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Computer problems

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Anonymous

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No, i dont have one, but someones bound to, so if you do, just ask.. Im a geek :D

Judging by some of the porn downloaders hanging around i can bet at least two people on this forum already have win32 ;)
 
Jun 18, 2009
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I've never had any problems since I started running Ubuntu. There's no viruses, spyware, or adware, and all the software is free! Can't beat it!! :D
 
A

Anonymous

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dual boot ubunto.. sadly cant use it 100% of the time, pageplus, drawplus and movieplus the three main paices of software i use wherent terribly happy under WINE

when they do i shall use it more..

actually, how good are you with ubuntu.. at the moment i have it on a 5gb partition on the laptop, but really want it off of the laptop hard drive and onto a portable drive.. now i had no problems installing it to the portable usb drive (10gb partition on a 500gb drive), however, the bootloader insisted on installing to the portable drive and not the boot sector of my main hard drive, so the computer wouldnt boot up without the portable plugged in, which obviously when its a mains driven HDD it isnt ideal..

Couldnt find any bootloader optionsin the ubuntu setup though :/

(basically not the biggest HD in the laptop and i want ubuntu to have the space to install movie plus etc and get it to work happily, and then eventually move all of my documents, across to linux so need 50gb really)

once everything i need is 100% happy under ubuntu then i can remove windows from the laptop and put it on there (that said.. windows 7 is stable as hell and everything windows should have been for years)
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Cobber said:
I've never had any problems since I started running Ubuntu. There's no viruses, spyware, or adware, and all the software is free! Can't beat it!! :D

I have been using Ubuntu for two months now and love it. Like you said it is more secure plus doesn't crash or freeze. I am definitely a Linux convert, no more Windows for me:D
 
Mar 11, 2009
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dimspace said:
at the moment i have it on a 5gb partition on the laptop, but really want it off of the laptop hard drive and onto a portable drive.. now i had no problems installing it to the portable usb drive (10gb partition on a 500gb drive), however, the bootloader insisted on installing to the portable drive and not the boot sector of my main hard drive, so the computer wouldnt boot up without the portable plugged in, which obviously when its a mains driven HDD it isnt ideal..

What other OS is on the the internal drive?
 
Jun 18, 2009
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dimspace said:
dual boot ubunto.. sadly cant use it 100% of the time, pageplus, drawplus and movieplus the three main paices of software i use wherent terribly happy under WINE

when they do i shall use it more..

actually, how good are you with ubuntu.. at the moment i have it on a 5gb partition on the laptop, but really want it off of the laptop hard drive and onto a portable drive.. now i had no problems installing it to the portable usb drive (10gb partition on a 500gb drive), however, the bootloader insisted on installing to the portable drive and not the boot sector of my main hard drive, so the computer wouldnt boot up without the portable plugged in, which obviously when its a mains driven HDD it isnt ideal..

Couldnt find any bootloader optionsin the ubuntu setup though :/

(basically not the biggest HD in the laptop and i want ubuntu to have the space to install movie plus etc and get it to work happily, and then eventually move all of my documents, across to linux so need 50gb really)

have you tried running your windows software on a virtual machine? I have XP installed in a virtual machine using VirtualBox to run some windows-only statistical software. I then just map my ubuntu desktop as a network drive to easily swap files back and forth. It's much easier than rebooting all the time. I do have Vista installed but I only use it for hardware problems, since Dell refuses to support an OS that didn't ship with the system.

For your boot problem, you might just need to reinstall Grub (the bootloader) to the main hard disk and then have it look for the USB. However, I have never done this so I am not certain about it. It should work though! Here is a few links that describe how to do this. If not, I would post on the Ubuntu forums.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromUSB
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=24113
 
Jun 24, 2009
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pedaling squares said:
Probably the wrong thread, but can someone please reply w/ instructions on how to upload a photo to a post? The FAQ section didn't help me. Thanks.

There is a site: http://www.tinypic.com go here and you can upload a picture from your files, copy it's url then come to the forum and paste it where you want. Check out the site, it's fairly simple to follow. Good Luck!:)
 
Jun 18, 2009
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pedaling squares said:
Probably the wrong thread, but can someone please reply w/ instructions on how to upload a photo to a post? The FAQ section didn't help me. Thanks.

The format for displaying a photo is



IF the image is already on the internet somewhere, just paste the link and you are done. Make sure the link you have is to the image, not to a page with the image on it. If you are unsure, right click on the image and select "view image". Then copy and paste that link.

If the image is not on the internet, upload it to a image hosting site. I use http://www.tinypic.com. Just browse for your image, upload it, and then copy and paste the image location.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Cobber said:
have you tried running your windows software on a virtual machine? I have XP installed in a virtual machine using VirtualBox to run some windows-only statistical software. I then just map my ubuntu desktop as a network drive to easily swap files back and forth. It's much easier than rebooting all the time.

This is what I am doing myself so I can use my Zune and SportTracks.

For your boot problem, you might just need to reinstall Grub (the bootloader) to the main hard disk and then have it look for the USB. However, I have never done this so I am not certain about it. It should work though! Here is a few links that describe how to do this. If not, I would post on the Ubuntu forums.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromUSB

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=24113

If I couldn't help I was also going to recommend him to go to the Ubuntu forums also they have such a great community there willing to help anyone out. I have "Linux in a Nutshell" and "Linux the Complete Reference" books sitting in front of me but I haven't opened them yet I have been too busy lately.

I found this thread on his problem.
 
dimspace said:
once everything i need is 100% happy under ubuntu then i can remove windows from the laptop and put it on there (that said.. windows 7 is stable as hell and everything windows should have been for years)

That is what they always say for every new version of Windows. I have two computers side by side. One running Linux and the other Windows. The Linux one gets used 95% of the time.

Until MS can fix IE's security problems and completely get rid of the registry, one of the stupidest developments in the history of man, I don't trust Windows.

I keep thinking I should pick up a Mac.
 
Cobber said:
The format for displaying a photo is



IF the image is already on the internet somewhere, just paste the link and you are done. Make sure the link you have is to the image, not to a page with the image on it. If you are unsure, right click on the image and select "view image". Then copy and paste that link.

If the image is not on the internet, upload it to a image hosting site. I use http://www.tinypic.com. Just browse for your image, upload it, and then copy and paste the image location.

thanks cobber, i had not had any issues with photos until this forum. you solved it for me.:D
 
Mar 18, 2009
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I don't know much about computers, but I have an iMac and a Macbook. They are much less hassle than a PC, great for presentations, and at least at the moment much less prone to viruses and corruption.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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dimspace said:
dual boot ubunto.. sadly cant use it 100% of the time, pageplus, drawplus and movieplus the three main paices of software i use wherent terribly happy under WINE

when they do i shall use it more..

actually, how good are you with ubuntu.. at the moment i have it on a 5gb partition on the laptop, but really want it off of the laptop hard drive and onto a portable drive.. now i had no problems installing it to the portable usb drive (10gb partition on a 500gb drive), however, the bootloader insisted on installing to the portable drive and not the boot sector of my main hard drive, so the computer wouldnt boot up without the portable plugged in, which obviously when its a mains driven HDD it isnt ideal..

Couldnt find any bootloader optionsin the ubuntu setup though :/

(basically not the biggest HD in the laptop and i want ubuntu to have the space to install movie plus etc and get it to work happily, and then eventually move all of my documents, across to linux so need 50gb really)

once everything i need is 100% happy under ubuntu then i can remove windows from the laptop and put it on there (that said.. windows 7 is stable as hell and everything windows should have been for years)

Go here this should fix your problem.
 
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Anonymous

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BroDeal said:
That is what they always say for every new version of Windows. I have two computers side by side. One running Linux and the other Windows. The Linux one gets used 95% of the time.

Until MS can fix IE's security problems and completely get rid of the registry, one of the stupidest developments in the history of man, I don't trust Windows.

I keep thinking I should pick up a Mac.

windows 7 is actually a massive improvement..

ive dualbooted for years, but more recently less so because at the last attempt (about a year ago) wine didnt like the software i use, and crossover wasnt an option.. ive got redhat on the shelf going back to 5 on 6 cd's :D

Windows 7 is the first windows os i will defend (to a point) theres still no reason for it to be 16gb or whatever it is, but it is much more stable, the indexing and filing system is massively improved, libraries actually work, yes we still have the registry, but it is a massive step forward. as for ie, never use it, been opera since v5 and now the explorer engine in w7 is essentially seperate from ie its not such a critical system issue like the old days..

managed to free up 10gb so going to increase the ubuntu space and see if my serif programs i use will WINE, if so there is nothing stopping me transferring fully..

*ive only had 2 virus's since windows 3.11, windows is fine if you know what you are doing.. just too many dont*
 
Mar 10, 2009
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The Geek section...

To add to dual boot coolness: I doobuntu too. Hardy Heron is the latest I am running.

In the past, I threw my laptop so often against the wall while running windows, that I had to find an alternative. Installed Dapper Drake, which was a bit of a hassle since some components weren't included in the installation. Hours of surfing the Ubuntu forum to figure out how to activate an ancient ethernet card.

They have improved much. Installation is as easy as flipping a pancake.

Gimp, Firefox, OpenOffice =)

I am still looking for something the equivalent of Microsoft Publisher and Visio though.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
nope.. pageplus refuses to install under wine or crossover, so im still tied to windows...

as for publisher.. well, first, publisher is the biggest pile of cack ever invented.. :D which is why ive been using serif for the last ten years, but the linux standard (which actually isnt bad, its as good as publisher) is scribus

http://www.scribus.net/

will say though, last couple of hours in ubunto, back in w7, amazingly its as quick.. :eek: of course theyve not ducked it up with service packs yet.. :D
 
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dimspace said:
windows 7 is actually a massive improvement..

ive dualbooted for years, but more recently less so because at the last attempt (about a year ago) wine didnt like the software i use, and crossover wasnt an option.. ive got redhat on the shelf going back to 5 on 6 cd's :D

Windows 7 is the first windows os i will defend (to a point) theres still no reason for it to be 16gb or whatever it is, but it is much more stable, the indexing and filing system is massively improved, libraries actually work, yes we still have the registry, but it is a massive step forward. as for ie, never use it, been opera since v5 and now the explorer engine in w7 is essentially seperate from ie its not such a critical system issue like the old days..

managed to free up 10gb so going to increase the ubuntu space and see if my serif programs i use will WINE, if so there is nothing stopping me transferring fully..

*ive only had 2 virus's since windows 3.11, windows is fine if you know what you are doing.. just too many dont*

I had windows 7 (64 bit) running on vmare for a while (virtual machine). It seemed really good. Better then Vista (which in all honestly, I thought was ok. It gave me little problems. vista 64 bit was good imo.

Planning on building a new pc in the new future, hoping to get the official release (64) eventually.
 
A

Anonymous

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libraries (W7) are probably the best thing M$ have done since 1998, no longer do i have to organise where my files are... Why they couldnt do it years ago i dont know..
 
I wish this thread started a couple of weeks ago. My old PC practically died at the end of last month, and i've had to have it repaired/re-installed to be able to use it again as well as buy a brand spanking new one to upgrade to the latest kit (well like bikes, any excuse for a new one!).

Sounds like I had a major infection in the HD for a few months that went unoticed which decided to open up in full.

Other than that, which anti-virus software, anti-spyware and other software are a must for running a PC cleanly and improving its running capabilities?

Thank you all in advance for your thoughts and comments.
 
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Big_Blue_Dave said:
which anti-virus software, anti-spyware and other software are a must for running a PC cleanly and improving its running capabilities?

Switch to Ubuntu:D You wont have to worry about virus or spyware or crashing or anything else annoying, plus it's faster and free:cool:

But if you must keep Windows these are what I have used in the past and have had no problems with viruses or spyware(all are free).

Anti-virus: AVG Free Edition
Anti-Spyware: Spybot
Firewall: Zone Alarm
System Cleaner: Ccleaner
 
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Mac. Recently splurged on a 2.8 GHz MacBook Pro with a solid state drive. Probably a total waste of money (could have got just as much for less), but it wasn't my money (if anyone can recommend a way to get into that racket with bikes, I'd be grateful). Longtime Mac user—it's been twenty years (and Apple II+, etc. before that). Old dogs, new tricks...
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Ok.. anti virus.. DO NOT TOUCH AVG WITH A BARGEPOLE.. it really is a pile of cack, one of the worst detection rates of any antivirus.. absolutely spiffingly awful...

Anti Virus/Firewall We have used for the last three years comodo internet security, FREE, as it has the advantage of a having both AV and FW built in one and a very low memory footprint.. most of the time around 15,000k http://www.comodo.com, free lifetime licence..
review http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Comodo-Internet-Security-32bit/1224699488/1

The only other AV i particularly recommened is Avast, but then you do need to find a suitable free firewall, Kerio used to be great but is a bit of a memory hog now...

Spyware As previously mentioned, spybot search and destroy, install, update, immunize and then scan regularly....http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

General cleaning.. CClean - again free, probably the best general cache cleaner out there, the registry cleaner is also very effective and safe just backup the registry as promted before cleaning.. http://www.ccleaner.com/download

Defrag - the fastest, most effective and user freindly defragger ive found in years is Auslogics, again FREE.. http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag

so i agree on spybot, and ccleaner, but strong hate avg and zone alarm (zone alarm since v7 has even more issues than avg)

also stands to reason, dont use internet exporer, for higher security use firefox, for even better security use opera.. but dont use IE ;)

also, check the make and model of the new one, if it came with vista, you may be able to upgrade to windows 7 for free.. check this link and follow through the prompts under manufacturer.. http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/buy/offers/upgrade.aspx
 
dimspace said:
Ok.. anti virus.. DO NOT TOUCH AVG WITH A BARGEPOLE.. it really is a pile of cack, one of the worst detection rates of any antivirus.. absolutely spiffingly awful...

Anti Virus/Firewall We have used for the last three years comodo internet security, FREE, as it has the advantage of a having both AV and FW built in one and a very low memory footprint.. most of the time around 15,000k http://www.comodo.com, free lifetime licence..
review http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Comodo-Internet-Security-32bit/1224699488/1

The only other AV i particularly recommened is Avast, but then you do need to find a suitable free firewall, Kerio used to be great but is a bit of a memory hog now...

Spyware As previously mentioned, spybot search and destroy, install, update, immunize and then scan regularly....http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

General cleaning.. CClean - again free, probably the best general cache cleaner out there, the registry cleaner is also very effective and safe just backup the registry as promted before cleaning.. http://www.ccleaner.com/download

Defrag - the fastest, most effective and user freindly defragger ive found in years is Auslogics, again FREE.. http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag

so i agree on spybot, and ccleaner, but strong hate avg and zone alarm (zone alarm since v7 has even more issues than avg)

also stands to reason, dont use internet exporer, for higher security use firefox, for even better security use opera.. but dont use IE ;)

also, check the make and model of the new one, if it came with vista, you may be able to upgrade to windows 7 for free.. check this link and follow through the prompts under manufacturer.. http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/buy/offers/upgrade.aspx

Already got Windows 7 sorted with it due to be delivered on release date.
 
A

Anonymous

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Big_Blue_Dave said:
Already got Windows 7 sorted with it due to be delivered on release date.

cool... windows 7 is such a vast improvement...

little advance tip, grab yourself a cheap external drive.. you can pick up a 500gb for about £50 tops.. the backup built into windows 7 is a vast improvement.. does a disk image and full backup of all files in a few hours, mine runs weekly at like 1am monday morning.. well worth doing.. ;)
 

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