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CodeOptimist

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Posts posted by CodeOptimist

    Firefox 1.0 is out!

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    Yeah. It's sad how Microsoft have made the majority of computer users so ignorant that they need a class at school to teach them how to use Excel.

    Grr... that's one reason I get upset when I see computers and computer interfaces becoming increasingly 'noob-ish'. Instead of actually teaching the users how something works and how to use it properly, hardware and software manufacturers simply say things like, "Create DVDs with a click of the mouse! Browse the Internet with ease! Send photos and video to your friends instantly!"

    :S

    Unfortunately, the manufacturers are mainly only concerned with their profits. They figure that if their product is "easier to use" or has a better eye-catching "feature", more people will buy it -- which is true. However, they'll also need a bigger tech-support center, because the users won't have a clue what they are doing! :P Furthermore, outsourcing to India or Timbuktu or who knows where doesn't help any since the tech support agents can barely be understood over the phone. (It may be arguable that it's a good thing they can't be understood, however: it saves users from going through the "well, a hard drive reformat will get rid of the problem"-style scripts that most of them read)

    Of course, Microsoft is also to blame in this. Windows XP, and to a greater extent (it seems), Windows Longhorn, increases the "noob" factor with the colorful interface and other hand-holds. At least you can change the interface style and use some of the 'noob-ish' features as a power user.

    Oh, if there were only more power users! :P

    I can spend all day talking about this - I may just write an article about it sometime. :S Right now, I've got to go to bed.

    My computer has a mind of its own

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    My mom's having the opposite problem: Her computer keeps turning off at random times :S

    Eek, that might be a bit more serious :P Usually, random shutdowns/reboots are caused by overheating, faulty components, or some type of short-circuit/power spike. If you can, I'd recommend going through the stress-test steps I gave to you for your random crash problem :S

    Removing Spyware

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    Yeah, I use it more often than I do Ad-Aware. It seems to catch more problems and is updated more frequently. Plus, it's sort of a "power-user tool", moreso than Ad-Aware :S

    I don't know why it'd crash on you... I've had it crash once or twice, but that was on really goobered up PCs. It does have trouble getting rid of "DSO Exploits" sometimes, but AFAIK that's more because of IE's inherent security weaknesses than Spybot's lack of "oomph".

    Stress-testing your CPU/RAM

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    I use that program too!

    :S

    Except I never have done a stress test. I'm calculating the primes for no reason. Almost done with one of them too.

    Anyway. What do you do if there is one then? Just get new hardware?

    You do? :S Nice... I've never done GIMPS, but have participated in a few other DC projects (distributed.net, ECC2-109, LHC@Home).

    It depends on the hardware and the situation. For example, if the hardware is overclocked and you are getting errors, it's time to pull the overclock back a few notches. Or, if there's hardly any airflow and the CPU heatsink is hot enough to fry an egg on, the errors are most likely caused by the heat problems and a better heatsink (or more fans) is needed.

    Sometimes, you just have to replace the hardware though - especially in the case of faulty RAM. Some RAM is just "bad" and not much can be done about it. :P When I helped a friend of my Dad's build my Dad a computer, he made a point to keep the machine running nonstop for a few days (idle, wish I knew about Prime95 back then :P) to see if any problems occurred, since you can usually tell right away if you've got some "lemon" components. Sure enough, we had some lockups and he found out we had a bad memory stick. Once it was replaced, the machine was rock-solid.

    Removing Spyware

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    A lot of spyware apps have multiple ways of re-installing themselves, unfortunately. :S Did NAV do the trick?

    BTW - did you try running Spybot Search & Destroy on the machine? I've noticed that Spybot can get rid of things Ad-Aware misses, and vice-versa.

    Stress-testing your CPU/RAM

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    Here's a quick guide to stress-testing your RAM with Prime95. I figured I'd better put it up as a sticky since I frequently mention it :S

    1. Download the Prime95 application here: http://mersenne.org/gimps/p95v238.zip
    2. Unzip to any directory, such as C:\Prime95 or C:\Program Files\Prime95.
    3. Launch Prime95.exe. Click "Just Stress Testing" when asked.
    4. Choose Options - Torture Test. For RAM testing, choose "Blend" and press OK. For CPU testing, choose "Small FFTs" or "In-place large FFTs".
    5. Allow the test to run for a couple of hours at the least - overnight (7-12 hours) is best.

    icon11.gif If the test errors, there is a problem with your hardware. Most errors occur relatively quickly - on the order of about 10-20 minutes.

    If no errors occur after a good many hours, your hardware is running well. You can close the application, or run another test.

    Changing FPS of a movie?

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    NTSC video is 27.97 FPS, to be exact. :cool:

    The freeware RAD Video Tools package will do what you want - I've used it on numerous occasions.

    Once you've downloaded the program, open it up, select the video file you want to convert and select 'Convert a file'. Type a name for the output file, and check off 'Convert Video' (and 'Convert Audio' if applicable). None of the fields have to be changed except the Frame Rate Control fields - Force or Adjust.

    The difference between the 'Force' and 'Adjust' options is small, but possibly important. 'Force' simply forces your video to play at the frame rate you specify, resulting in a jerky motion. 'Adjust' adds or removes frames from the video file and then sets the frame rate - resulting in a *slightly* less jerky video. Try both options and see which works best for you.

  24. W00t, the new 0 A.D. site is up!

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    There is one thing I find pretty annoying about the site. When you click on a screenie though the new screenie thing on the right of the site you see that image, but there isn't a link to the gallery only the back button, but that won't bring you to the gallery... Could that be changed maybe?

    Yeah, this is something that will be fixed soon. :cool:

    Changing signal from graphics card

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    That's quite odd - I was sure that XP Home supported dual-monitor configurations. See here: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_...Q_20242063.html

    Usually, the S-Video and Composite outputs aren't seen as an extra "monitor", as they only display what is showing on your primary VGA (or DVI) output. I've got an ATI All-in-Wonder card, and I frequently hook it up to the TV for things such as slideshows. The card isn't built to allow the S-Video/Composite output to act as an independant display, and I'm assuming this is probably your case as well. To word it differently, as far as I am aware, you cannot set up a TV as a second monitor with most cards available on the market - it can only "mirror" what your real monitor is showing.

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