Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with start

A start menu for Windows 7 where I type "i" for Internet and "f" for Firefox to open that browser?

oxit — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:12:54 -0800

A start menu for Windows 7 where I type i for Internet and f for Firefox to open that browser? Prior to Windows 7 I was using the classic Windows start menu to access most of my software by pressing only three keys on the keyboard:

1. the Windows key, then
2. a key for the folder, e.g. (I)nternet, or (O)ffice, then
3. a key for the application, e.g. (F)irefox or (I)nternet Explorer.

Typing a part of the name in Windows 7's start menu is a lot slower, more cumbersome and error-prone.

Is there a solution to have this in Windows 7? There are many start menu replacements out there, but none I've seen does this. Can you help?

Mazda3 won't start, don't think it's the battery. What could be wrong?

misskaz — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:46:30 -0800

My 2004 Mazda3 hatchback with about 20,000 miles on it won't start. It was last driven across the street to move for street cleaning on Wednesday with no problems. We just got in the car to go somewhere and it won't start. As you can tell by the mileage, we don't drive it a ton - mostly once or twice a week to get groceries or go to Target or something.

Symptoms:
1. Battery appears to be ok - all lights and accessories come on, remote entry works, etc.
2. When I first turned the key it made several strange clunks and clicks. All the dash lights flashed. Did NOT ever turn over. Subsequent attempts just make a loud click. Personally I think it sounds like more than just the battery clicking but maybe it's just really loud in this car. (To me, when the battery doesn't have enough juice to turn the starter, it makes a light "tick" sound, but this sounds more like a louder "clack" or "clunk" sound to me. Or I could be crazy.)

It has been really rainy for a few weeks now and the car is parked on the street. The tank is about half-full. I made sure it was in Park (automatic transmission).

Any thoughts about what this could be or things we can try to get it to start so we don't have to tow it to a mechanic? Are we missing something obvious to check? We live in an apartment and do not have a garage so getting under the car is difficult, but we do have some tools and are willing to poke around if there are simple things to try.

Where to begin?

papayaninja — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:48:16 -0800

If I want to start listening to [insert artist here] and don't know where to start, is there a website or resource I can use? Where do I start with Frank Zappa? Sonic Youth? David Byrne (post-Talking-Heads)? Nina Simone?

These questions come up all the time, but it's a waste of an AskMe question, and it seems like there ought to be a website devoted to discussion of where to start with each artist. Is there? Metacritic or a bunch of Wikipedia tabs can come up with answers sometimes, but other times it's harder (like right now with Townes Van Zandt.) Does such a site exist somewhere?

Car won't start

unsurmountable — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:11:48 -0800

Help Me find out what wrong with my car, or find a mechanic i can trust in Laguna Niguel, CA. So i bought a '91 Ford Areostar that had the engine rebuilt on '01 for really cheap. It overheated on a big hill and now it won't start although it does turn over like it's trying to, it is also very slowly leaking water after the overheating incident. If it's something i can go in and check myself I'd prefer to do so but if not help me find a mechanic that's not out to gouge me.

Clean computer start menu for more speed

psc1860 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:15:11 -0800

I want to clean up my start menu on Dell Inspiron E1705 with Windows XP Pro. Computer beginning to run slowly. I use computer almost exclusively for internet, word-processing and Quicken. I have trouble identifying which entries on start menu to delete.

Stock

yoyo_nyc — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:00:45 -0800

How much of an equity stake in start-up should I ask for? I am a co-founder of a technology start-up but not the inventor of the technology. I helped with the business plan, will write the patents and help look for VC.

How much of an equity stake in start-up should I ask for?
I want to have one part for helping to get things running and a second part for a 2-3 year work commitment.

What is a realistic and fair share? 10% plus 10% for the commitment?
This would be 20% of the company and after financing/ stock dilution (assuming the VC would take 50% for the first financing round) I would end up with 10%.

Any suggestions?

2001 Saab 9-3 ignition problem

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:09:08 -0800

My car won't start up on the first and sometimes second try, after a cold night. I have a 2001 Saab 9-3 that has difficulty starting on the first try, after sitting overnight.

I will turn the ignition and hold the key. After about five cycles, the engine ignition process stops and I just get the full set of lights on the dashboard.

I will turn the key off and try again. The engine usually starts up on the second try, sometimes the third. If it takes a third try, the second attempt has the same symptom as the first attempt.

It seems to run fine once the engine is started. Once the engine is warmed up, I have no problems re-starting it after a short break. It will start up again and run fine.

However, if I leave the car overnight, on a cold night, I get the same ignition problem the following morning.

I replaced the battery two years ago. I don't think the headlights are any dimmer, and the cabin electronics seem to work okay.

Any ideas on what might cause this? It will take a while to get it to the shop — am I damaging the car by trying to start it in this condition?

meditation classes?

hapticactionnetwork — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 12:29:14 -0800

Should I take a meditation class? I'm interested in starting a meditation practice, and I'm not sure how to begin. I looked at some old questions and there's a lot of great advice and books and things, but I'm wondering specifically if I should look into meditation classes.

I know there's a Shambhala center near me, so if anyone has any thoughts about them specifically, that would be great! More generally though, what should I look for in a meditation class? Is there anything I should steer away from?

If you don't think meditation classes are the best way to get started, what is?

Thanks everybody

How can I work for myself?

Hellafiles — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:16:42 -0800

Help me build my sales empire! So I've been in sales for the majority of my working life. I've been mostly involved in selling to customers via the telephone, calling on "C-level" individuals and selling software etc. I've had about every good job in town, and currently work in the telesales department of a software company where I've made between $100-134K per year since 2004.

I have come to the realization that I would like to work for myself somehow. I would really like to get my own small office space, or even work from home and sell my "own" products. I figure that I'm currently selling millions of dollars of someone else's product a month, and if I could somehow find a service or product that I own or offer I could make a nice business for myself. I just have no idea what it would be.

I know the economy is in shitter right now, and I should probably just be glad that I'm making good money. But I'm reaching out to you guys for suggestions on what types of products or services I could sell for myself and make bigger bucks.

I don't want to sell insurance, or become a real estate agent / mortgage broker etc. I want to find some niche where I can become my own reseller or agent and take my sales skills to the next level with my own operation. Can anyone recommend any suggestions to me?

First Church of Gern

GernBlandston — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 08:03:19 -0800

Can I somehow declare my house as a church and not pay property taxes? What tax benefits can I enjoy by starting my own church? Where can I find the laws that govern this?

Best software for newbie DJ

wildrain2008 — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:52:35 -0800

Best software to start mxing and creating my own dance tracks? I've always been a fan of music especially downtempo/triophop/chill/trance and progressive house. I have some extra cash in my "hobbies" account and would love to start creating and mixing my own dance music and who knows where that will lead..

What is the best software/website/guide to start off with? The only stuff I've played around of the years was acid pro to fix mp3s that sounded a bit off.

All advice is welcome.

PS. one f my favorite dtemp hubs is www.somafm.com "fat free"

How to auto-start a program when Win 2000 Boots?

mbarryf — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:14:49 -0800

Windows 2000: How can I specify a program to start up when Windows 2000 is (done) booting? I want to use an old notebook (Compaq Armada M700) for an internet radio player running an audio line into my stereo. I am using Win 2000 and VLC Media Player for Windows. It works fine.

However, since the system is dedicated to playing the music, I would like VLC to start up whenever I start the computer.

Internet and MeFi searches tell me how to remove programs that start with Windows...I guess I'm weird, I want to add a program.

Can anyone tell me where to look for this information or how to make VLC Media Player start up whenever I start Windows?

My Mac is starting up so s-l-o-w-l-y

pman78 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 22:25:44 -0800

My Mac PB takes about 10 minutes to start up and then another 5 to load mac mail or safari. Am I about to crash? Here's the scoop...I'm not a techie so I'll do the best I can. I have an Intel PB about 2 years old. OS 10.4.10. About a month ago I realized that my HD was almost full and began to get rid of stuff to free up space. I've emptied my trash. I now have 13 GB free; 97 GB used. When I start up my mac it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r (10-15 minutes?) to load up and get me to the desktop. And then it takes about 5 minutes more to load any program. Once it's up and going it seems to be fine with the exception of loading any web pages which seem to take about 30-45 seconds for Safari to even recognize the web address and then it's slow to load the pages. I'm pretty sure the two things (slow start up and slow loading web pages) are connected as they both started happening around the same time. I've run disk utilities, I've run Onyx, I've zapped my pram, I've backed up, I've removed most files and projects from my desktop....nothing seems to help. To my best recolection all of this trouble seemed to start when I started throwing stuff in the trash to free up space. Before that it was fine. Does this make any sense? Is my Mac about to die a painful death? Should I re install the OS? Or is it something else? Any help is very much appreciated....

Imagine, an advertising agency run by a monkey.

913 — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:32:25 -0800

What credentials does someone need to start up an advertising agency?

Restaurant concept to reality?

ieatwords — Mon, 14 May 2007 20:58:15 -0800

On a recent trip to Mexico I came across a restaurant with a concept that I think would do really well here in the states. I have no experience in owning or managing a restaurant. At this time, I'm not interested in the gritty details in restaurant management, I'd like to know where I could find people (or investors) who would be interested in something like this. Are there people out there looking for concepts to finance and/or start up restaurants? If so, how do I find them and present my idea to them?

Help restore start menu icon and text

gfroese — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:41:37 -0800

How do I restore the graphic and text on my Start menu to the Windows default? I'm using the Windows Classic mode for start menu in XP. A long time ago I installed some Gnome foot replacement icon on my start menu and now I'd like to go back to the boring windows default. Screenshot here I can't recall what the program was that changed the icon for me in the first place, and there is nothing in my add/remove programs that looks like the culprit. Help me restore the menu to its standard goodness.

How do I start a tech heavy business?

tylerfulltilt — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 19:33:18 -0800

I have an idea for a tech heavy business that I know is guaranteed to completely put blockbuster/netflix/any other dvd rental place you can think of. But I have no clue how to start a business. so where do I begin? My idea is really tech heavy. I have no experience with venture capital firms or anything like that.

basically, all I have is a great idea and no clue what to do with it.

what should I do?

Windows 2000 goes into CMOS/BIOS set up at start

vers — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 08:22:51 -0800

One of my PCs running Windows 2000 Professional has been a stable workhorse for several years. However, beginning a few days ago, it has not been booting properly - it heads to the CMOS/BIOS set up menu after the memory test rather than log in. It's not making any BIOS error beeps - only the one happy successful POST beep. No recent hardware or peripheral changes; the only software added in the last week was Kapersky's online virus scan (which I have since removed). Oddly, the only thing that gets me into the normal boot and log in is doing a Ctrl+Alt+Del just before drive detection. I have Googled and searched on Microsoft over the past few days and have not found any useful information, and I honestly don't have a clue whether this is an OS, hardware or other problem. Perhaps a kind soul here can hope me?

Cold car after the weekend.

yellowbkpk — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 16:58:32 -0800

Oh no! We're going to freeze this weekend, and my car will be in an Amtrak parking lot! How can I guarantee that my trusty Volvo 240 will start when I come back on Wednesday? I'm heading up to Minneapolis on the Empire Builder this weekend, and it just so happens that there is a very cold air mass coming in from Canada (damn you Canada! I suppose this is what we get for global warming, right?). My car will be parked in the parking lot of an Amtrak station over the weekend and on to Wednesday, when I return. I'm worried that my car battery will get cold enough to not push enough electrons to start the engine.

What can I do to make sure that I can leave when I get back to my car?

PS: To those that have followed my previous threads, I plan on moving to Minneapolis within a year. My boss likes me though so it'll be a tough sell.

Best brainstorming practices?

ieatwords — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:09:23 -0800

A good buddy of mine and I are thinking of starting a business together. We are meeting tonight for a brainstorming session. The goal is just to start the dialog. We are going to take inventory of our strengths and weaknesses and start to throw ideas out there to research in the coming weeks. What are some good things to discuss in this very preliminary meeting? What are some good ways to make sure we make the most of our time tonight?

Have you tried turning it off and then on again?

MsMolly — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 17:20:39 -0800

It's the oldest computer question in existence... My computer won't start. Help me. I feel like I've tried all of the obvious things, but maybe someone will have something even more obvious.

I have a HP z545 Media Center PC. It was working fine today, no error messages, no warnings, nothing. I shut it down, and now it won't start up again. I've tried
1. Plugging it into different outlets
2. Switching out the power cable
3. Hitting it and yelling "Whyyyyy!?"

Pressing the power button has no response. The fan doesn't start, there are no noises of things trying to power up, there's no text on the front LED display. Normally, I'd think this meant the power supply is hosed, but there's a small green LED light near the power supply that comes on when it's plugged in. According to HP's website, this means the power supply should be good. We've tried everything here except for the final step of disconnecting everything and reconnecting piece by piece to find the problem. Any other ideas before we try that?

Help me become a small business owner

crewshell — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 08:36:38 -0800

I would like to explore the idea of opening a copy center. Where do I start? There is definitely a strong need in the area I live (St. Thomas US Virgin Islands) for a one stop shop for copies and printing. Think Kinko's but independent.

Currently people go to Office Max, but they have limited service and their machine is often broken.

I would like to start small, maybe a drop off service where I do the copying and would later expand to a service more similar to the states. A front self-service area and a more developed behind the counter service. I would want to be able to offer the basics, copies, binding, lamenting, oversize printing, etc. and expand from there.

Where do I begin and how do I go about putting together a business plan?

There are franchises out there (specifically Minute Man) but I'd rather be out on my own (for start up cost reasons and to be able to play by my own drum)

I see a need, and I feel I can meet it. But I need some direction.

Thanks Hive Mind.

Need to know about remote starters on cars.

Moondoggie — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 11:16:41 -0800

My mother-in-law is in a contest with my wife that involves waking up early in the morning to go to the gym. Now that winter is finally starting to rear its ugly head, my mother-in-law is interested in getting a remote start setup for her car. She has a 2003 Subaru Forrester with automatic transmission, remote door locks on a key fob, and no alarm. She also has a few questions about the whole remote-start thing. 1) Would it be better to get such a system, bought and installed, at the dealership or at the local car stereo/car alarm shop. And this would be the highly reputable car stereo/car alarm shop that people mention when anyone says "car stereo" rather than the little fly-by-night ones.
2) While we were discussing the question, a co-worker mentioned that a remote start decreases the value of a car. Is this true, and if so, why?
3) The same co-worker also mentioned something vague about transmission problems. Anyone heard of such a thing? Are these last two questions a product of the dark ancient days of remote car start technology?
4) If the best way to go with a remote start is aftermarket, rather than dealer-installed, do you have any recommendations for brand/model of remote start? All she's looking for is something to start the car and the less bells and whistles, the better. Car alarm's not needed as she rarely locks the car anyway.
5) If she gets one, I expect the arms race will begin and my wife will need one. Her car has a manual transmission. Anything special about a remote starter for one of those?

Sold Out to the Man - Plan me a Plan

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 11:42:34 -0800

Creative type slowly losing soul in my job - please help me decide what to do!

So, basically, I came out of university here in the UK (I did English Lit), spent about a year in miserable amounts of debt working temp jobs while looking for a graduate job (like every other fuzzy-headed arts grad in the UK, I thought working in publishing might be nice, then discovered there were 100 applicants for every job and starting wages were less than I was making serving coffee and pints). After a while I started looking at other areas, and being the reasonably geeky and computery person that I am, I looked at IT work. I got through the selection process of one of the big IT consultancies and started off as a fresh-faced 22 year old business analyst.

Cut to two years later. I'm still working for the big guy, but much of my fresh-faced enthusiasm is gone. Basically, for the last two years I've been working on writing internal communications and training materials for people undergoing large-scale technology change (stuff like - the super jazzy whizzy new computer will improve the way you work - and make your toast.) Don't get me wrong - I like my job, most of the time. The hours are long, the work is sometimes tedious to the extreme, but the people I work with are great, the work can also be very interesting at times and it's paid very well.

I've found while I've been doing this that it's writing and designing that I enjoy the most. I love working out the best way to put across a message, brainstorming and producing sparkly copy for clients. Unfortunately, that's a pretty small part of what I actually do, which largely revolves around brain-deadening project tracking work and endless review meetings. Guh.

Basically, the question I have is this - how do I, as a reasonably tech-savvy English lit grad with a couple of years worth of client facing communications consultancy work under my belt, find my way into more creative and rewarding (personally, not financially) work? I'd like to continue working in and around technology, (specifically consumer technology, web services and new media stuff) and I want to really belt out copy. What's the route into this kind of work? Is it freelancing, building up portfolios of work and finding companies that need small bits of creative work done(things like company promotional material, ad copy, internal communications)? Is it finding a PR/advertising firm specialising in working for tech companies? Is it trying my hand at tech journalism? Is it developing a more rounded set of creative skills, stuff like photoshop, Quark and so on?

As you can probably tell, I've been thinking about this one for a while, but I really have no idea where to start.

Posted anonymously as some folk I work with read my blog, which links to MeFi.

Thanks MeFiites!

Why won't my motorcycle start in the afternoons?

sun-el — Thu, 12 May 2005 15:36:45 -0800

I ride a 1985 Yamaha Virago as my primary transportation. I leave for work before 6:30 am and the ride is less than ten minutes long. I park my bike outside in the designated motorcycle area and walk to work. When I come back in the afternoon, approximately nine hours later, the bike is very uncooperative in starting. Why is this? In the mornings, it starts up beautifully, usually on the first or second try, with no choke. In the afternoon, it's a chore, usually requiring me to let the choke all the way out. Sometimes it won't start before the battery gives out and all I hear is the clicking of the solenoid. Then I have to get a ride home and come back after dark, where again, it'll start up beautifully. Is it the heat from being outside in the Hawaiian sun all day? Could I be flooding the engine from opening the choke all the way? What could be causing this very weird and irritating problem?