GoRedwings19's Computer Help Hotline

My parents are trying their best to embrace the computer and the internets, but it's slow going. For certain things, I need to walk them through the most basic steps (e.g, where's the power button) and other more difficult steps (e.g., how to make a playlist in iTunes). What I'm looking for is some sort of program(s) that will allow me to easily post both screenshots and actual photos to produce a sort of tutorial. I've used Skitch a bit, but it doesn't have the greatest organizational qualities. I suppose I could create a Word document, but I'd like something a bit simpler than that if it exists. As always, your collective genius is appreciated.

I was going to burn a copy of a commercial audio CD and could not get it to load. No messages, etc. It just makes some noise, then the drive ejects it. I tried some other audio CDs and they loaded fine... any ideas?

I need to make a Windows Live account, but the site is claiming that all 3 of my email addresses are already assigned to accounts. When I try the password reset feature, it loops back to the login page. The Windows Live login pages leads to an XBox Live support page help page (are these services the same thing?) The XBox contact page has a 1-800 number, but all of its voice prompts are for XBox related services. I realize this is Microsoft I'm dealing with here, but does anyone know a contact # where I can reach MS and get a Windows Live account set up?

I seem unable to find information on what is used as the pigment in colored printer ink. I'm curious if traditional pigments are used like cadmium, cobalt, etc. Do any of you guys know?

Friends, I recently had JRiver reorganize my music folder by ARTST\ALBUM\TRACK. My old scheme was ARTIST - ALBUM\TRACK. I like the new one better from an aesthetic point of view, and because I enjoy folders. The problem is, now I have a shit ton of folders labelled something like "Bjork - Vespertine" that contain nothing except .log and .cue files, and perhaps some .jpg art files or liner notes. I prefer to embed that stuff in the track, so I don't need the extra files. I'd love to have a program that I could tell to delete any folder that did not contain (or whose subfolder did not contain) a music file. Does something like that exist?

Is there any way I can remote view my dad's computer desktop? I'm in Nashville, he's in Tulsa. Both are cable modems and OSX. He's not computer literate so everytime I try to troubleshoot he gets confuses as to what's the desktop vs. whatever. If I could see and possibly control it that would help a bunch. Hopefully something free as opposed to buying another piece of software.

Kick drum You got any you find amusing?

A few months back I bought a used NAS device on here and initially I had no issues getting it setup and recognized on my network for use as a media server to get files streamed or copied to my PS3. In the beginning it would recognize the NAS drive as a media server with no associated software and would also recognize the Twonky media server that was also installed on the NAS. About a month ago the PS3 started randomly not connecting with the drive or would connect and then lose the connection quickly causing dropouts and major annoyance. But Twonky still recognized just fine, until tonight that is. Now, I can't get that to recognize. Now all the time every other devi…

So I've got a little streak on my LCD monitor that I can't seem to get off. I think I was trying to wipe off a bit of dust and streaked grease on it or something. I've tried wiping it with a clean cotton shirt, but it doesn't seem to want to remove itself. What cleaning solution is a safe and effective way to clean my LCD. Thanks!

Need some help from you guys. My wife's Yahoo! account appears to have been compromised, though I'm not sure. Here's what's happening: her Yahoo! contacts are all getting spammed by email purportedly from her. She's received lots of emails from friends alerting her and a ton of bouncebacks to her Yahoo! address. I checked her sent mail folder and there is nothing unusual there. Further, her contact list has not been deleted. We've changed her password, but I'm trying to see what else we should do and also see what the root cause is here. I know this happens all the time and could use some advice about how to proceed. Thanks gang.

So my brother is looking to build a box for doing CAD. His budget is ~1k. I can pretty much make him a decent desktop, but where my expertise and those I normally talk to regarding hardware draws a blank is the Nvidia Quadro line or other workstation/pro cards. What is the difference between a gamer/consumer card and a more pro workstation card? What would someone recommend with a max of probably ~500 bucks though preferably less unless the performance sweet spot demands the higher price? I don't think he's doing anything especially zany as I believe he intends to use this mostly for small projects.

Stupid question guys: Yesterday a friend on a flash sale bought a new PC based on I9 12900K with a 3080 graphics card. Ok, his old PC is a 7700K/1070 so just for the graphics card it's worth the change We tested it (mode stock, non overclock) and I have the feeling that, except for getting a better score in Benchmarks, for "normal" use (web, mails, youtube, some games...) there really wasn't much difference compared to my 9900K/3080: yes, yes, my 9900K takes a second longer to load some applications, it gets a few FPS less in some games... single core tasks it does seem somewhat superior (such as DCS in VR) but in general, I did not notice a "radical" change.…

As the title states, I need to convert a collection of ALAC files to lossy WMAs and keep the original files (got a cheap brown Zune). dBPowerAmp is the only software I'm aware of that will handle this conversion, should I try my luck with it or does someone here have another recommendation?

It seems there are a lot of sysadmins here. Our company recently got Websense, which blocks a lot of what we can see on the web. Is it also logging my posts to HC? Anything else I should know about it?

My computer got hit by malware yesterday, which took all day to eliminate. Since there wasn't a lot of specific info online, I thought I'd post this in case it hits anyone else. Most of the web results point to 2012 recommendations that are out of date. This particular redirect hijacks your address bar and search results (for all your browsers) to SearchMagnified or SearchingMagnified, obvious bogus domains that will no doubt take you to further exploit sites. It also redirected direct links and bookmarks to these sites. I looked through the list of browser settings and add-ons (I don't run any), running processes, installed software, and even the hosts file and…

News Story Link Okay, so I want one.

Hey gang- Having some really bad video issues. I've had this BFG 8800GT for a while now, and its been great. Last week I started having problems: yellow lines across the screen, random swirly blue dots showing up in any picture, and several minutes after these errors begin, my screen starts going black for several seconds, then flick back to normal for a second or two, then black, and so on back and forth, basically making it impossible to do anything with my computer. I haven't run any games in a while, this just happens when I'm browsing the internet. My quick resolution is to shut down the computer for a couple of minutes, then turn it back on. Everything works…

I have a HP PC with a 365W power supply, and I want to upgrade the video. The system currently has a single HD and a single DVD drive. The CPU is an Intel Core 2 Quad. How do I figure out whether the system can handle the power requirements of a video card? I'm looking to spend $120-$170 on a video card -- a middle of the pack gaming performer. I'm looking at Radeo HD 5750 cards and some nVidia cards. I also found an interesting fanless Gigabyte GeForce 9800 GT card. Quiet performance is always good. But as I read the product specs on newegg for various video cards, I see many cards requiring 400+ watt PS. Assuming I can even upgrade the PS in this HP, is that what …

So my desktop is having some issues. I'm trying to solve the problem before I take to repair. What happens is that when I open MS Outlook the computer crashes and reboots. This is really strange as with other programs such as my accounting/stock management program it works ok. The hardware is a bit old but didn't have any problems up to now. MS Office is also having a few problems, I try to open a word doc and it won't start. I tryed doing a system backup to a DVD but I can't either. I am starting to consider saving all files manualy and then formating everything, but if I can save the trouble it would be great! Any ideias of what might be wrong? Thanks…

So Google has a new Wikipedia competitor, called KNOL. Chief difference? Settings preventing an article from being modified by anyone other than the original author. LOL

Well, as the title says, my PC is kaput. It has passed on! The PC is no more! It has ceased to be! Now, I have the fun task of trying to retrieve any pertinent data I hadn't backed up. Oh joy.

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…

If, like me, you find it annoying to have Time Machine start churning away when you're already employing your Mac's FireWire bus to transport bits to your Duet, then you're in luck. Time Machine Editor Let's you schedule backups when you want them rather than the default hourly behavior. Works fine for me so far, doesn't appear to perform any dodgy hacks and is free as in beer.

I'm looking for something in the 900p to 1080p range that I can carry with me in a hard clam shell or something. Anyone know of anything? This is perfect, except ( a ) DisplayPort, and ( b ) 21 inches. I can probably find a way to carry 21 inches, and I can probably get a DisplayPort converter, but I thought I'd ask, first. Is there anything like what I want? I realize there are a bunch of smaller 768p, and they're even USB-powered, but that's usually just a tad too small. I'm currently using a 17", 1280x1024 desktop monitor, and that's perfectly fine. Cheap laptop with a similar size and resolution screen screen? Cost prohibitive, but if I can utilize the extra h…

I'm the de facto IT guy in my office, and I need to protect our data with something cloud-based that will do an automatic backup every day at a specified time. We have three computers, less than 1 TB in total. I know there are a lot of options, and I don't know what makes each one better or worse than the others. Can someone give me a really quick "get this one, stupid"?