Technology Ask any computer tech support question here

[Samus Aran]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

i have a file on my desktop that i am unable to delete b/c i get an error message saying the file may already have been deleted (even though it's still right there on my desktop laughing at me). 🙁

any ideas on how i can get rid of this thing?

 

[Stroganoff]

I hate how IE will crash or give me a "Page Cannot Be Displayed" right after submitting a form, or submitting a post. When I go back to resubmit, everything is lost. Is this just one of IE's annoying traits, and is there a way around this?

Back in the days of Netscape Communicator, if you hit the Back button all the info would still be there. I might just have to switch to Firefox (again).

How's FireFox 1.0 treatin ya guys? I had one of the earlier versions and switched back to IE because of page incompatabilities, but now I might switch back since it's out of preview.

 

[Stroganoff]

i have a file on my desktop that i am unable to delete b/c i get an error message saying the file may already have been deleted (even though it's still right there on my desktop laughing at me). 🙁

any ideas on how i can get rid of this thing?

I get this sometimes, and a restart usually fixes the problem. If that doesn't work, what's the name of the file, and is it "grayed" out or anything?

And what does its laugh sound like? Evil? Amused? This is important.

 

[Daedalus]

i have a file on my desktop that i am unable to delete b/c i get an error message saying the file may already have been deleted (even though it's still right there on my desktop laughing at me). 🙁

any ideas on how i can get rid of this thing?

I'm not familiar with any message saying something about having already been deleted, but when I try to delete something and it says that the file is in use or blah blah blah, and I know that it isn't (and trying to delete from safe mode gets the same error), I open notepad, type a few letters, then choose "save as" and save over the offending file. At this point, you should be able to delete it successfully. This method might be worth a try if you still can't delete it.

 

[DDS2BE]

I hate how IE will crash or give me a "Page Cannot Be Displayed" right after submitting a form, or submitting a post. When I go back to resubmit, everything is lost. Is this just one of IE's annoying traits, and is there a way around this?

Back in the days of Netscape Communicator, if you hit the Back button all the info would still be there. I might just have to switch to Firefox (again).

How's FireFox 1.0 treatin ya guys? I had one of the earlier versions and switched back to IE because of page incompatabilities, but now I might switch back since it's out of preview.

Try cleaning out cache and cookies once in a while. Also, keep your windows updated. Simply go Tools->internet options->delete cookies, delete files located in the middle of the window.

 

[Samus Aran]

I get this sometimes, and a restart usually fixes the problem. If that doesn't work, what's the name of the file, and is it "grayed" out or anything?

And what does its laugh sound like? Evil? Amused? This is important.

I'm not familiar with any message saying something about having already been deleted, but when I try to delete something and it says that the file is in use or blah blah blah, and I know that it isn't (and trying to delete from safe mode gets the same error), I open notepad, type a few letters, then choose "save as" and save over the offending file. At this point, you should be able to delete it successfully. This method might be worth a try if you still can't delete it.

thanks you two, but somehow when i tried to delete the file again today it let me delete it (like a month later)

 

[bulldog]

when dvd-r's say that they're 4x, how long does it take to fill up 5 gb's? I just bought a 25 pack of generic dvdr's for my new dvd burner. However, it takes like an hour to burn a dvd worth of files. maybe it's the discs that are messed up or maybe dvd burning is this slow.

 

[DDS2BE]

when dvd-r's say that they're 4x, how long does it take to fill up 5 gb's? I just bought a 25 pack of generic dvdr's for my new dvd burner. However, it takes like an hour to burn a dvd worth of files. maybe it's the discs that are messed up or maybe dvd burning is this slow.

I have a 4x burner and it takes about 15-20 minutes to burn a full DVD disc. If you have a 2x or 1x DVD burner, then it will burn at the speed it's designed for. Also, some programs like Nero have speed selection where you have to select which speed you want to burn a disc at.

 

[MoosePilot]

Have some adware that keeps directing my browser to ads234.something when I try to come to SDN. I used adware, spybot, and Norton antivirus. Spybot and Norton caught some stuff, adware seems totally asleep. Any advice?

 

[GTA]

Ok, does anyone know of some DVD cloning/copying software that actually works?.... I have tried several and I cant make them work....

Also, is anyone using DVD Cloner?

Thanks (feel free to PM me if you want)

 

[DDS2BE]

Ok, does anyone know of some DVD cloning/copying software that actually works?.... I have tried several and I cant make them work....

Also, is anyone using DVD Cloner?

Thanks (feel free to PM me if you want)

It depends on your purpose. If you have intention to make a "backup" of your original DVD movie, then DVD cloner won't work. You need a program called DVD Shrink. What it does is makes a backup of your DVD movie and shrinks it down to 4.7 GB. Why 4.7GB? Because original DVD movies take up to 9 GB of space but your black DVDs support only 4.7GB.

Unfortunately, I won't go into more details due to some legal aspects of this issues, but if you use Google, you will find a lot more information on it and DVD Shrink specifically.

Same thing applies to DVD games such as PS2 and Xbox.

 

[GTA]

It depends on your purpose. If you have intention to make a "backup" of your original DVD movie, then DVD cloner won't work. You need a program called DVD Shrink. What it does is makes a backup of your DVD movie and shrinks it down to 4.7 GB. Why 4.7GB? Because original DVD movies take up to 9 GB of space but your black DVDs support only 4.7GB.

Unfortunately, I won't go into more details due to some legal aspects of this issues, but if you use Google, you will find a lot more information on it and DVD Shrink specifically.

Same thing applies to DVD games such as PS2 and Xbox.

Thanks bro...
See, with the recent news of Tsumani's, I really feel the need to back up the DVDs that I own & I am sure Blockbuster is busy making the same preperations as we speak.... the floods worry me 😉😉

 

[DDS2BE]

Thanks bro...
See, with the recent news of Tsumani's, I really feel the need to back up the DVDs that I own & I am sure Blockbuster is busy making the same preperations as we speak.... the floods worry me 😉😉

 

[Stroganoff]

Bumping this thread to help reduce threads in the Tech forum.

Ask here and you will be healed!

 

[Da ObtURator]

I was just wondering.... what news ticker/crawl do you use on your desktop. I checked out some on download.com but they were too restricitive. They don't let you pick the sites where your news comes from. So I was wondering if any of you guys had suggestions on a pretty good news ticker, THANX!

 

[Ninja]

I was just wondering.... what news ticker/crawl do you use on your desktop. I checked out some on download.com but they were too restricitive. They don't let you pick the sites where your news comes from. So I was wondering if any of you guys had suggestions on a pretty good news ticker, THANX!

Sorry mate, I dont really use a news ticker. Wish I could help.

 

[GrandMasterB]

Hey guys. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good way to sync files between two computers . I have a laptop and a desktop and want to sync my docs, music, pics etc without having to remember which files i have where/whipping out the thumb drive etc. any help is appreciated!

 

[espbeliever]

create a central computer/server, create links on secondary computers to those particular files?

 

[bwells46]

Dont forget to turn your computer off "shared" and to enable a long 128-bit WEP password-- make it random and alphanumeric. WEP is extremely important to make sure people dont jack your connection.

Actually, WEP is very easy to crack. What you want to use is WPA with AES.

 

[bwells46]

IAll I use is Symantec (aka Norton) AntiVirus (provided by my school), Ad-Aware Personal Edition (free), and Spybot Search and Destroy (free). PC World did a test on several spyware programs, and many of the ones that cost money were worse than Ad-Aware and Spybot. You can get the pay version of Ad-Aware for real-time protection.

I don't really use any other spyware programs or registry cleaners. Hope some of this helps.

Ad-Aware has really dropped off in quality over the past several months. IT seems like they're spending too much time making it look nice and not enough time improving the detection engine. However, Microsoft's free Anti-Spyware program is pretty good.

For an Anti-virus, I usually recommend AVG from http://www.grisoft.com. The free version is great and isn't as much of a memory hog as Norton or McAffee.

For your registry, there's a great program called Registry Repair but you only get it for 30 days - http://www.glarysoft.com

Check out the last issue of Maximum PC. They did a great review on software for all this stuff.

 

[jendc08]

Ok, I have a question that Dell tech support couldnt help me with. Sometimes the volume control and battery level/ac plug in icons show up in my lower right hand corner and sometimes they dont. I want them to be there all the time. Do you know how I can have this happen? I thought I may have accidently turned them off while messing with startup items in msconfig, but I dont think that did it anymore. I have windows xp btw. Thanks for your help!

 

[tinman831]

Ok, I have a question that Dell tech support couldnt help me with. Sometimes the volume control and battery level/ac plug in icons show up in my lower right hand corner and sometimes they dont. I want them to be there all the time. Do you know how I can have this happen? I thought I may have accidently turned them off while messing with startup items in msconfig, but I dont think that did it anymore. I have windows xp btw. Thanks for your help!

for volume, try going into the control panel, and selecting "sounds and audio devices properties" and under the volume tab, select place volume icon in the task bar.

as for the battery icon, in the control panel, click "power options" and select the "advanced" tab. then select "always show icon on the task bar"

hope this helps 🙂

 

[jendc08]

for volume, try going into the control panel, and selecting "sounds and audio devices properties" and under the volume tab, select place volume icon in the task bar.

as for the battery icon, in the control panel, click "power options" and select the "advanced" tab. then select "always show icon on the task bar"

hope this helps 🙂

I have actually already tried that, but once I turn the computer off and then back on, the settings wont hold... 🙁

 

[Sessamoid]

I have actually already tried that, but once I turn the computer off and then back on, the settings wont hold... 🙁

Sounds like a bug in Windows, perhaps in waking from sleep mode. There may not be a solution for that problem.

 

[Stroganoff]

Ok, I have a question that Dell tech support couldnt help me with. Sometimes the volume control and battery level/ac plug in icons show up in my lower right hand corner and sometimes they dont. I want them to be there all the time. Do you know how I can have this happen? I thought I may have accidently turned them off while messing with startup items in msconfig, but I dont think that did it anymore. I have windows xp btw. Thanks for your help!

Right-click on an empty part of your taskbar, click on Properties. Click on the Customize button in the Notifications Area. Find the icons for Volume control and your power level and change them to "Always show."

 

[BGGA]

I thinking about buying one for med school. I haven't decided which one yet, but does anyone have any experience with these computers? It seems like a great laptop (to my untrained eye). So far the only cons I have come up with are battery life of only about 2 hrs, pc 2700 DDR Ram instead of DDR2(someone else's con, can anyone translate to laymans terms). Any info or opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[jendc08]

Hi, I need some help with some awful spyware I have. I get popups from winfixer.com, trafficexplorer.com, and matchservice.com Does anyone know how to get rid of this? I have run numerous antivirus and antispyware programs: norton, bitdefender, ravantivirus, adaware, trend micor anti-spyware, spybot, spywareblaster, ccleaner, stinger, hsremove. PLEASE HELP!

 

[Sessamoid]

Hi, I need some help with some awful spyware I have. I get popups from winfixer.com, trafficexplorer.com, and matchservice.com Does anyone know how to get rid of this? I have run numerous antivirus and antispyware programs: norton, bitdefender, ravantivirus, adaware, trend micor anti-spyware, spybot, spywareblaster, ccleaner, stinger, hsremove. PLEASE HELP!

Might be time to backup your important data, wipe the drive, and reinstall Windows. A periodic ritual. Richer folks just throw away the old computer and buy a new one, which makes Microsoft smile and makes baby Jesus cry.

 

[DrZizmor]

Hey,

Any recommendations for a useful and relatively inexpensive PDA (~$200). I see all my friends on rotations handily looking up drug dosages with them while I'm slogging through that little green book. A lot of folks seem to be using the Palm Tungsten series (TE, TE2, TE3 -- I think those are the models)

Don't know too much about what type of functionality I should be looking for. Hopefully something with a long-battery life. The other thing on my wish-list is something with sound capabilities, or a good sound plug-in available (with recording ability) so I could listen to lectures or music on those long shuttle rides to and from the hospital.

Also, anyone know about using an iPod for PDA-like tasks?

Thanks so much. Any advice will be appreciated as I really know very little about the subject.

 

[jendc08]

Might be time to backup your important data, wipe the drive, and reinstall Windows. A periodic ritual. Richer folks just throw away the old computer and buy a new one, which makes Microsoft smile and makes baby Jesus cry.

Ummmm, any other suggestions???

 

[jbruno]

Hi, I need some help with some awful spyware I have. I get popups from winfixer.com, trafficexplorer.com, and matchservice.com Does anyone know how to get rid of this? I have run numerous antivirus and antispyware programs: norton, bitdefender, ravantivirus, adaware, trend micor anti-spyware, spybot, spywareblaster, ccleaner, stinger, hsremove. PLEASE HELP!

what about switching to a different browser like firefox or opera? 😀
For the spyware, try spysweeper

 

[Sessamoid]

Ummmm, any other suggestions???

Nope. It sounds like you've run practically every cleaner and anti-spyware program in the world, so I'm guessing the computer is hopelessly infected.

 

[Mike59]

Hi, I need some help with some awful spyware I have. I get popups from winfixer.com, trafficexplorer.com, and matchservice.com Does anyone know how to get rid of this? I have run numerous antivirus and antispyware programs: norton, bitdefender, ravantivirus, adaware, trend micor anti-spyware, spybot, spywareblaster, ccleaner, stinger, hsremove. PLEASE HELP!

Did you clear your cache and temporary internet file folders before/after running the spyware programs? Sometimes the anti-spyware program isn't enough, you need to clean stuff out manually.

Another thing to try is to search google for how to edit your registry to completely remove the spyware. For example type in "help winfixer.com" and see what comes up. That's really tedious but it may help.

 

[jbruno]

u should also remove your temp folder at Documents and Settings.

 

[Jmuhnie]

You should also check to make sure your computer has all of the latest security updates from microsoft. Some of these updates will prevent new "infections" from occuring if and when you do get your system cleared. An easy way to check is to go up to tools in internet explorer and then down to windows update. I'd say to follow Mike's advice, I typed in winfixer removal to google and several sites came up with help.

 

[tinman831]

The biggest thing you need to do is make sure that you are NOT connected to the internet and that the spyware programs are running while you are running the spyware remover. Go into safemode, run the spyware remover, and you shouldn't see them ever again.

 

[MadameLULU]

How can I transfer all my data from my desktop to my new beautiful laptop 😍 😍 😍 ??

I'd prefer not to purchase a flash drive b/c it would take forever. Any suggestions????

 

[southerndoc]

How can I transfer all my data from my desktop to my new beautiful laptop 😍 😍 😍 ??

I'd prefer not to purchase a flash drive b/c it would take forever. Any suggestions????

It depends. What kind of laptop did you buy?

If you have a Macintosh, and are moving from a Windows PC, then Move-2-Mac is a program that will help you migrate.

If you bought a Powerbook and already had another Mac, then it's very easy to transfer EVERYTHING (documents, even programs) to your new Mac. Simply connect the 2 Macs with a Firewire cable, boot the FIRST (original, desktop) Mac with the T button held down (you can't use a Bluetooth keyboard for this, must be a wired keyboard). That will launch it into drive mode. Now boot up the new Powerbook or new Mac and it will automatically transfer all data.

 

[jebus]

It depends. What kind of laptop did you buy?

If you have a Macintosh, and are moving from a Windows PC, then Move-2-Mac is a program that will help you migrate.

Wow, southerndoc, you really are a mac devotee. I can't blame you, I love my g4 PB. But you don't have to buy any software.
If you don't have a mac, either as the new computer or the old computer, it is easy. If you do, it's just as easy.
If you can network the two computers (via any combination of WiFi and ethernet) it should be straightforward. Just connect them both to the network (control panel>>system settings), turn on sharing on the desktop computer, tell the desktop computer which folders you want to share, and then go to your laptop, go to network neighborhood, connect to the desktop computer and drag & drop from the desktop to the laptop. Depending on the amount of data you need to transfer this may take a while. Just walk away and usually a few hours later it will transfer everything over. If the new computer is a mac, you don't need to configure it for the network, it does it by itself. Clever little machine, it is.
If you can, take out the old desktop HD & put it into a USB HD enclosure and connect it to the laptop. This will be the fastest transfer speed. (It also works from PCs to macs, but not the other way. Macs can read NTFS and FAT32, but windows will not read HFS+.) You can get a program from mediafour (I forgot the name of the program) that will install drivers on a PC to allow it to read an HFS formatted drive. At $50, it's really your call. If you can network the computers it is really not worth it.
If the desktop has a CD/DVD burner, you can use that, too. CD-Rs are cheap. DVD-Rs are cheap. I would do this.... Again, a mac will read the PC disks, but the PC will not read the mac disks.
If this is at all confusing - and given my fractured language abilities today, it very well is - google definitely will help. Or go to Dell's support forums. This question has invariably been answered there very eloquently and comprehensively.
I hope this helps!

 

[MadameLULU]

It depends. What kind of laptop did you buy?

If you have a Macintosh, and are moving from a Windows PC, then Move-2-Mac is a program that will help you migrate.

If you bought a Powerbook and already had another Mac, then it's very easy to transfer EVERYTHING (documents, even programs) to your new Mac. Simply connect the 2 Macs with a Firewire cable, boot the FIRST (original, desktop) Mac with the T button held down (you can't use a Bluetooth keyboard for this, must be a wired keyboard). That will launch it into drive mode. Now boot up the new Powerbook or new Mac and it will automatically transfer all data.

Im moving data from PC to PC, specifically from a Dell desktop to an IBM laptop.

 

[southerndoc]

Im moving data from PC to PC, specifically from a Dell desktop to an IBM laptop.

Good luck!

Maybe sunny can help ya out.

 

[pgator]

My friend has setup a forum to start a professional union/association under an alias. This of course is done covertly and the company has been trying to find out who is the leader of this movement. His job is overseas and his apartment building has WiFi access. The building houses only colleagues from his company. He is worried that if he uses the wireless internet connection when logging into the forum, the company can "watch" internet activity and find out that he is the forum administrator.

Can this be possible? There is a lot of paranoia but perhaps some of it is founded because a similar movement in the company years ago caused an employee to nearly lose his job.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[tcid]

Let me first say that the s isn't capitalized in Netscape. Second, have you heard of Firefox? It's based on Netscape, and you really don't have to use the tabbed browsing. Finally, if you really want to stick to Netscape, try uninstalling it and then reinstalling it. You mentioned that this happens on occasion. Maybe a particular site that you go to is causing the problem? If so, then use another browser for that site. If that doesn't work, it could be one or more of a whole lot of things that's wrong.

 

[tknowledge1]

As my way of saying 'Thank you' to the beautiful SDN community, I'll try to answer as much of your computer questions as I can, for free.

But there is a catch: you can only post them here on this thread. No PM or Email (so that this thread will serve as a repository for other members)

Both Windows and Linux are welcome (I dont have expertise with other operating systems). Hardware or software or networking, ask away.

Other members are also welcome to answer these questions if they like to.

🙂

I am a Computer Security Analyst, and when I used to be a computer cracker, who specialized in the dark arts. I am now moving into anesthesiology. I will also second the comp support, and I am free for email. I
primarily use Linux/Win for the duration of my projects.

 

[Apollyon]

I got my new computer, and I'm setting it up. My question is on partition size, hard drive capacity needed for installation, and backup size.

The primary drive is 80Gb, and the secondary 250Gb. I am going to install Win XP Media Center. I figure I can just use the primary drive for system and program files, whereas data and media go to the secondary, along with backup and page file.

Now, my first question is, really, how much hard drive is needed to install XP (Media Center, or otherwise, as I've read that it's about the same for MC and for Pro)? Then, after that, how big of a partition do I need to make on the second drive to mirror the first, or is that overkill - do I have to back up like a mirror, or only certain elements? I am not looking to do RAID 1 (I know, different size hard drives make it unstable).

Any help? Thanks!

 

[16846]

Now, my first question is, really, how much hard drive is needed to install XP (Media Center, or otherwise, as I've read that it's about the same for MC and for Pro)? Then, after that, how big of a partition do I need to make on the second drive to mirror the first, or is that overkill - do I have to back up like a mirror, or only certain elements? I am not looking to do RAID 1 (I know, different size hard drives make it unstable).

Well, it all depends on what you plan on using your Windows for. I find a 10 gig partition for my XP installation is plenty, but if you install a lot of programs 20 is probably better.

Concerning backup, I find the best program is Acronis True Image. It will take a perfect image of the HD, compress it, and allow you to store it on the backup drive and anytime you want to "update" the original image you can do an incremental backup that only appends the changes, no need to take another full image. The controls are very simple but it's a very powerful application.

 

[Apollyon]

Well, it all depends on what you plan on using your Windows for. I find a 10 gig partition for my XP installation is plenty, but if you install a lot of programs 20 is probably better.

Concerning backup, I find the best program is Acronis True Image. It will take a perfect image of the HD, compress it, and allow you to store it on the backup drive and anytime you want to "update" the original image you can do an incremental backup that only appends the changes, no need to take another full image. The controls are very simple but it's a very powerful application.

Sounds good - I'll look into it. Thanks, dude, and welcome back!!

 

[BATiger]

I need help! I am in a three way battle with my blackberry, treo and freakin microsoft outlook. I updated outlook and somehow my entire calendar (perfectly organized, color-coded, crazy med students entire life!!) is gone. I wasn't worried since I back up my blackberry frequently. Turns out, blackberry files are IPD? Whatever that means and no other programs can read it. I could only restore it to the blackberry which will no longer synch with outlook. WTF? So, I can see it on the blackberry, but cant move it anywhere. Don't make me re-enter everything one by one... can anyone help?? Ideally, I want this info on my new treo and on the palm desktop, but I'll take what I can get...
Thank you in advance

 

[16846]

I need help! I am in a three way battle with my blackberry, treo and freakin microsoft outlook. I updated outlook and somehow my entire calendar (perfectly organized, color-coded, crazy med students entire life!!) is gone. I wasn't worried since I back up my blackberry frequently. Turns out, blackberry files are IPD? Whatever that means and no other programs can read it. I could only restore it to the blackberry which will no longer synch with outlook. WTF? So, I can see it on the blackberry, but cant move it anywhere. Don't make me re-enter everything one by one... can anyone help?? Ideally, I want this info on my new treo and on the palm desktop, but I'll take what I can get...
Thank you in advance

You need to provide some more information before I can help you. What model of Blackberry are you using? What model of Treo are you using? What version of Outlook are you using? What update did you install that made your calendar disappear? When did your Blackberry stop syncing with Outlook?

 

[BATiger]

Ok, sorry. Blackberry is 7100t, outlook is 2003 I believe, Treo is 700p. Blackberry stopped synching after I updated outlook. I just went to "help" on the toolbar and there was a choice of search for updates. I didn't know it would replace everything!