# Gmail problems



## Pilgrim (Dec 1, 2006)

Is anyone else having problems with Gmail? I was just able to log in, but until a few minutes ago I was unable to log in for about 2 1/2 hours and kept getting the message "Server Error" and a statement that Gmail is temporarily unavailable. For the past week or two I've occasionally had the same thing happen, but it has never been down for this long. This is making me rethink using Gmail (or any other free webmail) as my main email account.


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## Pilgrim (Dec 1, 2006)

joshua said:


> It's been working _great_ for me, Chris. Have you been very spiritual lately?  Only _joshin_'...



I could not access it with my phone either. 

I'm also getting something about downlading files for voice capability. Does it have voice chat now?


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## InwooJLee (Dec 1, 2006)

This is what I think it is: Make sure that you sign out after your done with gmail. 

I would forget to sign out of my gmail on one of the school computers and then on the same day at home I wouldn't be able to long on. I had some problems in the past with gmail, but now it's fine.


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## Semper Fidelis (Dec 1, 2006)

Pilgrim said:


> Is anyone else having problems with Gmail? I was just able to log in, but until a few minutes ago I was unable to log in for about 2 1/2 hours and kept getting the message "Server Error" and a statement that Gmail is temporarily unavailable. For the past week or two I've occasionally had the same thing happen, but it has never been down for this long. This is making me rethink using Gmail (or any other free webmail) as my main email account.



Not me brother.


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## JohnV (Dec 1, 2006)

I'm having a different problem. Gmail is not recognizing my ActiveX component. I've downloaded some ActiveX fixit tools, but they only diagnose my problems, they don't fix anything unless I first pay up. That does me no good, because I don't have a credit card, and I wouldn't pay over the internet anyways. It seems I've got a bunch of unnamed ActiveX problems, and I can't do a thing about them, at least not yet. 

But I've had no problems with Gmail otherwise. I can get in, but it is a simple manual version, with a lot less shortcuts.


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## Semper Fidelis (Dec 2, 2006)

JohnV said:


> I'm having a different problem. Gmail is not recognizing my ActiveX component. I've downloaded some ActiveX fixit tools, but they only diagnose my problems, they don't fix anything unless I first pay up. That does me no good, because I don't have a credit card, and I wouldn't pay over the internet anyways. It seems I've got a bunch of unnamed ActiveX problems, and I can't do a thing about them, at least not yet.
> 
> But I've had no problems with Gmail otherwise. I can get in, but it is a simple manual version, with a lot less shortcuts.



John,

As a last resort, It may just help to reinstall your OS over your existing installation. I would back up critical data first obviously. You can "force" this upgrade by renaming win.com in your winnt or windows directory to win.bak and then installing windows back into the same directory. The benefit of doing that is that your settings and programs are unaffected but your windows installation is often fixed by doing that.

A less draconian method to try might be to install a new browser like Firefox and see if it works there.

I would never pay Google to try and diagnose what is, essentially, an Operating System problem.


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## JohnV (Dec 2, 2006)

Thanks, Rich:

I've been thinking of doing a complete backup of my important files, and then give something like that a try. My old computer allowed me to reinstall my OS without erasing my other programs and documents. When I did that I also got a few months free antivirus from MacAfee. 

I was downloading different ActiveX fixit programs, but all they did was diagnose the problems, they fixed very little. Though the ads said "free repairs", or something like that, they did very little except tell me I had problems. Well, I knew that. No, I didn't go to Google for answers. But I think I could ask Norton Antivirus about it, since it was their updates that always turned off my ActiveX. If I removed the Google toolbar, then I could again get my browser up, but Gmail still was on basic. 

I'll give your suggestion a try. But first I've got some backing up to do. Thanks again.


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## ChristopherPaul (Dec 2, 2006)

all is well with my gmail


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## ChristopherPaul (Dec 6, 2006)

This week I have been getting the following message when I bring up Gmail, but it appears to be working fine despite the error:



> Oops... the system was unable to perform your operation (error code 008).
> Please try again in a few seconds.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 6, 2006)

ChristopherPaul said:


> This week I have been getting the following message when I bring up Gmail, but it appears to be working fine despite the error:


This is ordinary. It is related to momentary server load, I believe.


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## ChristopherPaul (Dec 6, 2006)

fredtgreco said:


> This is ordinary. It is related to momentary server load, I believe.



I figured it was non-fatal, but I haven't ever gotten the message until this week.


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## bradofshaw (Dec 6, 2006)

I find that when it draggs while loading, if I hit the back button it comes right up. Strange. This has been happening consistently the last week though.


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## JohnV (Dec 21, 2006)

Well, I downloaded Firefox. I switched my gmail over to it, and "Vwalla!" it was fixed. 

I tried everything else, everything but the drastic measure of reinstalling my OS. I updated all my ActiveX programs, I switched all the toggles to "enable", and tried to restore the system to before I updated. Nothing changes. My gmail still comes up complaining about enabling ActiveX. I switched it to Firefox, and it works just fine. I mean, there's a few minor problems, but I think I can likely work them out easily enough. It's mostly the way the gmail notifier now works. I'll just remove that program and reinstall it. 

But that brought up an interesting idea. As I was looking into the problem, I came across several comments about Microsoft and Norton Antivirus. It seemed to me that the problem arose when I updated my Norton Antivirus, and that's what made me look into this. Everyone seemed to of one of two positions: there's nothing wrong with Norton; or there's everything wrong with Norton. Only a very small minority suggested that there was anything wrong with Microsoft. But there were lots of comments about how other OS's didn't have the virus, trojan, and malware problems that Microsoft programs had. Though a lot of comments were made about Norton being a virus itself, very few mentioned or even noticed that Microsoft made Norton (or such like) a necessary program. 

What I concluded was that Microsoft makes it necessary to have virus and invasion protection. When I downloaded Firefox, and saw that it does everything that IE does, but with less computer and ram space, I began to think about the idea of size. Size seems to be related to virus and trojan problems; the bigger the program, the more susceptible. 

I've got a 40 gig harddrive, and I don't have any games, no movies, and only an assortment of songs for personal study. So why do I have only a few gig of space left? I could have the Library of Congress on my harddrive easily with 40 gig, and documents is my main interest, so what is taking up most of my 40 gig? 

Well, I found a lot of things that my kids downloaded, whether to put on their MP3's, pictures they've exchanged with friends, or whatever, but that would only take up a few gig, I would think. My own songs are not that many, and could easily fit on about 3 or 4 discs. I'm still working on this question. I'm not saying that I know everything that's on my computer. It's a big job investigating this. 

But when I looked into other OS's, I found that they can take up a lot less space. And they're not subject to invasions. Am I reading this right? Is the Linux system, for example, really a smaller program, and really exempt from virus, trojan, or malware? Or is it that users of this system don't go into the types of things that invite problems? 

(I used the windows program for years without protection before, and had only a few problems. And that came from my kids using the computer, not from my use of it. Each time I was able to resolve the problem somehow. So I know its possible to be a sole user of a computer and not have such issues even with Microsoft. So those testimonies about Linux don't mean much to me.)

Anyways, to get to my questions: 

1. Is it possible to download a different OS onto this computer (AMD mobile, XP home, etc.,) replace all the programming to that system, and eventually remove the Microsoft system altogether? or

2. Is it possible to save the Linux OS to disc, format my computer, and do a start-up from the Linux disc? I'll need to be able to access the internet for the programs that I'll need. Is this possible? or

3. Is it possible to partition my harddrive so that I have two separate OS's on my computer? Is this advisable? or

4. Should I just limp along on my Microsoft/Norton system for now, and be happy with adding my Firefox internet program? (I'm not an expert at this, and feel I'm better off waiting until everything crashes, and start over with a complete reboot than trying something that's over my head. But I've still got my old desktop to practice on, so I can try it on that first.) 

Just think, all this because Microsoft doesn't like Norton and Google, and they have the same respect for Microsoft. While they're at war with each for my patronage, I remain the least of their concerns, if at all. They don't want to give me any choice, they want to own my computing ability.


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## fredtgreco (Dec 21, 2006)

John,

Did you try and run IE using Gmail with Norton _turned off_?

The 40GB hard drive should be more than enough. It would make sense to find out what is causing the space problem. A FAR less drastic solution than switching OS (which can cause many other problems) would be to simply get a new hard drive and put it in the PC. You could get a 200-300GB internal drive for a great price.

Here is an excellent 250GB drive for under $90 shipped.

Another one for $80 after rebate.

A really cheap ($30) 160GB drive.


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## JohnV (Dec 21, 2006)

Fred:

Thanks. I'm going to try this before I remove and reinstall the notifier. But even so, do I have to turn my antivirus off every time my notifier tells me I have e-mail? That doesn't make sense. But it does tell me that Norton is the problem. So its worth a try. 

I don't think I'm going to get a bigger harddrive. I just can't see that that is the problem. I still have space left, and it's enough to do what I want. It's not that I don't have enough space, but that the programs take up as much as they do. I'm just working through alternatives, wondering about things. I can't make out whether I should get rid of Norton or not, but it seems that if I get rid of Microsoft, then a lot of problems are solved at once, including the Norton and Google one. 

Someone told me that Linux is not free. If that's so, then I think the best solution for me is to do what I read others have done: toss out the Microsoft-based computer and buy a Mac. I'm not going to make monthly payments for any programs, and I'm not going to put personal financial information at risk by sending it over the I-net. I'm mad enough about Norton's cost going up. And it came with my computer, so it's not likely that I can remove it altogether. It's not like I can go to McAfee; and AVG is soon not free anymore. I can still go to TrendMicro, and do manually what they will not do (like I did before), but right now it interests me to look at the problem of why Microsoft makes Norton necessary, and Norton makes Microsoft necessary, and yet they can't get along with each other to make computing simple and safe for me. And, what are the alternatives? 

If I can get some answers to the questions I posed, from users and not from programmers, then it'll help me to understand the situation better.


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## JohnV (Dec 21, 2006)

How do you turn Norton off? I know I used to have a toggle, but its not there anymore. I updated at the beginning of this month with the 2007 version.


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## Semper Fidelis (Dec 21, 2006)

> 1. Is it possible to download a different OS onto this computer (AMD mobile, XP home, etc.,) replace all the programming to that system, and eventually remove the Microsoft system altogether? or
> 
> 2. Is it possible to save the Linux OS to disc, format my computer, and do a start-up from the Linux disc? I'll need to be able to access the internet for the programs that I'll need. Is this possible? or
> 
> ...


Oy vay!

Yes you can download an OS and do what you're talking about but it would not be a replacement of all your programs. There are far fewer programs written for Linux but if you just need the basics you can do it probably without formatting your harddrive.

OS's are basically just files in specific directories on the hard drive. Provided that Linux will run on the current file system of your hard drive you shouldn't have to format at all. Also, in answer to 3, there are programs like Partition Commander and Partition Magic that will allow you to change the file system to the desired type without the loss of data as well as partition your drive into OS's that you can select as you boot into the computer.

Probably the best way to eliminate the Norton/Microsoft interaction and "see how it works" is to do this:

1. Download an eval copy of TrendMicro or BitDefender (the latter, by the way, was rated tops by ConsumerReports and is very nice).

2. Uninstall Norton Antivirus and all Symantec products. Depending on how old your AV versions are you might have to use a Symantec removal utility. Go to the Symantec site to find out how.

3. Try out GMail after it's all removed. If it works then install the new antivirus software.


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## JohnV (Dec 27, 2006)

My Gmail problems are suddenly resolved. I'm not sure what I did, but I did a few things that were suggested to me. I ended up downloading IE 7, did some reconfiguring, and some stuff that I don't really know enough about to explain. I went to both the Microsoft and Norton websites, and each did a scan of my system. Neither one could do anything, but yet the next thing I know, the problem is gone. I wish I could explain it. 

Not all the other problems are resolved, but the ones that I was most concerned about are gone. It was recommended to me that I remove all Norton software, and that I download AVG. It does not miss the things that Norton misses. 

I'm still going to try to free up about 20 gig of hard drive space and try to download one of the Linux OS programs, just to try it. Since what I expect of a computer is not that much, I think it will likely be sufficient for me. I am leery of this Microsoft system that makes it mandatory to always run the latest versions of everything just to keep things going smoothly. Not that I thnk that Linux is any different in that respect, but at least it doesn't threaten you with new viruses and all kinds of malware if you don't keep up. I don't have this computer in order to become a computer nerd or an internet junkie. And I don't have endless amounts of money to keep on buying new hardware and software, or to pay for a mounting set of yearly subscriptions in order to keep things running smoothly. So I want to try Linux just to see if the things people say about it are true. 

This will take some time.


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## panta dokimazete (Dec 27, 2006)

speaking of gmail - I highly recommend their Docs and Spreadsheets function - particularly the collaborate and publish functions.


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