Hello, WE Users,
I thought I would share my experience and observations about WE7.5.2
on my Windows 7 Pro 64Bit machine, which is a month old (Dell XPS8300).
1. Get out of all programs and put yourself on the desktop. WE
speaking just fine.
2. Go to dinner. No one home but me and my wife. Big security deal,
right?E xpect to be back online in about 45 minutes. So, why "log out?"
3. Just ignore the system setting of ten minutes for the display to
go off and the one hour idle time before the computer goes to sleep mode.
Hey, this sounds pretty reasonable, right?
4. Come back from a very tasty dinner. and WE is still asleep, even
after I touch the left control key just once. The machine's drive
kicks in. the Fan starts and all seems well. But WE still sleeps. No
talking of any kind.
5. I believe I'm at the 'password' prompt since I've seen this sleepy
behavior before. So I type in my password thinking maybe WE will
awaken. (Maybe I should call WE Snow White?) No speech. Only silence.
6. Get wife (who is sighted) to look at screen (which is awake) and
tell me where the computer is. It's on the desktop. Since WE is
still asleep, I try the Ctrl-\ to get into the control panel of WE.
Sure enough, I'm there. Go through the shut down of WE and it seems
to shut down. At least there is no indication that my wife can see
that WE is in fact shut down., or awake for that matter
7. Hit Ctrl-Alt-w, the default 'factory setting" hot key to get WE
running again. Wife observes a brief moment when the WE control panel
appears, only to disappear in nodville. Because, you see, WE is off
to visit Rip Van Winkle. Nothing, no speech.
8. Wife selects 'log out' option and when the 'login' screen
appears, she switches from my WE dependent 'Dave' account to her own
account and logs in. Since she doesn't need WE, it does not start and
all seems just fine. Her account works very nicely. She looks over
the weather page and logs off.
9. After she logs off, WE is still sedated and the normally talking
login screen remains quiet. Using the arrow keys to bounce around the
various user names remains mute. Very disturbing since WE seems truly
gone. <tears of sorrow>
10. With wife's help, I log in hoping against hope that WE will truly
start after the account is set up by MS Windows. No luck. She sees
the quick flash of the WE control panel again and there may be a
pulse, but alas, no. It is not to be. WE has become a zombie. It is
not really dead as it will not come to life with the ctrl-alt-w start
up hot key. It is not alive because it does not speak. It cannot be
killed either. It cannot be resurrected unless I have my wife try the
restart option. Even then, the machine does not cooperate. I'm a
little fuzzy on the exact sequence here. I only know that I have to
recycle power for things to return to what passes for normal any more.
I think MS windows and WE and perhaps many other programs are engaged
in a race. I say this bbecause once WE is talking after the start up
sequence, three, and sometimes four, different programs stick their
nose in my face. According to the windows title bar, read with
ctrl-shift-t, I may hear the infamous "amd:CCC-En Capturing Window,"
"volume panel," "Gladinet," (from the Nuance OnmiPagePro18
installation for its Gladiator cloud drive, and sometimes even a
"'mage viewer" but I'm not sure of the wording of the last one. After
clearing all the windows (only one is ever 'on top',) I will get the
desktop, maybe with, and maybe without, focus. "Window-d" gets focus
back in focus and I'm off and running.
So, are there race conditions here? I had Dell's tech support, a very
helpful and patient fellow in India, remove the Catalyst Control
Center, as my feeble attempt only resulted in a slight delay in its
resumption of life in my machine. Even the Dell's tech removal lasted
only a day or two. I figured since I have Windows 7 automatically
updating itself with only the 'important' update on a daily (at
midnight) basis, maybe the "Cat" comes back the very next day with a
little help from its friends -- W7 or Dell?
Sorry if this post is rather lengthy, but I think others may be able
to replicate this behavior if it is laid out in some detail. Maybe
even GW staff can to the same.
btw, GW, I had the Dell support tech remove all of Mcafee in its
entirety since I use Eset Smart Security with ten months to run on
that contract. As an aside, if someone could direct me to how to
change the length of time the various notices stay on screen so I can
actually click the notification, I'd appreciate that!
David Helkenn, San Diego
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