05/09/07 Wed Nite KH Computer Help Desk Chatroom Summary

[mommalina]

05/09/07 Wed Nite KH Computer Help Desk Chatroom Summary
You just had to be there. We laughed ourselves silly wondering if a certain
visitor was for real, was trying to play us, or was intellectually challenged.
We tried to help him with a straight face...oops, I mean voice .. ..
Hopefully, he will run AVs and SAS to delete any viruses and/or spyware
which may be the cause of the inexplicable and impossible quirks of the
Outlook Express on his computer and other unusual and incredulous events
on his and his friends' computers.

We floated between 5th and 7th place in computer chatrooms and closed at
about 12:40 am.

WHO WAS THERE

KH MEMBERS - Lina, Hetzer, Dan, Doug, Elliot, Rich, photolady,
Lawrence (back at last!), Annie, Pi, and Steveo (a young visitor who
sought help in the chatroom and then joined the forum !) ..

VISITORS WHO CHIMED IN - cutting_edge_, 07len1942, Coyote,
jeanie1947, PnPonboard, bomax_51, panther1, and angel_eyes_



COMPUTER TOPICS DISCUSSED

* PALTALK - NEW VERSION 9.1 AVAILABLE
The way you get to our chatrooms seems to have remained unchanged
(they shuffled some categories elsewhere).

This looks like the only change that affects our chatroom:

(from PalTalk) You may have noticed the little clock-like icon that
sometimes appears next to a User's name inside the chat rooms. These
icons were used to indicate that a member had muted the sound in the
room. We have heard from you that these icons were confusing, so we
are removing them, effective May 1st.

* PALTALK ADS AND HOST FILE
Visitor cutting-edge wanted host file instructions for PalTalk. From
Doug: 127.0.0.1 advertising.paltalk.com/popups

Do a Search of our forum for Host File for more host file information.
(BTW, AdMuncher works just as well for those paranoid about messing
with the host file.)


* LINUX
Lawrence alert: Puppy Linux (Beta) 2.1.6 about to become available.....it
did. Read all about it in his post today:
A Most Interesting Innovation!
http://www.kickenhardware.net/forum/...2009#post32009

Doug thinks Ubuntu is looking good, downloaded Ubuntu iso through
ZDnet, going to burn the image and load it on one of his spares.

Distro Watch (Lawrence checks this site every few days
http://distrowatch.com/index.php?dis...=May&year=2007

Elive (new "cute" system says Lawrence)
http://www.elivecd.org/


* SMOKING CPU
Dan has a cpu running 175F (that's a borderline shutdown temperature says
Doug). Dan wonders if he can do a thermal paste patch. He had cleaned it
up, started some diagnostics on why it was shutting down....then saw the
smoking.


* MESSED-UP DESKTOP
Visitor Angel needed help returning her messed-up desktop to normal. The
clear lettering had turned white, and the background an ugly combination of
dark colors. System Restore wouldn't work.

There was a language problem. Pi was masterful, typing instructions in
Spanish for her, while I struggled to communicate with her orally (in
Spanglish interspersed with some Italian dialect). Rich thought he had been
outer-spaced to another planet! ..

Angel left to try a System Restore in Safe Mode. In case she searches this
forum, I am quoting Pi's Spanish instructions here, both for System
Restore (which she may have not understood) and for sfc/scannow
with the xp cd in the cd drive (photolady's suggestion); Angel left before
Pi got to type that one.

To run System Restore in Safe Mode
(Sometimes programs interfere with System Restore in the regular mode):

- Cuando su computadora esta empezando, haga F8 antes de "Windows XP"
unos veces y escoga "Safe Mode."
- Despues de reinciar, haga F8 unos veces y escoga "Safe Mode" de la lista.
- Haga F8 antes del "screen" negro con Windows XP.

What I understood:
- When your computer starts, hit F8 before "Windows XP" a few times, and
select "Safe Mode."
- After restarting, hit F8 a few times, and select "Safe Mode from the list.
- Hit F8 before the black screen with Windows XP.

For sfc /scannow (I don't see any mention of xp cd in the cd drive. .. )

Por favor, haga clic en "Start" y "Run" y escriba a maquina
"sfc /scannow" (sin los "") y haga clic en "OK." Despues de la ventana
desaparece, reincie su computadora y trate System Restore tambien.

What I understood:
Click "Start" and "Run," and type "sfc /scannow" (without the ""), and click
"OK." After the window disappears, restart your computer and try System
Restore again.

* PC KEEPS FREEZING
Visitor jeanie's husband emptied all pictures out of a file and downloaded
them on a disk. Now every other minute the pc freezes up.

The posse suspected spyware and viruses, suggested running these in safe
mode: www.ewido.com and www.bitdefender.com.
She had Active X, but Norton would not allow scanning.

- Go here to download and run the Norton Removal Tool
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...05033108162039.
- Then run these on line virus /spyware scans:
www.grisoft.com, www.avast.com, www.avira.com, www.Superantispyware.com



* ADMUNCHER
Kudos to the Australians! We learned that AdMuncher is an Australian
product. Lina was emailed this:
http://admuncher.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7775

The developer is located in Sydney, Australia, and AdMuncher may start
billing in Australian currency.



* UPGRADE AN NT4 DOMAIN STRAIGHT TO 2003?
Visitor Coyote wanted to know. Dan advised that you can't do a "straight"
upgrade to 2003. The sids don't migrate over easily. There is a MSKB with
a migration tool to compile the NT sids and convert them to the 2003. If
it's under 25 users migrating, it is easier to create a user on the computer
outside of the domain, login as that user, do a profile copy of the domain
user to the computer user. Then once you have moved over to the 2003
server, re-authenticate them there.....and, as always, BACK UP, BACK
UP, BACK UP!



* DEFRAGGING IN SAFE MODE FOR W98
Lawrence found a difference between regular and safe mode.

Dan : defrag in windows mode will move programs to the most recently
used by default; dos (Disk Operating System) doesn't do that; dos moves
the files to consecutive - doesn't analyze the usage


* ANIMATION SOUND CLIPS
Visitor (now member) Steveo wants some animated sounds. Use wave files,
or a game called "Movies" which has lots of sound track.


* VIRTUAL BOX
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Screenshots
Take a look. Dan says they have Vista loaded on the Innotek




NON-COMPUTER SUBJECTS DISCUSSED

* WATER HEATERS
Tankless (Lina), solar (Lawrence)

* TRAINS
Japanese trains, color-coded trains


Until next week, stay safe, have fun, and enjoy your computers.



Lina