Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

[Gelion]

If you have disks that came with the thing, just follow the directions on them.

Thanks The disks I can do no problem

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I recommended Avidemux and I was ignored

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Question: Some people on the official Tom Petty board are complaining the site doesn't work properly in IE. I ran it through the CSS validator and it passed and I showed them and said that IE doesn't go by the right standards. They still whine, because "IE IS THE MOST USED BROWSER!!!". Are some people really that dense?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Uhm, yes. Tell them to get Firefox, Opera or Chrome, or get over it. IE sucks at following standards, and there's no good reason to design for it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thanks. I was wondering if I was being a bit unreasonable.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Question: I was using CamStudio to record myself setting off 60 nukes in Civ IV. The video somehow got corrupted, though, because whenever I try to do anything with it in video editors I get various errors. It also acts strange in media players, both VLC and Media Player Classic, with the seeking (when I try to rewind and go forward).

In VirtualDub, I got "Cannot start video compression: An unknown error occured (may be corrupt data) error code -100."

In Avidemux I get "Fatal error" with no other information than to look in a log I can't find.

Any suggestions?

(Xvid codec, by the way)

 

[Genocidicbunny]

You answered yourself. Video's kaput.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

About the holey CDs:

I scanned another one. (There's a dark piece of paper behind it, to make it easier to see):

It looks almost as though something tiny (like an uber-small knife) tore through it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Well, the cd's are transparent if the layers of material on top are stripped away. Im pretty sure this is just scratches aimee.

 

[Mesousa]

I've upgraded my Win XP system to 2 GB RAM. What size should the swap file be?

 

[lndm]

You won't need much with that RAM. Feel free to experiment.

 

[Zelig]

I've upgraded my Win XP system to 2 GB RAM. What size should the swap file be?

On a 32-bit system, just max it at 4gb regardless of how much ram you have.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

How much punishment will a laptop with a cracked LCD take in a padded backpack compartment before the monitor condition worsens?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

As long as the laptop isnt shaken around too much, nor bumped, it shouldnt get much worse. But either way, you wanna look into getting that screen replaced. Its around 150$ or so for a new screen for a 15.4" laptop, more if you need someone to install it for you.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Why the [bleep] am I getting spam addressed to one of the members of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers?

 

[tdocs]

I'm thinking about buying a cheap laptop the only thing at all intense I would want it to do is play civ 4, and perhaps civ 5 when/if it comes out. Will this computer be able to do either of those things?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9352513&type=product&id=1218089774715
Intel® Pentium® dual-core mobile processor T4200, 2.0 GHz
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
2GB DDR2 SDRAM (expandable to 4)

I realize any thoughts about Civ 5 would be highly speculative, but I have very little understanding of graphics cards or what kind of performance boosts you can get from a duel processor. So random speculation would be appreciated.

 

[PeteAtoms]

My own anecdotal comments:

I don't recommend getting an integrated graphics card (which I have) if you expect to do any sort of gaming.

Every time I start CivIV, a message pops up telling me that it won't run on my system, but it does anyway lol My laptop was new in 2006, so anything you get now, with something better than integrated graphics card, will play CivIV.

As for Civ5, I have no idea. But that laptop is like a third the cost of mine was, and it's better tech-wise lol

 

[Metal_Casting]

Hi guys,
I would like to know, what configuration would I need to play the 18+ civ games in BtS. I have a 2 GB Ram, Sempron 3000, Ati HD 4670, I am planning to upgrade my computer, mostly for BtS. So any suggestion would be appreciated.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Okay, brief description: I use Windows Vista, and Firefox 3. Anyways, I was looking at some Facebook photos, and I right-clicked to make one my desktop background, but I accidentally selected the line underneath (Block images from photos.something, I don't know) and now a bunch of my photos won't show up. Is this reversible, or just another lovely Windows feature?

 

[Turner]

Firefox, not Windows.

Tools -> Options -> Content -> Click on 'Exceptions' on 'Load images Automatically', and find the blocked website. Highlight the site that's being blocked, and click on 'Remove Site' at the bottom of the list. This should restore that webpage's ability to load images.