Computer.

That doesn't sound very good , if it's making a new wierd sound and crashing, that would make me think that your cooling fan is not attached properly and your CPU is shutting down when it simply gets too hot. 

For anti virus, I use Microsoft Windows Essentials which is free, works perfectly with windows in the background and isn't some kind of scam.  All those anti virus programs are practically just as bad as any virus you could get in terms of breaking your computer and extorting money. 

I bought my last computer from these guys, they seemed to be trustworthy. 

https://www.novatech.co.uk/products/laptops/


If I were you, I'd get an iPad and try it out before I bought a new laptop.  I think it will do almost everything you want to do, but faster, easier and more securely.  And it will be so much easier to carry around the house.  If you are worried about learning something new, don't sweat it, everything is very intuitive. 

You could keep your old laptop for stuff that's not great on the iPad after taking it back to the repair 🤡 clowns and making them get rid of the noise.

That doesn't sound very good , if it's making a new wierd sound and crashing, that would make me think that your cooling fan is not attached properly and your CPU is shutting down when it simply gets too hot. 

...

If I were you, I'd get an iPad and try it out before I bought a new laptop.  I think it will do almost everything you want to do, but faster, easier and more securely.  And it will be so much easier to carry around the house.  If you are worried about learning something new, don't sweat it, everything is very intuitive. 

You could keep your old laptop for stuff that's not great on the iPad after taking it back to the repair 🤡 clowns and making them get rid of the noise.

I agree that the new weird noise preceding the crash is worrying.  It's likely one of two things: the fan, as jimbocz has said, which could be fixed to prevent any more overheating and solve your problem; or the hard drive (assuming you don't have a SSD, which is silent), which is very bad, and it's good that you just backed up all your stuff.   

As for an iPad (or other tablet) in place of a laptop... I had a second-hand iPad from an old friend, and it had its uses (for example, my husband and I did a photo shoot for a restaurant and we wirelessly sent photos to the iPad for previewing on a bigger screen than our camera's LCD offered).  Also, you can get a keyboard with your tablet, so you have the tactile typing option, too, and the 'keyboard' won't take up 1/3 of your display area.

But for me, a tablet would feel too confining, and I do a lot more with my does-it-all laptop that a tablet can't do.  But it could be the option for you.  I would compare the costs of the tablet (plus keyboard) and laptop, and go with whatever is more economical.

Yep , I agree.  It just depends on what kind of stuff you do. 

This post made me think about how crazy our house is.  We've got to have at least 25 computers of different forms in our house with all the phones and iPads, even the radio in the kitchen is internet enabled.  We did a house swap over the summer and I was gobsmacked that they had no gadgets.  Each room had one outlet and it was usually taken up by a lamp. 

I use my tablet as my mobile computer and for YouTube (we don't have a TV). My desktop is for actual work or stuff I just can't do on my tablet (online orders and stuff). The desktop was a hand-me-down/throwaway when DH's old company moved office and is nothingnfancy although DH did spend a bit on more memory and stuff. Most of time, I just use my tablet and the computer only gets used for non-work stuff about once a week.

My mom uses her tablet/laptop combo similarly. She reads the news in the morning, edits photos and stalks me on goes on social media on her tablet, but she's got her laptop for anything more heavy-duty.

DH uses his phone for basic surfing and his desktop for gaming and proper internetting. He has a tablet but doesn't use it much.

It just depends on what you use it for, but I find my tablet super useful.

This post made me think about how crazy our house is.  We've got to have at least 25 computers of different forms in our house with all the phones and iPads, even the radio in the kitchen is internet enabled.  We did a house swap over the summer and I was gobsmacked that they had no gadgets.  Each room had one outlet and it was usually taken up by a lamp.

I would have a hard time coping in that house you swapped to!

Our 2br house houses just my husband and I, and we have: our wireless security camera system* on a dedicated desktop, both of our mobiles, his laptop, a desktop for watching shows on, my laptop, the server for backup/storage, a wireless speaker in the lounge, and our wireless printer. It's a crazy amount of stuff for two people.


* We felt the security cameras were necessary because we  live in the country, and I'm home alone from Monday morning to Friday evening.  Sometimes there are strange noises outside, and I have seen people outside my (public footpath-facing) kitchen window at 3am  After 8 months of what-was-that?s and who's-out-there?s, we installed some cameras so I can just look without any risk.  I haven't called for a police patrol yet, but there was a night when I wasn't sure what to do.... apparently, sleep wasn't even one of my options that night.

That would terrify me as well.  Do you have some of those lights that turn in when something moves?  I'd also have one of those big heavy d cell flashlights to keep near the door and wave around if needed.  Maybe even a recording of a dog if you don't have one.

Just having installed the cameras, which give views of the house, garden, and workshop from every angle, I've felt completely at ease.  If I hear a noise now, I just click over to the tab where I have the camera display feed forward to my laptop, and I check for any alerts.  Now I won't have to agonize over where to call for assistance because I can just look at the security feed to see if the noise was a real threat, or to see if the person walking past the window was snooping around, or just walking home from the pub at a ridiculously late time of night.

We do have a light on a motion sensor.  An area cat sets it off frequently!  Before the cameras, I didn't always know it was just a cat. 

You do love your technology!  I'm a sucker for it as well.  I really think internet and access to a computer is a human right. 

My kid told me he made redstone clock in Minecraft the other day.  Supposedly from scratch.  I need to get him to show it to me.  What did you say your YouTube channel name is again ?

Just having installed the cameras, which give views of the house, garden, and workshop from every angle, I've felt completely at ease.  If I hear a noise now, I just click over to the tab where I have the camera display feed forward to my laptop, and I check for any alerts.  Now I won't have to agonize over where to call for assistance because I can just look at the security feed to see if the noise was a real threat, or to see if the person walking past the window was snooping around, or just walking home from the pub at a ridiculously late time of night.

We do have a light on a motion sensor.  An area cat sets it off frequently!  Before the cameras, I didn't always know it was just a cat. 

That sounds like a great investment.

What brand do you have? It sounds like you'd recommend it, but are there any complaints you have about it?

You do love your technology!  I'm a sucker for it as well.  I really think internet and access to a computer is a human right. 

My kid told me he made redstone clock in Minecraft the other day.  Supposedly from scratch.  I need to get him to show it to me.  What did you say your YouTube channel name is again ?

Our channel is under the name "MineDaft", but we have a domain registered to redirect right to the channel.  Just go to www.minedaft.net.  Other than our very first invention (Flying Block-Matrix Printer), our stuff is pretty much all done with command blocks (basic programming type blocks that you input java-like commands into), and we haven't put out a video in almost a year... Minecraft has updated considerably since then!  But if your son plays the Java version, he might appreciate our past work.

What brand do you have? It sounds like you'd recommend it, but are there any complaints you have about it?

My husband pieced it together.  He shopped for the best deal on cameras, based on reviews, functionality, and price.  We ended up with four of these, and we bought Blue Iris software.  The software cost $60US, but it was really easy to set up and was more-readily compatible with the cameras, compared to other options out there.  And we got much better quality images for the price than we would've from a pre-packaged "system".

Thanks guys! That's a lot of great info. Security cameras are fairly high on my to do list also!

Yes, the noise is pissing me off because that wasn't a problem until they got their hands on it! I took it in this afternoon again and told him that I was happy to pay the 35gbp or whatever it was for the diagnostics but if he couldn't fix it, I wanted my 50gbp back he seemed to agree so that made me feel better.

I spent some time in Currys again today test driving pc's and I have to say that my husband's really old macbook pro is smoother than the HP's I tried and is kind of spoiling me!
I love that function, what do you call it, where you use swoosh with 2 fingers to go up/down and also to turn pages rather than scrolling? HP does the up/down but not apparently the side to side. Dell did the side to side.

I'd never really considered getting a mac but would that be such a bad idea? Laptop though, thank you for the tablet idea Jim but I really do want a laptop.

I'd never really considered getting a mac but would that be such a bad idea? Laptop though, thank you for the tablet idea Jim but I really do want a laptop.

I've never considered a Mac because of price and because I historically didn't like their OS (though Windows is getting more and more like the Mac environment with every iteration, so I'm losing that battle).  For the money, I've found that better technology could be had outside of Mac.  But if you like it and can afford it, I've never heard a Mac owner complain about their device.

I'd never really considered getting a mac but would that be such a bad idea? Laptop though, thank you for the tablet idea Jim but I really do want a laptop.

My MacBook Pro is 6 years old and still going. Hasn't been in to the shop or needed any work done on it. It's just getting old and slow now.

My Microsoft surface 4 pro on the other hand... I've had it a month and an auto update it did broke a key feature and I couldn't figure out how to fix it myself.

I may be getting a new Mac and the husband will have the Surface.

My MacBook Pro is 6 years old and still going. Hasn't been in to the shop or needed any work done on it. It's just getting old and slow now.

My Microsoft surface 4 pro on the other hand... I've had it a month and an auto update it did broke a key feature and I couldn't figure out how to fix it myself.

I may be getting a new Mac and the husband will have the Surface.

"Auto updates" are a four-letter-word in my vocabulary.  If my system is stable and does what I want it to do, I put off updates until I need a security patch or I've lost functionality due to other software updating.