/software manufacturer's help page:"it's not happening to us, so it must be your fault" . Search the Internet for almost any computer problem and you soon discover that for each problem there are generally dozens of fixes, some of which will work for one or two people, yet the same fix for the same problem will not work for others, even when all other parameters are identical. Likewise, people with exactly the same parameters may never experience a problem that others are having. This site can be a PITA for me on any one of several machines, using any of a number of browsers, and it hasn't improved despite me recently changing address and ISP, so it's not that, either. And at both addresses I have superfast broadband.

The fact remains that there are elements of this site that require the user to make changes and compromises to their setup in order to optimise the experience of using the site. Usually, it's the site that is modified to optimise the experience for its users....if it wants to attract and retain them, that is.

[Rabbie]

I find the site runs reasonably OK on my laptop using windows 8.1 and IE 11. Even the quote facility works properly. However the Quote facility does not produce pretty results when used on my IPAD.

I believe some/most of the problems are caused by the incorrect HTML being used. Anyone who thinks the HTML is correct should use the HTML validator at http://validator.w3.org/ . They will be amazed at the number of errors highlighted.