A thread for boring computer questions.

(I ask because in the past when I've used PCs to play CDs a lot, the CD drive has always been the first part of the PC to fail)

I only use the CD drive to rip CDs rather than play CDs, as I've also had experience of them failing in the past.

We all currently use Mail.app and Address Book; we're going onto an exchange server with the PCs. So - how do I:

- (as nearest thing to techie) get Mail.app mails into Outlook? Everyone but me uses 10.3, I'm on 10.4
- Get iCal into Outlook calendars
- Get address book into Outlook address books

Given that I'll be using a Mac at home, what's the best setup? Use entourage at home and connect that way? And can I use Thunderbird to talk to an exchange server?

entourage is a POS, don't bother with it.

in fact on top of that, the shit really hits the fan when i use winamp. could something in there be fucking things up?

ive defragged the disk and stuff, and run a billion spyware/virsu checks...this has been going on for a while but its getting ridiculous. im hovering a lot of the time between 90-100% CPU usage and its killing even the simplest of tasks. this sounds a bitdumb buit might uninstalling and reinstalling things like firefox or winamp help?!!

I want to export various pst folders from my Outlook work account with personal emails in, so that I can take them home (I'm leaving my job)

I've done this using the export command, but when I tested the results by trying to open them up on another machine I'm not logged into, it says I don't have access permissions to them.

How do I export them so that I can read them? Do I have to do it as text rather than .pst?

I am starting to think it's a lost cause.

Plus I've now found I can't even export them as tab/comma delimited files - Outlook says the conversion modules aren't in place and I need a Windows disk to install them. ARRRGH.

Are you sure it can import .pst, I've just tried to do it, going from my work PC-work Mac but there is no .pst import function in Mail.app unless I am being most dumb.

seems to suggest, though, that because .pst is a proprietary format, you'll need the access to them in outlook anyway. it might also mean that you'll need the bits you don't aleady have.

I will have to have a fiddle. Never tried such a thing in Outlook before.

start forwarding?

Yep, I have. But have to do it in blocks of less than 10MB or else my fastmail and gmail both bounce. I hate boring computers.

I've been using a computer-to-computer network to copy documents between my home mac (brought into the office) and the work XP. I set up a network, enable windows sharing, then connect up using the 'add network place' wizard.

Unfortunately, I take the mac home, and when I come the next day, the IP address has changed, so the shortcut I made and the connection established the day before has changed. Is there any way to make the IP address used by the Mac for windows sharing static, so the same shortcuts work etc?

can someone extract the direct link to the video from this mess:

embed src="http://update.videoegg.com/flash/proxy.swf?jsver=1.4"; FlashVars="jsver=1.4&allowFlash9Fullscreen=true&MMdoctitle=John Waller <yirmon> - Flash Player Installation&MMplayerType=PlugIn&MMredirectURL=http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=953595184&adVars=site=bebo&area=userhomepages&vl=gb&va=null&vg=null&pa=24&pg=m&channel=entertainment&wmode=window&autoPlay=false&file=http://download.videoegg.com/gid329/cid1124/G6/AM/11730441094esAaZtZ1dYeAqRsiLEF&rootUrl=http://update.videoegg.com/flash/player&swfpath=http://update.videoegg.com/flash/proxy.swf?jsver=1.4"; quality="high" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" scale="noscale" wmode="window" width="355" height="299" name="VE_Player" align="middle" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer";></embed>

It isn't there, the video is prolly flv, this code only embeds the flash flv player. If you can give a link to the page the video is on, i can prolly ferret out the location of the flv fle.

This is probably it it. Copy and paste to your title bar

download.videoegg.com/gid329/cid1124/G6/AM/11730441094esAaZtZ1dYeAqRsiLEF_high.flv?showAd=true

The Boyler, can you use the computer name with UNC (i.e. \\theMacsNetworkName\c) instead of the IP address? n.b. I don't work with Macs ever, but that is what you'd do in Windows.

does anyone know of a good freeware program that will allow me to change windows' dvd region once the limit has been reached?

The facts:

Last night, as I was innocently typing a reply to ILE in my fumble-fingered way, my display jumped to a much larger font size (looks about 14 pt to me). It seemed to coincide with my fingers slipping to hit a multi-key combination that may have included Shift, Crtl or possibly even Alt. I really have no clear idea what keys got mashed.

Further facts:

I use (boo, hiss) Internitwit Explorer under WinXP. The problem doesn't appear to affect the font size within the reply entry box (titled: Add a Comment).

The question:

I am not legally blind and I do not need this size of font. It is irksome. Can anyone assist me in returning my ILE display to a proper (default) font size? Something like a good, solid 11 point. I would be ever so grateful for the assistance.

IE: View -> Text Size - > Medium

ctrl + scroll wheel is what yr after. if you don't have a scroll wheel on yr mouse i'm not quite sure where else you change it...

Yoink! Ctrl- scroll wheel worked a treat! I salute you!

(ctrl and + or - do the same thing. am guessing these are the keys you hit)

started typing something yesterday then stopped and had a think with finger still on the shift key. pc went into sticky keys mode. much confusion ensued. sorted now but for a while there...

Is there a service like tinyurl that allows you to specify the text of the tinyurl portion? For example, if I wanted to link to the new Companies Act I could use tinyurl.com/companiesact.

What if two people wanted to link to the Companies Act?

Sucks to be the other person?

That is a crazy suggestion which would quite clearly never happen.

czn:

http://icanhaz.com/

The worst kind of boring computer question on the planet... the boring networking question.

So, here's my situation: yesterday around 1pm, my Internet stopped working at home. Nothing seemed to make this happen, it was pretty much random. I've got an ADSL connection, through Canada's Bell Sympatico, and the modem's a "Speedstream 6250." When I look at it, there are 6 total lights: Power, Ethernet, Wireless, DSL, Internet, and another one whose name I forget (I can't check now because I'm sitting in the front of the house stealing the weakest imaginable connection from a neighbour... i'm afraid if I get up, I'll lose it). The first three lights are lit up, but the DSL light is not. It blinks a couple of times every minute or so, but never stays lit up. From my research, I've learned that this is due to it being unable to connect via the hpone line. I've tried a new cable, a different phone jack, tried unplugging everything and replugging everything, but it's not working.

Here's where it gets more complicated... when we signed up for Internet, we were at a different place with a land line. Then we moved, called Bell, and they switched everythng to the new place, but we're now with Voice over IP for phone (I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BTW). So, I can't call Bell support, except from my cell phone which has no minutes or from a pay phone which I did and it didn't help b/c I couldn't give the guy my specifics like modem serial numbers and shit... so what the fuck do I do? The guy was saying "if your phone is down, your internet won't work" and I was like "DUDE VoIP = THE OTHER WAY AROUND". But I guess there's no way for me to know if, like, my house line has been snipped or something... or, for that matter, who to clal to fix that. Or how to call them since I have no phone.

SOS. SOS. SOS. SOS. SOS.

You can have DSL without use of a land line in the US? So you have the line but they block you using it for voice calls? That's interesting - you can't do that in the UK. Sorry - this doesn't help you. I'm not sure what would help you. Borrowing someone's mobile phone, I suppose.

Is your phone busted? Have you reset the phone?

I think he's saying that he doesn't know if his landline is busted because he can't make voice calls on it anyway - he only uses VoIP.

Yeah, and that's why I'm asking about the actual handset. At work we rely on voip, and sometimes my PC loses its connection. The only way to fix it is to reset the voip phone.

(i'm assuming it goes wall outlet -> voip phone -> PC)

Ah, right - got you.

The Bell.ca site's pretty worthless for troubleshooting info. It does say to turn the modem off for at least 30 seconds and make sure there's no other electronic equipment within 12" of the modem. I was trying to find out if you should still have a dialtone, even if you don't have a land line (this is a law in California, you have to be able to dial 911). You can chat with their support on-line, fwiw.

Another thing you can do to check if it's the wiring inside your house that's bad - find the connection box for the phone line on the outside of your house. It will have a phone jack in it - get a long phone cord and plug the modem into that. If you get connectivity, the problem is most likely in your house wiring. If you're in a apartment, this is a serious challenge btw; it's not so difficult if your in a house with a single phone line.

You can have DSL without use of a land line in the US?

-- Alba, Tuesday, 23 October 2007 10:54 (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Okay got it, it's called naked DSL.

(I too am not in the US)