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[flighterdoc]

Help

I didn't spill anything on my keyboard at work, but there are a few keys that will NOT work, regardless of how hard I push into the key.

The 'zxbm and enter' buttons do not work

I already tried pushing in the cord to make sure it wasn't a loose connection. Is it a virus? or is my keyboard just messed up? I ran a virus check and it said I didn't have any infected files. I also tried shutting down the computer and turning it back on, and the keys still won't work.

Oh, and the only reason I can type is because I'm in a different room on a different computer.

Sounds like the keyboard is dirty. It happens, keyboards are poorly designed, poorly manufactured mechanical devices. And, for what keyboards cost, just go get a new one, and plug it in. For $10-20, you'll be happier than trying to clean the keys and microswitches.

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[NDESTRUKT]

Sounds like the keyboard is dirty. It happens, keyboards are poorly designed, poorly manufactured mechanical devices. And, for what keyboards cost, just go get a new one, and plug it in. For $10-20, you'll be happier than trying to clean the keys and microswitches.

or if you want take off the keys and clean them underneath...some keyboards make it easy to do that...and it takes a few minutes. it's happened to me before.

maybe bgreet can answer this too since he's such a hardware wiz

 

[Ninja]

Scubes, you can try a can of compressed air that you get at computer stores, but instead of spending $5 on it, you can get a new keyboard for $10

 

[Yogi Bear]

if u're a risk taker, get the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner, and suck that gunk off ur keyboard.

 

[scubadiva]

Keyboard was replaced by the computer technician. I can post again from class



edit: This keyboard is dirtier than the other keyboard, so I wonder why this one works.

 

[flighterdoc]

Keyboard was replaced by the computer technician. I can post again from class



edit: This keyboard is dirtier than the other keyboard, so I wonder why this one works.

Coke hasn't been spilled into it yet?

Diet Coke, btw, is OK. The regular stuff gunks it up. Stick to Diet Coke with Lime to be extra safe

 

[scubadiva]

Coke hasn't been spilled into it yet?

Diet Coke, btw, is OK. The regular stuff gunks it up. Stick to Diet Coke with Lime to be extra safe

I don't drink soda...only coffee, water, or alcohol for me.

Okay, I can't actually drink alcohol at work, but the others are drinkable.

 

[flighterdoc]

I don't drink soda...only coffee, water, or alcohol for me.

Okay, I can't actually drink alcohol at work, but the others are drinkable.

If you put cream/sugar in your coffee, keep that away from the keyboard. If you drink decaf, keep the cup at least 20 feet away from the computer.

 

[Blade28]

My cat knocked over a glass of Mountain Dew Code Red all over the keyboard. Happened while I was out, though, so it was mostly dried when I got home. I just used paper towels and some compressed air...it still works, so far...

 

[flighterdoc]

My cat knocked over a glass of Mountain Dew Code Red all over the keyboard. Happened while I was out, though, so it was mostly dried when I got home. I just used paper towels and some compressed air...it still works, so far...

start looking for a new keyboard.... better than a 90% chance you'll start getting weird problems (sticking/not working keys, etc) that come and go.

 

[Chrisobean]

help me oh computer geniuses.

i know for a fact the 2 men in my house look at porn all the time. its obviously too embarrassing for me to say anything to them, but every time i find something i erase it, and i think its pretty obvious that im the one doing it. but this puts so much CRAP on the computer, i already had to do a system recovery once.

anyhoo - my homepage is hijacked. i have spybot and ad aware, and run them all the time and erase everything they find. i even checked the box in spybot that prevents homepage hijacking. it still doesnt work. it has been switched to www.thebestse.com
it acutally used to be something different, cool search or something like that, but that homepage actually had instructions on how to change it back to normal. so i did, and now im stuck with this crap. WTF can i do???
and sometimes, i go to SDN or any webpage, and an error box pops up saying IE cant open this page, operation aborted. WTF!

 

[Ninja]

help me oh computer geniuses.

i know for a fact the 2 men in my house look at porn all the time. its obviously too embarrassing for me to say anything to them, but every time i find something i erase it, and i think its pretty obvious that im the one doing it. but this puts so much CRAP on the computer, i already had to do a system recovery once.

anyhoo - my homepage is hijacked. i have spybot and ad aware, and run them all the time and erase everything they find. i even checked the box in spybot that prevents homepage hijacking. it still doesnt work. it has been switched to www.thebestse.com
it acutally used to be something different, cool search or something like that, but that homepage actually had instructions on how to change it back to normal. so i did, and now im stuck with this crap. WTF can i do???
and sometimes, i go to SDN or any webpage, and an error box pops up saying IE cant open this page, operation aborted. WTF!

Since you already used those tools, just to be sure, did you close your browser when you did that?

If not, close IE, Netscape and all other browsers you have and then run Spybot again. If it doesn't help, post again and I'll be glad to help.

PS: If it helps, some karma points would be great *shamess grin*

 

[Ninja]

My DSL is back, so I'll reply to your questions faster, just wanted to let know

 

[Chrisobean]

i have everything closed when i run both...
there's no link on the webpage on how to remove it. when i had the other hijacked webpage, it gave specific instructions on what to do, it involved removing registry stuff. i assume thats the way to go with this one as well, but im scared to f with that.

*bows down to superior computer knowledge*

 

[Yogi Bear]

help me oh computer geniuses.

i know for a fact the 2 men in my house look at porn all the time. its obviously too embarrassing for me to say anything to them, but every time i find something i erase it, and i think its pretty obvious that im the one doing it. but this puts so much CRAP on the computer, i already had to do a system recovery once.

anyhoo - my homepage is hijacked. i have spybot and ad aware, and run them all the time and erase everything they find. i even checked the box in spybot that prevents homepage hijacking. it still doesnt work. it has been switched to www.thebestse.com
it acutally used to be something different, cool search or something like that, but that homepage actually had instructions on how to change it back to normal. so i did, and now im stuck with this crap. WTF can i do???
and sometimes, i go to SDN or any webpage, and an error box pops up saying IE cant open this page, operation aborted. WTF!

-install a firewall, like sygate personal firewall (free) from download.com
-install a proxy server like http://proxomitron.org to take out all the popups/ads (doesn't work w/ aol). reset your homepage to it's preferred page via tools-->options. having a proxy server like proxomitron is the best way to remove popups and ALL ads (sadly, including SDN's...hehe).
-download something (i forgot the name exactly)...called a 'host' file that blacklists certain domains and prevents your computer from accessing those domains.
-run mozilla/firefox instead of ie6.

 

[Ninja]

i have everything closed when i run both...
there's no link on the webpage on how to remove it. when i had the other hijacked webpage, it gave specific instructions on what to do, it involved removing registry stuff. i assume thats the way to go with this one as well, but im scared to f with that.

*bows down to superior computer knowledge*

This might help (in case you havent seen it already):

http://www.able2know.com/forums/about21407.html

Lemme know if the issue still persists after following the above link.

 

[Ninja]

While bumping this thread, lemme post a SF story I read elsewhere (SF = starfish = totally clueless computer end-user)

SF got a brand new HDD, called me and went off because the computer would not boot to it...wanted a refund for the drive, because it was going right to the CDROM. I asked if he had an OS on it yet, and his exact words were "No you idiot I want to PUT an OS on the stupid thing!" O-o-o-oK, had to explain to SF that with no OS the Computer will not boot up to a HDD, got hung up on...is today Monday? Did someone let stupid people out? - [By: MoogleMage / 2004-04-29]

 

[Xega]

i have everything closed when i run both...
there's no link on the webpage on how to remove it. when i had the other hijacked webpage, it gave specific instructions on what to do, it involved removing registry stuff. i assume thats the way to go with this one as well, but im scared to f with that.

*bows down to superior computer knowledge*

Download "HijackThis" (just search for it on google) and post the output of that here. It will list everything in the registry that is related to browser hijacking in IE. We can then let you know which ones to get rid of.

 

[Alexander99]

I've got another question for you Mr. Computer Expert.

I've noticed my Dell laptop came installed with a bunch of crap that runs in the background and automatically starts up when you boot the computer. I disabled some of them by running msconfig from "run programs" and deselecting them from the startup tab.

Some of them weren't even listed on the startup tab (e.g. NotifyAlert.exe, Support.exe) so I just found the files and changed the filenames (to NotifyAlert.bak & Support.bak). Is there any disadvantage to doing it this way? I know you can also download some software that will keep these files from starting up but simply renaming these files seemed to keep them from running (I don't see them in task manager anymore). Thanks.

 

[Mr Reddly]

I've got another question for you Mr. Computer Expert.

Download "HijackThis" (just search for it on google)

It showed that stuff too.

 

[Mr Reddly]

When you run it, goto config->misc tools->generate startuplist log

 

[Ninja]

I've got another question for you Mr. Computer Expert.

I've noticed my Dell laptop came installed with a bunch of crap that runs in the background and automatically starts up when you boot the computer. I disabled some of them by running msconfig from "run programs" and deselecting them from the startup tab.

Some of them weren't even listed on the startup tab (e.g. NotifyAlert.exe, Support.exe) so I just found the files and changed the filenames (to NotifyAlert.bak & Support.bak). Is there any disadvantage to doing it this way? I know you can also download some software that will keep these files from starting up but simply renaming these files seemed to keep them from running (I don't see them in task manager anymore). Thanks.

I think these two tools are used by tech support by remotely connecting to your pc and troubleshoot it. I guess you dont need them running all the time, but only when you call tech support. I don't see anything wrong with this.

Did you check all the tabs in MSCONFIG (autoexec, startup, registry, win.ini, etc)? You can also disable some background services that you wont need by going to Control Panel > Administrative tools > Services. Just be sure to know what each thing does before you turn it off.

 

[javert]

I've got another question for you Mr. Computer Expert.

I've noticed my Dell laptop came installed with a bunch of crap that runs in the background and automatically starts up when you boot the computer. I disabled some of them by running msconfig from "run programs" and deselecting them from the startup tab.

Some of them weren't even listed on the startup tab (e.g. NotifyAlert.exe, Support.exe) so I just found the files and changed the filenames (to NotifyAlert.bak & Support.bak). Is there any disadvantage to doing it this way? I know you can also download some software that will keep these files from starting up but simply renaming these files seemed to keep them from running (I don't see them in task manager anymore). Thanks.

These background programs provide a variety of services: tech support, online help, button functionality (volume/CD buttons, depending on the model), etc... You can usually safely disable them, but doing so won't likely cause a noticeable performance improvement.

If you're looking to optimize WinXP services see blackviper.com.

 

[Direct Laryngoscopy]

My wife is starting Law School this fall and I want to surprise her with a notebook. I heard Toshiba Dell and HP are the best to purchase.

I'm looking for at least Pentium 4, 2.8 Ghz, 512 RAM, CD-RW/DVD, 60 Gigs of memory.

How much should I expect to spend?

I have a microsoft wireless router in my home, if I were to purchase a laptop with an internal wireless 11g card, would it be compatible with the router in my home?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alexander99]

Thanks for the info. The programs I renamed/disabled were Dell update alerts which are basically pointless (as long as you manually update) but take up memory or can cause your computer to crash. There are probably more I should disable but I'll have to look into it later cause now I actually have to do some work. Take it easy.

 

[Alexander99]

My wife is starting Law School this fall and I want to surprise her with a notebook. I heard Toshiba Dell and HP are the best to purchase.

I'm looking for at least Pentium 4, 2.8 Ghz, 512 RAM, CD-RW/DVD, 60 Gigs of memory.

How much should I expect to spend?

I have a microsoft wireless router in my home, if I were to purchase a laptop with an internal wireless 11g card, would it be compatible with the router in my home?

Thanks in advance.

I got a Dell Inspiron 9100 with those same specs (except I think you meant 60 gig hard drive instead of 60 gigs of memory) for <$1600 including tax, shipping. It's pretty fast.

The only problem is this laptop is huge (close to 10 pounds.) You might want a different model that's not quite as fast but is a lot lighter.

 

[Ninja]

My wife is starting Law School this fall and I want to surprise her with a notebook. I heard Toshiba Dell and HP are the best to purchase.

I'm looking for at least Pentium 4, 2.8 Ghz, 512 RAM, CD-RW/DVD, 60 Gigs of memory.

How much should I expect to spend?

I have a microsoft wireless router in my home, if I were to purchase a laptop with an internal wireless 11g card, would it be compatible with the router in my home?

Thanks in advance.

Rather than a 2.4+ GHz P4, you might as well get a Centrino 1.5 MHz, weighing less than 5 lb. I've had a big-ass Sony Vaio for a long time, it's about 8.5 lb. You really don't need so much power in a laptop, you never end up using them, unless you're into hardcore programming - even for which, a 1.5 GHz Centrino would be good.

Over time you come to realize that what you need from a laptop is mobility and battery life, and not really the fastest processor or all the features you wont use. I've had a heavy laptop, and I'm talking from experience.

Look for a Centrino laptop,
- about 1.5 GHz,
- 512 MB RAM (with ability to upgrade to 1 GB or more)
- 40 or 60 GB HDD,
- built-in wireless (802.11 b or b+g) (add-on cards have tiny antennas, so poor reception, built-in cards have a huge antenna inside the LCD panel/lid assembly)
- built-in DVD/CDRW
- built-in floppy is not essential
- screen size 12 to 14 inches (anything smaller is unusable, bigger is bulky)
- weight less than 5 lb

Some of the laptops that come to my mind are the Sony Vaio V505, Toshiba Portege Laptop/Tablet (cant remember the model number) and the Gateway 200E. You can customize them the way you want. They are all less than 5 lb, and have good battery life.

Incidentally, I just bought a refurbished Gateway 200E, with 1.6 GHz Centrino, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB HDD, built-in wireless, DVD/CDRW, 14.1 inch screen. It comes with a optical digital sound output (Awesome-O!!!!) and a S-Video output (Vaio 505 lacks TV output). It however came with a 1 year manufacturer warranty (rare for a refurbished), and my credit card gives me one more year extended warranty, I paid $1140 + $45 shipping.

I bought refurbished instead of new, because I have to fix my broken big-ass Sony and sell it, and lose a lot of money in the process, can't afford a new laptop right now.

Lemme know if you have more questions.

 

[Xega]

Hey wingthing, which credit card offers an additional year of warranty?

 

[Ninja]

Hey wingthing, which credit card offers an additional year of warranty?

Several Mastercards do (Gold, Platinum and International from any bank, I used a Platinum Mastercard: http://www.mastercard.com/aboutourcards/benefits_chart.html).

Platinums visas and some Amex cards too, from what I heard.

 

[Direct Laryngoscopy]

Thanks Wing, when i'm about to purchase I'll let you know what I have and see what you think.

 

[Ebola]

My "Microsoft Internet Explorer" isn't loading. How do I fix this?

 

[Mr Reddly]

My "Microsoft Internet Explorer" isn't loading. How do I fix this?

Wait.... That's a bad thing?

 

[Ninja]

My "Microsoft Internet Explorer" isn't loading. How do I fix this?

Install Mozilla. http://www.mozilla.org

 

[stwei]

Is there a software out there (grammar software program) that would allow me to change a statement into question format?

example: Phonophoresis drives whole molecules into tissues as opposed to
ions
Questions:
1) What - What drives whole molecules into tissues?
2)Where - Where does phonophoresis drive molecules into?
3)How- How does phonophoresis drive whole molecules into tissues?
4) definition - Term defining process via which whole molecules are driven into tissues

I was thinking about using underlining sentences and having a popup with options to click on to select which type of questions I would like to compile for that particular statement. I understand this involves a fair knowledge of AI programming and knowledge of linguistics, so is there a software outhere that does this kind of thing?

 

[Yogi Bear]

Is there a software out there (grammar software program) that would allow me to change a statement into question format?

example: Phonophoresis drives whole molecules into tissues as opposed to
ions
Questions:
1) What - What drives whole molecules into tissues?
2)Where - Where does phonophoresis drive molecules into?
3)How- How does phonophoresis drive whole molecules into tissues?
4) definition - Term defining process via which whole molecules are driven into tissues

I was thinking about using underlining sentences and having a popup with options to click on to select which type of questions I would like to compile for that particular statement. I understand this involves a fair knowledge of AI programming and knowledge of linguistics, so is there a software outhere that does this kind of thing?

this is pretty simple in ms word or any other application w/ macros.

1. Put the original statement into a 2 column table w/ the orginal statement on the left column.
2. Highly the portion of statement of interest.
i.e.

For "What drives whole molecules into tissues?", you would highlight

Phonophoresis drives whole molecules into tissues as opposed to ions.

3. Go to tools, create a new macro w/ a new shorcut (i.e. Alt + H for wHat questions).

4. The original text will be highlighted and you will return to the word processor.

5. Click Edit/Copy to copy the "phonophoresis drives whole molecules into tissues".

6. Press Tab to move into next column (adjacent)

7. Type what, press 'spacebar', click edit/paste, then type a "?".

8. Close the macro.

9. now, wheneever u want to ask the question, you'd just highlight the desigered text, press "Alt+H", and the 'what' question will be posted on the adjacent cell.

Repeat the steps for other iterations of questions.

If you want to do it in all one step, i suppose you could enter the original text in a 5-6 column format w/ the final column being the question columns. using the same principles as above, you might select 1-2 columns for the what quesiton, 2-3 for the how questions, etc.

 

[Yogi Bear]

anyone know how to backup emails from thunderbird .6? is there a file we save? thnx.

 

[Ninja]

Here you go:

Open Thunderbird. Go to Tools > Account settings

Select "Server settings" under the desired account.

Note the folder path under "Local directory" (bottom of right hand side)

Open that folder (the easy way I do it, I copy the local directory location, open
my computer', paste the folder path into the address bar and hit 'enter')

You see all the files there that need to be backed up. You can actually copy the whole director. For instance, if the path for your account "X" is

D:\Thunderbird\Profiles\default\s3em3xon.slt\Mail\X

Copy that whole X directory instead of individual files inside, and back it up.

You can later take it to another computer, create an email account on that Thunderbird, then go to the correct folder, and overwrite those files with the ones from your backup.

If you just want to backup a single email, you can actually open that email, and do File > Save

 

[stwei]

this is pretty simple in ms word or any other application w/ macros.

1. Put the original statement into a 2 column table w/ the orginal statement on the left column.
2. Highly the portion of statement of interest.
i.e.

For "What drives whole molecules into tissues?", you would highlight

Phonophoresis drives whole molecules into tissues as opposed to ions.

3. Go to tools, create a new macro w/ a new shorcut (i.e. Alt + H for wHat questions).

4. The original text will be highlighted and you will return to the word processor.

5. Click Edit/Copy to copy the "phonophoresis drives whole molecules into tissues".

6. Press Tab to move into next column (adjacent)

7. Type what, press 'spacebar', click edit/paste, then type a "?".

8. Close the macro.

9. now, wheneever u want to ask the question, you'd just highlight the desigered text, press "Alt+H", and the 'what' question will be posted on the adjacent cell.

Repeat the steps for other iterations of questions.

If you want to do it in all one step, i suppose you could enter the original text in a 5-6 column format w/ the final column being the question columns. using the same principles as above, you might select 1-2 columns for the what quesiton, 2-3 for the how questions, etc.

This sounds wonderful. So what do I do if I want to highlight more than one sentence and use the macro?

 

[Mike59]

I have 2 identities in my WindowsXP.

In one of them, my "Task manager" is messed up...When I press alt-ctrl-del, the task manager comes up, but without any of the menus at the top. It's just the list of programs....I can't select shut down or restart or anything like that, but I can manually close programs in the window. The task manager in the other identity is fine.

Any ideas about how to fix this?

 

[Yogi Bear]

Here you go:

Open Thunderbird. Go to Tools > Account settings

Select "Server settings" under the desired account.

Note the folder path under "Local directory" (bottom of right hand side)

Open that folder (the easy way I do it, I copy the local directory location, open
my computer', paste the folder path into the address bar and hit 'enter')

You see all the files there that need to be backed up. You can actually copy the whole director. For instance, if the path for your account "X" is

D:\Thunderbird\Profiles\default\s3em3xon.slt\Mail\X

Copy that whole X directory instead of individual files inside, and back it up.

You can later take it to another computer, create an email account on that Thunderbird, then go to the correct folder, and overwrite those files with the ones from your backup.

If you just want to backup a single email, you can actually open that email, and do File > Save

thanks. sounds good.

 

[Yogi Bear]

This sounds wonderful. So what do I do if I want to highlight more than one sentence and use the macro?

i don't think u could do that. you might have to play around w/ it until u get a good system going.

 

[Ninja]

I have 2 identities in my WindowsXP.

In one of them, my "Task manager" is messed up...When I press alt-ctrl-del, the task manager comes up, but without any of the menus at the top. It's just the list of programs....I can't select shut down or restart or anything like that, but I can manually close programs in the window. The task manager in the other identity is fine.

Any ideas about how to fix this?

Man, my quick reply would be to say "Give windows the boot, and install linux".

I think it could be one of the start-up programs in one of the profiles that causes this, or perhaps you do not have the rights to do this on the other profile. I'll post more if I find out why.

 

[southerndoc]

Does anyone know how to change the startup order of applications when Windows XP boots up?

I have AIM installed, but it boots up first (before my wireless network adapter boots up). I'd like to make it boot last. When it boots first, it doesn't automatically sign in. I still can't figure out why all of a sudden it started booting first instead of last.

Thanks!

 

[Ninja]

Does anyone know how to change the startup order of applications when Windows XP boots up?

I have AIM installed, but it boots up first (before my wireless network adapter boots up). I'd like to make it boot last. When it boots first, it doesn't automatically sign in. I still can't figure out why all of a sudden it started booting first instead of last.

Thanks!

I think the wireless driver would load first, but your AIM starts before the wireless card connects to the wireless router. It was my understanding that all drivers are loaded first, before the applications are loaded?!

 

[southerndoc]

I think the wireless driver would load first, but your AIM starts before the wireless card connects to the wireless router. It was my understanding that all drivers are loaded first, before the applications are loaded?!

Today when I booted the computer, AIM actually signed on. So it worked today.

But the AIM taskbar icon appears before my wireless driver's icon.

On another story, for some reason my icon actually disappeared today (I'm not talking about hiding where you click the left arrow and it shows the icon). It actually disappeared. when I signed off then back on, it came back. Any theories?

 

[Alexander99]

OK tech geniuses. I need more help. It seems everytime I run a virus scan, my scanner detects at least a few DLL files (Adware ones) which I guess are like spyware. It's fine cause my scanner finds them and I can delete them but how do I keep them from being downloaded onto my computer in the first place?

 

[Alexander99]

Oh, there's something else. For some reason, my new laptop likes to advance the clock 2 hours randomly. The clock will read 2:15 for example and the next time I check, it'll be 4:30 or something. This has happened 3 times that I can remember. What could be causing this?

 

[Yogi Bear]

Oh, there's something else. For some reason, my new laptop likes to advance the clock 2 hours randomly. The clock will read 2:15 for example and the next time I check, it'll be 4:30 or something. This has happened 3 times that I can remember. What could be causing this?

double click on the clock, change your timezone to the appropriate time zone.

 

[Alexander99]

double click on the clock, change your timezone to the appropriate time zone.

Thanks. That should hopefully solve that problem. I'm curious. Does Windows XP use the internet to check the correct time because how else would it know what the clock is supposed to be set at?

 

[Yogi Bear]

Thanks. That should hopefully solve that problem. I'm curious. Does Windows XP use the internet to check the correct time because how else would it know what the clock is supposed to be set at?

i dunno....it might. the only reason why i made that suggestion was that it happened to me last month. my computer usually changes the time whenever daylight savings starts/end. however, it didn't do it last month. turns out i had my settings on "central america (no daylight savings)" rather than "central time (us version w/ daylight savings)"...hehe.