Tech/Computer advice from me

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I still push hard for the use of Ubuntu, but at this stage, it is not the software of choice for touch screen based pc's, and as my desktop and hybrid laptop/tablet are both touch screen, Ubuntu has a problem with them. Also, I can't get my desktop to show up on the TV via HDMI with Ubuntu. I have asked for a work-around, but as it is something the developers need to consider during the construction of each release, I'll just have to wait until these problems have been resolved.

However, I now use W8.1 on both. My previous android tablet was not upgradeable, and therefore, I could not get it to a level that I could have it 'talk' to my desktop, and vice versa. Now I can swap and transfer images, documents and videos from one to the other by the click of a button. I still save the really important stuff to an external hdd, but as I tend to sit outside in the morning, I just fire up the desktop, make my coffee, pick up the hybrid and download the previous day's files to the hybrid. If I download anything new, I just transfer it to the desktop when I go back inside.

As per the roll call of IT people, I am self trained enough to be able to remotely repair my mother's laptop (she lives some 3000km's away), as well as my sister's pc (1500km's away), to recovering data from a broken Windows pc (using an Ubuntu installation disc), to replacing hardware. If you use these things long enough you are bound to learn something!
 
Fear The Spear said:
Got it. Thanks for the breakdown.

I may have to finally make Skinned Aussie happy, and finally install his highly-endorsed Ubuntu OS :)
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Ubuntu is the easiest to get your head around if you have been a long time Windows user. There is still a learning curve, and you might get frustrated at times, but if you stick with it you will find it will eventually become as second nature as Windows.

I just wish I could use it on a full time basis again, but it's not 100% touch screen compatible at the moment.
 
Fear The Spear said:
Well, I neither use touch-screen, nor use the PC for TV via HDMI, so I assume I should be okay with Ubuntu, eh
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If you have an installation disc, you can try it as a live demo first, just to see if it is what you want. If you use the live version, remember that nothing will be saved to your hdd.

If you are happy with it, insert the disc, change the bot sequence, reboot, then just follow the prompts. If you choose to delete the whole XP partition, you can do so, or you can keep the XP partition, just in case. With the whole disc for Ubuntu, you can set it up so that when you fire up first thing, it will be ready to use by the time you have made your morning coffee, or if you keep an XP partition, a boot manager will be created and it will 'ask' you what operating system you want to boot in to.

If you have any major problems, go to Ubuntu Forums for technical assistance. It is a forum, but they are extremely helpful.
 
I could use some help from one of you wizards.

I have an old windows warhorse that I keep around only to run one or two programs and a couple of web-based functions that are not mac capable. About a year ago something changed in my ability to view video on the web. For instance, when viewing a clip on ESPN, after understandably waiting a bit for the load, the video will run choppy and pixelated while the audio runs normally. It used to run perfectly fine.

Any ideas on what to try?

Dell Pentium III, 863 MHz, 384 RAM

XP 2002 Home, Service Pack 2

Firefox 27.0.1
 
Chris said:
I could use some help from one of you wizards.

I have an old windows warhorse that I keep around only to run one or two programs and a couple of web-based functions that are not mac capable. About a year ago something changed in my ability to view video on the web. For instance, when viewing a clip on ESPN, after understandably waiting a bit for the load, the video will run choppy and pixelated while the audio runs normally. It used to run perfectly fine.

Any ideas on what to try?

Dell Pentium III, 863 MHz, 384 RAM

XP 2002 Home, Service Pack 2

Firefox 27.0.1
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Hrm... go to support.dell.com, throw in your service tag number, and see what the latest video/graphics driver is.
 
Chris said:
Where would I find the service tag #?
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It should be a sticker on the computer. Older dell's have it on the back of the machine, where everything plugs in. It's just a white sticker with a 6 (or so) character code.

It'll look like this:
dell-online-support-service-tag.jpg


Newer ones will have it on top (or maybe somewhere else) and they'll be labelled: Service Tag
Normally a black sticker, near the rest of the stickers.

Dell also has the option to 'identify my machine' on the main support page. It'll prompt you to install plug-ins and stuff, but it works pretty well.
 
Fear The Spear said:
Really ? Because I heard the complete opposite, regarding older systems, in general.
I've heard some computer experts say that older OS's are actually much less vulnerable to attack, because most of the viruses coming out in the current time, are targeting the newer OS systems, at least in part, because of the higher volume of people using the newer OS's, so the better percentage of infecting or hacking them.
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I'm very curious who these experts are. I want to know how many tears they will be shedding in April.
 
A lot of the latest videos are in HD, so you might just need to download and install the correct codecs. Could be wrong though!

Go to Ninite - Install or Update Multiple Apps at Once and check K-Lite codecs under the Media tag. Have the installer save to your desktop, then just click the installer and it will download and install for you.

If that doesn't help, it may be because you are using out-of-date technology.
 
Chris said:
384 RAM
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I must have read your post too quickly.

This is your problem. 384 MB memory just doesn't cut it. XP SP2 minimum recommended is 512 MB memory without antivirus, 1GB (1024 MB) with antivirus. My personal recommendation would be 1 GB (1024 MB) without antivirus and 2 GB (2048 MB) with antivirus.

Modern graphics cards have their own memory banks to save consuming main memory and run faster. 0 chance your graphic card has that, and in addition to it you're running super low main memory.

Give me your service tag, I'll find some cheap memory for you. < $50 should make your computer run significantly faster. Significantly.
 
tshile said:
I must have read your post too quickly.

This is your problem. 384 MB memory just doesn't cut it. XP SP2 minimum recommended is 512 MB memory without antivirus, 1GB (1024 MB) with antivirus. My personal recommendation would be 1 GB (1024 MB) without antivirus and 2 GB (2048 MB) with antivirus.

Modern graphics cards have their own memory banks to save consuming main memory and run faster. 0 chance your graphic card has that, and in addition to it you're running low memory.

Give me your service tag, I'll find some cheap memory for you. < $50 should make your computer run significantly faster. Significantly.
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Yeah, I know that memory is less than ideal. But it hasn't resulted in this poor performance in, well, forever.

I had no luck at the Dell support site. The site kept pushing me to use their Dell System Detect software to diagnose the computer. I downloaded the file and couldn't run it- kept getting the following message:

\DellSystemDetect.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

(God how I love Windows.)

I would be appreciative of any deals you could suggest. Though I probably need to get a new bare-bones machine to handle my needs with companies that are still in the dark ages as it relates to OSX. (Talking to you USPS.)
 
If you give me your service tag (you can PM if you want, not sure what kind of personal info is attached to it) and I can look up memory if you're interested in that. I can also get you a link to your latest graphics driver so you can bypass the support site.

If you're looking for a new system tell me what you use your computer for and I'll try to get you pointed in the right direction.
 
Chris said:
Yeah, I know that memory is less than ideal. But it hasn't resulted in this poor performance in, well, forever.

I had no luck at the Dell support site. The site kept pushing me to use their Dell System Detect software to diagnose the computer. I downloaded the file and couldn't run it- kept getting the following message:

\DellSystemDetect.exe is not a valid Win32 application.

(God how I love Windows.)

I would be appreciative of any deals you could suggest. Though I probably need to get a new bare-bones machine to handle my needs with companies that are still in the dark ages as it relates to OSX. (Talking to you USPS.)
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure Crucial will let you cheat and put in your model type to find what you need, and you can price compare from that point.

You should be able to just type your service tag in at: Support | Dell US
System detect is Dell's fault, not MS. But that page should load with a field for the service tag...

I'm betting you're on DDR(1) though, so the price is a bit higher than current stuff, but should be feasible, like $25/GB.

Beware that siren song with OSX, Apple doesn't play well with others. They are so annoying with enterprise networks, and they never fix their drivers. Great standalone, sucky with groups.
 
Shi no Tenshi said:
Beware that siren song with OSX, Apple doesn't play well with others. They are so annoying with enterprise networks, and they never fix their drivers. Great standalone, sucky with groups.
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I'm simply a home user and truly enjoy the experience.

Thanks for your other advise!
 
Shi no Tenshi said:
Beware that siren song with OSX, Apple doesn't play well with others. They are so annoying with enterprise networks, and they never fix their drivers. Great standalone, sucky with groups.
Click to expand...

I actually just deployed an os x server and bound it to active directory to try to solve all the problems of rouge macs on the network :)

I'm keeping instructions. When I'm done I'll let you know how it went and you're more than welcome to use the instructions :)
 
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