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676988
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 10/01/2008 at 18:25
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Anyone with BT Broadband? One of my neighbours has lost her broadband connection. From a quick look, the Voyager modem is connected and the lights come on to show broadband is available on the line but the table of phone numbers on the IE tools, options, connection panel is blank. It used to have phone numbers in, but which numbers? Can't system restore. Husband is incommunicado in hospital and BT installation CD with (I imagine) phone numbers etc. is lost. BT won't help; they need a password from husband. You kind people are looking like the last resort... We are in Richmond, N Yorks if that makes a difference.
As ever, TIA.
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Do you mean the login password (which you won't get online without) or the admin password for the Hub Management ?
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No, the password is in there, represented by asterisks.
Both she and I are convinced there was an 0800 or 0845 number in the list of phone numbers.
Yes, it's a Voyager modem and I see from the Voyager links that the DUN light is behaving oddly.
Neighbour is a hospital at the mo so no developments. Thanks for your replies.
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Filter may need swapping at the telephone point. Re-boot the modem if you can. I have a spare BT Broadband modem if you need it, I;ll have to dig it out of the attic though. I'l post it to you it's good for 2Mb.
Just going to check BT's homepage for any service issues., Broadband has been a bit sluggish down here as well/
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You could try switching the router/modem off for a while, using the button near the power line, then switching on. However, this did not answer my problem, which is that, although the rest is working, more or less, the internet phone is not. I get a recorded message saying I can't send or receive calls from it. (My router is a BT Voyager 2500V.) I can't think why as, using a second phone connected to the same line, I was able to call BT on 0845-600-7030, via 08-00-800-150 and got put on to a very charming and courteous Indian lady whose accent I could not make out.
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I assume it is a USB modem and not an ADSL router.
Try www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=57935&...e
or www.voyager.bt.com/usb_modems/usb_index.htm
Edited by jbif on 02/01/2008 at 13:30
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If the BT modem is USB (not familiar with their products) then the "phone number" that has to be inserted into the field from IE'S Tools>Options>Connection tab is:
0,38
This is the VCI/VPI setting (think that's the right way round) for the UK.
The rest of the configuration is the same as for a dial-up modem, except for choosing DSL rather than a dial-up modem.
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Phone number shouldn't matter for broadband. Its the username and password that are key.
try the links here
www.voyager.bt.com/selfhelp/shc_usb.htm
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I have replaced the line filter and everything works now. Thanks again for the replies, links and offer of spare modem.
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Another BT problem. I may have asked this question before, but I never managed to resolve the issue.
Seemingly on one computer only (in our house we can have sometimes maybe 5 computers wirelessly connected at any time) the connection is lost if I'm away from the computer for a short while. Say afer 10 - 20 minutes Explorer says NO. On returning to use it, it can't get on to the internet unless I do a restart. Occasionally, rather than no access at all, a web site (never BBC news) might let me in but only to that one site alone but I can't than switch to any others. Explorer says NO again.
At first I though it might be a wireless problem and so disconnected the wireless card and simply wired the PC in to the router. Alas - no difference - apart from the house being festooned with grey cable! Then I though it might be linked to the screen saver - it isn't.
The way around it has been to use this desktop computer rarely and use the others instead. Or restart 5 times a day. This works, but isn't practical and I'm getting fed up with it.
Any ideas? It's running XP 1, without the XP2 upgrade, but with AVG and Zone Alarm.
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Check power save options. windows might be turning off the wireless/network devices to save power. It's optional.
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rtj70 might be right.
Could you post the output of
ipconfig/all
run from a dos/cmd window. BOth when things are working and when they are not.
Does
ipconfig/renew
make things any better?
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Any ideas? It's running XP 1, without the XP2 upgrade, but with AVG and Zone Alarm
I would suggest you first update to SP2 plus all latest updates (SP3 is out in beta-Release Candidate form and final version is due to be released in a few months).
Some questions -
How is this PC configures differently from the others?
Is it just that IE blocks you or is it that there is no internet connection?
Is it possible that your Zonealarm firewall is somehow setting itself to block all traffic after some intrusion attempts?
Are they all running the same IE6, XP-SP1, Zonealarm and AVG versions?
Is it only failing on IE6? Do note that IE6 has been updated further since SP2.
Have you tried IE7 or Firefox2 or Opera as alternatives?
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Agree with jbif, update XP to SP2 (though wait until others have beta tested SP3) then run Microsoft Updates and then see if you have any problems.
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>>(..though wait until others have beta tested SP3)..>>
I've had SP3 RC1 installed for about a week to 10 days.
No problems so far (touch wood). Did a backup first, then installed SP3 followed by defrag and second backup.
Only noted change is a new Tools tab from msconfig which includes Security Center, plus slight updating of Windows Movie Maker 2.1.
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Thanks all so far. I've cancelled all power saving options and will report findings in a while.
I'm sorry if you think I'm a dinosaur sticking with XP1, but it does all I want and up until now I've been firmly in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" camp. My youngest installed XP2 update to a laptop years ago and had a heck of a time putting things right after it. Since then I never update from Msoft at all. Unlike you experts, for me a computer is a bit like a fridge - used for a purpose. Word 97 suits me fine and come to think of it DOS 3.1 worked OK too! My elderly fridge keeps food on the bottom shelf around 5 degrees and none of us yet has had food poisoning. The Sony TV is 21 years old and we have only just renewed the 30 year old freezer.
Having said all that - my computer is a bit broke now, so maybe it does need fixing.
PS Cars however are different - logic does not apply.
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You might be having problems with the Winsock layer. If you are using XP, (not sure if you need SP" for this), try this:-
Repair Winsock.
For internet connectivity problems do the following.
Goto Start ?> Run
type cmd and click OK.
Type: netsh winsock reset - Best to copy & paste this
Press ENTER . Restart immediately !
Note that there is a space between the commands , example netshSPACEwinsockSPACEreset
This won't break your PC, by the way!!!
--
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
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The release candidate for service pack 3 for XP is available, even if you are not an authorised Microsoft Beta Tester!
This release is reckoned to speed up XP. I have it now on my laptop and, subjectively I'd agree - things happen more quickly.
What you have to do is to fool Microsoft update into thinking that your machine IS on the beta test list. Once this is done, just run Microsoft update in the usual way and the SP3 will be offered as a download.
Mine went very smoothly. Just make sure that important "stuff" is backed up, just in case.......!!!
OK, here's the trick:-
Go to Start/Run, enter cmd and the DOS Command screen will appear. Into this paste the following command,(EXACTLY as shown) and hit enter.
@echo off
reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUp
date\XPSP3
/f 2> NUL
reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUp
date\XPSP3
/v RCPreview /t REG_SZ /d 1c667073-b87f-4f52-a479-98c85711d869 /f
echo XPSP3 registry key has been set. Please check for updates in Windows Update - Kudos to dailyapps.net
pause
Once done, close the DOS Command box and go to Microsoft update in the usual way, wait while your PC is scanned and you should see the SP3 update as available. Install it, re-boot & there you are
--
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
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Well, it's not the power saving and my computer denies all knowledge of winsock (thanks anyway malteser). I'll now move on to the next easiest and least disruptive advice to follow.
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dinosaur sticking with XP1, but it does all I want and up until now I've been firmly in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" camp.
If you connect to the internet, you are exposed to a greater security risk with XP-sp1 than if you install all the latest fixes including SP2 plus subsequent updates.
Or wait a few months for final SP3 to be released.
As for Malteser's method to download SP3-RC1, for anyone who is inclined to intall it, it can be downloaded officially direct from Microsoft without any tinkering with Registry at
tinyurl.com/34y5q6
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The final version of SP3 will be much quicker than that...:-)
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malteser
This is a very tortuous route...:-)
I merely downloaded it from:
www.majorgeeks.com/download4323.html (one of the US sites).
Do a backup of existing system first. Install SP3 and then defrag the system (you'll find it's very necessary) before a second backup. You'll probably find that System Center is now available via Start>Run> key in: msconfig>Tools tab (new).
but note it's a 336MB download.
Took me just over 12 minutes to download, but could/would have only been about eight minutes using Fresh Download.
To save any further need to download SP3 when upgrading friends and family systems, I burned a copy to a CD-R.
Edited by Stuartli on 03/01/2008 at 18:23
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Does anyone know the cheapest places to buy a printer, preferably Epson as they seem to have the cheapest ink.
--
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PC World have an Epson combined scanner/copier/printer on special for under £40, as I write. This is half the previous price
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 03/01/2008 at 10:15
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>>on special for under £40, as I write>>
Is this the DX 4450 by any chance?
A mate's sister-in-law bought one this week along with a laptop and I installed all the drivers and software required, including those for this printer.
Although I connected the printer as part of its installation, I didn't actually use it, but like my Epson R300 it seemed a solid bit of kit.
However I'm bemused as to why All-in-One units such as this cost the same or even less than a dedicated photo printer; there's also the point that if one section breaks down, you lose the use of the lot whilst it's repaired.
If you do go ahead and buy one you may be interested in visiting DiskDept:
www.diskdepot.co.uk
which is where I buy compatible inkjet cartridges for my Epson.
I buy them in packs of the six required for the printer at around £4.25 per pack - buying the six Epson genuine cartridges is around £65-70. I order several packs to make the most of the delivery charge.
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Me and my better half are not al that computer literate and she is asking me how to type text within a shape the shape in question is a heart as her hobby is designing and making cards. If you can help please make it in simple terms.
Please help as her frustration in not being able to do this is doing my head in!!.
Edited by mal on 02/01/2008 at 23:39
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Which application are you using eg. one of the Microsoft Office applications, or OpenOffice, or something else?
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Hi focus, she is using microsoft office (word)
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mal- sorry this is taking so long. Is the heart being created in Word using Word graphics, or being brought in as an image created somewhere else to which text has to be added?
I'm afraid I've only got Word 2002 at home (Linux for work), but I can use it to create a simple heart with text by doing:
- Insert / Picture / Autoshapes
- Click on the heart/triangle/square icon (Basic Shapes) and select the heart
- Hold down the left mouse button and drag to creat a heart of the required dimensions
- With the new heart still selected, right click and select 'Add Text'
Basic, but any use?
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I am disenchanted with BT and will switch in the spring, when my contract expires. I would have used HomePhone because I found it excellent for telephones but it did not offer broadband at that time. Now it does but it does not seem to appear on comparison sites. Can anyone report on it please? I only require light use.
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Full details at:
tinyurl.com/25wa53
However, the TalkTalk International3 package at £20.50 including "up to 8MB" broadband, line rental, free AnyTime local and national phone calls and free AnyTime international calls to more than 30 countries is still absolutely unbeatable at present:
tinyurl.com/nl8te
Cheaper package including BB from TT, but not as comprehensive:
tinyurl.com/ph9xc
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The TalkTalk 2 package at £16.39 is also unbeatable, but you only get free Local and National at Evening and weekends. You still get the free International anytime calls and free broadband, so you take your choice based on your usage, if you use the phone during the day, then the TalkTalk3 package is possibly better.
Incidentally, anyone on Talktalk can take advantage of lower international rates, just dial 18418 before you dial the international number and you get around 2p/min for most Euro countries.
(Not affiliated by the way, just that myself, my Dad, Sister and Father-in-Law are all using Talktalk and are very happy (apart from Dad having initial teething broadband problems)
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I've been on the TalkTalk International 3 package since a year last April - the amount of money saved alone is staggering and, apart from one or two initial hiccups, I've been very satisfied. 6.3MB to 7.2MB broadband connections are not to be sneezed at, never mind the phone calls value...:-)
if anyone does has problems using TT broadband it's important to ensure that the MTU figure is set to 1432 (same for AOL, also now under the TT umbrella) rather than the Windows default of 1500.
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Hi Folks,
Had a play with laptop last night (19.30 ?01.30 ;-( ) and patience finally deserted me, tried most of the things you?ve suggested inc starting from scratch having reverted to factory settings, no-good, still dumps memory.
So boxed it up, and 10am saw me explaining things to the ?Tech-guys? who simply asked if I?d left any personal data, passwords etc on it, when I said I hadn?t, they simply whipped it away into the warehouse and 2mins later gave me a new machine.
Now, I admit to feeling a bit ?peeved? because I really wanted to know what exactly was wrong with it, (I hate unfinished business) so asked them, ?well it?s broken isn?t it? ? Santa must have dropped or bumped it!? was the answer!! (not sure if they meant the Santa who delivered it to the store, or the one who put it under the tree!), but I left the store thinking if that was all it took to be a ?Tech-guy? then I should add it to my C.V.
When I got it home, I started installing all the stuff needed, and 20mins later, was virtually finished! ? not a scrap of bother!, so Hats-off to the ?Tech-guys? they managed to diagnose the fault without removing it from the box, and the previous one must have been ?broken isn?t it? after all.
Many thanks for the advice offered, and happy New Year to you all!!
Billy
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Glad it's sorted. And I bet you're glad you bought in store and not online ;-)
It was probably faulty or badly fitted memory at a guess. But who cares. So after many wasted hours, 30 minutes is all it should have taken to get it how you wanted it.
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A couple of years ago we bought our daughter a laptop for her 16th birthday.
She says it's not working properly anymore and dumped it on my desk to fix.
As far as I can see it is taking a very long time to start up and when it gets going I get a message saying that there is a trojan backdoor virus on the machine but that Norton can't repair the file. You can't get rid of this message without closing Norton in task manager.
I know that at some stage she connected to a peer-to-peer site to download tunes and guess she got the virus there.
She has no information that needs saving so I guess I could just wipe it and re-install windows XP.
Any other thoughts on how best to go about restoring it to some sort of use ?
She mostly uses it for Office, surfing the web via our wireless hub and of course msn.
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Sometimes its just easier to start again, re-install and use a free antivirus such as AVG.
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Yes there are some good free anti virus programs out there.
In descending order of effectiveness, according to many AV testing sites are.
1.Avira PE, (free.)
2.Avast! Home, (free)
3.AVG (free.)
There is also a special offer of a free six month licence for Avira AntiVir Personal Edition Premium, normally 20$USD
Here's the link:- www1.avira.com/en/evaluate/dennis_special.php
--
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
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If there is definately no data then I'd wipe it if you know there's some form of trojan.
Do you have the original CD that would bring back to it's initial build? It's quicker than re-installing XP plus the service pack and all hotfixes.
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Most original ex factory builds are horribly bloated with stuff put there to try and sell you something. 90 days free Norton, for instance, before you have to pay a fortune to keep it updated, offers to install AOL as you ISP and so on.
If I restore to factory spec. I always get rid of the garbage. Norton is always a problem to completely uninstall though.They do have a removal tool, available from their website, to be run after normal uninstall which shifts most of the leftovers.
Once done, choose one of the good free firewalls and install that. Try the free version of Online Armor, a good powerful and easy to use firewall ( suitable for non-techies!), from Australia.
Link Here:- www.tallemu.com/online_armor_free.html
Then get the Antivirus in from the list in the previous posting.
Finally as a specific anti trojan program download & install COMODO BOclean anti-malware, again free.
Link here:- www.comodo.com/boclean/CBO_download.html
With that lot in place - surf safely!
--
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
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And use a NAT'd router to further hide behind. Not going to stop visiting sites/P2P stuff infecting but I would not want a PC directly connected to the Internet anymore. You'd get infected/attacked straight away. Better that firewalls/NAT is on something other than your PC.
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" And use a NAT'd router to further hide behind. Not going to stop visiting sites/P2P stuff infecting but I would not want a PC directly connected to the Internet anymore. You'd get infected/attacked straight away. Better that firewalls/NAT is on something other than your PC."
I agree wholeheartedly!
--
Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
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That sounds like very good advice.
What does it mean, though ?
While I'm not totally IT illiterate ( I can trace my history back to Commodore PETs and write some pretty sharp BASIC progs) this networking/server/broadband stuff goes right over my head.
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In the context of home use and broadband, aA router (which you might already have) allows multiple devices* to connect to the Internet and share a connection. Typically your ISP only allows one device to connect and allocates a single IP (Internet Protocol) address. To have more computers therefore needs a device (a router/gateway) to route Internet traffic across the single connection.
But the upside of using a router is the PCs have private IP addresses and the router is the only device exposed to the Internet (you might port forward for say P2P traffic using the De-Militarised zone- aka DMZ). Why is this good? Attacks first try to check what is at a particular IP address and a router will ignore them. A PC probably will not totally ignore them.
For the cost of say £30 or less you could end up more secure, have multiple PCs connected and wireless convenience too.
* I say devices to include things like my new iPod ;-) Running Safari and it's really really good.
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We have a BT Home Hub which my PC connects to by the ethernet connection and the daughters laptop and a second PC connect to wirelessly. Should this protect us in future against attack in its standard form or do I need to configure it in some way or another?
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The BT Home Hhub will offer more protection than being directly on the Internet. You should still have anti-virus, a firewall (but does not need so tied down to allow file sharing etc) and run regular scans for spyware, etc.
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If you have a router, as has been stated, you are pretty safe from hackers carrying out random port probing to find unprotected P.C.s.
Most threats, however come from "invited in" traffic - emails or P2P downloads or infected/hacked websites.
This is why it is important to have a software firewall which controls OUTGOING traffic. Malware these days is past the nuisance stage of "I can trash your computer because I'm clever" and is now geared towards making illegal money. Do do this the malware must first gather the useful information, but then it has to send it somewhere.
Outgoing control firewalls can monitor traffic trying to leave your PC and will only allow trusted programs to do this. The problem is knowing what is a trusted program and should it be trying to access the internet or accept incoming traffic from the internet.
This is where a combination of expert knowledge from the firewall maker and informed action by the user come in.
Most firewalls come preconfigured to let recognised browsers and email clients and so on to use the internet, but user input is necessary in many cases. Should I allow "Google Earth" to access the internet - yes. Should I let SKYPE access the internet AND accept connections from the internet - yes if you want callers to 'phone you on it!
Should I allow "anonymousprogramIdon'tknow" to access the internet - probably not!
It's up to users to spend some time getting to know their PCs.
Gone are the days when one could plug in a PC and sail off into uncharted warters trusting to luck!
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McAfee's Site Advisor is also a useful tool - separate versions for Internet Explorer and Firefox. See:
www.siteadvisor.com/
If you download from here, the download will be for the particular browser in use at the time.
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>>device iPod
Am reading your post and replying now on my iPod touch. Its interface in Safari is truly brilliant. Worth having a wireless router just for stuff like this. Has changed my end of day Internet from avantgo on the ipaq to full, proper surfing.
Other seismic changes for me have been google reader and stumble upon, the latter taking up all the time the former has saved me.
Mods : Apologies for topic drift.
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"If I restore to factory spec. I always get rid of the garbage. Norton is always a problem to completely uninstall"
Just bought a new laptop and first thing I did was to dump Norton and all the other money seeking stuff. I then put Acronis True-Image on and made an image of the drive in order to have a `clean`, customised to my tastes, drive to go back to rather than using the OE disks.
I dumped Norton before allowing it to run for the first time.
Edited by smokie on 04/01/2008 at 08:15
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I use Acronis True Image Home and it is invaluable. It will enable you to restore not only the operating system, but also ALL your installed programs, settings, registry tweaks and so on.
It's saved me hours of time!
Talking of restoring and so on - if you use Firefox and/or Thunderbird there is also available Mozbackup, (free) which is a really easy way of periodically backing up Firefox and Thunderbird, complete with extensions installed, browser bookmarks and emails, mail and server settings etc etc.
You can back up to a flash drive or external HD for added security.
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Many thanks for all the valued replies. I have spent most of my spare time over the weekend working on the wretched thing and everything seems to be running fine.
The laptop, an Advent, has a partitioned hard drive with the small partition containing the necessary files to restore from. I started with the least damaging option, so keeping all the files and programmes in place, then downloaded the recommended firewall and antivirus progs. I scanned the computer and hopefully killed the trojan.
Next I used the add/remove programmes to ditch all the garbage and msconfig to eliminate all the startups we didn't want. Also ran spybot and adaware to be on the safe side. Finally I defragged the hard drive.
Have now returned the laptop to daughter with dire warnings about the perils of Limewire etc.
Once again, many thanks.
Stackman
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I seem to be having a problem watching utube videos. The clip runs briefly, stops, continues, stops and continues like that until its finished making most clips unwatchable. Any ideas???
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Engine, year, petrol or diesel Sorry, Force of habit, I meant to ask Computer OS, Internet connection, wireless etc ?
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 04/01/2008 at 09:59
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Try installing the Standard K-Lite audio and video codecs pack (you may have a codec or codecs missing) from:
www.free-codecs.com/download/K_Lite_Codec_Pack.htm
The Full Pack offers even more, although the Standard suits most users' needs, while the Mega Pack includes Real Alternative (helps get rid of the need for the highly intrusive RealPlayer).
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"Real Alternative"
Well worth having, IMHO. Works fine as/with BBC Radio Player, too, and removes the need for the incredibly annoying Real stuff. What is it about Americans and marketing..?
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Wouldn't this be due to slow download? On a quick connection it downloads faster than it plays but if your connection has gone duff...
If you leave it to download fully then play it, does it play OK?
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Fullchat, it's a buffering issue - your PC can't play what it hasn't received yet - as long as there's more of the red 'progress bar' to the right of the slider along the bottom it'll play cleanly. If you're having problems just slide the slider back to the left a bit so that there's red showing to the right. This'll probably be more of an issue with longer clips.
Edited by normd2 on 04/01/2008 at 11:16
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... or if you're really patient, pause the clip soon after it's started playing, then wait until the red bar is right across the progress bar - then it will play through properly, if indeed download speed is the root of the problem.
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Slow buffering is something I find to be unusual on YouTube - it shouldn't normally be experienced on a regular basis.
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What is this that appeared at the top of the page when I opened the HJ site, the print was also larger ?
Warning: mysql_fetch_row(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/webdev/glib/session_mysql.php on line 84
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Gremin got out. Now put back in his box.
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Tis very strange, I?ve been on this site since about 2pm this afternoon and around about 3.15ish when returning from a thread I was reading back to main discussion, I kept getting the 403 forbidden error, and although I could get anywhere else on the net, I couldn?t get onto the HJ server, even after several reboots, so I shut down and left it. Logged back on about 5pm and got back here no trouble! But have just noticed that I have gained a small icon actually in my ?start? button! It looks like a ?Homepride? flour ?grader man, (blue jumper black bowler hat) holding up a cd in his right hand.
I?ve just done all the avg/spyware etc checks but they show nothing amiss.
Who is this chappie, where has he come from, and what does he want?
More to the point, how do I evict him?
Billy
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Dunno about Fred - the site was off-line for a little earlier this afternoon.
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Have you got a virus checker on your machine called something like Dr Foster? I used to have it years ago and a little man like the one you described would sometimes appear.
No idea how you get rid of it though...sorry.
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Are you thinking of Dr Watson? That's Microsoft's built in error describer - of sorts. Not heard of Dr Foster.
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Currently away from home and my Vista Laptop has tapped seamlessly into the network at the home I'm currently staying at. For a period of time today the Desktop Computer (XP Pro) was togged into BBC's Listen Live and my laptop was on the same station. The laptop is on the Wireless network and the desktop is on an ethernet connection.
Both computers were within listening range, there was quite a noticeable lag between the two computers, surprisingly the desktop lagged behind the laptop -not a problem but I'd like to now why !
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You know the rules.
Make, model, engine size, year of both models please.
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well if you want to know why one is faster than the other, some idea of processing ability of the two items of hardware might be useful you know?
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Right I'll update in a mo !
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Surely if you're streaming a file off a network server then the reason for the time difference is just as likely to be network or server side and could even be as simple as when the machines started streaming the data, which server you're hitting, how busy the server/network resource was when you tried to connect etc. etc.?
In short. Forget it. ;)
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Sounds reasonable. Still not sure of the specs of the desktop (feel a bit awkward poking around in its nether reasons) lappie is 1.76 dual core running 2 gig of memory. Vista Premium.
The desktop is a top end one when new about 18 months ago.
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No idea mate, could be anything.
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Strangely, i've noticed this on the Pub telly's too!, we have one at either end of the bar, if one is on for e.g terrestial BBC1 and the other is on Sky BBC1, the Sky telly lags behind the terrestrial one by upto 1second on most occassions! if you miss a bit of conversation you can catch it, if you turn your head towards the other telly! - I may be wrong, but I put it down to the fact that the Sky sound wave has further to travel than the land-based one and so arrives a second later!
Billy
Edited by billy25 on 08/01/2008 at 13:46
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That's pretty much it, the satellite signal has to all the way to the satellite and back, plus additional processingof the digital signal - in fact it's probably the siganl processing thats' the main delay, as you get much the same effect watching analogue TV and Freeview at the same time.
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I'd say it's converting and compressing the signal that accounts for most of the delay. Although some delay will be the time to send to the satellite and back to earth.
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Is there a satellite in the equation ?
I thought they were terrestial servers. Both computers have very similar performance (as it turns out) in fact the Desktop has a quicker processor.
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Have you tried restarting the players to see if the situation reverses, implying it's determined by which server the stream is coming from?
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Thanks I'll give it try. The early theory by AE is probably the most credible....
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Aplogies for confusing teh issue by answering billy25's queries on delays, rather than PU's original query, which was probably best answered by hector, e.g. much more likely to be server side delays rather than PC processing.
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I was responding to the coment on Sky vs Analogue.
I've just tried listening to Radio 2 on my laptop and desktop at the same time. They are slightly out of sync. Laptop is a PentiumM 1.7GHz and desktop is a Pentium4 3.6GHz.
And both do not sync with the same channel on cable... but live analogue Radio 2 probably 15-20s ahead of all.
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I turned off the power by mistake when the hub software was being upgraded remotely this afternoon and now it's not working - no lights! I've tried the reset button, does anyone know how I can restore the hub software?
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Yes, I would think that each time you log on you may connect to a different server so the two PCs may have been connected to different servers hence the sync issue.
EDIT: Spellin'
Edited by cheddar on 08/01/2008 at 15:31
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managed to find this:- tinyurl.com/2hexnd
it may help if you havn't already sorted it, but i've read on there somewhere that if you re-set your hub you may have to contact BT and reactvate your account!
Billy
scroll down when page opens!
Edited by billy25 on 08/01/2008 at 15:37
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Rather sounds as if your problems may be permament :-(
When your BT Home Hub update is in progress, depending on your version of Hub, either all the lights on the front will flash green or the Upgrading light (if present) will flash orange. During a Hub update, you will temporarily lose your broadband connection, BT Broadband Talk service, and BT Fusion service.
N.B.
You must not unplug the Hub from the power supply or phone socket during the update as this could damage it.
Sorry!!
Billy
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Thanks for that Guys! I think I can answer my own question now - The Home Hub CD has an 'upgrade wizard folder' and by using an ethernet cable between PC and Hub it reloaded the software onto the hub. It rebooted and (touch wood) seems to be okay now.
Blood pressure reducing accordingly, I can't cope being offline!
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Having tried all the methods known to me, I was wondering if it is at all possible. I suspect because of the copyright protection it isn't.
If this is the case, please don't post your reply here, but email me any possible solutions.
dave_moderator@honestjohn.co.uk
Not planning on keeping the recording; all I want to do is temporarily put it on a DVD+RW so as the person who wants to watch the download can do so on their DVD player and not get in my way when I want to use the PC.
::EDIT:: I now have a solution, should anyone want it. DD.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 09/01/2008 at 00:41
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I have just been 'offered' the Beta version of Microsoft Silverlight and Internet Explorer 7.
Should I accept the offer of Silverlight?
Should I accept the offer of Internet Eplorer 7?
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You can find out for yourself about Silverlight on the Microsoft website:
www.microsoft.com/silverlight/default_ns.aspx
Internet Explorer 7 has been out for some time now, so you need have no qualms about installing it if you currently use IE6. You can, if you wish, revert back to IE6, but the new version includes tabs etc and greater security levels.
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I accepted the Starlight beta, but have no idea what it does for me. I think the M$ support pages (and search) are different, but it still didn't give the answer to my question...!
As said elsewhere, IE7 is no longer beta and, to me, is a good, stable and must-have product (unless you are a rabid anti M$ person).
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Silverlight is Microsoft's answer to Flash. Whether it is better than Flash is debatable, but I suspect the MS site is the only one using it extensively at the moment.
As said elsewhere IE7 is no longer beta and to me is a good stable and must-have product (unless you are a rabid anti M$ person).
Or you don't spend all your time using Windows, since it doesn't work anywhere else. Being able to synchronise Firefox across different operating systems and platforms is a major advantage.
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Being able to synchronise Firefox across different operating systems and platforms is a major advantage.>>
I use Firefox (and have done so for several years) for 96-98 per cent of browsing; IE is maintained as I use Outlook Express despite having used Thunderbird in the past.
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"Being able to synchronise Firefox across different operating systems and platforms is a major advantage." ....maybe, but with all due respect to him, I'm not sure the OP would recognise these advantages...!!
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I have some Mini Discs that I want to copy so I can finally dump this excellent format (far better than iPOD). I have a 3.5mm stereo or a digital out jack on the (Sony Walkman) player how can I save the tracks on to the above formats. Once its on either of the above I can sort it out into MP3 player formats.
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PU, have a look here:
www.minidisc.org/very_faq.html#_q111
Q6/ Dosent help though provides some info.
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Thanks. Been saving some much loved stuff from vinyl to MD when I was Home Alone around Christmas. I can copy from Vinyl to Computer formats - but I like MD !
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I am now curious why MD is liked so much by you if you have an iPod... I nearly went for a mini-disk player in the late 90s but decided not to in the end.
But iPod's let you carry all/most of your tracks in a single unit. I remember when I travelled to home in South Wales from Uni as a student and having to decide on which lot of tapes to take with me... before the days of CD writers.
Having said that my personal tape player was a tiny Panasonic unit with excellent output and remote in the headphones lead.... and it was the size of the cassette case! Lot heavier mind and a little bigger when the optional extra AA battery holder attached. Still have it somewhere ;-)
One feature of the headphones on the Panasonic unit was anti-sound leak. Flick a switch and you stopped annoying fellow passengers ;-) In-ear type headphones has reduced this problem now though but this filtered the music and you didn't notice too much difference.
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Sound Quality ! Uncompressed digital music and speech. I found my, very expensive at the time, Walkman and found some discs signal to noise seems better than iPOD and arguably better components. Seems a shame to E-bay the stuff and trying to find a practical use for it.
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How many is a few disks. If it took me more than 10 minutes to get good quality I would probably download from the net, e.g. iTunes, mp3sparks but that's border line (is?) illegal - so not if you're a lawyer ;-)
If these are originals though then once the new bill is passed on CD ripping for personal use, you're allowed to have them on the PC. And it's over looked currently too. So you could find on the internet and be okay with the originals.
If you need to copy to the PC then I'd definately use the optical output if possible. But does your PC have optical in? Mine does not so 3.5mm line-in it might be. But this would lead to loss of quality for a digital format. Then use something like Nero Wave editor to capture + and MP3 encoder. CoolEdit might be another software solution.
Trouble with this approach is it's realtime recording of the original tracks.
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I have no problem with the real-time recording issue. Pleasant way to pass a winter's evening.
The link posted above makes it a no-no I think.
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Well this link from the link says it is possible though you need an EDL MiniDisc data drive:
www.esdl.co.uk/body/mdte/mdte.htm
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one way would be to connect your walkman to the "line-in" jack of your audio card, start your "recorder programme" (usually found in your soundcards features) then start playing your walkman mini-disc. the files will usually be saved to your computer as .wav files, but you can then convert to mp3.
it works for me!! (soundblaster audigy)
Billy
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 10/01/2008 at 17:08
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Many people like Audacity (freeware):
audacity.sourceforge.net/about/
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You will probably find that you can digitally copy original MDs but not one's you've written yourself. AFAIK there's no way to get around this other than analog recording.
Mini-Disc is my preferred format in the car. Much easier to rip from vinyl to my deck than anything else and naming is a doddle.
Unfortunately my personal player became the most depreciated piece of audio equipment I have ever owned. Bought for somewhere over £200 in 2000, and sold in 2005 for £3 at a car boot after no bites on eBay.
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I know ! Mine is a Sony MZ-R900 Shockingly cheap on E-bay now, but there seems to be a following. This kept me company for many hours on courses and in Conferences when I bought it (I think over £250.00) I still love it though.
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