1BC Civ Forums / Off Topic Discussions / Worldly Chatter / General, Non-Civ, Computer Issues

My new build

Rishbhav — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:36:27 GMT

I thought I'd post my build here too, I'll probably build it when I get back from a trip in three weeks (leaving tomorrow), so it'll probably change depending on the market...

Motherboard: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128336]GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4[/url]

Processor: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037]Intel e8400[/url]

RAM: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166]4 GB of DDR2 1066[/url]

Video Cards: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121253]2 ATI/AMD 4850s[/url] I'm still torn on this one, and I may change my mind depending on how the 4850's big brother the 4870 turns out

HD: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218]WD Caviar 640 GB[/url]

PSU: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002]OCZ GameXStream[/url] This might be a bit much, but I don't like skimping on power supplies

Case: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156063]Raidmax Smilodon[/url]

Any suggestions, or problems?

Help With MAC Images Please

Black Owl — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:53:38 GMT

I gone over to the other side recently. I'm now using a "MacBook Pro".
Fumbling thru it mostly on my own. The problem I can't seem to get around is this.
When I attempt to load an image to 1bc using the "Insert Image" button I get a window asking for a URL to the image. Well of course I don't know the URL to every image. I have to attatch the image as a file. Which looses it's impact in viewing. Not to mention posting really cool smilies. Those of you who know me know how truely frustrating this problem is too me! Please help soon!

The Wonderful World Of gfx Cards...

Dunedein — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:07:34 GMT

Okay you guys. I trust this community to give me some good advice on what type of graphics card I should get.
I'm looking at up to a 150ish price range for a NVIDIA card.

I do [b]not[/b] have Vista, so I won't benefit from Direct X 10 support.
I was looking at the Geforce FX 8600 GT- looks like a decent price for some pretty powerful hardware. The question is, am I really getting the best value without Vista?

Oh I should probably put up my specs, huh?
I have a computer with:
[b]1 gb RAM[/b]
[b]Pentium 4 3.2 GHz CPU[/b]
[b]Windows XP Professional[/b]
[b]and currently a Geforce FX 5200 graphics card[/b]

I would LOVE some input, as right now (except for the 8600 GT) I don't really have any idea.

In the market for a mouse

Roadkill — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 17:51:09 GMT

-My wireless mouse gave up on me today(Horizontal wheel broke) and my optical mouse doesn't want to play either(Double clicked on single click, now won't work at all) so I'm using some old mouse that I think came with a pre-built IBM PC I bought back in 97... So I'm in the market for a new mouse now and I'm having some trouble deciding what to buy and I thought I'd see if you have any suggestions.
-I think I'll be able to spend something like 1500 NOK(about 275 USD, 195 EUR), it has to be wireless, I prefer Logitech(But don't let that restrain you), and require at least 4 buttons+wheel(Though I prefer more). I don't like flat mouses or overly flashy ones either.

-I'm also going to buy a new keyboard(just because I wanna:D ), though I'm pretty much set on that one. Still, if you have any recommendations then feel free to chime in.

Stuff I've been looking at:

[U]Logitech MX Air[/U]---------------------------------------------[U]Logitech MX Revolution[/U]
[img]http://www.mpx.no/img/cache/tnList_430666515_1_0.jpg[/img][img]http://www.eplehuset.no/uploads/bilder/produkter/357-3_mx_revolu_3qrt_l2_34.jpg[/img]
[U]Trust MI-7600R[/U]
[img]http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a92/Tartantyco/335637.jpg[/img]

-This is the keyboard I'm thinking of getting. If you know of anything sleeker and even more minimalist then throw it at me.
[U]Hipercomm Black Aluminium[/U]
[img]http://elements.nebesa.com/Data/Images/Hard/KB/HCK-1K18A1.gif[/img]

-I [b]do not[/b] like stuff like this:
[img]http://www.tci.no/img/cache/img_1902570446_0.jpg[/img]

-Keep flashy, tacky, useless stuff like this away from me;) .

If you're going to post a suggestion I prefer that you post a link containing the product details(Posting pics is also good).

MP3/WAV Editors?

Comedy Dave — Wed, 02 May 2007 10:09:51 GMT

Hey guys,

I just wanted to check to see if any of you know of any good, free, MP3/WAV file editors. I'd like to crop sections from MP3 files for use as phone ringtones (rather than the whole song). I have the ability to convert from MP3-WAV and vice versa, so that's not a problem.

Any ideas?

Cheers :)

All right here I go again

basser — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:11:01 GMT

All right I just formated my PC. In the process of installing everything right now. It was starting to act wiggy so I backuped all my important files and reformated.

I also figured well I might as well try XP64 again. Last time I tried it it would reboot randomly and my games would crash all the time. I'm hoping since its been a couple of years they have worked out the bugs by now.

I was wondering if there was anyone on this board that might be using XP64 bit; and may be willing to give me some advice if I need it?

If it ends up being the same headache it was last time I would rather work around it than go back to regular XP pro.

So any help will be greatly appreciated even if its just posting a link to X64 message boards. Whatever I don't care any help at all... Hell just wish me luck. ;)

I will be spending all day reinstalling all my games, drivers, and, software so I will be back tommorrow.

Internet perplexed

Gentle Samurai — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:47:05 GMT

At home my wife and I use a mini network.

I use the desktop and my wife the laptop.

They both are linked to a netgear router, the desktop with a cable and the laptop wirelessly.

The desktop has no problems with the internet. However over the last two days the laptop has refused to load google (any nation) and one chat board that my wife is involved in. (The desktop which is going through the same server route has no problems)

The laptop loads any other web page perfectly. Also if I turn the wireless off and connect via the cable the pages load fine.

I conclude therefore that there is nothing wrong with the internet settings etc on the computer but for some reason the wireless has taken the ummph with google (+1).

Any ideas as to why this could / should be?

Many thanks

Don't Fall Victim to the 'Free Wi-Fi' Scam

ddmagnan — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:24:47 GMT

Just a friendly warning for anyone thinking of using one of these "free" services. Just remember that nothing is ever free.

[url]http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129127-page,1/article.html[/url]

PHP

Timeless Watch — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 20:35:52 GMT

does anyone talk here PHP and Apache? Im sure someone does.

Ive been trying to teach myself some. Ive downloaded the stuff. Ive installed it and even wrote a bit.

However - my "localhost" does not display anything in php... as in - if i write a page - it shows only the HTML code, anything written in PHP does not appear

what have i installed wrong?

XP Screenshots?

Black Owl — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 10:38:47 GMT

:unsure: I know this is going to make alot of you cringe. I'm sorry. But since money talks and the rest walks, I bought a dell computer:blush:, at a flea market:blush:, from a liscenced dealer(whew). Computer works great:D! Problem is I don't have the info for WINDOWS XP (Home Edition). And this is my first time w/XP. Can anybody steer me to the Screen Shot utility if it exists on XP? The keyboard dosn't have a Screen Shot key. Need some help with CivIV error messages, and would like to supply the shots to help anyone who might try to help me.

User accounts - XP

Gentle Samurai — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 11:06:20 GMT

In XP it is possible to create multiple user accounts, basically enabling one person to control the computer.

Where is the information about these accounts stored?

the reason I ask this question is thatin the past I have apparently set up a user account for my wife and then for whatever reason decided to erase it.

Since this time I have changed the name of the computer and am now tryng to create a user account for my wife again under the same name, when I do this the computer informs me that the account is being used by the old compter name and I can not use it.

I would like to find where this information is stored so I can remove it and set up the new acccount.

Thanx

WAN Issues

Roadkill — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 09:10:32 GMT

-I just installed a wireless network at home but there are a few problems. If I don't do anything online for only a few minutes the connections slows down to a grind, idle time is a 20 minutes so it's not that though I'm going to turn that off anyway. Also, the line is 100 Mbps and the router is 108 Mbps, as is the network card but the connection is 54 Mbps and no matter what I do I can't increase the speed, any suggestions? I got my network card up from 54 to 108 Mbps but I can't do the same with the router. The Router is an SMC Barricade 108Mbps 802.11g.

canon digi camers

Gentle Samurai — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 06:53:21 GMT

I have recently purchased a new digi camera,canon ixy 800 is, really good but XP (SP2) is not happy when I try to connect it.

it goes into the found new hardware wizard and then it says that I need the ptpusb file, this is on my computer in various locations but when I search for it, it will only show the folder files even though it is there.

i have attached some screenshots.

A quick google reveals this is an issue that others have had, however I do not understand any of the explanations.

Anyone got any ideas, thanx

Windows Wars

Roadkill — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 11:02:36 GMT

-So, I've had some computer issues lately...... Two days ago my computer started freezing during the boot process for no apparent reason, no matter what I did I could not get further than the desktop before it stopped completely. I knew that the evil empire of Windows was the mastermind of this scheme but I had no knowledge of what agents it used to commit this unwarranted attack on my fiefdom of PC, and so my adventure began.

-With no clues as to who my antagonist was I had to start with the most obvious answer, a recent immigrant carrying a deadly disease. A convention of old sages from the kingdom of DOS, a protectorate of Windows has recently visited my fiefdom. The names of these sages were archaic, TES: Arena, Colonization and the likes but in them was vested a plethora of wisdom so great that I could not reject them. I retreated to my fortress, aptly named Safety Mode and ordered the secret police, AVG, to search all across my fiefdom for these sages. They searched under every boulder in search for them and when they were found the AVG examined them for any diseases but even the most excrutiating cavity searches did not yield any evidence, the sages were in excellent health. With this knowledge it became evident that a traitor was in our midst.
-I assigned my most trusted advisor, RegCleaner, to collect information on suspicious activity and he found a clue, some odd scrolls with a foreign language on them. While RegCleaner dutifully carried out his assignment the AVG and CCleaner agencies struck down hard on any suspicious activity, with CCleaner going to extremes and deleting several subjects. I must admit though that in my state of paranoia I also lashed out at times and my citizens, the bits were targetted, events that I severely regret now....

-With the AVG and CCleaner not making any progress the situation looked grim but as I was about to descend into the deepest crevasses of evil RegCleaner brought good news, it appeared that my court might hold the traitor. Many of the members of my court had been eliminated and replaced with puppets. RegCleaner quickly deleted these puppets and for a short while the fiefdom was under my control again. However, this had only hampered the progress of the traitor and soon trouble brewed again but arrogant as he was he started to leave clues of his identity. During the short time of calm after RegCleaner had deleted the puppet members of my court I had tried to contact the outside world in order to restore trade but these attempts had been stifled due to causes unknown. As I and RegCleaner put our heads together we came to the conclusion that the traitor had to be one of my diplomats and it was none other than my old friend Java who had purported this act of treason. He had served as mediator for my fiefdom in foreign affairs for years and was the one I would least suspect for treason but the evidence was overwhelming. Java immigrated to PC from the kingdom of Java, a close ally of Windows and though were suspicious of him at first his tale of persecution in his homland seemed truthful and the extensive amount of knowledge he held was very helpful to my realm and in time he rose through the ranks excelling in every job he undertook. Little did we know that he had been a Windowsian spy all along, waiting in the shadows for the right time to strike....

-With the evidence of Java's betrayal we now had a good enough reason to invade the Javan kingdom and with the help of many allies the kingdom of Java was conquered and assimilated into my fiefdom now named the Kingdom of PC. But still, Windowsian influence stretched across the world, even penetrating my new kingdom, and the fight was far from over!

......

-So, for those of you who did not manage to decypher the events I'll give it to you plain and simple: Java usually initializes when windows boots up but due to unknown events the initialization process had become corrupted and when windows tried to start Java it froze up. I had to remove Java from my startup list using RegCleaner in Safety Mode and I now have to initialize it manually if I want to do something online as many web pages and browser features utilise Java. The issue began about two days ago and I've worked non-stop to fix it, succeeding today only a few hour ago. I've eaten only 8 slices of bread during this and now I'm famished so I have to go eat something.

DVD-Rom Issues

Roadkill — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 02:58:05 GMT

-My DVD-Rom has started to act up after some meddling from another part. The drive won't read CD's or DVD's unless I put them in just as XP starts, though they fail after a few seconds. I've been able to get the autorun screen for Age of Wonders and just managed to start it up, at this point the DVD-Rom was labelled as a CD-Rom. If there is no disc in the drive when XP starts then it instantly labels it a DVD-Rom and no disc can be read, it just starts idling and if I double- or right-click the DVD-Rom icon the PC freezes up until I've ejected the disc.

-From what I know a few digital cameras have been hooked up, is there any chance that these interfered with the Master/Slave setup or something like that? I've not yet checked the BIOS but I'm quite confident that there's no change there. Is there any way of telling if the Rom is just worn out or if the issue is elsewhere? I'm very annoyed right now....

For Scotty

Leo — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 11:08:22 GMT

This came from another thread but...well...see for yourself:

[quote]I just [b]lost my spouse[/b] and am heartbroken but I know she had a great time (comparative to what could have been her life). My only problem is that I miss her so much. I am sure Mrs. Irwin feels the same- we should reserve our sympathy for her.[/quote]

“Next to love, sympathy is the divinest passion of the human heart”

Scotty,

While the loss of Mr. Irwin is a profound thing that obviously is felt worldwide, considering their website and numerous other Australian sites have crashed with people trying to get their words heard, this statement above is a Community-wide thing...this deserves to be heard.

We do what we can to help our friends here. I am sorry if you did not want attention drawn to this but this is...monumentally important I think.

Dear God, I am so sorry to hear this. I can only [b]begin[/b] to imagine what you're feeling right now and just the beginnings of that feeling scare me to death. This thing, this loss, this utter and crushing pain is the thing that I fear above all other things in life.

There's a song a friend pointed me to...called Beloved Wife by Natalie Merchant. I have never cried so much hearing a song in my life...and that's just a song about it.

My words fail me, brother...there is nothing I can write that will make it better, nor to even convey the depths of my sympathy...so I will leave you with some of these Other People's Words that I've found:

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

The day which we fear as our last is but the birthday of eternity

When it seems that our sorrow is too great to be borne, let us think of the great family of the heavy-hearted into which our grief has given us entrance. And inevitably, we will feel about us their arms, their sympathy and their understanding.

They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies.

Death is but changing of our robes to wait
In wedding garments at the Eternal's gate.

(...and what would it be without a poem, eh?)

Do not stand at my grave and weep

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glint on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you wake in the morning hush,

I am the swift, uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.

I am not there, I did not die!

Mary Frye (1932)

Electronic hugs from us to you, Scotty. Honor her memory, thank God for the time you had, and trust that the pain will become bearable.

Help with computer information checking

Dunedein — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:45:36 GMT

The other day I was thinking about my computer, and I wondered how many gigahertz it has. I went to the control panel--> performance and maintanence--> "see basic information about your computer" and it tells me I have 1 gb of RAM, but not how many GHz. Does anyone know how to check GHz?

I have Windows XP Professional.

--Danke

MY NEW SYSTEM

Spitfire 303 — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 12:16:22 GMT

Oh yes. I just ordered most of the components. I'ts not cutting egde but should be sufficient and extendable in the future. I'm so happy that I don't care care I'm a broke ;)

Mobo: Gigabyte K8NSLI
Videa Card: (strong point!!) MSI 7900GT
CPU (weak point but... budget restrictions) AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Venice)
PSU Forton 500 with double rail 12V

what will rest from my old PC is the 1.5GB of RAM and the HDD

Question:
will it be sufficient to reinstall win xp and drdivers or I must format my HDD?

Networking Issues

jbfballrb — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 16:25:25 GMT

just purchased a new computer, and I'm trying to work with the network to let my new comp and the old one that my sister and mom now use have the internet at the same time (dads comp upstairs has the modem and router). the way it works now is the cable goes to the modem, which feeds to the router, which has one cable to dads comp, and one to the wall, which runs down here. this means that there is only one connection down here to share with two comps and an xbox 360. what i want to know is, is there some device that will take one ethernet connection and allow it to be split up? like a router, but without the cable part. or do we need to get a cable line down here and move the router down?

Think I fried my SD memory card...

Comedy Dave — Sun, 21 May 2006 03:40:54 GMT

Just before I throw out my SD memory card, just wanted to check I haven't missed anything..

Had this card for about 18 months, use it a lot in the digital camera, then put it into my computer to transfer images, etc.

When I put this specific card in the slot, the reader light just flashes for a while, then I get the message "Please put a disc in drive". I cannot read the card at all, cannot scandisk, chkdsk, or anything. The camera no longer accepts the card either.

I think the card has died, since all other SD and MMC cards I have work in both my computer and the camera.

Are there any ways to bring it back from the dead? There were some photos on there that I never managed to copy off.

Cheers

Error 1607 When Trying to Install Rome: Total War

Dunedein — Sat, 13 May 2006 09:05:18 GMT

Ok, so when I attempt to install Rome: Total War, I get error 1607: Unable to Install InstallShield Scripting Runtime. I've tried this fix: [url]http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300361[/url] and this one too: [url]http://consumer.installshield.com/kb.asp?id=Q108340[/url]. When I attempt the latter fix what happens is at the very end I attempt to install the proper IsScript and I unzip it, and when I double click on it it tells me, "The windows installer service could not be accesed. This can occur if you are running windows in safe mode or if windows installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personel for assistance." I find that pretty damn funny because the thing I am attempting to install is, in fact the windows installer. :hehe: I have also tried installing it on a different username, didn't work. Oh yeah, and I do have service pack two, that seems to be causing a lot of problems for people, but I know I've installed this game on SP2 before.

I think the reason why these fixes didn't work is because about three months ago, I wanted to play a mod for Rome. So I attempted to copy the Rome: Total War folder so I could play both the mod and the original game. I completely screwed that up by stopping the copying about 5 times right in the middle for varying reasons. After that, I just stopped attempting to copy it because I ran out of patience and I put the mod on my original folder, which worked fine.

About a month later, I wanted to get rid of the mod, so I wanted to uninstall it, and the regular game. The only problem was that when I went to the add/remove programs list there was some error when I tried to remove it. So what I did was manually remove it, and two days ago I removed the registry keys. Additiionally, this problem ONLY persists with Rome: Total War.

So, now I am at a loss as to what to do. I dare you to try to figure this out.

Warning to Prospective Dell Customers

Scipio Africanus — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 11:43:34 GMT

A Warning to Prospective Customers of Dell Computer CorporationJune 20 2005PART IIf you are thinking about doing business with Dell computer corporation because you’ve heard that they have excellent customer service, read on, this essay may offer some useful warnings to keep you from making the same mistake I made.There are many different providers of computer technology (Alienware, Sony, IBM, Compaq, Toshiba, etc.) so one does not have to pay the Dell premium for putative customer service which does not exist. I recommend that you do not do business with Dell Corporation. I make this recommendation as a formerly satisfied Dell customer, who has been frustrated, alienated, and annoyed at the hassle, and lack of resolution I have experienced through Dell’s customer service.In the spring of 2003, after shopping around thoroughly, I concluded that Dell’s machines were competitive in their performance statistics with most other companies. But what made the difference for me was their reputation, and claims (both explicit and implicit) of the best customer service available for a global corporation. In May 2003, I bought an Inspirion 8500 laptop, with a 3 year full warranty, some software, and several peripherals for $2500. The machine was top-notch for the day with a Pentium III 2.5MhZ chip, 1MB of RAM, and what seemed like a lot of memory at the time (40GB). A year later, it was frustrating to learn that comparable machines could be purchased for about half that price, but I guess Dell is not alone in temporarily over-pricing brand new technology.One thing that was troublesome about the machine from an early stage was that it ran HOT. I don’t mean slightly hot, I mean HOT. It appears that the Dell engineers have made a conscious calculation in designing this machine, to sacrifice cooling capacity for other tradeoffs (probably weight). The consequence of this is that, the machines run HOT. If you’re at the gym, heat may be a good thing that helps you to stay healthy, but such is NOT the case for a computer. Heat is the primary killer of computer components. So, what you agree to if you buy a Dell machine is that, you pay for a machine that is designed to last a short time, because the engineers have made the fan system inadequate for the machine.This heat problem became really serious in winter 2004, and I bought a third party laptop cooling device from XPER. These things are fairly ingenious. They basically comprise a thin tablet shaped platform that has three fan ports on the top side. You set your laptop on top of the cooler, plug it in, the fans keep air moving around in the quarter-inch gap between the underside of the laptop and the cooling device. This device kept my machine running cool for a few months. The only downside of this XPER device, is that I bought a cheap version, and it stopped working properly fairly quickly.The Inspirion first shut-down from overheating on May 2, 2005, a few days after the XPER had stopped working. I inquired about getting a new, higher-quality cooling device, and also restricted myself from using high-demand software that was likely to cause the machine to overheat, and gave the machine plenty of breaks. Nonetheless, the machine overheated and shut-down again on June 2. After this incident, I noticed a reduction in performance which I thought might be more attributable to software than hardware, so on June 3 I downloaded Windows XP System Pack 2. On restarting, the LCD was blank. I phoned Dell, the beginning of my two-week long nightmare to get this machine fixed. A helpful fellow helped me to diagnose the problem as much as possible, and we pinpointed it to a problem with either the cable supplying data from the motherboard to the LCD, or the LCD itself. Everything else appeared to work okay.To make a long story short, I quickly became aware that any particular person you speak to at Dell is not likely to be able to help you with your problem. In the 20 or so calls I have had with them since June 3, I’ve routinely been put on hold for 15 minutes, and up to 1 hour at a stretch, while an employee transferred me to the “person I need to speak to.” Only to be asked to provide all the details of my case again. Despite having told my story to at least 9 different Dell employees on nine different occasions, every time I speak to a new person, they STILL do not know who I am, where I am, or what my problem is. The fact that I have a work address in Canada, and a home address in the U.S. is a paradoxical point of confusion for the employees of this “global company” which outsources various aspects of its North American customer care to the Philippines, and India. During my most recent marathon with customer service, the fellow in the Phillippines, Roy Santiago and his supervisor Alvie Cabrera, said that this was a source of confusion, and might explain why I had not had my problem fixed for two weeks. In short, even if you disregard the tale of incredible incompetence, inefficiency, and corporate disorganization that I’m about to tell, when you do business with Dell Customer Service, there are a few axioms of their corporation that you can plan on having to accept.Do not expect to be able to speak to someone in your area. Most of the time, when you dial customer service, you will speak to someone in Asia, for whom English is a second language.Do not expect to be able to hold anyone whom you speak to at Dell accountable for what they say. Since these people are in a foreign country with minimal extradition treaties with the U.S., its not surprising if Dell gets cheap labor over which it seems to have little control or guidance.When you call Dell, prepare yourself with a headset, a stiff drink, and a good book, because you’ll be spending the lionshare of your time on the phone waiting. Also, it might be a good idea to use the toilet BEFORE you call, because you may be waiting for a LONG time before you finally get fed up and hangup.Have every piece of documentation you can imagine at ready. This is because, different employees (and maybe this has something to do with the different nations or hemispheres in which these people work?) seem to need different numbers to be able to access your “records” (which never seem to actually be transferred from one employee to the next, thus necessitating the retelling of the ENTIRE sequence of events relating to your “Case Number” every single time you speak to a new person).If you have any way to do so, I’d recommend recording your calls with Dell, and always make a point of getting the name, location, and work group of each person to whom you speak. You’re going to be transferred to a LOT of different people who will NOT be able to help you, so you’ll probably want to be able to recount a full list when you finally get fed up and write your essay warning other potential victims, and maybe also, complaining to the executives who are responsible for this corporate hydra. Taking notes might seem adequate, but you’ll soon have an entire filing cabinet full, and voice transcripts carry so much more information, like for example, the specific claims that an employee makes, which never actually come true.(CONTINUED BELOW)

They cheated on me

Spitfire 303 — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:00:17 GMT

When I was buying my Pc over a year ago I chose a XFX FX 5600 XT video card. It was advertised "128 bits memory bus" on the box, xfx website etc. Until CIV 4 came in I have never had any video issues so didn't take a closer look on the card's charachteristics. Yestarday running the Rivatuner software I found that the "128 bits memory bus" is ... 64 bits only. I contacted xfx's support for the european market. They confirmed me (!!!) that there are some models with only 64 bits bus (instead of 128) and I should contact my reseller. The problem is that I bought it on march 2004 and I think they will tell: TOO LATE MAN!!!

I'm really upset.

Need some Input/Advice

cleopatra143 — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 22:41:40 GMT

I have been reading up on egyptology education and degree programs and I have to admit, it seems VERY VERY daunting. Worse than the major I'm going for now (psychology)!! Seems they want you to learn at least 3 languages and uni's like Yale and UCLA want you to learn five middle eastern languages!

I figured I probably couldn't afford to go to schools like that anyway so the least I could do is find a way to take courses that interested me (none are offered in the community college I attend).

I came across this website [url]http://www.egyptologyonline.com/courses.htm[/url] that offers courses in Hieroglyphs and Egyptian Art & Culture. What I'm not sure about is if this place is actually legit. Before I throw down $500+ I want to know how to find out if this is a certificate only type program, and how relevant and authentic the information actually is.

Do you guys think this place looks legit? Does anyone know how I can tell?

laptop question

cleopatra143 — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 21:28:16 GMT

I'm in the market for a laptop for school. I don't want to spend more than $1500. I've been looking all over the net. IBM, Dell, Gateway, Alienware, HP etc. I'm going cross-eyed! Can anyone help me?! :unsure:

Virus Checkers

Comedy Dave — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:31:48 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I have been using Symantec Norton Antivirus 2004 now for a while, and I have had no problems. However, my subscription to updates will expire soon, and I was wondering if anyone out there could recommend if it is better to try another product, or stay with what I have.

I have also heard there is now a Norton 2006? Is this any better?

In regards to spyware, I started using Lavasoft Ad-aware not too long ago, on Roadkill's recommendation. I'm quite happy with this and will continue using it.

I am happy to hear recommendations on both commercial and freeware products.

Cheers,

Dave

(This thread might also come in handy for others with a similar issue)

Changing Image Format

Roadkill — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 06:48:39 GMT

-Can anyone recommend a free program that allows me to change image formats(*.bmp to *.jpeg, etc.)?

buying RAM

Spitfire 303 — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:49:20 GMT

I'm going to buy 512 of RAM (PC 3200, 400mhz). I hope that it will make playing CIV smoother (???). I'm just not sure if buying the same RAM as I already have will it make work better. I have one 512MB PC3200 PQI stick. I know that buying PC32000 is a "must" but should I buy the same PQI or it doesn't really metter a lot. I'm asking because it's not easy to find the PQI. Any thoughts?

Thx

Spit

Need A good mp demo to play at school on a lan system!!!

General Georges — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 15:48:27 GMT

My school has many blocks set up inorder to stop students from installing and downloading games and other things. I recently thought of a way of installing and downloading these games through a java program and my friends and i are looking for a good mp lan game demo that we could play and that is under 40mb. Any ideas??? I have already downloaded DOOM 1 and we enjoy the single player, but I can not figure out how to play online or through a lan network with my friends. Everything I have tried has frozewn the game. Any way thanks alot for your help and suggestions.

Cookie Sweep...

Zigeuner — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 23:35:32 GMT

I remember sweeping cookies once, but for the light of me I can't remember where or how; I searched for it, but to no avail; where do cookies go, to sleep?

Memory issue

Grishnak01 — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 21:10:27 GMT

I found out why my computer was / is running so danged slow. I pulled up a resource monitor and my 'memory load' is running at 100%. I've closed all of the things on the taskbar and it's still at 93%. How do I find out what the heck is taking up all my memory? I'm hoping it's not spyware, but all the spyware programs I've run say I don't have any. All the virus scanners say I don't have any viruses either.

Thoughts?

Critical System Error!

Zigeuner — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:28:44 GMT

I haven't been online with my own computer for quite a while, but now that I'm hooked up again, Windows(?) sends these obnoxious pop-ups and then tells me I need to download a patch (and PAY for it!) for the pop-ups to stop, among other things... The pop-ups mention that malicious people could exploit me if I don't comply... How serious is this threat, does anyone know?

www.downloadpatch.net

AVI ---> DVD ?

Spitfire 303 — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 12:54:28 GMT

Hi,

Anyone knows if it is possible to transform an AVI video file into a DVD file so you may watch it on standard DVD player (non DIVX)? I was also wondering what would be the quality if the AVI is not perfect (will it be the same, worse or maybe better?). Any tip about software would be appreciated.

Spit

1bc learns from python?

Aintmyprob — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 17:09:40 GMT

I saw this a while back, and found it mildly humorous...

I understand why it does it, but LOL

three sir!

Build Your Own Computer (For Dummies!)

Flayum — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:15:29 GMT

Although not a "For Dummies" book, if you need help building that new computer, check [url=http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1880121,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532]this[/url] out.

[img]http://common.ziffdavisinternet.com/util_get_image/11/0,1425,i=118434,00.jpg[/img]

My sis wants a laptop

General Georges — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 08:44:10 GMT

Hey everyone! My sis wants a laptop. She is not a gamer, but enjoys the once every so often sims 2 and rollercoaster tycoon three. She is willing to spend up to 1700 Canadian. So any sugestions,

Thanks, Kyle

How do I build my own computer?

jerm — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 15:54:21 GMT

What with cIV coming out and both my computers don't have what's needed for the recomended requirements, and I could use a tax write off, I'm looking to build a computer myself. Only thing is, I've never done it before. Is it worth building my own, or should I just pay a bit more to have Dell do it. I will be using it for graphic arts, animation, cIV of course, and basically anything that puts the graphics card to a lot of use. Any suggestions before I get started? Is it going to be hard? Time consuming is fine but I don't want to screw something up because I don't know what I am doing. Any sites you'd recomend I go to for help?

My PC

Roadkill — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 16:20:40 GMT

-I'm currently working on saving up enough cash to buy a computer. I'm going to buy individual items and assemble them myself, but before I go and do something that I don't want to I'll post everything here to see what feedback I can get;).

MOTHERBOARD
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, nForce4 SLI, Socket -939,S-ATA,Dual-GbLAN,Firewire,PCI-Ex16

PROCESSOR
AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz Socket 939, 512KB, BOXED w/fan

CABINET
Cooler Master Cavalier 3 Cabinet Black Aluminium (No Power Supply)

POWER SUPPLY
Cooler Master Real Power 450W m/Strømindikator, 20/24pin

HARDDRIVES
Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB SATA 8MB 10000RPM
Western Digital Caviar 320GB SATA 8MB 7200RPM

CD/DVD
NEC DVD recorder ND-3540A IDE Black OEM DVD+R/+RW/DVD-R/-RW (Dual layer)

SOUND CARD
Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS, Bulk PCI Lydkort,THX,7.1,24-bit/192KHz

GRAPHICS CARD
Asus EN6600 GeForce 6600 256MB Silencer PCI-Express, Tv-Out/DVI-I, Retail

RAM
Crucial PC3200 DDR-DIMM 1024MB CL3 KIT Kit w/two matched PC3200 CL3 DDRs

MONITOR
Videoseven 17" LCD L17PS TCO-99 Silver/Black 16ms

KEYBOARD
Labtec Ultra Flat Keyboard, USB, PS/2

MOUSE
Logitech MX518 Optical Mouse, USB, PS/2

SPEAKERS
Cyber Acoustics CA5150 5.1 Høyttalere, Subwoofer, Sort, 100 Watts

-I've yet to add some things like network card and so on, but that's to be decided later. This is just one of the potential items I'm thinking of but it's mainly the same components in each of my setups, just a few differences.

McAfee or Norton

jerm — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 14:05:27 GMT

I just found out I got a virus and I need to buy some protection. What's the best virus protection program I can get that doesn't cost a fortune. I have 2 comps on a network so keep that in mind.

DVD burner Benq DW 1640

Spitfire 303 — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 03:46:30 GMT

Few days ago I bought a DVD burner (Benq DW 1640). I have nero (6.6.0.5.). Everything works almost fine. My only problem is that it should be burning DVDs with speed x 16 and not some lazy x8 :angry:
I went to the Benq support side and found a lot of things to install but... I don't know what I should install every file from the beginning until the end or just one of the newer? If somebody has any idea I would be thankful.

[url]http://benq.fr/serviceandsupport/downloads/downloads.cfm?product=750&type=B[/url]

Spit