Computer issues, Viruses, trojans, crashes, install problems etc Options

[treydog]

Glad you got things working, 'rocu.

Because I house was built in the 70s = small Windows, I got Mrs. Treydog an Azio backlit keyboard. It has been a great success.

[Renee]

I've seen those fancy keyboards, always wondered if I could get used to one. Thing is, I go through a set of keys about every year and a half though. The Logitechs I usually buy are somewhere between $30 and $40 from Office Depot. It would kinda suck to get used to a more expensive keyboard and then have to throw that extra expense every 1 1/2.

[Decrepit]

Man, PC memory pricing is the pits these days. The two-module kit of DD4-3000 I bought for $115 six months ago now sales for $200! Even the amount I paid is a marked increase from what memory used to cost not too long ago. Back then almost any respectable mid and even some lower tier PCs could be expected to use 16gb. Many mid-tier and all upper-tier PCs sported 32gb. In the solidly upper tier 64gb wasn't all that uncommon. Nowadays we're back to 8gb as the accepted lower to lower-mid tier norm, with 16gb reserved for solidly mid and even upper tier systems. You usually don't start seeing 32gb unless you want to sink a lot of money into a system, or have specific needs that require more than 16gb.

I fully expected use 32gb in my "new" build, but was forced to settle for 16gb due to pricing.

[Decrepit]

Ha Ha. I had reason to use my secondary computer several hours yesterday evening. Looked forward to using its keyboard, which I find a better match for my hands than the one on my primary computer. Only, after all these months of rarely using that older keyboard I find myself sometimes struggling to hit the correct keys, just like with the new keyboard. For opposite reasons. The new keyboard is a bit of a stretch for my small hands. But I've to an extent grown accustomed to it, at least so far as alphabet keys go. With the old keyboard I now have a tendency to slightly overshoot alphabet keys. I can likely resolve this with practice, but see little point in it. Besides, the old keyboard's "F" and "J" key positioning ridges having worn completely away is a definitely detriment to hand placement.

[mALX]

@mirocu. Glad it worked out.

As for myself, I've no computer issues at present other than not being able to get used to the key size and/or spacing of my "new" keyboard. New as of mid 2017, that is. You'd think that after half a year I'd adjust, but no. No biggie. There are no situations where rapid, correct typing is essential for me.

Did you get a smaller keyboard or a bigger one? I love a full-sized keyboard. One computer I got came with a tiny compressed keyboard and I couldn't stand using it. Instead I ended up pulling out my old keyboard from two previous computers back and using it = much better; perfect size/weight/spacing between keys/etc. I think our hands just have to feel comfortable; and they know what they like,

I prefer full-size keyboards too. My "new" one is a Microsoft Ergonomic 4000. I swear by ergonomics, and this MS keyboard seemed the best deal for the money when I bought. It's not bad at all except that it stretches my fingers more than my former el-cheapo ergonomic, on which the "positioning ridges" atop the "F" and "J" keys worn away from years of service, and the "B" key began to occasionally stick. I suspect most people, with larger hands, are fine with the 4000, at least as far as finger reach goes.

Holy Cow, that thing looks like the dashboard of a Boing 747!

Man, PC memory pricing is the pits these days. The two-module kit of DD4-3000 I bought for $115 six months ago now sales for $200! Even the amount I paid is a marked increase from what memory used to cost not too long ago. Back then almost any respectable mid and even some lower tier PCs could be expected to use 16gb. Many mid-tier and all upper-tier PCs sported 32gb. In the solidly upper tier 64gb wasn't all that uncommon. Nowadays we're back to 8gb as the accepted lower to lower-mid tier norm, with 16gb reserved for solidly mid and even upper tier systems. You usually don't start seeing 32gb unless you want to sink a lot of money into a system, or have specific needs that require more than 16gb.

I fully expected use 32gb in my "new" build, but was forced to settle for 16gb due to pricing.

32 gig! I can see my old 16 gig is about to become obsolete ...

[Decrepit]

32 gig! I can see my old 16 gig is about to become obsolete ...

Nah....you're fine. More than 16g is generally only important for heavy video rendering and other "pro" uses. 16g is to me the sweet spot for general PC gaming use though work though 8g will do in a pinch. Were I to assemble a rig at the moment, I might need to sacrifice something elsewhere to justify that extra 8g. What happened to the "good old days" when we could expect PC memory module capacity to double every few years while the price per module remained the same or went down?

(I remember not terrible long after first getting into PCs and PC gaming being excited by the news that memory pricing how at last dropped to $100 per one megabyte module. One megabyte. It seemed, and was, a big deal at the time. But we've sure come a long way.)

[Kane]

I wanted to bump up from 8-16 gigs, but the stick I bought last year has doubled in price.

[SubRosa]

I have 16 gig of ram. Back when I built my current box ram was cheap, and I could have gotten 32 gb for just $100 more. But I really don't see the point. Skyrim only uses a shade over 2 gb to run, and at the time it was the more memory intensive game I had. Add another 4gb or so for Windows, and I still had 10 gb I was not using. Why bother making it 26 gb I would not be using?

Instead I blew my money on a Titan X video card. No complaints.

[mALX]

I have 16 gig of ram. Back when I built my current box ram was cheap, and I could have gotten 32 gb for just $100 more. But I really don't see the point. Skyrim only uses a shade over 2 gb to run, and at the time it was the more memory intensive game I had. Add another 4gb or so for Windows, and I still had 10 gb I was not using. Why bother making it 26 gb I would not be using?

Instead I blew my money on a Titan X video card. No complaints.

*drool*

[Decrepit]

I have 16 gig of ram. Back when I built my current box ram was cheap, and I could have gotten 32 gb for just $100 more. But I really don't see the point. Skyrim only uses a shade over 2 gb to run, and at the time it was the more memory intensive game I had. Add another 4gb or so for Windows, and I still had 10 gb I was not using. Why bother making it 26 gb I would not be using?

Instead I blew my money on a Titan X video card. No complaints.

I tend to buy the GTX '70 models. The two games I've played most these past eight years or so are PC Oblivion and Minecraft, both notorious for being CPU hungry and not taking full advantage of graphics cards. (Mods in both cases help somewhat in this regard, but still.) But I take your point, especially with RAM as high as it is.

(That said, I can load down my experimental Oblivion build on the "new" PC with all sorts of hi-res graphics replaces and it doesn't bat an eye. I wouldn't dare attempt that on the "old" machine.)

Sort of wish I'd upgraded the RAM on my now secondary PC from 6gb to 12gb when modules were cheaper. The i7-930 is still a decent CPU all things considered, but 6gb memory is cutting it close these days. (Its GTX670 is getting a little long on the tooth too, but then I don't expect to do much "heavy" gaming on that rig any more.)

[Decrepit]

Anyone here familiar with OBS???? I downloaded and installed it yesterday, thinking to capture footage of a few of my more interesting Mashinky train lines. Only, what I ended up with was sound and a black screen. Research mentions this is being a problem with some laptop, and shows how to fix it. But...I'm using a desktop. The method described don't work for me 'cause the option we're told to select doesn't exist on my PC. (I'll of course keep researching it on my own.)

[mALX]

From what I've seen, it is an issue with Windows 10. Here is a vid (if you have a way to watch it) that supposedly fixes the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsMY77AytOM

Sounds like you have to make the compatibility aligned to Windows 7 (and make sure you chose the 64 bit version if you have a 64 bit PC)

[Decrepit]

No new issues, just a report of sorts on my new mic. Bought a Blue Yeti, as they seem to be one of the better better PC mics in my price range. (The upper limit of what I can spend to be sure.) With my hearing as it is I can not give it a fair evaluation. I suspect it picks up all sorts of room and external noises I never hear., sensitive as it is. I'm lucky in that its sole use thus far is Mashinky voice overs. As Mashinky features constant train and other noises during play, whatever noise the mic picks up on its own is likely masked. That's my hope at any rate.

Even I can tell I need a "pop filter" for it, which I just ordered off Amazon. A boom arms would be nice too, though my ancient computer desk is construction in such a way that there's no obvious "useful" place to attach it. Right now the mic sits on my desk cradled in its short stand, about 45 degrees to my right maybe a foot and a half away. It's a big thing, and heavy.

[mirocu]

Always fun with new toys

[Decrepit]

No new PC problems for me, but more sad info about the state of video card pricing and availability. Am so glad I bought the parts for my current primary PC when I did, right before the video card screwiness began as it turns out.

[Decrepit]

Two issues, one an old problem returned, one new.

The power amp attached to my PC has become flaky again. One of both rear channels go dead. I can tap the amp housing top and restore sound briefly (and sometimes longer than briefly).

Worse, my beloved Logitech MX518 mouse's wheel died on me this evening. Ordered a Logitech G703 as replacement. It should arrive Wednesday. (I'd rather have bought locally, but our local Best Buy store doesn't stock it.) I'm sort of dead in the water Transport Fever wise without it, though the game DOES provide keyboard wheel equivalents. Man am I gonna miss my MX518!

May 14 addendum:
Yipes!!!!!! Was watching a YouTube Transport Fever video earlier this morning. MS rudely filled the screen with a message saying I was due for update, and to either restart now or wait. Figuring it was the big Spring Update I elected to get it over with. After quite some time updating the PC reboots to the Sign-in screen, surprising in that I have the PC set up ignore that screen and go straight into Windows. (For initial boots only. For coming out of sleep mode I need to press ENTER at that screen.) I pressed Enter, to be greeted by "The User Profile Service failed to sign-in. User Profile cannot be loaded." Numerous reboots led to same result, with no way to bypass sign-in. Tried repairing load options. No dice. Resorted to Windows Safe Mode, which with Win10 takes an act of Congress to find and enter. Lo and behold, as Safe Mode screen appeared I received a message saying Updates were being performed. I let it do so and rebooted. Voila! Windows works again (so far as I can tell.) My guess is that my antivirus was blocking some updates in "normal" mode. Man was I sweating bullets there for a while.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: May 14 2018, 01:57 PM

[mirocu]

Man, stuff like that always puts so much stress on me. Glad you got it to work, Decrepit!



I have somewhat of a nice update to give. I had opted for my Millennium puter in the cottage this year instead of the Win 3.1 I've always had. But not one week into it I realized I did want that much more simple (and less space demanding) 3.1 computer instead.

Now, the 3.1 suffered a hickup a few years back during shutting down with the result that every time therefter that it booted up, I had to click away an error message and enlarge the window. Something I didn't have to do before. Anyway, after having removed the Millennium and setting up the 3.1, I started it up for a test run. I know every little sound it makes during startup after all these years and I have even gotten used to the new sounds after that hickup event. While booting it up I went to the nearby kitchen to sort things out and while doing so I didn't pay much attention to the computer. But something in my mind registered a slight change of sound, something wasn't as before and it happened at the final phase of the startup. Didn't think too much about it but when I went to see that it all worked I was shocked to find no error message and the window was at full size! I was literally standing with my eyes wide open and my jaw on the floor! ...Ok, not quite literally but you get my point.

For some reason it now worked as it did before. I have not done anything to it, no fixes or patches of any kind. Nothing. The only thing I can come up with is that when the 3.1 saw I actually wanted it over the fancier Millennium, it got its act together as a "thank you"

Knock on wood it has worked fine with every startup after too. I have no idea how this issue resolved itself like this as problems are known to arise by themselves but they never fix themselves.

This is one for the books, guys

This post has been edited by mirocu: May 19 2018, 04:19 PM

[Sakiri]

Glad to hear it worked out, Decrepit. I'd be sweating bullets too.

And good to see your old puter's workin just fine there, Miro. I couldn't use 3.1 again. It just looks... bad to me. I can't read the screen worth a husk anymore.

[mirocu]

good to see your old puter's workin just fine there, Miro. I couldn't use 3.1 again. It just looks... bad to me. I can't read the screen worth a husk anymore.

It's not that bad, it's just old school


I wish I could still use TabWorks though, the built-in desktop layout that organizes everything in the style of a calender, sort of. But I'm just happy it works so well after all these years and thousands of usage hours.


*knocks heavily on wood*

[Sakiri]

good to see your old puter's workin just fine there, Miro. I couldn't use 3.1 again. It just looks... bad to me. I can't read the screen worth a husk anymore.

It's not that bad, it's just old school


I wish I could still use TabWorks though, the built-in desktop layout that organizes everything in the style of a calender, sort of. But I'm just happy it works so well after all these years and thousands of usage hours.


*knocks heavily on wood*

My problem is that the screen looks fuzzy due to the resolution being so low.

My vision isn't what it used to be.