******** Thread now full, see volume 5 ********
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=20253
In this thread you may ask any computer related question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.
Usual rules apply,
No motoring related discussion,
No politics,
No Speeding, speed cameras, traffic calming
No arguments or slanging matches
Nothing which I think is not following the spirit of the thread
Nothing that risks the future of this site (please see the small print for details www.honestjohn.co.uk/credits/index.htm )
Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.
There is a wealth of knowledge in here, much of which is not motoring related, but most of which is useful.
This is Volume 4. Previous Volumes will not be deleted.
A list of previous volumes can be found here:-
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=20892
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afternoon all,
my monitor (ctx ultra screen17") appears to have developed a problem that i don't seem to be able to correct. i have re-installed the drivers, re-installed the graphics card, tried adjusting the picture using the monitors own controls,but the problem remains.
the problem is: the sides of the screen are pulling in at the middles, giving the picture an hour-glass figure that the wife would be proud of!! any body know of a "fix" or is the monitor about to die!.it's only 3yrs old.
billy.
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Billy,
This is usually referred to as Pin Cusion distortion, there is normally an option on the monitor setup menu to adjust this (icon looks like an old pin cusion) along with screen hight, width, placement, colour etc.
If this does not cure it (adjustment + or - won't streighten it) this does sound like the monitor is on its way out.
John R
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thanks john,
i have already tried that, but it didn't cure it, looks like time to empty the penny-jar again!. not really impressed by a 3yr lifespan though, can anyone recommend a good make to get,i've taken note of some of the makes mentioned in an earlier post,and will do some research later.
thanks:
billy.
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One last thought Billy, have you set the refresh rate to the maximum possible? This can make a huge improvement to a distorted picture.
M.M
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thanks MM,
i will try that out shortly, (haven't done it).
billy.
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thanks MM,
i changed the refresh rate from "optimal" to 100mhz, and this seems to have cured problem for now!,looks like the penny-jar is safe for a while longer!.
cheers
billy.
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There's loads on eBay and ebid if you want to save a few pounds - I rate the Sony Trinitron quite highly having had one in daily use for over eight years.
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ViewSonic, Myne is well over 4 years old and still clear and focused.
John R
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Iiyama are supposed to be one of the best makes, albeit a bit pricey. Any Trinitron based screen should be a good buy. As usual, you gets what you pays for...
Try www.cclcomputers.com for quite keen pricing
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Can anyone advise of a book or website which gives a blow by blow account of how to do a Format C on a computer with Windows 98 please?
Thank you, Pete.
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You may get an answer on here but, failing that this 66.246.16.46/forums/index.php
is usually a good source of information and if you register (free) and ask your question I am confident you will get expert advice.
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two ways
format a floppy diskette - "format a:/s"
copy format.com to a:
then boot with diskette and "format c:"
or create a windows rescue diskette from win 98 and then copy format.com from c: drive to a: drive
Either way if you format c: you loose windows.
whyfor you wanna do it?
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Hello and thanks for the prompt replies.
The website indicated by the link supplied refuses to load and gives an error message saying that an internet connection is not available ( first time I have ever seen this message )
Already have floppys for back up disk and Winrescue 98 boot up.
Neither produces the required DOS screen.
Anyone seen this before please?
Thank you, Pete.
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Pete, the website mentioned loads ok for me.
Also Renault Families post - format a floppy diskette - \"format a:/s\"
It should be a Back slash, not forward slash. However for whatever reason it\'s impossible to display back slash as a symbol on this site.
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Thanks for the clarification Dave.
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Just a couple of things to consider before you go ahead and blank your C drive:
* You'll need to make a note of your internet connection settings (user name, password, phone number to dialup) or you may need to sign up for a new account which will involve having a different email address.
* If your recovery CD is bootable you'll be fine. If not, you'll need to make sure you make a Windows 98 startup disk - DOS in itself won't recognise your CD drive, but the windows startup disk will provide it with the settings it needs to do so. You can make one from the add/remove programs section in the contro panel - just go to the last tab and follow the instructions.
* If you decide to put windows back on from a new disk and not from an all-in-one recovery disk that came with your computer, you might find that a few things won't work as they did before - modems are a pig for this. Make sure you have all of the drivers for your soundcard/graphics card/printer/scanner/etc on hand before you attempt anything.
Good luck :)
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www.seagate.com try that.Although the program is meant for seagate drives will work on most others.I have used it for a while and has not failed.it simplifies the opperation but make sure the floppy version is downloaded assuming you try it/use it.make sure as said isp details kept and any security no`s recorded.once reformated all is lost.Warnings on this are always given Hope it helps
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My thanks to you all. With your help I have now established how to get to the point where Format follows, despite what I was told by the local experts.
Thanks again, Pete.
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It is so long since I have been able to access the site that I have all but forgotten how to.
Hoping that this an easy peasy problem to solve for all you techies but I'm at a loss, so here goes.
I want to download some documentation but on screen the text is wider that the screen so I have to scroll width wise to read entire page. When the page is printed it has about 2 inches of text on the right hand margin missing.
Any quick and foolproof solutions? I must here confess that me and technology are not compatible so please make your ansers idiot proof.
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Just a thought.
Have you tried altering the setting for your page from portrait (A4) to Landscape (wide) This should be on page format and on printer?
DVD
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If you are trying to print ordinary pages from Internet Explorer then try changing the page orientation by clicking on "File" "Page Setup" and "Landscape".
If it's just text, you could highlight, copy and then paste into Word/Wordpad/Notepad or a similar program where you can organise the text a bit.
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Blimey boys - that was quick.
I had wondered about changing to landscape but as there are a number of pages to download I thought that it might be too heavy on the paper usage. Also, there is a large 'family tree' graph that I would prefer to have printed on only 1/2 pages if poss.
I'll try the copy/paste scenario to see how it goes.
Thanks for your time.
Rita
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Rita, you don\'t mention what browser you\'re using. However, guessing it\'s Microsoft\'s Internet Explorer, goto the menu \'File\' at the top of the page and select \'print preview\' from the drop down list. At the top of the page that opens, click on the \'Page set-up\' icon (2nd icon in from the left, has a picture of a cog in it) From here you can adjust the margins of the page.
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Depending on your printer, and if you tell me which one I'll tell you how, you should be able to select properties and "fit to page"
M.
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There are also programs (I use fineprint) which intercept the print request and allow you to change how the pages print. I can print two to a page (side by side, or one below the other), 4 to a page, or booklets, or whatever. Sometimes you need good eyesight!
Worth a try tho - www.fineprint.com/products/fineprint/index.html
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btw IE settings are usually Letter. Change paper size to A4 to get the right hand sides of pages. If using Fineprint then set to A3 (for some reason IE doesn't seem to retain settings) and allow Fineprint to rescale to your paper size.
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I was unlucky enough to be the last posting in volume 3 without a reply button, so I\'ve copied my question over here and live in hope....
I have a really irritating problem with Macromedia\'s Flash Player; more and more sites rely on you having some sort of media player installed, which I have. What I seem to get is a mixture; sometimes I get the image outlines with a little red cross in the corner. Sometimes I get the outline with a little multicoloured ikon in the same corner. Somtimes I get the image OK. I have an account on my machine with absolute minimum security where all cookies are allowed and all filters, pop-up stoppers and firewalls etc. are neutralized just to see if it helps. It doesn\'t. Autosport mag\'s \'First View\' for instance, just stops. My OS is XP Home with IE6, Opera, Crazy Browser, Mozilla and Avanti installed and running with the same results on each.
Is there something I\'m missing here?
Thanks for any help and now I\'m off back to my High Security account now before I get virussed.
Cheers,
Bill
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Try re-installing Flash Player from www.macromedia.com
Can you give a different example of a Flash Player site which doesn't work for you - Autosport mag's 'First View' page says "There are no downloads or special software required with First View", so your problem here shouldn't be a Flash Player problem. I can't check it further without subscribing to Autosport.
Ian
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Bill, I have the same OS and browser as you, plus a software firewall, and the demo version of first view works OK. Despite broadband though it takes some time to load - if I was still using a dial up I suspect I would give up.
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A response to those kind enough to proffer advice on daughter\'s graduation computer present. She has indeed confirmed they use Macs at college for her art and design work and that would be her preference. Thanks.
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That raises a few more questions you might want to consider - part of the college network I look after is comprised of over a hundred different macs from various eras, and there are pros and cons to each.
The eMacs are a good deal on paper (possibly the first ever cost effective mac!) but we have had a few minor teething problems (faulty CD drives, slightly fuzzy screens, cooling fans failing). Admittedly this only applies to maybe five machines out of over forty, and a lot of those were early ones, so they should be more or less sorted by now. The downside is that they weigh an absolute ton so if you daughter has to move it herself she may want to book some help first :)
The new iMacs (the ones with the flat screen on a built in stand) are ok, but are really a bit overpriced for what they are. The screens on the eMacs are just as good and the spec is comparable otherwise.
G5s are very pretty and amazingly well built, but they\'re also pricey and don\'t really live up to the claims Apple make of them just yet, although I have no doubt that they will once the software catches up. The last generation of titanium G4s (the ones with the mirrored CD cover panels) are also sound and really represent better value for money for the average user. The only reason you might want to go for a G series over an eMac would be if you intended to put expansion cards in it, but I don\'t imagine this will apply in this case.
Be very wary of iBook laptops at the moment. The white ones have a record of logic board failures which is currently the cause of a class action lawsuit in the states - the screens tend to fail as a result. Apple have extended the warranty on affected stock to three years for that one part only but we\'ve found that replacements have a lifespan of around 6 months at best so sooner or later you\'ll suffer from it. The titanium iBooks are better but still have a few little quirks. Undeniably gorgeous looking though..
Finally, all Macs are now shipping with OSX which is a snazzy operating system. However, certain older versions of software (sometimes even just one release behind) might not work properly with it. The college should be fairly up to date though, so I imagine she\'ll be able to use the same versions of the software on the home machine.
If anything mac related comes up that you\'d like advice on, please feel free to give me a shout - I\'m far from an expert, but I know my way round the little designer beasties pretty well by now ;)
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Well thank you sir. I will go ahead with the Mac purchase for my daughter and if problems do occur, nice to think we have a helpdesk here courtesy of HJ.
Appreciated.
G.
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Please can anyone suggest what has caused the following problem and what is needed to fix it?
I was reading a thread on this Forum when suddenly the monitor went black and the pc switched off, although it did then re-boot?..*very* slowly.
My usual remedy is to use the Norton Systemworks one-button-check-up facility but on this occasion it refuses to load. Also, it will dial-up and get connected but will not load my ISP?s home page, which means no access to ?net and O/E. (?have since thought that I may be able to open O/E via desktop icon).
M/S Word seems to be ok but it says it encountered file corruption while opening.
My o/s is Win98. I am using a friends pc to post this message. Perhaps I should add that I am very amateur when it comes to understanding the technical side of the pc!
Thanks in anticipation of your help.
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First check is always a virus scan. It is quite possible that you have one of the older viruses which is swamping your CPU making everything else time-out.
So, do you have a virus scanner ?
Is it up to date ?
Have you run it recently ?
If you have not got one then you should get one quickly. There are free internet ones which are pretty good, but that's not much help without internet access.
If its not uptodate you should be able to use your friends computer to download an update to CD or diskette.
Another thing to check is what its actually doing. Hit ctrl-alt-delete and then select Task Manager. There are three pretty self-explanatory tabs. Start with performance and see if a lot of resources are being used. If a lot of CPU is being consumed then go to processes and see which one is using the capacity.
Go to my computer and then right click Disk C and select properties. Is the disk full ?
Go to Internet Explorer, Tools, Internet Options and clear history. Also (from memory) look for "tempory internet files" then settings, then "delete files"
If you find something then let us know here.
If you get on the internet then firstly
www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_pr...m
and run the scanner;
then
v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp
to see if you are missing any essential patches.
Check the above stuff, its easier to check that before we start considering system recovery disks.
Have you loaded and programs or changed any settings within the last [say] two weeks ? Mention it, even if you are sure its not relevant.
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Thank-you, Mark, for your very helpful reply.
A friend who knows a little more about the pc than I do is calling tomorrow and we will go through your suggestions.
In the meantime, in answer to your questions, I can tell you that:
(1)Norton Systemworks scans my files every Friday and did not find anything wrong on the 13th.
(2)My hard drive is not even half full.
(3)I have a program (System Wiper) which removes temporary files etc every time I disconnect.
(4) A few weeks ago I did put a program on hard drive (a series of reference books) which required 64MB minimum memory. My system has 64MB and it has been running satisfactorily.
I have a query re M/S patches. I have assumed that because Norton Anti-virus does an automatic up-date every time I go on-line, that Norton would include any new protection which M/S patches would provide. Am I right or should I be visiting M/S for patches as well?
More info for you soon.
Please watch this space.
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OAP
Programs which refuse to load & file corruptions reported by Word possibly point to a failing hard disk. Failing bad sectors on the hard disk can cause data/software to be corrupted in a fairly random manner.
Click "Start"/"Programs"/"Accessories"/"System Tools"/"ScanDisk".
Initially run the Standard ScanDisk, and then leave the PC on overnight to run the Thorough ScanDisk (Surface Check).
If Thorough ScanDisk reports "Bad Sectors", you will be looking to buy a new hard disk with all the problems that entails.
Microsoft Patches - Most of these patches relate to "Security Breaches/Vulnerabilities" in Windows or Internet Explorer. These potentially allow hackers to gain access to your computer and do various other nasty things. You should expect firewalls and virus checkers to catch these hackers/nasties but it is better to stop them occuring in the first place. Download the patches!
You download the patches by clicking the tab "Windows Update" which you should find in the Start Menu. Otherwise just go directly to windowsupdate.microsoft.com
Ian
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Mark?..further to my post on the 19th?..my friend duly called and spent a couple of hours trying to solve the problem?..as yet without success.
Amongst various other things, he uninstalled and reinstalled Norton Systemworks and, before leaving, set the system to scan?.no virus was found.
Without access to the ?net, we were unable to visit the sites which you named in your post of the 18th.
I am lost as to what to do next! I fear that I may have to put myself in the hands of a ?rig doctor? as the chap who assembled my rig four years ago has moved on to other things.
Unless you have a better idea?
PS?.for the record, I can get as far as ?Web site found and waiting for reply? (from NTL homepage) but no further?.Also, I am able to access Outlook Express via desktop icon.
PPS...Thank-you Ian for your suggestions. We will do what you suggest. Sorry about the time lag but I am having to use a.n.other pc as and when I can get to it!
Hopefully more news soon.
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OAP,
When you say you are able to access Outlook Express; do you mean you are able to open the program, or that you are actually able to send and receive e-mails ?
Have you checked with the NTL customer line to make sure that have no issues which may be effecting you ?
Also, what happens if you do not try and load the NTL home page ? Try and load www.msn.com which s virtually always available.
Do take Ian's suggestion on the scandisk.
Mark.
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OAP - I missed this one earlier.
Is it possible your hard disk is full? Unpredictable program operations (crashing and not being able to run) can arise due to the swap file being unable to grow, or insufficient room to create temporary files. Could also account for failure to load web pages and Outlook Express.
To check free space, look at Free Space in My Computer. A friend recently suffered exactly this with some very weird results. Microsoft screen names (the words in the border) were garbled and nothing much would run, with all kinds of errors. I deleted the sounds directory from one of his (huge) games and everything was immediately fine.
If you are short of space, and can't find anything to delete, disk drives are very cheap but be sure that your BIOS supports the size disk you are buying. You could concevably add it as a second disk and move some things to it, or use it as a new C drive but this would pretty much require a full re-installation - you'd need to save any files you need, and note down all kinds of settings. (There are software products to clone drives, which enable you to move to a larger disk without re-installing - repost if you need more on this)
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oap
i believe similar problems are caused by vx2.dll spyware.
copy/print the advice from following sites and check your pc to see if you possibly might just have this problem.
www.easywindows.com/messages/1344.html
www.cexx.org/vx2.htm
www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/v/vx2.asp
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oap
i just had a word with my uncle.
he suggests you
1. check that your firewall settings, if you have one, are not blocking access to internet explorer.
2. install a second browser such as mozilla or netscape or other to use for emergency fallback position when internet explorer is playing up. that allows you to access help from forums.
good luck.
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I have had a lot of complaints from people when e-mailing photos from the digi-cam. They always seem to be huge files and those on dial up networks get blocked for hours!!! :-)
Someone told me that I can make them smaller and user friendly but I have no eye deer how to do it. Any ideas would be welcome.
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CM
What format are the pictures? If they're .bmp bitmaps you can shrink them considerably by copying them to .jpg files. You can use Windows photo editor to do this. Loses a bit of resolution doing this but nothing serious for most purposes. Can shrink file sizes many thousand fold.
Failing that, try using your editor of choice to trim surplus peripheral bits (sky, grass etc) off.?
HTH
Terry
"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand"
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When they moan about the size; they might mean the physical size, as displayed on their monitor, as well as the size in megabytes. By default their e-mail system is probably displaying the images using their web viewer rather than an image viewer. i.e. Internet Explorer raher than paint shop pro or whatever.
Assuming this is the case you need to re-size the photos as well as applying JPEG compression. Just about any image editing program can do this, presumably there was a basic one bundled with the digicam? just make sure you check the 'maintain aspect ratio when resizing' box or equivalent. Something like 640 x 480 or even 320 x 240 pixels should make the picture a betetr size for the recipient.
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Someone told me that I can make them smaller and user friendly but I have no eye deer how to do it.
First of all, what format are they in? Jpeg is smaller than other graphic formats because it uses lossy compression: it throws away the bits that the eye cannot see. When you save your files as a jpeg in most graphics programs you get to choose the level of compression. There's a trade-off between file size and quality.
If you're using Windows, there's a wonderful free utility called Irfanview. It'll, open, view and save pretty much any graphic format you can think of. It'll also let you resize, crop, and lighten and darken images, which is probably exactly what you want to do.
It would take all afternoon to tell you all the program's features but don't let that frighten you off. It's very simple. Get it from www.irfanview.com . For maximum versatility, download the plugins from the same place.
If you have Windows XP, there's a Powertoy for resizing images (see www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/downloads/powerto...p ). It's very simple (you just right click on the image) but nowhere near as useful as Irfanview.
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Agree with welliesorter about irfanview, but still think it might be a number of pixels issue more than a number of bytes issue.
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Agree with welliesorter about irfanview, but still think it might be a number of pixels issue more than a number of bytes issue.
Irfanview will reduce both though. The resize/resample feature will resize the actual picture and saving as a jpeg will reduce the fie size. Actually, most digital cameras seem to save as jpegs so it may just be a large picture with minimal compression.
By the way, the Irfanview site doesn't seem to be working at the moment although the URL in my post is correct. If you get the same, try going to www.download.com and searching for Irfanview there.
The one thing I forgot to say in my original post was don't forget to keep the original files. Anything you do to reduce the size will be irreversible so you need to save under a different file name.
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Thanks for the thoughts.
The pictures come from a Sony digicam and are jpg (is this different from jpeg?). When the camera is set at 3.1m pixels the file size is just under 2000kb. (I try not to take photos for e-mailing at 5m pixels).
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.jpg is the file extension used for jpegs.
2000k is too big for e-mailing unless it's vital to maintain the quality. A photo that size would be bigger than most screens.
Irfanview or the XP Powertoy I mentioned will both do the job. In Irfanview, go to Tools-Resize/Resample. This will bring up a box that lets you choose the size. To avoid distorting the pics, make sure you have the 'Preserve Aspect Ratio' box ticked. 640x480 is probably fine for emailing. Take care to give your file a new name to avoid overwriting the old one.
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Cheers Wellie.
I had downloaded Irfanview and found that there were too many options to get my poor head round. Thanks for the guidance.
Interesting that you say it is bigger than the screen cos when I open them up in Irfanview they do seem a bit big!
Again ta.
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CM : try this link, shows how to do the job in irfanview, saves me or welliesorter trying to type it out ;-)
www.netoffices.com/articles/imaging/resize4email.h...m
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CM,
Your camera must have come with some photo software. Why not look at this for a "resize" option, there will be one. It will avoid the need to learn yet another program.
Learning to reduce displayed image size and the actual file size is possibly the most crucial skill to using digital images online.
I would aim for 50-70kb for mail use.
M.M
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Yet another of these mass mailing worms is doing the round at the moment;
The Netsky.B worm will usually come in the form of a mail with attachment and under various subject headings titled along the lines of "information...", "Stuff about you..." etc.
Just make sure you have the latest signature files for your antivirus sw.
Cheers,
Chad.
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Yes, and Bagle.B is on the loose again. The lowlifes have been particularly busy this week - anything to do with half term?
Bagle.B carrying emails have a subject line of "ID (random string) ... thanks" and a sppofed sender's name.
Be careful out there.
Terry
"Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand"
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I've just received yet another email puporting to come from Microsoft, asking me to click on a link to download the latest security patch. I was able to preview this on Mailwasher & deleted it without downloading from my ISP's mail server.
Needless to say, the link either instals a virus or takes one to a dodgy web site where web trojans / worms are lurking.
Microsoft, for all their faults, never, never send emails asking users to click such links!
Just be aware folks!
Roger.
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Strange problem this. I have been running Windows XP Pro on my Sony Trinitron monitor for a long time at a 800 x 600 pixel setting (because it suited the applications I use).
Suddenly the rendition appears to have changed:
1) gone up one or two font-sizes
2) become more oblong (stretched sideways) with partial compression at the edges, and some loss of display at the edges.
3) this change is evident right from the first appearance of the Windows XP Pro logo when booting up.
If I change to 1024 x 768 pixels (Control Panel - Display - Settings), the rendition is fine but of course with much smaller font - however fault 3) still applies.
Just wondering what has gone wrong here - the operating system or the monitor? And whether the solution lies in reloading the O.S., or changing the monitor!
Would appreciate any suggestions.
Oz (as was)
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Fault two gives it away, you have a monitor fualt I,m afriad. Regards Peter
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There is a possibility that the screen refresh rate in the monitor settings have switched to a setting other than the usual. This could allow one resolution to appear OK, whilst blowing others out of the water. Try running it at both \'adapter deffault\' and \'optimal\' to see if you get diferent results. Failing that, try pinning it down to a fixed refresh rate - 70hz is usually safe.
This wouldn\'t account for the increase in font size though - is it definitely a larger font, or just apparently larger due to the screen stretching you\'re observing? When in 1024x768 mode, does the font size appear consistent with what you\'d usually see in 800x600?
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I am presuming the missing letters have some connection with the increase in size of the fonts. Has me totally puzzled why swear censor objecting to font-sizes.
Happy Motoring Phil I
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Well there you go. Another supposition blown out of the water.
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Thanks for suggestions folks. In the meantime I reminded myself in the meantime that the very first text which appears on the screen (i.e. in DOS mode) also shows the fault of compression at the screen edge, which points the finger of suspicion at the monitor.
(Incidentally I noted in my original post that the two words in the term 'font-size' have got to be hyphenated for the purpose of this site, otherwise the system tries to intepret them as an instruction! - which I assume accounts for the strings of ******** in case anyone was wondering?)
;0)
Oz (as was)
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Font size was added to the swear filter some time ago to stop people from posting in large Font sizes in similar ways to how you post in itallics, bold, underline messages.
I however can still say Font size, and have also edited it into the above messages.
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Thanks for clarifying that DD.
The only thing I'm still scratching my head about is:
At resolution setting 1024 x 768, and after booting-up has ended, the display is fine - no distortion at edge of screen at all.
So I won't rush off for a new monitor just yet.
Oz (as was)
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i have recently bought a microphone and cannot get it to work using XP home edition. I have been through control panel and in Sounds and Audio Devices have selected the mic input and set the volume to mid-level.
I have checked using Sound Recorder and there is no signal being traced when I hit the record button and speak into the mic.
I have gone through the entire help menu and got knowhere. I'm only using MS works and not Office so can't set the Speech recognition from there and I can't set it in control panel as the only Speech icon I have brings up a text to speech box without a Speech to Text option.
HELP!!!!!
--
I read often, only post occasionally
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Have you got mike sockets on the front and rear of the pc? On mine I have to select from a menu somewhere which socket is being used.
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Dave,
Thanks for that, it set me off a suitable line to finally solve the problem. Hadn't seen the sockets on the front before. Its working now. :D
--
I read often, only post occasionally
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Good one this!
Had Windows XP and Office XP installed on my PC. Running an AMDK6 500MHz Processor, 192 Meg of RAM, 8 Gb Hard drive, 8Mb Video Card. (It's only for occasional home use.)
Took it home and connected up. Switched on and everything is fine until the screen goes onto stand by just before the desktop icons appear. The only way to shut down is to allow the computer to continue to boot up and settle down, then press the 'Power' buuton on my keyboard and the screen powers up and shows it's OK to switch off.
Tried looking at the Power Management options in the BIOS but nothing looks amiss.
Any clues as to what could be wrong??
Thanks in advance
Charles
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I'm not 100% sure of this, but it could be that the screen resolution and/or refresh rate is not set correctly. The monitor may be going into standby mode to protect itself from damage. Also, have you set XP to run 3D graphics on that old video card when the card doesn't support it? Using the XP install disk to "repair" the installation may give you the chance to experiment with video/monitor settings.
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Chris
Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to have to take the PC back to my man in the know and get him to have a look.
In the meantime I'll try a different monitor over the weekend to see what happens.
Cheers
Charles
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Have read the thread above about BMP and JPEG pjhotos but wondered if anyone can help me with my problem.
My Dad and I, over the last 10 years, have researched my Grandfather's WW1 diary. It has been done on MS Publisher and includes perhaps 100 photos and maps which I originally scanned as BMP images (and in many cases edited, using PSPro to eradicate blotches/scratches/tears etc) In my ignorance, these photos were saved as BMP images within Publisher and as a result can be huge files, (and therefore seem to overwhelm the memory of many printers or takes hours to print) especially since some photos were saved as large images in order to edit pixel by pixel. Is it possible to convert them to JPEG images within Publisher, or do I have to copy each in to PSP, resave as JPEGS and re-insert into the diary?
As a second question, I have a copy of the diary on CD. Some pupils at a local school wanted copies for a project on the Somme so I lent the disc to them to make copies. I am informed that it couldn't be copied because it was read-only - any way round this, or will it happen if I make another copy to give to them? Am I the only one who can make copies?
Thanks in advance
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Only limited help here I'm afraid.....
I have seen a few shareware programs that will batch-process a group of files from BMP to JPG but can't name any because I didn't have that requirement. Perhaps a search on tucows.com will provide something.
On the CD copying - I have never heard of a r/o CD as such stopping the copy process (aren't all CDs r/o once written, except CDRWs of course). I would guess the administrator had set the device as r/o to stop the little angels copying.
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Q1. I don't know if you can convert the files within Publisher.
Assuming you can actually extract the files out of Publisher, you should use PSP to adjust the image size and the jpg compression settings to get the smallest file size without noticeable degradation. As a rule of thumb, aim for file sizes like:
25Kb for pictures smaller than A6 (quarter A4)
50Kb for A6.
75Kb for A5.
100Kb for A4.
Or whatever suits your pictures best.
If you are thinking about professional quality printing, you'll probably need bigger files.
Don't forget to save compressed pictures with a different name to the originals. In PSP v7, set the picture size to the final printed size (in inches) or displayed size (in pixels), using "Image" / "Resize". Then set the compression level with "File" / "Save As" / "Save As Type = JPEG" & click the Options tab.
Q2. Sounds like nonsense to me. All CDROMs are read-only, and this doesn't affect their copyability.
But perhaps they meant they couldn't edit the document after copying it to hard disk because the hard disk file was read-only. If this is the problem, get them to use Windows Explorer, right-click on the document name, select Properties and untick the "Read-Only" attribute.
Ian
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In Paintshop Pro you can do a batch conversion from one format to another. Simply saving the files to .jpg will considerably decrease their size on disk, and there is no need to rename them as they have a different extension anyway. I was working with 6.2mb .tif files today which went to about 100k .jpg's with no noticeable loss of quality.
If they are still taking to much room, you can then look at individually resizing the pics as above.
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Over the last few weeks, my computer has been afflicted with a slow logon under Windows XP. I had the misfortune to access what one might describe as a naughty site, which spawned a number of uninvited windows. I closed the machine down, and have since run Spybot, Ad-aware and an antivirus scan (Norton 2003). But when I start the machine up, there is a long delay, when it appears to do little, before I can do anything. Ad-aware found a "possible browser hijack attempt" which has been removed. There are no obvious changes to the startup when I checked it using Msconfig, and there don't appear to be any spurious programs in Zonealarm (the free version). Does anyone have any ideas what else to check?
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Try running Scandisk - the boot sector on your HD may have become corrupted and this would slow things dramatically.
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It might be worth logging in under your administrator account, going to 'services' in your system administration settings, and setting the indexing service to 'manual'. File indexing attempts to keep track of the location of stuff on the hard drive to speed up future access, but in reality it doesn't make that much difference for most people. The mass slowdown can often be caused by the indexing service attempting to get up to date by performing a mass scan on the hard drive.
While you're in there, you might want to turn off 'Universal pliug and play' too, and 'messenger service' if you don't use MSN messenger. Both are potentially nasty security loopholes and not really worth having active if you don't specifically need them.
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Thanks guys for the helpful suggestions. I'll run scandisk when I've got a few dead minutes.
I gather MSN Messenger (which I don't use) is a bit of a problem to permanently kill, how do I do this?
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See here support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;3...p to stop Messenger running on XP.
Slow start can also be due to more and more programs being loaded at start up. If you have installed new programs then they are bound to have some effect. Check what your computer is using at startup and disable the bits you don't need. (Star/Run, type MSCONFIG press enter...look for startup)
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Smokie, I understand what you are saying, but the point is the machine suddenly became slow to log on, no new programs were installed or put in the startup group. Thanks for the microsoft link re messenger, I'll have a look at that.
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FWIW, I had intermittent slow/failed login problems a few weeks ago.
I removed programs from startup one by one to see what was causing the problems. When I removed a utility package I use mainly for anti-virus and firewall the problem cleared. I reinstalled the program and the problem did not return.
A previous reply recommended disabling services. This is a useful site as it actually tells you what various XP services do, whether you can do without them and how to disable them - I have followed this advice without problems.
www.blackviper.com/
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Manatee has the exactly right idea, remove things from startup one by one, keeping notes so you can put them back.
Defrag might help, but today's disks are so damn fast anyway, you will notice very little difference between a badly fragmented file and an intact one. I don't think that's very worthwhile, but it costs nothing.
Are you on an "always-on" broadband connection or is it one where you have to initiate the session? It could be a (legit ot otherwise) product trying to "phone home" before the connection is there - and maybe waiting for, say, 30 seconds before giving up. Products do this to check for or download updates. Although this kind of thing usually happens in parallel with other tasks and wouldn't always slow down the start.
Finally in XP you can look in Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Event Viewer, especially under System, to see if there are any errors. Although don't jump to conclusions, as errors are often "OK"...
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Recent upgraded from Win98SE to XP Pro. Ever since then the computer has developed a tendency to lock up completely - the only way to fix it is a reset, even Ctrl-Alt-Delete has no effect.
I've done virus scans with AVG and Housecall, run the latest AdAware and have two firewalls running as well as the standard Windows one. I've even tried variations on having these turned off. Still the problem persists. There is no real pattern to it either - sometimes the system locks after 2 minutes, sometimes it runs all night with no problems but most times I use it I end up having to reset it at least once. Also, the programs running at the time varies.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be causing it, or what I can do to log what the computer is doing to try and diagnose the source of the problem? No hardware changes since 98 and the 'standard' software I use remains the same. (i.e. I've not reinstalled all the junk I used to have under 98 but still use the same set of programs all the time I did before)
Any help to sort this out would be most appreciated - I'm about to start work on a website and I don't want to end up losing work every time I try and do something.
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This does sound like hardware to me. XP is pretty bloated compared with 98 and at a guess your machine is four or more years old. Describing the machine might be of some help. It might also be a good idea to download and install the most recent drivers for your hardware, especially if XP didn't have drivers of its own and you needed to install drivers from the hardware vendor's disk. If the hardware wasn't designed with XP in mind the original (early) drivers could be quite flaky.
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Steve42,
It could be just co-incidence that the pc started locking up after you installed XP. Check all air vents are clear and not being obstructed with something. Also check that the cooling fans are working. I had a carrier bag fall down behind my old pc once and covered the air vent - subsequently causing the pc to overheat and frequently lock up. It wasn't until a week later that I found the offending carrier.
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As a matter of interest did you run the XP system test.It tells
you if any hardware is not compatible with XP.Reason I ask is some carry on with install without checking/doing the test.may be XP cannot get on with certain programs.if so you should be able to carry on in compatibility mode?.Just a thought
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steveh42
i would hazard a guess that you are running out of memory.
how much ram are you running? tell us.
then we can judge whether you need to double up your ram as a minimum. or maybe quadruple if possible.
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Right, try and answer all replies in one go. (Thanks guys BTW)
System is a Duron 800 with 256Mb RAM. Graphics is a Hercules Kyro2, sound is a SB512. D-Link Net card, no other cards installed. Must admit I can't remember the age of the system, but 4 years is probably a reasonable guess. It does me for what I want so no real point in upgrading.
I've downloaded new drivers for everything, even what XP did recognise, just to make sure I've got the latest of everything. Installed all relevant updates and service packs also.
Mech1- not sure what you mean by the XP System Test. If it happens or is an option during the install process I'll have run it, otherwise not that I know. All I have running most times is MSN and Yahoo messengers, Mozilla Firebird, ZoneAlarm, AVG and Mailwasher.
As for memory, I know Windows can be odd, but as I said originally, this can happen not long after boot-up or after I've opened hundreds of web pages and have Kazaa (a notorious memory-hog) running all night without any obvious cause.
Thanks so far
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XP is remarkably tolerant of old hardware. I just installed it on a 4 year old lap top (pentium 600, 192 mb) and it runs like a peach. A duron with 256 will be fine (no speed freak but fine)
YOu need to check the drivers for your sound card and your video card* and download the latest from the manufacturers.
Failing that this is an upgrade problem. UPgrades are never really 100% brilliant, clean installs are always best.
The system test is called the compatability test, an option available to select when you get the xp startup splash screen.
*get a new video card.
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I think you can discount RAM as a problem (as long as all the RAM you have is working properly) and it might be unwise to add much more with that processor speed. Processor speed is at the low end for XP but should be ok. I agree no need to upgrade (though Linux would probably be quite a bit faster on this machine;-)). Unless you have an actual hardware failure somewhere, and as long as the sound and video cards are working with XP I think you are ok with this rig, though it won't get the most from XP. So what's the problem? Frankly I'm stumped, but it is not unknown for XP to become unstable after patching or installing a service pack, depending on what order you installed them in--you might find after the next patch it gives no more trouble, for example. If so you'll just have to live with it, or reinstall and pick your updates very sparingly next time. I know one techy guy who runs "vanilla" XP with no updates at all, simply because of this perceived problem, though he's fastidious with hardware firewalls, AV software and so on. I'm not sure I'd do that if you're a Kazaa fiend though.
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Steve42,
Pay a visit to this site www.pcpitstop.com . Fairly simple to follow through and *may* tell you what the problem is.
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As for memory, I know Windows can be odd, but as I said originally
thats my theory out of the window then ! pun intended ;-)
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Had the same problem when i moved my main desktop machine to XP. Tracked it down to my Matrox G450 dual head card. There were updated drivers that were MS certified but these didn't fix the problem. In the end I replaced the card and the problem went away. I actually blaimed it on my motherboard (cheap pc-chips job) as there seem to be many documented incompatibilities between that board and various AGP cards. Try running eventvwr.exe and have a flip through the any recent event logs. they may give you a clue as the the nature of the problem. Also try some general searches using google along the lines of XP [insert hardware device] lock ups or something similar
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...all good advice. But stick with checking what you can see - open up the case and make sure the fans are turning - bog ones to dissipate hot air out of the case and smaller ones on top of the processor and possibly the video card. Intermittent stalls can be caused by heat related problems, and while they will USUALLY be fairly consistent, some operations are worse than others for generating unwanted heat.
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