GoRedwings19's Computer Help Hotline

In case any Mac+Last.FM users are interested... SweetFM now an open source project

Alrighty, here are the spec's of my Dell that I've had together since the start of college: Mobo - Intel P965 (Dell proprietary bullshit) CPU - C2D E6600 RAM - 2GB G.Skill HK GPU - EVGA 8800GTS 320MB PSU - Corsair HX520 HDD's - 1x WD Caviar 250GB, 1x WD Caviar 500GB ~~~ I'm considering: 1) New GPU. This is complicated for me as I haven't been following either Nvidia nor ATi for at least a year. I know of both the GTX and 4-series, but I don't know where the best value is in either lineup. GTX275 looks good but might just be a bit more than I'm looking for. GTX260 perhaps? $160 is very attractive. Both 4890 and 4870 looked interesting on the red side of th…

So Microsofts fears may come true... Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS

So my home computer is dying. Well, it's more dead than dying but you get the picture. It's had a good life, some 8 years now, and just can't cope with even the most basic tasks anymore. After installing a fresh OS this weekend and having it struggle for an entire day just trying to auto-update it's become painfully clear that it's time to move on. Basically what I'm thinking about doing is picking up a pre-assembled motherboard/processor/ram bundle from someone like mwave and installing it in a chassis myself. But I don't have the time or patience required to research this stuff much these days so I figured I'd throw it out there and see if anyone has any great …

Well in the string of broken shit that has occurred of late my mini may have bit the dust tonight. It won't see my seagate hard drive, won't play any music, won't fire up any of my audio editing programs... I'm going to let it rest for the night and hope I can get it to fire up for a restore from time machine but who knows. The cpu temps ramped up fast to about 210 degrees is that too hot?

I must say this is one of the nicest monitors I have used and at the price of just under $400 it will be nearly impossible to beat. The monitor is 16:9 and has a native 2k resolution (2048x1152) with selectable 1:1 pixel mapping. This isn't perhaps the best monitor for gaming as I have found 16:10 to give you a bit more viewable area but for movies and TV this monitor is fantastic. I highly recommend it for anyone considering a monitor upgrade. The screen is glossy but not nearly as glossy as others. For movies I personally prefer a glossy screen for daily browsing and text viewing I prefer a matte finish.

A quick search online hasn't yielded any helpful results.. I picked up a refurb T40 a while back. The last few days I've had issues where the video would cut out completely, or the display would get distorted, looking as if there were a bunch of the same images just barely offset. It always happens when handling the laptop or when typing. It can be manipulated by applying pressure on the case. Sometimes a bit of pressure tweaking the case can make it come back completely, or at least get it to the point where I can save what I'm doing. I'm guessing it's the display adapater, which AFAIK is integrated and non-servicable. But I thought it was worth seeing if th…

I thought some of them were pretty funny and of course weird The World's Weirdest Mice - PC World

My Macbook Pro (2.4Ghz, 2GB, factory refurb, bought May 2008 ) won't wake up out of sleep mode. The Superdrive will spin up (picture CD is still in the drive) but I can't get it to reboot. I've tried the PRAM keystroke and reseting the power management and nothing works. I've scheduled a Genius bar session at my local store on Thursday night but I was wondering if anyone on here has run into this before Right now is when it sucks to only have a computer as a source

You guys always come through, so now I'm looking for the best easiest to use Mac FTP client.

Well, it seems after some time being in beta Vista Service pack 2 is available to download. With any big update I would wait a few weeks to a month or longer for them to patch any issues or bugs that may crop up. Also, this service pack can be used if you have Windows Server 2008. Here are the links to 32 bit and 64 bit versions: 32 bit Download details: Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone (KB948465) 64 bit Download details: Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone for x64-based systems (KB948465)

I've been getting into Linux a bit lately and so far I really like Ubuntu the best. It's easy to use and their forums are a wealth of information. Ubuntu 7.04 just came out today and I figured I'd mirror it here: Ubuntu 7.04 Desktop (32-bit) Ubuntu 7.04 Desktop (64-bit) Ubuntu 7.04 Server (64-bit)

I thought this was pretty cool. For all you Apple fans. I remembered seeing the 20th anniversary one before, but never in person. Apple's 11 Most Intriguing Computer Designs - PC World On a separate note, Apple has plans to release an Apple tablet in 2010. Apple tablet is coming, analyst says | Apple - CNET News

I did something incredibly stupid today and lost most of the Users folder on my system while transferring them to my other hard drive (Move, not copy). My last backup was a year ago, so I am looking for a utility to undelete deleted files. Any suggestions? I don't really want to spend $100-$200 for one as there isn't anything that is really that critical; more of a nice to have. Ones I have looked at so far are: FileSalvage (6.1.7) AppleXsoft File Recovery for Mac (2.0) Boomerang-MacOSX-2.1.9 StellarPhoenix 3.5 Any recommendations?

I'm looking into setting up a forum for my apartment building. I want something easy to set up, maintain, and administer. Basically, I want a service to do the work for me. And I want it cheap. Grawk suggested freeforums.org, which looks good, but I seek some additional recommendations if you've got 'em. I guess I'd also be willing to pay a small (read very small) fee.

AMD new line home cinema line code name Maul (like the name) has 2.1 channel audio from the motherboard. Just wondering what you guys think of it? Here is a snippet of the article: Here Today, Gone to Maui? Hands-On with AMD's HTPC Platform | Maximum PC

Quick (doubtless dumb) question. Why don't my per-application access settings seem to "stick"? Let's say I want iTunes to accept incoming connections -- I go into system preferences/firewall and add it to the approved list. Because I'm not routinely running as an administrator, it will ask me to authenticate before making the change. Fine. But then, every time I restart iTunes it will still prompt me to approve an incoming connection and require me to authenticate yet again. This is tiresome. What am I missing?

I want to go as paperless as possible at home. Receipts, manuals, invoices--physically storing all that crap is making me nuts. I use sheet fed scanners at work all the time and I love them. But the industrial-strength versions of these things are too expensive. So, based on some initial research, I have identified the following two products: Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M Scanners | Sheetfed Office Scanners : FUJITSU United States The Neat Company - NeatDesk for Mac Your job is to help me decide on one of the above, or find another competent machine (not a lackey). EDIT: Oh, and it ideally should be Mac-compatible. Go!

I'm looking for a very easy to use, and easy to read RSS Reader. Integration with Firefox would be good but not essential. Is there an industry leader here?

Dell lost a lawsuit and is required to pay consumers that purchased a Dell product from April 1, 2005 to April 13 2009 and meet experienced any of the following below: A problem with a Dell financing offer A problem with a Dell rebate A problem with Dell financing A problem with a Dell repair, warranty or servicing Here is the link with the story and there is a PDF you can download to fill out a form. Does Dell Owe You Money? - PC World There is of course no guarantees that you could get paid out, but it's worth a shot. Good luck if you do file it

I need to add a second HD to my G5 Powermac (dual 1.8Ghz) and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations? Should be SATA IIRC. Thought I might get it from OWC or newegg? Something in the 500G or so range I think, but open to suggestions. The PM has an 80G and I haven't filled that up yet (kids are working on it though). I went back 4 pages and didn't see a similar topic, so thought I would just ask.

Not cheap, but looks quite nice as a pure storage solution. I have a couple of their single external enclosures and they've been very reliable. I wonder if they'd sell it unbundled if one asked very, very politely?

Well, I got this wonderful virus that offers me free shit! The PITA, is that it launches iexplorer and when it does, my computer just freezes because it takes too long to process the request from the adware virus. If I am listening to music, the music stops and resumes 7 - 15 minutes later. Bringing up task manager to shut the damn thing down takes 5 minutes by itself. Any suggestions on how to get rid of this annoying adware?

I've been using Max quite happily for all my codec switching needs for a while, but have recently found it's crashing when asked to chew 24-bit FLAC files and spit out MPEG4. Have been working around by using AIFF instead, which works fine, but just wondering if anyone knows if this is a limitation of the converter or the output format? Thanks.