PC Computer Tips, Tricks, Tweaks, and Tweeks...

[cosmicB]

Most PC users only care about the basics, like plug it in, switch it on, click-up the email program or browser.. and a little bit on filing stuff... And that their PC is secure with an AVS and a firewall...

We could use this thread to suggest weird little tips for novices to try out to make their computering a little more personal and pleasurable...


I.E.: Desktop icon sizes can be changed by going to: Start>Settings>ControlPanel>Display>Appearance>Item (Icon)>Size...


If your eyes are too sensitive to bright screens, or you prefer a colored background, you can change file-window background colors on common files, by going to: Start>Settings>ControlPanel>Display>Appearance>Item (Window)>Color...


There are thousands of little changes you can make in customizing your PC to your preferences...
If you've found a useful little custom change that you like, then post it here...


Check this out:

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=PC+computer++tweeks&btnG=Search&meta=

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=PC+computer++tweaks&btnG=Search&meta=

[cosmicB]

To save downloads in a file, you can't just use the mouse to pull the download into a new file... That only saves a shortcut... To save the download you must use right click to copy the download, then paste it into the file... It doesn't load the desktop... It's a good plan to save your browser download in that file, so when your browser gets infected with some garbage, you can easily uninstall it, and quick reinstall it from the saved download...

[cosmicB]

You can pull your SeaMonkey Bookmark favorites into SeaMonkey's favorites bar at the top of the screen.. You can shift them around with the mouse.. With right click you can rename them...

[azraelle]

Can you recommend a cheap or free program to convert streaming audio to savable mp3 format, and or streaming video to savable xvid/divx/mp4 avi format, playable with vlc media player (what google media player is based on)?

[monosodium]

Can you recommend a cheap or free program to convert streaming audio to savable mp3 format, and or streaming video to savable xvid/divx/mp4 avi format, playable with vlc media player (what google media player is based on)?

What kind of streaming audio specifically? Capturing the stream accurately is normally the toughest bit, then half the time VLC will play it without a need for transcoding.

[azraelle]

whatever they use on youtube. I don't use itunes anymore, or any other streaming service.

[monosodium]

whatever they use on youtube. I don't use itunes anymore, or any other streaming service.

Right - If I remember correctly, they just use a flash based player to download an flv and play it while it downloads (rather than actual real streaming). Theoretically it should be in your temporary internet files.

If not then one of the browsers lets you see all the URLs it's connected to to get the page - I think it's safari, and the file can be downloaded from those.

I'll give it a go later and I'll let you know how I get on.

[monosodium]

OK - Just had 5 minutes to test it. I'm assuming IE, I don't know if other browsers use the same cache so you might have to adapt it.

As you'll already have downloaded the video, the first task is to get it out of the browser cache / temporary internet files.

If you don't know how to get to your temporary internet files then easiest thing to do is in IE, go to Tools - Internet Options - (Browsing history) - Settings - View Files.

(If you open this up before you download the video then it may make things easier later, just remember to refresh the window after the whole file is streamed.)

Find the file - to do this I make sure that the "last accessed" column is showing. You can enable it by right-clicking the column headings and making sure it's ticked, then select that column twice to sort it in reverse order (most recent activity first).

Look for the entry starting get_video? it should be top of the list.

Copy the file and paste it into a folder / desktop.

The file won't have a file extension, but will open in VLC just fine.

[cosmicB]

This is really weird!..

One of my hard drives, a 20-gig, that I've loaded with W98se and my 50 favorite softwares, is wearing out... I hear the control arm click badly every once in a while, and this hd locks up way too often... sometimes right in the middle of an impossible to replace thesis...
So since I associate lockups with macromedia in W98, I did a search and destroy for macromedia and shockwave.. and there it was, infecting this PC... It probably got in with either the IE6 install, or the HP printer install...
So I cleaned it out.. and suddenly there's no more lockups, and no more hard drive troubles...

Now I know that macromedia is way to powerful a software for W98, but it's got me wondering if macromedia in W98se actually damages the hard drive..? given that without it in this PC there isn't anymore control arm noise...

My advice to everyone running W98 or W98se, or Wm, is to get macromedia and shockwave completely out of you PC.. and go find an older version of flash player, which was written around the time W98se was created, to save yourself all the grief...

The best way I've found to clean out the five poops, is to download "CMDiskCleaner" from Majorgeeks.. and go into the registry options, and custom set the search to scan for: "macromedia, shockwave, backweb, showbehind, and desktopmessenger"... and delete only those custom search entries CM finds... The scan takes about 20-minutes... I've found that CM is a little too powerful for W98se.. is why I don't use its registry cleaner for anything else but custom searches... For my registry cleaner I run daily: FreeWindowRegistryRepair, CCleaner, EasyCleaner, and DiskMinder, all from Majorgeeks, the trust people...

EasyCleaner is good to run to give the hd quick check after you've been messing in unscrupulous websites... You run the Startup cleaner, and look for anything that could be a bug, which needs the PC to be rebooted before it can take hold and mess up things... EasyCleaner catches the nasties before they become nasties in your computer...


So, if your hd is clinking and clanking, try this cure...

[minigirl]

it's rather odd that shockwave or flash don't work properly in 98se - they should if you're using microsoft internet explorer 6.0 or later, firefox 1.x, mozilla 1.x, netscape 7.x or later or opera 7.11 or later. if anyone is having trouble running these, they might want to check their system against the information here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/shockwaveplayer/productinfo/systemreqs/
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/productinfo/systemreqs/

given that cosmicb has (presumably unwittingly) downloaded malware in the past, his problem (the macromedia one i mean) might lie there.

[monosodium]

it's rather odd that shockwave or flash don't work properly in 98se - they should if you're using microsoft internet explorer 6.0 or later, firefox 1.x, mozilla 1.x, netscape 7.x or later or opera 7.11 or later. if anyone is having trouble running these, they might want to check their system against the information here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/shockwaveplayer/productinfo/systemreqs/
http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/productinfo/systemreqs/

given that cosmicb has (presumably unwittingly) downloaded malware in the past, his problem (the macromedia one i mean) might lie there.

Actually the problem lies in Cosmic being a complete numpty who spends most of their time in their own lsd-fuelled haze.

Macromedia Flash is fine on W98, Cosmic just has a pathological fear of it and a love of those registry cleaners which do more harm than good in the long run...

[cosmicB]

Latest SeaMonkey download/install made my old desktop run faster...

[cosmicB]

SCAMS!!!!


I just got this here email in my inbox.. "BPOL@poste.it <BPOL@..."
So the first thing I do, is copy its address, then run a Google search on it, by adding the word "scam" to the address in the search box, and it comes up with with this...

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%09BPOL%40poste.it+scam&btnG=Google+Search&meta=


If everybody did this with unknown emails, soon the scammers would starve.. and they would either need to be eating from them thar green bags that we set out for the trashman, or they would be getting their guns out to do more muggings...

Seems the scams are just run by a handful of fat sickly old parasitic cannibal Africans, stationed some where out in a couple big Dutch and Nicaraguan cities...

You can tell right off that it's a scam, when they are claiming to have millions of dollars, yet they need to use a freebie email address.. plus they haven't got a clue about the English language... But still there's ten idiots a day falling for their games... I also see it too too clearly, when the same scammer sends me three different scam attempts in my mailbox in the same hour... "help me get this 8.7 million dollars from the bank, cuz my daddy died , and left it to us... You get a third... Just send me the 20-thou I need to get it out."
Or, "I've a a huge business deal for you... Send me your life savings, and I'll tell you all about it."... Or, "You need to update your banking data, to stop thieves from robbing your account... Send me all your credit card numbers, including expiry dates, and your bank account number, and a copy of your signature.. the one you sign your checks with."...
Or, "You just won a couple million dollars, in draw you didn't enter."
What kind of mindless idiots would fall for that crap?..
I figure it's just those mindless greedy money-hungry pigs who fall for that crap, and in a way they do so deserve what they get.. rather what they lose.. but it's not nice that a poor mindless elderly person gets taken for all their retirement funds... I bet they lose what's left of their lives over it, and I bet they really hurt a lot from it... It probably kills them a lot earlier... I just can't grasp it completely..?.. Why is this human race got to be so god damned Evil about acquiring money..? I really really believe that money needs to be extincted... and guns too... before they extinct us...

[cosmicB]

Make that flat screen show a little more life...

Buy yourself a pair of those pinkish sunglasses at a "dollar store", and wear them while sitting at the computer... It gives the screen warmth, and subdues the sting...

Ideally you would get yourself a pair of light sunglasses made from "Ambrosia Glass", but that type of glass is pretty much a lost art... It was proved scientifically that light filtered through Gold Glass is the most pleasing to the human eye... It's bloody expensive glass... A tiny lamp shade about the size of a coffee cup costs about $500... The old stuff is very rare... The new stuff is as fake as rubber dogshit... If it scratches, it's just a fake coating...

You can tell gold glass when all the reflections seem to be gold...

[cosmicB]

http://fileforum.betanews.com/search?search=Imaging+for+Windows%AE