| Author |
Message |
Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 10:10 am 
My friend needs to buy a computer because he has to work from home now.
I'm supposed to help him with this venture. I know next to nothing about computers, but it's still more than what he knows.
What things should I be looking for? Like how much memory, etc. He will not be buying an apple.
Any help is greatly appreciated. 
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Scooterrific
Member
07-07-2005
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 10:21 am
Yoo hoo Jimmer!
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 10:30 am
Hello?!?!? 
What kind of work does your friend do?
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 10:44 am
He needs basically to do spreadsheets in excel.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 11:19 am
Does he need to be able to connect to the work network? Can't he ask where he works what the base requirements for a computer would be?
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 11:30 am
If he is doing Excel spreadsheet type work then I'd say that any relatively inexpensive name brand laptop that runs Windows 10 will do the job. If he inputs a lot of numbers, getting one with a number keypad would be helpful.
As far as specific specifications go vs. price, that gets a little complicated to spell out here.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 1:33 pm
You just need to make sure they get the Microsoft software in order to use Excel.
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 1:49 pm
Thanks, everyone. He bought something from tiger direct. I don't know what because I went off to the post office.
I have an extra Microsoft software that has never been used.
Everything seems to be sold out from the regular stores. Guess that's what happens when everybody has to hunker down at home and work from there.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 3:11 pm
Interesting, when I was working if I had to work from home my employer provided a laptop, that even happened when I was doing some consulting work for a bank. They wanted everything on their laptop and required the VPN for access.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Friday, March 27, 2020 - 3:27 pm
Yes a lot of companies do that normally but these are rather desperate times. The company my wife works for wanted her to use a home computer but she politely resisted that and because she is respected and has good contacts she ended up getting a new laptop that was provided by her company. However, not everyone is as fortunate.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Saturday, March 28, 2020 - 7:06 pm
Grooch are you on NextDoor? Someone may have something that will serve his needs.
Or Facebook, but Next Door is full of helpful people.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Saturday, March 28, 2020 - 7:23 pm
What Seamonkey said.
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 7:27 am
HELP!
My friend got his computer today. (Long story)
We are trying to set it up. After fighting to get into the computer, we are trying to set up his email.
It keeps telling us that the email address is in use and that the password is wrong. I can use the same info of account name and password on my tablet and I can get into his email.
It was doing this crap when we tried to first get into his computer, but I was able to set it up offline. I'm having this same problem with excell and word.
What can I do to get rid of this problem?
P.S. I tried to reset his password, but when I tried to get the code sent to his email account, I had to enter the hidden portion of his email address. For example: They put gro**@tvclubhouse. I typed in och. They tell me I'm wrong! On top of it, there's not even enough **** for my name! We then tried having the code sent to his cell phone. They had the beginning part of his phone number there. We typed on the rest and we never received a text for the code from them.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 8:35 am
Need a few more details ...
Is it a company email or is it something generic like gmail?
Is he trying to access it with his web browser?
It was doing this crap when we tried to first get into his computer, but I was able to set it up offline.
More details?
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 8:47 am
It's his cable/WiFi provider for his email.
We can get into his email using the web provider, but not when we tried to set up the email icon on the computer.
I used the info from this web page to get into Windows 10.
Link
Thanks!
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 9:02 am
So you can get into his mail via the web (using a browser like we use to look at TVCH) but not using the Mail application that comes with Windows?
If the answer to the above is Yes, then look at it again with the Web browser and then be sure to click on anything that says "log-off" before just closing the browser (even if you close the browser it may still consider you're logged in). If you can do that, then try to set it up again using the Mail.
Hope that makes sense.
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 9:13 am
It makes sense, but we tried setting up his email account before we resorted to using the web. And I can't set up Office home and student.
From the link I posted above, I did a search for this problem on the guys page. I'm reading this article now: Link and trying to make sense of it.
But even if, let's say, he has a professional and/or a personal Microsoft account, shouldn't his email address and password still work?
Or is there a problem because he has that account hooked up to his old computer?
Does that make sense? 
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 9:27 am
I would think it should still work. He should be able to access his mail from multiple devices if he wants to.
Does his cable provider offer instructions for setting up email?
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 9:36 am
I don't know. But it has to be a problem with his Microsoft account since the computer won't let him access excel, word, etc.
Also, he left NYC and is using his WiFi that he has out here.
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Jimmer
Board Administrator
08-29-2000
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 9:49 am
It could be two different issues?
What happens when he tries to setup/use Microsoft Office?
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 10:09 am
Keep getting "wrong password".
I just mucked things up. I tried to reset his password and put in the wrong year for his date of birth. I know have to fill out the long form which includes giving every entail address he ever used and a promise to give them his first born son.
I will do that later. Put a fork in me, I'm done for now.
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 10:21 am
If you haven't done much to the computer in the first place, just reset and start from scratch.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026528/windows-10-reset-or-reinstall
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 2:32 pm
Does he need to register the Microsoft software before using it? Usually there's a product key that has to activate the software before use.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Tuesday, April 07, 2020 - 3:25 pm
I now vaguely recall a similar issue when I got my last laptop a few years back. It had to do with the Microsoft email address I used, which was @msn.com. However, the Microsoft products were looking for a domain of @outlook.com. Apparently, everyone that has an msn email, also has a outlook email. It was something in the background. I had to call the Microsoft help desk to resolve the issue. They gave a reset password for @outlook.com. Then, I could do the subsequent steps to access the Microsoft products.
So, I don't know if this is the issue, but you might just want to call or email Microsoft Help Desk to resolve the issue.
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Grooch
Member
06-16-2006
| Thursday, April 09, 2020 - 2:14 am
Kooklie, the problem is something like you described.
I took yesterday off from the computer problem. Actually, I was forced to because I had to wait over 24 hours to get a reply from them for the long form I filled out with him sitting next to me to give me the correct answers.
Woke up this morning to see they still say he is not who he says he is. They want me to resubmit the form. He doesn't have another 24 hours to wait!
I am getting ready to go off to work. Can somebody find me a phone number to call, pretty please! They don't give a phone number in their rejection letter.
This is utterly ridiculous.
Thanks in advance!
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