(V): Thank you V!

Binabik: You should be able to.

http://www.oldapps.com/firefox.php?old_firefox=6

Lists older versions, just download the version you want, uninstall FF and install the version you want.

Sigh.... I have never questioned a FF update and always installed it when it came around. The latest one, however, I absolutely detest. I don't need all those bells and whistles and I can't find my bookmarks. I looked at their website which is an adventure in frustration land for computer dummies like I am. Can I uninstall the current version and go back to the previous one? I want simplicity back! :(

does anyody here know how to convert an jpg.nco file to jpeg?

Please Pm me if you would.

Bernice: don't worry about it...I found a proggy that does just that :)

Is there anyway I can save youtube music and put on DVD>

Thanks for the questions if you go to www.startpage.com and then click on the links there you will find all the information to your questions there

Servant: Which kind of problems have you had because someone has supposedly recorded your searches? And what kind of proof you have that startpage does not do that?

I recommend this private search engine, none of your searches are recorded! www.startpage.com

ellieoop: I was only pasting what is in my "exceptions" box. It is not a specific game #, as I play a million different games there. I didn't type anything in that box myself.
I'm pretty sure it was very simple though.
Don't you get a line at the top of the window, saying "popups blocked" or something when you try to enter? All you would need to do is click it tell it to allow pop ups from Pogo.

rod03801: i hope this works on vista, is pogo game3 a game, do i need a #. i notice it doesn't work on texas holdem. i see an empty seat at a table and it won't open, if i'm playing and i want to see my stats, i can't, i'll click my name on chat, and it does say show profile, i click it and nothing happens. i'm not on that laptop now, but i will be real soon. if i have any problems, i'll pm you. i've been addicted to that site. for years.
thx. so much

ellieoop: Here is a Chrome Help page about allowing popups

http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?answer=95472&cbid=1arc62fh0l7cy&src=cb&lev=%20index


and there is this help page on Pogo, too
http://www.pogo.com/misc/sun-java/help.jsp


I have all pop ups blocked in Chrome, and if I click on Exceptions (Options, Under The Hood, Content Settings, Pop Ups, Exceptions) My one exception is this : [*.]game3.pogo.com

I hope at least part of this helps. I personally can't live without Pogo!

i was still getting that alert about the url being invalid and it would freeze and i had to constantly reboot.
i switched to chrome a few weeks ago, i feel like i have 2 new laptops, it is so fast and very easy to use, the best thing is that i have never gotten that alert again, i think it had to be an ff bug. i have not gotten any updates in 3 weeks, does chrome automatically update or is it invisible?
i have one big problem. on the vista laptop i cannot find how to allow popups at pogo. you can't play there unless you do that. on the xp at pogo it asked me and i clicked it and it works great. i went to tools looked at everything there, then went to options and i cannot find it. i hope someone can help me with it.
thx. ellie

rabbitoid: I agree, i just like to keep people up to date

MadMonkey: I must put a rare word in defence of MS. While I'm no fan (understatement) at least they're not too far behind in repairing security holes. Theirs always get huge publicity, but the truth is any system and any software has those holes. This is currently unavoidable. Probably future systems will be smarter, currently all we can do is plug the holes as they're discovered. I'm on a Linux distribution, and I constantly get updates to correct newly discovered potential threats.

All Internet Explorer versions affected by newly-discovered critical flaw - Microsoft has posted a new security bulletin which describes a critical flaw in Internet Explorer which -- wait for it -- could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary commands on a compromised computer.

ellieoop: You already have CCleaner, so that is great, but it will not delete any virus or Malware.

For you and any others here are a few programs you should run to keep your clean, running fine, PC virus and Malware free

First make sure you have a decent Anti-virus program installed & running

If you do not have one it is a must and there are plenty about, but the popular free ones are the ever popular AVG FREE edition or its newish rival Avira. Both are very good and are great at what they do as long as they are kept up 2 date

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is the Daddy of all Anti-Malware programs, and a must on any computer

They are the main things to have. I also have SpywareBlaster installed as that is free.

Give Remove Fake Anti-virus a go as well. It detects these Viruses that act as Anti-virus programs and tell you that you have lots of problems and you must download this software to sort it out, which of course costs money. A thing that many people do for no reason at all, as they have no problem apart from the fact they have a virus like installed. This program will detect and get rid of them all

Just a couple of others. Although changing your Registry is not strictly advised, is can become cluttered and slow your PC down greatly. If you are going to use a Registry cleaner (there is a small one built into CCleaner) then use Eusing free registry Cleaner. Always remember before making any changes to your registry, to make a Back-up of it, and all good programs will do this for you

Definition of your Windows Registry, and how important it is

One last one i use a lot is Revo Uninstaller. We all download programs, some of which we keep, and some we just like to have a play with, and get rid of. While most have there own built in Uninstallers, these very rarely get rid of all the stuff they install. of course Windows had Add/Remove programs (and again CCleaner has one useful one build in). Revo, just goes a bit further, by running the programs build in one, then goes about after-woods, and cleans up any leftovers lol

All the programs above are FREE, but of course have there own more sophisticated PAID for versions, which add more usability to them.

Well, that is my Christmas list from me to you, and anyone else who wants help. I have many others installed, and that i use to repair computers, but there is no need for the every day user to have them (or i would have no work lol, have very little as it is). Of course you know where i am if it is anything specific

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all Computers

p.s. Oh, and after all that, even i get the odd one once a month or so lol

ellieoop: LOL....good luck and you sound like you need it ;)

Bernice: i was so impressed that you could fix it by yourself. lol... i was thinking if i did bring it to be fixed, they might not get that alert, i got it today when i started it up, then i rebooted and it came back, then i pulled the wires out of the back of the modem and router and rebooted and it's been ok since. they may not see it. i definitely will use IE tomorrow and chrome the next day, i don't want to try anything now. if it doesn't happen then i guess it's not a virus and it has something to do with ff. i sure hope that's what it is.

from memory mine started by a window popping up and saying there was an urgent virus update and to click on the button....now I dont usually get "suckered" into these things but it named which virus control I use so I just went ahead and....BOOF...everything was ruined :(

ellieoop: the virus I got stopped everything from working....I use IE, but it stopped my virus from working and it wouldnt let me acces anything...kept asking me to "OK" everything... and of course it just kept getting worse each time.
now dont ask me to help you reload everything....I paid $264 to get it cleeaned and reformatted...not very computer literate Im afraid and prefer to pay and have it done properly....sorry :(

Bernice: i only use ff, i'm going to try another browser to see if i get the alert on it. if it is a virus it should happen on any browser i use, at least that's what i think. i don't know much about a virus. if i do get it then maybe you can tell me how to re load everything.

ellieoop: sounds like a virus. I had the same thing happen to me about 6 months ago....I had to get everything reloaded. I was lucky that I didnt lose everything....it was a nasty buggar...

i have a 4yr. old hp compaq pressario laptop xp. it worked great til 3mos. ago, when all of a sudden a small silver tab would appear and it says alert, the url is not valid and cannot be loaded, it has a clickable ok, when i click that most times it disappears and other times it just stays and doesn't let me do anything and makes it almost impossible to shut down, a few times i had to shut the power button. i have used ccleaner and i think it's called hijack a malware thing, i don't know what that really is but i did it, then i went to my programs and removed all the games that came with the pc and anything that said i rarely use. i also have norton and they scan everyday. i'm ready to toss it in the trash. i'm hoping someone can help me and i can keep this laptop, it worked great til this happened, and i have no idea why it happens. it's working perfect now, this afternoon i had to shut down twice to get it to work.
thx. in advance for any help.

thx. ellie

Cisco Flip Mino II HD 8GB Camcorder

does anybody know anything about these?

(V): Connecting to the tv is not an option for me, but thank you for the suggestion!

Gordon Shumway: I agree - it looks nice, but the downsides outweigh the upsides :)

Well, usually I would say with those All-In-One solutions you get the worst of both worlds - the lower upgradability of laptops and the lack of mobility of desktops. Given you don't really need mobility, but just like to have your computer next to your chair, it might as well be a valid option, as a desktop will only clutter up your living room with cables, and you won't get a cheap laptop with that big of a screen :D

Binabik: Depending on your tech availability you could link up a desktop to your TV and use a wireless keyboard and mouse... and hence still sit in your comfy chair.

Gordon Shumway: Thank you Gordon! Have you seen the new all-in-one Dell Inspiron desktop? What do you think about that?
I only put the laptop on my lap when I need to write - otherwise it sits on a little table next to my comfy chair and I use the mouse on the chair arm; I can't imagine a more comfortable way to use a computer :) I can't afford 2 computers, I hope to get a good deal on a new one because the one I have keeps crashing. There seems to be something wrong with the inner workings because wiping it clean and starting over didn't help. And anyway, the RAM I have now is truly pitiful.....

Since quite a while I do have the following setup: I own a desktop that has plenty of power and RAM. And then I own a laptop, that is way weaker, and where the emphasis is on low power usage, and thus longer battery hours. I use the laptop when I leave the house (I use it on the train, and I sometimes take it to friends if I stay over night, and I always took it to university), or when I absolutely do not feel like sitting at a desk. Because of the less powerful setup, I will not use some of the applications I use on my desktop, or I will use them more rarely.

I think you could get a not-so-powerful laptop coupled with a good PC for the price of a laptop that is as strong as the PC would be. And gain power and flexibility at the same time.

Good points by coan. If you say though, Binabik, that you hate sitting at a desk, than a laptop will be a better choice. But just keep in mind, that, as coan said, you will pay more for the same abilities computation wise. Plus, it is a lot cheaper and easier to later upgrade a desktop than it is to upgrade a laptop. So it boils down to how much you prefer the flexibility of sitting on your couch with the laptop over better prices.

I would say out of the four brands you mentioned Sony is the one that is the most overpriced. I have a thing for Dell myself. But coan's right, as long as you stay with a big name, you will have a good chance of being very satisfied, and always a small chance not to be.

coan.net: Thank you so much Coan!

Desktop vs. Laptop -- I usually tell people to make sure you need a laptop before you buy one, since for the same money - you can usually get better equipment in a desktop. I usually see people who buy a laptop, and it will sit on the same desk 99% of the time (where a desktop could be sitting). So at least in my opinion, unless you will use a laptop as a laptop - desktops are always better.

Brand - It really does not matter too much these days - People will always have "bad" stories about certain brands, but most of the major brands are good these days. I get dell, and haven't had any issues. Actually just got a brand new Dell yesterday. Plenty of memory (the more the better), CPU - I was looking hard for at least a quad core since many games take advantage of more cores (ended up getting 6 core AMD myself)

I'm hoping to get a computer on sale in the next couple of days - there are many on sale and I was wondering if there is a specific brand I should definitely stay away from? My choices seem to be HP, Dell, perhaps Sony or Toshiba. We don't use our computer extensively, I just really need to have a larger RAM to play games without crashing :O) I now have a laptop which I love because it takes up little space and I hate sitting at a desk. Would a desktop be a better choice in terms of needing to upgrade it eventually? Any input would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

SL-Mark:

i tried it out now -

unfortunately the problem still exists.

if it is such a common problem, MS still does not offer a fix?

thanks for your detailed help anyway...

Czuch: this media direct is the only way you can read and play dvds on your system?

Gordon Shumway:

Well it was new... but the media direct wanst a priority ;(

Is my only option to let it wipe clean and start again? or forget about media direct install? The reason I even thought about it, is because I cant get it to read and play a dvd ....

anyone have a work around idea?

Czuch: Yeah, but if I understand it correctly, the hard drive is new, and thus empty, so no data will be lost ;)

The partioning software cannot know with certainty though, whether there isn't anything on the drive, or whether it's in a file system it doesn't recognize, so it just warns you about it.

I recently installed a new hard drive for my dell lap top.... apparently didnt partition any pace to install media direct.... now when I try to make a partition, I get a warning that if I do, all my data on the hard drive will be lost????

SL-Mark: this sounds reasonable ;-) - ill try it later and report it.
As it is a common problem, the users may hope on a MS fix one day ?!

Thanks so far!

diogenysos: A common problem with mobos with Nvidia chipset.

Reboot wiill have no effect as it does not reload the drivers.

You can try
A. Switch and UNPLUG computer from power for about 5 mins. Restart.

If that does not improve then try the MS temporary fix is:
B. From the command prompt run as administrator
1) Type "bcdedit /set truncatememory 0x80000000" (no quotes)
2) Reboot
3) Go to control panel -> System and Security -> view amount of RAM and processor speed.
- It should report 4GB (2GB available)


To undo this temp fix (when MS issue a patch), open the command prompt again:
1) Type "bcdedit /deletevalue truncatememory" (no quotes)
2) Reboot
3) Go to control panel -> System and Security -> view amount of RAM and processor speed.
- It should report 4GB

Hope this helps.

diogenysos: ?? Downloaded the drivers??

Scanner, printer, camera... .

All USB-peripherals i connect with WIN7 (on various USB-ports, different USB-cards, some on the motherboard, some not) are recognized _sometimes_ and after a while the OS refuses to know them.

Restart..

Sometimes i can print 1 page or scan 1 pic, and thats it.

Many people in different communities tell the same.
Any experiences?

Gammonator: When something like this happens, I always check host-tracker to make sure it is just a local problem, not a BrainKing one. Right now, the average response time (according to that site) is 0.61 seconds and only 2 places show a little higher latency - Thailand and Iran.

In other words, something is wrong on your side. It can be anything - DNS issues, proxy server caching problem, routing problem etc.

Can you post a traceroute output here? Open a command line in Windows and type "tracert brainking.com".

when I go from game to game,,,and sometimes move to move in a game,,a new window pops up"" unable to open this internet site.the requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later."" THIS BUGS ME....it does it in my upstairs computer sometimes,,,and my laptop and at my work computers. ALSO in pond games,,I can only make my guess and go to main page,,,cannot go to next pond game ,,or it says the same thing in same window and disconnects me. All I do is press Back and I am back in though,,,but it is steadly getting worse. Any ideas????? I have Windows 7 and I am not as knowledable in this as in windows XP for settings,,,put my comp upstairs and laptop and work computers are all XP and having similar problems

If you, like me are interested in upgrading/overclocking your system/cpu.. then you might find this program useful.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html

It gives a detailed breakdown of your system, even detailing part numbers (eg motherboard) making research on what you can do easier.

And this site for info on overclocking an intel chip.
http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/1567-intel-overclocking-guide.html


***********************************

With the information I've read (do your research) I can overclock my CPU at a decent rate for about £10... ie just upgrade the heatsink/fan from ebay. It also can lead to you upgrading your cpu for a relatively cheap price (off ebay again) and thanks to a good fan/heatsink, increase the capability.

I've heard that Adobe is known to freely share their info with other companies via cookies etc. I believe someone here once mentioned an alternative to Adobe? I don't know how concerned I should be... I just had my little laptop reset so I have to download everything again, thought this might me a good time to investigate the Adobe issue. I know I'll need some kind of flash plug in too. Any input from all you computer experts on Adobe? Thanks!

Don't try downloading the new version of flash player & flash plug in 10...there is a bug. It would crash & then yopu have to reload each time. I'm wondering, how in the heck do I get back to 9.0? I went to the abode site & downloaded the zip file to get it. When I go to re-install it, it would take me to the site & they have #10 instead of 9.0

wetware: IE 8...I didn't know about IE9 . The last time I tried downloading IE8, there was so many things wrong w/ it that I had to get a repairman out.