CHANGES????

It just took me twenty minutes to wade through a bunch of just plain "stuff" before I could figure out how to get here. I HAVE NO INTEREST IN JUST PLAIN "STUFF" THAT SOMEONE MAKES ME WADE THROUGH TO FIND THE FORUMS. If that is where I have been that is what should come up the next time I visit.


Serving note: To much of the world is jamming crap down my throat from magazines and Wallmart to the other side of the beltway. If it continues here....I will simply turn it off.

Your comments next if you care to face off on some changes.

Hm, I also find some days I am directed to a basic home page with ads, instead of just getting my personal home pag I am use to.. Today I had to look carefully , finally found the litttle Login space up along that bar of white tabs.

I haven't run into any problems, maybe you need to customize your home page?
Go to my tools
then preferences
then customize home page

My DG Homepage is my computers Homepage so when I open up a link it brings me right here. Can you tell I don't surf the web much. LOL

Sorry but the changes are not any doings what so ever about my home page. It is this site taking a bite out of my time and interests which I have paid for. If I was a chosen monkey be it heard loud and clear.....I do not like it at all.

doc--

Could you be more specific????
What is it that is clogging up your access?????

when you go to the MA forum page do you have it marked as a favorite?.... there is a link on the upper right hand side.. it will come up on a list on DG homepage.. no weeding though needed

Yes. I have changed nothing.

Doc, are the invasives from DG or somewhere else? Just wondering if you may have picked up some malware that keeps redirecting your efforts. Can you go directly to DG by typing in davesgarden.com in the address box? If so try a couple more that you know the address for. If you can connect directly that way, but not be clicking on you favs and such you may be infected. Ric

Rick...............invasives is a nice word for what I am experiencing. All of the stuff would almost have to be coming from the orientation of this site. All of the garbage is not garbage at all. It is redirected and republished DG articles with related advertising for DG related businesses. I wonder if our writers are being paid for their re-runs. I really wonder what the heck jamming in stuff like this does to the negative responses of the paid membership. This has happened several times for a day or two and then it goes away for a period of time. I do not believe it has ever included any new articles because original publishing dates are mentioned.
.....I recently had my computer completely checked out. This was one of the questions. Nothing appeared while it was on the shop bench. The restoration and clean up of my computer was very well done.
.....Another such event appeared about a week later and went away about the same time I started this thread.

Gita............you assume that I know something when I really do not know either answer to your questions. I said this so you do not feel ignored. I am not very geeky and do not plan to be either.

One wish one...............Yes to your first question. As to your statement. I expect that to be true but I only vaguely understand links. Thanks for trying to help. I'm not sure I understood. I may be with about a 90 computer IQ. If I remember my schooling an 80 IQ was due cause for institutional care. LOL

The next time if there is a next time this happens I will copy, save and print the invasive pages. That perhaps will get us all on the same page factually.

Doc, you don't have to print the pages. You can do a screen capture and save them as images. It's very easy and once they're saved in a file, you can upload them here as images. Here's written instructions as well as links to a video how to:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/general/ht/winscreenshot.htm

You do need to be logged in to get your personalized home page. And you should make sure your preferences for DG still have no ads selected. Most likely when you had your computer worked on, they deleted the cookie that keeps you logged in. Did they install any new security software? My new anti-virus automatically deletes cookies periodically, which means that I have to log on again (which installs a new cookie) when I revisit the site. Then the main page will be fine until the cookies get deleted again. If that's what's happening, it would explain why this is happening periodically but not every time.

Have you tried writing about this in the DG forum? Or contacting a mod?

I'd definitely suggest contacting admin or posting on the DG forum about this. It sounds like you're not getting logged in when you come here, so you're getting the "general public" welcome page (which does have articles as well as ads) instead of your usual home page. This isn't something DG is doing to you on purpose, and Terry or Melody would be glad to help you figure out how to keep it from happening.

Now I believe we may have the answer. Critter makes the most sense. Presently it is not happening. If it does come back I will save the proof and go to administration.

Thank you all for your opinions. They all help in matters of this nature. If the situation never returns we will never know for sure what was going on.

I also have an anti-virus automatically deletes cookies periodically, which means that I have to log on again (which installs a new cookie) when I revisit the site. Then the main page will be fine until the cookies get deleted again.

I prefer being safe rather than sorry ... so it is a minor annoyance that I can live with.

MARY

Trust me............I don't have to many problems that remain a problem for more than a relatively short period of time. "Out damn spot out"! Life is to short to be tangled up with tech stuff that is not understood or any one other person that makes life difficult. "Out damn spot out"! .....and that goes for trees that I planted in the wrong places too. LOL

In the lighter vein...........have you heard about the two peanuts stolling in the park under the harvest moon a week or so ago? One was a salted.

Good attitude, doc!

"one was a salted".... ROTFL and groaning at the same time! ;->

hahahaha

I just got a 'smart ' phone,

it is making me look pretty dumb!

by the way critter makes a lot of sense when it comes to puter things, quite often.

It was the rest of y'all that had the explanations about cookies! The main thing I knew is that it wasn't happening intentionally.

My sewing machine is smarter than I am. LOL

On the subject of "Out damn spot out". Last night I attended our best of the best area photographers meeting to learn about HDA. One sets up the camera in raw to automatically shoot a three image subject using a tripod and electronic trigger to avoid motion. The three auto images are -1 and +1 from your cameras opinion as to what the best shot set up was. The three images are then melded into one. Then there are a couple dozen slide bars to push the image a million ways to crazy plus many options to make it not look like the original subject. The resulting outcome moves the image so far away from the natural real look of the original image that one now has created a visual monster. Nothing absolutely nothing was pleasing to my eye. I guess my opinion can be summed up in one question....." I am impressed with where you have been and where you are now but where in the name of God almighty are you going and why"?

If I format the how to DVD the presenter so carefully worked up and gave to each one of us I will have two things learned. One it would be less expensive to simply buy a new DVD. Two I now know where all the crap is coming from in todays photos in the major media. In the back editing rooms it is being called art. They are serious about it too. That is what is scary.

Don't ask me what HDA is. It is now nine hours later. Thank goodness I have been able to forget already. I now need a day in the woods to format my mind. I need to sniff the fresh smell of wet leaves and to hear the call of the loon and the North winds. The natural real fall color is racing onto the the forest floor. One needs no technology to take away the time needed to remember the real natural real things just a glance away.

"Out damn spot out"!

Great story Doc. I bet I'm not the only one here who understands how you feel!

Yes, the stars in People Mag are no prettier than we are, they just have better editing. Have you seen Kate Gosselin's cover? (what a nutjob)

I suppose those photo tech wizards are amazed atthemselves for going where no man had gone before. But I feel more alive when I just go where no man is going NOW, as in, nature, alone or with just a few other specially chosen living things.

Truely said..........."I have canceled or failed to renew all magazines but one in our house ". Once in awhile I check out the magazines at my barber shop. This read is just to make sure I am not missing out on some first class ho hum or down right breaches of common sense. Finding none that is enough magazines for the next two weeks.

No I have not seen Kate Gosselin's cover. I can assure you the wizzards of Adobe Photoshop CS4 or 5 now claim 100% of the photo management creating the body any person is willing to pay for. They are enhancing the muscle of mankind as well as the shape of the female body. They are often full time employees of the stars.

doc--

I have been, recently, MESMERIZED what can be done with Photo Editing.

Seems it has it's own Thread.....It is on part #30 or something now--so, when you get a chance--look back a bit...
It is sheer fantasy, I tell you!!!! It is also art of sorts--for those that know how to work the editing options.
"Jubilada" seems to be the Queen of editing.....but--there are others too....

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1131232/

Gita

Gita.............this is the arena I work hard to avoid. My thing is sports photography with a small amount of realistic other subject interest like our gardening DG images. I respect skill and knowlege but frankly do not like the realm of strange and wierd strangulations or extensions of the truth that are the trend of this day. To me most of it is in a category of what a monkey did with a paint brush that had everyone upset back in the sixties. At best this present trend is a technology created image thing that can only be judged as design. It is the manuplation of technology. I see no individual creative credit beyond that of a printer. Printing is a noble activity but is hardly considered an art form.The craftsman or artist that created the original font or image is still the creator not someone at a keyboard. All art forms that I am aware of are created by a human being with developed human skills, a tool or brush in hand or hand and eye doing some creative work with a solid medium.

I'm not sure I agree.. Certainly there are folks who take a lot of liberties with photo editing to no real artistic end, and some of it is more about design than about creative artistry, but I don't think you can draw a line in the sand and declare that if it was created with computer manipulation, it can't be art.

I just ordered a wildflower print from an artist who creates her images entirely using a computer graphics program... and I would definitely call her an artist, not "just" a graphic designer. It's a new medium, and as with any medium there are folks doing odd things with it, folks doing things I find kitchy or junky, folks doing things that are more "arts & crafts," and folks who are using the medium to produce fine art. (As a comparison, think of things created by people working with clay... the ceramic booths at the Sugarloaf festivals definitely cover a wide range!)

As for printing not being an art form... William Blake was a printer. :-)

I don't know where the art galleries of the world are on this subject. For that matter where is the art market showing or marketing this technology? At the present time a lot of people still do not consider photography an art form. I am both an artist and a photographer. I can not feel comfortable referring to photography as art. As a photographer I create nothing but an image by a technology developed process. Very high skill and beautiful photographs are indeed noteworthy but to many original art they are not.

Internationally the definition of original art has stood firmly on the category of by hand and hand held tool. Hiding behind this accepted definition are the reproduction shops mass producing by hand and by brush. They end up at your Motel Art Sales, for a truck load of no painting over a set fee. According to the definition they are art. They are also very cheap art all signed with fake names. Many are near copies or likenesses of some very good artists work yet none are created by a single artist although they are marked with a name indicating that the name is of an individual artist.

Well, I may not be able to precisely define art, but I know it when I see it! LOL I'll take an Ansel Adams photo over a black velvet painting of sad-eyed clowns any day. :-)

It was Ansel who said, "One does not take a photograph one makes it". In his day the only make was in the dark room managing light on the surface of the photographic paper often using his hands to shade certain areas and create transition between hard and soft edges. His photographs remain as some of the best ever made. The difference is not comparable to the rendering of a fine image by an artist who may pick up the medium with finger and create the original image in the likeness of the subject in study.

Just for giggles consider Van Gogh who was literally blind from social diseases. He really painted some strange things. The definition keeps him an artist because he created the original image by hand and with a brush or tool serving as a brush. A good argument in artistic circles is a light hearted suggestion that he was a realist. Was he not painting what he saw?
For most of his creative life he could not see what you and I see yet he painted what he saw. He could see light and dark plus some form. For the most part that is all he could see. He may have been able to see some color. These handicaps were progressive during the creation period for most of his famous works.

Hey Doc what happened to you just happened to me....it's like I got logged out in the middle of my posting and then all the ads came up with the wierd home page, I had to log back in...
very strange!!!!

I believe but am not sure that one of my clean up my computer soft-wares is doing this. I got onto this by recognizing a regular clean up schedule. The first time it happened followed professional geek cleaning up my computer. That work was so well done I purchased the software and scheduled it the 28th. of each month to run in the middle of the night. This is the second month since the geek did my work and each month we have to re register with the sites we call on regularly. This applies to Dave's garden which we subscribe to. Almost if not all others need to be re-registered and need their remember me boxes checked.

I do not now think it might be glitz within Dave's Garden. Of course with my limited geekese I could be wrong but this is what seems to be the cause at this hour.

doc--

You can run "Disc Cleanup" on your own. It is on your computer.

Go to "Start" (bottom left)--click on "Programs"--click on "Accessories"--click on "System tools"--
and then choose "Disc Cleanup"......You can also--in this same place--choose "Disc Defragmenter".
The latter takes a good hour or so--but it compacts all your files to make more room on your hard drive.
When done--it will show you how many mega-bites of freed space it saved you. Good to do every
now and then....Reminds me--I need to do it again.....

Yeah, doc--when you "Clean up" the computer--it deletes all kinds of unnecessary files that just take up space.
Unfortunately--it also deletes all the "cookies". "Cookies" are automatic "remember me" file-links
to all the websites one frequents. You do not have to sign in......just click--and it is there--like DG.

After a Disc Cleanup--you have to sign in again--the first time-- and click "remember me"--and all will be well--until you run the clean-up again.

Hope this helps some....Gita

Gita

This may not make any sense to some but every two years or so I have an excellent shop go over my computer. This was the crossroads of the third year. Every six to ten years I choose to upgrade using that same shop build my new system. They know it from stem to stern. They know me and my needs, my shortcomings and about how far I can work with computer glitches.

When I was in business those men and their fathers patronized my tools, tech machines and services. They never nickel and dimmed me. They installed and maintained my truck computer, telephone, fax machine and three different electrical systems. I would not even think about some other way or shop when I need service. They have well earned any business I give them. I think the kids and their spouses are even better than their dad and mother were. In all my computer days I have never had to take a problem back to them for a second look.

Doc, that makes good sense, if you have someone you trust you stick with them and smile as you write the check. It's the same as your machanic for your car.

I got to know our area mechanics and tech guys and girls very well. I promised them I would fix no heating units, well pumps, computers or auto problems if they sold no tools. They were my only customers. A few of the very best are whom I am fortunate enough to have on my team today. The time has come to see their sons and daughters make their marks in their respective fields. My plumber is the champ of all champs. He is the great grandson of a plumber I served when I sold heating units, well pumps and plumbing supplies. His dad and his grandpop put the beans on my table years ago.

Doc, I think the ladies are right, it sounds as though something is periodically cleaning you clock, or cookies in this case. If your techs have good records of what your setup was, they maybe able to tell you how to disable it.
Meanwhile, I just got a call from the mechanic that has Holly's Subaru for repair. He came to us by the way of very good friends. He and they are involved in a car care program to help needy folks in their church. I'm hoping we aren't one of the needy till he's done. LOL His business has a good reputation and I found no negative comments on their work, which impressed me. In today's edata age it's kind of hard not to get somebodies ire up. Ric

It's always reassuring to get a recommendation from a friend who has dealt with a service or business. Our insurance co. came to us that way and has been great. Now he gave us a recommendation for another professional, who has been super, and that guy in turn seems to refer to good people. I guess local business people develop quite a network. We almost needed refrigerator service last week and I was ticked that I couldn't think of who to call that might have a tip there. In that case our best tip came from Dad who's tried to keep fridges going for 60 plus years of home ownership. (He said thaw it out well- it worked)

Gee that is not so bad in view of the fact you needed no wrenches to fix your ailment. I have been there and done just that many times.

I once went to help a neighbor who had turned off her frige to thaw it out. Seems she ask her husband to turn it off. He did so by pulling the plug. I saved her a service call and learned in a hurry how well they communciated with each other. The contents in the freezer were a little shakey. LOL

My first rule when something stops working is check the plug.
Rule 2 check the circut breaker.

This spring I had hubby uncover the central AC. A few weeks later we had a warm up and not feeling well I turned the thermostat to cool, the circulating fan came on, so it's running. Doesn't seem to be getting cool in the house. Okey Ac is getting old maybe it needs recharged, call repair man in am.... hubby gets home I tell him the AC is not cooling. he goes out and turns on the breaker box at the outside of the house. Now, wouldn't you think if you uncover the AC for the season turning on the breaker which is right beside the AC be the next step.