This may be a less than bright question but I am truly puzzled. I have been trying to get on the offical Amtrak website for a number of days to check out some travel possibilites. Everytime I have tried I get some advertisiments that I am not interested in. I noticed that the Amtrak website says that it is closed for maintenance. Does this mean that, for days, a person can't book a trip? That does not seem reasonable. Can anyone enlighten me as to what is going on with Amtrak and the reservation system?
Thanks.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
In planning a trip to use some AGR points in February, I've been on the official Amtrak website without any problem at all nearly every day for the past week.
Finally booked my roomette on Friday but doublechecked Amtrak.com just a minute ago and am still able to get there and navigate the site.
Sounds like the issues you're having might be on your end but I'm not computer guru enough to understand how and why that is.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
I've been using the Amtrak website and it is working fine. I think the issue might possibly be on your end. A quick solution might be to "Quit" your browser, then reopen it. (On a Mac, that means going to the upper-left corner of the screen where it says "Safari", and then selecting "Quit Safari".) Once you reopen your browser, give it a shot.
If that doesn't work, then you might need to empty your browser's cache and/or clean out the cookies. I can give you instructions on how to do that on a Mac (but if you have Windows, I have no idea how to do it).
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Amtrak site is "fiver" (military: clear) around here at this time.
If you have Windows (I go on "Safari" when I visit my Sister and don't feel like paying the hotel $5 for just a quickie e-mail check), the protocol of Tools/Delete Browsing History/Delete should help. That will give you a fresh start - no cookies.
Of course who am I to say; I have an issue at the moment in that Outlook Express will only receive e-mails but cannot send them (the Comcast web mail site works OK). I'm just going to call Geek Squad, pay the $100, survive using the Comcast site until they come, and otherwise be done with it (if there is a newer version of OE that I should have, they can download it).
Posted by Iron Mountain (Member # 12411) on :
Thanks folks for the assistance. I think your suggestions were accurate. I had to enlist my wife, her geek sophistication is beyond mine, to help me. She cleaned up what she could. In the interim I found my around the strange adds popping up not allowing me to get on Amtrak's offical website. Who knows? This stuff is incomprehensible but I am now accessing the website in a round about way. I need to find an eight year old to help me.
Posted by DeeCT (Member # 3241) on :
Gil, About a month ago there was an update to Outlook Express (now simply Outlook). Instructions came in an email (a simple see button to download). Dee
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Thanks for the tip, Dee. I'm sure the OE6 on my five year old computer has been revised many times over.
However, I'll let Geek Squad deal with it; I'm not about to work on my car so it follows I'm not about to work on my computer. In the meantime, I can send e-mails through the Comcast web page, just as I do when I'm out of town (remember, I don't have a smart phone - only time I'd ever use it would be when I'm out of town as that is practically the only time I use my existing Jitterbug cell phone).
Finally, I learned during my last Geek Squad visit that Windows XP will no longer be supported come April '13. Guess that will mean time for a new computer (and my pockets some $3K lighter).
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
If you are going to drop $3K on a new computer, then by all means, get the new iMac 27 inch!! Best computer ever---you won't believe how easy it is. My parents are 81 and 79 and they learned it with a snap!
(That's the top of the line 27 inch. You can also get a 21 inch for less.)
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
That's probably a bit high; there is no reason my printer (Dell B&W laser) can't do another hitch. The audio (an upgrade Altec with a boom box) from 1999 seems AOK, and my 23" monitor has life left in it. So maybe all we are talking is a "box'.
However, I'll just have to learn Excel (I've tuned up on Works that came with the present system) as Lotus 123 which I've used for the past 25 years is no longer published.
Windows 8 will just leave me with a greasy screen; I "gave up on it" at a hotel over Thanx (maybe also because my friends had shown up and it was time for Breakfast) trying to touch all the icons rather than using the mouse.
How else do Messrs. Gates and Jobs, or successors, keep selling their stuff? It's called "planned obsolescence" or otherwise a page from the automakers' 1950's playbook back when I was a teenager and got myself "hooked on cars' to this very day.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Smitty -- you still use a Macintosh computer?!!! I gave those up years ago,since it is so hard to find decent specialized software (anything more than simple word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) for them. I thought Apple had pretty much concentrated their production and expertise now to new specialized cell phones.......
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
I'll second Smitty's suggestion. We got a new IMac last year to replace a 5 year old one. Can't beat Apple's customer service. A new IMac will set you back $1700 for a 21.5" (plenty big enough unless you do a lot of video stuff). That includes the additional charges for a full 3 years of Applecare (you take it into the store and they fix any problems) as well as outstanding phone support. Also includes One to One where you get personal training in the store on any of the Mac's features - well worth it. And it includes MS Office 2011 for Mac which I use all the time for finance stuff and Mary uses for work on her cookbook of family recipes. The Mac of course comes with IPhoto, IMovie, and ITunes that are very user friendly. It also has its own version of Office,called ILife, but from my work days I still prefer Office.
Go to an Apple store and do a test drive (although probably a mad house until the holiday rush subsides. Lots of gift cards out there).
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
GBN, I still use Lotus 123 with Windows 7, using Virtual PC in XP mode. This will no longer be available in Windows 8 for the reason you cite, "planned obsolescence". They block you out with some sort of licensing nonsense.
Having used Excel extensively at work, you will still have to pry Lotus 123 from my cold dead hands as long as I can still make it work. I still even use the old pre-mouse slash commands because they are faster than I can use a mouse. There is a cult of Lotus fans out there that still think it was superior to anything since, up until about 1996 when they dumbed it down to make it Excel compatible.
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
I still have Word Perfect on my PC and use it for complex tables, much better than Word at that. I was dragged kicking and screaming to Word and Excel but still love my WP.
Posted by Jerome Nicholson (Member # 3116) on :
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: Thanks for the tip, Dee. I'm sure the OE6 on my five year old computer has been revised many times over.
However, I'll let Geek Squad deal with it; I'm not about to work on my car so it follows I'm not about to work on my computer. In the meantime, I can send e-mails through the Comcast web page, just as I do when I'm out of town (remember, I don't have a smart phone - only time I'd ever use it would be when I'm out of town as that is practically the only time I use my existing Jitterbug cell phone).
Finally, I learned during my last Geek Squad visit that Windows XP will no longer be supported come April '13. Guess that will mean time for a new computer (and my pockets some $3K lighter).
Who spends $3K on a computer these days ?!? Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
quote:Originally posted by RRRICH: Smitty -- you still use a Macintosh computer?!!! I gave those up years ago,since it is so hard to find decent specialized software (anything more than simple word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) for them. I thought Apple had pretty much concentrated their production and expertise now to new specialized cell phones.......
Wow, you haven't been around Apple in a few years! Things have completely changed, and there is tons of software available for Apple machines. Their App Store alone blows away anything that Windows has available to them. In a worst case scenario, if someone truly *needs* to use software that is PC only, you can run Windows on your Mac! Apple is hands-down the best computer product around. I've been with them nonstop, through all of the hard times, since 1985. I have owned every product they've ever made save for two items: 1) The "Newton", and 2) A video game console when they tried to compete with Atari back in the 80's. Other than that, I've owned everything.
I think it's funny, as a "Mac guy", as I watch Microsoft and pretty much everyone else play catch-up with Apple. It's been going on for years. First the iPod, then the iPhone, the copycat desktops and laptops, and now the incredibly copycat Windows 8 and all of the iCloud stuff. Apple always leads the way with a superior product, and thus, their stuff is always much more expensive than the competition. I won a Toshiba laptop on Quibids a few months ago, and man what a piece of junk it was! All plastic, fragile keys, a VERY poor display and poor speakers---absolute junk. I don't know how people can tolerate that garbage. Apple products are built like a tank.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jerome Nicholson:
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: Guess that will mean time for a new computer (and my pockets some $3K lighter).
Who spends $3K on a computer these days ?!?
Concede that was high, Mr. Nicholson; that number belongs to the "Applefreaks".
Present Dell system acquired March 07 was $1952.56; audio, however, was "recycled" from my '99 system, which ran $1977.75.
The present system has XP, which I've learned MSFT will no longer support. The thought of W8 and having to buy and learn Excel, as well as giving up my Lotus that I have used now for some 25 years, is appalling. I consider myself a "high intermediate" Lotus user (I write macros to do what I want done and not what some canned software writer thinks I want).
And as Mr. Twin Star notes, I too use the Lotus DOS commands embedded within the Win releases.
Finally, funny that when I was taking my Quarterly delivery of magazines this morning (mostly Times Magazine and Book Reviews) over to Hinsdale Hospital, I noted that at their reception desk, they still have computers with XP.
I dunno, but now that the newest and latest gang has moved over to smart phones and that the business community no longer feels the need to "upgrade" every time Mr. Gates comes out with a new OS, MSFT is going to have to accept that there is a lot of XP out there and maybe choose to SELL, as distinct from provide, the various "patches" they now do. I'd bite; as I noted my "test drive" at a hotel with W8 simply left me cold.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
Applefreaks, Mr. Norman? Why not take a look and then decide?
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
I'm back on line with my 8-yo $500 - $600 Dell Dimension 2400 after a 3-week hiatus due to a hard drive crash. Didn't know you had to take a vacuum to the guts of that sucker once in a while. Incredible the amount of dust and cat hair rhat screwed up the works.
AOL gave me a new hard drive and disc scanner for nothing on their insurance plan, and I gave the tech a small tip in return for adding some memory.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
Smitty195 and I don't agree on much (in the political sphere)but we are comrades regarding Macs. Just got myself a new one, too.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
Does anyone wonder if Iron Man may have some kind of virus like the one where you go to google and are redirected to junk ads? That one is called the google redirect virus, I think; it is hard to get rid of and often comes on the computer despite antivirus software!
Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :
When it comes to computers, I was an "early adopter." I bought my first (a Kaypro IV) for roughly $4000(!) in 1984.
Since then, I've always owned PCs. My current model is a 2006 Toshiba laptop ($329 new) running Windows Vista, linked to a 2001 Dell flatscreen monitor ($125) and a wireless mouse / full-size keyboard ($49).
I use it for 8-10 hours daily (I work from home). I've never had a problem.
In contrast, I've used Macs at every one of my past office jobs. Office-wide, they've always been extremely problematic, prone to frequent software glitches, hardware breakdowns, etc.
At my last job, the IT guys had to swap out my Mac for a new computer four times in a single year. They told me that this is pretty much par for the course at companies (advertising agencies, architectural firms, etc.) that rely heavily on Macs.
In computerland, it seems, "trendy" doesn't always translate into "reliable." Paying a premium price doesn't necessarily mean you're getting a superior product.
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Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
This thread seemed to be heading for another "In my personal experience X, therefore for the rest of the world Y. . ." pitfall, so I Googled "computer reliability ratings" for some real-world data.
Apple rates No. 1 for reliability at PC Magazine, ZDNet and Consumer Reports, all respected sources. But Apple also rates No. 4 at the equally respected Rescuecom (Lenovo is No. 1 there).
One of the problems with reliability reports of all kinds is that it's hard to tell if a computer is inherently at fault, or if the user is doing something he shouldn't or not doing something he should. Like Ocala Mike with the dust inside his machine. (Been there done that, too, Mike.)
Someone might complain, "My computer has slowed down so much it's like working with molasses," and take it in for repairs. Tech just blows out the caches or defrags the hard drive, both of which an user could do if the user bothered to read the manual. But the incident goes into the data as a black mark against the particular manufacture. Should it have?
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
Come to think of it, this thread is straying even more than most threads do.
OK, guys, which is the most reliable computer to use on a speeding Amtrak train? Posted by dilly (Member # 1427) on :
quote:Originally posted by Henry Kisor:
OK, guys, which is the most reliable computer to use on a speeding Amtrak train?
Speaking as someone who has logged in tens of thousands of hours on both PCs (at home) and Macs (in the workplace):
I'd choose a PC. If it gets stolen on the Southwest Chief by an evil Boy Scout, dropped onto the tracks in front of an approaching Acela, or falls victim to a flying cup of Amtrak coffee when the Cardinal hits a stretch of rough track, a PC is far cheaper to replace.
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Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
I'd choose a PC, too. The Mac might get stolen. Posted by Iron Mountain (Member # 12411) on :
Thanks Sojourner for the tip. I put the google redirect term in the search engine and got a bunch of websites about cleaning out a new powerful virus that interupts with irrelevant ads. Precisely what I was experiencing. When I clicked on one of the websites my security system started throwing up warnings that I wasn't protected. So I did some clicking and I guess my system is updated. We will see. I do have Norton security.
By the way I didn't realize I was going to set off so much wandering from the intended thread. Interesting. Easily distracted.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
"Easily distracted," you say, Iron Mountain. Ain't it the truth. Sometimes we (me included) remind me of Stephen Leacock's man who "flung himself from the room, flung himself upon his horse and rode madly off in all directions."
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Amtrak System Timetable issued January 14 is now available at stations, however, here are two on line resources for obtaining such:
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