Official Computer Help Thread

ArchfiendRai

Well-Known Member
#1
What the title says. Use this instead of making another thread about it.

Alright, my request is picture related. How can you change a PNG image type to a JPEG type?
 

kingdark

Well-Known Member
#2
two ways
The first way is doing it manually, which does not always work; you look for the picture then you right click on it, then edit the name of the picture in question.

Then change it in the name you want, but add the extension. for example:

naruto.jpg This should have changed it, but it doesn't always work

the second is a bit more complicated, and is more a way around it then a 'good' way you know?

first of all, you right click on the picture and then you choose the option: open with

then you look for 'paint' the standard windows drawing program.

when you have found it, click on 'OK'. It should open automatically when that is finished choose the option "save as" but before you press "OK' look carefully

you should see something along the lines of: save as, there you should be able to chose out of different extensions

Hope this helped
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#3
kingdark said:
two ways
The first way is doing it manually, which does not always work; you look for the picture then you right click on it, then edit the name of the picture in question.

Then change it in the name you want, but add the extension. for example:

naruto.jpg This should have changed it, but it doesn't always work

the second is a bit more complicated, and is more a way around it then a 'good' way you know?

first of all, you right click on the picture and then you choose the option: open with

then you look for 'paint' the standard windows drawing program.

when you have found it, click on 'OK'. It should open automatically when that is finished choose the option "save as" but before you press "OK' look carefully

you should see something along the lines of: save as, there you should be able to chose out of different extensions

Hope this helped
Huh...

The first method is useless.

Yes... it will change how Windows rrecognizes it in a My Computer window, as it really mainly looks at the file extension when determining it. But it does nothing to change the format of a file.

Thus a Program that can only open JPG's, would still be unable to open it.

I would use a variation of the second method:

- Right click image
- Select Edit
- Select File
- Select Save As
- Pick type
- Click Save
- Exit program
 

ArchfiendRai

Well-Known Member
#4
THANK YOU!!! :hail: :hail: :hail: :yay:
 

kingdark

Well-Known Member
#5
well, I did said it wouldn't always work right? :headbanger:
 

PCHeintz72

The Sentient Fanfic Search Engine mk II
#6
kingdark said:
well, I did said it wouldn't always work right? :headbanger:
Huh...

It is not a matter of 'not always', or 'only sometimes', but a matter of 'never'. That first method does not actually convert the image at all, which is what was asked.
 

OniGanon

Well-Known Member
#7
Of course, if you actually give a damn about preserving image quality, you won't use Paint to convert to jpg. It works, but it's a bit ugly. You can get dedicated programs for handling images like IrfanView or- my choice- Photoshop or something.

Or you can just post the image here, and I'll convert it for you.

Do you really need to convert it though? Most programs support PNG these days, and it's better than jpg. PNG is my favourite picture format, actually.


By the way, renaming a file extension doesn't actually change the file. It just changes what program will try to open it.
 

Vexarian

Well-Known Member
#8
OniGanon said:
Of course, if you actually give a damn about preserving image quality, you won't use Paint to convert to jpg. It works, but it's a bit ugly. You can get dedicated programs for handling images like IrfanView or- my choice- Photoshop or something.

Or you can just post the image here, and I'll convert it for you.

Do you really need to convert it though? Most programs support PNG these days, and it's better than jpg. PNG is my favourite picture format, actually.


By the way, renaming a file extension doesn't actually change the file. It just changes what program will try to open it.
Saving a jpg in Paint is assured to ruin the quality. It just randomly fucks with the pixels. And yes, saving it as a jpg will even ruin a jpg.

It's a decent format for low size pictures, but if you must use it, use a program that lets you choose the compression rate. If you're strapped for cash or don't know how to work a Torrent GIMP can do it.
 

Watashiwa

Administrator
Staff member
#9
GIMP's pretty sweet, really nice program since its Open Source.

Not as high-class as Photoshop but still almost comparable. That said if you're having image file-extension issues, and don't wanna lose quality. Go download Infranview, open up said image in there and resave it in any format you like. Give you quality control, amongst other things.
 

ArchfiendRai

Well-Known Member
#10
OniGanon said:
Of course, if you actually give a damn about preserving image quality, you won't use Paint to convert to jpg. It works, but it's a bit ugly. You can get dedicated programs for handling images like IrfanView or- my choice- Photoshop or something.

Or you can just post the image here, and I'll convert it for you.

Do you really need to convert it though? Most programs support PNG these days, and it's better than jpg. PNG is my favourite picture format, actually.


By the way, renaming a file extension doesn't actually change the file. It just changes what program will try to open it.
Its that png images don't appear in my 'change to wallpaper' thingy. I have to find the image, then click 'save as background,' and once I change it again, I'd have to do the entire thing again if I wanted to put it back.

I'll try with GIMP. I have it.
 

incubusfox

Well-Known Member
#11
I'm not 100% positive on this, but if you're only doing this to use pictures as wallpapers, converting them into .bmp format is a better idea. You stand to keep image quality, as long as file-size isn't an issue.
 

BakaNeko

Well-Known Member
#12
The Archfiend of Lightning said:
Its that png images don't appear in my 'change to wallpaper' thingy. I have to find the image, then click 'save as background,' and once I change it again, I'd have to do the entire thing again if I wanted to put it back.

I'll try with GIMP. I have it.
I'm going to assume by "change to wallpaper thingie" you mean the "Desktop Tab" in the "Display Properties".

PNG files DO show up in that list. So long as their stored inside the "My Pictures" folder that can be found in "My Documents". Any graphic stored there will appear in the Display Properties.

Also any BMP files stored in the "C:/Windows" directory will appear there too.

-----

But If I assume differently that this "thingie" be some third party program that's taken over your PNG files, you should know that the default "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" can also set wallpapers.

Just open the file with it, right click on the picture and set it.

-----

Incubusfox is also right in converting to BMP files. It takes less resources to show on the desktop and putting in the Windows folder is still a good place to keep all backgrounds.
 

thezorch

Well-Known Member
#13
I'm rather surprised that .png hasn't replaced .jpg at all. The Portable Network Graphics standards is an open royalty free standard with lossless compression. JPEG is not an open standard and there have been a lot of licensing and royalty issues surrounding the format. Also it uses lossy compression. The .png format is getting rather popular lately due to the fact that is royalty free. In the near future digital cameras will likely start using this format instead of JPEG.

Here is the PNG website with more information.

I like changing my desktop wallpaper often and I found several way to do it easily.

Windows XP - I have a small app called "Wallpaper Changer" from ZDnet. It changes my wallpaper every 5 minutes when I'm running Windows XP. If anyone uses XP and is interested in this app I can try to find it again and send you the URL to download it.

Kubuntu - I use Linux almost all the time, in fact I'm using it right now. KDE, the window manager for Kubuntu has a desktop wallpaper slideshow option letting you select a directory and your desktop wallpaper on a timer you set. Ubuntu which uses Gnome/Compiz Fusion as its window manager and desktop environment doesn't have this feature. You need a small application called "Desktop Drapes" which can be found using Add/Remove Program from the Application menu to be automatically downloaded and installed with just a few simple mouse clicks.

Windows Vista - Replace the Image Viewer gadget on the Sidebar with a new one that does the same thing but also lets you change your wallpaper at set intervals. I use this on my laptop. Its like Wallpaper Changer on XP and it uses very little system resources to run. Also, you get a small image viewer to see different images at the same time.

What I don't know is if there is something similar to this for the Mac. I'd be very shocked if there wasn't since anything you can find on Windows you can find on a Mac nowadays, and sometimes there is stuff for the Mac you can't get for Windows at all.
 

OniGanon

Well-Known Member
#14
Don't forget that it also allows transparency. JPG is just subpar these days.
 

thezorch

Well-Known Member
#15
OniGanon said:
Don't forget that it also allows transparency. JPG is just subpar these days.
I can't recall where I heard it from but I recall reading something about adding .gif style animation capabilities to the .png format.
 

Reader458

Well-Known Member
#16
Lets put this thread to the test.

This weekend I was at my sisters wedding and without acess to a computer for the whole time. This horrible experience has made me think about getting myself a laptop.

One that cought my eye is the Acer Aspire One 150 link. It seems to be good and it comes with Windows XP instead of Vista.

Does anyone of you have any experience with this machine and could point out strong points/flaws? The main thing I want to know is how it handles internet. Are there special settings to compansate for the smaller screen or can I watch it as I can with my desktop?

I would also like to know if the converter is easy to carry around or is it to big?
 

thezorch

Well-Known Member
#17
Reader458 said:
Lets put this thread to the test.

This weekend I was at my sisters wedding and without acess to a computer for the whole time. This horrible experience has made me think about getting myself a laptop.

One that cought my eye is the Acer Aspire One 150 link. It seems to be good and it comes with Windows XP instead of Vista.

Does anyone of you have any experience with this machine and could point out strong points/flaws? The main thing I want to know is how it handles internet. Are there special settings to compansate for the smaller screen or can I watch it as I can with my desktop?

I would also like to know if the converter is easy to carry around or is it to big?
Hmmm. Looks like this one is using the new Instant On embedded Linux for quick access to Internet based applications which are becoming a hot trend these days. Basically, you can turn on the computer and in 15 seconds be able to access the Internet and use Skype without loading Windows. I'm assuming this is also a competitor to the ASUS Eee PC which is the most successful UMPC in existence. I think some of the guys in a group I'm a part of talked about this one once. Of course, they'd immediately replace XP with Ubuntu. Special Note: The majority of these UMPCs do not have optical drives, meaning they don't come with DVD-RW drives due to the lack of space in the case. You'd have to use an external drive.

I don't have one of these but I do own an Acer laptop. The Aspire 4520, and there are a few things you need to know. Its good that the model you're looking for is XP based because Vista sucks rancid sewer water. I had shitloads of problems with my laptop when it came to the video drivers. The Aspire 4520 has the Nvidia Geforce 7000M graphics card and nForce 610M motherboard chipset. The drivers are OEM only meaning I could only get them from Acer and they haven't updated them at all. So, a few games I play crashed a lot because Acer's graphics drivers were so unstable. I had to get hacked drivers from LaptopVideo2Go.com in order to fix the problem.

Anyway, before looking for a laptop or any computer you might want to ask yourself a few questions:

1. What am I going to be using this machine for MOST of the time?
2. What might I want to use it for in the future?
3. How much storage space do I need?
4. What software do I want to use on it?
5. Will I be playing games on this system?

What to avoid...

* Intel Celeron processor based systems.
* The Nvidia Geforce 7000M/nForce 610M (now that I know how crummy it is)
* Any video card developed by Intel.
* MS Windows Vista in general if you can help it.
* Systems with a processor speeds slower than 2GHz if they come only with MS Windows Vista.
* Systems with less than 2GB of RAM if they come only with MS Windows Vista.
 

incubusfox

Well-Known Member
#18
Zorch is pretty spot-on for many of his points.

It doesn't come with an optical (read CD or DVD) drive, unless you choose an optional external one. You can choose between a SSD or a HDD, but both appear to be PATA. Software updates appear to be bound by Acer's "Phone-Home" service, something I would be less-than-enthusiastic about if I were buying this unit.
 

thezorch

Well-Known Member
#19
incubusfox said:
Zorch is pretty spot-on for many of his points.

It doesn't come with an optical (read CD or DVD) drive, unless you choose an optional external one. You can choose between a SSD or a HDD, but both appear to be PATA. Software updates appear to be bound by Acer's "Phone-Home" service, something I would be less-than-enthusiastic about if I were buying this unit.
Be careful, I found out recently from articles in PC Magazine and the "This Week in Tech" Podcasts that SSD drives don't help save battery life but actually suck up more juice surprisingly. Yeah, I was shocked too. A conventional drive using power management in Windows or Linux will conserve far more power. SSD drives will become better for mobile devices once lower power SSDs can be developed, but right now they use a lot of electricity when in use.

I'm assuming Acer's dial-home update feature is probably for their software only. I wouldn't trust them to carry Windows updates over that service, because knowing them their updates would be out of date by the time you get them. Its safer to update Windows via Windows Update.

Linux does it differently. They have Software Repositories that you access via a download client like Adept Package Manager or Synaptic Package Manager (both do the same thing). These Repositories are maintained for the different major distributions of Linux like Ubuntu, Redhat, etc. and are often locked down with PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encryption keys to keep them from being hacked. When a software update becomes available just like with Windows update it lets you know and prompts you to down them. However, unlike Windows Update, you can search through a list of free software to download and install from a category of different programs from Games to Office Applications to Development Tools. There's no compiling nor any manual installations involved because its all automatic. Removing installed software is easy too, just remove the check next to the software listed you want to get rid of the package manager will do it for you.

Microsoft really needs to setup something like a Repository system for Windows. Imagine going into Add/Remove Programs and being able to search through a catalog of software that you can select and install with just a mouse click, and once you download that software when an new version is available its automatically updated for you. You could buy software that way like you can games with Steam, and with a user account it will remember what software you add so if you reinstall Windows you can get all that software back. Its a dream but a plausible one. Now if Micro$oft can stop being a greedy bastard company and actually do it that would be great.
 

ar_ranma

Well-Known Member
#20
thezorch said:
Be careful, I found out recently from articles in PC Magazine and the "This Week in Tech" Podcasts that SSD drives don't help save battery life but actually suck up more juice surprisingly.? Yeah, I was shocked too.? A conventional drive using power management in Windows or Linux will conserve far more power.? SSD drives will become better for mobile devices once lower power SSDs can be developed, but right now they use a lot of electricity when in use.
Solid State Drives are more for security (preventing falls from damaging your data for laptops) and speed right now than power (or money) saving. It's not worth your money currently if you're not a power gamer or are storing data you can't afford to lose (stuff for work, etc.).
 

incubusfox

Well-Known Member
#21
Yeah, I've known about SSD's power consumption issues for awhile now, Tom's Hardware has been going over that issue for some time. There is actually a new unit that has lower power consumption than HDDs, but I'm too lazy to look it up. There might actually be a few by now, I"ve been out of the loop on hardware for the last few weeks.

This Acer Aspire One 150 uses the new Intel Atom processor that is so damn cool, but it runs at seriously slower speeds, which is probably why it has the option of using XP instead of Vista. 1.60 GHz w/ 533 MHz FSB = :sick3:

512MB 533MHz DDR2 is really low, with options of upgrading to 1GB/1.5GB.

I can't seem to find a price anywhere on their site, so I'm not sure how much the unit is, standard, but I get the feeling that a large amount of extra cash is made by the need for "Optional" upgrades.
 

Reader458

Well-Known Member
#22
So the verdict is a tentative no?

I became interested in it because it was small enough to carry around easily. My main uses for it would be reading text, some surfing (like this site or FF.net) and maybe listen to music/watch movies. No games or such and not to watch DVDs.

incubusfox: The retail price I'm looking at is around 625 USD (4000 SKR) with XP. I would probably get the six-cell battery but I have no price for that.
 

spooky316

Well-Known Member
#23
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?
 

InternetLOL

Well-Known Member
#25
VexTheWarlord said:
Question: How do I uninstall Norton Security Scan

Follow-Up: What is a good free Virus Scanner?
1. Reformat your hard drive.

2. BitDefender Free, AVG Free, and Spybot Search and Destroy have kept my computer trouble-free for three years.

/Don't actually reformat your hard drive.
 
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