Technical corner........

13 Aug 2008

Quote by TabbynTina
Can you recomend a good free thing to run to check to see if I have any virus's or them gremlins running about in my laptop.
Dont know if it matters but Ive got a acer laptop with Vista home premium.

Try . there's a free version that does a basic scan, or better yet which is a belting scanner. It's the full version for 60 days then it asks that you register to continue using it, though it's still free for 12 months.

Also my menu bar at the bottom keeps disapearing and when I minimise things I cant see them, you can see a black space where it should be, its getting really anoying now as I have to keep rebooting

Firstly right-click the toolbar, choose properties and check if !auto hide" is turned on. If it is then that's why it disappears, you just move your mouse to the bottom of the screen and it will reappear. If it isn't autohide that's causing it it could be that it's resizing itself. Try dragging the toolbar to the top of your screen (click next to or under the start button and drag) and see if it still happens when it's in that position.
Failing that, it could be that you need a video driver update/reinstall.

13 Aug 2008

Quote by Peanut
Can you recomend a good free thing to run to check to see if I have any virus's or them gremlins running about in my laptop.
Dont know if it matters but Ive got a acer laptop with Vista home premium.

Try . there's a free version that does a basic scan, or better yet which is a belting scanner. It's the full version for 60 days then it asks that you register to continue using it, though it's still free for 12 months.

Also my menu bar at the bottom keeps disapearing and when I minimise things I cant see them, you can see a black space where it should be, its getting really anoying now as I have to keep rebooting

Firstly right-click the toolbar, choose properties and check if !auto hide" is turned on. If it is then that's why it disappears, you just move your mouse to the bottom of the screen and it will reappear. If it isn't autohide that's causing it it could be that it's resizing itself. Try dragging the toolbar to the top of your screen (click next to or under the start button and drag) and see if it still happens when it's in that position.
Failing that, it could be that you need a video driver update/reinstall.
thanks peanut i will try that link.
xxx
The bar at bottom doesnt always do it just every now and then.

13 Aug 2008

not realy computer realated this, but u seem a clever chap. just brought a sat decoder its an amstrad. conected it to the satalight on the roof, and conected to the tv, it just says no satalight signal is being recieved.??? it hasnt got a card in the reciever do i need one ???

13 Aug 2008

Quote by daredevil-32
not realy computer realated this, but u seem a clever chap. just brought a sat decoder its an amstrad. conected it to the satalight on the roof, and conected to the tv, it just says no satalight signal is being recieved.??? it hasnt got a card in the reciever do i need one ???

I'm not a satellite expert, not even close to being one but...
It all depends on what sort of satellite system it is. Sky or Freesat.
It also depends on which LNB is connected, most Sky systems have a quad-LNB with at least 2 cables connected to 2 of the LNBs.
You don't need a card for Freesat or the Free-to-Air channels on Sky systems.
So I'd say the problem is between the dish and the receiver. It could be any number of things from wrong cable, damaged cable etc etc

14 Aug 2008

Lumped over from 'tother thread, because I know Peanut's bored & wants to help innocent

Firefox crashing....
it's been doing it for the last couple of days. I've not made any changes etc that I can think of. The bloody thing will only stay on for three or four minutes at a time, then it goes N/R on me. mad

It's the same thing over & over again.
Ermmmm how do I find out which version I'm running dunno

Tried right clicking but I can't find it anywhere.
IE appears to be working fine- but I hate the ruddy thing & am now using the desktop- on which MSN has stopped working (another post, methinks!)
Any help greatly appreciated :thumbup:
In edit- I've tried a system restore, to no avail....

14 Aug 2008

Quote by winchwench
Lumped over from 'tother thread, because I know Peanut's bored & wants to help
Firefox crashing....
it's been doing it for the last couple of days. I've not made any changes etc that I can think of. The bloody thing will only stay on for three or four minutes at a time, then it goes N/R on me. It's the same thing over & over again.
Ermmmm how do I find out which version I'm running Tried right clicking but I can't find it anywhere.
IE appears to be working fine- but I hate the ruddy thing & am now using the desktop- on which MSN has stopped working (another post, methinks!)
Any help greatly appreciated :thumbup:

Its telling you, you have spend far to long on the pc this week :twisted:
hav'nt you got family pics of the daughter naked in the bath you can brood over? :dunno:
:laughabove:
Sorry kiss

no idea

14 Aug 2008

Hi been away for a couple of days and am just catchin up on the threads smile

.....Your firefox probs could be cured I am guessing by upgrading it......from this addy..

Give it a go anyway :)......
Thank goodness for peanut he really knows his bits and bytes......

14 Aug 2008

Quote by gary-danne
Hi been away for a couple of days and am just catchin up on the threads .....Your firefox probs could be cured I am guessing by upgrading it......from this addy..

Give it a go anyway :)......
Thank goodness for peanut he really knows his bits and bytes......

The hamster bites? :scared:

14 Aug 2008

Okey dokey- I have a another question....
we have a speedtouch modem supplied by Tiscali. Whilst our neighbours have their wireless disconnected rolleyes

for the summer, I'm swapping the modem twixt the PC and my laptop. It runs fine on both, but it's annoying to keep moving it.
Right, as pooters are both set up to run on that modem, could I get a (plentiful) identical one on ebay, and just plug it in- or would it need to have the setup disk?
Would this enable me to run both pooters at once?
I know....pretty basic stuff, but I'm doing this for the benefit of others, you know!
wink

14 Aug 2008

Quote by winchwench
Okey dokey- I have a another question....
we have a speedtouch modem supplied by Tiscali. Whilst our neighbours have their wireless disconnected for the summer, I'm swapping the modem twixt the PC and my laptop. It runs fine on both, but it's annoying to keep moving it.
Right, as pooters are both set up to run on that modem, could I get a (plentiful) identical one on ebay, and just plug it in- or would it need to have the setup disk?
Would this enable me to run both pooters at once?
I know....pretty basic stuff, but I'm doing this for the benefit of others, you know!

Ok first off I am completely against the use of someone elses wifi even if they are daft enough to not secure it.....this can cause no end of problems for them regards monthly usage etc....Apologies if you were just joking bout that....
Secondly what you need is a wifi network of your own...routers are down to the 25-35 quid mark now so I would go down that road.....

14 Aug 2008

Quote by gary-danne
Okey dokey- I have a another question....
we have a speedtouch modem supplied by Tiscali. Whilst our neighbours have their wireless disconnected for the summer, I'm swapping the modem twixt the PC and my laptop. It runs fine on both, but it's annoying to keep moving it.
Right, as pooters are both set up to run on that modem, could I get a (plentiful) identical one on ebay, and just plug it in- or would it need to have the setup disk?
Would this enable me to run both pooters at once?
I know....pretty basic stuff, but I'm doing this for the benefit of others, you know!

Ok first off I am completely against the use of someone elses wifi even if they are daft enough to not secure it.....this can cause no end of problems for them regards monthly usage etc....Apologies if you were just joking bout that....
Secondly what you need is a wifi network of your own...routers are down to the 25-35 quid mark now so I would go down that road.....

Ah, but you made the assumption I didn't have permission. :wink:
My neighbours are as anti establishment as it gets.

14 Aug 2008

In that case you're forgiven smile

xxx
Gary .......

20 Aug 2008

Hi Peanut or anyone else in the know smile

.....have been lookin at giganews and am not sure the 2gig a month option would suit me as I have quite a few episodes of tv series to try and get......but anyway my actual question is.....which is the best newsreader to use???If I do sign up........
Cheers Gary....

20 Aug 2008

Trevor McDonald.
H.x

20 Aug 2008

Lol asked for that smile

....
Gary xx

20 Aug 2008

Quote by gary-danne
Hi Peanut or anyone else in the know .....have been lookin at giganews and am not sure the 2gig a month option would suit me as I have quite a few episodes of tv series to try and get......but anyway my actual question is.....which is the best newsreader to use???If I do sign up........
Cheers Gary....

Personally I use Newsbin Pro (I paid for it before the deal with Giganews). It has a constant update policy and a very good and helpful support and forums.
These days I don't bother using header downloads. Although they don't count towards your allowance they do count as bandwidth used by your ISP. I use Usenet indexing sites like (which is closed to new members unfortunately) to search and to download NZB files (which are listings of the posts for any particular download).

23 Aug 2008

Thanks Peanut will look into it....not keen on putting all my details in to sign up tho.....then goin off downloadin tv series......
Gary....
I imagine the authorities are more interested in the folks downloadin movies and music tho...

23 Aug 2008

Quote by gary-danne
Thanks Peanut will look into it....not keen on putting all my details in to sign up tho.....then goin off downloadin tv series......
Gary....
I imagine the authorities are more interested in the folks downloadin movies and music tho...

That's the best thing about Usenet compared to p2p etc, the powers that be cannot know who is actually downloading. The only place that has that information is Giganews (and they don't keep it afaiaa). For them to hand over the details the people requesting must have evidence to start with, and as they cannot monitor what you are downloading...
The only people in danger of being caught on Usenet are the posters of the files. Downloaders are totally free to unassailably download what they like. Even your ISP can't know. All they can tell is you are downloading from Usenet, not what you are downloading, and as there are many totally legitimate files on Usenet they're fucked biggrin

Giganews have been great with me. I was caught uploading audiobooks, Random House contacted Giganews to complain. All Giganews did was email me to elicit a promise not to do it again. They refused to give my details to RH :twisted: I emailed back and promised and they reinstated my account. It was all sorted in less than a day.

7 Sep 2008

Hi Peanut ...... better deal available on easynews.....goin to try that one......ta very much....
Gary.......

21 Sep 2008

Technical thread rescued from forum heaven.....feel free to post your techie probs so we can try and sort you out smile

Gary...

21 Sep 2008

you can "sort me out" anytime you want gary biggrin

21 Sep 2008

More of an opinion sought really.... after converting from IE to Firefox (never to go back) I was thinkin of now giving the 'Opera' browser a test drive - don't know anyone who uses it, anyone out there got any views on Opera ?
Cheers

21 Sep 2008

Quote by BjBri69
More of an opinion sought really.... after converting from IE to Firefox (never to go back) I was thinkin of now giving the 'Opera' browser a test drive - don't know anyone who uses it, anyone out there got any views on Opera ?
Cheers

It used to be pretty good, but when it became free for some reason it sort of lost its edge.
In the Java free form it's blisteringly quick to render web pages, easily on a par with Safari.
And it was the first browser to use tabbed browsing so it gets brownie points for that.
TBH though I really can't think of a valid reason to not use it, it's much, much better than any IE version.
A little note on FF though, I've been using FF3 for a while now and I've been having incompatibility problems with some online credit card gateways. Specifically HSBC and Protx. They allow you to go part way through the process, but right at the end they barf. Likewise internet banking with Lloyds TSB is virtually impossible with FF3 as their opening security measures just cycle without allowing you through. FF2 isn't affected by these things.

23 Sep 2008

My lloydstsb works ok peanut....I have ff3 also....
Gary...

23 Sep 2008

Quote by danne-gary
you can "sort me out" anytime you want gary

Now thats an offer i will never resist smile

Gary xxx

23 Sep 2008

good

25 Sep 2008

i know we hve some techies out there in the world of sh & am hoping someone can help
Both my laptop n pc have become infected by malware thanks to some sad tosser who think's it funny to infect other peoples pc's.
I have pop up's driving me nuts & now some are completely taking over the web page i am using (this alone is on its 6th writing)
I already have avg, spy bot, norton n some other i cant remember but somehow this little t*** has got through
HELP!!!!

25 Sep 2008

well try again hib..was hopin you was on line

25 Sep 2008

Hi I would recommend mcaffee internet security at the moment cos its half price and keeps our laptops tickety boo without constant interuptions..... smile

...I wouldn't run loads of programs that all do similar things as that just slows things down too much.....
Gary

25 Sep 2008

Quote by whiplash
i know we hve some techies out there in the world of sh & am hoping someone can help
Both my laptop n pc have become infected by malware thanks to some sad tosser who think's it funny to infect other peoples pc's.
I have pop up's driving me nuts & now some are completely taking over the web page i am using (this alone is on its 6th writing)
I already have avg, spy bot, norton n some other i cant remember but somehow this little t*** has got through
HELP!!!!

A little more info please.
Which browser are you having the popup trouble with?
How did both the PC and the laptop get infected and was it at the same time?
Do you have any suspicions about how and where you get the infection from?
In the mean time just have a check to see if you have a rootkit infection (a PITA to get rid of if you have). Download this free file:
Open it and run it and it will scan your registry to see if you have any rootkits installed (there may be some which are benign so don't stress if it finds anything).
Go to Programs -> Run -> type in " " (no quotes) and hit enter.
This will bring up the services dialogue. Scan down the list (it's alphabetical) and see if there is anything obvious in there, once you've finished go to "Messenger" and see if it's disabled. If its running, highlight it and either click on the square stop button at the top or right-click it and select stop. Then right-click it again, choose properties, then halfway down the box is a drop down list for "startup type" (it has disabled, automatic and manual) select "disabled" then click okay. You can now close that screen.
We'll get to the rest of it when you answer the above questions.