Date: 05/05/05     Keywords: no keywords

My Dell laptop's screen has different colored vertical lines. On my desktop the vertical lines are bright green, making the picture look very digital-like and hard to read. There is a very long black line that is attached to my mouse pointer. Also, when on a colored background, the arrow appears to have a box made out of vertical lines around it.
This has happened before, but less severe, and went away after a little while. I've tried restarting my computer and even just leaving it alone for awhile. I can't really describe the problem that well, but I hope someone can help. Thanks!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/389936.html

Date: 05/04/05     Keywords: web

Lately I've taken an interest in making mix CDs. I go to this website where you can download free songs.
I right-click on the link, go to Save Target As, and save the song(s) in my directory.
I put a blank CD-R in my E Drive.
I copy and paste the songs to the E Drive window.
I click, "Write these files to CD".
It goes through a wizard and the songs copy.

The CD works just fine...on my computer. It doesn't work on my CD player.

I remember reading that CD-Rs work on computer AND CD player, while CD-RWs only work on the computer. So is there a reason why this isn't working on my player?

I've tried other ways of copying, like the Windows Media Player, but it doesn'y copy at all.

What to do?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/389476.html

Date: 05/02/05     Keywords: linux

I am not 100% sure if I am posting this on the right community.

Anyway, if anybody could help me convert some .jpg files to vector files (illustrator, freehand, coreldraw formats), then it would be much appreciated. I have tried to do this and also tried using programs called autotrace ( http://autotrace.sourceforge.net). But I have no artistic flair at all. I also am not sure what they are talking about when they describe the problems with my apparently vectorized image(s). Maybe someone knows more about these packages than me. I have freehand 10 , but I run Linux and I am only using it under emulation. I am quite familiar with photoshop, which is not a vector-based drawing program.

The reason I need the image vectorised is for printing onto various things like baseball caps and t-shirts.


Many thanks

(x-posted in some art communities too)

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/388898.html

Date: 05/01/05     Keywords: no keywords

Hi there. :)

I've got a question for you guys, I've tried everything I know to no avail.

Sometimes when I start up Firefox, I get this menu where I have to choose a user profile [or something like that]. I try to pick the normal one, "Jo", but it says it's already in use. It can't possibly be in use, since I hadn't opened Firefox until that moment. I end up choosing the default profile, and later deleting it so just "Jo" remains. Until now. There's no menu that pops up, it's always the default profile. I have NONE of my bookmarks, some of which I desperately need for school.

What on earth causes Firefox to do this, and how can I get my old profile back? Also, how can I provent this from happening again?


Thanks!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/388654.html

Date: 05/01/05     Keywords: no keywords

if anyone is familiar with Adobe Image Ready, then hopefully you can help me out.

i have been making animations lately, but it won't let me save in anything other than the photoshop format. i know that there has to be something i can do so that i can save it in other formats (.gif .jpg) but i don't know what that is.

if you can help me, that'd be awesome.

comment here, or IM me on owie 4 HOWIE.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/388393.html

Date: 05/01/05     Keywords: browser, virus, web

Someone on my AIM buddy list got a virus that is sending itself in link form to people on her buddy list, including me. When I clicked on the link, my AVG and firewall both claimed to have protected me from it, and did not allow it to open. But, now when I try to open my web browser on that computer (my laptop), I get re-directed to what looks like some sort of fake AIM page that says it cannot load correctly or some BS. And when I try to go to any other site, it tells me the page cannot be displayed (I am using my desktop computer to post this, as I can't get to any webpages on that one). HELP! Please!

Also, I've just discovered that I can't connect to AIM on that computer now either. It stays stuck on the "connecting" stage and doesn't move. So I have removed my browser (firefox), but the default browser (IE) does the same thing. Also, I have removed AIM.

EDIT: All fixed! Thanks battie42!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/388325.html

Date: 05/01/05     Keywords: no keywords

OK, so I've had this here problem with DVD and mpeg video playing on my computer - I posted about it before and it got isolated down to a problem with my codecs.

I'm at the point where I want to wipe my hard drive clean and start over, BUT in a house fire I lost my XP installation discs... so, that's not an option right now.

I need either a player that doesn't rely on the codecs installed (something like videolan but not that one) or I need a way to eradicate all existing codecs and restart with a clean install.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/387317.html

Date: 05/01/05     Keywords: no keywords

Hi! I'm new to the community.

I've been having 2 problems and I have no clue how to fix them. I recently purchased a Gateway computer, and I've always been a Mac girl. Any help would be greatly appreciated.



1. Whenever I try to save a picture to my computer, it will only allow me to save them as ".art". Then I can't even open it so I can't save it as a .jpeg file. How can I change this?

2. When I try to "Browse" a file it will only give me the option of "Browse with PSP" (Photo Shop Pro). How can I change that?

Thanks for reading! Hope someone can help. :)

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/386711.html

Date: 04/30/05     Keywords: no keywords

I have a question, and if anyone could help, it would be great. I have no idea if this is fixable or not.
My computer in my basement wont work. I have windows XP and when i restarted it, a msg. popped up saying "Insignificant resourses fail.. (something) then someone about an API.. then when I click ok, my computer just automaticaly restarts again, and the same msg. pops up. If anyone could help, it would be great. thanks.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/386411.html

Date: 04/30/05     Keywords: web, shopping

Is anyone familiar with reading hijackthis logs?

I got slammed with "Search Extender" and "Home Search Assistent" and "Shopping Wizard"
I've heard this is particularly dangerous malware...:(

I've been to countless websites and haven't had any luck. I have disabled the add-on (ipvn32.dll) in IE for now.

I am competent enough, but I would really like some expertise before I start messing with anything. I would be especially grateful it if I could get a response ASAP! I don't want this junk stealing any of my info!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/385877.html

Date: 04/29/05     Keywords: spyware

I use Windows XP. How do I change the desktop background?
I went to Display, but I see only the tabs for Settings and Screensaver, not Background.
My background is just black now, not the original green hills and blue sky.

How can I fix this?
Apparently there was some spyware on this computer, but it's been fixed now with Spybot Search & Destroy, I think.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/385287.html

Date: 04/27/05     Keywords: no keywords

So my primary slave drive (F:) worked well for about 6 mos of having my new computer, then i noticed it started to make weird whirring and clicking noises. So i figgured that the shit was going bad, backed up everything on my other hard drive and swapped them out, and when that new one got in my computer it totally freaked out and wouldnt recognize the drive or start up...

So i changed the ribbon... Nothng... Same shit was happening...

So i disconnected that drive and am waiting for someone to give me any ideas for anything about this shit... The first F: and the second are both WDC (western digital) 30 gig i also have two more hard drives in the machine that are working very well...

Now i'm completely without all of my programs, since i had them all on my f: drive...

Any ideas?

Curdo

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/385126.html

Date: 04/26/05     Keywords: web

Hi, this is probably a minor thing, but it annoys the heck out of me.

I have Win XP & use MSIE 6.0. When I move to a new webpage, there used to be a little bar in the lower right corner of my screen that would indicate the progress of the new page loading. But it disappeared, and I don't know why. I don't remember changing any settings, I've looked everywhere that I can think of to change it back.

Does anybody know how to make the page loading indictor bar reappear?

Thank you!!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/384076.html

Date: 04/25/05     Keywords: no keywords

i'm having trouble finding files with a ";" in them. I search in windows xp and it brings up every file in the directory. should i be putting some kind of different character in to search for files with a semi-colon in it?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/383763.html

Date: 04/25/05     Keywords: virus

I have a computer that was just murdered with viruses Im assuming. It only runs in safe mode and Its OS is windows me. How would I clear the computers hard drive. I tried to just upgrade it to xp but I got a pop up that said that it couldnt do it using me. what do I do plz help thanks

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/383694.html

Date: 04/25/05     Keywords: security, virus, antivirus, web

My Windows 98 SE has gone kaput. Kernel32.dll errors every which way, random reboots, all that jazz. I've got Norton AntiVirus and Personal Firewall (which crashes frequently, too), I run defrag and scandisk (not frequently enough, I admit), I run Spybot and AdAware and I have a copy of HJT. The only thing that seems to be wrong is, well, Windows. It acts like it's killing itself -- the autoimmune disease of computing, I suppose.
Now, I have terrible memory when it comes to time and order and such (something could have happened last week or two years ago, it's the same in my brain), so I can't quite tell you when this all started. I've had the computer for going on three years now.

It's currently "networked" to a computer running WindowsXP. We tried doing it ourselves, but we ended up calling in a professional, who got the internet hooked up between them but couldn't get anything else to work (said that some 98 copies just won't network properly with XP). I can't trade anything between the computers, but as I said, I do have internet. He had to modify something in the bios to even it that far, which is why I'm wary about formatting it.

My Norton subscription is running out in a few days, and I was planning on wiping my main drive before I renewed it (so I could reinstall it and everything else before it's renewed). Now, my mother and I can handle the wiping and reinstall part well enough (or we did on previous computers) but my main concern is that I won't be able to get the net up again, which is my primary motivation for having my own computer in the first place.

If necessary I might be able to get XP, but I hate it with a, er, mild passion. It would make networking and compatibility issues easier, I know, but I have some programs that only run on 98 (like Petz3, which I'm quite fond of, thank you) and frankly I just don't trust it. We've had problems with it storing information, including browsing stuff, that we can't delete, and that's a big nightmare for me. (Would switching completely to Firefox solve this? I only run IE on my computer because Firefox will randomly crash it).

Both our computers are custom-built. If it would be less hassle I might be able to convince my mother to just take it in and get it done. The people who work where we got them are very nice and very helpful and rarely charge a lot (they gave us a free upgrade when they messed something up once -- try to get that service from Best Buy). Alternately, my friend's uncle does computer repair and may have an idea of what to do.

Info: Custom-built by Advanced Computer Services. Running Windows98SE, 512 RAM (I don't know what type -- I'm on the other computer right now), 40gb master drive and 80gb slave drive. I believe I have a 1800+ Athlon processor (which is excellent and great and has worked wonderfully and I love it so much better than any Pentium I've had and all that). I've got Norton Internet Security 2004 (the AntiVirus needed renewed a month ago, but I've only been on about five times since then).

Looking for suggestions: Wipe it and reinstall 98, or try to get XP? Don't wipe it, just try to figure out what's wrong? If I do wipe and put in 98, how do I deal with the internet problem?

I'm pretty savvy with things like web and graphic design (and I haven't had a virus in years), but when it comes to OS's and networking I'm rather lost.

I'll answer any questions you ask about my computer -- I know I left a lot of stuff out, and I can't remember what. (I swear I don't do drugs and I haven't suffered any head trauma, I just naturally lack any usable memory.)

[Crossposted to computer_help, computerhelp, and tech_support.]

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/383380.html

Date: 04/24/05     Keywords: software

i posted before about having problems with a joystick. i have uninstalled and reinstalled the software several times. one minute it says it's ok the next minute it says connection lost. it's not just the one joystick, i have tried other joysticks and still the same thing. is it a port issue or IRQ issue? thanks...

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/382797.html

Date: 04/24/05     Keywords: database, web

I'm sure this community gets a lot of this, but here's my introductory post, and I've got a slew of problems for anyone willing to address them. The most terrible thing for me about these problems is that I find myself to be pretty competent as far as fixing computers goes, so these issues kill my ego.

For reference purposes, this computer is a slightly dated Compaq notebook running XP Service Pack 2.]

I'm sort of afraid of heckling, but I guess I can't get much worse than that Jesus icon asking how to reduce the column size of the taskbar. Hopping right to it:

Problem A: I just bought this great new 19" LCD display from Envision. It works fine, in fact I'm using it right now. However, it has this terribly annoying flicker. The flicker itself isn't that of a monitor going out, rather it looks like it's running the wrong refresh rate (which I have checked out already) so there's sort of a pulsing brightness. Now before I go any further, I must say that I'm absolutely positive this is a driver issue. I have the original CD as well as the most recent driver available from Envision's website. My assumption here is that the problem lies not in the monitor or driver itself, the problem is 'pointing' the computer towards the right driver. (The monitor works fine on my parents' G4 and G5.)

Problem B: I have this old 40 gig Maxtor 3000DV External Hard Drive that is extremely problematic. From what I've read, it's awfully common for system with XP to stop reading these. I'm pretty sure that this is a driver issue as well, but I just can't find a driver. I'm still rooting around for my original disc, but it was a hand me down from my dad, so it's probably at his office. If anyone has faced a similar problem with their Maxtor externals and p'raps has a link to a driver database, that would be great.

Problem C: This isn't really a problem so much as a goddamn nuisance. I have a great 40 gig iPod+HP. It works just fine, but it prompts me to reformat it every few months or so. This really sucks, especially when it occurs after I plug it into my friends' computers for a quick upload. I guess my only question here is have any of you experienced issues with your iPod+HP devices?

Thanks in advance everyone.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/382457.html

Date: 04/23/05     Keywords: software, virus

I need your help. I have a Sony Vaio desktop with a P4 3.2 ghz, 512 mb RAM, XP home with SP2. I recently had a virus that has since been quarantined but it seems to have some lasting repercussions. When I try to burn a movie onto a DVD, it will stop at 54% and it will say that it is "initializing DVD" then it will go to "formatting DVD" and it will continue on a loop that quits after about 15 minutes and it just says "error creating DVD" The software I am using for it is Copy DVD 1-2-3 which has worked before. The optical drive is functional though because I can still drag-n-drop files onto a CD. After the DVD burner quits though, I reinserted the disk to see if anything was on it and it was completely blank. I have tried various movies. Thank you.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/382202.html

Date: 04/23/05     Keywords: php, software, browser, web, google

I have a few computer problems. If you can’t help me with all of them, that’s understandable. If you could just answer any of the questions, I’d really appreciate it.

1) Tweak will let me set special folders but warns me about moving them. I'm assuming that this is really just a standard warning as I've moved the folders a few days ago and they all seem pretty harmless. (Including the Start Menu which I previously asked here and had a round robin suggestion. Anyways) Is it mostly harmless re-setting folder locations using programs like Tweak and/or TuneUP Utilities?

2) I need to remove something off of "File" menu when you open a folder. It's driving me nuts. Well, I wouldn't mind if I could re-set the hot alt key. Does anyone know a program that controls what items appear on a folder’s File menu? Does anyone know a program that allows you to set “alt” letters?

3) On Tuesday I downloaded Itunes. Ever since, the mp3s on my winamp playlist have gotten quieter and I don't know why that is. The wma’s play at normal volume on winamp but I have to turn up the volume way up to listen to any mp3. (almost like a throwback to my 2003 speaker problem.) As my playlist is a mix of both, I find myself constantly adjusing the songs. Does anyone know of software that checks what went wrong? I’ve already been in control panel sound and even system; all the drivers check out.

4)
a - I guess it goes without asking that if I have an old win 95 deluxe edition of Norton, there's no way I could successfully install it and get live update to work, right? I'll just have to purchase a new version, right?

b - so, in saying that, what version of Norton includes crash guard and first aid. I love first aid. I've never had to do it but I love the idea checking everyday system functions.

5) Start menu is driving me nucking futs. It keeps hiding programs i haven't used. i hate hate hate this. so i believe i turned this function off yesterday. I thought it was TuneUp but I guess not. How can I turn this function off.

6) Tweak doesn't work when trying to prevent IE from stealing focus. I asked this question last month when i was still using win 98. I knew I'd be upgrading soon so I didn't fuss when the advice didn't do anything to help. Now I'm using win mx, i've installed tweak and yet again, it does nothing to prevent IE from stealing focus. Can anyone recommend another program that can help?

7)
a - Internet Explorer has gone weird. I can't load lj userinfo pages correctly on the 3rd or 4th attempt. example, i open ie on my userinfo page and it loads properly. So whenever I say "new window" by doing ctrl n, instead of getting the "journal" menus at the top, i get < ************ > with the menus at the bottom. If i'm at download.com and i'm looking at my search results, i'll click on "by user rating". if at any point during this specific action i hit alt + tab to switch screens, ie crashes. no joke. so i have to sit and wait patiently while my slow 28kb connection loads that page. Has anyone else using XP experienced a similar problem? Is there an older version of IE that you think is better?

b - In addition, IE will sometimes automatically open a new window directing to a non-existing website: http://www.turbotones.net/uk/index.php . I will have hit ctrl + n ONCE (i don't do things twice) and my google search will have opened in a new window (whatever I was previously searching). After a few seconds, that page will open. I've searched all text in all files "word or phrase in the file" for "turbotones" to see who on my pc is asking to pop up to this page and this yielded no results. Can anyone help?

NOTE Please don't give me advice like "don't use IE" because that's not advice; that's just annoying. It's like saying "you shouldn't use automatic, you should use a stick shift" (or vice versa). Each browser has its own quirks and I've already gotten used to IE. In addition, I use IE at work, therefore I can mirror whatever I'm doing at work with what I'm doing at home.

8) I want to remove "Local Area Network" from the system tray. There used to be a great program. I think it was simply sys_tray manager from a few years back. Does anyone have a copy? I also want to get rid of quicktime. I've uninstalled it but it's still lurking about. It's also in my system tray and it's annoying! Can anyone recommend a good, fast, free system tray manager program?

9) Speaking of annoying, XP has reset the Page down/page up function to skip down/up "x" lines when using a drop down menu. I want to reset this figure. Does anyone know how?

10) I have an old excel spreadsheet that i've opened. I've already said that the columns should be mm.dd.yy. for whatever reason (well, i'm based in the uk now not the us) excel has decided that despite my previously setting the column properties, it should be dd.mm.yy (the uk format) What other automatic changes should I look forward to (gulp) ? btw, language changes (example, us to uk) are easy to find in word. does anyone know where I can find it in excel?

11) The last problem is quite generic. I have a few USB ports in the back that are working fine, but the ones in the front are fucked. I found under system, there's "code 28" error. I've searched for the drivers online but they are all no good. Initially when putting this PC together last Sat, it said something like "service pack #" with a link. Fair enough, I though. I didn't have a modem on me then so I couldn't connect my pc to the link. I just assumed that I'd get the link again. Well, I just made an ass out of me and me because lo and behold, I'm here trying to install the driver for the umpteeth time. Doesn't make a difference to me personally cause I have four in the back in working condition. The ports came with the tower and I don’t have a disk for the tower. Now I'm hoping someone out there has a link to driver installation file.
I was hoping this would help. But I guess not.

12) I have to keep an eye on my hard drive temperature. I have 3 fans so hopefully it'll always be all good, but if not, what's a bad temp? currently, it's at 33.

Thanking you all in advance. Please let me know if you need further information!!!

cross posted to ladiorange, computer_help and livejournal_uk.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/381463.html