Problem

Think we would "talk" about it here first, sure all your questions could be better answered by other members here; think combined, we would have a wealth of experience.

Shop assistants are bound to be a bit biased to say the least and as shown on the tv consumer programs the staff of a certain large retailer are well known for giving incorrect info and dubious extra warranties.

 

If the laptop is not overly old, a local PC repair shop might find a solution. Sometimes it's just driver-something that can be updated, or a card-a-thinggy replaced (apologies for being somewhat vague there )

I used a small PC repair shop to sort out my old laptop, the guys were enthusiastic but in the end told me that they were not able to crack the nut and apart from changing all the innards one by one to pinpoint the guilty one there was nothing they could do. They recommended to buy a new one and refused to be paid as they had "failed". (I pushed a £10 tip on them.)

Lovely, enthusiastic lads who probably lost a lot of sleep over my rubbish laptop. I didn't feel intimidated at all, and since they are not selling anything got some good unbiased recommendations from someone who actually knows something about computers.

 

First thing I do when something appears wrong viewing a forum before clearing caches, changing browsers, buying new laptops, etc., is have a look at another site using the same forum software (Xenforo) and check if the problem is replicated there.

For example, have a look at the Screwfix forum https://community.screwfix.com/ and see if it displays in the same odd way that Gardeners Corner now appears on your laptop.

Here's a few more Forums running XenForo software with over 100,000 posts

 

Thank you all again, I must say the thought of going to Currys was a bit of a panic thought so I probably won't go there. I may ask some questions here but the thing is I don't understand technical words.

I may go to the local shop where I bought my laptop and see what they say. I found them very good and helpful in the past. They used to write everything down for me and explain things in simple (very simple) words.
The thing is that they have relocated and are out of the way for me now, but maybe it would be worth the journey.

 

I reckon the change in display format is because you are viewing the mobile version of GC. There is a way to force the pc to display the desktop version - but I can't remember how to do it now. Google is your friend.

 

Well there are two things you need to do before going anywhere -

First is to mention the Model number of your laptop, so we can then find out its age and specification which will give some clue as to if it really needs replacing.

Acer have made this little video on where to look on the bottom side of the laptop for the model number - in that example the model is an Aspire followed by some letters and number - whats yours ?
Laptops


The second is for You to recover the passwords held in your browser, so we need to know which browers you are using, Edge, Chrome , Firefox etc so we can tell you how to do that.


No technical words there -

 

Well, now you mention it @ricky101 is it worth downloading another browser and seeing how GC looks with that?

 

Sorry @Scrungee I missed your comment earlier on.
I've looked at Screwfix and some of the others you suggest and they all look normal.

I am wondering therefore if it could be that I'm seeing the mobile version of GC as @clanless said above.

@ricky101 the model is Aspire N16Q1 and the serial number etc are very long.
I think I'm using Microsoft Edge browser.
I think I'll go to the near-by shop. I've always found them very helpful.

Thank you all

 

I didn't get time to go to the shop yet, but I've found that if I log out the pages look normal, but as soon as I log in they look different.
It's fine if all I want to do is look but it's awkward to make a comment and upload photos.

 

I didn't get time to go to the shop yet, but I've found that if I log out the pages look normal, but as soon as I log in they look different.
It's fine if all I want to do is look but it's awkward to make a comment and upload photos.

 

Must be something to do with cookies perhaps?
Clear all your cookies then log back in.

 

Or something to do your GC site preferences? I'll have a look at mine on my laptop.

EDIT: Can't find anything there.

Could you post a screenshot of what you see when logged in?