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The add problem limits the time I spend on here so it must be a good thing.......
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I have a fast broadband connection at work and an antiquated dial-up on an old computer at home. Both work fine with no problems.
It's your computer or set-up, Rattle.
Anything HJ says or does is fine by me. It's his site, it's useful, informative and amusing, and it's free.
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It's your computer or set-up, Rattle. >>
;-)
Can you say that to someone with an IT degree, who earns his living fixing computers?
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The amount of CPU (and memory) used will depend on what's loaded on the web-page at the time. Using Google Chrome, I see total memory currently used for the Chrome processes is about 110Mb.
The only Flash ad running at the moment is a Renault one (there can be more than one depending on the adverts currently running) and it's using about 13Mb and upto 5% CPU (Pentium 4 3.6GHz).
I know some of the ads on the Internet, including here, can take a lot more CPU. I wouldn't worry about 158Mb though - you've got 1Gb.
The problem with some of these ads is the developers of the ads (which is not this site or any other site remember) probably have very fast machines and do not notice the CPU overhead. They also probably have multiple cores so the Flash adverts run on a different CPU core.
How adverts on websites work is quite complicated. They are not hosted as such on the webserver in question. Requests for adverts are sent to an ad server which itself can check with other ad servers/agencies for any adverts. You can see this activity when the web page loads.
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I agree Flash is very inefficient at rendering moving graphics and effects. If a device isn't up to showing them, then don't. I can view this site perfectly well on an iPhone which only has a 620MHz ARM processor, because flash and java are not run by the mobile safari browser on it. Some adverts do appear on the iPhone, they must be animated GIFs tempcover is one such advert.
Edited by Hamsafar on 19/03/2009 at 11:19
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Edited by PoloGirl on 19/03/2009 at 18:13
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Just then three different Renault ads were on screen - CPU usage never went above 4%. In the past there have been problems and I do inform (via email) those that ought to be aware. Since there was a problem with the ads a while back I think they have been well behaved on this site....
... some other sites do have problems.
As for iPhone/iPod Touch... just wait until Apple eventually let Flash onto the device ;-) They hold out because they say Flash is inefficient and it is of course.
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Edited by PoloGirl on 19/03/2009 at 18:13
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There is nothing wrong with my laptop other than it has a basic processor with little cache, (256K I think). However this is typical of a lot of systems. On my desktop (AMD 4200 X2, 2GB RAM, Vista Premium etc) there is never any slowdown due to flash but on my laptop it does suffer.
I've never had a problem with it either until last night when a certain combination triggered it, that combination has not appeared since and its worked fine again.
The purpose of this thread was not to tell anybody off for having too many adverts, it was to suggest before thinking about placing any more make sure they don't cause peoples PCs to slow down.
The problem is partly due to Firefox, I find the first time I use HJ it will use about 58MB of RAM, close it down and reload it uses 80MB and this increases all the time. It seems there is a problem with memory leaks (all browsers do this) and flash adds etc just make the problem a lot worse.
I did used to work as a web designer for a company which made websites for the public sector and they had to comply with strict standards. The problem here is finding a more efficient way to make money out of the site without all the flash stuff.
I used to be a moderator of a large student site and this issue would come up a lot. The solution was to charge people a small amount to access a hidden part of the site and if you paid you also got complete removal of the adverts. It was surprisingly popular even with the tight fisted students. It might be an area to explore.
As it happens it seems my problem last night was a one off but it may well be putting of potential members from signing up.
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The problem is partly due to Firefox, ..... It seems there is a problem with memory leaks (all browsers do this) and flash adds etc just make the problem a lot worse.
If you close down Firefox (i.e. it is not running) then it cannot be memory leaks. Once shutdown it has no process and so the next time it starts up it is a new instance. Memory leaks affect processes that run over time. Closing down any application/system is an avoidance tactic for memory leaks. Unix admins used to do it a lot in the 80s/90s.
The problem here is finding a more efficient way to make money out of the site without all the flash stuff.
HJ like any other site does not determine the format of the ad. They are provided them via ad servers. And Flash runs on most operating systems so is the reason for it being fairly universal... animated GIFs do not make the same sort of flashy ads (excuse the pun).
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There is nothing wrong with my laptop other than -------
As it happens it seems my problem last night was a one off but it may well be putting of potential members from signing up.
A computer expert is someone who can tell you at great length what is wrong with your computer, and then at even greater length solve the problem you never knew you had.
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Probably combination of a naff processor and the effects of memory leaks. I could just turn off flash on my laptop but that would be a bit naughty, I don't mind the adds providing they don't make my laptop slow down to the point it feels like a 486.
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I've said this before but do they really need to show the same ad every time you click on a link? It must be possible to put a cookie on your machine to show that it's been displayed this session.
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If the ads help pay for the site and keep HJ in hats, I'm perfectly happy with the very little aggravation it causes.
I much prefer the threads on here not having loads of gifs and fancy signatures as well as photos loaded in them. Why do people always include the picture when "quoting?" It makes a 10 reply thread huge and clunky to read as well as load which isn't the case here.
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..I much prefer the threads on here not having loads of gifs and fancy signatures as well as photos loaded in them....
Agreed.
As an IT duffer, it seems to me lots of sites only work really well when my broadband connection is performing at its best.
It might be great on the big city design studio's top notch gear, but at the far end of a 100-year-old copper wire in the frozen North East?
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>>Just on my slightly low spec laptop atm,>>
Nice piece of understatement...:-)
I have an XP Athlon 3200+ CPU, 1GB of RAM and use Firefox 99 per cent of the time - HJ's website is as quick or as slow as any other I visit, even with several tabs open at a time.
RAM usage varies between 495 and 550MB depending on number of tabs and OE and if I'm also using the Freeview PCI TV card to watch Sky News.
Edited by Stuartli on 19/03/2009 at 15:23
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Sometimes I`m using the EEE PC 701 Linux - with I think a 600ghz ? processor. Anyway its like greased lightning on the site - using Opera with images disabled. It was pretty quick from out in the remote areas of the Philippines too last week...
Have you tried Opera Rattle ?
By the way, waiting for the next instalment of your car search - good luck! ;-)
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One of the offspring has the same EEE model, but installed XP Pro - the OS loads in a fraction of the time it does on a desktop...:-)
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If anyone is interested in downloading the official release of Internet Explorer 8, made available from about half-an-hour ago, see:
www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/defaul...x
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I've had no problems with this site, I like the site the way it is without all sorts of pictures and smileys.
Edited by PoloGirl on 19/03/2009 at 18:15
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I may not install on my main PC but downloaded IE8 to see if it differs from the version in the Windows 7 Beta. Did it before they got busy but it took twice as long as expected - a full 46 seconds! Appalling speed for a 16Mb download ;-)
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I was just about to add my two-pennorth, with the point that I very rarely have problems with this site, even using my former antiquated W98, IE6 400mhz system or my 'upgrade' Mac 867x2, OS X Tiger, Firefox. Then, in the panel on the right, I spotted the following words had appeared: 'Jaguar recognised For Exceptional Dependability by J.D. Power'.
Something obvious gone amiss, then...
;-)
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Ah, but Mike, it doesn't say what you can depend on them to do.. Break down?? ;-)
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With respect on one site I used to visit a lot it was owned by a massive UK ulilities company there was flaws with the code, they ignored as being silly students. We all knew they would go bust and they did.
The reason they never listened to their visitors, we all complained about usability issues, security etc. They were basically conned by the developers. The domain name now just hosts one of them add sites.
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Well let's hope you don't have the same effect here then.
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Nice little earners in IT in the Phils.
Checked into Hotel - "free wireless" except the given WEP password didn`t work. Now unfortunatley this was a straight out of the b ox Eee PC - so not sure if the problem was with me.
Reception rang `IT`and a lad came across the city from his base to our room and entered the code... Notebook connected straight away.. Now I was suspicious about that having seen that was all he did and having tried myself about 30 times.
Three days later - no wireless. But as before a good signal being picked up. Reception then said (as a throwaway comment) a bloke in another room couldn`t connect either.
I asked for the IT guy to visit -- waited fror the phone call from reception to the IT guy - then sprinted to our room, entered the code - In straight away! Back down to reception "he`s coming to your room" - me - "tell him not to bother, but keep it working at his end..
Seemi9ngly the `tip` for `fixing` scam...last encountered over aircon in a hotel room in Karachi 12 years ago.
Anyone ever heard of that in the UK?
Sorry mods if this is not OK in this thread..
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Pug this site is very different. The site I am talking about was a long time ago the people that ran it knew nothing and they paid an external company a fortune who delivered a very very poor standard website, sloppy ASP code, sloppy SQL statements (for us all to see!), no alt tags on the images, too many flash images etc.
I am not telling anybody how to run the site just suggesting that admin keep an eye on the adds so it does not get out of hand.
Oilrag that problem could have been a lot of things but it could have also have been a scam. Only ever tried wifi once in a hotel but it was free and reliable.
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i to suffer after 6 o/clock in the evening it gets very slow.what erks me is when someone comments it,s classed as as being critical and the usual reply is if you don't like it go somewhere else.i understand the site needs advertising revenue but why can't someone just explain to people like me why this happens.i still have had no reply why since the recent upgrade the home page does not load and also most pages come up done,but with errors on page.i am not that good with computers but any info would be helpful.
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The site for me is running at full speed after 6pm. I have two Renault adverts and they are causing no problems.
The site is hosted in a data centre with plenty of bandwidth. I wonder if those with a problem have broadband boandwidth issues? My 20Mbit/s connection is usually consistent at giving approx 20Mbit/s - sometimes faster and sometimes a bit slower. If people complain about speed in the evening I'd speed test your ISP connection.
This thread is becoming a bit of a resource hog though ;-)
Edit: as its evening my ISP seems to be giving only 3-4Mbit/s but it still 100% responsive. I think the problems with ads for now are gone. But we'll keep an eye on it.
Edited by rtj70 on 19/03/2009 at 18:15
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>This thread is becoming a bit of a resource hog though ;-)
Indeed. Sorry, I was under the impression this was a motoring discussion forum.
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I live in the sticks with a maximum of 2 meg broadband. In the early evening when presumably the local kids get online, things slow down dramatically. This site seems to much worse than, say, Pistonheads which is always fast to load and refresh.
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The site is slow but that is probably are more complicated issue with regard to the hosting company and how popular this site is. I don't mind the servers being slow but when adds are slowing it down it does defeat the purpose of the adverts.
It is has gone slow a bit more for again, and like last all the adverts are the Renault ones so it seems to that add which is causing more of a problem than others.
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