Date: 02/15/06     Keywords: no keywords

When I turn my computer on, it makes a strange ringing noise most of the time. Why is it doing this and how can I stop it? It's hurting my ears.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/587563.html

Date: 02/14/06     Keywords: virus

A follow up to this post:

I removed the surge protector and directly plugged my computer into the outlet and tryed to re-scan my computer for viruses.

It still shut off on me. =(

Thanks for everyone's help anyway!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/587493.html

Date: 02/14/06     Keywords: microsoft

I was doing school work in Notepad,copied it into Microsoft Word, and then it froze before I got a chance to save it! Therefore, I had to shut off my computer and reboot. I hoped that Microsoft Word would recover the text from the file, but it didn't.

Is there anything I can do to recover my work? It took my forever to complete. Ugh.

I use Windows 98.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/587128.html

Date: 02/13/06     Keywords: no keywords

What is the best desktop computer for under or around $1000 that can hold lots of photos, play music, run games, surf the net, and handle Photoshop without requiring expert maintenance or knowledge? I’m now leaning away from the custom one so-and-so is trying to sell me (referring to my last post) and think that a brand name off the shelf computer might suit my situation better. I’d rather not order custom cause I don’t want to play Frankenstein with something I don’t know much about. Also a bundle would be nice cause I don’t have a spare monitor, keyboard, mouse, or speakers. I don’t know who to trust though so I’m trying to get as many opinions as I can, on and offline. Thanks!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/586509.html

Date: 02/12/06     Keywords: virus, spyware

Ok, so I got attacked by a bunch of nasty spyware/viruses today. They are all mostly gone due to using hijackthis, spybot, manual deletion, removing from msconfig startup, etc..

but, for some reason, my computer doesn't like me scanning for viruses. This even happened before I formatted (My computer was newly formatted a couple of days ago), and this still happens:

when scanning for viruses with avast! 4 home edition, the virus scanner scans for a while, then ABRUPTLY just shuts off the computer out of nowhere. I don't mean it shuts down, or restarts the computer, I mean it *completely shuts off*, like someone pulled the plug. Then I have to flip the switch on the surge protector (everything is plugged into that) and then turn it on again.

I thought running it under safe mode would prevent that from happpening, but nope.

I even assumed the computer itself was overheating, so I bought a new fan and installed it. The computer doesn't feel hot at all - it's cool.

So, how do I scan for viruses if my computer keeps shutting off? I even tried using an ONLINE virus scanner, and the same thing happened. Does anyone know why? I need to remove the remaining viruses ;_:

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/586108.html

Date: 02/11/06     Keywords: no keywords

What programs would you guys suggest to cut music?

For example, I want to be able to cut a song so it begins at a certain point.

Something easy and simple like that.

Thanks guys!!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/585845.html

Date: 02/10/06     Keywords: html, web

hi,

just a few questions.

I am doing a course in website development. Partly as practise and partly just for my amusement I have been thinking about registering a domain name. I know how tro make the pages and all that. But my question is how do i get these actually online once I have registered the website?. I know I could register with geocities or something and use their tools but I would rather have my own domain name. I have found several places that sell domain names, would these people advise me on how to get the pages online once they are made? I apologise if this is a stupid question. I have only made the HTML pages befor,e never actually put them on the good ole internet.

x-posted and things like that.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/585242.html

Date: 02/10/06     Keywords: web

I'm not v. savvy to all the computer spec jargon that helps fancy computer people choose their next computers. I'm planning to make the switch from a v. geriatric desktop PC to a laptop, and don't want to buy more computer than I need. That said, I do want a basic computer that will function for at least 3-5 years.

All I need it for is:
-email/webbrowsing
-word-processing/spreadsheets/powerpoint/etc
-music/DVD storage/playback/burning
-photoshoping

but I do want it to be able to easily multitask many applications at once, which my current dinosaur can't.

Do you have any recommendations re: what specs I should look for, what brands are reliable, how much I should pay? (If you're Canadian can you tell me in CAN$?).

Thanks in advance for your help!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/585074.html

Date: 02/09/06     Keywords: no keywords

is it possible to change a Wma/video file to a mpeg file?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/584812.html

Date: 02/09/06     Keywords: web

hi there! i was just wondering a few things about streaming a video online for my computer (website) assignment...1) is there anywhere i can go to do it for free? 2) is it easy to do or should i leave it to the pros?! (i'm NOT very good at these things at all!! lol) thanks for your time!!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/584484.html

Date: 02/09/06     Keywords: virus, antivirus, web, spyware

i have been having problems with my computer for a few weeks. It started out by me just assuming i had been infected by a virus. i have 3 hard drives (2 maxtor 200gb and one Wetern Digital 160gb) and was assured that reformatting my c drive would not effect my other hard drives. Of course i attempted to virus scan it and search for any spyware and nothing really showed up. the drive was constantly freezing up and taking a very long time to open folders, as well as not allowing me to move files from it to other drives. i ran this error checking program that is located under the drive's properties under the tab Tools, rebooted, and this found multiple bad sectors and attempted to fix them with no real improvement in performance.


so i reformatted,. when it was done reformatting the screen that i had seen during the disk error check came back up (during a reboot) and it started to recover orphaned files that appeared to be all the files from my other 2 drives.

so began the insanity. my 2nd hard drive is all avi files and mp3s files. i first noticed folders missing. then when i would try to view some of these files instead of an avi file playing an mp3 would play, sometimes it would be a mesh of many mp3s that would play and other times it would be a completely different avi file that would skip along and barely play. then in the mp3 files i would click on an mp3 by a certian band yet a completely different song would play and even then it was an odd part of a song, not the entire thing. the more i look the more i find this happening in this drive.

in the 3rd hard drive after the formatting some of the files because incomplete all these files were rar, par2, iso, and vob files, there was such a high volume of these that i am not exactly sure how many if any completely disappeared. and in reality i wasn't really concerned with losing the data from this drive.

even now when i have to reboot, sometimes it just automattically enters into checking my drives for disk errors and it will tell me its recovering orphaned files and it will continue to find bad sectors on all my drives and tell me its fixing them.

lately (the past few days) opening up a folder with avi files dramatically slows my compter down, it takes forever to read just the details of the files, it takes even longer for me to get one of the files to play. Also when i try to play it and freezes it up the window will shut down and my taskbar will dissapear until i open my dvd drive and then the task bar comes back.

so with my limited computer knowledge i assumed that maybe the drive was going bad. i dled a program that will check your hd and it said everything looked good (i tried to dl the maxtor program to do this, but it required that you have a drive - and i don't). so i decided that i would reformat my other 2 drives, i moved all the files from my 2nd drive to the other 2, and during this my computer told me that there was a corrupt file on my 3rd drive located in the hidden recycler folder it starts out "S-1-5-21-then a long string of numbers" of course i can not delete this file. i continued to just move the files off my 2nd drive.

Now that there are no files on my 2nd drive, it still tells me that 20 gigs of that drive is being used, but i have no idea what it is being used by, i checked thru dos - nothing, i have hidden files showing - nothing. and now i afraid to reformat without first finding out what is taking up 20 gigs.

so is this a virus that has effected all of my drives? could this be caused by my drives perhaps overheating? could this be because i didn't set up my drives after reformatting with the Maxtor disc? my os is xp home with service pack 2. i use norton antivirus, and it updates automatically, for spyware i use ccleaner, adaware, and spybot s&d. I dl a lot of stuff, all the stuff i dl is rar and par2 files from usenet, or avi files thru bitttorrent. i don't have the slightly idea what is going on. besides updating and running my virus scan 10000s of times i have also run some online virus scans from symatec website, and bitdefender - nothing was found.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/584403.html

Date: 02/08/06     Keywords: software

I have a Lexmark X1100 Series printer/scanner/copier. It was given to me by my boyfriend about a year ago, who also gave me a disk to install so that it would work. During the installation process, it created a folder in My Documents labeled printer software.

A few weeks ago, I reformatted my computer and saved everything in My Documents to a disk so that after reformatting, I could put it back on my computer. I went to print something and realized I hadn't installed the printer software yet, but because the disk I saved my computer files on was in my CD drive, the printer took the folder printer software and installed it into my new My Documents so it could print.

I'm currently trying to use the scan feature, and I usually just hit the "scan" button on the machine and the program pops up, but today, it isn't. Of the five buttons on the machine {power; paper feed; scan; color copy; black copy}, the only buttons that work are the power and paper feed buttons.

I can't seem to find the disk that was given to me along with the printer, so I was wondering if anybody was familiar with this model and maybe knew of something I could do to make it scan? I'm not sure why it can print and not do any of the other features.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/584123.html

Date: 02/08/06     Keywords: no keywords

hi! i have a question. i was using my computer yesterday night and it had only be on for about less than 10 mins. I was using itunes and it had just played 2 songs and then my computer made this weird noise like someone pulled the arm off a record player. The computer stopped working then i manually shut it down and tried to start it again and all i get is a blank screen and my hard drive beeping...anyway..ive experienced the beeping before and found out that the memory card was loose inside...but how do i know if thats what happened yesterday? what if it was like a power surge or somthing? is this somthing that i can fix myself?
thank you in advance.

info: hp desktop pentium 4 running windows xp with sp2

x-posted

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/583867.html

Date: 02/07/06     Keywords: virus

So im pretty sure i got a virus in my computer i run on windows xp service pack 1. Im not sure what to do my computer operates fine except from time to time im unable to select items, if i double click say on "internet explorer" it doesnt open at all. Maybe this isnt even a virus but im assuming it is. It just started happening a few days ago, im not sure what i should do? im on http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/

scanning for virus but its stuck on one step its been almost 45 minutes. It just says "weclome to Trend housecall" and it looks like it wants to load but its still stuck on the page so what should i do ? any other sites? any thing else i could download?

i already have macfee/adaware/systematic machine 5 downloaded into my computer i scanned for virus's and nothing. Plus macfee ran out of the subscription, so now i have to pay. anyway thanks to anyone that could help

ps. if i were to take it my computer in where would i take it to? i heard something about how bestbuy.com has a computer shop where they can repair computers ?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/583299.html

Date: 02/06/06     Keywords: software

I’m in the market for a computer of my own so I can follow my dreams and get into digital art, photography, and music, but being computer illiterate doesn’t help. I’d hate to doubt them, but a friend of a friend is trying to sell me one of their home built machines for $700 and I want your opinion whether or not I should take it. This is the “estimated price sheet” they gave me…

CPU- $80
Video Card- $150
1gb Ram- $104
Mother Board- $88
Hard Drive- $78
XP License- $45
Keyboard- $10
Mouse- $25
Alienware(?) case / power supply / extra fans- $70
CD Burner- $30
Wireless card- (?)
Monitor- $100 (needs replacing now)
*Total- $780, although they said it cost nearly $900 to build.

It already has a lot of useful software on it, and they claim that building is much cheaper than buying store brands, but I’m nervous. If I lose contact with this person and the computer starts acting up who do I turn to? Is PC really the way to go? I’m wondering if a Mac would be better for me cause I’ve heard they’re pretty indestructible, and those are words I like to hear (I also used them in Graphic Design at college). Any opinions?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/582575.html

Date: 02/06/06     Keywords: no keywords

Hello. My computer emits a long beeping sound when I turn it on, anyone know why? It then takes 6-7 tries to turn it on with this beeping sound in place...

And after I finally got it to turn on, it says Verifying DMI Pool Data
DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER

So, I pressed in the button to turn it on again and loaded fine.

My computer is an Intel, and is custom built, by my cousin, but he won't help us out...ugg.

Any suggestions?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/582204.html

Date: 02/05/06     Keywords: browser

I have the Internet Explorer Browser and it's giving me some problems. Now, it won't take an URL withought either www. or http:// if I put, for example, livejournal.com the browser will close by itself, I have to put www.livejournal.com. Does anybody know what's wrong and how I can fix it?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/581480.html

Date: 02/04/06     Keywords: yahoo

I posted this the middle of january, asking how to format my hard drive. But the only two people to help me couldn't/wouldn't/didn't have time to, give me the help I need on the level I can understand.
So, I ask again, but with slightly more knowledge this time.

My Dell Dimension that has had one hardware upgrade (new mother board and more memory?) is running Windows ME.
It got wormed this summer with what trendmicro calls Pe_Tenga.A.
I've finally figured out how to get all my files off, and have actually done it.
I want to format the hard drive and start fresh.
I have a Windows XP disk (full install I believe) to install, and I can get all the patches through work.
I tried booting straight from the CDROM with the new windows disk, but it wouldn't do it.

Question:
How do I format the hard drive? (I used to know, but its been a long time)
Can I just install Windows XP from there, or do I have to install something else first?

I'll be online (on my laptop) for a few more hours. If you'd care to help me, I'd really appreciate it.
yahoo: ash0979
AIM: crazypumpkin15
email: alissa. susanne @ gmail. com

cross posted in all of lj's computer support/help communities.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/581095.html

Date: 02/03/06     Keywords: no keywords

My computer is a little less than one year old. I bought it in March of last year. It's an Acer desktop. 2.8ghz processor. 256mb memory.

Up until about a month or so ago, everything was working fine. Now, not so much. I cannot do anything on the computer - from something as simple as browsing the internet, even putting up a screensaver to listening to music or watching a video (it's especially bad when watching videos) - without it sounding like it is revving up. And this happens constantly. I wouldn't know how else to describe the noise. The sound a computer would make when first inserting a cd, is kind of how it sounds when I do anything at all. And there are times when it revs that much, that whatever I'm doing will freeze for a few seconds, and then return to normal.

I'm not overly computer savvy, and am at a loss here. I've contacted Acer tech support, but no replies yet. Any ideas?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/580262.html

Date: 02/03/06     Keywords: yahoo

My computer has a strange issue. I can’t log in to hotmail or my yahoo email account. When I try to log in it give me the stander “this page can not be displayed error message”. I can’t log in to MSN messenger either.

I have a dell computer running Windows xp with internet explore. My firewall is zone.

Any thing help would be great.

Oh I’m running cable internet and I have tried restarting my PC and my modem.


Thanks

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/579533.html