The General "Computer Issues" Thread

[DisneyBoy]

I think I already have it actually!

But how do you play a DVD in it? Thanks for the help!

EDIT: Okay, I've opened it...now I'm looking for the right button...

 

[defunctzombie]

Under "Open Media" or whatever it is on a Mac, there should be an option for discs. I don't have a Mac to confirm, though.

 

[DisneyBoy]

Hmmm - used the "Video - Snapshot" option, but can't find where the snapshot WENT to...


EDIT:

FOUND 'EM! Thanks a lot amigo! Ya helped me get the job done

 

[WolfieKiwi]

Did you try holding down both the "Command" and "Shift" keys and then pressing 3?
You should hear a camera click confirming a picture was taken. Then the image should appear on your desktop as an icon labeled "screenshot".

I wish I could help more but I'm mac noob just as I'm a tech noob.

EDIT
Ahahaha, glad to hear you figured it out. XD

 

[defunctzombie]

Since we solved this one, I'm merging this thread into the computer problems one.

 

[wonderfly]

I managed to get Microsoft Office up and running on my PC. Moving on to the next problem:

I know I need to remove bloatware from my computer. I downloaded CCleaner and Autorun. CCleaner pulled up a bunch of programs for my review, but I don't know what's good and what's bloat. What do you recommend be deleted among the following (and some of these I've installed after turning on this computer for the first time):

Adobe AIR Adobe Systems Inc. 1/9/2011 1.5.3.9130
Adobe Flash Player 10 ActiveX Adobe Systems Incorporated 1/8/2011 2.47 MB 10.1.53.64
Adobe Flash Player 10 Plugin Adobe Systems Incorporated 3/20/2011 6.00 MB 10.2.152.32
ATI Catalyst Install Manager ATI Technologies, Inc. 1/8/2011 22.3 MB 3.0.774.0
ATT-PRT22 3/20/2011
Blio K-NFB Reading Technology, Inc. 1/8/2011 76.5 MB 2.0.5350
CCleaner Piriform 3/24/2011 3.05
CyberLink DVD Suite Deluxe CyberLink Corp. 1/8/2011 36.6 MB 7.0.3210
DVD Menu Pack for HP MediaSmart Video Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 100.5 MB 4.2.4412
FileZilla Client 3.3.5.1 3/22/2011 3.3.5.1
Google Chrome Google Inc. 3/20/2011 10.0.648.151
HP Games WildTangent 1/9/2011 1.0.1.5
HP MediaSmart DVD Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 107.9 MB 4.2.4725
HP MediaSmart Music Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 75.0 MB 4.2.4517
HP MediaSmart Photo Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 279 MB 4.2.4513
HP MediaSmart SmartMenu Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 2.05 MB 3.1.2.4
HP MediaSmart Video Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 316 MB 4.2.4522
HP MediaSmart/TouchSmart Netflix Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 9.67 MB 1.0.4.0
HP MovieStore Hewlett-Packard 1/9/2011 90.8 MB 2.0.2
HP Odometer Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 48.00 KB 2.10.0000
HP Setup Hewlett-Packard Company 1/8/2011 8.4.4400.3525
HP Setup Manager Hewlett-Packard Company 1/8/2011 6.01 MB 1.0.12844.3519
HP Support Assistant Hewlett-Packard Company 1/8/2011 52.3 MB 5.1.8.12
HP Support Information Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 0.15 MB 10.1.1000
HP Update Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 2.97 MB 5.002.003.003
HP Vision Hardware Diagnostics Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 11.4 MB 2.1.6.0
HTML-Kit HTMLKit.com 3/22/2011 1.0
Hulu Desktop Hulu LLC 3/20/2011 0.9.13
Java(TM) 6 Update 24 Oracle 3/20/2011 97.1 MB 6.0.240
Kobo Kobo Inc. 1/9/2011 1.6
LabelPrint CyberLink Corp. 1/8/2011 231 MB 2.5.3130
LightScribe System Software LightScribe 1/8/2011 25.0 MB 1.18.20.1
Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Client Profile Microsoft Corporation 3/22/2011 38.8 MB 4.0.30319
Microsoft IntelliPoint 8.0 Microsoft 3/22/2011 37.9 MB 8.01.249.0
Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 Microsoft Corporation 3/24/2011 14.0.4763.1000
Microsoft Silverlight Microsoft Corporation 3/24/2011 80.2 MB 4.0.60129.0
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition [ENU] Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 1.70 MB 3.1.0000
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64) Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 0.69 MB 8.0.56336
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.30729.17 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 0.77 MB 9.0.30729
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.30729.4148 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 0.77 MB 9.0.30729.4148
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.17 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 0.58 MB 9.0.30729
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.4148 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 0.58 MB 9.0.30729.4148
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.30319 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 13.7 MB 10.0.30319
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable - 10.0.30319 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 11.0 MB 10.0.30319
Movie Theme Pack for HP MediaSmart Video Hewlett-Packard 1/8/2011 428 MB 4.2.4412
Mozilla Firefox (3.6.16) Mozilla 3/23/2011 3.6.16 (en-US)
MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB954430) Microsoft Corporation 3/21/2011 1.28 MB 4.20.9870.0
MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB973688) Microsoft Corporation 3/21/2011 1.33 MB 4.20.9876.0
Norton Online Backup Symantec Corporation 1/8/2011 6.19 MB 2.1.17869
OpenOffice.org 3.3 OpenOffice.org 3/20/2011 374 MB 3.3.9567
PDF Complete Special Edition PDF Complete, Inc 1/9/2011 4.0.9
PhotoNow! CyberLink Corp. 1/8/2011 34.2 MB 1.1.7717
PictureMover Hewlett-Packard Company 1/8/2011 61.6 MB 3.5.0.33
PlayReady PC Runtime amd64 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 2.06 MB 1.3.0
PlayReady PC Runtime x86 Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 1.65 MB 1.3.0
Power2Go CyberLink Corp. 1/8/2011 169.7 MB 6.1.4329
PowerDirector CyberLink Corp. 1/8/2011 859 MB 8.0.3129
PressReader NewspaperDirect Inc. 1/8/2011 8.19 MB 5.10.1102.0
Realtek High Definition Audio Driver Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 1/8/2011 6.0.1.6196
RoxioNow Player RoxioNow 1/8/2011 11.0 MB 1.9.5.101
Trend Micro Titanium Trend Micro Inc. 3/20/2011 210 MB 3.0
Windows Live Essentials Microsoft Corporation 1/8/2011 15.4.3502.0922
Zinio Reader 4 Zinio LLC 1/9/2011 4.0.3184

 

[defunctzombie]

DEFINITELY get rid of the Wild Tangent crap. It's as close as you can get to adware without being called adware. After you delete it, you'll have to go into your Programs folder and manually remove some things. Here's instructions, scroll to post #4.

If that Norton is what came with the PC, it will expire in 30 days so you might as well ditch it.

I have Blio, Kobo, and Zinio on mine too, and I honestly don't know what they do. They're under the 'eReader' folder, so keep the one you'll use the most and you can get rid of the others. I have PressReader too, and I don't know what to do with it. No manual.

HP's photo viewer is nothing more than the Windows photo viewer with a black background, and on my computer it's actually slower (mine is only a few days younger than yours).

Edit: You'll want to keep the ATI stuff until you get your new graphics card. That's the display tweaker. If you buy a new card, it will come with it's own interface and you can use that.

 

[MDawg]

OpenOffice.org is worthless if you have Office 2010.

Adobe Air can go to. You're likely to not need it and if you do, you can re-install.

Norton Online Backup is probably useless unless you have a subscription.

PDF Complete is worthless is if has an expiration date. Office has built-in PDF creation and for anything else you can downlaod a program like doPDF if you don't need the fancy form-creation abilities of Acrobat.


One piece of software I do find handy is FileHippo.com Update Checker. It's a nice little program that just scans what's on your PC and lets you know if there's an updated version available and offers a download link. It only works with stuff available via the site, but it is a good chunk of stuff and handy in the event built-in update checkers in programs fail or lag behind as is often the case.

 

[wonderfly]

Thanks for the advice, guys.

Okay, so...what's a good, affordable TV tuner to buy, to hook up Windows Media Center to my TV so that I can record programs? I don't have cable, just an antenna signal (coming through the co-axel cable in the wall).

 

[defunctzombie]

Mine came with an internal one installed, so I don't know what brand it is. But when you buy one, check the box and make sure it is both analog and digital (that way you get more channels over the air).

 

[MDawg]

Thanks for the advice, guys.

Okay, so...what's a good, affordable TV tuner to buy, to hook up Windows Media Center to my TV so that I can record programs? I don't have cable, just an antenna signal (coming through the co-axel cable in the wall).

Going by your PC's specs, the limitation you have for an internal option is that is it will have to be PCI Express. With that in mind, Newegg still has a good number of options.

That said, if you'd like to continue with a low-cost solution, I'd pick this one. It's a little older, but is a great price, comes with all the extra bits you'd need and is NTSC (analong) and ATSC (digital) compatible. It works with Windows 7 and is Media Center-ready. It does function as a DVR as well, but be aware when recording analog channel, it doesn't have onboard MPEG-2 encoding (like this one does), so you may have some slight lag in recording (shouldn't be too noticeable on a newer system like yours).

Alternatively, you can look at a USB stick solution, but that would be moreso if you plan on hooking it up to a laptop or just want the ease of being able to take the tuner to another computer. If you're just using it on one PC, go with the internal model. You can probably rely on one of these 3 models if you decide to go USB though.

Read the reviews, they're your friends. I always try and read the most negative reviews for a product just to get an idea of what could go wrong. If they're consistent, it may be indicative of a particular problem and it could be for the best to avoid a product (also important to look over the dates as well, in case things have been resolved or gotten worse with age).

 

[purplehairedwonder]

I have Blio, Kobo, and Zinio on mine too, and I honestly don't know what they do. They're under the 'eReader' folder, so keep the one you'll use the most and you can get rid of the others.

Zinio's for reading e-magazines. It'll download the new issues that you're subscribed to; it's pretty much just the print magazine on your screen. I had to download it to read Publishers Weekly every week for a class last semester then promptly removed it again.

 

[wonderfly]

Zinio's for reading e-magazines. It'll download the new issues that you're subscribed to; it's pretty much just the print magazine on your screen. I had to download it to read Publishers Weekly every week for a class last semester then promptly removed it again.

Really? Is there a charge to read the latest issues of your favorite magazines in that format?

 

[purplehairedwonder]

Really? Is there a charge to read the latest issues of your favorite magazines in that format?

Yes there is. You have to subscribe to the digital edition through the Zinio site, I believe.

 

[DisneyBoy]

Thanks for moving this one to the right thread! I'll ask any future questions here...

 

[wonderfly]

For this graphics card I bought, how can I tell if I've got the latest drivers installed with it? I installed the CD that came with it in the package, and it appears to be running fine...but how can I make sure I have the most up to date drivers? Aren't you supposed to update your drivers periodically?

 

[defunctzombie]

Windows Update would have hollered at you if it found a more current driver. But here's the site for that card that you can check the CD against: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_win7-64.aspx

 

[wonderfly]

Thanks, defuntzombie. Yes, it does appear the drivers are now up to date. But a correction:

I installed the CD that came with it in the package, and it appears to be running fine...

Actually, it's working fine on my desktop monitor, but when I hooked it up with the HDMI cord to my TV screen, the picture works just fine, but I've got no sound. Any ideas on how to fix that?

 

[defunctzombie]

First, try turning the PC volume up to 100% and the TV volume to normal. If that works, it's just the usual device discrepancy.

If that doesn't work, read through this page and try some of the suggestions.

 

[MDawg]

Give this page a look see and find out if you have the correct playback device set.