Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

[aimeeandbeatles]

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?

I use CamStudio. It's tricky to set up but works decently.

 

[lndm]

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.

@ aimee (and Cutlass): This read wrong. What I meant was.....in W98, temporarily disable swap, defrag, then re-enable swap...and...I don't think this step is necessary with XP.

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

As a separate matter, I don't necessarily agree with this. The amount of swap you need has nothing to do with the amount of RAM you have... except that when you don't have much RAM, you may need more swap for the increased total VM.

Can running the processor on 100% for a long time destabilize it? (Assuming it's not overclocked.)

Simple answer: Probably not. Temperature stability is usually a good thing and 100% processor usage is, after all, fairly consistent in its own right.

Complicated answer: If the processor is hot enough across the die to swamp localised swings due to state changes, yet cold enough to prevent particle migration then yes, it is safe.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

When you buy a new HDD, and put all your data on it, how long should you keep around the old HDD? (In case you get a bad one.)

My Maxtor's gonna be a pretty sleek paperweight until then.

 

[Cutlass]

If a HDD is working, there's no need to toss it out. It can always be reused at a later date. Put it in a food storage bag or something and put it somewhere out of the way.

 

[GVBN]

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.

Try VirtualDub

 

[warpus]

Tried CamStudio and the result was a bit choppy.. it worked well though - did everything I wanted it to.. aside from teh choppyness.. maybe there's a setting somewhere I could play with (framerate?). Didn't have time to look into it.. my video is going to be AMAZING though.

I'll try VirtualDub too, thanks.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

When you buy a new HDD, and put all your data on it, how long should you keep around the old HDD? (In case you get a bad one.)

My Maxtor's gonna be a pretty sleek paperweight until then.

Until Ive got time to put some lead into it.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Alright, I've got a problem. All of a sudden, my program are taking forever to start. Firefox is usually up and running 15 seconds after I start it, iTunes in 10. Now Firefox takes 3 minutes to load, iTunes 15. truecrypt nearly crashes when mounting a volume and other programs just take plain long to load. This started earlier this morning, so I dont think it was because of anything being installed. One thing I did notice is that the majority of the files being loaded by some of these programs (Such as Truecrypt and iTunes) are on the E: drive, but at the same time, Firefox resides completely on the C: drive, which means that if it was the E: drive going, it shouldnt have been affected.
Im in the process of trying to find a SMART monitoring tool, as well as running an antivirus scan.
Should also try to run some games, havent had much time yet though.

Interestingly enough, this seems a lot like the problem i was having with Steam earlier (and still am infact.)

 

[Cutlass]

Sounds like you have a lot of processes using up your resources and getting in the way of what you want to run. If you haven't installed anything, could be some malware, spyware, virus. Check the Task Manager and see what's running. If it doesn't show up, run your virus and malware scans.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If you want a program, here's the one I use. (scroll down)

Sounds like you're overloaded for processes. There's a program called filemon (or something) that tells what's writing to your HDD, which can indicate a virus.
Edit: Filemon

 

[lndm]

I'll assume you've rebooted. You might prune your startup set and run a small system restore.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Sounds like you have a lot of processes using up your resources and getting in the way of what you want to run. If you haven't installed anything, could be some malware, spyware, virus. Check the Task Manager and see what's running. If it doesn't show up, run your virus and malware scans.

CPU usage is at 80% and those processes that are using it are all set to idle priority -- they'll give up the cpu if needed. Thing is, iTunes, Truecrypt, etc dont use any cpu, and their RAM usage doesnt change.

I'll assume you've rebooted. You might prune your startup set and run a small system restore.

Couple of reboots, and this happens loooong after startup ( running now for an hour and its still doing it )

 

[lndm]

80%? It ought to settle to zero between small spikes.

In rare cases this behaviour could be due to hardware though.

 

[Cutlass]

What does your Task Manager tell you is using that 80%? That's a spike level of CPU use, not a normal level unless you are running a heavy process ap.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

I downloaded a movie, and when I play it, I get sound but no picture. What's the deal?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I downloaded a movie, and when I play it, I get sound but no picture. What's the deal?

Sounds like a codec problem. Google "K-Lite Codec Pack," that's the one I use. (Also, if you don't want a pack, ffdshow is a good decoder.)

 

[Bigfoot3814]

That did the trick. Thanks a ton aimee!

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have a strange problem with Yahoo Messenger which I've tried to google several times with nothing useful -- two contacts, when they're online, appear offline to me.

Details:
-- The two contacts I can't see I talk to the most. They're not on stealth.
-- If they sign on when I'm online, I can see them as online. But if I sign in after they come online, I can't see them.
-- I've tried reinstalling messenger, and I reinstalled Windows a while ago.
-- Nobody else I know has this problem.
-- It's definitely within YIM, because when I logged in with Pidgin (just to test it), they appeared as online.
-- I often use some features of YIM you can't find in "multi-IMs", so I'd rather not switch to one because of this small glitch.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

80%? It ought to settle to zero between small spikes.

In rare cases this behaviour could be due to hardware though.

What does your Task Manager tell you is using that 80%? That's a spike level of CPU use, not a normal level unless you are running a heavy process ap.

Folding @ Home on 3 Cores, each one set to max 80% CPU usage.
Its not the reason though, turning off all of the folders does nothing.

EDIT - Now Steam starts up fine.. -.-

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I finally convinced mom to lemme open my case (with her standing nearby) Im on moms comp with funny keyboard please excuse typing

PSU specs:
FPS Grou Inc, Sparkle Power
DCO utput: 300W

Any good?

p.s. No wonder my fan was noisy - it was choked with dust!!!! and the "little black cooling box" was actually another fan.

EDIT: Back on my own puter -- I noticed when I first powered up, it nagged me to reset the CMOS. My mom said to hit F1, since it does that every time the computer's unplugged. Why would that happen? As far as I know, it only happens if it's unplugged.

ANOTHER EDIT: Noobiest question ever -- Inside my PC, I noticed these "ribbons" running from one hardware to another. What are the names of this? I spent the last half-hour trying to search it. I think it might be an IDC ribbon but googling it only brings up pictures of the connectors or are too small to tell.