Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with computer and windows

Why does fullscreen make old programs look funny on my Windows 7 computer?

Pope Guilty — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:37:52 -0800

When I run some programs in full screen under Windows 7, they either crash or have odd colour effects. When I run Diablo 1 on Windows 7, some of the colours in the game are replaced by bright, flourescent oranges and greens and cyans and the like- and not in any apparent order, just big jumbles of them. The same thing happens when I play Alone in the Dark under DOSBox, though only at full screen- when I play at the default window size, the colors look fine. FCE Ultra, the NES emulator, simply crashes, which it didn't in XP. Messing about with compatibility settings doesn't seem to fix it. The really fucked thing is that when I take screen shots, everything looks proper and normal.

I'm on a Dell Inspiron 1545- 1366x768 screen, dual-core 2.0GHz processor, 3GB RAM.

Does my hard drive have permanent issues?

R a c h e l — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:05:00 -0800

Can I remove a partition and use my hard disk as normal? Rather long explanation... So, my original problem would be best explained by this older question I asked.

Basically, my vista partition stopped booting one day, with a couple error messages when I attempted startup recovery, the most significant (I think) being "system volume on disk is corrupt". Does this mean there is a part of my hard drive that has been messed up? I've never been too gentle with my laptop, and I have dropped it 3-4ish feet onto carpet more than once (yes, I know how terrible that it. I'm completely aware).

I'm determined to use this until it refuses to turn on, though. I mean, I also cracked the screen and am losing real estate all over at a fairly constant rate. An external monitor helps with that, though. At any rate, I'd like to install a copy of windows 7 that I just bought (I've been using the beta, which I've had since March, and likes to tell me it's counterfeit frequently. This was installed on a different partition from Vista, and has worked fine since Vista stopped.)

So, in installing the copy of Windows 7, I would like to give it a bit more room than the current Windows 7 partition of 20gb. Vista has 200gb, and everything I need on there has been backed up. I know fairly well how to erase the vista partition, grow the Windows 7 partition, etc.

My question is, will I run into problems because of whatever caused the Vista failure? Is there a bad sector or something that will give me grief? Is there some sort of formatting I can do before installing windows 7 to sort of start over with the disk? (There is absolutely nothing on this computer that is not backed up that I need.)

I'm sorry for the long explanation, with probably plenty of extraneous information. Thanks very much for your help!

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?

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.

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.

Did dude steal a Dell?

ChurchHatesTucker — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:16:05 -0800

Is this computer hot? A friend of mine found a good deal (person to person) for a Dell Windows Vista laptop. He's wondering if the deal is good because the computer is hot. Is there any easy way to get a fair idea? (He's a newbie, I'm a Mac.)

Help me connect Mac-at-home to Windows-at-work?

OlivesAndTurkishCoffee — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:40:00 -0800

What could happen to my mac if I connect remotely to my windows computer at work. Is there a viciously secure way of doing this? I need to connect my home mac to my office's windows computer remotely. So far, this has stumped the tech guy so I've been using a small windows netbook and connecting via vpn. But opening files on the company network takes forever and we need a better solution.

He is currently working on a solution that allows me to connect to the small business server using my mac via the windows Remote Desktop Connection Client 1.0.3 for Mac.

This worries me because I don't want windows stuff touching my mac! But my worry is based on mere suspicious distrust of windows rather than any actual knowledge of how these things work.

Those of you who do know about these things: Will using this client application make my mac vulnerable to windows risks; and, if so, is there a better more secure solution? (or a better solution with the netbook?)

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup?

decrescendo — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:54:03 -0800

Can anyone lend me a hand in designing my new home network computer setup? I have two computers right now.

1. Macbook Pro from about a year ago. In awesome shape. Bought it new. I currently use it mostly on travel and in my living room when I'm watching TV and browsing the net.

2. Desktop I built myself in 2006. I use this computer to store all of my music and listen to said music through speakers that are hooked up to it. I also have tons of pictures and videos stored on this machine. 3 harddrives, around 1.5 TB of space I believe.

I'd really like to make this Macbook Pro my primary computer. I spent too much money on it to use it for browsing the net in my living room. I want to be able to have access to the videos, pictures, and music that are currently on my desktop wirelessly while I'm on my Macbook.

How would I best go about this? I can see retiring this desktop or using parts of it to create a server. I envision this server living in my closet somewhere with a lot of storage and backup capability. I'd like to be able to access the data on this server wirelessly via my Macbook anywhere in the world.

And if I have speakers in my bedroom and a 7.1 system in my living room, how can I "beam" music on my server to these seperate speaker setups via my Macbook (basically it would sorta function as a remote control). I don't want to listen to music THROUGH the laptop or speakers connect to the laptop; I want it to come through other setups.

Also, would swapping out my laptop for a new one in a few years be an easy way to tech refresh this system since the server probably wouldn't have to be built from the most up-to-date components? The laptop is going to be what accesses the internet and edits video and what not.

So can I make this setup work and is it easy? (And does anyone have any good resources for building this server?)

How should I partition my drive to make migrating from Windows Vista to Windows 7 easier?

miasma — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:37:44 -0800

PartitionFilter: I just got a new machine with Windows Vista with a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it comes out. I'm planning on doing a fresh installation of Windows 7 when I get it, but in the meantime I'd like to get settled in Windows Vista. Is there a good strategy to partitioning the 640GB HD so I can migrate with ease? Was thinking of having two partitions, one for OS, one for Program Data / Storage, and then wiping the OS partition when Windows 7 comes through. Advice?

Auto backup of files

gilsonal — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:57:11 -0800

I have two computers, one Windows, one Linux. How can I make it so they synchronize automatically with each other, as in, I update the file on one computer, and the updated file gets put onto the other? Networking? Using an external hard drive? What software might be useful? Bonus points for free software

Windows xp lockdown

kraigory — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:49:16 -0800

What's a simple way in windows xp to prevent a user from doing anything but using one program? An employee was recently caught playing solitare on the clock at a computer terminal that is used to search an access database. I am tasked with locking the computer. I know I could just delete the games, but I'm looking for something more complete, and I may not be able to log in as the administrator.

So, are there any simple ways I can prevent users from doing anything except using access? They don't need to open the program, just use it. Also, the users aren't terribly computer literate, so if it just appears that they can't do anything else, that might be sufficient. Is there any way to get a program to go full screen and hide the minimize/maximize/close, and keep the start bar from poping up?

Also keep in mind that I don't have the administrator password, although i could get it if I absolutely had to. So, anything that could be done without that would be best, although I would like to know what options there are if I did have the password.

If software is used I would prefer for it to be freeware.

Thanks for any suggestions! I know there are multiple ways to do this, but I'm trying to figure out what would be best.

Help me rescue a .QIC backup file?

Prevailing Southwest — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:00:18 -0800

IT Filter: Anyone know of a resource or protocol for opening .QIC files (Old Windows backup file format) short of finding a machine with Windows 95/98 on it? Had a laptop stolen and this is the only format in which I still have ALL of my writing from college/grad school. Any help is appreciated (please no lectures on backing up files... have learned my lesson.)

How can I re-install Windows?

eightball — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:04:47 -0800

Trying to reformat a PC. I've had this Dell which has given me nothing but problems since I bought it. Can anyone help me figure out how to wipe it and re-install XP? Degree of difficulty inside... I'm cool with completely wiping this thing and starting from scratch. I have a Windows XP DVD which Dell provided with the PC when I bought it.

Here are the issues:

The reason I need to reformat is that Windows won't start. I get a blue screen which has this error: "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer. DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL"

I can't start windows in safe mode. I get a screen full of errors such as: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\xxxxxx.sys and so on...

I have 2 options before windows tries to start: BOOT MENU and SET UP

BOOT MENU gives me the option to attempt to boot from "Onboard USB or CD-ROM" or "Onboard SATA Hard Drive"
However I have a DVR of the Windows OS so neither of those works.

When I go into SETUP and select 'System -> Boot Sequence' the DVR drive is not listed as an option.

So, I am out of ideas. How can I wipe this thing and install windows from the DVD if I can't even get it to recognize the DVD? I really have no clue.

I know there are plenty of other places online where I could ask this question but wading through all of the Windows questions on Google is a bit too much. I have confidence in the hive mind here. Help! Thanks in advance for any advice.

Recommend some Windows repair utilities

purephase — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:58:00 -0800

If you were going to bring a USB drive to repair a bunch of workstations, what are some of the latest Windows XP/Vista repair utilities that you would put on it? I used to do a lot of computer repair and recovery but my career has taken me in a somewhat different direction over the past few years. Sadly, I'm a bit rusty on the specifics.

I have a work assignment (volunteer) coming-up that involves both training another individual on standard computer maintenance and repair and assisting in getting a number of their workstations into a workable state. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the hardware information to prepare ahead of time.

I know that there have been questions in the past regarding recommended tools to solve Windows issues (viruses, rootkits, registry bloat etc.) but I can't seem to track any of them down. Also, they might be a bit dated.

Give me your best! Thanks.

A few I've come up with are:
RegMon
FileMon
ProcessMonitor
AVG (or ClamWin)
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
CCleaner

Video games for my stepdad since his stroke?

spockette — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:35:48 -0800

What are some easy computer games my stepdad can play? He had a stroke a few years ago, and that has seriously limited what kind of games he can manage. He sits at home all day and plays non-stop Solitaire and FreeCell. I figure there's got to be some better options for him. He likes racing games (cars, especially), historical stuff (mostly World War II), and things that probably don't have related video games, like gardening and carpentry.

Obviously, since his stroke, there are major limitations as to what sort of games he'll be able to play.

It should be able to be played one-handed. He has full use of his left hand, but he's lost most of the use of his right hand - he can use a mouse with it (although not very well), but he can't use the fingers on that hand, and he can't use the mouse and the keyboard at the same time.

It needs to be simple. There can't be too many choices for him to make (sandbox games are right out, something like "you go here. you shoot these things" is fine), and it needs to be really, really easy to work out what you're supposed to do on each level. (My mother explicitly specified "something on the level of what a 5 year old could manage")

It cannot involve any reading (since his stroke, he's lost the ability to speak, read, and write).

His computer is not very good. He's running Windows XP, has 256mb of RAM (I have no clue what his graphics card is like, but assume it's a piece of junk), and has dial-up internet.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

What's a good simple and cheap media or file server setup?

wastelands — Fri, 29 May 2009 08:15:38 -0800

Advice for a server newb who needs help getting started with a simple media/backup/torrent server? I've got a 438 GB movie collection an on external 500 GB USB hard drive right now, so I need to upgrade. I was thinking of buying two 1 TB external drives and using rsync for a poor man's RAID 1 setup. But for good drives plus shipping, that's nearly $250, and I thought, why not just setup a real file server? And maybe get a Bit Torrent thingy going too, so I could turn off my main computer at night and keep transfers going? Heck, I'd probably come up with other useful things for the server to do too.

But I don't know where to start. For hardware, looking at, say, a Dell Inspiron 530 ($379), it's too powerful and too expensive for what I'd use it for.

And for the OS... Windows Home Server? Ubuntu? I don't know what'd be easiest.

Ideas? Thanks!

Why can I install Ubuntu but not Windows?

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:54:58 -0800

Why can't I install Windows XP Pro on my Dell laptop? I get an error message that says "acpi.sys is corrupted". I can install Ubuntu 8.04 just fine. I've searched various forums for this issue and haven't seemed to make any headway. I used (retail) disc to successfully install XP Pro on my sister's Gateway laptop just to see if it was a problem with the disc. It wasn't, and the install proceeded normally.

I updated the BIOS to the latest version and that didn't do anything. I've searched every BIOS setting for anything related to ACPI but can't find anything. I know ACPI is a power management setting, but there's nothing in the BIOS that says ACPI anywhere.

I've tried pressing F5 during the install to change the Hardware Abstraction Layer. I've tried every option there with no luck. I finally tried to install Ubuntu 8.04 and that worked perfectly. I just need to be able to install Windows to run a couple of applications that can't run under WINE/Crossover Linux/Other Emulators.

It's a Dell Precision Workstation M65 with 2 GB of memory, with the A10 BIOS version (formerly tried under A04 and got the same error). It used to have a corporate image of Windows XP Pro on it, but when I lelft my job I was locked out of the laptop (I used a live CD to back up all my data and then reformatted the drive). After that, I can install Ubuntu but I can't install Windows. Weird.

Any clues? I'm getting by with Ubuntu and Open Office, but I'd really prefer the option of running Windows here.

How to kill unwanted Windows dialogue boxes

forrestal — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:00:55 -0800

Is it possible to prevent a Windows dialogue box from displaying itself? This concerns Windows Vista, though I've seen the same thing on earlier Windows OS. I run a program and it comes up with some dumb dialogue box, such as Windows Mail tells me every time that it is getting mail. If it succeeds, no problem, if it doesn't you need to hide it, and then 15 seconds later it pops up again and you need to cancel it. Same thing with other programs that pop up a dialogue box even when I'm using another program to tell me something I couldn't possible want to know. Some give the option to "not show this dialogue box again" and then proceed to show me that same dialogue box again and ask "not show this dialogue box again"

Is there some generic program that can kill these, or convert them to a less obnoxious format.

Does not compute

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:59:05 -0800

Home computer hosed - what means this message: "load needed DLLS for kernal" ? Homemachine is a refurbished IBM Thinkpad T40 running Windows XP. Worked fine until this evening, when it gave me the Blue Screen of Death twice, then refused to boot, returning this error message: "load needed DLLs for kernal." I do not have Windows disks for this thing, which I bought off E-Bay.

I don't give a damn about the computer, but I give a large damn about the files on it. Are they gone, or can they be recovered? Thanks in advance.

What good is a windows COA sticker?

washburn — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:41:24 -0800

What does it mean when a used laptop is advertised as having Windows XP installed and coming with a COA sticker? Without having a Windows install cd, is there any benefit to having such a sticker? Would it, for example, permit one to call MS and obtain a new install disk for Windows XP?

Which USB Mass Storage Device is which?

msbrauer — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:19:26 -0800

How can I change the generic name "USB Mass Storage Device" in my Vista system tray "Safely Remove Hardware" dialog? It's not uncommon for me to have a couple of external harddrives plugged in to my Vista laptop alongside a memory card and an mp3 player. While all of these devices have unique drive letters and unique names in windows explorer (one of the drives is always called 400gig, for instance, another is always called 500gig), they're all called "USB Mass Storage Device" in the system tray's "Safely Remove Hardware" menu. So when I need to unplug one but not all, I find myself taking a stab at which device is which and usually I pick the wrong one. I can solve the confusion easily enough by opening the "my computer" window and figuring out the drive letter from there, but that's an extra step that I'd love to get rid of. Ideally, the dialog would always say something like "Safely remove 400gig - Drive (x:)" and stay the same for each device each time it's plugged in.

So, is it possible to change the menu options from "Safely remove USB Mass Storage Device - Drive (x:)" to something unique for each device?

Locking down machines in Tanzania.

miagaille — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:49:40 -0800

What programs should I install on a lab of PCs in Tanzania, to make them as useful and tamperproof as possible? (Posting this for a friend)

I'm a Peace Corps volunteer serving as an education volunteer at a secondary school in Tanzania. I'm teaching computers and have a lab of 15 Windows XP machines (13 of them functional) that I have to take care of. Problem is, I'm fresh out of college with an engineering degree and I've been using OSX and Linux for the past four years, so I'm not really up on Windows. Also, I've never been a sysadmin. If you were in my shoes, knowing nothing and with no money and limited Internet access, what programs would you install? How would you foolproof the computers? In an ideal world I'd like to make it so the students can't even accidentally drag desktop icons across the screen, so all the computers look identical when they log in, but I don't know a way of doing that...

What should I look for in a laptop?

Caz721 — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 09:32:11 -0800

What sort of specs should I look for for my new (sub-$600) PC laptop? My old laptop has been giving me a lot of problems, and as it is nearly 6 years old, I think I'm ready to get a new one. However, I'm having trouble figuring out what specs I should focus on as I compare what's available. Any advice as to what to focus on or caution as to what to avoid would be appreciated. I'm not sure exactly what details are relevant, so I apologize for the length below. I have read the previous questions on similar topics, but none seem to fit exactly, so I hope someone will have some advice.

I use my computer for internet, Microsoft Office, Itunes, and digital photo storage. I'd like something that has adequate memory so I won't have to worry about storing music/pictures. Additionally, I'd like something that I can use when I work from home, instead of bringing my work laptop home. Working from home I connect to my office network through a VPN, and sometimes use document review and database programs, as well as Office programs. My work laptop is an 80 GB Dell Latitude and is 2 years old or so (running windows XP I think). I use a cable internet connection at home, if that's relevant.

Size and weight is less of a concern, because I don't travel with my laptop often. I've ruled out the little netbooks based on size however because I need a larger screen size when I work from home (I've considered the netbook + monitor, but I usually work on the couch in apartment, so I think that would be awkward). I think my current screen is 15" and it doesn't have to be exactly that, but in that range would be best.

I've recently heard/read here at AskMe that people seem to be unhappy with the current Dell laptops. Is this true? Is there a brand recommendation or should I concentrate more on a set of specifications? Which ones?

Thanks for all your help.

Need help with a computer diagnosis.

amyms — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:39:52 -0800

Computer Diagnostic Help and Interpretation, Please: My son inherited an 8-year-old Dell Dimension L933r from his grandpa. It had been upgraded to Windows XP and had an additional hard drive installed. It was working smoothly for us for almost a year, but recently it went into an infinite reboot loop (which we couldn't resolve ourselves) and we took it to an independent computer repair guy (details and questions inside). The computer repair guy (who came highly recommended for his competence and fair pricing from the guys at my son's favorite independent video game store) said that the C drive was "fried," that "nothing can be recovered from it" and that the CD/DVD drive is "shot" (which is apparently why we couldn't solve the infinite reboot problem with the Windows recovery disc - the machine couldn't read it) but he said that the additional hard drive (which is the E drive) is "fine" and that he can "put it into a new machine and fire it up right away"...

Now, my problem is, I'm conversant enough in computer terminology to have a casual conversation, but when confronted with a computer repair guy who answers nearly every question with a firm "Nope, that's not an option, sorry" I'm not sure how to move forward.

So, my question to AskMefi is: When he says that the C drive is "fried" does he truly mean that absolutely nothing can be recovered from it, no way, no how? (My son so badly wants to believe that he can figure out a way to do so - and he also thinks that his grandpa had the computer configured so that everything on the C drive was automatically backed up on the E drive. If so, would the computer guy see that and would he tell us if he did?)...

The computer guy only charged us $15 for his time in rendering a diagnosis (which was more than fair), but he also pushed pretty heavily for getting us to agree to put the E drive into a "new machine" (which he wanted to sell us). We ended up bringing the tower home and telling him we'd think about our options. I guess I'm just wondering what those options might be (beyond what the computer guy is pushing for) and should we seek a second opinion?

If you need any additional information to be able to answer my question, I'll be away from the computer intermittently, but
will check back as often as I can.

Problems with 64-bit Windows

retiree — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:17:09 -0800

Without realizing it I recently purchases a 64-bit Windows computer. I am having problems my wireless internet reception and with basic programs like Office 2007. Is it possible that this is due to incompatibility?