Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

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aimeeandbeatles

aimeeandbeatles

watermelon
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Perhaps this could be stickied.

Here's one: I've read about antiviruses/spyware killers/firewalls blocking themselves from using the internet. Is this true? :lol:

Two: Since updating drivers for my display adaptor, the brightness/contrast/gamma thing changed, so now I have to mess with it when watching videos and everything. there is only one Brightness setting. any freeware programs to let me adjust it?
thanks.
 
aimeeandbeatles said:
Here's one: I've read about antiviruses/spyware killers/firewalls blocking themselves from using the internet. Is this true? :lol:
Click to expand...

If I assume a professional attitude for a moment, I would totally expect this. No firewall software has any place connecting to the net unless I permit it and if it presumed to let itself connect, I would have less faith in it.

Relaxing the attitude a little, yes, it's not something I'd expect a mainstream firewall to do (but it could at least ask).
 
Yeah. I think one time I seen Windows Firewall prevent Windows Update from connecting. Kinda cracked me up.
 
Yeah. I realized that after a few weird updates. Now its set just to notify me, not to install automatically.
 
This is one for the experts here: How different are PSU recommendations and actual usages for a PC? Using one of the PSU calculators, one of my friends got 800 Watts needed for his PC, but he's doing fine with a 650 Watt PSU. Reason I ask is because I want to plan ahead. My new PC will have a 750 Watt PSU and im hoping that that will be enough for a SLi rig when i decided to add a second card.
 
Going with the recommended or calculated value is a good idea but even more important is using a quality power supply. Often you can get away with a lower rated supply if it is a quality unit.

This is for two reasons. One is based around efficiency, and the other is about truth in advertising.

Computers use varying amounts of juice depending on their usage. Power supplies tend to sag as they get taxed harder due to voltage drops in their circuitry for one thing. Modern graphics cards and processors often have their own supply socket on the board in order to avoid voltage drops over the printed circuits (and associated burning of the tracks). Quality power supplies have quality regulation at their outputs which is important here. Voltage drops reduce the voltage available to the card and cause malfunctions.

Furthermore, one supply may do well enough to boot the system. But get the HDD going, maybe a CD or two and the system can cut out or hang.

One other benefit of a quality power supply is having an efficient and quiet fan.
 
stickciv said:
This is one for the experts here: How different are PSU recommendations and actual usages for a PC? Using one of the PSU calculators, one of my friends got 800 Watts needed for his PC, but he's doing fine with a 650 Watt PSU. Reason I ask is because I want to plan ahead. My new PC will have a 750 Watt PSU and im hoping that that will be enough for a SLi rig when i decided to add a second card.
Click to expand...

Wattage isn't a good measure of comparison between power supplies in the first place.

A bottom of the line 750 watt isn't going to run a single high-end card, while a top of the line 750 watt can run run any 2-card SLI setup. (Although 3-way GTX 280 SLI would probably be pushing too far)
 
Does anyone know of a freeware program that'll adjust brightness/contrast/gamma for a monitor? (I have an ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Series display adaptor.) Since updating my drivers, its been combined to one Brightness adjuster and I have to keep messing with it for different apps (Some have brighter graphics than others).

Thanks.
 
Aren't you looking for the Catalyst control centre? It's usually a part of the ATI driver (full) package.

I don't know your system, but adjusting the brightness and contrast controls on your monitor (using the buttons) is a semi-complicated process. There are a few tutorials out there. I can imagine a few issues if it were not done right.
 
if you have an ATi card, ATI Tray Tools is an essential program to have.
 
I looked in the display preferences, under Settings > Advanced. I'll check out ATI Tray Tools.

I tried the monitor buttons, but I can't get them to do anything.
 
Thanks, ATI tray tools is good. :D

Another question:
There used to be a freeware office suite called 602 PC Suite. It's not freeware anymore, but theres one feature I really really liked -- it's a digital "binder" thing, it was really for photo albums. You could make Filing Cabinets, and there were "binders" and "folders." It graphically looked like one. I just liked the look and feel of it. Any similar ones?

Only one I found was sqlDESKTOP, which I didn't like as it messed up the folders.
 
I use Google Picassa to store and organize my photo's. Its not quite a filing cabinet, but its still pretty nifty.
 
Yeah, I use it too. It's just the look and feel of the filing cabinet... it's had to explain, LOL.
 
What's "System Volume Information"? I got a new computer over a week and have used about 150 GB of space, but about 90 GB of that is System Volume Information.
 
Chukchi Husky said:
What's "System Volume Information"? I got a new computer over a week and have used about 150 GB of space, but about 90 GB of that is System Volume Information.
Click to expand...

Looks like it's part of the system restore function. 90gb is way too high. You'll want to take that down to a more reasonable number. Start -> Right Click on My computer -> Properties and click on the System restore tab. Then adjust it downwards. I wouldn't make it larger than a few gb.
 
I'm the administrator, but it seems that there isn't an option to change it on Vista. All it says is something like it will take up to 15% of the hard drive space.
 
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