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

[Renee]

Awesome, thanks Decrepit and Trey! Yeah I need to get an external drive this week. Maybe an excuse to drive those 40 minutes up to Micro Center, if we have time.

I think we're safe from rampaging yetis, but I'll keep an eye out from all those other calamities...

This post has been edited by Renee: Jul 6 2021, 01:00 PM

[Decrepit]

As to backup software, depending on your needs you may not need any. If you do need backup software, I recommend ToDo Backup Home Edition. Sadly, it ain't free. However, if you get on their email list, they often run quite decent discounts on the 'lifetime updates' version, which is the only sane way to buy it. But again, you might not need the extras the paid version offers. And ToDo also offers a stripped down free version.

[mirocu]

Compaq Presario CDS 520 with Windows 3.1 - The Saga Continues



We left off in 2018 with the ole Compaq getting the definite Sorry mate; tis too scratched from two computer "experts" and one prior to them. Well, it just so happens we just had a tech guy coming in to work to help us with the CNC and I just asked him if he cared to take a look too. He accepted, and thus the computer with only bout 25 years of active service is now getting yet another chance. I'm not holding much hope but I just couldn't pass up letting him have a go as well.


Fourth time's a charm!

[Decrepit]

Booted the PC this morning. Launched Firefox. Launched YouTube. No sound. Checked sound settings. All OK. Launched Brave Browser. Launched YouTube. Sound. Returned to Firefox. Sound. Played a video. At its end, I moved the progress bar to about the midway point to rehear an instructive statement. No sound. Closed video. Launched another YouTube video. Sound. At some point, the video froze. I got one of those circles indicating slow data transfer rate / buffering. Buffering over, video resumes. No sound. Closed video. Launched new video. Sound. That's where it stands now.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Aug 21 2021, 01:45 AM

[ghastley]

New machine's issues turned out not to be new machine. Monitor was not auto-detecting input and was stubbornly expecting DVI, not hdmi. Now I just have a weekend's worth of re-installing to do.

[Acadian]

That sounds like good news, ghastley - I think. Glad to have you and your PC back!

[ghastley]

The good news is that I can run perfectly well on just the center monitor, so I'm able to play ESO, and attend the next meets.

The bad news is that I just can't get all three monitors working at the same time. The RTX3080ti has two HDMI and three display port outputs. My monitors have HDMI, but not display port inputs.

The ugly was trying to use two monitors. If I use both with ESO, then the middle of the image is right on the bezels, and trying to run windowed on one of them gets the cursor stuck on the one that's blacked out when the game launches, meaning that I can't interact with the game.

For only nine hundred bucks I could get an ultra-wide 49 inch monitor that would be equivalent to two (3849x1080, without the seam), but that's a 33 percent reduction from what I had. OK, so it would have a faster refresh rate, too. Not sure I want to go there yet. Nobody is doing triple-wide, but there are higher-resolution double-wide ones (5120x1440) at triple the price.

[treydog]

OR you could get one of these. Assuming the input/output are correct for your configuration.

We have to use DVI to VGA or VGA to Display port adapters quite frequently at work, as the monitors come with DVI or VGA, but many of the computers no longer have VGA- or have HDMI- but no D-Port.

[ghastley]

OR you could get one of these. Assuming the input/output are correct for your configuration.

We have to use DVI to VGA or VGA to Display port adapters quite frequently at work, as the monitors come with DVI or VGA, but many of the computers no longer have VGA- or have HDMI- but no D-Port.

I have one, but when the third is attached that way, it's not recognized.

If that's the only monitor connected, the bios logo and boot sequence show in VGA mode, and the screen goes black when widows starts. I.e. something is getting through, but it's not proper HDMI. It could just be a faulty adapter, of course, but it's brand new.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Aug 28 2021, 08:21 PM

[treydog]

Hmmm. I kinda seem to recall something similar happening with one of my colleagues... it MIGHT be something you can change in the BIOS, or it may be that the card is not reading through the adapter for whatever reason. With 3 native Display port sockets, it should not be balking at three outputs....

ETA- If one of the monitors has an SVGA output, a VGA to HDMI or to D Port adapter MIGHT work- assuming you have not already tried that....

This post has been edited by treydog: Aug 29 2021, 04:10 PM

[Renee]

So here's a fun story to tell. Last week I finally got an external storage device so I can finally start backing up all my gaming stuff, okay? It holds a terabyte of data. I decided to start by backing up all the saves on my gaming computer.

I hook it up to my gaming computer. I have two computers, so I started by making two folders: one for my gaming computer, and one for my auxiliary computer. I then made a proper folder path which goes Gaming Computer > My Games, and in the My Games folder, I copied all the folders in my gaming computer's My Games folder. So this is Fallout 3, Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Sims 3, and a smidge of Baldur's Gate.

Finally, I pasted the copied folders into the storage device. And it said 0%. I waited. ZERO percent. I waited. Went and got a glass of water. Now it said 1%. Wow, this sure is taking a long time!

Part of the reason is that it's not a super-fast connection, okay? But there was also the fact... that when all was said and done, a total of thirteen THOUSAND saves had to get transferred over. 13,056 saves in total! ... I mean, I knew I did a lot of gaming over the past 7 years, but not that much!

[SubRosa]

I can relate. For years now I have been moving most of saves out of their regular save folders and into subfolders that the game won't recognize. I only keep the ones for my active character, and the last one for each of my older characters in case I ever want to start them up again. Otherwise it would take forever scrolling through the games load menus to find specific ones.

[macole]

13,056 saves in total! ... I mean, I knew I did a lot of gaming over the past 7 years, but not that much!

I can beleive it. for my current Oblivion character alone I have over 3500 saves. Then there are other saves from OB. Morrowind, Skyrim, and Daggerfall. So yeah I can see you having 13,056 save files.

[SubRosa]

I just checked, and I have 5,381 saves for Oblivion. 7.18 gig drive space.

[Renee]

I know Wyrd makes New Saves every time. I do sometimes, but I also overwrite (and use quicksaves) plenty as well. So therefore if I didn't overwrite / make quicksaves, that 13,000+ total would be waayyy higher.

[Decrepit]

My Oblivion second-playthrough saves are stored on DVDs, so I've no quick way to count them. However, I can readily see that I have 23 DVDs crammed full of saves, plus an unremembered number of as-yet not archived saves on my secondary PC.

As to SAVE method, I always create them via console command, never overwriting a previous save. I also tend to save at intervals. Not time intervals, but distance / goal intervals.

Say the gang is patrolling the Gold from the Emperial City to Anvil. I'd begin play from an existent save made in their Weye home, likely around bedtime the night before, or just after my decrepit avatar wakes the morning of the patrol. He eats (usually on his private balcony), dresses, travels solo to the city, gathers merchant delivery assignments, grabs a tax assignment IF available, gets the patrol (in White-Gold tower), and begins his walk back to Weye. MY fist SAVE is made, just prior to him exiting the City.

My second SAVE is normally made back in Weye, as he and Vil are about to exit their home to begin the patrol proper. SAVE 3 is made when they are about to exit Skingrad, where they paused for lunch and to handle merchant deliveries. There might or might not be a SAVE on the road between Skingrad and Anvil, depending on how near they are from the destination at dusk. There's a SAVE as soon as they set foot in Anvil and the Patrol completion announcement appears on-screen.

Since the gang travels at a walk, even when mounted, except in dire need, a good chunk of time passes between saves.

[Renee]

. I also tend to save at intervals. Not time intervals, but distance / goal intervals.

Interesting. I usually make saves during moments when my character is activating something. Closing a door, receiving a blessing from an altar, casting a spell, and so on. Whenever I see a door or a gate or an altar (etc.) those are like Save Points for me!

You have an interesting way of approaching saves, Decrepit, but wow, quite a lot of time goes by as your Avatar moseys about.. I'd be worried about the game crashing if I had to wait that long to make a save!



This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 15 2021, 12:49 AM

[Decrepit]

. I also tend to save at intervals. Not time intervals, but distance / goal intervals.

Interesting. I usually make saves during moments when my character is activating something. Closing a door, receiving a blessing from an altar, casting a spell, and so on. Whenever I see a door or a gate or an altar (etc.) those are like Save Points for me!

You have an interesting way of approaching saves, Decrepit, but wow, quite a lot of time goes by as your Avatar moseys about.. I'd be worried about the game crashing if I had to wait that long to make a save!

Crashes are not only a worry, but an actuality. I've gotten where I endure them in semi good grace, except when losing a particularly memorable patrol segment, one that in some way stands out as being appreciably above the norm.

Back when my avatar experiments more monumental adventures, I adhered to a save routine more akin to yours, saving right before i expected something important to happen and, conversely, right after something important happened. But road patrols? Much as I love 'em, I know nothing will happen that has a game-changing consequence for my avatar. Not at this stage of his career. Unless his heart gives out on him mid-route. (Which is how I've long envisioned his unlimate retirement from active service to the Empire, if not necessarily his immediate demise. Alas, the game isn't sophisticated enough to visually depict such things. In reality, I'll likely be the first of us to go. When playthrough 2 began we were both old, he the elder by some years. I now surpass him in age, despite his faster timescale.)

[Renee]

In reality, I'll likely be the first of us to go. When playthrough 2 began we were both old, he the elder by some years. I now surpass him in age, despite his faster timescale.)

[Decrepit]

Color me cautiously relieved.

A banner has been appearing atop YouTube Studio telling me I need to enable 2-step verification or lose access to Studio on 1 Nov 2021. This would be quite disheartening to me. I quite enjoy making and publishing video. That almost no one watches them is beside the point, much as I wouldn't mind them getting more views.

My stumbling block (discounting that I actively dislike the hassle of 2-step verification, even on those few sites I visit where I admit to it being it beneficial) is simple. I own no cellphone, smartphone, tablet, or any other device YouTube lists as an option. Nor do I plan to invest in one, for monetary reasons and because I don't want them. YT, alas, does NOT list traditional phones as an option. (All other sites I am required to use 2-step verification with DO allow traditional phones as an option.) In other words, I'm sunk.

Or so I thought until just a few minutes ago.

After extensive research, I've unearthed info from several sources, at least one of whom appears to be 'authoritative', that claim 2-step verification will be mandatory only for those in the YouTube Partner Program. In other words, those who monetize and make money for YT. If true, I'm in the clear. Do I 100% believe I'm safe? No. But at least there's hope, however faint it might prove to be.

In other happy new, MS still insists my i7 7700k isn't powerful enough to run Win11.