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Computer Question

Started by Celisasu, December 10, 2004, 01:46:58 AM

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Brian

#15
December 12, 2004, 12:50:14 AM
Corruption just plain happens, unfortunately.  At least with Windows.  Some releases are better about sensing it and repairing themselves, but generally speaking, it's an inevitability.

There is a reason that most people who work with computers a lot say that it's a good idea to regularly reinstall the OS.

However, you may not need to reformat.  Windows will let you do a sort of brute-force repair.  You just install it over itself.  Now, this keeps the majority of your settings, and all of your files (save those that are part of windows itself, like configuration files, etc.), while re-recording the files that might have gotten corrupted.
I handle other fanfic authors Nanoha-style.  Grit those teeth!  C&C incoming!
Prepare to be befriended!

~exploding tag~

Jeram

#16
December 12, 2004, 03:29:12 PM
Check out the program MyDrivers - it can backup your current driver settings and upload newer ones (or backed up ones).

-J
t takes a mighty pen to write fanfiction.

-Jeram

Yuthirin

#17
December 15, 2004, 09:18:44 PM
Okay. First of all, clear up ALL of the stuff on your hard drive that you DO NOT NEED, such as games you don't play anymore, porn you don't look at, high-res pictures of your dead goldfish, etc. Delete it. Make at least 15% of your space free, run defrag, then open up My Computer, right click on the C:/ drive, and click 'Properties.'

Click over to the 'Tools' tab, it should be the second tab from the left, at the top of the new window. Click the 'Check Now' button in the Error-checking row. Watch it go, and make sure it does a FULL SCAN, which will likely require you to reboot and rescan.

Do this, then shut off your computer for 24 hours. Spin in circles three times, while saying, "I DO believe in faeries." Grind up a whole unicorn's horn and some medusa scales in a bowl, and sprinkle it in a circle around bour computer, chanting "Thank God for hamsters." Do this BEFORE you turn it back on. If you do not do this, your computer will EXPLODE and BLEED TO DEATH on your floor.
What if they're not stars at all? What if the night sky is full of titanic far-off lidless eyes, staring in all directions across eternity?

Celisasu

#18
December 28, 2004, 06:41:14 PM
The solution was simpler than I thought.  I just needed to remove Service Pack 2 from the computer.  It was root of all evil.  I should've realized.  I've got people pointing out security vulnerabilities to me but considering that I can't even get certain parts of my computer to even work while it's installed I don't see a whole lot of choice here.

Music-chan

#19
January 02, 2005, 02:51:58 AM
Celi, did you try the alternate version of SP2? And if so, how did it work?
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Celisasu

#20
January 03, 2005, 05:39:47 PM
Inu>I tried it.  It hates me.  


Conclusion: Microsoft sucks giant donkey balls and needs to stop giving updates that do more damage than the problems they're supposed to fix.

Music-chan

#21
January 04, 2005, 02:13:01 PM
Heh....what can you do, eh? I guess you'll just have to find your own fixes to the problems.
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Celisasu

#22
January 04, 2005, 03:47:29 PM
Well my computer is working fine right now so all is good.

metroid composite

#23
January 06, 2005, 02:42:09 AM
Quote from: "Celisasu"Conclusion: Microsoft sucks giant donkey balls and needs to stop giving updates that do more damage than the problems they're supposed to fix.
Switch to Linux.

What?  It worked for me, and I was a total Windows junkie that hated DOS a couple years ago.  They've literally copied the layout down to the Start menu, except stuff works, and AIM doesn't have advertizments, and I don't get 14 prompts from McAfee/whatever stupid program every time I log in.
ats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. Based on these axioms, a cat with peanut butter toast strapped to its back will therefore hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision.

Ragnar

#24
January 06, 2005, 01:38:37 PM
Which kinda Linux? I've been pondering a move for a while.
The huge thing that makes me hesitate is that I have a lot of .exe programs I like to run, and I'm not thrilled about having to go through a lot of trouble to access them.
-Ragnar
"BUT THOU MUST!"

DannyCat|somewhere: Watch out, Huitzil. Encredible froce is being swang here.

metroid composite

#25
January 06, 2005, 09:44:05 PM
Mandrake 9.2, largely using KDE and a bit of Gnome.  I had Red Hat before that (which is even more Windows-esque and easy to install) but I think they've gone pay for the most updated versions (and it's useful to get the updated stuff, since KDE, Gnome, and the kernel will all be newer...which is good because the newer stuff runs faster).

Mandrake was...relatively easy to install (not a total cakewalk, but not bad) and automatically had a checkbox for dual-booting (to make booting up in Windows when I want to play games possible).  My one warning is not to go skimpy on what you install (not having X-win installed would be annoying, for instance).
ats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. Based on these axioms, a cat with peanut butter toast strapped to its back will therefore hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision.

Jon

#26
January 07, 2005, 02:39:31 AM
Quote from: "Ragnar"Which kinda Linux? I've been pondering a move for a while.
The huge thing that makes me hesitate is that I have a lot of .exe programs I like to run, and I'm not thrilled about having to go through a lot of trouble to access them.

I run Debian myself - powerful and clean and simple. Ubuntu is a distro that's based off of Debian, but is more user-friendly, so you may want to try that.

As for running windows programs, the standard solution is a program called WINE. There are two major companies that sell modified versions of WINE. CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office is intended to help you run MS Office type programs (It also lets you run IE 6, Macromedia products, Photoshop, and Quicken, and has many user-friendly improvements). TransGaming's Cedega, in contrast, implements DirectX under Linux to help windows games run. If you would like any other info, please let me know.

metroid composite

#27
January 07, 2005, 03:27:04 AM
OpenOffice.org can actually open and modify all office documents that I've tried to use, personally.

Incidentally, I keep hearing about Debian (heck, Hal installed it at home).  What was it that stood out about Debian?  I had it explained to me once in passing, but I didn't pick up the details.
ats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. Based on these axioms, a cat with peanut butter toast strapped to its back will therefore hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision.

Jon

#28
January 07, 2005, 10:26:30 AM
Quote from: "metroid composite"OpenOffice.org can actually open and modify all office documents that I've tried to use, personally.

Incidentally, I keep hearing about Debian (heck, Hal installed it at home).  What was it that stood out about Debian?  I had it explained to me once in passing, but I didn't pick up the details.

Well, the reason I mentioned WINE was because he said he wanted to run windows programs, not just open office documents. Anyhow, the biggest thing that drew me to Debian was package management that actually works. I realize that Red Hat et al have made improvements to RPM over the years, but APT is still recognized as one of, if not the best package manager out there.

When I started using Debian, the Mandrake/RedHat idea of "handling dependencies" was for me to manually go out and figure out what RPMs I needed to install this program, download them, then install them in the right order, and hope that nothing was broken. In contrast, Debian let me type 'apt-get install pie-rms' to install, say, a game where you throw cream pies at RMS, and APT would handle all the dependencies for me, going so far as to install X Windows if it was required and I didn't have it installed.

Debian has other advantages for different people. It has versions for a wide variety of computer systems. You have your standard x86, your PowerPC, and also Itanium support, but you also have support for ARM processors, IBM s/390 mainframes, Sun's SPARC, and others. It also has some other interesting projects; there is a project that aims to produce a Debian distro that has replaced the Linux kernel with GNU's Hurd kernel. While this is hampered by the fact that Hurd is not yet fully working, Debian is still the only Linux distribution I've heard of that doesn't actually require you to use Linux.

Well, that was long-winded, but I guess the main points that Debian delivers is power and flexibility, usually without requiring you to sacrifice one for the other.

baka

#29
January 07, 2005, 10:36:16 AM
I've got Ubuntu running on the linux box I plan to use for coursework at uni next term (course title: Java under Unixes). It's really easy to set up, and really quick if you don't need to download a bunch of extra packages off the net. And once it's set up, it throws you straight into a Gnome environment which is as easy to use as windows. It comes with firefox straight off, OpenOffice for your word processing, and you can get almost anything else off the net using the "Synaptic Package Manager" which is, I suppose, Ubuntu's version of apt-get.

All in all, highly recommended.
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