The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

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Charlie Reams
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:What is the best free virus protection thingy?
Microsoft Security Essentials (Microsoft, seriously)
Someone on another forum I go on was saying Avast is the best. He said that not only is it free, but it is actually better than the ones you pay for.
Plus I'd be deeply averse to buying a product from Company X designed to cover for flaws introduced by Company X, since it's a perverse disincentive for them to fix their own bugs.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

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Charlie Reams wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:What is the best free paint software thingy?
I use GIMP. The interface is a bit of an acquired taste but it has a good feature set and a huge range of extra plugins you can downloaded. Most of the apterous graphics were done in GIMP, and if that's not an endorsement I don't know what is! Haven't tried anything else for years though, the inconvenience of switching is far too high.
If you just want an MSPaint clone, I use KolourPaint. Something like GIMP is almost certainly better (once you get past the interface), but almost everything I ever do I can do super-quick in KP because I already know how to do it.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ian Volante »

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:What is the best free virus protection thingy?
Microsoft Security Essentials (Microsoft, seriously)
Someone on another forum I go on was saying Avast is the best. He said that not only is it free, but it is actually better than the ones you pay for.
I recently switched to that from Zone Alarm, and am very happy - it's less bloaty for a start.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Gavin Chipper »

What do people make of Norton? It came with my laptop and when I installed it I'm sure that's the point when it started being slow. It's long since expired but I've done nothing to rectify the situation (it still exists on my laptop in an expired state).
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Alec Rivers »

Gavin Chipper wrote:What do people make of Norton?
I've not heard anything good about it. I hear the latest version may be a bit better, but it has always carried a reputation of being resource-hungry. The paid-for security software I would recommend is McAfee SecurityCenter.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Edwin Mead »

Alec Rivers wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:What do people make of Norton?
I've not heard anything good about it. I hear the latest version may be a bit better, but it has always carried a reputation of being resource-hungry. The paid-for security software I would recommend is McAfee SecurityCenter.
I've used McAfee for several years now, and have been very happy with it on the whole (apart from the fact it considerably slowed down my ancient machine).

However, I recently had a change of heart when Mcafee automatically resubscribed me, at more than double the price I paid last year. I'd already been thinking about switching to a free alternative, as money is tight, but this was the deciding factor.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

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AVG ftw :)
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Clive Brooker »

Has anyone used Easeus Todo Backup? It seems to get decent reviews and it's free. The backup operation has worked without obvious error but I'm nervous of trying a restore.

Alternatively, does anyone have another backup/restore tool - preferably free - that they swear by?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ian Volante »

What would cause a BSOD after burning a CD? This seems to happen quite often on my system, before and after changing my motherboard. Nero 6 is the culprit, or at least is the program I'm using at the time.

I had similar issues with BSODs when running Civ 4 which I suspected was a similar issue somewhere, although I may be mistaken.

Doesn't appear to be a driver issue as all have been updated.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Clive Brooker wrote:Has anyone used Easeus Todo Backup? It seems to get decent reviews and it's free. The backup operation has worked without obvious error but I'm nervous of trying a restore.

Alternatively, does anyone have another backup/restore tool - preferably free - that they swear by?
Must admit I don't know a great deal about backup. I use SyncBackSE, based on a handful of great reviews when I came to look for a backup tool, but the same company also does a freeware version (download here from Cnet) which I am sure will handle all you could need. And having just compared it to the Easeus page on Cnet, I can see that whilst both get 5/5 reviews from Cnet, the SyncBack user reviews are much more positive (averaging out to 4 stars compared to Easeus's 3 stars), and also SyncBack is faaaaaaaar more lightweight and less resource-hungry.

I just have stuff automated so I never think about it and all my photos and web design work get backed up every day. Also never had a HDD failure that has caused me to have to restore so can't comment on all that. But yeah SyncBackSE is very pleasing, all the options and stuff I could ask for for backing stuff up.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Ian Volante wrote:What would cause a BSOD after burning a CD? This seems to happen quite often on my system, before and after changing my motherboard. Nero 6 is the culprit, or at least is the program I'm using at the time.

I had similar issues with BSODs when running Civ 4 which I suspected was a similar issue somewhere, although I may be mistaken.

Doesn't appear to be a driver issue as all have been updated.
You tried updating the FIRMWARE drivers for the CD drive though Ian? This usually involves a BIOS flashing tool, downloading a separate .bin file that contains the BIOS firmware updates for the CD drive (that has to be run through the BIOS flashing tool and can't just be double-clicked to install like a 'normal' driver package) and then restarting PC. I've had to do it for my DVD burner before and it definitely helped stuff, but then I was never getting BSODs like you are.

The fact that you get them with Civ 4 as well as the CD burning makes me hmm. Obviously as you say they could be very different causes and just bad luck you're getting both - you'd need to pay attention to the error messages shown on the BSODs (hopefully they aren't the BSODs that cause instant restarts otherwise getting this information proves tricky) and Google them.

Overall my guess would be that it's dodgy RAM. This is so often the cause of BSODs. Did you change your RAM when you changed your motherboard? If not I'd be almost entirely sure some new RAM would sort you out.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Matt Morrison wrote:Overall my guess would be that it's dodgy RAM. This is so often the cause of BSODs. Did you change your RAM when you changed your motherboard? If not I'd be almost entirely sure some new RAM would sort you out.
RAM is often a problem, but then why would it occur consistently in two situations and not otherwise?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:Overall my guess would be that it's dodgy RAM. This is so often the cause of BSODs. Did you change your RAM when you changed your motherboard? If not I'd be almost entirely sure some new RAM would sort you out.
RAM is often a problem, but then why would it occur consistently in two situations and not otherwise?
I'm not entirely sure. Definitely a "best guess" scenario. If Ian can get some BSOD codes we'll learn a lot more - sometimes they even directly allude to memory problems in plain English.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ian Volante »

Matt Morrison wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:Overall my guess would be that it's dodgy RAM. This is so often the cause of BSODs. Did you change your RAM when you changed your motherboard? If not I'd be almost entirely sure some new RAM would sort you out.
RAM is often a problem, but then why would it occur consistently in two situations and not otherwise?
I'm not entirely sure. Definitely a "best guess" scenario. If Ian can get some BSOD codes we'll learn a lot more - sometimes they even directly allude to memory problems in plain English.
Hmm, could be RAM I suppose, although as far as I can remember, I've had problems both before and after that's been upgraded.

Most common BSOD from memory has been "DRIVER(?, maybe VALUE) NOT LESS THAN OR EQUAL...". The first word might not be driver. I'm interested by firmware updates, as I'm not sure this is a suggestion I've seen before. I'll look into it.

Edit: That wasn't the message I got with the CD burning fail, that was a more generic one which currently escapes me.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Ian Volante wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:Overall my guess would be that it's dodgy RAM. This is so often the cause of BSODs. Did you change your RAM when you changed your motherboard? If not I'd be almost entirely sure some new RAM would sort you out.
Hmm, could be RAM I suppose, although as far as I can remember, I've had problems both before and after that's been upgraded.

Most common BSOD from memory has been "DRIVER(?, maybe VALUE) NOT LESS THAN OR EQUAL...". The first word might not be driver. I'm interested by firmware updates, as I'm not sure this is a suggestion I've seen before. I'll look into it.

Edit: That wasn't the message I got with the CD burning fail, that was a more generic one which currently escapes me.
Yeah the firmware *might* help the CD burning one, but it surely couldn't affect the other general Civ 4 BSODs.
Try searching "<manufacturer> <model-name> firmware update" on Google or if you have no luck then just let me know the model and I'll peek.

Doesn't sound like CD is the problem overall though. Next time you get a BSOD have a look - it probably points you to a .sys file, especially as the "NOT LESS THAN OR EQUAL" usually does concern a driver.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Gavin Chipper »

I've just been typing something in Word and accidentally pressed a few buttons, and now everything's coming out red and underlined. And when I backspace it just turns the letters red and puts a line through them. What the fuck? Why would that even be an option?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Panic over. I've double clicked "TRK" at the bottom and it's gone. Pretty good feature though!
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Gavin Chipper wrote:I've just been typing something in Word and accidentally pressed a few buttons, and now everything's coming out red and underlined. And when I backspace it just turns the letters red and puts a line through them. What the fuck? Why would that even be an option?
So that you can collaborate on documents, be that between work colleagues, or between a student and a teacher. You whack on the 'Review mode' (I *think* it's called, otherwise something like 'Track changes') and it keeps a track of everything that you change, so that when the document is sent back to the original owner they can choose to accept or reject your modifications individually or en masse.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by JackHurst »

I think i might have just broken my computer (posting on Josh's laptop), so i thought this would be the right place to come for help!

So I was online trying to watch lost on some free streaming websites. The episode had been removed from the reliable sight i normally get it from, so i clicked on the alternate link. This link appeared to be fine, because the video did start to play on it, but at the bottom of my screen popped up another tab, that said "Updating...", I couldnt maximise this tab to see what it was, nor could i close it by right clicking on the tab or by using ctrl alt delete. After much kerfuffle, my internet pages close, but this wretched "updating..." tab remained in the bottom tray, with me still not even being able to maximise it. Eventually i lost my patience and turned the computer off at the plug (which i now regret).

Upon starting the computer, i am faced with black and white message, along the lines of "Sorry, but window did not start successfully...[reasons why this might be the case]... we are now going to give you a list of options, chose blah blah if you think windows is not working because of blah blah. So ive tried all the options, and every time i do, it just eventually comes back to this screen.

If you are interested, the options are:
-Safe mode
-Safe mode with networking
-Safe mode with command prompt
-Start windows normally
-Last known good configuration.

And as i have said, which ever i chose, it eventually comes back to this page after going through a small cycle of trying to start up again. Along this cycle, i am faced with possibilities of pressing TAB, DEL and SHIFT+F10, all to open up different old fashioned looking menus. In each of these menus I have tried to have a fiddle but dont really know what i am doing.

Any help is much appreciated, and if you need to ask me to post up any more information to help u then i can do.

Also, if this problem is something I am not gonna be able to fix myself, cud u give me a little info on what i am gonna have to say and stuff when i take it to a computer guy to fix it.

Thanks! :)
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

JackHurst wrote:I think i might have just broken my computer
Jack and Josh...

That sucks. Don't despair though. I have had a similar problem myself, getting caught in a loop at startup that no option lets you escape from.
Usually it means you need to fix the MBR (Master Boot Record), which is a little bit of data on the hard drive that tells the PC how the hard drive is set up, where to find the operating system that needs to get booted up, etc. This probably got damaged when the computer was switched off.

When you fix the MBR it usually warns you that you may lose some data off the drive. I've had to do it a couple of times on different PCs and it has never caused a single file to be lost, but I'm just mentioning this as a disclaimer. I don't know what's on the drive, how important it is, etc. To be truly safe you ought to try taking the drive out of the PC, putting it in an external caddy and then plugging it in via USB to a different PC so that you can backup everything important on the drive. No idea if that's feasible or necessary, but assuming you're willing to give fixing the MBR a crack, let's go.

You need to get to the command prompt:
Image

Although there is no option to get to it from the list you presented above, the SHIFT+F10 menu you mention may have an option to go straight to the command prompt rather than boot up an operating system, so try this first. If this presents nothing useful then the next best option is to find your original Windows installation disc (at this point I'm assuming you are running Windows and assuming you have a copy of the CD, let me know if this isn't the case) and pop it into your PC. Then when the PC restarts, look out for a prompt to boot from the CD:

Image

If you get this, great, press any key and the CD will begin to load. If you don't get this prompt, then when you said you get the chance to press DEL (when PC first turns on or restarts), press it, and you'll get to the BIOS menu. Have a look around the submenus until you find something pertaining to Boot Device Order (or something along those lines) - basically you need to rejig the items in the boot device list so that CD/DVD Drive (or whatever it's called on the menu, it might just be the model number of your CD drive) appears ABOVE your hard drive (again, it could just say Hard Drive, or HDD, or the model number). This will mean it will try and boot from CD rather than go straight to booting from the hard drive without checking the CD. Save and restart and boot from the CD.

You should be presented with the following menu: (Oh, at this point worth mentioning I am also assuming XP rather than Vista or 7, but I imagine the process is similar, and I can help you Google those methods if need be, let me know)
Image

Choose Recovery Console by pressing R, it will then give you a list of drives, you'll probably just have the one option, but regardless it'll almost definitely be the first drive on the list so choose that. Hopefully it won't ask you for a password, it shouldn't do. Eventually you'll get to the command prompt, where I suggest you try the following commands in this order:

1. chkdsk c: /r NB: I am assuming here the drive that needs to be fixed is the C: drive - this will check the drive for errors and repair any bad sectors.
2. fixboot c: - this will fix up the boot sector on the drive by trying to repair the bits that launch the operating system installation.
3. fixmbr - this will fix the boot sector on the drive by rewriting the MBR that tells the PC where to find stuff on the drive.

As explained above, 3. is the one that will warn you about losing data. What I would do is do each one one-at-a-time, restarting the PC each time afterwards and seeing if it has helped before moving on to the next command. Slow, but safer. I'm pretty sure by the time you've had to do all three you'll be back up and running and fingers crossed everything will be back to normal.

And the video site that you ended up on - the 'updating...' window that you couldn't maximise or restore sounds very much like some kind of malware/spyware/virus type thing. If you're going to dodgy sites like that then make sure you're running a decent antivirus program. And also, if you're not already, then use Firefox as your browser and install the Adblock Plus add-on. Once you do get the PC up and running, it's quite possible that whatever you picked up from that site is still infecting the PC, so as well as doing a full virus scan with whatever antivirus software you have installed (ask if you don't have one (tut tut) and I can give recommendations), I would also suggest you thoroughly scan the PC with SUPERAntiSpyware and Anti-Malware.

Good luck, Matt.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by JackHurst »

Thanks matt, you're a legend. I've read through what you posted, and think I should be able to understand it, and will give everything a go tomorrow when im not so tired as i am right now. <3
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by JackHurst »

I've searched high and low, and it seems to me that my computer did not come with the installation disc. I distinctly remember it coming with windows already installed, so it would be believable if it didnt come with the disc.

Im guessing it would be ok to see if any of my mates have one, is that right?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

JackHurst wrote:I've searched high and low, and it seems to me that my computer did not come with the installation disc. I distinctly remember it coming with windows already installed, so it would be believable if it didnt come with the disc.

Im guessing it would be ok to see if any of my mates have one, is that right?
Nearly all PCs you buy these days come with Windows installed, but they always still give you the disc, primarily because it can be used for reinstallations and recovery purposes like this. And part of the price you pay for a new PC will be license for the operating system, so you own the CD really. This was the case back in the days of XP, I haven't bought a prebuilt PC for many, many, many years, so I've no idea if you still get a disc with a Vista or 7 system. (Anyone?) - although you haven't yet said unless it missed it Jack which version of Windows you're on?

Anyway, the long and short of it is that yes, any copy of the CD will work fine.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ian Volante »

Matt Morrison wrote:
JackHurst wrote:I've searched high and low, and it seems to me that my computer did not come with the installation disc. I distinctly remember it coming with windows already installed, so it would be believable if it didnt come with the disc.

Im guessing it would be ok to see if any of my mates have one, is that right?
Nearly all PCs you buy these days come with Windows installed, but they always still give you the disc, primarily because it can be used for reinstallations and recovery purposes like this. And part of the price you pay for a new PC will be license for the operating system, so you own the CD really. This was the case back in the days of XP, I haven't bought a prebuilt PC for many, many, many years, so I've no idea if you still get a disc with a Vista or 7 system. (Anyone?) - although you haven't yet said unless it missed it Jack which version of Windows you're on?

Anyway, the long and short of it is that yes, any copy of the CD will work fine.
I don't have the disc for my PC either. All the relevant files are on the hard drive :)
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ian Volante »

Matt Morrison wrote:
Ian Volante wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:Overall my guess would be that it's dodgy RAM. This is so often the cause of BSODs. Did you change your RAM when you changed your motherboard? If not I'd be almost entirely sure some new RAM would sort you out.
Hmm, could be RAM I suppose, although as far as I can remember, I've had problems both before and after that's been upgraded.

Most common BSOD from memory has been "DRIVER(?, maybe VALUE) NOT LESS THAN OR EQUAL...". The first word might not be driver. I'm interested by firmware updates, as I'm not sure this is a suggestion I've seen before. I'll look into it.

Edit: That wasn't the message I got with the CD burning fail, that was a more generic one which currently escapes me.
Yeah the firmware *might* help the CD burning one, but it surely couldn't affect the other general Civ 4 BSODs.
Try searching "<manufacturer> <model-name> firmware update" on Google or if you have no luck then just let me know the model and I'll peek.

Doesn't sound like CD is the problem overall though. Next time you get a BSOD have a look - it probably points you to a .sys file, especially as the "NOT LESS THAN OR EQUAL" usually does concern a driver.
Looked around for firmware updates for my drive, and there's nowt as far as I can tell. Did spot a mention in passing of a conflict between Nero and Matshita drives which may be something to do with it, but nothing much more was found.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by JackHurst »

Matt, I am on xp.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Last time I bought a computer (this rubbish laptop) I don't remember getting a disc, but I do remember being made (by the computer) to back up everything when I first started using it onto my own CDs.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by JackHurst »

Even though i am on xp, does it matter if I borrow a vista installations disc of a mate and try to use that?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ian Volante »

JackHurst wrote:Even though i am on xp, does it matter if I borrow a vista installations disc of a mate and try to use that?
Very much so! Totally different operating system. And it's crap.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Lesley Hines »

JackHurst wrote:I've searched high and low, and it seems to me that my computer did not come with the installation disc. I distinctly remember it coming with windows already installed, so it would be believable if it didnt come with the disc.

Im guessing it would be ok to see if any of my mates have one, is that right?
Now's probably not the time to break this to you, but when you first turned it on it almost certainly kept telling you to create master restore discs, until you clicked "don't show this message again". At a guess your discs are partitioned; the recovery sector will be on the D: (probably) drive. :(

If you get it back up and running, have a mooch around in the manufacturer's help files and there'll be an application in there to create master CDs. Your manufacturer will probably have help files on their website if you search on "create recovery discs".

The reason you need the restore disc for your machine is it'll come preloaded with all the correct drivers for your machine, which can often be a beast to get working unless you fancy googling the serial numbers to your internal hardware and downloading them and installing them manually, or paying for Windows 7 (likin' it very much atm but likely some of your hardware may not have compatible drivers written) / another OS and then tweaking.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

If you can't find your disc Jack, PM me your address and I'll sort you out with a recovery program you can load from CD that will sort you out fine hopefully. Matt
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by JackHurst »

Thanks for all the help guys (esp Matt), and cheers for offering the disc Matt, but its fixed now. My mum got sick of the computer being broke, so sent it to someone who fixed and upgraded it for £30. I'm still gonna take note of all the advice regarding spyware and such, so your post hasn't completely gone to waste. Thanks once again Matt for all the effort you went to, and if we are ever in a pub/bar at the same time (after July 17th 2010) I'll have to buy you a pint.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by David Williams »

I've never had any real problems, or nothing that System Restore hasn't sorted. However there are times when my computer chunters away to itself for ten or fifteen minutes. Is it possible to find out what it's doing? I'd like to think it was just updating something I know about, like the anti-virus, but is there some way (in Windows XP) to ask it what it's doing at a point in time, or a log of what it did when?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ryan Taylor »

Ever since I got this laptop (probably 2 years ago) there is an annoying little thing that pops up called microsoft narrator. This happens whenever I log on and I always have to click exit. I just wondered if you can turn it off altogether so I don't have to click exit every time I start up the machine. You would have thought I would have got it sorted ater 2 years but I have just been too bone idle.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

David Williams wrote:I've never had any real problems, or nothing that System Restore hasn't sorted. However there are times when my computer chunters away to itself for ten or fifteen minutes. Is it possible to find out what it's doing? I'd like to think it was just updating something I know about, like the anti-virus, but is there some way (in Windows XP) to ask it what it's doing at a point in time, or a log of what it did when?
Sysinternals Process Explorer is what you need, an official Microsoft development team thing. It's like an enhanced version of the Task Manager, you can see what is currently taking up memory and CPU cycles, get info on the processes and so on. I don't know much about logging, I've never needed to - your best bet is do a Google search for "what is <process name>", for example "what is wlcomm.exe", for any processes you don't recognise or want to know whether they're essential.

At which point you can then streamline your system a bit by turning off the unnecessary or undesired processes by following the method for Ryan's query:
Ryan Taylor wrote:Ever since I got this laptop (probably 2 years ago) there is an annoying little thing that pops up called microsoft narrator. This happens whenever I log on and I always have to click exit. I just wondered if you can turn it off altogether so I don't have to click exit every time I start up the machine. You would have thought I would have got it sorted ater 2 years but I have just been too bone idle.
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/trainin ... rator.aspx:
"Narrator is a text–to–speech utility for people who are blind or have low vision. Narrator reads what is displayed on the screen—the contents of the active window, menu options, or text that has been typed."

If you don't need this at all then just uninstall it, Start Menu > Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs.

If you just want to stop it running but leave it on the system so you could use it if it ever was needed, then follow these instructions (this is the "method for Ryan's query" I refer to David):
  • I found out the process name for you. It's narrator.exe
  • Go to Start > Run and type in msconfig, and run it. This is the System Configuration Utility.
  • Go to the Startup tab. These are all the processes that start up every time you boot up.
  • Find the guilty process in the list, by Startup Item (name of the process) or by Command (where it is stored on PC).
  • Untick the fucker. Press OK. Exit Without Restart, and it won't load next time you turn on.
EDIT: Charlie, why don't ordered lists work on C4C, any ideas?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Andrew Feist »

  1. Do they not work?
  2. Since when?
  3. You do have to give a starting number.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Andrew Feist wrote:
  1. Do they not work?
  2. Since when?
  3. You do have to give a starting number.
Cheers chap. Nothing wrong with me learning in my own corner!

The ordered list button is ridiculous, why on earth it doesn't just insert
  • as default rather than
    • I have no idea; if it did it would:
      1. actually fucking work, and
      2. make the functionality instantly more obvious.
      :)
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Dear Matthew,

I am curious to know what I look like when I'm asleep. I want to record a whole night then play it back in fast motion. I've got a webcam on my laptop. No need for infrared or anything. Just need recording software and something that has fast motion playback.

Can you show me the way? I will share the results and buy you a beer if your help.

Cheers. 8-)
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Jon O'Neill wrote:I am curious to know what I look like when I'm asleep. I want to record a whole night then play it back in fast motion. I've got a webcam on my laptop. No need for infrared or anything. Just need recording software and something that has fast motion playback.
Hey you! I am also curious to know what you look like when you're asleep. But more of that another time.

I was going to write a semi-lengthy response detailing a couple of programs I used back in the day to do this sort of thing, various methods of compiling still images into time lapse video, etc. but then I stumbled upon this which seems perfect for what you need:

VideoVelocity
VideoVelocity is a simple to use, feature packed time lapse recorder that does what it’s meant to. Fine-grain control without sacrificed usability.

Haven't actually tried using it, but am happy to download it for myself and give it a bash if you have any problems.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Matt Morrison wrote:
Jon O'Neill wrote:I am curious to know what I look like when I'm asleep. I want to record a whole night then play it back in fast motion. I've got a webcam on my laptop. No need for infrared or anything. Just need recording software and something that has fast motion playback.
Hey you! I am also curious to know what you look like when you're asleep. But more of that another time.

I was going to write a semi-lengthy response detailing a couple of programs I used back in the day to do this sort of thing, various methods of compiling still images into time lapse video, etc. but then I stumbled upon this which seems perfect for what you need:

VideoVelocity
VideoVelocity is a simple to use, feature packed time lapse recorder that does what it’s meant to. Fine-grain control without sacrificed usability.

Haven't actually tried using it, but am happy to download it for myself and give it a bash if you have any problems.
Cool, that's a good find. I've installed it but I'm getting this problem:

Image

It's weird because on MSN Messenger's audio/video set up the camera shows an image fine. I've emailed this to their tech support as well as it's a pretty specific problem. You've already earnt your beer and video if it works in the end, so don't fret.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Didn't even say thanks. Thanks!!
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

No probs buddy. I can download and investigate tomorrow if you've not had any luck, although I expect it's possibly/probably quite a specific hardware thing?
Other than the obvious - make sure you've got the latest webcam drivers and that you're not using the webcam on MSN at the same time as trying to get Velocity working - I'm not sure what to suggest.

But if you have no luck there are certainly other options. A less appealing but probably-definitely-likely-to-work option would be to use Microsoft's little program Webcam Timershot which will let you save still images incrementally from your webcam, and then something like Quicktime (or a million other freeware programs, I'm sure) can then link those still images up into a video at a framerate you choose.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by David Williams »

Matt Morrison wrote:Sysinternals Process Explorer is what you need, an official Microsoft development team thing. It's like an enhanced version of the Task Manager, you can see what is currently taking up memory and CPU cycles, get info on the processes and so on. I don't know much about logging, I've never needed to - your best bet is do a Google search for "what is <process name>", for example "what is wlcomm.exe", for any processes you don't recognise or want to know whether they're essential.
Away from home, so I've not had the chance to try this yet, but that shouldn't prevent me saying thanks. Thanks.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Anyways, VideoVelocity doesn't work on 64-bit. I'll give this webcam timershot a try. Might take a few nights to get the frame rate and capture rate and all that right. Cheers.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Jon O'Neill wrote:Dear Matthew,

I am curious to know what I look like when I'm asleep. I want to record a whole night then play it back in fast motion. I've got a webcam on my laptop. No need for infrared or anything. Just need recording software and something that has fast motion playback.

Can you show me the way? I will share the results and buy you a beer if your help.

Cheers. 8-)
You can use one of those courtroom artist people to sit and watch you.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Michael Wallace »

Dear Matthew,

What is the difference between a Müller Fruit Corner, and a Matt Morrison Computer Corner?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Michael Wallace wrote:Dear Matthew,

What is the difference between a Müller Fruit Corner, and a Matt Morrison Computer Corner?
I'm more fruity.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Brian Moore »

Matt Morrison wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:Dear Matthew,

What is the difference between a Müller Fruit Corner, and a Matt Morrison Computer Corner?
I'm more fruity.
I thought the other sort had small chocolate balls.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ryan Taylor »

Dear Matt,

I just installed Mozilla Firefox on my laptop and now use that as my default browser. Firstly, every time I open a new tab it comes up as 'untitled' but I want it to come up as my home page (Google). How do I do this? (I have been on Tools>Options>Tabs and there aren't many settings). Secondly, when I am playing apterous and I have facebook left on in another tab someone may pop up on chat. If someone does pop up on chat are I am in a conversation with someone this instantly minimises the playing window of apterous i.e. I can't play the fecking game and means that in some case it has lead to be submitting no word. The only way to solve this for me is to go to the facebook tab and then just click the chat bit so that the facebook tab doesnt say "New message from...etc." Is there a way that even if someone is on facebook chat it won't keep my apterous window minimised?

Thanks dearest.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Brian Moore »

Ryan Taylor wrote:Dear Matt,

I just installed Mozilla Firefox on my laptop and now use that as my default browser. Firstly, every time I open a new tab it comes up as 'untitled' but I want it to come up as my home page (Google). How do I do this? (I have been on Tools>Options>Tabs and there aren't many settings). Secondly, when I am playing apterous and I have facebook left on in another tab someone may pop up on chat. If someone does pop up on chat are I am in a conversation with someone this instantly minimises the playing window of apterous i.e. I can't play the fecking game and means that in some case it has lead to be submitting no word. The only way to solve this for me is to go to the facebook tab and then just click the chat bit so that the facebook tab doesnt say "New message from...etc." Is there a way that even if someone is on facebook chat it won't keep my apterous window minimised?

Thanks dearest.
I know I'm not Matt, but I can answer the first one easily - you're looking on the wrong tab under Tools>Options - look on Tools>Options>General and you can set your home page there. Re the other thing, I don't know if the add-on Tab Mix Plus would solve it - it adds a 'Protect Tab' and 'Lock Tab' right-click option ... might be worth trying.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by James Doohan »

Brian Moore wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:Dear Matt,

I just installed Mozilla Firefox on my laptop and now use that as my default browser. Firstly, every time I open a new tab it comes up as 'untitled' but I want it to come up as my home page (Google). How do I do this? (I have been on Tools>Options>Tabs and there aren't many settings). Secondly, when I am playing apterous and I have facebook left on in another tab someone may pop up on chat. If someone does pop up on chat are I am in a conversation with someone this instantly minimises the playing window of apterous i.e. I can't play the fecking game and means that in some case it has lead to be submitting no word. The only way to solve this for me is to go to the facebook tab and then just click the chat bit so that the facebook tab doesnt say "New message from...etc." Is there a way that even if someone is on facebook chat it won't keep my apterous window minimised?

Thanks dearest.
I know I'm not Matt, but I can answer the first one easily - you're looking on the wrong tab under Tools>Options - look on Tools>Options>General and you can set your home page there. Re the other thing, I don't know if the add-on Tab Mix Plus would solve it - it adds a 'Protect Tab' and 'Lock Tab' right-click option ... might be worth trying.
I know I'm not Matt either, but you can also go to Control Panel>Internet Options and set the homepage there
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ryan Taylor »

Thank you Brian and James (but not Matt).
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Rosemary Roberts »

What is the point of "Always check to see if <...> is the default browser on startup"? All the browsers I have tried have such a setting, but why? Who benefits from the browser I have chosen to run knowing whether or not it is the default?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Rosemary Roberts wrote:What is the point of "Always check to see if <...> is the default browser on startup"? All the browsers I have tried have such a setting, but why? Who benefits from the browser I have chosen to run knowing whether or not it is the default?
You do. For what I thought should be obvious reasons - every time you click a link, open a web page someone has sent, etc. your default browser will open. It's your preference.
And needless to say the companies who make the browsers also benefit from your continued use of their product.

Just remember:
Image
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Ryan Taylor wrote:I just installed Mozilla Firefox on my laptop and now use that as my default browser. Firstly, every time I open a new tab it comes up as 'untitled' but I want it to come up as my home page (Google). How do I do this? (I have been on Tools>Options>Tabs and there aren't many settings). Secondly, when I am playing apterous and I have facebook left on in another tab someone may pop up on chat. If someone does pop up on chat are I am in a conversation with someone this instantly minimises the playing window of apterous i.e. I can't play the fecking game and means that in some case it has lead to be submitting no word. The only way to solve this for me is to go to the facebook tab and then just click the chat bit so that the facebook tab doesnt say "New message from...etc." Is there a way that even if someone is on facebook chat it won't keep my apterous window minimised?
Sorry for being a big slow gay Ryan. Hopefully you've fixed the homepage thing. I'm having trouble thinking what might be the problem with the other bit though.
As no one else has come forward to sympathise, I guess that means no one else ever uses that shitty Facebook chat thing and apterous at the same time, which is possible but not massively likely, so I'm assuming there must be something else on your system causing a conflict. Hmm. Does sound very strange. Next time I see you on apterous I'll log on to the Facebook chat thing for the first time ever and you can show me. If it happens on mine, Facebook = badly programmed. If it doesn't, well then try and find out what is causing a conflict on your PC. Again apologies for latenessez xx
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Rosemary Roberts »

Matt Morrison wrote:
Rosemary Roberts wrote:What is the point of "Always check to see if <...> is the default browser on startup"? All the browsers I have tried have such a setting, but why? Who benefits from the browser I have chosen to run knowing whether or not it is the default?
You do. For what I thought should be obvious reasons - every time you click a link, open a web page someone has sent, etc. your default browser will open. It's your preference.
And needless to say the companies who make the browsers also benefit from your continued use of their product.
You misunderstand me. I'm well aware that the default browser is the one that picks up links and opens if it is not already running, and that the system needs to know where to send links when I click on them, but why, when I run Firefox from the exe, does it need to know that it is the default?

I first saw this setting in IE and always supposed it was just Microsoft's habit of nosing around. I was surprised to see the same setting in Firefox.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Rosemary Roberts wrote:
Matt Morrison wrote:
Rosemary Roberts wrote:What is the point of "Always check to see if <...> is the default browser on startup"? All the browsers I have tried have such a setting, but why? Who benefits from the browser I have chosen to run knowing whether or not it is the default?
You do. For what I thought should be obvious reasons - every time you click a link, open a web page someone has sent, etc. your default browser will open. It's your preference.
And needless to say the companies who make the browsers also benefit from your continued use of their product.
You misunderstand me. I'm well aware that the default browser is the one that picks up links and opens if it is not already running, and that the system needs to know where to send links when I click on them, but why, when I run Firefox from the exe, does it need to know that it is the default?

I first saw this setting in IE and always supposed it was just Microsoft's habit of nosing around. I was surprised to see the same setting in Firefox.
Apologies, then. I think the problem in your question, as I understand it, arises from the difference between 'want' and 'need'.

Essentially, it doesn't NEED to know it's the default - as the control over web page files and URLs being associated with whichever is the default browser is handled by the operating system. Windows has to know which browser to send links and stuff to regardless of whether the browser is open or not.

But it WANTs to know whether it's default - or rather the manufacturer that released the browser does. They want to make sure their browser is default for all the reasons that Company X always wants to use their product over a competitor's. Therefore the default behaviour will be to remind you it's not default whenever it can to encourage you to default it.

It's quite a simple answer, so I hope I've got you right this time. It's completely business and not at all technology related really.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Rosemary Roberts »

Matt Morrison wrote:Apologies, then. I think the problem in your question, as I understand it, arises from the difference between 'want' and 'need'.

Essentially, it doesn't NEED to know it's the default - as the control over web page files and URLs being associated with whichever is the default browser is handled by the operating system. Windows has to know which browser to send links and stuff to regardless of whether the browser is open or not.

But it WANTs to know whether it's default - or rather the manufacturer that released the browser does. They want to make sure their browser is default for all the reasons that Company X always wants to use their product over a competitor's. Therefore the default behaviour will be to remind you it's not default whenever it can to encourage you to default it.

It's quite a simple answer, so I hope I've got you right this time. It's completely business and not at all technology related really.
Yes, thank you, so it is. I was on the right lines with 'Microsoft being nosey', just not generalising enough.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon Corby »

Hi Matt,

My daughter is starting senior school, and we're getting her a laptop for her birthday. What should we get? Obviously she's not going to need to do anything particularly hardcore on it, but she'll want to be able to surf the net, chat to her friends, play CDs and DVDs and that kind of thing, and ideally it should last for a few years I suppose rather than being so low-end spec now that it becomes obsolete very soon. As a secondary concern it would be nice if it was cool and girly, but she has said that this isn't really important at all.

(or does anyone else know of any awesome deals at the moment?)

Thanks,

Jon.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ryan Taylor »

Jon Corby wrote:(or does anyone else know of any awesome deals at the moment?)
I just bought 2 packs of Munchies and a Double Daim bar for a £1. That is pretty awesome in my opinion.
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