Pete_C

Windows Experts
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Everything posted by Pete_C

  1. But previously installed USB devices are still recognized if they are disconnected and reconnected? Or is the USB not working at all? I think that three short beeps in reference to USB means drive recognition failure or no drive attached. This can be caused by removing a drive without first clicking safely remove hardware. I would uninstall all software related to these devices. Go to device manager and click view/ choose show hidden devices Locate each entry under USB devices and select one at a time and click remove. May have to vary order to get them all. Restart and let windows redetec
  2. Many cordless phones operate on the same frequency as wireless routers. So option one would be to unplug all cordless phone base stations and see if that solves the problem. If so , see if you can find a different frequency cordless. Another thing which may work is to try to change the channel setting on the wireless router. IT will only change the frequency slightly; but sometimes this is enough.
  3. When you find an image on the internet and post it on a forum, you are using that persons servers to access the image each time someone opens your thread. They suddenly see their bandwidth usage (which they have to pay for) spike , but no corresponding increase in hits on their site or ad traffic (revenue). What do they do ? They check the logs, find which image was "hot linked" elsewhere and temporarily replace it with a nasty one. This gets a moderator to pull the image from the forum where it was placed , so they can return it to normal. Why would it look right to you and not to others? Tem
  4. I think it really depends. If you use a verification service; they assume the liability as long as you prove that you have done your best to verify identity. (The security code, a drivers license number...) On the other hand , if you just use a processing service and they specify that you the merchant assume liability then that is the way it is. That is why the verification services charge so much to handle merchant accounts.
  5. Pete_C

    Happy New Year

    And a Happy New Year to all of you . It would be nice if it were a year of Peace, Understanding, Tolerance, Communication and Mutual Betterment; but I will not hold my breath waiting for change to occur. We turned in early last night; and still the OL woke up grumpy . She just had me open the Champagne and started cooking. I'll hold off on drinking myself. Blackeyed peas are the thing here in Texas. But we are having cabbage and pork chops too; and probably corn bread muffins.
  6. Wow!! That is a frightening picture of police corruption, Pete_C!! People in your vicinity just accept that the police can and will bang down their doors at any time? Has anyone tried to pursue this further and take it to the DA? That sounds more like something out of South America. I seem to recall that you live in Texas, Pete_C. I hope you're having a great Christmas, man! Hah. Here there was a big scandal after it was discovered (by an undercover reporter) that the Narcotics division had been planting chalk on unsuspecting persons (mostly Mexican Immigrants) and claiming it was coca
  7. I guess I am just accustomed to thinking in Texas Terms these days. It is almost fifty miles just to get out of the urban sprawl around here. A hundred miles is just an hour and a half drive; hardly worth the bother of trying to find a train. Well they do have the trinity railway express between Dallas and Fort Worth, but that is only about thirty miles each way. Amtrack may still be available for some longer runs, but I remember them discussing discontinuing the Texas service a couple years back. Walmart? They are now the biggest grocery store chain in Dallas as well as the regular walma
  8. I did hear that several of the fiber optic links between Asia and the US and Mainland and Japan and Taiwan were down due to damage from the quake / tsunami. So possibly so .
  9. http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/1230200...peasporridgehot One more strike to go.
  10. You would be amazed what people throw out . One mans trash is another mans treasure. There actually are people (Remember Sanford and son?) who cruise the streets here on bulk trash days just to collect recyclable materials and cash them in at metal scrap yards . While their trucks generally look beat up, I know several who make quite a decent living at this. Might even try an flyer at the local supermarket or similar "Got an old or broken PC? Please consider donating it for parts to the local Boys and Girls club rather than throwing it out. Please let us see if there is anything we can use o
  11. It happens here so frequently we become used to it. But I never had it happen that close. All to often people expect that a civilized response (restraining order) will protect them from someone who is an incurable sociopath who should be incarcerated in a mental asylum. But our society has pretty much done away with those as a cost saving measure and due to a misguided belief that the mentally ill are better off on their own and mainstreamed into society without any support. The reality is that the person who files for the protective order is probably best qualified to make the decision , bu
  12. It never ceases to amaze me that someone can whine and moan about how pitiful something they got for free is. Having started out with a really nice fast 33MHz 286SX it really makes me laugh when someone complains that a two year old computer is slow. The big question is just what are they doing which demands the latest and greatest? For word processing, researching the internet for school papers etc then even an eight year old 400MHz Celeron is adequate, actually even a 133MHz pentium will do . On bulk trash week and the normal moveout days (mid month and end of month) I see many computer t
  13. Yeah, since I generally am already on the PC to print something which I will be mailing if I need an addressed envelope; I even usually already have Word or Word Perfect open and can print it out then and there. Nice to have the return address saved as default too. Ones I tend to use on a repeat basis I print a batch of four or five at a time to have ready when I need them. I remember how upset the OL got when I threw out a bunch of those nasty lick and stick return address labels with some silly thing on them. Once I finally got her into the habit of using her computer (she pretty much igno
  14. Yep and if he steals from fellow tradesmen; he probably steals far more from customers too.
  15. To check a breaker ; use a voltmeter and check the voltage to ground on each side. If there is more than a one or two volt (1 or 2 percent) difference; consider how much wasted electricity is being lost and how much heat you are putting into the box. (2V x 15 A => 30Watt) Time to get an electrician over pronto ( or if you are comfortable doing it and it is allowed in your community replace the breaker yourself) Never replace with a larger breaker; remember it is protecting the wiring not the stuff you connect. I like the GFCI in the breaker box which have a green LED to show they are act
  16. Yeah, she (the friend) got outraged when her sister called her a thief for taking a can of SPAM without asking. I doubt any action would really change things. Not sure if she is looking to get caught and accused so she can be outraged, or what. I have long since quit being worried about it, just occaisionally annoyed and I keep the main pantry locked when we have visitors or guests. The OL calls it paranoid; I just view it as preventing confrontations.
  17. Yeah, shopping is not a pleasant prospect. I had to go to the bank yesterday and the main branch is located (albeit in a seperate building , the one saving grace) in a major mall. Lines a quarter mile long at each entrance waiting for lights to change to let you turn in. AARRRggggHHHH Then I have had this miserable headache (no spleen and my blood pressure jumps at the slightest infection and gives me a migraine) and the OL says I am being cranky ( I guess she keeps forgetting that I say I feel sick and miserable). Monday, I was hoping to make this a simple and early week. I had noticed that
  18. We had some Shitazzi geese when I lived up north as a kid. I never understood what they were good for; turkey tastes better; goose is greasy. They honk all the time , and shit everywhere.
  19. Gotta agree with you there. Since I gave up drinking; every time the OL convinces me to buy some liquor , I wind up with a slamming hangover. Of course this could be because she insists on Vodka and I always drank Bourbon . Personally , I was relieved when she finally let me buy an artificial tree a few years ago instead of the annual headache (no pun intended , real headaches) of a moldy evergreen. I put up lights , mainly to please her ; and wish she would not turn them and the tree on during the day and would leave them off after I turn them off at 10PM. Ahh well. Got the grandkids for th
  20. To be able to watch one channel and record another you need a device with a dual tuner (or you can use splitters, switches etc). Now few of the low end recorders have two tuners; and also this would do you little good if you had say digital cable or satellite which require you to use a decoder box which only tunes to one channel at a time. You would in that case have to see if the provider (cable or satellite) has a TIVO style recorder with built in tuner as an option , with this feature in mind; or you get two cable / satellite tuner boxes one to watch and one to record from. In the end; it i
  21. Looks a lot like mine ; only I have a dual boot so there are twice as many options; but I like the option of being able to boot to safe mode without having to tap F8 when I need it.
  22. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/about/customizelinks.mspx
  23. Being that it is the slave drive and that the SMART error has cleared I would suspect a power supply issue. The result is that sometimes there is not enough juice to get all the drives and fans and everything else spinning up to speed before the bios finishes the POST and the SMART evaluation tests the drive. Generally slave drives are the ones that do not get going fast enough and they either give a smart failure or fail to show up when you get to windows. Generally if this is the case; restarting the computer makes the drive show and error clear since things are already spinning and the powe
  24. Will it boot to safe mode? If so , try creating a new user profile to see if maybe yours got corrupted. If you do this and it still will not get successfully to windows it means it is a device driver or software which loads with windows which is causing a crash so bad it restarts windows. Without MSCONFIG win2k means you need to be able to install something like Code Stuff Starter or Mike Lins Startup Control Panel to disable programs . But you can use device manager to disable possible hardware suspects (video card, sound card, network adapter )
  25. This is generally a feature of your Word Processor software In MS Word and works you go to tools/ envelopes and labels Select the correct size and enter the to and from where requested In Corel Word Perfect it is Format / envelopes Pretty sure that in Abiword; you have to create a template. http://abiword.snt.utwente.nl/mailinglists...2/Sep/0080.html Open office ; To do Envelopes, open an OpenOffice Writer document, and choose Insert > Envelope You may want to check out some of these templates and see if they do the trick http://www.psprint.com/creative/downloads/...g_templates.asp http