A thread for boring computer questions.

Sometimes it does that when the computer can't find an Internet connection; I think that page also features a "detect proxy settings" link or something like that, so you may want to click on that to see if it can find your connection. It's kinda hard to say what it may be...could be a fubar'd network card, could be spotty service from your provider, or it could even be a virus. If you're getting data via your other apps though, it's more likely that you need to set your proxy or decontaminate the system.

I get this sometimes but 'Refresh' always cures it.

Ah, just pulled the Ethernet cable out of my other machine; it's "Detect Network Settings" and it's halfway down the page.

I just bought a new computer off a friend. AMD thunderbird processor 1.4 Ghz, 256 MB PC2700 RAM. My problem is, it feels like I have about 64 MB RAM. I keep a bunch of windows open and a few apps running, and my old computer with 128MB would tolerate my habits just fine. This 256MB machine can't seem to handle it. Is there such thing as bad memory, or could there be something else tying up all my resources that I'm not aware of? Thanks for any help.

oh, thanks Sean and N. for the help above -- I never saw it. That problem somehow magically resolved itself, though.

Ohhhh there's bad memory of it all right, and a lot of it. One question is whether or not you've switched operating systems: if you're with WinXP now, it takes up a lot more resources than, say, Win98. You can find out whether your resources are being used up (and by what) by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting "Task Manager", then choosing the performance tab. It'll let you know how much memory your system is currently using, and whether it's actually just your CPU cycles being gobbled up by rogue apps.

Win 98 on both machines. Maybe it's just cheap memory. I downloaded a freeware Task Manager, and it indicates I'm using just over 100MB of memory with just one Explorer window open. I don't seem to be running any extra junk or spyware or anything. I think I'll just pull whatever memory's in there and invest in higher quality. Thanks.

Ok, now I have a question:

Does anyone know how to get around not-having-administrator status in Windows XP? I need to install AOLIM badly as well as turning on my animated images in IE that somehow got turned off. I cannot see Pee Wee dance. It makes me sad. HELP!

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100MB seems like a lot for Win98 with only one IE window open; does it break down what's taking up what portion of the memory?

Seeing as its a new computer it may be worth your while doing a clean install of windows. Who knows what nasties may lurk in the depths. BTW Win98 and Win98SE are no longer supported by M$, they may remove patches from their support area at some point so do it soon.

This may or may not be boring. But dselect. It's rubbish, right? You have to scroll through endless lists of craply described packages to try and find the one you want and if it's not there you take a wild guess as to which tarball you can download and then it doesn't work ANYWAY because debian is rubbish!

I mean, it's really really gay. I thought I was being dumb and not understanding, but NOW I DO and it's a load of RUBBISH.

apt-get may be better but WHAT IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE 'getting' FROM!

And source code! It never compiles! Or if it DOES it then doesn't WORK! Computers are GAY GAY GAY!

Ah, "reclaiming" the word 'gay' makes my ire a lot easier to express.

Hahaha I have just said this elsewhere on the interweb and it turns out I was talking to a friend of the bloke who WROTE dselect.

Hahhahahahahaha help.

apt-get rules, if you don't know what sources to use, get a generic sources.list from the debian website, or use dselect to set the sources then use apt-get. Use the debian package database, also on the debian website, to decide which package to install. (PS are you installing from cd or internet?)

As far as compiling goes, what's the debian equivalent of fink? Compiling straight seems to work OK for me but I think it very much depends on how well the ./configure script works for each source tarball. This depends on how one's compilers etc. are installed, I suppose, seeing as Apple set mine up I can't help you there.

what exactly IS fink?

apt-get is nice, but I LOVE gentoo's emerge.

Well the bloody C compiler was screwed when I first had it (gcc) but I think I've finally managed to prod it into working again. Vaguely. I got stuck in dependency hell. Dselect/apt-get tells you what you need but straight installs?! ARRRGGRHHH.

Installing from interweb - someone else did the install for me and I don't know which flavour of Debian I have blah blah... odd window manager as well.

When I first started the xterms wouldn't come up for some reason... ARGH!

Also ./configure isn't that hot. I was so gutted after spending all of Judge John Deed compiling mame and STILL it didn't want to work!

s1ocki, fink is debian's package management tools ported to mac os x plus a few extras to make compiling a doddle. It's also part of a wider project to port open source software to mac os x. see http://fink.sf.net for further details.

Sarah, why not install the woody version of debian? It's meant to be guaranteed to work, (well that's what they say, in their dreams I say).

Okay, I'm sorry to keep flogging the same old donkey, but can anyone point out a layman's guide to running VPC+Windows+Slsk on OSX? Does it eat up a lot of space/memory? Is it dangerous? How is it done?

Failing that, what is this "nicotine client" for slsk and how does one find/use it?

don't bother with the vpc shit, run nicotine, it's better in the long run.

see here

Thanks!

SHEESH. So I buy a 512MB PC2100 RAM module today, snap it in, and my computer seems to recognize it... So I test it by opening the same # of windows and apps that usually gives my computer problems and whaddya know, the same problems arise. I click on Show Desktop and get a 'not enough memory' error. So the memory made no difference! What could be the problem here?

adam the nicotine client install doesn't actually look too hard (it just seems to take a long time, most of which is spent waiting) and i think i'm going to give it a shot this week. will report back. also i have a good how-to bookmarked somewhere which i can send to you if you email me.

aaron: is the new memory showing up as 512M? have you tried memtest86 on it (comes as a bootable floppy image)? try mozilla firebird instead 8)

star: what errors are you getting from xmame? i've compiled it recently and it went ok (this was either mandrake or suse or both though)

andy

Okay, so...

I cannot access ANY webpages whatsoever WITH THE SOLE EXCEPTION OF ILX. WTF is going on here?

*sheepishly* me again...

I just installed Win XP on my D: drive (I have 2 HDDs). Win 98 is still on C:

I figured my old settings from Win 98 would be xferred automatically to XP, or it'd ask me if I wanted them xferred, but that wasn't the case.

So how can I transfer all my old settings from Win 98 (which is still on my C: drive) to the new OS?

Thanks again!

try the transfer files and settings wizard. if you can't find the shortcut for it, search in the help &support center

Is there a way to totally block internet access without a password on a computer? (This is to stop me using the internet, by the way, but not the other person who uses the computer). Just changing the password to the ISP account isn't any good. I really need to password protect access to both modems (dial up and broadband). Is that possible? (Old computer, Windows 98).

Firewall question:

Suddenly, and for no reason I can discern, my PC (Windows 98, IE6) has somehow grown itself a firewall preventing me from using MSN Messenger. I haven't downloaded anything for ages, although I do use slsk on a regular basis. Is there a possibility that I've inadvertently let something in?

All I want to do is lose the firewall, if indeed it exists, so I can use messenger again. I've tried the Help function but it doesn't even recognise the word "firewall", amazingly!

Anyone?

has your ISP blocked it?

AOL? I should fucking well hope not!

...and my Yahoo! messenger works fine, not that I ever really use it.

try running adaware

ok, so i've installed and run adaware, it's still not working. grrr. any other ideas?

My question is not only boring but stupid. Here goes.

I have 64 RAM on a G3 Powerbook from '99. I believe I should add some more memory? How much should I add and how do I go about this? (There were specs originally when I bought the computer about how much how I could add, but this was a while ago and Apple seems to have severed all ties to this nostalgia item.)

Charlie, other good anti-trojan/spyware/malware progs are Spybot Search and Destroy, and one called Hijack This. They've both helped me.

mary i can relate. my powerbook is also hopelessly out of date!

If your Messenger has gone out, good. It's an enormous security hole anyway.

Access it and Yahoo and whatever else through Trillian.

mary, ad a 256Mb or even better a 512Mb module. To install (do this all with the power cable out and the battery removed, also before you start touch some grounded metal, like an unpainted radiator, water pipe or tap, this removes any static charge from your body:

1) unlock the keyboard by twisting the screw between the F4 and F5 90 degrees, with a small flat bladed screwdriver.

2) Pull back the two catches between esc and F1 and F8 and F9 and fold back the keyboard over the track pad.

3) Remove the two cross head screws that are in the middle of the exposed areas and lift out the metal plate that they fixed in position.

4) Slot the memory module in, angling it at first then lowering it into position.

5) refit the metal plate and keyboard

done

this kb article has info on installing memory.

Thank you Ed.

Thanks, you lot. In the end I just reinstalled MSN Messenger 6.1 and now it works again. Woo.

I think that Charlie should test his Messenger by talking to ME on it (not that I'm bored or owt). In fact I think anyone with Messenger shd talk to me also. I am moorsmeerkat@hotmail.com. Not a reference to the moors murderers, in case you were worried.

Andy: I believe I got up to the point where I would type xmame [name of rom here], it would give me some gumph about CPU numbers and then exit. It's a bit of a bugger, you might say. I can't remember more precise details as this was a while ago on The Beast. I'm going to take it round to my broadband enabled pals, I reckon, and see if that helps at all. Hurrah for getting a free ethernet card with the laptop and people with dorky home networks! :) I believe I was pointed at a debian build but this was only after I'd spent, literally, hours, downloading and building from source so I might give that a go when I'm on faster connection.

Oooh! I have a boring computer question! I'm pretty clueless when it comes to computers, so I'm hoping this is something which will be easy to resolve and that some kind soul can point me in the right direction .....

I want to get into a particular chat room, and it uses javascript. Every time I try and get there, my computer freezes up and won't let me in. Do I need to download anything? or enable javascript or something? If so, any ideas how I do this?

Eternally grateful, and sorry to be so dumb etc etc :)

Are you using Internet Explorer CJ?

Also a link to the chat rooms would be helpful.

Yes, I'm using Internet Explorer. I've gone to Internet Tools - Security - and checked the box marked 'enable' under the section called signing and saved all that. I even tried lowering my security settings, but that made no difference.

I don't actually know the link to the chat room, because it's accessed only via an icon on a message board which you click - it doesn't seem to show any properties when I right-click on it (it just says 'javascript'). You need to register with the message board (I've been a member there for about three years) and make sure you are logged on (which I am), but I still can't get into chat which is baffling.

is it Java or javascript?

Do you get a grey box where the chat window should be?

It says 'javascript'.

I don't even get as far as the chat window - sometimes a red sort-of "No Entry" sign flashes up briefly on the screen, as though it's some kind of restricted site (but I've listed the site as trusted and not restricted in my security settings), other times I don't get any warnings - I just can't connect to it, and sometimes the screen just freezes.

They used to have their MB chat room on MSN and I could get into that one just fine. They recently changed to this new one, but it obviously doesn't like me :(

It might be a javascript link, but it sounds to me like the chat app itself runs in java. I get a similar problem with Yahoo games sometimes.

If it is a Java applet then you may need a Java VM depending on your version of Windows iirc MS took it out of Windows XP/IE6 because of antitrust.

You can get one from Suns java resource site.

http://www.java.com/en/index.jsp