Hi MeFi,
I want to buy an uninterruptible power supply for my personal desktop. I don't need a lot of performance, just something to ride out brief blips in the power. I was thinking about getting
this one{APC Back-UPS ES BE550G 550 VA 330 Watts (4) NEMA 5-15R (Battery Backup) (4) NEMA 5-15R (Surge Protection) Outlets UPS}
This is a good idea? Do you need more information about my setup?
Thanks,
zscore
posted by zscore
on May 13, 2013 -
15 answers
I have an old laptop I'd like to send to my relatives in Poland. How would I go about this? Does this even make economic sense?
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posted by echo target
on May 3, 2013 -
8 answers
I want to mount a monitor stand on my desk, but there's a vertical lip that gets in the way of the clamp. What's the best way to get around this?
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posted by Wossname
on Apr 28, 2013 -
12 answers
I have a Mac Pro set to DHCP manual assign and a certain IP address that cannot change. I also have a printer plugged into a certain network jack; IP address less important. I am moving the physical location of the Mac Pro near this printer and the printer's network jack is the only one available. I'll have to plug both of these machines into the same network jack via switch/router.
What switch/router is the right one to buy in 2013 (bonus if I can find it at Best Buy) and what the right way to set this up so the Mac Pro is still reachable at the same IP address on the network?
posted by michaelh
on Apr 27, 2013 -
12 answers
I have a MacBook running OS X 10.6.8 and a Brother HL-2270DW printer. This morning I had to reset my entire system using Time Machine; everything else is up and running, but the printer doesn't work. I've tried reinstalling it with the printer setup disc, but the laptop won't detect our wireless connection when I get to that step (it suggests disabling my personal firewall, but I don't have one set up.), and the laptop won't let me add any printers in System Preferences. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated, because I've spent all afternoon trying to figure this out.
posted by The Card Cheat
on Apr 22, 2013 -
5 answers
I have two versions of the same PDF, both annotated in Acrobat Pro, and I need to make them into one document.
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posted by bwonder2
on Apr 21, 2013 -
4 answers
My daughter was using her computer yesterday, taking college placement math tests that she downloaded from the college site. As she continued working a creepy male voice came over the speakers. It came on randomly, she thought it may have been a monitor, but realized it repeated itself. It overlaps the music she was playing, meaning it didn't stop what was playing, just played along at the same time.I listened tonight, it's scary. Male voice, sounds of gun mechanism, shooting, heavy breathing, chanting, prayer like words, it's breathy-like winded or possibly sexual. Has anyone heard of a computer virus like this? What do I need to do to get this creepy man out of the computer? Thank you for any help you cam offer.
posted by jennstra
on Apr 16, 2013 -
26 answers
So, my wife's computer stopped booting the other day. Nothing happening on the monitor, hard drive whirrs away in a repetitive pattern for as long as we want to let it go.
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posted by Kid Charlemagne
on Apr 3, 2013 -
2 answers
I'd like to sync a shared event/appointment calendar with a work colleague, which we both can
edit (not just view) on our iMac computers, preferably without having to go to an external website to make edits, or paying for an outside service. Details within.
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posted by zarq
on Mar 14, 2013 -
12 answers
Saturday night we had an "electrical event"-- the power flickered off and on several times in the space of two minutes. Immediately afterwards when I checked on the computer, I got the message: "Disk Read Error Occurred." I have a couple of questions.
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posted by Secret Life of Gravy
on Mar 12, 2013 -
10 answers
Asking for a friend:
There is an online grading platform that apparently only runs on Java 6, but he has a mid-year 2012 MacBook Pro unibody (13") and it came with Java 7 installed. He needs to be able to enter grades at home, which means he needs Java 6. Both of us are good with technology (and searched Google for information), but the links we found often referred to computers where Java 6 was installed, and then was replaced with Java 7. Help?
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posted by guster4lovers
on Feb 28, 2013 -
3 answers
After having to show some production employees where the SHIFT key is and why you would use it, I'm starting to wonder if there's a test out there, preferably web-based and cheap or free, that would put a potential hire through some paces and test for speed and accuracy on doing basic tasks.
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posted by randomkeystrike
on Feb 26, 2013 -
8 answers
I have an older MacBook I use when travelling (four or five times a year), and then the odd occasion when I am away from my office desktop. The battery on the MacBook died a few months ago, and I am guessing partially because I haven't been using it frequently enough. I am hesitant to replace the battery, figuring the same thing will happen again, is that right? Is there a downside to not having a working battery on the computer itself? And lastly, is there a problem with leaving the dead battery in the computer?
posted by nanook
on Feb 15, 2013 -
7 answers
My son's PC, a dual boot Ubuntu / Win 7 box that I built myself about 3 years ago will not boot. It was working fine last night. When you power up the CPU fan runs for less than a second then shuts down and nothing else happens. The motherboard LED does stay lit, so there is some power getting to the board. Am I correct in guessing that replacing the power supply is my most likely route to a fix?
posted by COD
on Jan 26, 2013 -
4 answers
I deleted a gmail draft that I didn't mean to. Is there a way to get it back? Thanks.
posted by mlle valentine
on Jan 25, 2013 -
11 answers
I dropped off my computer to be repaired because it kept powering off randomly, and often before windows could even start booting. They told me it was a faulty power supply, which they replaced.
I received a call about fifteen minutes after I got home from a tech there telling me that they forgot to plug my DVD drive into the power supply, and that I can bring it back and have them fix it.
When I ran it at home, I noticed google chrome was missing. Another one of my programs doesn't work now, telling me that "The feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailable." 3-4 other programs that I've picked at random and tried to run work fine.
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posted by Modus Pwnens
on Jan 17, 2013 -
21 answers
I'm trying to find the name of a computer game I played when I was very young. Circa 1986-7 ish. Details inside.
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posted by lazaruslong
on Jan 1, 2013 -
5 answers
Can you recommend a desktop PC that will be durable, do basic surfing, and run two monitors? I'd like to avoid Dell. Cost is an issue, but it does not need to be cheap.
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posted by OrangeDisk
on Dec 18, 2012 -
15 answers
What's the real world difference between CAS 9 and 10 for modern dual channel memory? For the last six months DDR3 1600 has been roughly double the price for CAS 9 v. CAS 10.
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posted by mzurer
on Dec 5, 2012 -
7 answers
Need advice on how to update an older MacBook Pro with a new hard drive. I have a late-2008 MacBook Pro: 2.53 GHz, 320GB hard drive, 8GM RAM (4GB in two slots). My drive is getting full and I don't have the cash at the moment for a brand new laptop. Should I replace the optical drive with a SSD? Or just upgrade the regular hard drive with a new one with 750GB or 1TB?
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posted by barnone
on Nov 23, 2012 -
15 answers
I'm trying to remember a computer game I had years back, but I can't for the life of me find it. It was a falling bricks game (like Tetris) but the pieces were one of four parts of several different faces - the hair, the eyes, the nose and mouth, and the chin and neck. The idea was to make a complete face that would then disappear from the board (again, like in Tetris). You could do mix and match faces, but you got more points for doing a whole matching face. If you let, for instance, too many mouths pile up on each other and reach the top, you lost. There were different levels, and the faces changed with each level.
Does anybody else know of this? It would have been a Mac game, sometime during the 90's. I can't have just imagined this!
posted by dithmer
on Nov 20, 2012 -
3 answers
I need to learn Java/J2EE. Where do I start? What resources are out there? How do I become a good programmer overtime?
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posted by turniphead
on Sep 28, 2012 -
4 answers
Please help a not-very-savvy computer user make a decision. I have the potential to have either a Mac or a PC purchased for my use at work, and I'm not sure how to decide between the two. The story inside.
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posted by PussKillian
on Sep 21, 2012 -
16 answers
I need to quickly figure the 9th and 20th business days of each month for the rest of 2012 and all of 2013. Preferably not in a manual fashion.
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posted by reenum
on Sep 14, 2012 -
6 answers
I need someone to fix my pc! I am so sick of windows. My Display adapter causes my screen to go blank at random times and I loaded windows 8 and now my internet connection is at a crawl.
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posted by kmurray24
on Sep 9, 2012 -
7 answers
My new laptop has the world's most annoying feature: for about 30 seconds after (resuming from hibernate/opening the lid/mysteriously just happens), a popup will appear in the center of the screen announciing:
" Power Save > Increased Performance"
This stupid popup cannot be moved or dismissed. I have no idea where it comes from, or how to alter it.
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posted by IAmBroom
on Sep 3, 2012 -
4 answers
I got a new PC, it turns songs into Karaoke songs, the beautiful vocal channel is missing. Help! it's so annoying to be stuck with this situation. Thanks
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posted by akomom
on Aug 23, 2012 -
8 answers
I spilled coffee on my old (2006 polycarbonate) MacBook. Now the trackpad works, but not the keys. How can I diagnose and fix my laptop keyboard?
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posted by ignignokt
on Aug 21, 2012 -
7 answers
I'm looking for computer mouse suggestions: at least 4 button (right, left, forward and backward for internet browsing) plus a scroll wheel, for Windows 7, your best buys for the money. More details inside.
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posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 20, 2012 -
10 answers
Help me choose a computer to be the brains of a long-term art installation. The main criterion is that it should sit there and behave well for months and years. I don't need the absolute best graphics or processing power.
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posted by moonmilk
on Aug 13, 2012 -
23 answers
I have a folder of JPG files. I want to create a PDF with one of those JPGs on each page. I don't want to spend any money. I am using a Windows computer.
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posted by Egg Shen
on Aug 9, 2012 -
11 answers
If I got someone else (in the UK) to assemble my computer from the various components I've bought, how much should I expect to pay?
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posted by mr_silver
on Aug 7, 2012 -
9 answers
I'm sure not knowing this makes me an idiot, but I need quick help saving a few images from NASA's site to my hard drive without the ability to right-click. Right-clicking on my optical Microsoft mouse has apparently just died; I'm getting no menu when I right-click on an image (everything else is working fine; changing batteries doesn't help). For now I'm alt-left-clicking to highlight the image and then copying it, but is there another way to pull up the menu that usually appears when you right-click a web image in Windows?
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posted by mediareport
on Aug 6, 2012 -
12 answers
Some tech blogger - probably one with a Mac focus - wrote a post about leaving TextMate for a different text editor, in the style of someone addressing a person with whom they were ending a romantic relationship. Can you help me find it?
posted by Egg Shen
on Jul 27, 2012 -
4 answers
My 2009 Macbook Pro has grown a little too much hair and is in need of a trim and some general cleaning. Could you tell me if my proposed scenario sounds reasonable or is it overkill?
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posted by Rewind
on Jul 17, 2012 -
12 answers
How can I go about purchasing computers to donate to a school in a developing country? That is, a _specific_ school -- the woman in my life is in the Peace Corps, and one of her dreams since she's been there has been to find some way to update the ancient computers at the school where she teaches. (This goal is shared by local teachers and administrators at the school.) This sort of targeted giving seems to fall outside the scope of most charities I've looked into, such as
OLPC. Are there organizations suited to this kind of project, or which could offer advice on handling this (from the U.S.) as an individual? Is the latter remotely feasible? If so, what should I keep in mind, as far as insurance, taxes, shipping, customs, etc.?
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posted by mattstan
on Jul 4, 2012 -
12 answers
