Computer and tech talk and questions

[Shienvien]

I know NOTHING about computers so I kind of need some advice. I tried Googling a few things and just confused myself even more.

 

My old laptop died the official death a few months ago and I kinda need a new one, or at least something for interneting. I was thinking about a notebook since there are a few in my price range, but I don't really get the differences between them and laptops.

 

I don't do any kind of worky stuff at home, so I won't need Excel or Word and stuff. I just really need something of a decent speed for internet surfing and entertainment, like Youtube, DC egg hunting & flash games (think kinda like Neopets).

 

Would a notebook be able to cope with this kind of stuff? Or is a laptop really needed?

A notebook would do that perfectly fine, yes, as would things like Word and Excel, for the matter. (Heck, even my old tormented notebook from 2005 (2005!) can pull off Youtube without any noticeable issues.) In general, notebooks are just smaller laptops - as in, the dimensions of the device are smaller; about everything else you will have to consult the specific device's specs (a good notebook can often outdo a weaker laptop).

 

If you are mostly doing browser-stuff and don't use any Windows-specific programs, you could probably spare yourself some additional money and not buy yourself a Windows OS.

[Fortune86]

A notebook would do that perfectly fine, yes, as would things like Word and Excel, for the matter. (Heck, even my old tormented notebook from 2005 (2005!) can pull off Youtube without any noticeable issues.) In general, notebooks are just smaller laptops - as in, the dimensions of the device are smaller; about everything else you will have to consult the specific device's specs (a good notebook can often outdo a weaker laptop).

 

If you are mostly doing browser-stuff and don't use any Windows-specific programs, you could probably spare yourself some additional money and not buy yourself a Windows OS.

Not sure what Window OS is, but thanks for the advice

[biruko]

Not sure what Window OS is, but thanks for the advice

OS is an operating system you have on you computer/tablet/phone For examle Windows 8, Mac OS, Linux, Android are operating systems. Most notebooks/laptops have some kind of Windows OS (XP, 7, 8, 10), Apple products always have some Mac OS on them, and the most popular OS for phones is Android. If you don't use Apples product, you can choose system from Windows or Linux OS, it depends what programs/games would you like to use on your notebook/laptop. If you don't need your notebook to do more than internet and some simple games, you can take Ubuntu or Fedora - one of Linux OS - it's an OS you can get for free, because it's open-source software, like for example mozilla firefox

[YamerosXIII]

Been trying to figure out a problem with my old Toshiba satellite for some time now. Most of the time when I turn it on the screen remains black (Even though you can hear the parts running) and nothing can be done about it. At random times it chooses to boot perfectly fine, in which I attempt to run a few diagnostics.

 

The screen is perfectly fine, although hooking it up to an external monitor results in squat.

 

The internal components seem fine, I did a disassembly during one of my free slots at school with the help of my computing teacher. No visible problems with the ram, motherboard or any other components.

 

The HDD was replaced about 2 years ago and the battery was replaced roughly 5-6 months ago. HDD had to be replaced due to data corruption and the battery just wore down.

 

No update problems ether with both hardware and software.

 

Anyone got any idea what the heck is wrong? I have a new laptop so I'm not too fussed overall, plus all my old files are backed up, just'd be nice to figure out what went wrong with the old toshiba.

 

(And by old I mean 5-6 years )

[demonicvampiregirl]

Kind of a very small question but when did Firefox change the loading circle from green to blue? I just updated it to 40 today and saw it changed when I loaded a page.

 

Also when you start Firefox and it gives the sites you visit often at the bottom when did the display number go from like 6 or so to 3 only?

Edited August 15, 2015 by demonicvampiregirl

[GoldeenTrix]

Does anyone here have experience working with wrappers on Yosemite (OSX 10.10.2)?

 

I have been using Wine bottler to run .exe files for a while now, successfully playing games like Skyrim and such. However, I recently started playing around with the Custom Prefixes section, and now the problems haven't stopped cropping up.

 

Say I want to run a program called XXX.exe. This is an installer file, so I run it as an installer and wait for Wine to execute it. All goes well until I hit the part where it tells me to choose the Startfile. The only choices I get are Winefile and Program/InternetExplorer/iexplorer.exe, neither of which are the file I'm looking to run.

 

I tried moving the application, I tried moving the installer file, I tried installing it with Crossover, then running it as a program instead of a installer file, and nothing works. I never see the XXX.exe file in the startfile choices. If I choose Winefile as the starterfile, it seems to recognise the program as XXX, but it cannot run and force closees.

 

Help please? I love the OSX interface but if I keep running into issues with running Windows applications I might just BootCamp my Mac instead.

Edited August 15, 2015 by GoldeenTrix

[Fuzzbucket]

Kind of a very small question but when did Firefox change the loading circle from green to blue? I just updated it to 40 today and saw it changed when I loaded a page.

 

Also when you start Firefox and it gives the sites you visit often at the bottom when did the display number go from like 6 or so to 3 only?

The circle colour changed with the latest update - which hit me this morning.

 

I don't know what you mean with the other - I imagine some add-on I have stops it doing that.

[demonicvampiregirl]

The circle colour changed with the latest update - which hit me this morning.

 

I don't know what you mean with the other - I imagine some add-on I have stops it doing that.

Oh okay. -lol-

 

It's when you open a new page. I guess you may have yours set up to just show a blank tab.

[Windnose]

I'm writing JavaScript code right now and need to test some stuff in Internet Explorer 8. Could anyone recommend a way to do this so that I can test local files (files on my computer)?

[AliD]

I'm writing JavaScript code right now and need to test some stuff in Internet Explorer 8. Could anyone recommend a way to do this so that I can test local files (files on my computer)?

1-Download IE8

2-Run IE8 and press F12 (or look for Programmer Tools in the options menu)

3-A window will appear. On a tab on the top there will be several options, click "Console"

4-On the bar next to the ">" sign paste your code and then click on the green ">" sign.

 

Alternatively, you can embed Javascript in html and then run the file by right clicking it and "Open with IE8"

 

Hope that helps

[crazyflower]

I have experienced some BSOD's and other oddities and I am not entirely sure what is happening.

Bluescreens are CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION or KERNAL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR. They don't seem to have any predicable pattern.

 

The other thing happens at random whether or not you are doing anything. Sometimes it happens suddenly, sometimes it happens it takes a minute or two. Basicly, everything crashes. All that is left is the desktop wallpaper and I can't do anything other than restart my computer.

 

Here is a picture I took today. In that one you can see how only 2 icons are there. The rest just disappeared. I clicked Computer and that happened. Right clicking and selecting Screen Resolution brought up a small window that said "That path does not exist." Then I click on recycle Bin and everything else disappeared. I have a couple of other images too , but they are taking forever to send. I will edit this post with them if I get them.

 

I am wondering if I have some failing RAM, but I don't really know. Does anyone have any idea as to what may be happening?

[Moonheart08]

I have experienced some BSOD's and other oddities and I am not entirely sure what is happening.

Bluescreens are CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION or KERNAL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR. They don't seem to have any predicable pattern.

 

The other thing happens at random whether or not you are doing anything. Sometimes it happens suddenly, sometimes it happens it takes a minute or two. Basicly, everything crashes. All that is left is the desktop wallpaper and I can't do anything other than restart my computer.

 

Here is a picture I took today. In that one you can see how only 2 icons are there. The rest just disappeared. I clicked Computer and that happened. Right clicking and selecting Screen Resolution brought up a small window that said "That path does not exist."  Then I click on recycle Bin and everything else disappeared. I have a couple of  other images too , but they are taking forever to send. I will edit this post with them if I get them.

 

I am wondering if I have some failing RAM, but I don't really know. Does anyone have any idea as to what may be happening?

For BSOD's, Well if your a more techy guy browse the memory location it gives you inside the dump file, and you'll get leads on what happened

"0x0000001E"

Sounds like either bad sectors on hard disk, bar UEFI/bios, or faulty ram

Good luck!

Edited November 22, 2015 by Moonheart08

[InfernalShroom]

I know basic, does that count as anything?

Ive built a computer before, but you can learn how to do that in five minutes because youtube .

[Moonheart08]

I know basic, does that count as anything?

Ive built a computer before, but you can learn how to do that in five minutes because youtube .

Not against someone who can write a basic OS. A.K.A meh

But you still exist, don't worry

[InfernalShroom]

Not against someone who can write a basic OS. A.K.A meh

But you still exist, don't worry

YAY lel

 

[demonicvampiregirl]

Does anyone have Raptr Gaming Evolved app on their machine? I got a update a couple days ago that added Plays.tv to it and now it keeps updating and running in the background. Any idea how to shut that off or remove it? I don't really want or need it and apparently Raptr put out a update for it so it wouldn't do this. Apparently it don't work.

[georgexu94]

I know the difference between static and dynamic URLs. What I do not know is why use dynamic URLs. My context would be Dragon Cave Festival of Eggs and Trick or Treat. Those images displayed use dynamic URLs. So, when a user obtains the URL of the image and display it in her signature, it will show but after some time, the image disappears. The image will then be in another URL.

 

My question is, why then do we use dynamic URLs for these?

[Predat0rs]

Imgur Technical Question:

 

When I upload an image, it gives me the option of linking it elsewhere via direct link, bbcode, etc.

When I go straight to the image page however, the option of linking it elsewhere is no longer there. I like copying the bbcode for images instead of having to write my own bbcode.

 

Is there a way to get the link area to show up?

[Obscure_Trash]

Imgur Technical Question:

 

When I upload an image, it gives me the option of linking it elsewhere via direct link, bbcode, etc.

When I go straight to the image page however, the option of linking it elsewhere is no longer there. I like copying the bbcode for images instead of having to write my own bbcode.

 

Is there a way to get the link area to show up?

What do you mean by going to the images page?

 

If I go to my account -> view images and click on an image, this is what I see: https://i.imgur.com/EnGeyox.png That's a pop-up that occurs over the rest of the page.

If I go to my account -> albums -> view an album and hover over an image (and then hover over the ellipses), I see this: https://i.imgur.com/byzVhld.png and by the side of all the images, I have link options for sharing the album.

 

So I'm not sure where you're at that you're not seeing the codes. o.o

[DragonSpirit009]

Can someone tell me if LTE require a landline?

[Switch]

I have a pair of headphones with an in-line microphone. The microphone works perfectly fine when plugged into a mobile device, but my computer won't detect it, and as of now it's the only microphone I have and I need to be able to do skype/discord calls :\ I've tried googling guides but they're all really vague, so I'm honestly not sure where to even start

Edited August 7, 2016 by Switch

[sh20000sh]

Sounds like yours supposed to work on mobile device. Is its jack looks like this rather than this?

[Switch]

yes it looks like the first one, with 4 parts not 3. i figured it was probably made for mobile, but is there any way i could get my computer to pick it up?

[sh20000sh]

As I know, Can't do that with software level. I searched and found adapter like this.

 

It still means you need to buy hardware but would be cheaper than buy new headset for PC.

Edited August 7, 2016 by sh20000sh

[Shienvien]

That is not entirely correct - it's not "meant for mobiles" as much as there are simply multiple types of jacks (it's more "older" and "newer" kind of thing). I have one like that (the first one with three "rings" on it) plugged into my laptop right now, and it works just fine, Linux PC, Windows PC or Samsung cell phone. The adapter, however, this particular laptop doesn't even have the plugs for; it *only* takes the dual line. My towers and other laptop have both types of plugs. My old, *OLD* notebook only has the separate line plugs.

 

What kind of computer / what kind of plugs does it actually have? (Any little icons next to it - the dual one might have a headset with mic attached, the separate ones will have mic and earphones separately, and are usually color-coded with green for audio out and pink for mic input) Some, especially older computers might indeed not have the dual line type plug, whereas many newer more lightweight ones do not have the separate mic/out variant.