Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with PC

Looking for card game software with smart bridge partners

marble — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:57:51 -0800

Know of any good card game software with computer bridge players who know how to bid? My mom plays Hoyle Card Games 2008 on Windows XP and is eternally frustrated with the choices her electronic partners make. I don't know much about bridge, but I'm looking to help my mother find some card game software that won't frustrate her (so much, anyway) with the lack of skill her computer partners show when playing bridge.

When I asked her to describe more specifically what one of the issues is, she described it thus: "The players pass when they have a 6 to 8 card suit with 3 honors. They don't respond - I open and they never tell me." (This is incomprehensible to me, but hopefully means something to those of you who play bridge).

Can anyone help with ideas for games she could get where the bridge-playing partners are more skilled?

(She is not interested in playing with humans online, but if you wish to share information about this, perhaps a future searcher would find it helpful if you decide to comment in this thread.)

Basic multi-track recording of a medium-size group on my computer?

DoubleMark — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:30:18 -0800

I've got a large collection of (mostly electric/electronic) instruments, and even some people to play them. The one hole in my musical setup is recording. I'm a wind instrumentalist originally, so I know little of the ways of preamps and what have you. Help me get started recording on my computer! Instrumentation details inside. I've reviewed the previous MeFi literature, and I think my real stumbling block is the metric buttload (defined as "number above four") of instruments I'd like to record at once. I know the first step is a proper audio interface; I'm fine with USB or firewire, and understand firewire is preferable. I'll note than I'm running Windows. However, figuring out what will take the right number and types of inputs, or what other hardware I need, is kind of intimidating. Hive mind, get me started with recording at home!

First, two microphones. That's easy. I need two XLR inputs, and they'll need preamps. Fine. I follow that part, and there are plenty of recommendations on which microphones to use elsewhere.

Next, digital instruments. I have an electronic drum kit and piano, both coming in at line level (stereo for the drums, mono for the piano). I suppose I could scoop up either or both via MIDI and work with it afterward, but I'm especially pleased with the sound on the piano, and would like to just use it if possible.

Finally, the fun part. Add in two guitars and a bass, all electric. Something that accepts inputs at instrument level would be fantastic. However, if push comes to shove, I've two guitar amps that have line-level (headphone) out that I could use, no such feature on the bass. I understand that this may be a bit noisy, and that would be bad, but I'd need a lot of instrument-level preamps otherwise. I hear that it's more common to mike guitar output, but let's say that's financially out right now.

What hardware do I want? Something entry-level is all I need for the foreseeable future, but I don't see many things that take the right number of inputs. Am I asking for something that doesn't exist at that level? About how much is this going to run?

Recommend a graphics card for my new TV

muckster — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:59:50 -0800

Do I need a new video card to hook my PC up to my new HDTV? I have a Dell PC with a ATI Radeon HD 2400 graphics card. It has two connections, one DVI and one S-Video.

I used to convert the DVI to RGB and connect that to my Dell monitor at the max resolution of 1680 x 1050. The S-Video was connected to my tube TV, which worked just fine.

The new TV is a Toshiba 40" 1080p, so of course I'd like to feed it something better than S-Video. I tried connecting the RGB, which gives me a max resolution of 1360x768 -- but it leaves me with S-Video for the monitor, which is pretty freakin' ugly.

Here's the question: is there a way I can use a splitter or similar to feed the DVI (or RGB) into both the monitor and the TV at a resolution both will be happy with? Or do I have to get a new HDMI-ready graphics card? If I do, can you recommend one that might last me little while without breaking the bank? Under $100 would be great. I play the occasional game of TF2 but media is going to be the main use. Blu-Ray might be nice one day. I don't need to expand to a second monitor and would be just as happy cloning the same image on both screens. Thanks much.

How to drive 12 interactives with one machine?

MrBobaFett — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:51:52 -0800

What do I use to drive a multi head (12 displays) interactive display wall? I want to use one machine to run 12 discrete slide shows. Each show is only 2 slides. Mac/PC? Software? The details. Looking to have 12 displays running. Currently looking at the ELO 1537L ACCUTOUCH with VGA in and USB out for the touch screen.

My boss is drawn to using a MacMini for it's very small form factor since it will be installed in the display wall as well. It looks like I can use an EVGA USB VGA Adapter to drive the video for the displays. This solution would probably also work if we switched to a Shuttle PC.

The big question I think is what software will let me run 12 discrete full screen interactive? The interactive is very simple, each display has a default image it displays constantly, until someone touches the touch screen, then it flips to a second slide with info on the graphic. After an amount of time flips back.

Is there something that will let me do that with one machine? I'm pretty sure PowerPoint would be fine if I used 12 different machines.

How do I keep my new laptop new for as long as possible?

wet-raspberry — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:51:55 -0800

How do I keep my new laptop new for as long as possible? What tools and utilities should I run on to troubleshoot and minimize the risk of losing all my data yet again?

All I have though of so far is:
- scan for viruses using the antivirus software I have installed
- scan for viruses using another antivirus maker's free utility (something along the lines of Free Dr.Web)
- run Spybot Search and Destroy
- defragment

What am I missing?

Out, Out, damn sound!

GJSchaller — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:17:20 -0800

Why can't I get Digital Out (5.1) from my PC to work with my Sony receiver? I have an Alienware Aurora 5500 "shuttle" PC I inherited from the previous owner, and am attempting to hook it up to my Sony STR-DA4300DS receiver. The receiver works fine for other sources, like a PS3, Apple TV, and HD TV from our Verizon FiOS box. When we attempt to connect the Alienware (running WinXP), we get sound only from the R & L speakers, and nothing from the Center, or the rear two speakers, even when we configure everything for 5.1 sound. (The sound tests indicate it should be playing to those speakers, by the silence they produce matching the visual cues on the screen, and we can hear them when the visual cue is for the R&L speakers.)

At first, we tried a TOSlink fiber cable to connect the on-board system to the receiver, with the above results. We then tried a Digital Coaxial cable, also from the on-board sound card, with the same results. I then dropped in a spare Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, and used the Digital Out on it (3.5mm to Coaxial), but am STILL getting the same results, even with the new sound card.

The receiver is indicating it is only picking up 2 channels. If we force the player (VLC, in this case) to use 5.1 or direct SPDIF / Digital throughput, the receiver then shows 5.1 speakers, and stutters horribly as if it cannot decode the audio (This receiver has all the fixin's, including THX, Dolby, DTS, True HD, etc.).

I'm not sure at this point if it's the PC (OS?), or the Receiver, that is the issue - any advice, or something simple I'm missing? Googling hasn't been able to turn up the results I am looking for.

How can I stop my PC from rattling like Marley?

headspace — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:27:47 -0800

My PC is rattling. It stops when I hit it. This is not a long-term solution. It starts whining/rattling when I boot it in the morning. I thump it, and it stops. It's a tower case, with the MOBO on the right side, and the drives arrayed down the front. (1 IDE hard drive, 1 SATA hard drive, 1 DVD burner, 1 Lightscribe DVD burner, 1 3 1/2 floppy drive.)

The sound seems to be coming from the top of the case, toward the middle- where there shouldn't be anything except motherboard.

Until today, it only made this sound on boot up. Now it's doing it intermittently as I work. The fans are in working order and there are no cords getting thumped by fan blades.

If the hard drives were going bad, would they stop whining if I thumped the case? Have I missed a loose screw somewhere? What other parts could be making this sound?

(I have backed everything up. I cannot afford a Mac.)

Best ideas for computer training at a non-profit?

playmobil — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 08:41:54 -0800

I'm looking for ideas on how best to implement computer training for a 70-person non-profit. In charge of finding best practices for computer training at the local government non-profit where I work as the sole help desk/trainer. I am part of a three-person IT staff (boss, programmer, me) which is heavily Microsoft-software-based on PCs. Most, if not all, of the users have at least a basic competency in the software they need to use to get their jobs done. The apps are pretty basic: 2007 versions of the Office suite, Microsoft Dynamics.

I've explored having something like lynda.com available to all the staff but I was wondering how computer training is provided where you work? Does anyone have any experience with having awesome training experiences at your job?

We could provide limited offsite classroom training but I'm not sure how effective that would be long term. We don't have a large budget for outside classes anyway.

I am aware of the most obvious methods, i.e. internal classes, bring in an expert, cheat sheets, but I am mostly looking for examples of methods or processes I might not have considered.

Crash Course

weapons-grade pandemonium — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:47:54 -0800

PC crash. How to progress from here? It's a two year-old HP Pavilion m8327c running Vista. Had some FireFox crashes in the last few days. Today the display started flickering, the whites turning to vertical yellow lines, pixelated colors, etc. Ran System Restore and got up again for a while, then display started disintegrating again. Started in safe mode, but things seemed to get worse. Eventually even System Restore didn't work. Have run HijackThis and Adaware regularly, and NOD32 is up to date. Never had problems with viruses. Computer is very dusty; I plan to blow it out tomorrow. Unplugged now, and I'm working from my old computer.

What is the most likely cause? What is the best way to proceed from here? My son has a pretty rad computer we can use to transfer files, etc. TIA.

One of our monitors has failed

ArmyOfKittens — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:52:44 -0800

One of our monitors has failed. This is a follow-up to this question. I didn't get it repaired at the time and simply replaced it. I stored the monitor in a cold, dry room.

Yesterday I wondered if it would work again, so I brought it back into the living room and connected it up with all its original cables. And it worked for the whole night. But come this morning and it's broken again; the light on the power brick goes out as soon as it's connected to the monitor.

Given this, is the answer offered in the previous question still the most likely cause of failure? I wondered (in my non-techie way) if it might be to do with heat, since the screen itself has no vents and gets quite warm in operation; and of course, since spending months in a cold environment seemed temporarily to fix it.

Remotely buying a computer in the UK from Canada

krunk — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 13:40:49 -0800

My parents (in Canada) are trying to buy a PC for their family in the UK, but they're having trouble finding a store that will take their money. Apparently they won't accept foreign credit cards, or even money orders. He's tried Dell, PC World, Curry's, and a few others. Any ideas?

Is mac really better than pc? Help me buy a decent student computer.

Miss Mitz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:27:51 -0800

I've been a happy Pc-er for the last couple years. That is, until a few months ago when my AVG failed me and my pavilion got all virused up... Twice. Ultimately I had to d-ban the poor thing. Since I was only 'mostly sure' I still had the original operating system disks, I have since been using my mom's mac. While I've been slowly getting used to the system (on a casual basis, no work yet, just internet) I still miss the windows format. My old tower is past it's prime, even with a new system. I'm about to become a student in English and am highly discouraged by previous Windows failings. Should I release the ghost and go with the more 'secure' mac? Or stick with my roots? I would like some advice on my next computer purchase. I'm looking for a laptop that can handle a students workload for the next... lets face it, many years, with minimal extras. The only thing it needs, is to be fast. I break things that go slow. I'm not looking to game (much) or download + store music (at all), I just need to research crap at high speed. All suggestions are greatly appreciated. Cheers!

Which video game classics did I miss the last three years?

wolfr — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:05:31 -0800

I intend to make this weekend a gaming weekend. I haven't played video games in a long time. At least not as seriously as I used to. Do you have any suggestions? I have a brand new iMac and an Xbox 360. I do not have a copy of Windows on my Mac yet but could theoretically use Boot Camp to install Windows XP on a partition of the hard drive. So don't feel limited to Mac only games svp.

In the past my favorite games have been Baldurs Gate II, Arcanum, Battlefield 1942, Deus Ex and Tony Hawk II.

I was addicted to World of a Warcraft for a while. I like stories and character progression. I like games with original themes (e.g. Psychonauts).

It seems like the only games I've played the last year or two years have been: Grand Theft Auto IV, Bioshock, Fallout 3, Skate, Soul Calibur IV. All on the Xbox. All of them very casually, although I did end up finishing all except Bioshock (which was good, but not relaxing, with all the dark rooms and scary things).

I am downloading the free 2 week trial of Eve Online right now, but I'd rather not get crazy about an MMORPG anymore. While my time in the World of Warcraft was wonderful, the whole game remains a slot machine with a nice interface.

No racing and sports please with the exception of snowboard/skateboard.

Who has suggestions for me?

Replacement Motherboard for one that crapped out.

saxamo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:47:33 -0800

What motherboard can I find that will replace an MSI K9VGM-V? Hi all. A bit of backstory: My PC had always had an issue where it randomly shut off (akin to overheating). I had replaced the Power supply and the RAM and issue was still present. I had used it like this for several more months until it totally died on me and wouldn't turn on. I understand the PC troubleshooting theory of swapping out components until you find the weak link in the system, which by now could be the motherboard or the processor. So, I'd like to find a new motherboard.

Problem is that the current one I have is discontinued and i don't quite know what to replace it with, or where to look. I'm looking for something similar in

Size: I have a small case and I don't want to run into issues with the motherboard not fitting, so i'm looking for something around the same physical dimensions.

Price: I'm definitely not looking for something top of the line here. I just want a replacement. However I will most likely do some gaming on this. Ideally a $40-$80 price range, but I'm willing to go higher if the shoe really fits.

Compatability: I'd like it to be compatable with the ram and processor that I already have in there.

Again, this is an MSI K9VGM-V Thanks!

Formatting Differences in MS Word on Windows vs Mac

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:35:47 -0800

How consistent is MS Office between Windows and OSX? Will using MS Office on my Mac solve this formatting problem I'm having? I'm have a MacBook Pro running Leopard,and I've been using Open Office to write my papers. It's great. I love Open Office (and love that it's free). When I need to turn something in, I just save it in PDF format, e-mail it to myself, then go to a computer lab, check my e-mail, and print off the PDF document. Perfect.

The problem is that I have a professor who needs some documents turned in via e-mail, and they use MS Word. I can save an Open Office document as a Word file (.doc or .docx), and for plain text formatting that's fine, but as soon as an outline or numbered list is created, things look crazy. It seems fine when I save it in Open Office, and it's fine when I then open that document using Open Office, but if the document is opened with MS Word, the formatting is horrible.

I can buy the MS Office suite for Mac at school using my student discount (it's around $35 I think). If I install that, and use Word to create these documents, will they appear the same when my professor opens them using Word, on her Windows computer?

If there will still be differences then I'll skip the $35 and just keep going to the computer lab to tweak things.

If I save a document in MS Word on a Mac and send it to a person using MS Word on a PC, are there formatting differences?

Wirelessly broadcast PC screen to multiple TVs?

neksys — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:25:46 -0800

The easiest way to do this is to tell you what I need: I want someone to be able to work on a laptop and be able to broadcast the video information on the screen wirelessly to more than 1 TV. My question is - how? Basically what I'm hoping to set up is a laptop/tablet PC with images that a person could manipulate. I want those manipulations to show up on a number of televisions. I do not need audio.

Its easy enough to do wired - there is an S-Video or HDMI out on plenty of laptops these days, so its no problem to split and run cables across a room to each television.

I need, though, a wireless solution. I have googled and found a number of these kinds of solutions but the quality appears questionable on some. The big thing is expandability - I want to broadcast the video signal to a handful of displays. Ideally the solution would be one broadcasting unit and the ability to purchase individual receivers.

Anyone have any experience with this that could give me any guidance? I should mention I'm in Canada - some devices that are available in the US or overseas are not approved for use here.

Help me get out from under all these piles of to-do lists!

lunasol — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:52:37 -0800

I'm looking for a productivity app that can help me manage both my projects and my time. I use google for email and calendars (my employer uses google apps, plus I have a personal gmail account). I use two computers, both of which are PCs, and an iPhone.

I have a job where I have up to 10 different projects going on at any given time, all with varying timelines and complexity, and many involving other people. My current system of making to-do lists of the things that have to get done today is really not going to cut it anymore.

Here's what I'm looking for in a productivity app:

- Something that can sync across all the platforms I use on a daily basis (iPhone, gmail/google calendars, PCs)

- The functionality to easily take big projects and break them into smaller tasks. For instance, if the project is "Go grocery shopping with Susan," I could break it up into: "ask Susan what time works best for her," "make a meal plan for the week with needed ingredients," "Check pantry to see what I already have," "make shopping list," "go shopping."

- The ability to give these tasks a deadline and/or schedule, and then integrate them into my calendar. So if something needs to be done at a specific time, it automatically goes on the calendar at that time. Bonus points if I can easily take a day's to-do list and slot the tasks into empty spots in my calendar (drag and drop, maybe?)

I'm willing to pay a bit for such a program if necessary. Also, I'm already mucking around with Remember the Milk and Evernote - both of these are appealing, but don't have the ability to easily break projects into tasks and neither integrates the way I'd like with calendars. Although I'm new to both, so let me know if there's something I'm missing!

What was the name of this video game?

Babblesort — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:58:25 -0800

Help me remember the name of this PC video game... I played this game in late 90s I think. It was sort of a FPS. You played as a weird little creature that had kind of flying squirrel arm-wings you could snap out and use to glide for long distances. You couldn't actually fly. I recall a lot of the scenery being very shiny-surreal-inside an alien world-ish.

I think it had a one word name. One word with three letters maybe. I've been trying to dig this name out of my head or google for a few weeks and I can't come up with it. Any ideas?

Help with buying a new mid-range windows gaming PC?

cortex — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:37:45 -0800

I'm looking at purchasing a new PC for gaming, wanting to spend between $1000 and $1500 total, would prefer not to put it together myself, and am waaaay out of the loop on hardware at this point, particularly graphic cards. I've been pricing out desktop builds from some of the major manufacturers this morning and I'm realizing that while I'm comfortable making some basic price/performance calls as far as CPU and memory, I'm completely out of touch with the GPU market and need some guidance.

I'd like to be able to play current releases without flinching, at crisp resolutions. I'll be happy with non-distracting performance: 30fps is great, 60fps is not something I'm going to care about so much.

I'd rather just buy a box from someone and have done with it than do much work myself inside the case, but as far as buying my own GPU to install in an otherwise standard box that's certainly not outside my comfort zone.

Looking at Dell's builds for both their normal beefy desktop line and their Alienware stuff, it seems like a lot of the latter is Ooh, Shiny packaging. I don't need a pretty box. But options for GPUs are pretty slim on non-gamer boxes, which has me wondering if going in that direction for a reasonably bullshit-free desktop build and then slotting in my own card is the smarter move.

Any specific advice on targeting a good-enough-for-current-games (biggies on my list include Dragon Age now, Mass Effect 2 and Diablo 3 when they drop, for example) GPU on the saner side of the price/performance break? Any particular good deals/providers for a solid out-of-the-box system in my price range?

How build a gaming pc that doesn't use much power when doing office work?

Pres — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:40:53 -0800

I want to build a pc with a powerful display adaptor for gaming, but that doesn't waste energy when I'm just doing office work. Any suggestions on how to do this? (multiple adaptors? software?)

Looking for the perfect laptop for traveling

Afroblanco — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:31:20 -0800

Looking for the perfect laptop for traveling. Priorities are durability, lightness, and battery life, in that order. Performance is not too important, but it must run Windows 7 like a champ. Willing to consider netbooks. Can spend up to $2000, but obviously I would like to spend no more than I absolutely have to.

Trying to get old files from older HDD

Student of Man — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:56:49 -0800

I'm trying to get my old files off of an old Hard-disk. Old PC is XP newer PC is Vista. I removed the Hardisk from the OLD computer. I bought a USB to SATA/IDE cable. When I plug in the Hard-disk via USB, I hear the confirmation tone that you hear everytime you plug in a USB. I see a "ST340082 0AS SCSI Disk Device" in the "Safely remove hardware" icon in the tray. but I do not see the Drive. I can't really afford an External Hard drive. But I will eventually if I have to. Cna anyone help me please.

Skip the Black Friday Madness?

dyno04 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:51:20 -0800

I am in need of a new desktop computer. I am wondering if I should wait until Black Friday and brave the crowds or take advantage of some of the Windows 7 deals this week. I live in the Twin Cities, MN metro area if that makes a difference.

Mac to PC help from far away

amethysts — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:29:33 -0800

I bought a used iMac G5 and I'm getting ready to send it to my mom as a gift. She hasn't used a mac since like 1995.What is a good program to install on here so that I can help her remotely? I'm on a PC. Free would be the best. I don't have a lot of money for this project. I'm thinking she might need a little help getting used to the whole OS X experience, and I may need to install things for her later on.

The computer is a G5 with OS X 10.4 with a PowerPC chip. I've found that this combination is nearly impossible to find software for. Neither of us has a webcam.

Any other suggestions for free software would be great. I've got iLife and iWorks 08 already.

I used to be a PC, now becoming a Mac.

te1contar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:30:14 -0800

Switching from PC to a Mac. For those who have done it: What do you wish you had known then that you know now? I know this type question has been asked before, but it looks like it's been a while. So, give me your advice warnings, horror stories, revelations, etc.