I was sitting in a coffee shop last evening, waiting for my wife and
working on a news release for a client, when a guy at the next table
with a new Dell laptop running Win 8 came over and asked me if I could
get the shop's wi-fi running on his machine.

He kept getting the error message "limited wi-fi capability," or
something like that.

We rebooted his machine and I tried to get the wi-fi searcher going so
it could find the signal in the shop. Even that wasn't easy...the
machine just would not find the local signal. He needed to check his
email to find out where he needed to report for work that evening (he
works for a utility company and his workplace varies a lot during the
week), so I just let him use my Macbook Air.

He really was ****ed at Win 8 and his Dell when he left, and muttered
that he was going to give the machine to his son and get himself "an Apple."

I never did figure out what was wrong with his setup. Anyone have a
clue? I don't have a way to check it out because I don't have a Windoze
computer.

On 5/7/2014 8:43 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
I was sitting in a coffee shop last evening, waiting for my wife and
working on a news release for a client, when a guy at the next table
with a new Dell laptop running Win 8 came over and asked me if I could
get the shop's wi-fi running on his machine.

He kept getting the error message "limited wi-fi capability," or
something like that.

We rebooted his machine and I tried to get the wi-fi searcher going so
it could find the signal in the shop. Even that wasn't easy...the
machine just would not find the local signal. He needed to check his
email to find out where he needed to report for work that evening (he
works for a utility company and his workplace varies a lot during the
week), so I just let him use my Macbook Air.

He really was ****ed at Win 8 and his Dell when he left, and muttered
that he was going to give the machine to his son and get himself "an
Apple."

I never did figure out what was wrong with his setup. Anyone have a
clue? I don't have a way to check it out because I don't have a Windoze
computer.

Did you show him where the WI-FI on off switch was?

On 5/7/2014 8:43 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
I was sitting in a coffee shop last evening, waiting for my wife and
working on a news release for a client, when a guy at the next table
with a new Dell laptop running Win 8 came over and asked me if I could
get the shop's wi-fi running on his machine.

He kept getting the error message "limited wi-fi capability," or
something like that.

We rebooted his machine and I tried to get the wi-fi searcher going so
it could find the signal in the shop. Even that wasn't easy...the
machine just would not find the local signal. He needed to check his
email to find out where he needed to report for work that evening (he
works for a utility company and his workplace varies a lot during the
week), so I just let him use my Macbook Air.

He really was ****ed at Win 8 and his Dell when he left, and muttered
that he was going to give the machine to his son and get himself "an
Apple."

I never did figure out what was wrong with his setup. Anyone have a
clue? I don't have a way to check it out because I don't have a Windoze
computer.


I assume by inference that you were happily working away on your Mac,
connected to the coffee shop's wi-fi. You didn't exactly say that
however ... you may have been "working" off-line.

The error message may have nothing to do with his computer. It could be
the coffee shop's wi-fi router or even no internet access by the server.
When Comcast goes down occasionally I'll get a report of "limited
access" or "local only" meaning the computer is talking to the router
but the router isn't talking to the internet.

We have a Win8 laptop at the guitar shop and I've been using it for the
past couple of weeks while my buddy is off on his cruise. I don't have
any major complaints about Win8 but prefer to use my Win7 laptop.

There are some new features in Win8 however that I wish Win7 had. One
is a video stabilizer as part of Windows Movie Maker. It's great for
making amateur videos more viewable. The stabilization feature will
only work on Win8 machines however.

On 5/7/14, 10:07 AM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 5/7/2014 8:43 AM, F*O*A*D wrote:
I was sitting in a coffee shop last evening, waiting for my wife and
working on a news release for a client, when a guy at the next table
with a new Dell laptop running Win 8 came over and asked me if I could
get the shop's wi-fi running on his machine.

He kept getting the error message "limited wi-fi capability," or
something like that.

We rebooted his machine and I tried to get the wi-fi searcher going so
it could find the signal in the shop. Even that wasn't easy...the
machine just would not find the local signal. He needed to check his
email to find out where he needed to report for work that evening (he
works for a utility company and his workplace varies a lot during the
week), so I just let him use my Macbook Air.

He really was ****ed at Win 8 and his Dell when he left, and muttered
that he was going to give the machine to his son and get himself "an
Apple."

I never did figure out what was wrong with his setup. Anyone have a
clue? I don't have a way to check it out because I don't have a Windoze
computer.


I assume by inference that you were happily working away on your Mac,
connected to the coffee shop's wi-fi. You didn't exactly say that
however ... you may have been "working" off-line.

The error message may have nothing to do with his computer. It could be
the coffee shop's wi-fi router or even no internet access by the server.
When Comcast goes down occasionally I'll get a report of "limited
access" or "local only" meaning the computer is talking to the router
but the router isn't talking to the internet.

We have a Win8 laptop at the guitar shop and I've been using it for the
past couple of weeks while my buddy is off on his cruise. I don't have
any major complaints about Win8 but prefer to use my Win7 laptop.

There are some new features in Win8 however that I wish Win7 had. One
is a video stabilizer as part of Windows Movie Maker. It's great for
making amateur videos more viewable. The stabilization feature will
only work on Win8 machines however.





I was on-line via the coffee shop's wi-fi. I was downloading and then
uploading the document via email, and then checking other emails. My Mac
had no problem finding the wi-fi signal or hooking up. The service there
was "up." It was an AT&T signal, not a comcast signal, but I doubt that
is relevant.

I've not previously seen an error message saying "limited wi-fi
capability."

On Wed, 07 May 2014 11:28:16 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 07 May 2014 08:43:13 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

I was sitting in a coffee shop last evening, waiting for my wife and
working on a news release for a client, when a guy at the next table
with a new Dell laptop running Win 8 came over and asked me if I could
get the shop's wi-fi running on his machine.

He kept getting the error message "limited wi-fi capability," or
something like that.

We rebooted his machine and I tried to get the wi-fi searcher going so
it could find the signal in the shop. Even that wasn't easy...the
machine just would not find the local signal. He needed to check his
email to find out where he needed to report for work that evening (he
works for a utility company and his workplace varies a lot during the
week), so I just let him use my Macbook Air.

He really was ****ed at Win 8 and his Dell when he left, and muttered
that he was going to give the machine to his son and get himself "an Apple."

I never did figure out what was wrong with his setup. Anyone have a
clue? I don't have a way to check it out because I don't have a Windoze
computer.

He should have stayed with XP, it works every time ;-)

A couple days ago, I awoke to find my computer displaying the 'Windows' screen saver. When I looked,
I saw a window stating that a 'Windows Update' had been installed which required a restart of the
system. Apparently Microsoft wasn't totally serious about the non-support of XP. That's what got
updated.

On 5/7/2014 11:36 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 07 May 2014 10:12:28 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:


I was on-line via the coffee shop's wi-fi. I was downloading and then
uploading the document via email, and then checking other emails. My Mac
had no problem finding the wi-fi signal or hooking up. The service there
was "up." It was an AT&T signal, not a comcast signal, but I doubt that
is relevant.

I've not previously seen an error message saying "limited wi-fi
capability."


My bet is Bill did not want W/8 connect to an unsecured site as the
default. There is probably some setting you can change to do it.

I never was able to get that W/7 machine to connect to a W/98 machine.


Hey, I was at the lake the other week driving my boat and a guy came up
with a hover craft and asked me to drive it for him.. I got in and
couldn't even find the start button. Why not I thought, it goes on water
just like my boat, but then I realized it wasn't my boat and I didn't
know **** about the hover craft so I recommended he try somebody who
did... I guess I could have just gone off trolling a news group by
saying all hovercraft suck, but then again, I don't live to be an "asshat"

On 5/7/14, 11:28 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 07 May 2014 08:43:13 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

I was sitting in a coffee shop last evening, waiting for my wife and
working on a news release for a client, when a guy at the next table
with a new Dell laptop running Win 8 came over and asked me if I could
get the shop's wi-fi running on his machine.

He kept getting the error message "limited wi-fi capability," or
something like that.

We rebooted his machine and I tried to get the wi-fi searcher going so
it could find the signal in the shop. Even that wasn't easy...the
machine just would not find the local signal. He needed to check his
email to find out where he needed to report for work that evening (he
works for a utility company and his workplace varies a lot during the
week), so I just let him use my Macbook Air.

He really was ****ed at Win 8 and his Dell when he left, and muttered
that he was going to give the machine to his son and get himself "an Apple."

I never did figure out what was wrong with his setup. Anyone have a
clue? I don't have a way to check it out because I don't have a Windoze
computer.

He should have stayed with XP, it works every time ;-)


For sure, but this was a new Dell, and it came with Win 8 something or
other pre-installed.

On 5/7/14, 11:36 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 07 May 2014 10:12:28 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:


I was on-line via the coffee shop's wi-fi. I was downloading and then
uploading the document via email, and then checking other emails. My Mac
had no problem finding the wi-fi signal or hooking up. The service there
was "up." It was an AT&T signal, not a comcast signal, but I doubt that
is relevant.

I've not previously seen an error message saying "limited wi-fi
capability."


My bet is Bill did not want W/8 connect to an unsecured site as the
default. There is probably some setting you can change to do it.

I never was able to get that W/7 machine to connect to a W/98 machine.



He said he was going to get rid of the Dell and get a Mac. That'll cure
the Windoze Blues!

On Wed, 07 May 2014 15:37:50 -0400, wrote:

On Wed, 07 May 2014 12:57:22 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

On 5/7/14, 11:28 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 07 May 2014 08:43:13 -0400, F*O*A*D wrote:

I was sitting in a coffee shop last evening, waiting for my wife and
working on a news release for a client, when a guy at the next table
with a new Dell laptop running Win 8 came over and asked me if I could
get the shop's wi-fi running on his machine.

He kept getting the error message "limited wi-fi capability," or
something like that.

We rebooted his machine and I tried to get the wi-fi searcher going so
it could find the signal in the shop. Even that wasn't easy...the
machine just would not find the local signal. He needed to check his
email to find out where he needed to report for work that evening (he
works for a utility company and his workplace varies a lot during the
week), so I just let him use my Macbook Air.

He really was ****ed at Win 8 and his Dell when he left, and muttered
that he was going to give the machine to his son and get himself "an Apple."

I never did figure out what was wrong with his setup. Anyone have a
clue? I don't have a way to check it out because I don't have a Windoze
computer.

He should have stayed with XP, it works every time ;-)


For sure, but this was a new Dell, and it came with Win 8 something or
other pre-installed.

The Lenovo I bought last month had 7 on it. I am running XP on it
now.

I'm about to buy a refurbished Lenovo with 7 thereon. It's from a computer shop I've dealt with a
bunch. Guy wants $200. Seems reasonable.

Krausebag wrote:
I was sitting in a coffee shop last evening, waiting for my wife and
working on a news release for a client, [and other bull****. Hint: He doesn't have any "clients."]

But I, myself, was on a Delta flight to LAX last week and the pilot came back to where I was seated in the first class section. He said he was having trouble figuring out how to fly the airplane. He asked me to help. So I took over the controls and flew on into LAX and made the landing for him.

This is in addition, of course, to me having rounded The Horn (twice) and sailing across the Atlantic in a washtub. It's been a wonderful life!