Author Topic: Fistful's never-ending computer Q&A thread... (Read 57054 times)

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #200 on:** August 30, 2009, 03:12:01 PM »

Quote from: Owens on July 23, 2009, 08:33:28 AM

If you use Firefox 3.0.?? use this add-on to clear the location bar: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7429

In ver 3.5, there is an option to select for what is displayed. No need to use the add on.

Wrong on both counts.

That add-on causes a Welcome To Your New Add-on web page to be loaded in a tab next to your normal home page every time Firefox starts. The only way to get rid of it is to both remove the add-on AND clear out cookies. It keeps re-appearing until you do both.

I have not found any option in 3.5 for modifying the address bar.

Hawkmoon FTW:

Quote from: Hawkmoon on July 23, 2009, 09:48:00 PM

Look for the "Old Bar" add-in

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #201 on:** September 06, 2009, 07:38:25 PM »

I posted the following on techsupportforum.com, but all they will tell me is to re-install. An obvious solution, but I'd like to learn something. Any ideas?

I just did a clean re-install of XP Home, SP 1 on Computer #3. After I finally got to the desk top screen, I ran "control userpasswords2" from the run menu, and saw that it had two accounts; the usual Administrator account and a second administrator account it created during the install. We'll call that one John Doe.

I decided (perhaps rather stupidly) to delete the John Doe account, despite being logged into that account at the time. The next time I re-started, it gave an error message of "Unable to log you on because of an account restriction" and then hung up on the Windows is Starting Up screen. I waited just a few minutes before manually restarting the computer (with the power button, ctrl-alt-del did not work).

After trying this a few times, I did a repair install from the CD. It asked for another name, so I entered John Doe again. Now that I can get back into Windows, Control UserPasswords shows both the Administrator and John Doe accounts. But it tends to linger quite a long time on the "starting up" screen."

I have created a third admin account, and deleted John Doe, but have the same problem with the new account. I actually had to edit the registry again, so it would quit trying to log me on as John Doe, which resulted in the previous "account restriction" error message.

Other than staying out of registry issues I have no business messing with, what can I do to fix this?

Ron · « **Reply #202 on:** September 06, 2009, 08:55:32 PM »

Quote

Other than staying out of registry issues I have no business messing with, what can I do to fix this?

clean re install

Gewehr98 · « **Reply #203 on:** September 06, 2009, 09:10:01 PM »

IBTL

(In Before The "Linux" comment)

Jim147 · « **Reply #204 on:** September 06, 2009, 09:16:16 PM »

Quote from: Gewehr98 on September 06, 2009, 09:10:01 PM

IBTL

(In Before The "Linux" comment)

I was reading his new post when it got merged. With all the recent zombie threads that can be linked to fistful in some way, I think he needs to be limited to one thread for a while.

jim

Gewehr98 · « **Reply #205 on:** September 06, 2009, 09:22:51 PM »

You're not the only one.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #206 on:** September 09, 2009, 10:01:11 PM »

Quote from: RocketMan on August 17, 2009, 12:12:30 AM

Or it could just be you have a bad stick of memory. If the new memory consists of two sticks, try just one at a time running memtest. It may be just one of the sticks is bad.

Thanks indeedy. I just got the new RAM in today, and it is memtesting fine with the first few passes. I'll run it some more overnight, just to be thorough.

It's funny. I've tested virtually every old RAM stick I've got, and they all seem to be OK. The two that didn't pass happen to be the only brand new modules, and from a reputable manufacturer and dealer, no less. Then again, it was "Value Select."

Thanks again.

RocketMan · « **Reply #207 on:** September 09, 2009, 10:33:30 PM »

IIRC, Value Select is a slower, budget memory from one of the major manufacturers. Corsair, maybe? In any event, I've used it before on budget builds and never had a problem. You likely just got a bad stick or two. It happens now and again.

By the way, there is a nasty new rogueware out in the wild called AntiSpy Protector 2009. There are also variants called PC_AntiSpyware2010 and Advanced Antivirus. Most rogues can be dealt with, but this one drops two extremely difficult to dig out rootkits on your system that kill almost all antimalware processes and programs, and will not allow any file or process scans.
If it pops up on your screen, just pull the plug on your PC. Unlike most other rogues, this one has been known to self-install without any user intervention at all.
Granted, pulling the plug on your Windows machine can sometimes cause problems, but the misery caused by this bug is far worse. It's much easier to deal with the aftereffects of an unexpected power down than it is to root out this malware.
I've dug out a lot of malware in my time, but this one is by far the worst I have encountered.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #208 on:** September 11, 2009, 10:09:18 PM »

I've re-installed Windows XP on a couple of machines in the past week or two, so have been in the unfortunate position of using Internet Explorer to download stuff from File Hippo. FH keeps ~~crashing the browser~~ causing IE to shut down and reload the tab, usually when I hit the download button. Anybody else seen this problem?

Just thought I'd make more work for you, Gew.

Balog · « **Reply #209 on:** September 11, 2009, 10:14:48 PM »

Why not DL FF or Chrome from a non-FH site then use that? Also, what the heck is file hippo?

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #210 on:** September 11, 2009, 10:18:09 PM »

Because it's easier to just let IE reload the tab and try again. Sorry, I should have said that the tab closes, rather than the whole browser crashing.

It's not a huge problem, just something I noticed on a couple of computers. Thought I'd see if anyone else had experienced it.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #211 on:** September 11, 2009, 10:54:34 PM »

Curse you, G98!!

That's a joke, in case you couldn't tell.

Gewehr98 · « **Reply #212 on:** September 11, 2009, 11:02:46 PM »

Joke.

Funny.

Funny queer or funny ha-ha?

Kind of like you creating a separate thread and saying it's creating more work for me, when you could have just as easily added it to your owned damned never-ending computer thread yourself? Funny, that.

Jim147 · « **Reply #213 on:** September 11, 2009, 11:06:52 PM »

I've never used your hippo program so no help there.
Did you do any Win updates before you tried downloading other things?
I have seen this cause some issues before.

jim

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #214 on:** September 11, 2009, 11:45:54 PM »

File Hippo is a web site. www.filehippo.com

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #215 on:** September 16, 2009, 10:32:54 PM »

Is there any point in telling Windows before I pull the flash drive out of the port, or should I just do it, and ignore the fear-mongering?

RocketMan · « **Reply #216 on:** September 16, 2009, 10:35:53 PM »

WinXP has never given me trouble over just pulling the flash drive. I've done it thousands of times and on many different computers with nary a hitch.
Windows 2000 on the other hand...

Vodka7 · « **Reply #217 on:** September 17, 2009, 12:25:43 AM »

Quote from: fistful on September 16, 2009, 10:32:54 PM

Is there any point in telling Windows before I pull the flash drive out of the port, or should I just do it, and ignore the fear-mongering?

If you pull it out in the middle of data being written you risk data loss and possible corruption. The wizard is just a way to make sure no data is still being written that you don't know about.

Of course, it's your data, not mine, so pull away.

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #218 on:** September 17, 2009, 12:39:30 AM »

Quote from: RocketMan on September 16, 2009, 10:35:53 PM

WinXP has never given me trouble over just pulling the flash drive. I've done it thousands of times and on many different computers with nary a hitch.
Windows 2000 on the other hand...

It doesn't give me anything like trouble, really, but it does usually tell me that something terrible just happened.

RocketMan · « **Reply #219 on:** September 17, 2009, 01:06:46 AM »

Vodka7 makes a good point. Pulling a thumb drive out while saving data could be problematical. But when no readin' or writin' is going on, Windows XP usually won't care.

Vodka7 · « **Reply #220 on:** September 17, 2009, 01:23:54 AM »

Quote from: fistful on September 11, 2009, 10:09:18 PM

I've re-installed Windows XP on a couple of machines in the past week or two, so have been in the unfortunate position of using Internet Explorer to download stuff from File Hippo. FH keeps ~~crashing the browser~~ causing IE to shut down and reload the tab, usually when I hit the download button. Anybody else seen this problem?

Just thought I'd make more work for you, Gew.

Oddly enough I was just grabbing CCleaner in a VM in IE8 and their default download site is FH. Had the exact same problem.

RocketMan · « **Reply #221 on:** September 17, 2009, 01:27:13 AM »

I don't use File Hippo. There is something about that site that makes me nervous. Don't know why, but it does.

CNYCacher · « **Reply #222 on:** September 17, 2009, 10:22:05 AM »

Quote from: Vodka7 on September 17, 2009, 12:25:43 AM

If you pull it out in the middle of data being written you risk data loss and possible corruption. The wizard is just a way to make sure no data is still being written that you don't know about.

Of course, it's your data, not mine, so pull away.

Quote from: RocketMan on September 17, 2009, 01:06:46 AM

Vodka7 makes a good point. Pulling a thumb drive out while saving data could be problematical. But when no readin' or writin' is going on, Windows XP usually won't care.

But, don't forget that data being written to the drive is not something that my be indicated to you at the user level. The program you are using might say "Saving. . . Done" but the data has just been buffered by the OS and is still going into the drive when you yank it a second later.

roo_ster · « **Reply #223 on:** September 17, 2009, 11:51:01 AM »

Quote from: CNYCacher on September 17, 2009, 10:22:05 AM

But, don't forget that data being written to the drive is not something that my be indicated to you at the user level. The program you are using might say "Saving. . . Done" but the data has just been buffered by the OS and is still going into the drive when you yank it a second later.

This ^^^ bears repeating.

Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas · « **Reply #224 on:** September 17, 2009, 12:19:57 PM »

Quote from: fistful on September 16, 2009, 10:32:54 PM

Is there any point in telling Windows before I pull the flash drive out of the port, or should I just do it, and ignore the fear-mongering?

Lost two flash drives that way.

News:

Author Topic: Fistful's never-ending computer Q&A thread... (Read 57054 times)