72 2 - 15 October 2019
Beware of Chromebook
expiry dates
Thanks for highlighting that supportfor
Chromebooks runs out after a set, secret
time (Needto Know, Issue 483). Ifell foul
of this when I purchased a usedLenovo
ThinkPad Chromebook in March 2018,
only to receive a warning in January 2019
that support updates would cease.
I was happy with the Chromebook
itself but nowhere in the advert did it
mention theyear of manufacture or,
more importantly, that within fiveyears
of that date, supportfor it would cease.
I contacted the seller,explaining the
situation, andreceived a blunt one-line
reply stating that “the model numbers
are available on adverts soyou can do
your due diligence before buying”.The
wise words in your article should be
followed for all Chromebook purchases,
and I would also adviseto avoid buying
from uncaring sellers. Buyer beware the
trap that is made of Chrome.
Maurice Elliott, Malvern
How toavoid unwanted
software extras
In Issue 483’sStar Email, BrianTurnbull
madecomments aboutCCleaner
wanting to install antivirus software on
his system. Avast, whichowns CCleaner,
is not the onlycompany that does this.
Many years ago,you hadto tick boxes
if you wanted theextras on offer but in
recent years, you ha ve had to do the
opposite. Lo ts of boxes are now pre-
ticked and ifyou can’t be
botheredto scroll to the
bottom of theterms and
conditions,you will miss
some of them.To avoid theseextras, you should
always download the program from the
software maker’s ow n site and, where
possible, choose Custom installto
deselect any items hidden in a package.
I ha ve a collection of downloaded apps
and software that areready
to be installed again when
required. I don’t update
them because I know the
versions I have are free of135246Quiz Answers: Issue 484To Kill a
MockingbirdThe Catcher
in theRyeThe Grapes
of WrathFear of
FlyingFlowersin
theAtticWild SwansYour comments onWikipedia,
especiallyconcerning its
“officious moderators”, were
most interesting (Everipediareview,
Issue 482, page 17). I usedto be a
great fan of Wikipedia until I thought
to co ntribute acouple of articles of
my own.
I couldn’t believe the wall of
ill-mannered, ill-informed, ignorant,
rude bile that I encountered froma
load of ignoramuses – the so-called
‘administrators’ with the power to alter
anything. I wrote two articles, both on
subjects about which Iwas well
informed and knowledgeable. Having
contributedover the years many
articlesto journals inmy own field,
I belie ve that the articleswere factually
correct, clear andwell written.
What I got backwas just offensiveHopeless administrators ruin Wikipediarubbish. One administrator’s comments
were so absurd that I looked up their
‘user’ pageto find out about their areas
of expertise. I hadcontributed an article
on an arts subject.This person listed
about seven interests, mostlycomputer-
related topics and not one arts-oriented
subject – andkung fu!
To get around this problem of
ignorance, Wikipedia has developed
endless ‘Help’ pages – or, in otherparlance, a ‘rule book’. But these
pages are hopeless –you read the first
page on screen and thinkyou’ve got
the hang of it, then discover tha t
there’s another five pages of garbage!
The most notorious rule, ofcourse,
is the ‘Notability’requirement.We all
no doubt agree that Albert Einstein
was ‘notable’, but there are a million
other topics of legitimate interestto
many people.
Personally, I think thatWikipedia
should no longer brand itself as an
encyclopedia but as a broad
information source for the computer
age – thatway, everything isrelevant.
It should also employ a professional
staff and get rid of the amateur
‘administrators’. Otherwise,Wikipedia
will soontotally lose itsway.
Ross Dallas,EdinburghStar EmailYou can let us know your vie ws via:
[email protected]. uk,www.face book.com/webusermagazine
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