I used to manually clone W98 for this purpose. Although XPs registry is split into system and user, I still think going fresh will be quicker and less painful.

You may want to have a look at the built in 'files and settings transfer wizard'.

Thank you.

Anyways, I'm still making payments on this rig so I'd have to wait till it's paid off till I do anything to it. Cos they won't give you the XP CD until it's done.
Whenever I say "fresh install" I'm actually using the restore to factory settings thingy that's built into the BIOS.

I might keep my motherboard and then upgrade to a dual-core processor. And hope that works. After backing up. I'm very tired.

When upgrading the processor, always check the specs on the motherboard to see what it will support before making a purchase.

Yes -- I'll check that.

Can anyone tell me how to be able to print stuff from my laptop onto a desktop connected by a wireless router?

Can anyone tell me how to be able to print stuff from my laptop onto a desktop connected by a wireless router?

Are they networked? If so, there should be a sharing thingy.

Are they networked?

Not sure. Probably not.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/maintain/printers.mspx

If, on a computer, an HDD dies, could that cause a power supply to explode?

This happened nearly 11 years ago with an old computer with Windows 95. The hard drive died then the power supply exploded.

If the PSU is crappy and the HDD dying causes a sudden change in draw on a rail -- maybe. But this had to have happened almost immediately. if it was the HDD dying and then a minute later the PSU blew up, it was probably just bad luck.

Thank you.

Unfortunatly, I don't remember it.

Anything is possible, however computer power supplies are normally regulated (voltage is controlled so it shouldn't hurt the drive) and are commonly also current limited (so the drive won't hurt the supply).

So...is it possible that the power supply blew, then took out the drive? or Blew silently, took out the drive, then exploded?

I'm not really sure -- I was 5 at the time. All of those are possible.

There's also another theory, which my mom denies: After the HDD failed, she opened it up to try to fix it and plugged in something that she wasn't supposed to.

Knowing as much about your mom as I do ( What I gathered from your posts ) its the latter.

She doesn't even know what the PSU is -- she thought the hard drive exploded. I asked a little more -- she said there was an error in the BIOS about the HDD, so she went to reboot to try again and there was a flash and a bang and a funny smell. Something like that.

If, on a computer, an HDD dies, could that cause a power supply to explode?

This happened nearly 11 years ago with an old computer with Windows 95. The hard drive died then the power supply exploded.

I would bet it was the other way around. That the power supply blew the HDD on it's way to blowing itself up.

I'm not sure -- I'm relying on what my mom said. She probably forgot a few things.

Another question: Suppose I install another hard drive, which I want as D (for obvious reasons.) However, my optical drives take up D and E. How exactly do you shift them? (I know there's a way to, just can't remember it.)

p.s. I have two optical drives because one is for reading and the other for writing.

Start => Control Panel => Administrative Tools => Computer Management => Disk Management => Right click on the drive whose name you want to change and choose "Change drive letter and paths" from the menu.

Thank you. I knew it was somewhere, I couldn't remember where.

Slightly easier path is Start -> Right click on My Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management.

Thank you again.

If an HDD is noiser than usual (no strange noises, just more of the regular "grinding"), could that be a sign it's on its way out?

Either ways, I'm backing up my data to be safe.

Normally I'd say it's either fragmented or handling many small files from various locations on the drive or something like that.

Yes, but I defragged two days ago!

I did some research -- I have a Maxtor drive, average lifespan would be 4-5 years. I use mine heavily, and the computer is from 2006.

Well, if it does crap out, I can use the Windows 98 until I get the HDD replaced.

Yes, but I defragged two days ago!

Yes, I remember that. My sentence had two parts. :)

Many small files. The only thing I've been really working with is videos, and they aren't that small. A few gigabytes each.

Maybe I've just been reading too much about HDD failure....lol.

An HDD can last a very long time. Or not :p If one sounds different than it used to, backup files on it and be careful with it.

I use mine heavily.

Can you switch it around so that that drive is a backup? If a drive mechanically fails, it is simply too expensive for most people to retrieve anything on it. So if the behavior of a drive starts to change, stop relying on it. HDDs are not that expensive these days.

I remember years ago, working on mainframes, we got a new disk unit in for one of our systems. The manufacturer's explicit "Mean Time Between Failures" was like four years. That unit died in two weeks. "Mean Time Between Failure", or "average lifespan" is still just an average. The actual lifetimes are spread all over, most likely in a bell curve. But you still get occasional outliers way out at either end of the bell curve.

One other thing is multiple concurrent file access. Windows tends to deal with each file in small parts causing the drive to switch to one file just to read a little of it then back to the other to read some of it and so on. This causes much drive activity and a greatly increased time for file actions as the drive seek time becomes a critical issue.

Windows may be swapping whilst you're doing something else. You may want to experiment with reducing the size of the swapfile. On a non windows OS you can typically go without a swapfile if you have sufficient RAM. With a windows OS you can sometimes disable it. You may need to keep a file of a few MB if something complains.

I remember years ago, working on mainframes, we got a new disk unit in for one of our systems. The manufacturer's explicit "Mean Time Between Failures" was like four years. That unit died in two weeks. "Mean Time Between Failure", or "average lifespan" is still just an average. The actual lifetimes are spread all over, most likely in a bell curve. But you still get occasional outliers way out at either end of the bell curve.From what I saw when looking for a harddrive, It seems harddrives have a high chance of failing within the first month of use. If it survives a month, then it should survive a while. But failing within that first month does not qualify as being an outlier. I suspect that the4 year mean fail time does not include drives that fail within a month.

I had one that failed after 4 days, just after I had transferred all my data and erased it from the source. I sued Maxtor and got $3000.

I had one that failed after 4 days, just after I had transferred all my data and erased it from the source. I sued Maxtor and got $3000.
Did you get data recovery with that?

With all this hard drive doom and gloom about the forums I have decided that I really need to back up my data and settings. I have a new 250 GB HD just lying around and a couple SATA connectors to plug it in.

What's the best way to back up my data and settings on this new HD? If I image my old HD on this new one can I boot from the new one if the old one fails? Will Microsfoft make this difficult for me with it's copyright protection?

If you can image your drive onto the new one then why not use it and put the old one in a safe place as a backup? It'll probably be faster/more quiet/more reliable etc.

Personally, I'd take the opportunity to run the files and settings transfer wizard for your settings (if wanted), remove your old drive, put in the new one and do a reinstall of windows and your apps, plug in the old drive and sift through your files, then take out the old one.

You won't have any copyright issues at this level.

Personally, I'd take the opportunity to run the files and settings transfer wizard for your settings (if wanted), remove your old drive, put in the new one and do a reinstall of windows and your apps, plug in the old drive and sift through your files, then take out the old one.

You won't have any copyright issues at this level.

Would I have to put a windows installation on the new drive first? How about formatting. Are drives NTFS out of the box?

I don't think so. The Settings and Transfer wizard is part of Windows, and AFAIK doesn't require the installation disc. That said, I've never used this function myself.

Drives are not normally formatted when you buy them, NTFS or otherwise, IME.

Ive got one of my own -- what is Vista doing exactly when its shutting down? I hit the power button on my pc at 1am last night and went to sleep (Long day at work so i was out almost immediately). Woke up at 4am and noticed my pc was still on with the "Windows is shutting down" message that Vista has. Had to hold the power button to get it to shut off. The most interesting thing is the HDD light was going off like crazy and I noticed FaH didnt stop until 4am, not 1am when I originally told the pc to shut down. Same thing with mIRC, it didnt disconnect until 4am according to my logs.

OT - Turner, your user title is gonna be my senior quote :p

Would I have to put a windows installation on the new drive first? How about formatting. Are drives NTFS out of the box?
If you want to run the wizard, boot normally and do it first before you swap the drives. The Windows installation routine will step you through formatting the new drive.

Ive got one of my own -- what is Vista doing exactly when its shutting down? I hit the power button on my pc at 1am last night and went to sleep (Long day at work so i was out almost immediately). Woke up at 4am and noticed my pc was still on with the "Windows is shutting down" message that Vista has.
I was first going to suggest that you don't have ACPI (power management) turned on in your BIOS. Then it occured to me that Vista likes to schedule automatic updates over-night after you shut down.

About mIRC? Maybe it was just sitting idle until windows shut down?

Power management reminds me -- why would a computer refuse to come out of hibernate? Every time I go in standby or hibernate, I always end up having to do a hard boot. (I have an AMD Athlon processor.)
I googled it but the ones I could find is where the computer won't boot up at all after a standby.

I was first going to suggest that you don't have ACPI (power management) turned on in your BIOS. Then it occured to me that Vista likes to schedule automatic updates over-night after you shut down.

About mIRC? Maybe it was just sitting idle until windows shut down?
mIRC was just an example. A lot of my programs didnt shut down until 4am. I know for a fact ACPI is turned on and there were no updates.
This is so far the one and only time Vista did this to me.

About those HDDs: Windows (usually) has only "recovery CD" with it, not installation CD. I understand that means you can't install Windows with it (although I suppose I'm wrong on this, and they're using inaccurate word for some unknown reasons). How is it, can you install with it, or just "recover"? And if latter, are there any legitimate ways to install Windows after HDD blows?

@ stickciv and aimee: I've never had much patience with windows and I'm a little heavy handed with the power button if you know what I mean. It's happened to me too and I'm going to just wait for the next service pack. :sad:

@ Atticus: Recovery is installation, just tailored to your system. You could probably extract the windows install files from the CD but only if you have a reason to bother, IMO.

If you want to run the wizard, boot normally and do it first before you swap the drives. The Windows installation routine will step you through formatting the new drive.


Thanks.:)
10 char.

@ stickciv and aimee: I've never had much patience with windows and I'm a little heavy handed with the power button if you know what I mean. It's happened to me too and I'm going to just wait for the next service pack. :sad:
Well, I really dont like to hard shut-down the system cus everything complains when I boot it up in the morning. On the other hand, if Vista taking 3 hours to shut down becomes a more usual occurence, im gonna start pulling the power cord to shut it down...

Thanks, Indm!

Alright, another one: Why does Vista use 100% of my RAM whenever im installing something big, like any recent game? And no, it doesnt release the RAM when another app needs it. In fact, it doesnt release it at all. This comes because as I was installing RA3 just now, my pc first slowed down, then completely halted and Vista crashed because it ran out of memory.

EDIT - and no, this is not prefetching. I know what that looks like and this is not it.

Thanks, Indm!

You're welcome :)

Well, I really dont like to hard shut-down the system cus everything complains when I boot it up in the morning.
Hehe. Don't get me wrong, this is just a sore point with me. It was one of the earlier cases of windows forcing its dumb suggestions on me...a sign of things to come. When the ATX case specification removed the hard power switch in favour of a soft power scheme, that just gave me the ****. Subsequently for years I disabled write back caching on principle, but mainly because I don't like it. When I save something I expect the drive to be given the data then and there :lol:

</soapbox>

Alright, another one: Why does Vista use 100% of my RAM whenever im installing something big, like any recent game? And no, it doesnt release the RAM when another app needs it. In fact, it doesnt release it at all. This comes because as I was installing RA3 just now, my pc first slowed down, then completely halted and Vista crashed because it ran out of memory.

EDIT - and no, this is not prefetching. I know what that looks like and this is not it.
Not prefetching, not sure, but caching perhaps?

There is a theory that unused RAM is wasted RAM. Assuming that caching is happening and if windows handles a couple of Gigs worth of files and goings on, and then has nothing better to use the RAM for then why relinquish it?

If there is nothing better, than sure, use it. The fact is though, Vista eats up ALL the RAM. Even the RAM Firefox or iTunes or etc. were using and makes those applications uber slow/dead. I don't mind Vista using a lot of RAM as long as when I need it, it gives it back. When I install something though, it decides to be greedy and not give any back.

EDIT- Well, apparently it was PowerISO causing it. By someone's suggestion I tried uninstalling it and using Daemon Tools and bam, no 100% memory usage.
I feel kinda bad for assuming it was Vista right off the bat.

I remember getting pissed because every time I had to do a hard boot, my Windows 98 would force me through a 10-minute scandisk thing. There was an exit button but I didn't know how to activate it. Until about 6 months before I sold it, I was so pissed I was hitting buttons on the keyboard everywhere trying to find it. (It was the spacebar.)

I remember getting pissed because every time I had to do a hard boot, my Windows 98 would force me through a 10-minute scandisk thing. There was an exit button but I didn't know how to activate it. Until about 6 months before I sold it, I was so pissed I was hitting buttons on the keyboard everywhere trying to find it. (It was the spacebar.)
Ah yes, the disk scanner on W98. Those were fun times.

How many people here agree than 15 gigabytes is a tad bit much for a 10-minute video which isn't even high-def?

(I forgot the compression settings in VirtualDub. I was aiming for a 100 MB file, at most.)

100MB sounds OK. Might see some minor improvements up to 500MB but hardly worth going past that point IMO. Of course, I'm speaking on average as some videos compress better than others. I'm assuming you're using DVD style MPEG compression.

BTW I don't make that many videos so I'm estimating here.

What's a good chat client (Yahoo, MSM) for Linux? I'm using PCLOS.

What's a good chat client (Yahoo, MSM) for Linux? I'm using PCLOS.
You mean for IM? I use Pidgin (http://www.pidgin.im). For Linux and windows both.

How many people here agree than 15 gigabytes is a tad bit much for a 10-minute video which isn't even high-def?

(I forgot the compression settings in VirtualDub. I was aiming for a 100 MB file, at most.)
I really didnt like that about VirtualDub. No matter what I tried, I couldnt get it to save video at anything besides every frame full-size no compression. 20 second clips ended up being several hundred mb...

Is there a good firefox addon or something that will allow me to download flash videos? I tried DownloadHelper but it only works for like youtube and porn sites and other places I don't care about... I'd like to be able to download streaming Windows Media Player stuff too.

VirtualDub doesn't come with internal codecs. Install ffdshow + LAME

Is there a good firefox addon or something that will allow me to download flash videos? I tried DownloadHelper but it only works for like youtube and porn sites and other places I don't care about... I'd like to be able to download streaming Windows Media Player stuff too.

It's not an addon, but I've had luck with Orbit Downloader. (http://www.orbitdownloader.com/)

In VirtualDub, I did have some codecs, I just forgot to set them. (I was using it because I was having problems with Avidemux.)

Why are so many Irc clients trial software, when pidgin can apparently do it for free? or chatzilla?

Dunno.... Trillian does it too for free.

What's a good chat client (Yahoo, MSM) for Linux? I'm using PCLOS.

Pidgin is generally recognized to be the best all-around chat client for Linux. You could also try Kopete (it's the KDE multi-chat client), but most of us prefer Pidgin.

Both Pidgin and Kopete are in the PCLOS repositories.

Edit: For irc, my favorite Linux one is KVirc (also in the repos).

Well, got pidgin installed. I'll play with it an the others tonight.

Because while Pidgin is a good all-around client, it sucks for IRC. XChat is another good one for Linux, or windows if you can compile it. Personally though, I prefer mIRC. Definitely worth the money imho.

Because while Pidgin is a good all-around client, it sucks for IRC. XChat is another good one for Linux, or windows if you can compile it. Personally though, I prefer mIRC. Definitely worth the money imho.

In what ways does it suck for IRC?

I remember my mom had a pirated version of mIRC on a CD (someone mailed it to her, I think), and I didn't understand why she was upset when I lost the disc. Because I thought it was freeware and she could just go download it again. (I was only 9 or 10 at the time.)

In what ways does it suck for IRC?
After using mIRC, Pidgin's IRC interface just seems so primitive. No support for scripting like mIRC has ( although I wouldnt call mIRC's scripting language a language, more like keyboard vomit, but thats a different topic ). It just didn't sit well with me. The way Pidgin's interface is organized is useful for straight-up im'ing and occasional IRC when you just need to ask a quick question, but using it as a dedicated client is a no no.

mIRC never actually makes you register anyways.

It doesnt, but I felt it was worth it to pay the guy. Plus it got rid of the nag screen.

How much $ is it?

How much $ is it?

I googled it and it's 20 dollars, the price of crappy budget software (at least around here). If it's as good as people say, that's a very good deal.

Considering that ive been using it for 3 years, its worth 20$ ( thats a couple hours at work at min wage, 2 hours for me )

Is there a way to make the blue power light on my desktop case be less bright or something? The freakign thing starts blinking when its in stand by or hibernate or whatever the hell mode its in when I'm inactive for awhile, and its bright enough to be a major nuisance when I'm trying to sleep. I mean, is there any sort of setting that controls this type of crap, or should I just stick a bit of electrical tape over it or something?

You can open up your PC and unplug it from the motherboard. Then you have no light.

Electrical tape is your best bet if you dont wanna open up the case. it will block the light really well ( Its what I did on my case's front fans, 3 120mm fans lit up by 3 LED's each makes for a very bright light )

And if it's a CRT montior, you can electrocute yourself by opening it up.

CRT's have a nifty little power button if you want the lights on them to turn off ;)

You can still electrocute yourself with a CRT, even if it's unplugged. The capacitors carry enough juice to fry you.

For the light, either tape it over, of it that is too dark, get a semi transparent decal to go over it.

I know it works on pc, after you unplug them, hit the power button to drain the capacitors ( Ive had enough juice in them to spin up the fans for 2-3 seconds before ). Does that work with CRT's?

Sometimes, download websites will provide the MD5 hashes to compare to a downloaded file e.g. in case it corrupts or was tampered with. How exactly do you compare them?

Thanks.

I know it works on pc, after you unplug them, hit the power button to drain the capacitors ( Ive had enough juice in them to spin up the fans for 2-3 seconds before ). Does that work with CRT's?

I read in a few places that for CRTs, they have to be off for nearly three months. Other places say to drain them, but I don't know how to do that.

I also read rubber gloves and boots after you discharge it, but I don't think that'll protect you if you don't drain it. :lol:

Sometimes, download websites will provide the MD5 hashes to compare to a downloaded file e.g. in case it corrupts or was tampered with. How exactly do you compare them?

Thanks.
YOu need a program that can calculate the hash for the file you downloaded and compare it to the provided hash.
md5deep is probably the top free one out there: http://md5deep.sourceforge.net/

YOu need a program that can calculate the hash for the file you downloaded and compare it to the provided hash.
md5deep is probably the top free one out there: http://md5deep.sourceforge.net/

Thank you. :)

I know it works on pc, after you unplug them, hit the power button to drain the capacitors ( Ive had enough juice in them to spin up the fans for 2-3 seconds before ). Does that work with CRT's?

No. What some don't realise is that the picture tube is designed to have significant capacitance and is itself charged to several thousand volts. This is the most dangerous part of the monitor and you should particularly stay away from the board socketed to the yoke (tail) of the tube. It can be discharged by shorting, but this is best not done unless you know what you're doing.

Is there a way to make the blue power light on my desktop case be less bright or something? The freakign thing starts blinking when its in stand by or hibernate or whatever the hell mode its in when I'm inactive for awhile, and its bright enough to be a major nuisance when I'm trying to sleep. I mean, is there any sort of setting that controls this type of crap, or should I just stick a bit of electrical tape over it or something?

They're pretty easy to unplug from the inside.

My lights are extinguished by a combination of unplugging, electrical tape, and being coloured over with sharpies.

I'm considering installing Linux on my mom's computer when she's asleep or something, cos she always gets viruses. What's the chances of doing that without getting clobbered?

Without getting clobbered by your mom? Probably pretty slim. :lol:

You can make pretty much any distro look like, and behave on the surface a lot like, Windows. Sooner or later, though, she is going to want to download and/or install something that is not compatible, and will raise hell about it.

Ditto.... I could barely get my mom to accept Opera instead of I.E. Better you not try.

LOL, thanks.

Noobiest question ever: How do you count the number of bookmarks you got in Firefox?

First with my fingers, and then with my toes (sorry :D)

LOL, thanks.

Noobiest question ever: How do you count the number of bookmarks you got in Firefox?

You can go to bookmarks->organize bookmarks
than go to the tab where all of your bookmarks are, and select all (right click or push ctrl+A)
In the panel below, it should say how many items you have selected, and thus how many bookmarks

Thank you.

Question: Suppose you have some HDD cloning utility, and you backup an image of your HDD to an external one. Then your HDD dies and you replace it with a different model. Could you use the clone to put everything back without needing to reinstall Windows or all your programs?

Or another situation: your old HDD doesn't die, but you want to put everything onto a new one without doing a bunch of reinstalls. Is this possible?

If so, what would be a good (free) disc cloning utility? I'm worried my HDD might be on its way out, so I'm trying to convince mom to let me buy a new one.

The fan controller line on my PSU obviously died last night, so I put the fans on some wire coming off the GPu that the front fans were hooked up to, and now my fans are spinning really fast, my computer's cooler(cpu and GPU around 10C cooler now just from that, can really feel a lot of airflow coming out of the fans) but I'm worried that maybe this will blow out the fans, like it's overpowering it.

Question: Suppose you have some HDD cloning utility,
The first question I'd ask is: can the utility handle partitions of different sizes. A partition can otherwise be treated as just a partition even if it's on another drive. (I'm assuming the utility will deal with partitions singularly)

....but I'm worried that maybe this will blow out the fans, like it's overpowering it.
The chances are that the fan is a 12V unit, the power you've connected it to is 12V, and there is no/incorrect speed control on the new power line.

To confirm this, first look at the rating on the fan (on a sticker). Then check the voltage available at the terminals. If you don't have a meter, you might instead find the rating of the other fan that was plugged into it.

If the voltage is correct then you're OK. If the fan is too noisy you can quieten it by inserting a resistor in series with the red wire.

The first question I'd ask is: can the utility handle partitions of different sizes. A partition can otherwise be treated as just a partition even if it's on another drive. (I'm assuming the utility will deal with partitions singularly)

Well, I don't know what utility I'm using yet, so I'll assume yes and then look for one with that feature.

Yep, 12v, the front fan is the same fan, the back on is the only different one but it's the same size so I guess it should be fine.

@aimee: Although I've never used an application for dealing with partitions, I guess I'd also want to know what it can do in the storage department. Does it compress the image to save space? Will it break it into smaller files? Can these save files be manually moved around? Is there a bootable CD in case you're left OSless one day? Can it deal with any kind of partition and content?

Not that each of these would necessarily be a priority to everyone ;)


@Ulyaoth: I'd think so. If unsure, maybe you could plug the back one into another socket that works to see that it goes the same speed?

I found a few lists of free ones:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/09/05/5-free-apps-to-clone-your-hard-drive/
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml
Any of them seem good? (I'd be transferring everything to a bigger HDD, then unplug it and turn the new one into the C drive. Keeping the old one for backup because a lot of HDDs fail within the first few months)

Someone I know said "Norton Ghost" but that's a little out of my price range for a one-time thing.

I notice no-ones answered this. Hmmm, tough choice. There were some I liked the look of but they don't all do all the work for you. Some, for example aren't even clear as to whether they expect you to create the blank partition yourself on the new drive. Some fail to mention whether they will move to a larger partition, and some may expect you to know how to set a partition as DOS bootable. The ones that I might put the most faith in either don't do most of the work or are hard to use or don't run on windows.

There are a couple I noticed that looked like they might do the job: "DriveImageXML" and "HDClone". Simply suggesting a starting point. Without trying them, confidence is upper midrange.

HTH

Question: Suppose you have some HDD cloning utility, and you backup an image of your HDD to an external one. Then your HDD dies and you replace it with a different model. Could you use the clone to put everything back without needing to reinstall Windows or all your programs?



I've done that, but the original drive wasn't dead, just virus corrupted. Can't recall exactly if I did reinstall Windows, but I think I didn't.

I suspect you would have to re-register you installation if not outright reinstall Windows due to changing the hard drive configuration, but not sure if just changing the hard-drive model would be enough to trigger the change. Changing CPU/mobo should be enough to trigger the need to re-register Windows.

Someone did it with a Vista disc, but I have XP:

http://geekswithblogs.net/lorint/archive/2006/12/07/100596.aspx

About internet connections: Around here (and probably everywhere else too) connections are always slower than they are said to be. And I don't mean that it's marketing thing. For example I have 330 kB connection, and can down- and upload 50 kB/s each. So what is behind this? What does that "330kB/s" mean if I can't achieve it?

Connection speeds are usually listed in kb/s not kB/s. Furthermore, there is a slight overhead (perhaps up to 20%)

sometimes it can be reduced due to hardware or software.

the "330 KB" is how high it can go in optimal settings. like when they do the mile-per-gallon thing for cars, they drive the cars on highways, not start-and-stop in cities, so it's actually less than it can be.

divide the speed by 8 and you'll get your number in KB/s which is what browsers show download speeds in.

Others covered the bit vs. byte thing already.

Connection speeds are usually listed in kb/s not kB/s. Furthermore, there is a slight overhead (perhaps up to 20%)

The 20% overhead is a marketing thing, if you get a good location with a good ISP, you'll get the fully advertised speeds.

Thing is, with the current infrastructure the way it is, the 20% overhead may not be too far off. You've got the last mile problem, where you have plenty of bandwidth for all the customers going to the final hub, but from there you're oversaturating your lines. ive noticed over the last two years, the number of wireless networks I can see has gone up from around 10 to around 35, and at the same time our 2.2mbit connection has become a 1.8mbit which is almost exactly 20%.

Ok, thanks everybody!

Thing is, with the current infrastructure the way it is, the 20% overhead may not be too far off. You've got the last mile problem, where you have plenty of bandwidth for all the customers going to the final hub, but from there you're oversaturating your lines. ive noticed over the last two years, the number of wireless networks I can see has gone up from around 10 to around 35, and at the same time our 2.2mbit connection has become a 1.8mbit which is almost exactly 20%.

Yeah, but that's real situational... I get the full advertised 15/1 mbits down/up on my line, and I'm sure there are some ISPs providing their customers with much less than 80% of the advertised speed.

There's only two ISPs in the area and I noticed the connections seem to slow down a lot after 5 p.m. (sometimes time out) That's about when everyone's getting home from work/school/etc.

Yeah, but that's real situational... I get the full advertised 15/1 mbits down/up on my line, and I'm sure there are some ISPs providing their customers with much less than 80% of the advertised speed.
Bah, you and your fast speeds. I live in the friggin silicon valley and we still dont even have the option for anything faster than 6mbit.

Bah, you and your fast speeds. I live in the friggin silicon valley and we still dont even have the option for anything faster than 6mbit.

When I was living in residence at school, I had a blissful 45/~30 mbit down/up connection, with very few restrictions.

Ironically, there's nothing west of the maritimes (ie. area that covers 93% of Canada's population) in Canada that gives 15mbit or better service without download caps, which is very likely where I'm going to end up after I finish school.

When I was living in residence at school, I had a blissful 45/~30 mbit down/up connection, with very few restrictions.

Ironically, there's nothing west of the maritimes (ie. area that covers 93% of Canada's population) in Canada that gives 15mbit or better service without download caps, which is very likely where I'm going to end up after I finish school.

Where in Canada are you? I'm in Nova Scotia, and as I said, the connections slow down after 5.00 pm. I assume thats because of traffic. There's only two (actually, maybe three, but I'm not sure if that office downtown is an ISP or not) ISPs around here.

Where in Canada are you? I'm in Nova Scotia, and as I said, the connections slow down after 5.00 pm. I assume thats because of traffic. There's only two (actually, maybe three, but I'm not sure if that office downtown is an ISP or not) ISPs around here.

I'm in Antigonish, it's about an hour's drive from you.

With Bell's 1.5mbit service and Eastlinks 15mbit service, I haven't noticed any particular slowdown due to time of day, haven't had much experience with Bell's faster services.

I use Eastlink myself. the only other one around here is Aliant and they're even worse.

Both my optical drives are Lite-Ons. In general, are they any good?
I googled it and I got things as varied as "a lot of expensive coasters" to "it never gave me any trouble." For myself, I got a few coasters (maybe three or four) but not enough to make a big deal out of it. It can be noisy sometimes, though.

Mine's quieter than my other one, although I dont remember who that one is made by, its not Lite-On though. Havent had a single cd or dvd go bad in it yet though, and ive burned ~300 DVD's and CD's on it within just the last 2 months. ( My 1TB HDD failing made me want to back up some stuff )

By modern standards (:rolleyes:) I find that Lite-On is fine, as in average.

Thanks :) (10chairs)

Okay, another thing:

On XP, I've been looking a bit at the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard. The way I see it, if you have XP installed on another computer, you can copy all the files/settings over. So, could you use this for a HDD?

The way I see it is to pop the old HDD out, put the new one in, install Windows, take it back out, put the old one back in, connect the new one as a slave drive, and then go from there.

Has anybody tried this, and how did it work out?

Sure. You could even use it on/for the same HDD/computer.

You could take the old one out, put the new one in, install windows, put the old one in as a secondary drive and copy the files over..., or you could use the old installation to burn the files, put them on a thumb drive or run the wizard before swapping the drives. Or both, of course.

The wizard may simplify transferring your old emails if you have any interest in keeping them, and your general windows settings. The wizard isn't as necessary for the files.

Thank you.

Would it also transfer the registry? I have a few settings there that I don't feel like going through again.

As far as I know, it incorporates user.dat (I guess it would have to) but my memory is a little vague on that. Not sure about system.dat and others.

You may be interested in incorporating all your registry tweaks into a single text file for future use. You may have noticed that tweak sites sometimes offer theior tweaks as *.reg files that can be clicked on, and you can combine them or write your own.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310516

Is there any programme I can use to convert a lot of image files at once instead of opening them up one by one?

Is there any programme I can use to convert a lot of image files at once instead of opening them up one by one?

IrfanView.

I'm looking for an online storage place to upload and download files at leasure. Can anyone help?

I'm looking for an online storage place to upload and download files at leasure. Can anyone help?

I use MediaFire (http://www.mediafire.com), but the files have to be less than 100 MB. It's a good site though, only problem I have is uploading after 5pm (because of the internet traffic around here.)

I'm looking for an online storage place to upload and download files at leasure. Can anyone help?

Windows Live SkyDrive is actually pretty solid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Live_SkyDrive

Okay, I'm looking for a free backup program which may work something like this:
You select the folders you want to backup, and the program keeps track of changes within them. When you start the program and run it, the program will only transfer new and modified files over to either your CD/DVD or USB drive (I'll be using a portable HDD which is like a large USB device). Incremental, I think.

Any idea? I don't remember seeing it before, but it's what I'd like to see. I looked around a little bit, but I'm not sure exactly how this would be described and I don't want to install a dozen programs trying to find it. Thanks. :)

All my browsers refuse to start playing a video or showing an image unless at least a significant part of it has already been downloaded. It's terrible, makes it very hard to watch long movies and annoying to surf on sites like Youtube. Is this an option somewhere on my computer, or is it more complicated? At least 3 other friends of mine (from my country) have this problem, so could it be related to the websites somehow?

On YouTube I usually have to wait around 2 minutes, on most other video sites I have to wait about 3 minutes, but on some like Yahoo news it will start after some 20 seconds. What could be causing this??

At least 3 other friends of mine (from my country) have this problem, so could it be related to the websites somehow?

It's possible that if you're all using the same ISP, it could be traffic. Maybe you could call the ISP and ask if they're upgrading the lines or somethng.

I'm tryin to install IDE- hard disk on a computer which already has one SATA-disk. I creatively put it in the same cable with the CD-driver. The computer regocnized the disk when starting up, and it was even in the hardware list, and was operating correctly according to Windows XP:s contol panel, but I couldn't be found it in "My Computer"-folder. I've tried both master and slave options for the disk, but neither worked.

So is there some way to make that combination work?

Is this a new drive or an old drive? What partitions are on it and what filesystems are on it?

Old, I have no idea about it's filesystem or partitions.

Then let's assume it has something on it.

Firstly, I'd unplug the CD (not that I think that's the problem). If you can see the hard drive in the BIOS report then it should be connected properly.

If it is visible in windows but there is no valid drive in my computer, I'd try altering the geometry in the BIOS (try normal, large and LBA). This would be the usual issue.

One other possibility is that the drive isn't validly formatted (data corruption through magnetic interference or other storage issue, for example).

Which part of the control panel. The FS on it may be damaged or unreadable by XP. if so, you need to format the HDD. right click on My Computer > Manage > Disk Management. From there, find the new/old HDD and format it.

Partition Magic will sometimes display drives that windows can't - and give you the option of formatting it.

@Atticus: Read this (http://www.mikeshardware.com/howtos/howto_connect_ide_hd.html). It gives good advice about how to share a CD-ROM & HDD on one IDE channel, and which should be slave and which should be master, also which part of the cable they should be on. There are two types of cables, and this also gives details on those.

Okay, I'm looking for a free backup program which may work something like this:
You select the folders you want to backup, and the program keeps track of changes within them. When you start the program and run it, the program will only transfer new and modified files over to either your CD/DVD or USB drive (I'll be using a portable HDD which is like a large USB device). Incremental, I think.

Any idea? I don't remember seeing it before, but it's what I'd like to see. I looked around a little bit, but I'm not sure exactly how this would be described and I don't want to install a dozen programs trying to find it. Thanks. :)

I suggest rsync with cygwin or colinux. Here (http://www.gaztronics.net/rsync.php) is a tutorial.

I suggest rsync with cygwin or colinux. Here (http://www.gaztronics.net/rsync.php) is a tutorial.

thank you.

Hi

Im not sure if this is the right threat but here goes:
im trying to select parts to assemble my own computer for the first time so im quite new to it all.
When a graphics card recommends a power supply of 420w and up for example does it use all that much power? What level of power supply is needed to run it? do other parts require similar levels of power?
Im wondering what kind of powersupply do i need to run such a graphics card?
Also how much watts is too much consumption, i would like to keep my consumption to a minimum.

Im new so any help is appreciated

Thanks

Depends on the GPU in question. A 450 watt PSU will most definitely be fine, 350watts may be pushing it.
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp oughta help you a bit more. Just enter the expected specs of your PC and it will tell you what you should have as a bare minimum. Its best to go a bit over that number though, to be on the safe side and to allow for some expansion.

Thanks Genocidicbunny for the link, was a great help :)

though it was confusing to use, but i still got around it

Also how much watts is too much consumption, i would like to keep my consumption to a minimum.

If you use a larger power supply than needed, the extra Watts simply don't get used. Go ahead and add a margin of safety by going slightly over what you need.

Thanks everybody! This helped:

right click on My Computer > Manage > Disk Management. From there, find the new/old HDD and format it.

Perhaps I should have mentioned that I'm total newbie in this thing :D

I'm thinking of buying a new graphics card. I have selected the one I want, which is this one. (http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1909941462.123590797 6@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdcadegilkjhdlcflgceggdhhmdgml.0&page=Product&sku=892732) I checked on my computer and it has a motherboard supporting PCI-Express cards, so I assume any PCI-E card will work in my computer? The card in question here is PCI-E 2.0, does this create any problems? Do I have to do a check to see if it is compatible with my computer, or will it be ok just to insert it?

PCIe 2.0 is backwards compatible. I dont think the 9600GT will exceed the bandwidth of PCIe 1.0, but even if it does, I doubt the difference in speed will be too big.

I dont know if this goes here but I need help.

A WMI error keeps popping up on my computer, and I need help with getting it off.

What error are you getting?

It says data execution prevention had to shut WMI down.

Data Execution Prevention (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Execution_Prevention)
How to configure it (http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/dep.htm) (wouldn't recommend completely turning it off, though.)

A bit off-topic, but once I was having a problem with a corrupted file. the DEP kept closing down explorer.exe whenever I moused-over it, until I deleted the file (using a third-party application). It was annoying at the time, but now I find it kind of funny.

Thanks everybody! This helped:
Perhaps I should have mentioned that I'm total newbie in this thing :D
I wasn't sure how much detail you wanted but I did assume you wanted to rescue the old data :)

I dont know if this goes here but I need help.

A WMI error keeps popping up on my computer, and I need help with getting it off.

Do you have a Dell, and is it running OpenManage software?

My computer was made within the last three years, will it's power supply be sufficient to power a Geforce 8800GT? I am totally clueless as to what to do, and I'm not too sure I can afford more power as well as the card. Am I correct in saying the only way to check is to open the computer and take a look?

How do I open the computer? :p

My computer was made within the last three years, will it's power supply be sufficient to power a Geforce 8800GT? I am totally clueless as to what to do, and I'm not too sure I can afford more power as well as the card. Am I correct in saying the only way to check is to open the computer and take a look?

How do I open the computer? :p

Yeah, thats the only way that I'm aware of, even if you used a voltmeter or whatever you call it, you still have to open it.. Usually there will be screws on the side (or back) of the case, take those out, pop the side off, and look for the sticker on the PSU.

Oh, make sure your computer's unplugged. And don't open the PSU unless you know a cannibal who likes theirs fried.

Save for the fact that the PSU's output is printed on the outside. Unless you know what you're looking for,t he inside will look like just another computer part, a bit beefier, but still not very exciting.

my monitor's optimal resolution is 1360x768, but it won't let me select that resolution.

my monitor's optimal resolution is 1360x768, but it won't let me select that resolution.
And? A bit more detail please?
If you're fine with using a another proggie, you can install Riva Tuner and have it force a specific resolution.

And? A bit more detail please?
If you're fine with using a another proggie, you can install Riva Tuner and have it force a specific resolution.
Well, when I try to move the little slider that changes the resolution, it won't go to my resolution. It skips between 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. I'm not sure exactly what you want as further information. The screen resolution had been working just fine at 1360x786, but someone changed it, or it somehow went back on its own.
If this helps at all, here you go
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/9049/111.png
As you can see, there isn't a dash between the 2 resolutions. It worked just fine before, so I'm confused.:confused::confused:

Is your monitor recognised, shown under the monitors tab?

I use MediaFire (http://www.mediafire.com), but the files have to be less than 100 MB. It's a good site though, only problem I have is uploading after 5pm (because of the internet traffic around here.)

Windows Live SkyDrive is actually pretty solid.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Live_SkyDrive

Thank you guys, its working very well! :hatsoff:

Well, when I try to move the little slider that changes the resolution, it won't go to my resolution. It skips between 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. I'm not sure exactly what you want as further information. The screen resolution had been working just fine at 1360x786, but someone changed it, or it somehow went back on its own.
If this helps at all, here you go
http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/9049/111.png
As you can see, there isn't a dash between the 2 resolutions. It worked just fine before, so I'm confused.:confused::confused:

1360x768 I think is a resolution for a wide screen monitor. If you have a 4:3 monitor then it wouldn't show in windows properties as being available. If you have a wide screen, then windows doesn't think that you do.

Have you updated drivers recently? I had trouble with adjusting some settings after updating drivers. Then I install the Omega drivers and everything works fine, except if the resolutions off, half the screen will disappear because it shifted over to one side. :p

I just found this program, has anybody tried it, if so, any good? (I use a program called WhoCrashed from this site, it's a good program.)

http://www.resplendence.com/antifreeze

1360x768 I think is a resolution for a wide screen monitor. If you have a 4:3 monitor then it wouldn't show in windows properties as being available. If you have a wide screen, then windows doesn't think that you do.

How do I make it so it detects the monitor as being widescreen then?

How do I make it so it detects the monitor as being widescreen then?

There should have been a driver CD with the monitor. If you don't have that, then google drivers for your make and model of monitor and download them. Once installed, if Windows is not automatically detecting that it is a widescreen monitor, then check that dropdown box where it says "default monitor" and see if it will allow you to choose yours from the list. That might even work without new drivers.

What's the normal temperature for a computer? My new benchmarking program says my computer is 30 C. If that's high, I might have to move it.

30°C is pretty low. We have laptops at work where the CPU can hit 70° or 80°C. That's Celsius... They would start to crash around 90°C. Of course, laptop architecture is a bit different from desktop...

If you google your model, you should be able to find a spec sheet. It'll tell you what the operating range is. I don't think 30°C is high though for a desktop. That's not too much above room temperature.

Chips and situations vary, but typically in computers where the measurements are taken at the outer surface of a chip, 70 is pushing the limit and anything below 50 is comfortable.

What's the normal temperature for a computer? My new benchmarking program says my computer is 30 C. If that's high, I might have to move it.

That's an acceptable area.

30C is more than fine, but I assume thats on idle. May want to check your full load temps. Run Prime 95 for 15 minutes to warm the chip up, and then measure temp. Do it while Prime 95 is running though.
@Turner, 30C is 10C above room temp, its the difference between a warm spring day and a hot summer day.

Thank you.

@Turner, 30C is 10C above room temp, its the difference between a warm spring day and a hot summer day.

Where you're at, maybe. But where I'm from, 86°F is considered a cool summer's day. ;)

Do it while Prime 95 is running though.

IIRC, the last time I used P95 I couldn't do anything else at the same time. It's probably changed though. You may want to look for a process priority setting or processor usage percentage setting and leave a percent or two out.

Is inserting a new graphics card a case or simply removing PC case, taking out card, inserting new card, restart PC and install drivers?

Obviously I uninstall the drivers on the previous card and make sure I am earthed while performing the swap operation.

Is inserting a new graphics card a case or simply removing PC case, taking out card, inserting new card, restart PC and install drivers?

Obviously I uninstall the drivers on the previous card and make sure I am earthed while performing the swap operation.

You've done this before, haven't you :D

Nope. :p

I'm doing it in the near future, I just don't want to fry myself (or more importantly the computer.)

Unplug the power cord and hold the power on button for a few seconds to discharge the remaining power from the motherboard before you start. Plug the power cord back in so that you can lean on the case as an earth while you swap the card.

If you originally had integrated card, you'll probably have to disable in BIOS.

If you originally had integrated card, you'll probably have to disable in BIOS.

If that is the case, how would I do that? How do I know if it needs disabling in BIOS?

I'm not sure, it depends on the BIOS.

You can also disable in Windows, I think, but then change it every time you reinstall it.

Often the option says "Init use graphics" [PCI/AGP] or something similar. You'll also want to disable onboard VGA (probably on the "integrated peripherals" screen of the BIOS setup)

My mom is considering getting a laptop at the rent-to-own place, she wants me to pick it. They have some Durabooks there, I heard they're really rugged (so that'd be good for us). in general, are Durabooks any good?

This wouldn't be much for gaming, by the way. More for things like if I get sick again and have to go to the hospital.

Is inserting a new graphics card a case or simply removing PC case, taking out card, inserting new card, restart PC and install drivers?

Obviously I uninstall the drivers on the previous card and make sure I am earthed while performing the swap operation.

If you're gonna be doing this, make sure you're on hardwood floors if possible, not wearing socks, and before you unplug the pc, turn the switch on the PSU off, hit the power button a few times to discharge the capacitors and then touch a part of your case that has exposed metal ( if its painted, take a key or something and make a little scratch that exposes metal.) This will help prevent you from frying anything in your pc.

Edit, need to read more of the post, I see you said this in the second part of your post.

@aimee -- Do you need a notebook that can survive a fall from very high up, or a swim in the pool? They cost a bit more than regular ones, and if you're careful in general, not worth it. Also, why Rent-To-Own? Get it from like Dell where you can do monthly payments ( most manufacturers offer this actually ). You get more choice this way...

@aimee -- Do you need a notebook that can survive a fall from very high up, or a swim in the pool? They cost a bit more than regular ones, and if you're careful in general, not worth it. Also, why Rent-To-Own? Get it from like Dell where you can do monthly payments ( most manufacturers offer this actually ). You get more choice this way...

A very durable notebook is important, because I tend to bang things around a lot.

Rent-to-own, we're on a budget, and can't order online.

bang around as in you put it down very hard or you put it down from the 3rd floor? Cus if its the first, it may be best to be less of a klutz ;) That one is easy though, once you own something that costs a lot, you'll probably be a bit more careful.

Rent-to-own is a spectacularly bad deal.

If you're on a limited budget, paying the insane interest on those things is the last thing you want to be doing.

Is there a large difference between DDR2 and DDR3? What would you recommend?

Also is there a large difference between Intel i7 processors and Core 2 Quads?
What would you recommend?

I would like to compare:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAWQ

and

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLBCH

The prices of these two processors are similar at a shop im purchasing from

Im trying to beef my computer up for Empire total war and aiming for maximum specs :P, so again any help is appreciated!

Thanks

im thinking of buying a new graphics card, and the one i have my eye on has a minimum power requirement of 450W. how can i tell if it is suitable for my pc?

im thinking of buying a new graphics card, and the one i have my eye on has a minimum power requirement of 450W. how can i tell if it is suitable for my pc?http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=7824010&postcount=394
HTH

cheers. fkjjhg

Is there a large difference between DDR2 and DDR3? What would you recommend?

Also is there a large difference between Intel i7 processors and Core 2 Quads?
What would you recommend?

I would like to compare:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLAWQ

and

http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLBCH

The prices of these two processors are similar at a shop im purchasing from

Im trying to beef my computer up for Empire total war and aiming for maximum specs :P, so again any help is appreciated!

Thanks
There is a noticeable difference. You have to consider that, so far, only X58 chipset motherboards support Core i7 chips, and they cost over 200USD. A decent S775 mobo can be had for under 100$. RAM prices are also a bit different, 4GB of DDR2-800 RAM will set you back 50$, while DDR3 RAM starts at even higher for 3GB kits. Intel also announced last month that it would completely skip the next revision for the Core i7's, which means there may be a new socket yet again, so a Core i7 isnt necessarily future-proofing.
If you have the money, go with a Core i7 920. Make sure to get a good motherboard and heatsink ( Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme is still the best for Core i7 I think ) and you can OC it to the level of the 965.

Is 300W of power enough to power a Geforce 8800GT graphics card?



I can't afford to spend MORE money on my computer. :( Can't even insert the damned card yet.

Is 300W of power enough to power a Geforce 8800GT graphics card?



I can't afford to spend MORE money on my computer. :( Can't even insert the damned card yet.

Wattage isn't a useful measure on the power supply.

Brand and model number are most useful.

If you don't have those available, you should be looking at something with a rating of 28A on the +12V rail(s).

Is the hard drive "click of death" always loud? I sometimes have trouble distinguishing regular "grinding" from unusual noises. Then I get up in the middle of the night to find out it was nothing.

Is the hard drive "click of death" always loud? I sometimes have trouble distinguishing regular "grinding" from unusual noises. Then I get up in the middle of the night to find out it was nothing.

No, it has a muted sound in some drives. You can tell because it is more of a regular click than a variable grinding sound. I'd be more interested in why your hard drive is so active while you're asleep?

It used to be the antivirus, but I switched it to once a week.

I listen to my music all night. It helps me sleep.

LOL, I used to do that. Then I began dreaming about some of the songs. A couple of mornings I woke to find myself all in an emotional twist, so I stopped listening and slept better. :lol:

LOL, I used to do that. Then I began dreaming about some of the songs. A couple of mornings I woke to find myself all in an emotional twist, so I stopped listening and slept better. :lol:

Sometimes the songs end up in my dreams. There's a name for that, but I can't remember.

If you move a file from one folder to another, does the location of the file physically change on the HDD, or the icon, or what?

The internal linkage gets changed. Nothing actually "moves".

Thank you. That's what I meant by "the icon moving."

morning (NT:blush:)

morning (NT:blush:)
:confused::confused::confused:

Hehe. I tried to post before coffee and had a head crash :lol:

Hehe. I tried to post before coffee and had a head crash :lol:.

Your head or the hard drive's head? :lol:

.

Your head or the hard drive's head? :lol:
That's not very funny.

Watch it now...I'm full of caffeine :nono::woohoo:

Sometimes when I'm playing games or encoding media, or other CPU-intensive tasks, my fan blows harder and makes quite a bit of noise. Like a very low humming. Should I clean it out?

Also, how can you tell when a fan needs to be replaced?

Also, inside my case there's a little square box thingy saying "cooling." What exactly would this be, a heatsink? I looked on newegg and the pictures don't look like mine.

Sometimes when I'm playing games or encoding media, or other CPU-intensive tasks, my fan blows harder and makes quite a bit of noise. Like a very low humming. Should I clean it out?
Wouldn't hurt. But you said it yourself...'CPU-intensive'. Your CPU is going to work harder, and therefore generate more heat. So the fan is going to work harder so that it can cool the CPU down. Having a clean fan would help it cool down.

Also, how can you tell when a fan needs to be replaced?
When it stops cooling your CPU. ;) This rarely happens tho. 100-plus laptops at work, about half four years or older, and I've only had to replace one fan.

Also, inside my case there's a little square box thingy saying "cooling." What exactly would this be, a heatsink? I looked on newegg and the pictures don't look like mine.

/shrug. Post a pic.

It's just a square black box (looks like it's made of the same plastic that surrounds a power adaptor) with a sticker saying "COOLING."

If your fans, or the fins of the heat sinks are full of dust, blow them clean with canned air. Impossible to know about the other thing without seeing it.

How come I can`t make slashes or question marks any more. Instead I keep getting é and É respectivly. How can I fix this.

It's to do with your language settings. I can't remember how to change it, but what you do is delete Canadian-French keyboard layout.

EDIT: Control Panel >> Regional and Language Settings >> Languages tab >> Details button

Should I clean it out?
Dust will reduce the fans effectiveness as well as weigh it down, increasing the heat generated within the fan. An uneven load of dust will cause bearing wear.
Also, how can you tell when a fan needs to be replaced?
Some will get noisy and annoying.
Also, inside my case there's a little square box thingy saying "cooling." What exactly would this be, a heatsink?
It sounds like a duct. Funnels concentrate airflow while tunnels can increase flow as well as direct it.

Didn`t work Aimee, you don`t have a plan B by any chance do you.

Check and see what Keyboard you have selected.

Are you sure you deleted the second keyboard setting, or just switched it? "Cos it's got a nasty habit of switching back.

I'm assuming you have XP, so if you got Vista might be different.

Thanks Turner and Aimee, Why are you guys so smart?:)

I'm actually a noob compared to some of these people. LOL.

Hey, I was playing a game(empire earth in case you want to know) and came out of the game and now my monitor has like a bluish tinge to it, it's really annoying. I've tried changing all my settings on my monitor and in the windows settings, nothing fixes it. Tried turning it on and off, still nothing. What's wrong?

Hey, I was playing a game(empire earth in case you want to know) and came out of the game and now my monitor has like a bluish tinge to it, it's really annoying. I've tried changing all my settings on my monitor and in the windows settings, nothing fixes it. Tried turning it on and off, still nothing. What's wrong?
Have you tried reseting your monitor?

Maybe you got excited and kicked the plug a little? :D

Maybe it's burn-in.

Most likely a loose cable

A lot of people have trouble with the blue tint. (http://www.google.com/search?q=monitor+blue+tint)

Try different monitor, see it's if the monitor or video card.

A question -- in defragment, there's "unmovable files." What exactly are these, system files?

Also, is there a way to get the little colored blocks back, like in Windows 98? I miss watching them.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/4963/defragworking.gif

The page file and master file table. But seriously aimee, just google it! (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=unmovable+files+defrag)

^^^ :mischief:


In W98 I used to have the same problem with files that were in use or which had read only or system attributes IIRC. I'd remove the swap file (don't think it's necessary with XP) go to DOS mode and do an [attrib -h -r etc....] to the whole drive.

This may not be helpful to you ATM but I thought you might like the perspective.

The only reason I have a swap file is because for some reason, SimTown (a Maxis game I like to play from time to time) doesn't recognize my memory and I had to increase the swap to get it to run and I haven't bothered to change it back.

Occasionally my keyboard will kind of weird out. It's effects vary from app to app. On VMs, HL2 and gmod, the current button sort of locks (not physically) and doesn't realize I let go until I press it gain. On total war games, civ, photoshop and office it activates every keyboard shortcut ( including ctrl, alt or shift ones(not alt-tab)) at once. It's my laptops keyboard and no driver updates exist.

Is it possible to plug in another keyboard to the laptop? I think I saw an arrangement like that before, but maybe not.

Also, are you sure you don't have any accessbility settings on? I think StickyKeys does something similar to what you say,

The only reason I have a swap file is because for some reason, SimTown (a Maxis game I like to play from time to time) doesn't recognize my memory and I had to increase the swap to get it to run and I haven't bothered to change it back.

Getting rid of the swap file is generally a bad idea.

If you set it to disabled, Windows tends to ignore the setting anyway.

I did have a small swap file, I increased it by about 500 MB, but haven't changed it back. For some reason, when I reinstalled Windows, the swap file stayed the same.

Is it possible to plug in another keyboard to the laptop? I think I saw an arrangement like that before, but maybe not.

Also, are you sure you don't have any accessbility settings on? I think StickyKeys does something similar to what you say,

If it has the right port, you can. If it doesn't have a keyboard port, then see if you can find a USB keyboard and drivers that will allow it.

I did have a small swap file, I increased it by about 500 MB, but haven't changed it back. For some reason, when I reinstalled Windows, the swap file stayed the same.

The default swap file is the size of you physical RAM. You can increase it. It's a bad idea to decrease it.

The default swap file is the size of you physical RAM. You can increase it. It's a bad idea to decrease it.

Thanks.

Also, another thing: Is the page file the same thing as the swap file? I googled it, but it wasn't too clear.

In computer operating systems that have their main memory divided into pages, paging (sometimes called swapping) is a transfer of pages between main memory and an auxiliary store, such as hard disk drive.[1] Paging is an important part of virtual memory implementation in most contemporary general-purpose operating systems, allowing them to use disk storage for data that does not fit into physical RAM. Paging is usually implemented as architecture-specific code built into the kernel of the operating system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paging

So, yes ;) The thing is, between Windows and any programs and all the services you have running, your physical memory runs out of room really easy unless it's very large. So the "swap" or "page" file is "virtual memory" (as opposed to physical memory). It's a faster way to write the things you have in memory back and forth to your hard drive in a format that's faster and easier to use than more conventional use of the HDD. Microsoft will tell you that it's recommended to page file on each partition, or at least each physical hard drive. I use 4 page files on 4 partitions on 2 physical HDDs.

I remember one time getting an error I was out of virtual memory, I was maybe 11 at the time. I figured it was memory that Windows pulled out of thin air when it ran out of RAM.

In a sense it does. It invents it out of spare room on the HDD. But there is a range of what it will create on it's own. So you can run into trouble that way. Also, if your hard drive is very nearly full, you can squeeze the page file and run out of room that way.

I know when I went to change it, the other option was to let Windows manage it. So I guess it the PF usage needed and then pulls it out, and puts it back when it deosn't need it anymore. Like taking pencils and pens out of a drawer and putting them back.

That's as far as I understand it.

It's close enough ;)

Can running the processor on 100% for a long time destabilize it? (Assuming it's not overclocked.) Sometimes when playing games, when my fan's blowing really hard, I turn the game off for a little while to give both the processor, fan, and myself a break. I think someone on this forum said that fans wear out easily but are cheap to replace.

Another question: When I turn off the computer, even if the power is out, when it starts back up the time is correct. A teacher told me there's a little "clicker" inside there somewhere. Is this true, and where would it be?

It's pretty uncommon to have the CPU at 100% all the time. If it is, you need a stronger computer. It should only peak occasionally. As far as that wearing things out, pay attention to your temperatures. If they stay ok, you shouldn't have a problem.

Your clock is kept up to date 2 ways. One is the CMOS, and the CMOS has a battery on the main board. That stores some information and keeps the clock. The other way, which is standard on WinXP and above computers that are connected to the net is that the PC pings a time server every time you log into the net in order to correct the clock settings.

Thank you.
The CPU is only on 100% all the time if I'm gaming or encoding media.
I assume the battery is charged up when the computer is on. I disabled the internet time synchronization since it kept putting me ahead or behind an hour.

What's a good video capture program? I need it to capture stuff I'm doing in Google Earth - so that I can edit it in Adobe after effects & premiere.

Basically what I'm doing is mapping out a hiking trip I did in google earth and setting up pre-defined "action" points (along the trail. ie. camping site 2, cool bridge, etc.), each with its own pre-defined viewing perspective.. I then queue them up and double click one after the other - and the effect is a smooth fly-over of the trail, with changing camera angles, zoom-ins, etc.

I want to capture that somehow and throw it into a bigger video, with pictures, a narrative,etc. How do I do that?

Well then your syncing wasn't set right :p

The CMOS battery is like a larger watch battery, it'll last several years under normal use.