The General "Computer Issues" Thread

[wonderfly]

Thanks, turns out I just needed to change the speakers to make the TV monitor the default speakers. I appreciate the help, guys!

 

[defunctzombie]

That's good. I always hate it when I spend a while trying to fix a problem that turns out to have an easy solution.

 

[Harlequinn]

Not sure were this should go seeing it's an internet issue, but the site that can't be named -Not sure if I can say the name still] Won't let me post comments and makes me have to click "view comments" to make them show. And safety mode is OFF.

 

[ThisGuyTony]

Not sure were this should go seeing it's an internet issue, but the site that can't be named -Not sure if I can say the name still] Won't let me post comments and makes me have to click "view comments" to make them show. And safety mode is OFF.

Hmm... I've been talking and posting this question on other sites and other users are having the same problem. Maybe they're doing site maintenance.

EDIT: It's working fine now...

 

[Brandon Pierce]

Is iYogi legit?

My computer's been acting up. It keeps freezing sometimes, and other times it'll shut down on its own. I called Windows for help, and they directed me to iYogi.

One of the tech support people there did a remote on my computer (where they take control of it to look through my computer) and said the issue was having two anti-virus programs, that they conflict with one another. Plus there were other issues he spotted.

He then asked to subscribe (pay) for iYogi where they would keep the computer clean and free of viruses for at least 3 years.

Now here's the part that's kinda fishy. He said for me to only remove one anti-virus program. But if iYogi is added, wouldn't that still conflict with the other remaining anti-virus program (AntiNorton)? Anybody know if iYogi is a legitimate company, and not some scam?

 

[defunctzombie]

Apparently they're for real but the whole thing sounds fishy. If you just remove one of them yourself you might fix your problem. You shouldn't pay them to do that.

 

[OriginalGagBonke]

Need some help for my pc

I am currently using a different computer but I will make this quick. Now a few days ago, I was using my computer on mozzila and I was on deviantart. All of a sudden Mozilla then adds something next thing you know Firefox mozilla then closes and the page then crashes. Next thing you know I get a virus, after I took care of the virus I am currently trying to get mozilla to stop doing this. Anyone have witness this type of situation? I dont know if it was Mozilla or Deviantart but I would like to go onto deviantart but I dont want my PC to crash again with a virus. I can only assume that Mozilla is downloading stuff when its not supposed to. Anyone know how to stop that?

 

[defunctzombie]

I've used Mozilla for years and it never "just downloaded viruses", so unless DA got hacked, you got the virus from somewhere else. Make sure once you get that other PC cleaned that you reinstall Firefox and use the highest security settings.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

OK, I'm not sure where to put this, but it's driving me nuts. Synching my iPhone has become a serious problem. It will briefly sync up, then stop. there's still a current running through it, as it's charging, but it usually won't sync. Sometime I can fix the problem by rebooting the computer, but not always. Sometimes, it hooks itself up and then seems to eject for no reason. It's driving me crazy.

On another note I'm sure no one will be able to figure out, I recently purchased Command and Conquer: The First Decade. I was enjoying Yuri's Revenge when one day, I went to play and that particular game within the multi-game package had no sound. I called EA, and they had no idea, I tried what they said, and no luck, they simply giving me a free coupon, which is nice, but that's kind of the reason I bought the game. I tried downloading the official and unofficial patches, and uninstalling and reinstalling it several times, but no avail. I suppose that the unofficial patch might have done more harm than good, and it's designed to run on XP rather than Vista, but I had no trouble with it at first.

 

[Beefy]

On another note I'm sure no one will be able to figure out, I recently purchased Command and Conquer: The First Decade. I was enjoying Yuri's Revenge when one day, I went to play and that particular game within the multi-game package had no sound. I called EA, and they had no idea, I tried what they said, and no luck, they simply giving me a free coupon, which is nice, but that's kind of the reason I bought the game. I tried downloading the official and unofficial patches, and uninstalling and reinstalling it several times, but no avail. I suppose that the unofficial patch might have done more harm than good, and it's designed to run on XP rather than Vista, but I had no trouble with it at first.

Yuri's Revenge needs Red Alert 2 to be updated first. Make sure Red Alert 2 is patched, then install the patch for Yuri's Revenge.
If that doesn't help, make sure you have the latest version of DirectX installed and the latest drivers for your sound card.
You can also try running the game as an administrator or running it in Compatibility Mode for an older version of Windows.

 

[Spideyzilla]

Got quite a problem with my Mac's spellcheck. On both Pages and NeoOffice, the spell check is off. Words I know are spelled wrong are not underlined, and nothing happens when I attempt to do a spellcheck, meaning the computer thinks they're spelled right. I have even typed in nonsense words with random letters, and the computers registers no problem. As a chronic mispeller, this is quite a problem. Any ideas how to turn the spell check back on?

 

[PunkPhantom]

I'm having a problem with iTunes. The iTunes Store won't load (my actual Library works fine). When I try to open the store the loading bar will start moving, but then it will stop midway and it will just be a white screen where the store's supposed to be. What should I do?

 

[defunctzombie]

I don't know too much about Macs, but maybe a reinstall of iTunes would fix your store problem.

Spidey, try changing the spell check language to another version of English (UK, American, etc). If it starts picking up words again, change it back to Canadian English and see if it's fixed.

 

[MDawg]

I am currently using a different computer but I will make this quick. Now a few days ago, I was using my computer on Mozilla and I was on deviantart. All of a sudden Mozilla then adds something next thing you know Firefox then closes and the page then crashes. Next thing you know I get a virus, after I took care of the virus I am currently trying to get Mozilla to stop doing this. Anyone have witness this type of situation? I don't know if it was Mozilla or Deviantart but I would like to go onto deviantart but I don't want my PC to crash again with a virus. I can only assume that Mozilla is downloading stuff when its not supposed to. Anyone know how to stop that?

I've used Mozilla for years and it never "just downloaded viruses", so unless DA got hacked, you got the virus from somewhere else. Make sure once you get that other PC cleaned that you reinstall Firefox and use the highest security settings.

Yes, DA can do that. It has had a history of having malicious ads download viruses to computers (source: http://news.deviantart.com/article/109874/). The safest thing you can honestly do to prevent this is to block all ads (you can still whitelist sites you support and/or trust). For Firefox , you can do this by installing Adblock Plus from https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/1865.

After installing it, make sure to subscribe to EasyList and EasyPrivacy. EAsylist is presented as an option after your restart your browser, but for EasyPrivacy just go to http://easylist.adblockplus.org/ and click the Add EasyPrivacy to Adblock Plus link.

Outside of this, keeping your plugins up-to-date is a very important thing. Flash, Adobe Reader, Quicktime, Java etc are all possible methods of intrusion. Please make sure to update them (yes, those please update prompts they display are annoying, but the 2 or 3 minutes it takes to do will save you the much longer amount of time it would take to clean out the virus and/or wipe your PC and start fresh).

I rely on FileHippo.com's Update Checker software http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/
It's a nice little piece of software that scans your PC and lets you know what software needs an update and provides you an option to download it from their site (it doesn't have everything, but most commonly used software is there).

Also, for the love of all that is good, please please please enable Windows Update and also updates for other Microsoft products. It boggles my mind why anyone wouldn't do this, but people do and it's just a giant point-of-entry for infections.

Got quite a problem with my Mac's spellcheck. On both Pages and NeoOffice, the spell check is off. Words I know are spelled wrong are not underlined, and nothing happens when I attempt to do a spellcheck, meaning the computer thinks they're spelled right. I have even typed in nonsense words with random letters, and the computers registers no problem. As a chronic mispeller, this is quite a problem. Any ideas how to turn the spell check back on?

I'm not sure about NeoOffice, but I know Pages uses the built-in spellchecker. In both programs, do the following

Open the application that you want to use and choose Edit > Spelling and Grammar > “Check Spelling as You Type.”

To also check grammar with spelling, choose Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Check Grammar With Spelling.

If this doesn't work in the application, make sure the language is correct. To do this, do the following:

Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Show Spelling and Grammar

In the drop-down box at the option, make sure either "Automatic by Language" or [strike]"US English"[/strike] "Canadian English" is selected.

I'm having a problem with iTunes. The iTunes Store won't load (my actual Library works fine). When I try to open the store the loading bar will start moving, but then it will stop midway and it will just be a white screen where the store's supposed to be. What should I do?

Take a look at Apple's official support documentation for troubleshooting the issue.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3297

 

[wonderfly]

I'm thinking about buying some more RAM for memory storage space and to speed up my computer even more. What factors should I take into consideration when buying RAM? What would you recommend?

 

[MDawg]

I'm thinking about buying some more RAM for memory storage space and to speed up my computer even more. What factors should I take into consideration when buying RAM? What would you recommend?

With RAM, going with the most you can get into your PC and the best speed you can get is always a good way to go. Of course you have to consider price as well.

That said, almost never buy your RAM in a physical store, you're going to overpay by way too much unless it's a really good sale. First, check out http://www.crucial.com to find out what RAM your PC can take and other relevant info. They make it really easy with just a few drop downs your pick your selection from. That said, I ran a search on your particular model already.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Pavilion p6754y&Cat=RAM

Based on that, they give you a nice little rundown of the RAM support for your model. The problem I'm not sure of is how many of the slots are filled. You can open up your PC case to find this out. If all 4 are in use, they'd be 4, 1GB sticks. If it's only 2, it'd be 2, 2GB sticks. Either way, at a minimum you'll want to get 2 sticks. Matching pairs just makes things run more smooth.

If there's 2 sticks in there, you can just buy a pair of sticks and either get a 2GB or 4GB bump (it just depends on how much you want to spend). If there's 4 sticks, you'd be tossing aside 2 of the sticks and putting in your new sticks (make sure to place them in as pairs. the 2 new sticks you get should both go into either the black or white slots together. It doesn't matter which, but they need to be paired together.

After you run through Crucial, once you've decided on the RAM you want, buy it elsewhere. Crucial is great for finding RAM, but they charge a bit more and you have to pay for shipping. You can find Crucial-branded RAM elsewhere for cheaper typically anyways.

2GB (2 x 1GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134788
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231150
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00168NWU0?tag=toonzone03

All 2 x 1GB from Newegg

4GB (2 x 2GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148262
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231179
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001R4BT1M?tag=toonzone03

All 2 x 2GB from Newegg

I recommend Newegg so much because they have a really good RMA policy in case you end up with defective parts.

 

[defunctzombie]

I'm thinking about buying some more RAM for memory storage space and to speed up my computer even more. What factors should I take into consideration when buying RAM? What would you recommend?

Keep in mind that you don't store anything in your memory, you store things in a hard disk.

That being said, you probably won't notice any difference if you buy more. You've got 4 GBs of DDR3, the newest and fastest RAM. I have 8 and I've never, EVER gone above 25% usage (even when encoding video). Buying RAM now would be a waste of money if you don't do any demanding tasks. Your graphics card has its own RAM, so that reduces the load. My friend builds his own PCs and he told me I have more RAM than I'll ever need for the life of the computer, and I have a gaming PC.

If you want to see what amount of RAM you use right now, open up Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) and look at the lower graph under the Performance Tab. If it's low all the time, then don't bother upgrading.

 

[MDawg]

Keep in mind that you don't store anything in your memory, you store things in a hard disk.

That being said, you probably won't notice any difference if you buy more. You've got 4 GBs of DDR3, the newest and fastest RAM. I have 8 and I've never, EVER gone above 25% usage (even when encoding video). Buying RAM now would be a waste of money if you don't do any demanding tasks. Your graphics card has its own RAM, so that reduces the load. My friend builds his own PCs and he told me I have more RAM than I'll ever need for the life of the computer, and I have a gaming PC.

If you want to see what amount of RAM you use right now, open up Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) and look at the lower graph under the Performance Tab. If it's low all the time, then don't bother upgrading.

Gotta agree with this. Unless you're doing something extremely resource-intensive, you're really never gonna need that RAM (I have 8GB myself, but that was more due to a great sale than anything ) With 4GB though and a separate video card, it should be running rather smoothly for any day-to-day stuff you're currently doing.

 

[wonderfly]

Hmm. Maybe I won't buy RAM then. I was just thinking about if I ever did want to do some gaming, it was best to have more RAM. But I'm probably still stuck playing games 3 to 4 years old, so probably no need to have more RAM for those...

 

[Mesousa]

An odd...issue is happening through my computer:

Get this; my Windows XP Anti-Spyware is telling me I have over 27 kinds of viruses on my computer, however, Avira Anti-Virus is telling me that I have none. It keeps messaging me over and over and over again that I have spyware inflicting on my computer and malware, however, my computer is acting quite fine, as it turns on and off normally.

Why can't I remove it? It's the unregistered version, so it's basically crap (and no, I don't want to waste 80 dollars on the official version).

That's not even the best part. It goes as far as not letting go on the internet, and while it has the option to go to the internet without internet protection, it won't allow me still, so what's the point?! And no matter how many new tabs or windows you open, it won't won't let you in.