UKGPL Season 21 (2011) Specs - Goodwood (Circuit) - May 13

[EvilClive]

Maybe I should not be telling you this right now Jason....................

I have been with Virgin for about 10 years TV, Phone and Broadband and everything has been remarkably trouble free, given my ability to screw things up.

Even when they switched their servers over to enable the higher speeds it all happened without any fuss for me, but...there is always a but isn't there  .

Virgin provide a free Anti Virus package with their broadband and it was pretty comprehensive with Spyware etc all together so I have used that for several years until about 3 weeks ago.

When I turned my computer on one day, I got a message advising me that the AV had failed to load because there was a file missing also that the Spyware had failed to load because a file was missing!! OK NP, I will simply delete the whole package and re-download and install....even I can manage that.
So, went through the usual Windows Add/Remove programmes thingy but I get a message advising me that it cannot be deleted because it cannot locate a certain file??!!  hmmmmmmm???
Phone free help line and speak to a very nice geek who eventually agrees that I have a prob. Insists on trying the Add/Remove route only to discover that it does not work. So he directs me to a "nuclear option" delete patch that I download and that is "guaranteed" to remove every trace of the AV......but it doesn't and we are no further forward! It was late so i phone the next day and try again

Same result and the tekkie advises me that someone from "level 2" will call me!!!  oooer!!

wait 48hrs ...no call!

phone helpline again and speak to a very nice female tekkie who persuades me to go through the whole procedure again complete with nuclear option and..................................no difference still cannot delete old AV and because it is still there I cannot reload a new  AV package!!
Then it gets scary because she tells me that "level 2" have advised her that they are sensing me an e-mail with a sp[ecial bit of software to run to clean my system, BUT that SHE is not allowed to see it or handle it!!!? huh?? wot??!!!

1 week later............still no e-mail, message or contact and still no AV protection on my computer!!! tHEY ARE ABOUT TO GET A VERY ABUSIVE PHONE CALL AND LETTER!!!


BEWARE THE HELPLINE AT VIRGIN!!

[vosblod]

I have never had any problem with Virgin or Talk Talk EXCEPT if I actually have to phone them. Virgin are usually next to useless and then, when they can't solve something, they use the standard 'reinstall your operating system' cop-out. Yes I'm really going to spend hours and hours setting up my whole PC again from scratch which won't actually resolve the issue but means you can tick the 'customer helped' box. I usually then end up solving it myself and have never had to reinstall the OS.
If I were you Clive I'd just instal Avast, or something of a similar ilk that is free. Do a search on Virgin's AV software and removal and you will eventually find a way. AV hates being uninstalled (I remember nightmares with Norton) and sticks itself everywhere eg registry entries so you can't just use the standard windows delete stuff.
Anyway good luck.

[Hristo Itchov]

If it's of any help I use these for protection (both on XP and 7):

Avira Antivirus (free version without the firewall)
Comodo Firewall
Super Anti Spyware
Spyware Guard
Spybot Search&Destroy (optional, a bit too heavy and intrusive)

[bernie]

1 week later............still no e-mail, message or contact and still no AV protection on my computer!!! tHEY ARE ABOUT TO GET A VERY ABUSIVE PHONE CALL AND LETTER!!!


BEWARE THE HELPLINE AT VIRGIN!!

What a selfish attitude . Dont blame the poor little girl at Virgin , doing her best to help and all you can do is criticise 

Please note all phone calls to Virgins will be recorded and may be used on a certain TV programme

PS ( we know where you live  )

[EvilClive]

I have never had any problem with Virgin or Talk Talk EXCEPT if I actually have to phone them. Virgin are usually next to useless and then, when they can't solve something, they use the standard 'reinstall your operating system' cop-out. Yes I'm really going to spend hours and hours setting up my whole PC again from scratch which won't actually resolve the issue but means you can tick the 'customer helped' box. I usually then end up solving it myself and have never had to reinstall the OS.
If I were you Clive I'd just instal Avast, or something of a similar ilk that is free. Do a search on Virgin's AV software and removal and you will eventually find a way. AV hates being uninstalled (I remember nightmares with Norton) and sticks itself everywhere eg registry entries so you can't just use the standard windows delete stuff.
Anyway good luck.

Thanks for the advice Tim...until this issue I had been quite happy with all things Virgin, but as you rightly say their "helpline" just  doesn't!!  I guess the poor sods who answer the phones have a computer screen with a list of questions and responses and that is all they can follow.
Anyway I found a piece of software that rooted out the Virgin AV completely and have just reinstalled the whole package succesfully. If it goes wrong again I shall resort to one of the free AV's out there.


BTW Bernie, the nice young lady at Virgin was as shocked and bemused as I was, when she was asked to pass on the message that "ordinary" tekkies such as her could not be told about this mythical software. The fact that the software did not appear with the promised e-mail from the "level 2" tekkies is hardly her fault because she was not allowed to know what it was!!  Just what sort of system are Virgin running on their helplines??? It make you wonder

[fpolicardi]

I had a screen freeze, not a disco, like I had last night in 65 Pro at Snett as I posted in the other thread. I can say that I begun to suffer relatively frequent freezes since I have installed a new 23" LCD monitor and RasterD3D-V2 to support 16:9 resolution at 1980x1020 in September 2010. Freezes happened on all mods and on different servers. Maybe the wide resolution shows track's bugs more than 4:3 one?
I'm a track builder, or better I was, and tracks add on are far from perfect. For example at Hocknheim 67 there is a bug in the Motodrome and if you leave the TV1 cam running it goes CTD when the car enter the Motodrome. I had the same problem with my Vallelunga on Roma section, I changed cam position and the problem disappeared, but surely there is a bug in the outside scenery that I couldn't find.

On the server side we have another server at disposal as backup on Friday and Sunday night, so we could try that. Lately I found on T7 server many failed attempt of login to terminal server sessions, and I hope they didn't cause problems on conn. side.
Nonetheless on T7 server run GTR2 and rFactor servers used by other leagues and nobody has risen a problem, but we know that GPL is more fragile.
Ciao

[Hristo Itchov]

Hm, maybe I'll try running OGL v2 or D3D v1 for some time and see if I get the same amount of freezes, but it's obvious that some freezes are either caused on the server side (and affect a couple of people at the same time) or that one client's problems cause another client a freeze (i.e. the contact between myself and Evil coincided with the mass freeze). Difficult to pinpoint an exact cause...

[blito]

On the server situation I.m talking to SSMMDD (or mathew as his mum calls him) from www.wireplay.co.uk about the possibility of them hosting a server for us. They used to run a GPL server back in 2003/2005 and still have a large database of GPL files on their FTP. I`ll keep you all posted as to how this goes.

[blito]

OK, Virgin 10Mb line installed and working a treat.. can't wait to test out GPL now