Messages

1

Quick Q&A / Codec pack for Windows Media Player

« on: June 13, 2013, 11:23:20 AM »

Anyone know of a good codec pack for Windows Media Player 12, that isn't riddled with spyware and/or viruses? Preferably, to be able to play .mp4 videos consistently.

Yes, I do know about VLC player, but this is for a work project that requires that we use Windows Media Player for playback.

2

Operating Systems & Software / Re: Adobe Moves Photoshop to Subscription Only

« on: May 27, 2013, 06:22:38 PM »

There has been a big shift in selling software as a service (subscription based software in the cloud). And I can see many more titles from various companies going this direction. Call it always online DRM, or whatever you want to call it, but I do understand the reason for companies doing it, aside from curbing piracy.

I do assume, and hope, that by subscribing, you'll always have the latest version. Would be a bit of a thingy move, if there was an upgrade fee in addition to the subscription, to move between versions.

3

Operating Systems & Software / Re: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Brings Back Start Button

« on: May 27, 2013, 06:11:58 PM »

This type of update may help get Windows 8 into the enterprise sooner now.

For tech savvy people, the metro interface isn't that big of a deal, but I couldn't imagine trying to deploy it out to end users. Most calls into the helpdesk would be usability issues, and not technical problems.

4

Android App Pick of the Week / Re: [Frontpage News]Android App Pick - Fruit Ninja

« on: December 07, 2011, 10:13:24 PM »

A couple apps I've found lately

Games:
Wheres My Water - One of the best mobile games I've ever played
Spaghetti and Marshmallows
Death Worm

Apps:
Widget Locker - For customizing your lock screen
Beautiful Widgets - Has some cool widgets for a variety things (weather, calendar etc)
Zedge - Tons of free wallpapers, ringtones, notification sounds
Launcher Pro - Customize the Android OS
Swype - Can't live without it for texting/emailing
Evernote - Great note taking app that will sync with your phone, computer, and web access. I'd be lost without this. Has great searching capabilities, and can upload PDFs directly to a note, and it'll be converted. Because it syncs automatically, your notes are always with you, it seems.

5

Android App Pick of the Week / Re: [Frontpage News]Android App Pick - Hungry Shark

« on: October 11, 2011, 09:33:47 AM »

Looking forward to this. I'm a recent IOS -> Android converter, and always looking for cool apps or games.

6

News / Re: [Frontpage News]24GB DDR3 and Windows 7

« on: February 04, 2010, 01:34:00 PM »

Just curious as to what was running on the virtual machines when you tested playing Call of Duty MW2.

Were they just sitting idle? or were they under some amount of load?

7

Quick Q&A / Lack of power??

« on: August 16, 2009, 08:06:59 PM »

I recently purchased a Geforce 275 gtx to put in my system, and it was fine for the last 4 days playing games etc, no problem. However, today it seems that the video was locking up while playing World of Warcraft numerous times. After a few reboots and not having much luck, I put my 8800 gts back in to see if it was related to the video card, and after putting it back in, the system is now stable or at least has been for the better part of the night.

At this point, I'm thinking it might be lack of power for that video card. I have a Corsair 520 watt modular power supply running 1 optical drive, 1x 300 gb sata hdd, 2x 1 tb sata hdd, tv tuner card, and Geforce 275 gtx. When I bought the power supply, I didn't have the 2 terrabyte hard drives, or the Geforce 275gtx.

Anyone got any tips?

8

Operating Systems & Software / Re: 64 bit Computing

« on: August 12, 2009, 07:24:32 PM »

Thanks for the response. I decided to wipe the system clean and install Windows 7 64bit. So far I'm liking it quite a bit. My system feels quite a bit more responsive than it was before I wiped it. 

In the process I got an EVGA Geforce 275 GTX to replace my 8800 GTS...unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to test it out on a game yet.

9

Operating Systems & Software / 64 bit Computing

« on: August 11, 2009, 06:26:10 PM »

Just wondering if 64 bit Windows is worth installing these days or not. I have 4 gb of ram currently in my PC, and running Vista 32bit. I have tried 32bit Windows 7 on a virtual machine and like what I see so far.

I plan to get Windows 7 when it comes out, but should I get 64 bit or 32 bit? I want to be able to utilize the ram I have, and possibly get more. How is driver support? Do 32bit apps work ok on 64bit Windows? Just wondering which way I should go when it is released.

10

Quick Q&A / Re: Weird powering up problem

« on: April 11, 2008, 11:36:34 AM »

What about this one? I've had good luck with MSI before and like their boards.

11

Quick Q&A / Re: Weird powering up problem

« on: April 11, 2008, 11:23:40 AM »

We've had nothing but horrible problems from the Gigabyte boards here at work.  We were using them for tills and workstations but stopped after at least a ~33 percent failure rate.  I'm not saying that Gigabyte is bad in general but it seems they've had some really bad batches lately.

BTW Our symptoms were exactly what LobbDogg was experiencing.

Hmm, not sure I have much faith then, if this seems to be a fairly common problem. I've had somewhat bad luck with Giga-byte boards in the past as well, but decided to try them out again. Seems like they haven't changed much.

Any other suggestions? Even if using a different chipset? I'm willing to reinstall Windows if I have to.

12

Quick Q&A / Re: Weird powering up problem

« on: April 11, 2008, 06:23:03 AM »

I pulled the motherboard out and ran it outside of the case. Same problem. So then, I tried to run it without the CPU in it. It would stay powered on, but of course didn't do anything without the CPU. At this point, I thought it was the CPU that was toast.

Just to confirm what I thought was the culprit, I took my motherboard to work, and tried another working CPU from a computer and then it still did the exact same problem as always. So at this point, I believe the motherboard is toast. I did all this testing with only the motherboard, Ram, power supply, and cpu connected, using a screw driver to jump start it everytime.

I'm going to buy another board, because I don't want to wait for warranty before I'm up and running again. This board is a Giga-Byte GA-P35-DS3R. The replacement is the DS3P...not sure what the difference is off hand but, is there a better choice out now that I should go for? It would be nice to go with the DS3P board cause hopefully I won't have to do the whole reinstall of Windows. But if there is a far superior board out there, then I'm all ears, and I might just have to suck it up and reinstall.

thx

13

Quick Q&A / Re: Weird powering up problem

« on: April 10, 2008, 06:12:10 AM »

I did go back and try the original outlet... and I do have my old computer running in the same spot where I noticed the problem with my current one, so I know its not external power thats causing it.

I was thinking about pulling the motherboard out and seeing if I could get it to go just having it on my desk. All the screws were tight...but I guess that doesn't mean there can't be a short somewhere.

14

Quick Q&A / Re: Weird powering up problem

« on: April 09, 2008, 04:41:43 PM »

I actually did just that Zeus, before I saw your reply. I've unplugged all the unecessary devices to rule those out. I replaced the power supply with a brand new Antec one, and the same problem still exists. I'm beginning to think it is a motherboard or CPU problem.

Pretty bizzare considering it was working fine, I shut it down to move it about 25 feet and now it doesn't start. Knowing my luck, its probably the motherboard thats shot....dang Giga-byte.

One thing I'm noticing...although I didn't think of it being a big deal at the time, is that when I push the power switch, the case fans come on immediately...but the CPU fan doesn't start up for about 3-4 seconds after the case fans are already running. After the CPU fan starts to run, then thats when the system shuts off for about 5 seconds or so then it tries to boot up again.

15

Quick Q&A / Weird powering up problem

« on: April 08, 2008, 06:30:23 AM »

Hey guys, looking for some suggestions here....

I had to move my computer from one room to another temporarily last night, it was running fine where it was. Then once, I powered it up in the new location, it starts up for about 5-6 seconds, then shuts off. If I leave it be, it'll try starting up again after about 5-6 seconds by itself, then shuts off again. It seems to repeat this cycle over and over again until I completely cut the power to the tower, or hold in the front power button to turn off the machine.

During this time, there is no display on the monitor and of course the machine does not post. I'm using a Gigabyte motherboard with an Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 with 4GB ram, 8800 GTS, Corsair 520 watt PSU, 1 HDD and 1 DVDRW, 2 case fans, 1 tv tuner. Unfortunately I don't have any extra parts for this computer that I can swap in.

So I'm looking at the best guess of something to replace. The heatsinks and fans seem to be securely in place and the tower was moved very gently. I probably only moved the tower about 25 feet. I also tried a different power bar, different power cord, and a different outlet. In fact, my other computers work with the same cords and setup. So I know it is something with that computer.

I'm thinking possibly power supply right now. Could it be that the 520 watt PSU was too little for what I was running? I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance.