The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

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Jon Corby
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon Corby »

Ryan Taylor wrote:
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.
Fat cunt.

Ever thought of taking up darts?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ryan Taylor »

Jon Corby wrote:
Ryan Taylor wrote:
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.
Fat cunt.

Ever thought of taking up darts?
I play every Sunday :) I'm better at archery though, it's much easier.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Jon Corby wrote: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.
My experience with laptops is that the majority of them are of incredibly low build quality and soon suffer from endless hardware failures, from over-heating or just cheap-ass components. Mac Books are built to much higher standards, and are fine as long as you only want to use the usual software, although they are pretty expensive.

If you want girly, we bought my sister a laptop from here and it worked alright (until it got stolen): http://www.pinklaptops.org.uk/
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon Corby »

Charlie Reams wrote:If you want girly, we bought my sister a laptop from here and it worked alright (until it got stolen): http://www.pinklaptops.org.uk/
Sister. Sure.

Pretty sure budget won't stretch to a MacBook though, but thanks for the advice.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Michael Wallace »

If you want something that will last, I've always found Thinkpads are awesomely durable. Not very pretty, though.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Yeah laptops are interesting investments, and not my forte. I can't even comment on MacBooks either, I'd have just gone for the cheesy "get a pink Dell like off them adverts" - my sister got one (Inspiron 17 I think) and it seemed pretty good value at a few hundred quid and she's had nay problems.

Also:
Jon Corby wrote:Obviously she's not going to need to do anything particularly hardcore on it.
This was deliberate just to test my restraint, and I'm failing.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

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Michael Wallace wrote:If you want something that will last, I've always found Thinkpads are awesomely durable. Not very pretty, though.
Yup, and me. Toshibas have always been very good IME, too. Stay well away from Sony Vaios, though. And anything Acer (obviously). The Vaios were the worst machines I've ever supported, and I supported the new Fujitsu desktops when they were out a few years ago. Awful, awful hardware. YMMV.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

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Lesley Hines wrote:And anything Acer (obviously).
I've got an Acer, but I'm thinking of getting a new laptop now. :D
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Liam Tiernan »

Lesley Hines wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:If you want something that will last, I've always found Thinkpads are awesomely durable. Not very pretty, though.
Yup, and me. Toshibas have always been very good IME, too. Stay well away from Sony Vaios, though. And anything Acer (obviously). The Vaios were the worst machines I've ever supported, and I supported the new Fujitsu desktops when they were out a few years ago. Awful, awful hardware. YMMV.
Now you tell me. Nice to hear that about Toshibas, though. Just bought one for my daughter.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by JimBentley »

Dear Matt,

This is a weird one. The CTRL keys on my keyboard only work alternately, in that if I use the left CTRL key to do say CTRL-C to copy, I can't then use the left CTRL key to do a CTRL-V to paste. But I can use right CTRL-V fine. But then after using the right CTRL key, I have to then go back to using the left one, or nothing will happen. And so on. I reckon my keyboard's a bit fucked, as I've never had this before, but maybe there's some weird setting in Windows that makes it default behaviour for some reason, and I've turned it on by accident by being a spaz.

Thanks darling,

Jim
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Gavin Chipper »

When people buy computers, does anyone go for the extended guarantee thing? I tend to think you'll probably lose out in the long term with these and unless you would not be able to afford to replace it, it's not worth paying the extra for. It's like you'd get house insurance but not shoe insurance.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Gavin Chipper wrote:When people buy computers, does anyone go for the extended guarantee thing? I tend to think you'll probably lose out in the long term with these and unless you would not be able to afford to replace it, it's not worth paying the extra for. It's like you'd get house insurance but not shoe insurance.
What's the point of warranty when this thread exists?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Gavin Chipper wrote:When people buy computers, does anyone go for the extended guarantee thing? I tend to think you'll probably lose out in the long term with these and unless you would not be able to afford to replace it, it's not worth paying the extra for. It's like you'd get house insurance but not shoe insurance.
Some warrantees also include free next-day collection and return, which might be worth it.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by David Williams »

Gavin Chipper wrote:When people buy computers, does anyone go for the extended guarantee thing? I tend to think you'll probably lose out in the long term with these and unless you would not be able to afford to replace it, it's not worth paying the extra for. It's like you'd get house insurance but not shoe insurance.
Totally agree. Never insure anything you can afford to replace. You may get the occasional nasty shock but in the long term you'll be much better off, particularly for products like this where most of your premium goes to store profits, sales commission and so on, and very little goes to pay claims. And there's a further downside to extended warranties. Your Sale of Goods Act rights for electronic goods extend well beyond twelve months anyway, so you're just wasting money.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

JimBentley wrote:The CTRL keys on my keyboard only work alternately, in that if I use the left CTRL key to do say CTRL-C to copy, I can't then use the left CTRL key to do a CTRL-V to paste. But I can use right CTRL-V fine. But then after using the right CTRL key, I have to then go back to using the left one, or nothing will happen. And so on. I reckon my keyboard's a bit fucked, as I've never had this before, but maybe there's some weird setting in Windows that makes it default behaviour for some reason, and I've turned it on by accident by being a spaz.
Done a load of searching on this this morning - I say a load, I tried hard but couldn't find much. The closest I found was a couple of people who had had intermittent CTRL key problems, who seemed to be solving theirs by un-plugging and re-plugging in their USB keyboards. I don't even know if yours is USB. Basically it sounds mental. Thank god keyboards are cheap.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Rosemary Roberts »

Matt, do you know how to persuade Microsoft to transfer a license from a dead machine to a live one? This is a package I bought separately (Visio 2003), not one that came bundled with the machine. Is there any way of submitting a query that will be read by a human?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Rosemary Roberts wrote:Matt, do you know how to persuade Microsoft to transfer a license from a dead machine to a live one? This is a package I bought separately (Visio 2003), not one that came bundled with the machine. Is there any way of submitting a query that will be read by a human?
Absolutely no idea, sorry. Never had to go anywhere near anything like that. Would have hoped they'd be a phone number on your licence certificate, but knowing MS probably not.

A Google search for "transfer microsoft licence" throws up some good-looking results but I can't get through to the relevant transfer bits. Hmm.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Rosemary Roberts »

Matt Morrison wrote:
Rosemary Roberts wrote:Matt, do you know how to persuade Microsoft to transfer a license from a dead machine to a live one? This is a package I bought separately (Visio 2003), not one that came bundled with the machine. Is there any way of submitting a query that will be read by a human?
Absolutely no idea, sorry. Never had to go anywhere near anything like that. Would have hoped they'd be a phone number on your licence certificate, but knowing MS probably not.

A Google search for "transfer microsoft licence" throws up some good-looking results but I can't get through to the relevant transfer bits. Hmm.
Thanks, Matt. I searched for the same words but found nothing at all from microsoft.com. My machine must be prejudiced. I'll dive into your link(1) and see how far I get.

(1) Insert comic interjection to taste
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Lesley Hines wrote:And anything Acer (obviously).
I've got an Acer, but I'm thinking of getting a new laptop now. :D
Just got a new Dell. Hopefully it will be better than the Acer. I think the screen size thing is a bit of a cheat though (although I was aware of it anyway). Measuring by the diagonal length makes a 16:9 sound bigger than it is relative to a proper screen.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Brian Moore »

Dear Matt,

Despite setting the lovely VLC Media Player as my default media player for every type of file association I can on my laptop, double-clicking on a DVD still opens up the DVD in Windows Bloody Media Player, and that's what happens if I click the Play option if I right click on the DVD. (Admittedly the second option down is "Play with VLC Media Player", but there's a principle at stake here.)

Is there an obvious way to stop WBMP hogging the limelight like this?

Thanks in anticipation,

Brian
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Kirk Bevins »

I need to open some pck files. I have a folder full of them and I can't open them as I don't have the appropriate program to open them in (what is the appropriate program!?). Anyone know? I tried a quick google search and found sites wanting me to do a full registry scan so I avoided those, then others wanted me to download one of several programs but as I'm not sure what I'm doing I'd prefer it if somebody could point me in the right direction. Cheers.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Kirk Bevins wrote:I need to open some pck files. I have a folder full of them and I can't open them as I don't have the appropriate program to open them in (what is the appropriate program!?). Anyone know? I tried a quick google search and found sites wanting me to do a full registry scan so I avoided those, then others wanted me to download one of several programs but as I'm not sure what I'm doing I'd prefer it if somebody could point me in the right direction. Cheers.
Where did you get them from? File extensions are only a convention, they don't mean anything really.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Kirk Bevins »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Kirk Bevins wrote:I need to open some pck files. I have a folder full of them and I can't open them as I don't have the appropriate program to open them in (what is the appropriate program!?). Anyone know? I tried a quick google search and found sites wanting me to do a full registry scan so I avoided those, then others wanted me to download one of several programs but as I'm not sure what I'm doing I'd prefer it if somebody could point me in the right direction. Cheers.
Where did you get them from? File extensions are only a convention, they don't mean anything really.
The answers to a quiz game are hidden in these folders with that extension. There has to be a way to decrypt, surely?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:
Kirk Bevins wrote:I need to open some pck files. I have a folder full of them and I can't open them as I don't have the appropriate program to open them in (what is the appropriate program!?). Anyone know? I tried a quick google search and found sites wanting me to do a full registry scan so I avoided those, then others wanted me to download one of several programs but as I'm not sure what I'm doing I'd prefer it if somebody could point me in the right direction. Cheers.
Where did you get them from? File extensions are only a convention, they don't mean anything really.
The answers to a quiz game are hidden in these folders with that extension. There has to be a way to decrypt, surely?
There will be "a way", but there isn't necessarily an existing program that does it. It's pretty straightforward to encrypt a file with some basic cipher and there's not much you can do about that unless someone's bothered to hack the quiz game and extract the mechanism it uses. Possibly it's not encrypted and it's just a straight binary data dump but even that is non-trivial to reverse-engineer.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Marc Meakin »

first time on this thread methinks.
My Dell latitude d630 doesnt recognize my dvd rom although it flashes during the boot sequence.
Can anyone help.
Cheers.
GR MSL GNDT MSS NGVWL SRND NNLYC NNCT
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Brian Moore wrote:Dear Matt,

Despite setting the lovely VLC Media Player as my default media player for every type of file association I can on my laptop, double-clicking on a DVD still opens up the DVD in Windows Bloody Media Player, and that's what happens if I click the Play option if I right click on the DVD. (Admittedly the second option down is "Play with VLC Media Player", but there's a principle at stake here.)

Is there an obvious way to stop WBMP hogging the limelight like this?

Thanks in anticipation,

Brian
Hey Brian - sorry I missed this for so long. "Use <insert media player name here> to play DVDs" is quite often slightly separate from the file associations options in the Preferences of the particular media player. That said, I'm sure you've looked for it which means if you're still having the problem then either VLC has strangely omitted this option from its preferences menus, or it isn't working as expected.

Try right-clicking on your DVD drive in My Computer, go to Properties, then the AutoPlay tab. Select DVD Movie and then choose "Play with VLC Media Player" under the "Select an action to perform" choices. Mind you, you should also have been able to do this when a DVD autoplays when you insert it, by choosing "Remember this action" or the option to that effect, so maybe you've already tried this too and it doesn't work.

In short, hope you've solved it already really. I don't use VLC, I use Media Player Classic at the moment. Despite that, I actually keep my DVDs opening up in WMP, just in case I happen to insert a DVD whilst I'm watching some other video. (I quite often insert DVDs to do something other than watch them.) For a similar reason, I keep my audio CDs associated with WMP too, so that they don't open up in Winamp and fuck with my playlist.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Marc Meakin wrote:first time on this thread methinks.
My Dell latitude d630 doesnt recognize my dvd rom although it flashes during the boot sequence.
Can anyone help.
Cheers.
This Google search threw up this page which might be helpful: http://www.windowsbbs.com/hardware/7958 ... ndows.html.

You should be able to get updated drivers from Dell's site, and/or try the "remove the drive from Device Manager and then reboot PC and let windows automatically detect it" route.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Kirk Bevins wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:
Kirk Bevins wrote:I need to open some pck files. I have a folder full of them and I can't open them as I don't have the appropriate program to open them in (what is the appropriate program!?). Anyone know? I tried a quick google search and found sites wanting me to do a full registry scan so I avoided those, then others wanted me to download one of several programs but as I'm not sure what I'm doing I'd prefer it if somebody could point me in the right direction. Cheers.
Where did you get them from? File extensions are only a convention, they don't mean anything really.
The answers to a quiz game are hidden in these folders with that extension. There has to be a way to decrypt, surely?
Have you tried simply opening up the file in Notepad using the Open With... option when you right-click on it?
If it comes out as readable text, that's fantastic. If it comes out as gobbledegook, then it's not necessarily useless, try searching through it for keywords from the questions you are looking for the answers to, and you may find it has some proper readable text hidden away within the code somewhere.

Filext.com gives these results, which suggests to me the most likely option is that it is associated with Turbo Pascal, an old-school programming environment that I know fuck all about. It sounds like something a quiz could have been written in maybe?? I dunno - if you could link to the site where you originally found the .pck files, or the name of the quiz they come from, or something, that might really help.

It seems .pck files are often used for various games as well, Google results throw up all sorts of games from Tomb Raider to Commandos. As such, you may have some luck with this - Dragon UnPACKer - which seems to be all about unpacking game data files to take out audio, graphics, video from the .pck files. Whether or not it can get anything out of them that would help you solve your quiz, I don't know.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Brian Moore »

Matt Morrison wrote:"Use <insert media player name here> to play DVDs" is quite often slightly separate from the file associations options in the Preferences of the particular media player. That said, I'm sure you've looked for it which means if you're still having the problem then either VLC has strangely omitted this option from its preferences menus, or it isn't working as expected.

Try right-clicking on your DVD drive in My Computer, go to Properties, then the AutoPlay tab. Select DVD Movie and then choose "Play with VLC Media Player" under the "Select an action to perform" choices. Mind you, you should also have been able to do this when a DVD autoplays when you insert it, by choosing "Remember this action" or the option to that effect, so maybe you've already tried this too and it doesn't work.
Thanks Matt. No joy - whether using the AutoPlay tab, or setting the file associations preferences in VLC itself, the default 'Play' option stubbornly remains WBMP. My (probably ill-founded) suspicion is that MS have some devillish was of keeping WBMP hogging the limelight in this instance. Short of trying to unisntall WBMP (which would probably result in a warning from Windows about the likely end of the universe), I think I'll let this one go. It's really only a point of principle, as sorting it out would save me about one click a fortnight. Thanks anyway!
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon Corby »

Kirk Bevins wrote:I need to open some pck files. I have a folder full of them and I can't open them as I don't have the appropriate program to open them in (what is the appropriate program!?). Anyone know? I tried a quick google search and found sites wanting me to do a full registry scan so I avoided those, then others wanted me to download one of several programs but as I'm not sure what I'm doing I'd prefer it if somebody could point me in the right direction. Cheers.
Are you using Windows? If so, highlight the .pck file in Explorer, and press ALT+F4.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Gavin Chipper »

How do I stop Windows Messenger coming up every time I turn my computer on? It never used to until I clicked on it once and it took that as a cue to come up every time I turn it on!
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Innis Carson »

Gavin Chipper wrote:How do I stop Windows Messenger coming up every time I turn my computer on? It never used to until I clicked on it once and it took that as a cue to come up every time I turn it on!
I think you can disable that on the options menu in Messenger, under 'Sign In'.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Lesley Hines »

Gavin Chipper wrote:How do I stop Windows Messenger coming up every time I turn my computer on? It never used to until I clicked on it once and it took that as a cue to come up every time I turn it on!
Go to Tools - Options - Sign In and remove the tick from the box that says "Automatically Run Windows Live Messenger when I log on to Windows". :)

Edit : Just like Innis said :roll: :lol:
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Rosemary Roberts »

Jon Corby wrote:Are you using Windows? If so, highlight the .pck file in Explorer, and press ALT+F4.
In fact that's a good way to make almost any problem go away.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Rosemary Roberts wrote:
Jon Corby wrote:Are you using Windows? If so, highlight the .pck file in Explorer, and press ALT+F4.
In fact that's a good way to make almost any problem go away.
Is there a way to highlight Dmitry?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by JackHurst »

Just got a new laptop and installed itunes. When I connect my ipod its recognised as a camera so i can't access it via itunes on my laptop.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

JackHurst wrote:Just got a new laptop and installed itunes. When I connect my ipod its recognised as a camera so i can't access it via itunes on my laptop.
Image
Sorry dude. Fucking hate itunes. Imagine there's some driver or other you need to install, I dunno.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon O'Neill »

MWM,

I have Windows 7 and when I open programs from my taskbar, the little box is highlighted and that tells me it is open - see Windows Explorer in the example picture. That's perfect.

However, when I open Windows Live Messenger, it just opens up another taskbar icon, which is really stupid and ugly.

Image

So far my Googling has been unsuccessful. You got any ideas?

Thanks,
Jon "still owe you a beer I think" O'Neill
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Jon O'Neill wrote:MWM,

I have Windows 7 and when I open programs from my taskbar, the little box is highlighted and that tells me it is open - see Windows Explorer in the example picture. That's perfect.

However, when I open Windows Live Messenger, it just opens up another taskbar icon, which is really stupid and ugly.

Image

So far my Googling has been unsuccessful. You got any ideas?

Thanks,
Jon "still owe you a beer I think" O'Neill
For some unknown reason, I can only guess you have gotten yourself two versions of Messenger installed. You say "when I open Windows Live Messenger" - does this mean you are clicking on the first Messenger icon on the taskbar AND THEN it creates a 2nd icon? If so that is very odd, if you are opening it through a different means, say a Desktop icon or Start menu, then that makes more sense. I say try this: when you have both icons, right-click on the first one, that you don't want, and choose "Unpin this program from taskbar", and right-click on the second one which opens, and choose to pin that one to the taskbar instead. Then close all your Messenger windows and try clicking on the taskbar icon and see if it acts as normal this time.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Matt Morrison wrote:
Jon O'Neill wrote:MWM,

I have Windows 7 and when I open programs from my taskbar, the little box is highlighted and that tells me it is open - see Windows Explorer in the example picture. That's perfect.

However, when I open Windows Live Messenger, it just opens up another taskbar icon, which is really stupid and ugly.

Image

So far my Googling has been unsuccessful. You got any ideas?

Thanks,
Jon "still owe you a beer I think" O'Neill
For some unknown reason, I can only guess you have gotten yourself two versions of Messenger installed. You say "when I open Windows Live Messenger" - does this mean you are clicking on the first Messenger icon on the taskbar AND THEN it creates a 2nd icon? If so that is very odd, if you are opening it through a different means, say a Desktop icon or Start menu, then that makes more sense. I say try this: when you have both icons, right-click on the first one, that you don't want, and choose "Unpin this program from taskbar", and right-click on the second one which opens, and choose to pin that one to the taskbar instead. Then close all your Messenger windows and try clicking on the taskbar icon and see if it acts as normal this time.
It is the very odd case you mentioned. Interesting though.. I tried what you said and the same thing happened, so I tried unpinning and re-pinning the Start Menu shortcut to msnmsgr.exe, and that works. When trying to fix it before I re-pinned the Program Files version. Anyway, works now, so another MWM success story. Thanks :D
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Kai Laddiman »

Hello Matthew.

My brother and I are considering buying this to record gameplay from the PS3. Is this doable, or does it only record digital TV channels? I don't quite understand the specs completely, but I think it will do the task at hand - I just wanted to ask a skilful/intelligent/boring/low-life* computer person.

*Delete as applicable
16/10/2007 - Episode 4460
Dinos Sfyris 76 - 78 Dorian Lidell
Proof that even idiots can get well and truly mainwheeled.
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Charlie Reams
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Kai Laddiman wrote:Hello Matthew.

My brother and I are considering buying this to record gameplay from the PS3. Is this doable, or does it only record digital TV channels? I don't quite understand the specs completely, but I think it will do the task at hand - I just wanted to ask a skilful/intelligent/boring/low-life* computer person.

*Delete as applicable
This may be old info, but I remember the PS2 had a module which (by some mechanism I don't remember) would ruin the picture if you tried to plug it into a recorder, making everything go all green and basically unwatchable. That was intended to prevent disk-to-disk DVD copying in the days before everyone had broadband but, given Sony's general enthusiasm for incompetent DRM, I wouldn't be surprised if the PS3 did the same thing.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Kai Laddiman »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Kai Laddiman wrote:Hello Matthew.

My brother and I are considering buying this to record gameplay from the PS3. Is this doable, or does it only record digital TV channels? I don't quite understand the specs completely, but I think it will do the task at hand - I just wanted to ask a skilful/intelligent/boring/low-life* computer person.

*Delete as applicable
This may be old info, but I remember the PS2 had a module which (by some mechanism I don't remember) would ruin the picture if you tried to plug it into a recorder, making everything go all green and basically unwatchable. That was intended to prevent disk-to-disk DVD copying in the days before everyone had broadband but, given Sony's general enthusiasm for incompetent DRM, I wouldn't be surprised if the PS3 did the same thing.
In other words, no?

There are other products that do the same thing (and work fine) but cost in excess of £150, so is it possibly TGTBT?
16/10/2007 - Episode 4460
Dinos Sfyris 76 - 78 Dorian Lidell
Proof that even idiots can get well and truly mainwheeled.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ryan Taylor »

Dear Matt,

My computer appears to be shagged. When I try to open any program it keep asking me what program I'd like to open it with. So for example I click the quick link to launch Mozilla Firefox and it asks me what do I want to open it with. Well, clearly Mozilla Firefox. And I can't even click the box that tells it to open it with this everytime. Also when I launched Internet Explorer earlier it asked me to download iexplore.exe in order to run Internet Explorer. I did get a warning message from AVG asking if I wanted to go into Windows Total Vista safety or something and I clicked Yes but then that means I can't open anything.
Last edited by Ryan Taylor on Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Matt Morrison
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Matt Morrison »

Yeah - that sounds shit as.

First port of call is a System Restore - find it in the Start -> Help section. Just run your PC back to yesterday or something and it should clear up the infection enough that you can then set a virus scan to run hopefully.

However, it wouldn't surprise me if the virus also stops System Restore running, you'll probably need to reboot the PC and press F8 as it starts (pretty quickly, though I never know the correct time to press it so usually bash it a few times) - this will then give some options, from which you want Safe Mode. Once Windows boots up in Safe Mode you should hopefully be able to run System Restore successfully.

In fact, it's probably best to do it in Safe Mode regardless, much safer.

Report back if you have any luck doing a system restore. Hopefully you will and after that you can do a full virus scan, as well as download SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and do full scans with those two programs as well to clear up other bullshit.

Oh and once you're sorted, find a better way to get porn. Easynews or something, it's worth paying to be safe. (and get a better selection of better quality porn.)
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Rosemary Roberts »

This is only very slightly computer related:
I have a new "energy saver" bulb in my office, right over my head. When I switch it on, the initial power surge wakes up the computer from suspended, which is usually quite convenient.

But is it likely to damage it in the long term?
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Marc Meakin »

Bump,
Anybody interested and more importantly able to provide my scrabble club with a user friendly program for handling the games at the club.(Romford)
Because our current one is tooooo slooow.
All we require is a user friendly program that can compile fixtures and tables etc for 2 or 3 divisions (currently 50 players). we will pay the going rate provided it is either tested on site or comes with after sales support.
please pm me if your interested.
i know I am not exactly Mr Popular on this forum, but surely business is business.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Marc Meakin wrote:Bump,
Anybody interested and more importantly able to provide my scrabble club with a user friendly program for handling the games at the club.(Romford)
Because our current one is tooooo slooow.
All we require is a user friendly program that can compile fixtures and tables etc for 2 or 3 divisions (currently 50 players). we will pay the going rate provided it is either tested on site or comes with after sales support.
please pm me if your interested.
i know I am not exactly Mr Popular on this forum, but surely business is business.
You seem like a reputable businessman!
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ian Volante »

Marc Meakin wrote:Bump,
Anybody interested and more importantly able to provide my scrabble club with a user friendly program for handling the games at the club.(Romford)
Because our current one is tooooo slooow.
All we require is a user friendly program that can compile fixtures and tables etc for 2 or 3 divisions (currently 50 players). we will pay the going rate provided it is either tested on site or comes with after sales support.
please pm me if your interested.
i know I am not exactly Mr Popular on this forum, but surely business is business.
The Leaguerepublic website is pretty good, although I'm not sure it does fixture compilation too.
meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles meles
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ben Wilson »

Marc Meakin wrote:Bump,
Anybody interested and more importantly able to provide my scrabble club with a user friendly program for handling the games at the club.(Romford)
Because our current one is tooooo slooow.
All we require is a user friendly program that can compile fixtures and tables etc for 2 or 3 divisions (currently 50 players). we will pay the going rate provided it is either tested on site or comes with after sales support.
please pm me if your interested.
i know I am not exactly Mr Popular on this forum, but surely business is business.
www.poslarchive.com/tsh/

HTH
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Charlie Reams »

Why not use tsh? It's 1) amazing and 2) free.

Edit: ninja'd
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Marc Meakin »

Charlie Reams wrote:Why not use tsh? It's 1) amazing and 2) free.

Edit: ninja'd
Thanks (both of you) I've passed this on to the appropriate person.
I assume tsh is adaptable enough to handle fixtures on a weekly basis whereby not the same people turn up regularly and sometimes players drop out or get replaced early in a season.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ben Wilson »

Marc Meakin wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:Why not use tsh? It's 1) amazing and 2) free.

Edit: ninja'd
Thanks (both of you) I've passed this on to the appropriate person.
I assume tsh is adaptable enough to handle fixtures on a weekly basis whereby not the same people turn up regularly and sometimes players drop out or get replaced early in a season.
It can handle entering results out of order easily enough, you just add the line 'config breaks = 1' or something. Eliminating people's records is also easy but adding them is slightly trickier. There's also a tsh users yahoogroup that's full of helpful advice.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Marc Meakin »

Ben Wilson wrote:
Marc Meakin wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:Why not use tsh? It's 1) amazing and 2) free.

Edit: ninja'd
Thanks (both of you) I've passed this on to the appropriate person.
I assume tsh is adaptable enough to handle fixtures on a weekly basis whereby not the same people turn up regularly and sometimes players drop out or get replaced early in a season.
It can handle entering results out of order easily enough, you just add the line 'config breaks = 1' or something. Eliminating people's records is also easy but adding them is slightly trickier. There's also a tsh users yahoogroup that's full of helpful advice.
Thank you Ben, you have been most helpful. i will let Calum know
Cheers
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Marc Meakin »

I cannot seem to make any new posts on this forum.
This has been going on for some time but I kept quiet because I thought that I was being a bit of a div.
However I now think it is because of censorship.
Is this true, and if so is it indefinite, because surely even I can come up with better topics than 'Countdowners with kettles'.
Also if it is true than maybe it could be put to a vote, hopefully a general vote and not a 'Sanctum' one.
BTW all Fatwas have now been removed.
Of course if it is because of my divviness then help would be appreciated.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Jon Corby »

Marc Meakin wrote:I cannot seem to make any new posts on this forum.
ITYM Freds, not posts. Unless this is an old post that you've gone back and edited to say this.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Marc Meakin »

Jon Corby wrote:
Marc Meakin wrote:I cannot seem to make any new posts on this forum.
ITYM Freds, not posts. Unless this is an old post that you've gone back and edited to say this.
Yes I did indeed mean threads.
So could someone please tell me if it is because im being a div or because of censure?
FTW I wanted to start a thread pertaining to my pending court case (w/c 13th June).
And also another thread about film therapy............. my film therapy film is 'The Bicycle Thief'
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Mark James »

Marc Meakin wrote:
Jon Corby wrote:
Marc Meakin wrote:I cannot seem to make any new posts on this forum.
ITYM Freds, not posts. Unless this is an old post that you've gone back and edited to say this.
Yes I did indeed mean threads.
So could someone please tell me if it is because im being a div or because of censure?
FTW I wanted to start a thread pertaining to my pending court case (w/c 13th June).
And also another thread about film therapy............. my film therapy film is 'The Bicycle Thief'
Maybe you could get Charlie to let you do one all encompassing thread for all your musings a la Sophie Kroll. Maybe even combine yours and hers.
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by David Williams »

Bit behind at the moment, so I've been watching a few episodes on 4oD, which forces me to watch an advert scorning a woman whose computer is eight years old. She goes away delighted with her new one, although they don't actually tell you why it's so much better than the old one. The only feature they mention is the ability to be online with a single click, which is one more than my eight-year old computer takes. I bought it because my Windows 95 computer didn't have USB connections, and I wanted one for my new-fangled digital camera. It still works fine, but am I missing out on something?

I only do basic stuff - email, banking, shopping, photos, WP, spreadsheets, bit of TV and music downloads, but no movies or gaming. I've still only used 40% of the capacity of the hard drive. I've never had a problem finding a computer to do all I want to do when I'm away from home, and I've no desire to carry around anything that won't fit in my trouser pocket. What I've got may be bulky and inelegant, but I've got a big house. I like a decent-sized keyboard. My internet connection cuts out occasionally, but the green lights on my router suggest that's not a problem at my end.

So - what's wrong with an eight-year old computer? (And am I the only person on God's earth who's only owned one mobile phone?)
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Re: The Matt Morrison Computer Corner

Post by Ryan Taylor »

David Williams wrote:(And am I the only person on God's earth who's only owned one mobile phone?)
Both my nannas recently got a mobile phone. One of them can't use it and refuses to even try whilst the other gets all panicky using her and alos sounds surprised when somebody answers the phone from the number that she just dialled as if it's some minor miracle that it works.
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