Official Computer Help Thread

[ar_ranma]

I have a question. I have XP and just noticed that Service Pack 3 was out (yeah, I know, it's been out a while, but I only just found out about it). Should I upgrade to it from SP2? Does it make that much of a difference?

Once I installed it, I noticed a nice increase in overall performance of my pc. It has a sizable amount of bugfixes and security patches too. Go for it.

It's a bit rough to install if your computer doesn't cooperate. Make sure you have proper permissions when you try to install it. If you get any errors check Microsoft's website. Standard stuff.

 

[spooky316]

I have a question.? I have XP and just noticed that Service Pack 3 was out (yeah, I know, it's been out a while, but I only just found out about it).? Should I upgrade to it from SP2?? Does it make that much of a difference?

Once I installed it, I noticed a nice increase in overall performance of my pc. It has a sizable amount of bugfixes and security patches too. Go for it.

It's a bit rough to install if your computer doesn't cooperate. Make sure you have proper permissions when you try to install it. If you get any errors check Microsoft's website. Standard stuff.

Alright, thanks.

 

[thezorch]

Question: How do I uninstall Norton Security Scan

Follow-Up: What is a good free Virus Scanner?

I've gone through a lot of virus scanners (Norton, McAfee, ClamWin, AVG, etc.) but the best so far and the one I've stuck with is Avast. Here is where you can get it.

The software is free, you just register once a year for a registration code to get free updates which can be set to be automatically downloaded and installed without you needing to to do anything manually. Its got an on-access scanner and malicious software scanner for P2P file sharing, the web, email, and Instant Messengering. I used to have Norton and McAfee and has problems with them. They really made my system slow and McAfee had the nasty tendency to flag files as being infected when they really weren't. I also tried AVG but it missed a lot of stuff requiring me to reformat a lot. Ever since I started using Avast I haven't had a virus yet. Of course, no anti-virus program is 100% so I do check regularly using the Malicious Software Removal Tool which you can get from the Microsoft website. I also stopped using the pitiful firewall built into Windows and use Zone Alarm which is much better.

I have tested it and Avast 4 Home Edition does work on Vista and uses less system resources than both Norton and McAfee.

 

[ArchfiendRai]

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!

I fucking HATE photobucket. None of my images break their fucking rules and THEY STILL FUCKING DELETE THEM!

Please, someone supply an image host site that isn't such a bitch and a half. PLEASE.


FUCK!

 

[ThreadWeaver]

if you're looking for someplace to host single or just a few pics that you don't mind keeping links to on your own system, then use Imageshack.us.

If you want to store a number of publicly available albums, you may want to try Google's Picasa, which is a downloadable image indexing and management software that allows public album sharing online. Google Picasa

 

[thezorch]

if you're looking for someplace to host single or just a few pics that you don't mind keeping links to on your own system, then use Imageshack.us.

If you want to store a number of publicly available albums, you may want to try Google's Picasa, which is a downloadable image indexing and management software that allows public album sharing online. Google Picasa

I really hate it when sites get anal about content. I remember back in the day when Flickr blocked video content on their site and afterwards that were in trouble for a while because all of that traffic went to a fledgling site called Youtube. Well, Flickr survived but now they're a small fry up against a lot of other bigger image hosting sites. Photobucket must be deleting his images because they aren't photots, it sucks but that could be the reason. Who knows?

I've heard some good things about Google's Picasa. In fact don't they have some limited image editing capabilities on their site also?

 

[ThreadWeaver]

It's actually a program that resides on your computer. The web sharing and hosting is just an extension of it. But yes, it does offer basic image clean-up and other assorted tools. It did a real good job of finding every single graphic on my entire PC; so much so I had to tell it to ignore a bunch of app folders that were full of graphic files.

 

[thezorch]

It's actually a program that resides on your computer. The web sharing and hosting is just an extension of it. But yes, it does offer basic image clean-up and other assorted tools. It did a real good job of finding every single graphic on my entire PC; so much so I had to tell it to ignore a bunch of app folders that were full of graphic files.

That I know. A lot of people who have digital cameras rave about it.

For more advanced image editing I use The GIMP aka The GNU Image Manipulation Program. The latest version is a significant upgrade from older versions. If you can't afford Photoshop this free software is of the same professional grade level as Photoshop, but it doesn't use nearly as much disk space or system resources and there is a portable version that can be put on Flash Drives and used on any computer without having to be installed first.

Speaking of Portable Software, there are portable versions of:

* Firefox
* Thunderbird
* Opera
* Filezilla (FTP Client)
* Winamp
* Blender (open source 3D CGI editor and animator)
* VLC

 

[InternetLOL]

Firefox help, please.

My Firefox isn't working. I try to open it, firefox.exe appears in the processes list, and nothing else happens. Safe mode, command line, nothing works. I've found a couple other people who've had the same problem and they haven't found a fix short of reinstalling either. The problem is it requires a clean install, which means no bookmarks, themes, or add-ons, which I have loads of.

Is there any place that these are listed/kept so I can save or find them all again after the reinstall?

EDIT: Vista

 

[OniGanon]

You should have had your add-ons saved somewhere, and your bookmarks backed up.

Actually, Firefox usually backs up bookmarks for you. Though, for the life of me I can't seem to find out where on my Vista machine...

 

[InternetLOL]

You should have had your add-ons saved somewhere, and your bookmarks backed up.

Actually, Firefox usually backs up bookmarks for you. Though, for the life of me I can't seem to find out where on my Vista machine...

Yeah, same.

 

[incubusfox]

C:\Documents and Settings\~name~\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\~random letters~\bookmarkbackups

I'd suggest copying this entire folder to another location, just in case any of your files are corrupted from the problem you're having now.

After you reinstall, go to Bookmarks -> Organize Bookmarks, click Import and Backup, then go to Restore -> Choose File. Now go to where you saved that folder and select the most recent bookmark backup file.

Also, in your profile folder, theres a file called bookmarks.html, which you might want to save as well before the clean install. It's likely to be a redundant file, but better safe than sorry should something go wrong (or I'm giving bad info, which I really hope I'm not).

It looks like your add-ons are saved in C:\Documents and Settings\~name~\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\~random letters~\extensions, but really I don't know how that's going to help you. If nothing else, it should give you a name to search for after the reinstall if you can't find a way to carry them over.

Hope some of this helps :sweat:

 

[InternetLOL]

Yeah, it does. Thanks.

 

[incubusfox]

Reading the Firefox KB, it seems I was right about themes, plug-ins, and add-ons being in that extensions folder, but I can't figure out how saving those folders would let you reinstall them on a clean install :sweat2:

It's possible that copying your entire profile folder at C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ and overwriting the new profile after the install with these files and folders would do it, but I'd feel better about recommending that if I knew what caused your problem in the first place.

Btw, the Vista location is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\ should anyone need that.

 

[thezorch]

Reading the Firefox KB, it seems I was right about themes, plug-ins, and add-ons being in that extensions folder, but I can't figure out how saving those folders would let you reinstall them on a clean install :sweat2:

It's possible that copying your entire profile folder at C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ and overwriting the new profile after the install with these files and folders would do it, but I'd feel better about recommending that if I knew what caused your problem in the first place.

Btw, the Vista location is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\ should anyone need that.

The problem with Firefox I believe is files in its rendering engine becoming corrupted. Its not a common problem but I'm certain the Mozilla Project developers are looking into why its happening. I believe someone did post something about it on Bugzilla, their bug tracking system for Mozilla software. FF3's rendering engine generates the entire window, not just the HTML on the page. This was a part of the feature of the browser to match your current desktop theme on whatever OS you happen to be using. Also, this is what lets you zoom not only text but graphics and video in the browser window by holding down CTRL and rolling the mouse wheel.

Anyway, the only way to fix that sort of problem is to reinstall Firefox.

I keep my addons, themes, and bookmarks backed up. My bookmarks are on a USB Flash drive, and I update that backup at least once a week.

 

[thezorch]

Speaking of web browsers! I recently found out that Google is building a web browser from scratch called Chrome. They are using the open source Webkit code (an open source browser used to make Safari, the Mac OS X Dashboard, Apple Mail, and a number of Mac OS X and Linux KDE applications) and the now Open Source JAVA code is being used to build a new Javascript engine from the ground up.

From what I've read Google Chrome will ...

* Have tabs which are separate processes (which can be killed from the Windows Task Manager) so if a plugin crashes only that tab will be affected. Each tab will have its own separate browser controls.
* Have a Privacy Mode which prevents anything from the web from being saved to the hard drive. This is similar to the "Porn" mode being developed into Internet Explorer 8.
* Improve security by blocking each browser process from affecting any other process on the computer.
* Have a new Javascript Virtual Machine built from the ground up using the Open Source Java code.
* Integrate seamlessly with Google Search and Google Apps. Basically it'll make Google's wordprocessor, spreadsheet, Gmail, and etc. work and look like they are programs on running from your hard drive.
* Be based 100% on W3C certified standards.

The W3C or World Wide Web Consortium is the governing body that is given the authority to choose which new Internet technologies will to be certified as an industry standard for the World Wide Web. Microsoft has been pretty notorious for thumbing their noses at these standards for years and pushing their own technologies instead. Internet Explorer 8 will be the first browser by Microsoft to fully embrace those standards. Other browsers that fully embrace W3C certified standards are Apple's Safari, Opera, Firefox, and the web browser in the Google Android operating system for cell phones. The W3C also control the three master Domain Name servers for the web, when you sign up for a domain name with GoDaddy or any of the other domain name registers online for a URL they put that URL on one of these three master servers, and those master servers then distribute that new URL to all of the other domain name servers on the Internet.

 

[InternetLOL]

Okay. Firefox is back. I lost my bookmarks, but my memory kicked in for a minute and I got the ones I really care about saved again. Now, extensions.

I've got just about all of them (turns out googling the hashes will turn them up), but I'm short a few. Notably, a Tab Mix Plus replacement. Something with a closed tabs list, italicized unread tabs, open new tab after this tab, session saving, drag & drop tab copying, etc. I had one, but I can't remember what it was called. Any ideas?

 

[thezorch]

Okay. Firefox is back. I lost my bookmarks, but my memory kicked in for a minute and I got the ones I really care about saved again. Now, extensions.

I've got just about all of them (turns out googling the hashes will turn them up), but I'm short a few. Notably, a Tab Mix Plus replacement. Something with a closed tabs list, italicized unread tabs, open new tab after this tab, session saving, drag & drop tab copying, etc. I had one, but I can't remember what it was called. Any ideas?

Well, if you are using Firefox 3 you can search for Add-Ons from right inside the Add-Ons window. Goto Tools~~>Add-Ons and make sure the icon Get Add-ons is selected, and below that will be a search box. Type in what you are looking for in the space below the search box the add-on you want should appear.

Add-Ons I recommend:

* AddBlock Plus - Improves FF's already stellar ad blocking features.
* Google Preview - Inserts a thumbnail preview of webpages into your Google Searchs. Very handy.
* Cooliris - An add-on that creates a full 3D accelerated environment for viewing images and videos. Works with a ton of websites like DeviantArt, Youtube, Veoh, Photobucket, Flickr etc. Click the link to see it in action in a flash video. Its pretty nice but requires that you have some descent hardware and its Windows only.

 

[ArchfiendRai]

Alright, say I want to capture a movie scene from a game, so I can watch it whenever or maybe upload to youtube or something...how do you do this without it looking like you obviously just held a camera up to the tv?

 

[InternetLOL]

Alright, say I want to capture a movie scene from a game, so I can watch it whenever or maybe upload to youtube or something...how do you do this without it looking like you obviously just held a camera up to the tv?

If it's a computer game, get Fraps or the Camtasia Studio trial version.

If it's on a console, a video camera is the only way I know of unless you patch it through your computer.

 

[PCHeintz72]

Alright, say I want to capture a movie scene from a game, so I can watch it whenever or maybe upload to youtube or something...how do you do this without it looking like you obviously just held a camera up to the tv?

If it's a computer game, get Fraps or the Camtasia Studio trial version.

If it's on a console, a video camera is the only way I know of unless you patch it through your computer.

Assuming the computer can accept incoming video, patching it is infinately better than camcorder.

There are utilities that you can have capture portions of your screen. The trick is normally turning them on and off and sizing it.

 

[thezorch]

Alright, say I want to capture a movie scene from a game, so I can watch it whenever or maybe upload to youtube or something...how do you do this without it looking like you obviously just held a camera up to the tv?

If it's a computer game, get Fraps or the Camtasia Studio trial version.

If it's on a console, a video camera is the only way I know of unless you patch it through your computer.

Assuming the computer can accept incoming video, patching it is infinately better than camcorder.

There are utilities that you can have capture portions of your screen. The trick is normally turning them on and off and sizing it.

There are relatively cheap USB HDTV video capture devices out now the the PC which you could use to capture video from a game console ... assuming you are using the console in HD mode. If not, SDTV USB capture devices are very cheap.

 

[WarmasterCain55]

Is there a way to have different desktop themes or something like that for XP?

 

[thezorch]

Is there a way to have different desktop themes or something like that for XP?

There's lots of websites that have downloadable desktop themes for XP. Just go a Google search and you'll find tons of them.

WindowBlinds is a tool for skinning Windows XP and Vista to make it looks pretty much like anything you want. It goes beyond what Themes in Windows does, and you do need a descent computer to use it.

If you want to change your desktop altogether you need a Windows Shell Replacement. These replace explorer.exe as the Windows Shell, which creates the taskbar and start button at the bottom of your screen in XP and Vista. Some of them are actually pretty good and have been around for a long while.

* Aston - A complete Windows Shell Replacement that gives you animated icons, transparency effects, a sidebar with gadgets, virtual desktops and more for Windows XP and Vista.

* Litestep - A complete Windows Shell Replacement that mimics the look and feel of the NextStep OS which was developed by Steve Jobs and ALMOST became Mac OS X. This version is what was formerly called AfterStep.

* SharpE - A new complete Windows Shell Replacement that sort of resembles NextStep but comes with a lot of its own unique features. Its also 100% open source.

 

[garedelyon]

So... I went on the national exam/qualification/what have you website, in order to download the old papers for the scholarship subjects I'm sitting.

When I click to save them and use something else (other than Winzip, which I haven't registered, and don't much want to, for 9 or so exam papers) to open them, it gives me the alternate options of "Opera Internet Browser", "Compressed Zip Folders" or "Other Applications..."

Which should I go with? Or is there some free thing I can use instead of Winzip?

I'm ridiculously ignorant when it comes to things like this... :sweat2: