Date: 01/03/06     Keywords: html

so, justice is done. well, ok, not really...

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/81859/sony-settles-over-dodgy-drm-fallout.html

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/850356.html

Date: 01/03/06     Keywords: no keywords

Hello everyone!

I'm new to this community and hope that this hasn't been asked before. I tried looking at previous entries and couldn't find anything along the lines of my question.

I'm a homework time instructor for a non-profit's computer lab that is open to it's clients who are homeless and to the community (which is generally low income & non native English speakers).  I have been asked by my program director to come up with a computer literacy assessment to give to our clients and others who use the computer lab. The information would be used to know what the clients need to learn to advance their computer skills and to also provide data to the company that donates money to the computer center. The company who donates money to the upkeep of the computer center is interested in seeing what computer literacy the clients come in with and if any change is made after repeated use of the computer center.  The main focus of offering the computer center to the homeless clients and the community is to support them in furthering their education and finding better jobs & careers.  We have a typing program on all computers, Windows office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher), Windows media and access to the internet. 

Now that you have some background on my situation, I was hoping that someone in this community would have some feedback for me as to a computer literacy assessment I could use that is very simple to read and answer (I will need to translate it into Spanish as well) and covers the basics of computer literacy.  My program director says that I don't have to think of anything from scrap and can use someone else's assessment as long as it's okay with the other party. 

I've tried googling computer literacy assessment and a lot of what I get is assessment for university level classes which is not the simple assessment that I'm looking for.

If anyone has any links or feedback they can offer on my situation, I'll appreciate greatly.

Thank you,
Paola

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/849967.html

Date: 01/03/06     Keywords: java

And there is some other problems for you to help me with:

1) When I press the right button on hardisk or floppy/disk-drive in my computer screen explorer crushes.

2) When I view mdf/mds file in any program (explorer, winrar, emule... I think they explorer based) explorer (or the other program) crushes. Dos navigator (runed from windows) view them fine.

3) My opera 8.51 build 7712 crushes on some sites with M2 error (store unit failed engine unit() failed). Opera reinstalling doesnt help. I'll try to delete all flash and java stuff and then reinstall everything.

4) When I watch video with Light Alloy media player v.3.3, the taskbar start to pop up in fullscreen mode. Reinstall of Light Alloy or Windows doesn't help. Other players (crystal, VLC, windows media...) work fine.

5) And 4 question (nothing to do with computers): does it bug anyone, that I xpost my questions in 4 communities or there is one comunity that everybody watch?

Now, I use Windows Pro XP SP2. When I install it (as windows Pro XP SP1) it works fine without first two mistakes. After update with Windows Update, the issues appears. I tried allready 2 version of windows, atlist the cd-keys were different, but it doesnt help.
xposted

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/849542.html

Date: 01/03/06     Keywords: no keywords

What is a fair price for a DVD burner? Sorry if I have asked this b4.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/848434.html

Date: 01/02/06     Keywords: virus

I'm new in this community, but I think I can help with some problems.But meanwhile I'm experiensing a problem that I can't solve myself:My display goes black after the random period of time. It can be 5 minutes since last rebut, or 5 hours. It can happen, when PC is idle or while brousing or unraring something. It never happens whie playing, though... Computer is not rebuting, display just goes black and sound stops.I don't think its virus or power problem (I formated everything, reinstalled system, blah, blah, blah... Nothing helped.)I think it's about BIOS upgrade, 'cause it started to happen after I changeg CPU from Celeron 1.7 to Celeron 2.8 (yeah, I know, it's crap, but I'm poor lone soldier!!!). I don't have a clue, how to upgrade bios, that is why I need your help.
Now I have Award bios v 6.00 PG.The third line in booting screen is BIOS-I-2M (2K020523).
This is my motherboard.
I'd really appreciate your help, people.Thanks.
xposted

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/848134.html

Date: 01/01/06     Keywords: technology, web

Ok, so I'm a bit of a Logitech fan, and haven't had problems with their products. I'm looking to buy a new mouse, and possibly a webcam. First I need your opinion~

The mouse I've been looking at is the MX610 wireless laser mouse. It's comfortable (in store display), uses a laser, and has a decent wireless adapter, but isn't rechargeable, and to my knowledge does not work well with Trillian (Email and IM notification lights on the mouse itself). This wouldn't be much of a problem, but compatibility is always nice.

The webcams in mind are the QuickCam Fusion and the QuickCam Orbit MP. Both use a newer technology for logitech that greatly increase image quality in low light conditions, the main difference between the two being the Orbits' pan/tilt functions. Honestly I really need a good digital camera, and would probably pass on the webcam if I can actually decide on one. Suggestions, please? Price limit is $200.

Your tolerance (of me) and support (for me) is greatly appreciated!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/847772.html

Date: 12/31/05     Keywords: microsoft

So I'm subscribed to 'Charter Cable Broadband Internet' with 3 megabytes of bandwidth.
I'm using a 'Linksys Wireless-G with SRX' router alongside a 'D-Link DWL-AG520' Wireless-G PCI card, at 54 megs a second, right? So if 54 megs is complete overkill for 3 megs of bandwidth, and my wireless signal drops down to, lets say, "28 megs a second (as detected by the 'Microsoft Zero Wireless Configuration Utility' ," I theoretically shouldn't notice any change in my connection speed, right? But when it does drop to "28 megs" for whatever reason, the connection CRAWLS to near sub-dsl speed. Why is that? Even 28 megs a second should be plenty fast enough for my wee 3 megs bandwidth. So what's the deal? My guess is that the "megabytes a second" used to determine wireless connection speed isn't as accurate as they predict. What's your take?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/847166.html

Date: 12/31/05     Keywords: no keywords

I have a Logitech MX 3000 Laser keyboard/mouse combination and it just suddenly stopped working. I've installed the drivers from the disk again. In the device manager, the Bluetooth controls are installed, but the Bluetooth hub is not and I don't know what is wrong with it.

Anyone?


Thanks,

xoxo

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/847018.html

Date: 12/31/05     Keywords: no keywords

If I have a 4X6 picture (of people) that I want to print to an 8X10. will their heads and other body parts appear larger since I am printing a larger picture than the orginal

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/846742.html

Date: 12/30/05     Keywords: programming

I want to write a batch script in Windows that will have 3 commands. I want the script to run the first two commands, WAIT 30 seconds, then run the final part of the script. I have NO experience in writing scripts, (programming yes, scripts no ironically,) so if there's a built-in function I could use that'd be great, or if anyone knows how to simulate a timer would be great. BTW this is Windows XP Pro.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/846563.html

Date: 12/30/05     Keywords: web

I just got a computer with a dual core processor (AMD 4400+ X2 Athlon.) I know that most programs can't take advantage of SMP processing (aside from programs like Photoshop,) but I was wondering if there's any way you can like "tell" the processors what to process. I suppose this is just overkill, and overall I haven't noticed problems with multitasking. For example its not uncommon for me to play games like Doom 3 or Source-code (ie HL2) in a window while I browse the web or talk to people on AIM. I have Windows XP Professional (thank god since I only now have learned that Home can't use SMP) and is it "smart" enough to properly distribute the workload amongst the cores, like it would dedicate Doom 3 to one core while it dedicates everything else to the other one? I'm just wondering how "smart" XP Pro is in distributing the workload amongst the cores. I couldn't find much literature about this online. Any info is appreciated.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/846241.html

Date: 12/30/05     Keywords: no keywords

I have a small collection of format utilities (Maxtor, Seagate, WD, etc.) that are all independant ISO files. What I want to do is put them all on 1 cd, but have the option of selecting which one I want to use at CD Startup. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance~

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/845948.html

Date: 12/29/05     Keywords: no keywords

Ok, My old hard-drive crashed and I just got a new one installed. But now my "rich text mode/function" does not work. I cannot use anything that has a rich text mode. (Inculding good ol rich text in LJ). I cannot find out how to get it to work. I dont know if its a setting in my computer itself or if its just a setting in Internet Explorer...but its driving me nuts and I would LOVE your help! THANKS!!!

I have an HP computer
with XP Home as my OS
IE 6

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/845702.html

Date: 12/29/05     Keywords: no keywords

Ok now that I've gotten your attention, here's my question:

I just got my girlfriend a new xD flash memory stick for her digital camera. She was previously using a 16 MB card and could only take 22 pictures, so I went all out and upgraded to a 512 stick for her (thank you Costco!) Anyways we've run into a few "issues" with it. First off my laptop that has a built in 8-in-1 card reader could not recognize the card (i'd stick it in and basically nothing would happen) and when she tried to get them developed at Walmart in the instant machine it couldn't be recognized either. It DID work in their 1 hour machine. Is this a common problem with bigger flash memory sticks, where certain readers just can't read them? Or is this really NOT a common problem and I should be worried about whether or not the stick works? I haven't been able to try it out on my other 10-in-1 card reader on my Alienware yet. Thanks in advance.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/845328.html

Date: 12/27/05     Keywords: no keywords

Yesterday I went over to my in-laws. I installed their new wireless keyboard and followed the instructions to the letter. A few minutes later the computer crashed and that was about it. The computer gets to the splash screen(E-Machines) not the Windows XP one and then we get the error: Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press Enter.

The computer was my old machine. When Katrina hit, we brought it with us. I gave it to my in-laws when I got me new one. The machine has just been started up since the storm and I was curious to see if this maybe a cause. There was a smell of burning, but the fan and everything seems to be working fine. Guessing the burning smell maybe from the dust build up.

I tried booting it with another hard drive, but all I got was the same error. Also the computer won't let us get into the bios.

The CD/DVD drive will still boot the restore disks, but it doesn't fix the problem.

AMD Athlon XP Processor 2700+
768 MB DDR PC2100 Memory
80GB Hard Drive and 40GB Hardrive
DVD±RW Drive
16X DVD-ROM Drive
3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive
56K ITU V.92 Fax/Modem
Onboard 10/100Base-T LAN Interface
Geforce FX5500 Graphics Card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live
Amplified stereo speakers
Multimedia keyboard
2-button wheel mouse

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/845293.html

Date: 12/27/05     Keywords: no keywords

Hi there!

I'm trying to help a friend of mine set up a Linksys WRT54GS wireless router which will be connected to a Motorla SB5100 surfboard.

Here's the problem!

When she's connected directly to the modem, her connection is fine. She can release and renew her address easily.

When she's connected to the router, she's only able to connect to the router itself (she can get into the admin page in a second). However, the router is showing an IP of 0.0.0.0. I've had her release and renew the address, but she only comes back with 0.0.0.0. She's going to try out a new network cable tomorrow (she's in Providence, RI and I'm in CT, so I can't just use my cable testers), but is there anything else that could cause this? Could it be Cox not allowing the connection to the router?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

(x-posted to a few different places - my apologies if you see this more than once!)

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/844627.html

Date: 12/27/05     Keywords: no keywords

Here is an interesting one I hope you guys can help with.

I have 2 routers, a linksys connected to my cable broadband, then one of its ports is wired into the WAN port of a new Netgear ProSafe.

The ProSafe is set to a public static IP of 192.168.1.120 (on the WAN/Linksys side) and its LAN side uses the 192.168.0.x group.

I have 192.168.1.120 set for DMZ on the linksys.

Computers on both subnets can reach each other fine.

My problem is this, I need to employ port forwarding to make services on the Netgear end publicly accessible.

The logs on the Netgear are showing that traffic is coming in from outside and is being accepted by the firewall, and then being returned back to IP 192.168.1.120

But nothing on the outside get the returned packets.

My guess is that the linksys is not passing these packets back to the originated public system.

I don't have the foggiest clue how to fix this. I've messed around with static routes to no available. This whole configuration is only working as well as it is because of RIP (I think).

As always, any help will be appreciated.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/844517.html

Date: 12/26/05     Keywords: google

I've googled this a bit, but nothing I've found tells me what I need to do. Perhaps one of you know?

I got a SanDisk 512 MB "M" series mp3 player for christmas. I put my songs on it, it works lovely. :) The only problem is, I don't want those songs on there anymore. When I use windows explorer to try and find those files, they don't show up, even when I allow hidden files to be viewed.

I'm running xp, if that makes any difference for this problem...


Help would be appreciated. :)

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/843832.html

Date: 12/26/05     Keywords: browser, spyware

I just reformatted, and I have AVG, MS Anti-Spyware.
Problem: Both Opera and Firefox load incredibly slowly, and surfing sites like LJ Friends list makes it CRAWL down the pages. IE runs full speed and is blowing them away. How can this be? What would cause my other browsers to slow down? It even takes time for them to load in the taskbar. I turned off AVG and MS AS, I turned off Windows firewall.

I've never experienced this before. TIA

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/843559.html

Date: 12/26/05     Keywords: google

I have a problem I'm not quite sure how to describe. I did a google search and couldn't find what I'm looking for.

I just installed a new graphics card on my computer. Now every fourth vertical pixel column (whatever it's called) is really really thin; maybe not even there. All my text is really messed up, and everything on the screen looks like complete crap. This happened to me before, but not because of a new graphics card. I think it was after I installed a new secondary drive. I have no idea what I did to fix it that time though.

I have an HP Pavillion 854n with XP MCE (SP2), and my monitor is a 27 inch Syntax ölevia, in case that has anything to do with it.

Does anyone here know what's causing this, how to fix it, or what a vertical pixel column is called so I don't have to keep calling it that? Thanks for any help.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/843451.html