Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread II

[aimeeandbeatles]

I try. I really try but it doesn't work.

On the other hand most of my questions are answered by google. For example today I searched on using a computer without a hard drive and it worked. And also a lot of other stuff. So the quirstons i post here are only a frwaction of the ones i try looking...

(sorry spel. headache coming oh joy)

 

[Turner]

Go to the link provided then, and learn how to use google. I'm always looking at sites that suggest tips and tricks for whatever, because I can always learn. If the search doesn't work the first time, keep going until you find the combination that works.

And as far as my own Google-Fu, it gets better constantly. I certainly wasn't born knowing how to use google....I learned just like you can.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I found a weird program in Revo Uninstaller goes PVSonyDll and the publisher as NVIDIA. It wasn't there before.
I did Google it and found out it's for Sony notebooks. But I don't have a notebook and I don't have a Sony and I don't have a Sony notebook. So what's it doing on my computer?

 

[Eukaryote]

What causes computers to slow down over time and how can it be prevented/repaired? Are the slowdowns caused by human actions or some kind of normal decay of time?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

For windows its generally a normal decay. It relies on the registry which gets slower over time as you install more things, change more things around and in general use your computer. If you never install anything, or run anything, you can keep the pc booting as fast as possible, and run as well as it did on day 1, but thats not really feasable. Thats why a reinstall every 6 months to a year is recommended, just to freshen things up.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

What causes computers to slow down over time and how can it be prevented/repaired? Are the slowdowns caused by human actions or some kind of normal decay of time?

Basically, gunk (such as registry, fragmented files, etc) builds up in your computer and generally slows down stuff. My opinion is that human actions can affect the rate of slowdown but unless you never use it it'll slow down anyways. (Even if it's constantly running and never used, I found that dust getting into the fans can slow down things too. But you wouldn't know it because if you don't use it. Oh you get the idea.)

Ways to keep a computer running smooth:
-- Do a defrag regularly, so the hard drive doesn't have to search as much. Don't do it too much or you might wear it down.
-- Get CCleaner or something like that and check the registry for garbage entries. Make sure to make backups.
-- I recommend Revo Uninstaller instead of the default Windows Add/Remove. It finds any leftovers after uninstalling.
-- I wouldn't bother with the much-advertised "optimizers." They're generally just crap.
-- Get a low-resource OS. I don't have any recommendations though.

 

[Padma]

What causes computers to slow down over time and how can it be prevented/repaired? Are the slowdowns caused by human actions or some kind of normal decay of time?

Basically, gunk (such as registry, fragmented files, etc) builds up in your computer and generally slows down stuff. My opinion is that human actions can affect the rate of slowdown but unless you never use it it'll slow down anyways. (Even if it's constantly running and never used, I found that dust getting into the fans can slow down things too. But you wouldn't know it because if you don't use it. Oh you get the idea.)

Ways to keep a computer running smooth:
-- Do a defrag regularly, so the hard drive doesn't have to search as much. Don't do it too much or you might wear it down.
-- Get CCleaner or something like that and check the registry for garbage entries. Make sure to make backups.
-- I recommend Revo Uninstaller instead of the default Windows Add/Remove. It finds any leftovers after uninstalling.
-- I wouldn't bother with the much-advertised "optimizers." They're generally just crap.
-- Get a low-resource OS. I don't have any recommendations though.

The slowdown is a Windows phenomenon. Most operating systems do not use the abomination known as the Windows Registry, nor do they need regular defragging. Even in it's early days, MS OSes were notoriously "unstable". Back in the DOS days, MS sold the general public that this was normal. So when they made Windows, people accepted it. Then they added the Registry, making things worse, but because MS said the Registry was the best way to do things, people accepted it. The proper fix, of course, is to wipe your hard drive and reinstall Windows every 6 - 12 months.

Of course, neither MS nor the HW manufacturers want you to reinstall. They want you to believe that the slowdown is a natural, normal computer process, and that the correct solution is to buy a new system whenever the slowdown gets too much to stand. And, of course, many, many people do just that.

Those of us who use Linux know that computers don't slow down, and get clogged, just because they're being used and time passes.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Yay, thats like exactly what I said!

But yes, most other OS's will work just fine for years without slowing down. Our home NAS which hasnt had the OS reinstalled in 7 years runs just fine. Its been shut down a few times to upgrade the hard drives, but even with constant use almost daily, its still as chipper as on day 1. The reason? It run FBSD, instead of Windows.

 

[PeteAtoms]

I've been looking at KeePass lately, and I am interested in using some sort of password manager for my several online accounts. As it stands now, I only have 3-4 passwords for close to 12 different accounts, and I've been thinking that it would be far more secure to have a unique password to each account, because I use the same username in all of them.

What are some recommendations? I use Windows XP by the way, and some pertinent accounts I use are Facebook, Twitter, (the several google services) and CivFanatics.

I think KeePass is what I am looking for, but I thought I would ask if there were any better or more user friendly alternatives.

For KeePass, it looks like I would have to generate the random code, than manually go into my online accounts and change it to the new one.

EDIT:
Okay, after more surfing, I found
Passpack
LastPass

LastPass looks good, and has a Firefox plug-in...

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

The slowdown is a Windows phenomenon. Most operating systems do not use the abomination known as the Windows Registry, nor do they need regular defragging.

I remember reading about the filesystem not needing to be defragged because of the way it arranges data. And the only way it could get fragged was to have it like 90% full or something.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Sometimes when searching google, the automatic spell check kicks in and I can't find the term I was actually looking for. How dio I turn it off?

I googled it and got some stuff from a year or two years ago (or some weird stuff), so I was wondering if there was any changes since then.

 

[PeteAtoms]

can't you put the term in "quotes?"
and I don't think it automatically alters your search, you have to click on the suggestions on the first page to do that, no?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

can't you put the term in "quotes?"
and I don't think it automatically alters your search, you have to click on the suggestions on the first page to do that, no?

I tried the quotes, it didn't work. And for some reason there wasn't the customary two results, but the entire search was changed over.

EDIT: I searched again and it worked the way I wanted. THIS THING IS POSSESSED.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Erm, no, its just you Aimee. Quotes make google search for that string literally, thats how its been since the beginning. You loved something up somewhere the first time.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

That's because I suck.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

What do you call those sites that when you search for something in google, they come up, but the page description keeps repeating itself and when you actually look at it, the site is useless?

E.G. I was looking up creating those nice-looking menus for websites and got these on the first page:

free javascript menus navigation java menu javascript menus applet
free javascript menus, java menu applets, javascript menu scripts, dhtml menus and website navigation system with java script.

Free Dhtml Menu - Free Javascript CSS Dhtml menu, Create Free ...
Free Dhtml Menu for download, Dhtml drop down menu builders for creating Free Dhtml Menu and CSS Menu.

EDIT: Maybe spamdexing? I'm stupid so I can't really tell.

 

[Veritass]

I have an e-mail account that we'll call primary@cox.net, and my wife's account is secondary@cox.net. My wife's account stopped working in Outlook Express about a week ago, and I am struggling to figure out why. support@cox.net has been less than helpful with this, mainly relying on sending me pre-canned links that tell me how to create an account.

I have verified that her account is actually still working, because we can access it through the web interface, which uses a different password. However, whenever we access it through Outlook Express it gives us a password error after "Authorizing..." for a few seconds. Support suggested that I change the password through Outlook Express, which I did, and then wait for an hour, which I did, but this did not change anything. It seems that there is a password that is stored on my computer, as putting in a completely bogus password is rejected immediately with an "Invalid password" dialog box, but there must also be a password at the POP server: if I put in the password that gets past the first check, I get the "invalid password" from the POP server history.

Their solution now is that I delete and recreate secondary@cox.net in Outlook Express. Does anybody have any better suggestions? I have already checked that all of the settings for the account secondary@cox.net match those for primary@cox.net.

 

[Cutlass]

Have you tried a different email client program like Thunderbird?

 

[PeteAtoms]

Their solution now is that I delete and recreate secondary@cox.net in Outlook Express. Does anybody have any better suggestions? I have already checked that all of the settings for the account secondary@cox.net match those for primary@cox.net.

That would be my suggestion too. It shouldn't be that difficult... just make sure to back up any offline stored emails, in case the deletion of the account also deletes the stored emails (I'm not sure it does, but better safe than sorry). I'll second Cutlass' suggestion, try out the fairly recent new release of Thunderbird.

 

[Cutlass]

What's the highest temperature that it's safe to run a CPU or motherboard at?