Techie Talk

[kide]

Jason:
Good work!! I get a few of these cleanup jobs a month....the combination of more than one tool really seems to work, just make sure that you've got antivirus and a firewall running afterwards, especially if the kids are "exploring" - I know we'd like to hover over their shoulder all the time, but it's usually not possible.

 

[glippert]

Is anyone familiar with this problem or have a fix? I've used MSCONFIG system configuration utility (Start/Run/msconfig)fairly often in the past to remove junk from my startup process. But a month or so ago I tried to use it and I got a message telling me I need Administrator rights to make the changes (remove items from startup). I am the administrator.

I've searched online for a fix but all the fixes I found seemed to focus on an HP Printer file. I'm on a Dell laptop and don't have any HP printers/folders/etc. Whatever caused this is probably also what caused my computer to slow down significantly (the reason I went to clean up the Startup process in the first place). I've tried restoring to an earlier point. I've also (very carefully) used RegEdit to change one setting in the <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font>, as advised by one of the online tech support sites - no change.

I'm getting close to dumping everything, reformatting, reinstalling, etc, but really hate to go that far if not necessary.
EDIT: The red dots above are where I typed the word

and it was replaced by the red placeholders. Even in this edit, I had to save the word as a graphic file to make it show up...

 

[kide]

Greg:
If this wasn't caused by the HP printer fiasco,
review this Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/313222/

 

[aschumacher]

Ken Ide, thanks for the SpyBot site info. Pulled it down and did some 'house cleaning'. But a question for all who use AOL. AOL has been running slower since they went 'free access'. I'm still on pay method to get help and free <acAffee . But in evenings it seems AOL sold off half their servers...everything runs so slow...could work faster on dial-up! My wife almost terminated our computer last nite when trying to order stuff online, it ran slow or waited minutes to respond. Anyone got ideas or comments? Allen

 

[kide]

Allen:
How are you getting Internet access - cable modem, wireless, DSL, etc. ? Are you buying that through AOL? (I don't know if they're still in the broadband reseller business at all). I've got a few suggestions based on how you get your connection..

 

[aschumacher]

Kendell, I have Comcast cable as my ISP. But once you go over to AOL as home page they seem to purge all of Comcasts S/W. Looked the other day to see if I could sign on thru CC and there is nothing left. AOL starts up automatically when the system comes up. I have been to Speakeasy.net and done speed tests that look good. Even this site loads quickly. Just anything within or attached to AOL boggs down at times. A.

 

[kide]

Allen:
I know this may be painful, but drop AOL, arrange for Comcast to set up the e-mail accounts that should be part of the service from them, drop AOL, get the software disk from Comcast -reload it, drop AOL, use the anti-virus and security software from Comcast, DROP AOL, and after you've dropped AOL, before doing anything else, remove ALL of the bloatware that AOL has dumped onto your PC. Oh- did I mention, DROP AOL?...
If you can't get antivirus from AOL, the free version of the AVG Antivirus has tested out well and is pretty easy to install. For a firewall, I'd recommend either Comodo, or Online Armor Personal Firewall....

The problem with AOL is that they not only have continually expanded the size of their software, but as you've noticed, they step all over other systems that are installed on your PC....

<font face="times new roman,times,roman"><font size="-2">BTW - as Kraig sez, this is all IMHO,YMMV,TIWAGOS, yadda yadda yadda....</font></font>

 

[kmcconaughey]

Kendell, it's not just me, that's a standard "ch" format like the <FONT COLOR="ff0000">I</FONT><FONT COLOR="000000">H</FONT>, type "backslashch{disclaimer}" with the "\" replacing the "backslash". Did that make sense?

 

[aschumacher]

Ooookkk, this may get ugley, trying to move 'Favorite Places' listings and other stuff back to Comcast. But as you say, AOL seems to be a real memory hog. Thnx A.

 

[kide]

Kraig:
I knew it was there, but I couldn't remember what the code was - I'll look again to see if it's documented..Besides, I thought you came up with it...I was never aware of the code until you mentioned it a couple of months ago..

Allen:
I had to do this for a small company not too long ago and after messing around with several free products (do a Google on "exporting favorites from AOL"), I ended up buying a copy of ePreserver - about $25.00 IIRC- which worked seamlessly. AOL is real good about helping import favorites and address books not so good about helping you leave (not so stupid of 'em, really..) again, <FONT SIZE="-2">IMO, FWIW, YMMV, My $0.02, Yada, Yada, Yada...</FONT><font face="courier new,courier"><font size="-2"> (and also TIWAGOS)</font></font>

 

[kmcconaughey]

Kendell, IIRC, it was Steve Blunier that came up with it.

 

[kredlinger]

Kendall, thanks for the link to the Spybot site. I haven't run a program like that for over a year & it found 116 problems! Eliminated those issues & DANG

it is quicker than before! Now for the DSL next weekfor my office & we're really cookin with butter!

 

[thoffman]

Have any of you guy had or have a ipod Touch? What's the general concensus? Might be handy when on the road.

 

[mgonitzke]

Tom-

I do. I have posted from it several times. The wireless internet is AWESOME...no more dragging my laptop around to get on the internet when I'm away from my computer. The interface is extremely intuitive, and there's all kinds of applications that you can download for it to do various things. I don't know how I got along without mine.

 

[bmcmeen]

My CrackBerry 9000 works great, as well...

If I'm at a hotspot, it can take advantage of the wifi speed instead of using the phone's internet connection.

 

[mgonitzke]

So the internet has been down campus-wide for the past 2 hours...but I can connect to this site, and this site only. Nothing else. This is very strange...

 

[klejeune]

I surf quite a bit from my iPhone. I use the wifi at home mostly, but the 3G is decent.

I like the landscape layout.

My wife mainly surfs in portrait.

Pretty much the only thing the iPhone Safari doesn't like yet is Flash. Maybe with OS 3.0 this June, but I doubt it.

We used to have an iPod touch and I used it quite a bit, but when we got iPhones we sold it. The second iPod I sold to the same guy here at work. First was a 60gb video he gave to his daughter, then the Touch. He also gave me his daughters old hot pink Nano. We use it just for playing our iTunes music around the house. I can't stand wearing ear buds so we have a docking speaker in the living room.

 

[klejeune]

Oh, I forgot. With the Discus forum software you have to get to the bottom of the page to post a comment. If there is a really long page you have to flick scroll a lot to get to the bottom. I wish there was a scroll bar on the side you could grab and sroll down fast. I read that there was one until a developer show Steve Jobs the flick scrolling and he killed the scroll bar. They have a tool that if you press the center top of the screen in Safari it takes you back to the top of the page, but not for getting to the bottom.

 

[jclazar]

hey fellas! i've got a silly question. when only in the IH cub cadet Fourm, i all of the sudden must scroll left to right as i read along on the latest, then back again upon every sentence line! the Sandbox and other departments are fine that i can read without the scroll method.i realy dont know what to do with my cp. or if its a problem on the other end. thanks , John

 

[csanderson]

John- It has to do, I think, with someone posting pictures without hitting the "enter" button after each picture. That puts them side by side, and causes the width problem. It gets fixed, usually, but causes much teeth grinding. Anyway, that's what causes the problem, usually.