http://arstechnica.com/

ignore /g/ when they're being pretentious fags and saying "arse technica". For the technophile and the layman alike, this is probably one of the best sites out there right now.

I get a bunch of goodies on steam and spend a couple days installing them all, only to find, no, I can't run most of them because this MSVCR80 bug won't go away. If this file is so important, how am I able to use my computer at all?!

>>10139
I like Ars, they actually do some investigative stuff.

>>10142
I've had this issue before. Try this:
1) Go to http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcr80
2) Select "Download Zip File" (the larger orange button takes you to a pay-for app, I think)
3) Save the zip file somewhere
4) Copy msvcr80.dll from the zip file
5) Place in one (or all) of the following locations:
>%BOOT%/Windows
>%BOOT%/Windows/System32
>%BOOT%/Windows/SysWOW64
where %BOOT% is the drive/location of your Windows partition (i.e. C:\).

I don't quite remember which folder I put mine in, but if you place it in all of those it should be alright.

>>10145
generally it's /windows/system32

otherwise just do a harddrive search for the file and open all the location it's in.

>>10145
>>10148
It turns out there's several folders with this one file besides system32, and I can't access them without SYSTEM permission... except I'm the only one on this computer? Am I thinking of some other admin thing?

Nvidia or AMD?

A lot of games nowadays have serious problems with AMD cards and some features only work with Nvidia. But /g/ doesn't seem to like Nvidia.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2012/06/18/wait-did-this-15-year-old-from-maryland-just-change-cancer-treatment/

Sure hope this doesn't get bogged down.

>>10150
Use the zip download of that file>>10145. from the directions

Using the zip file (for advanced users)

Download msvcr80.zip

Extract msvcr80.dll from msvcr80.zip. We recommend that you extract msvcr80.dll to the installation directory of the program that is requesting msvcr80.dll.

If that doesn't work, you will have to extract msvcr80.dll to your system directory. By default, this is:

C:\Windows\System (Windows 95/98/Me)
C:\WINNT\System32 (Windows NT/2000)
C:\Windows\System32 (Windows XP, Vista, 7)

If you use a 64-bit version of Windows, you should also place msvcr80.dll in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\

Make sure overwrite any existing files (but make a backup copy of the original file).

Reboot your computer.

If the problem still occurs, try the following:

Open Windows Start menu and select "Run...".
Type CMD and press Enter (or if you use Windows ME, type COMMAND)).
Type regsvr32 msvcr80.dll and press Enter.

If it persists, make sure that your account has administrative rights

>>10156
Control Panel > User Settings > Check your account type for win7.

>>10150
From Vista on users default to Power User accounts, you should have gotten some sort of dialog asking you to confirm to admin rights. You may have also had to paste from the file menu instead of just Ctrl+V.

How do I download an entire flickr set in one go instead of clicking on each image?

All I could find from a preliminary google search is some shitty third party apps that only let you do it if it's your own content, and some ancient firefox addons that are no longer applicable.

>>10166
Try firefox+downthemall? You might have to go through the links section to get them, and that might not work due to backend javascript asshatery. If so, you might be SOL.

Hey guys, some time ago, my computer broke down, and I had to put my hard drive into my grandmother's computer (which she doesn't need anymore). Unfortunately, the new computer stopped recognizing my Product ID for Vista (Yes, I know, I don't have spare cash for an upgrade), and when I renter the ID, I get the pictured error. I tried going to Acer's website, but there aren't any links to a phone service. I'm at my wit's end.

>>10169
The version of Windows that comes with a new computer is going to be an OEM version, and a lot of them are actually keyed in to the hardware on that computer--it's very likely that the reason it's not working is because it was designed not to.

You might be stuck pirating a copy.

So my uncle tells me that if I keep my GPA up until Summer 2013, he'll buy me a new gaming PC.

How accurate is the Falcon Guide?

Wow, Flash Player 11.3 is made of fuck ups.

>>10171

Really? God fucking dammit

I did have a plan B in mind. I can use my grandmother's XP hard drive as the boot system and use my hard drive as extra storage, perserving my files. The problem is, grandmom's computer is chock full of absolute shit (Several paid Antivisrus programs, AOL), so I would want to restore it to factory settings. During this process, should I detach my Hard Drive to make sure it doesn't get totally wiped too?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell
http://prometheusfusionperfection.com/
A homemade polywell sounds like a cool thing.

>Power Supply dies
>Switch to my laptop for almost a year
>Finally break down and decide I want my desktop back
>Didn't do it before because too lazy to take everything apart and buy a new one
>Realize my old one's still under warranty
Well then.

>>10177
"restore to factory settings" should not actually touch the other hard drive. If you're wary you could always leave it unplugged. Can't remember the exact restore process on XP but I'm fairly certain you'll need the original install disc.

>>10172
Not as accurate as one might hope. It's nearly impossible for a single individual to grab and test all that hardware, let alone give it the kinds of individual stress tests it needs. I wouldn't trust it for explicit hardware reviews.

What the Falcon Guide is good for is laying out what parts of the machine you'll need and attaching price points to level of hardware. You should be doing your own research on all the parts you look at, and even just taking a gander at a term you don't know in google can help you know what it's for and what the best type would be.

Assembling a computer is not difficult. The difficult part is making sure all the parts are snazzy enough for you and that they all match up before you order all of them through the mail. You should aim near top of the line anyhow, except for the video card (which will cost more than everything else combined if you go top of the line).

If he really is fronting the entire bill, then I'd go all out and see where his bank breaks. But that's me. The price point can be the biggest determinator of just how you balance what parts you want. If he says "go nuts" it's fully possible to walk away with a $5000 gaming rig (Likely Intel). If he's just thinking he'll throw down like $1000 for one, well, that constrains what parts you can use (Likely AMD).

Dammit, now I've got ANOTHER fucking rootkit. I've figured out it's a form of Sirefef and what files cause some of it, but nothing works: I've tried about a dozen different anti-virus/trojan/rootkit programs, but none of them can let me get my firewall back up or fix services.exe.

Ironically, the one I already had (security essentials) got closest to getting rid of the trojans, but then the rootkit gives fake error messages, stops it before it can remove them, and automatically reboots the whole computer.

>>10196
Safe mode not working? Or is the virus performing in spite of it?

>>10197
Safe mode works, but isn't making a difference. The fake error messages and forced restarts are still there. I've been able to get rid of some of the Trojans and viruses as well as one fake registry key without them coming back, but they probably will eventually. In particular I can't fix services.exe, put my firewall back up ( necessary files were probably deleted and might be again if replaced), or get rid of some installer and two other files in the same folder.

I had two different programs (rogue killer was one) both detect and claim to fix those two files only for both to show up on rescanning (I'll look them up when I can). I can't see either file even when I manually enter their folder location with hidden files show because it says it doesn't exist.

>>10198
Try malwarebytes in safemode. http://www.malwarebytes.org/ free version should work

One way or the other, in order to repair that machine, you'll need another machine. Best case, you can remove the virus, although worst case, and it already sounds like it might be, you might have to wipe the drive and install a new operating system.

I found those filenames I was talking about, which Roguekiller also says are ZeroAccess trojans:
C:\windows\assembly\gac_64\desktop.ini
C:\windows\assembly\gac_32\desktop.ini

These seem to be quite common. I'll try some methods suggested to remove them specifically.

Also, I forgot to mention earlier: services.exe is in the right place (system32), so I'm pretty sure it was a program I need to run my computer that was altered to become a trojan, so it needs to be fixed rather than deleted.

>>10199
Here are the programs I've tried so far and their results:
>Windows Security Essentials: keeps finding different forms of Sirefef, but ones it removes are restored (either immediately or upon reboot; I can't tell which). As soon as it tries to restore services.exe it's frozen and I'm forced to reboot a minute later. I had to uninstall it because, unless I was in safe mode, it detected there was something wrong as soon as I booted up, once again forcing a reboot.
>Malwarebytes: found some Trojans, got rid of them and they seem to stay gone at least temporarily.
>GMER: found nothing
>Roguekiller: found a bunch of questionable files and registry it got rid of, but those two I mentioned earlier keep showing up
>Trend Micro Anti-Threat Toolkit: found nothing
>TDSSKiller: found nothing
>avast! Anti-rootkit: finds the same two files as Roguekiller, claims I successfully removed them, then scanning shows they're there again

>One way or the other, in order to repair that machine, you'll need another machine.
Right now I'm using my old laptop and iPhone, and for now I've manually disconnected my infected desktop from the internet. I'll take necessary files/programs from the internet on this one and transfer them to my desktop.

Considering how many of those programs are supposed to be good as sirefef removal and that I've only found one of the fake registry keys where sirefef supposedly puts them, I probably just have a form of it they haven't made a cure for.

I've considered just leaving it disconnected until some of those programs update again, then I'll try them again (again, by downloading on laptop and transferring it).

>>10200
Before you completely despair my man, have a look at this:

http://www.techmixer.com/free-bootable-antivirus-rescue-cds-download-list/

These can generally be burned to a cd or dvd and run as a temporary environment from which you can perform scans. I'd highly recommend trying at least Kaspersky. If you want to put a lot of them on a stick and try them all at once by booting from the USB, I'd recommend http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ or http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/.

These temporary environments can update their virus definitions on the fly from an internet connection and do not activate the infected partition. Boot order can be changed by accessing the BIOS when booting the computer. Some older BIOS won't support USB booting, but it might be worth a shot.

Alright, seems I have some success: I finally managed to get rid of gac_64 and gac_32 using combofix, and when I re-installed and updated MSE (by using update definitions downloaded onto my USB) it found and deleted Serifef with no problems.

Now I just need to figure out how to get my firewall working again.

And my Firewall is back (used the SFC/SCANNOW command prompt).

>>10204
good job man

welp Demonoid got raided in the Ukraine as a gift to the US government.

Well...dang.

http://news.yahoo.com/chemotherapy-backfire-boost-cancer-growth-study-164516832.html

>Cancer-busting chemotherapy can cause damage to healthy cells which triggers them to secrete a protein that sustains tumour growth and resistance to further treatment, a study said Sunday.

>Researchers in the United States made the "completely unexpected" finding while seeking to explain why cancer cells are so resilient inside the human body when they are easy to kill in the lab.

Well at least there's these bits of good news:

>Researchers Make Critical Antibiotic Alternative Discovery

>SYDNEY — Researchers in Australia say they have made a critical discovery in the search for an alternative to antibiotics. Scientists say it is important to find new ways to treat illnesses without antibiotics, many of which are becoming less effective because microbes are becoming more resistant.

>A team at Monash University in Melbourne believes an antibacterial viral protein called PlyC could be used as an alternative to antibiotics.

http://www.voanews.com/content/australian-researchers-make-critical-antibiotic-alternative-discovery/1455499.html

>Australian Researchers Achieve Malaria Breakthrough

>SYDNEY — Australian scientists say they have made an important discovery in the fight against malaria. They have found that people in Africa who are immune to malaria have developed powerful natural defenses against the disease.

>Around the world, a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds. The disease, however, is preventable and curable.

>Researchers at Melbourne's Burnet Institute who are searching for ways to develop a vaccine believe that people in east Africa could help unlock some of the secrets of this unremitting disease.

http://www.voanews.com/content/austalian-researcher-achieve-malaria-vaccine-breakthrough/1454304.html

>>10209
that's hardly surprising, cells are very elastic with regards to survivability, hence why healthy cells are capable of withstanding a lot of stress in regular living.
what really needs to be targeted are the proteins that make up the microenvironment of the tumors, in the same way that your own diet affects different aspects of your health.

Chinese medicine has similar principles in terms of food and yin/yang balance (I know from personal experience it's not just psychological, and there can be some pretty dramatic effects resulting from eating/abstaining from a certain type of food for a few days), and a lot of the research I'm doing at work is based on the idea that it's better to treat the cellular soup surrounding cancer cells than nuke them directly.

I got a new drive cause I was running out of room.

Is there any way to make it and the old one run together as a spanned/striped volume without formatting Window or such? Steam can only store games on one partition and since I want the extra space mostly for games I'd end up being unable to use a lot of the space otherwise.

>>10217
Actually I'd be OK with formatting Windows, but would rather not if I could avoid it.

>>10217
try an extended partition, though I'm not sure that'll do exactly what you want. Alternatively, you could remove all your steam game data and then set steam to redownload it to the new drive, treating it solely as a game drive.

http://www.partition-tool.com/resource/partition-external-hard-drive.htm

>>10217
>Steam can only store games on one partition and since I want the extra space mostly for games I'd end up being unable to use a lot of the space otherwise.
Actually there's a solution for that.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1138731

Pretty happy with the lacie rugged external drives, and the lacie starck and need to get a new 2 tb or even 3tb external. Should I go with what I'm happy with, or try out a Western Digital? I've given up comparing reviews, it just seems like you either get lucky or your drive malfunctions, but I'm open to other recommendations.

>>10226
By lucky I mean having a normal drive with no issues, which is probably most of them, not to say the majority fail.

http://onlygizmos.com/tata-brings-air-powered-car-to-india-calls-it-airpod-video/2012/08/

The system sounds interesting if not exactly feasible yet but WHY DO THESE THINGS ALWAYS LOOK LIKE ALL THE DISEASES.

>>10228
It seems to look better in colors other than "We're going green!" green, a color that someone ends up insisting should be all over anything remotely good for the environment. Watching the video, the interior is actually pretty nice.

When it comes to cars, people still chose style over logic and convenience. Neon colored cars are the most efficient: They are more visible in low light conditions and reflect enough sunlight to prevent interior heat on hot days.

>>10230
That doesn't make neon green a better choice than the white or neon red in the video. Red is more visible, and white reflects more light.

I'm looking to pick up a new laptop for gaming. Had my eye on this guy:

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-GT70-0NC-008US-9S7-176212-008-17-3-Inch/dp/B007Y27PGO/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1347945162&sr=1-1

Curious if this is a good choice, if there's something better I can get for cheaper, or something better within the price range that anybody is aware of.

>>10273
>gaming
>full sized keyboard
>dat mousepad placement

I think you could probably do better. i7's nice but not fully necessary on a portable gaming rig, i5 with an attendant GPU should be fine. 12gb RAM is also a little much unless you really love your mindcraft or something. Like an i5 with an Nvidia card and 6-12 gigs RAM. That's just my take though.

Man, I thought I could just wait out for a new iPhone as an easy solution to my current phone no longer docking properly, but it's going to have new plugs.
Listening to my podcasts at night off of the computer isn't as satisfying.

>>10275
Well I'd be using it as my main pc (I travel a lot), not just a portable gaming rig. I know the portable versions of cards tend to be a bit underpowered compared to the ones in desktop models (unless I've been misled) so I figured a better class one to overcompensate for any discrepancy.

I'd also be using a mouse, not the mousepad, so that's a non-issue.

I'm primarily playing TF2 and Minecraft, interspersed with Fallouts and Skyrims and Dead Spaces, and maybe I'll be one of those losers that plays FFXIVas well which I know is a resource hog.

>>10277
that power loss would be more from the amount of power a laptop draws than anything else. Simply going beefier doesn't matter since these are all relatively recent machines you're looking at. An i5 with a 670X might do you just as well for what you're aiming to do and be a little less outright expensive. If you are going that expensive I definitely wouldn't just buy the first one I got, I'd compare a few, and see if I could find reviews on them.

>iOS 6
>"This seems pretty cool so far"
>Podcasts are now on the Podcast app
>"Well yeah, that's what they did with the movie app when it first came out"
>Instead of the album art, it just shows the podcast's general artwork.
Oh my head, what nonsense is this.
The one thing I really like about this podcast I listen to is that each episode has its own album art and now I don't get that anymore??
Geez.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/touchtime/touch-time-digital-watch-with-touch-screen

Kinda neat watch idea. I like the idea of it not being a "smart watch" since then I don't have to depend on a Smartphone for most its functionality. Its just a really cool digital watch.

>>10283
I enjoy this one a bit more myself:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android

>>10278
I've been comparing pc's on a few sites, and this seems to be the strongest bang for my buck that I'm seeing, but I should probably do more in depth looking at just WHAT I need to render what I'm doing...

Would the power loss be an issue if it's just always plugged in? I don't really care about the portability of the machines, pretty much just keep the battery out anyways and leave it in one place, just need a laptop for ease of travel purposes.

>>10284
I would cept most its functions are locked into needing a Smartphone now if it was a Wifi watch that didn't need a phone to do a lot of its functions then it would be a lot more interesting. Plain digital watch may not have the connectivity but it doesn't need charging about once a week and has a touch screen which I find a rather interesting addition.

I've been feeling an odd nostalgia for our old broken stuff.
We used to have a massive box TV that had a broken power button; all it did was mute the tv; the TV didn't even have a mute function.
And another one that took forever to warm up, so the reception that'd be terrible unless it was displaying a 1, so channel 11 was the only one that worked right away.
Good times.

>>10285
Ah, there goes me and my not reading. I just thought that was a limited smartphone watch.

Yeah, pebble is great for my cause smartphone addiction, but I can see why the alternative options w/o smartphones are enticing.

Got the Trojan:JS/Medfos B and A viruses. Running a full system scan with MSE.

In case MSE doesn't do anything, how do I remove them?

>>10288
>In case MSE doesn't do anything, how do I remove them?
The most common problem seems to be every other virus/trojan/rootkit has a way to effectively disable MSE (like forcing a reboot any time it's about to do anything). I've had the most success with Malwarebytes, Roguekiller, and ComboFix.

Sup guys, I got an issue with my laptop screen. When I turn it on, it won't turn on. However, I can use an HDMI cable to connect it to a television to use as a monitor. FN+F5 doesn't turn on the laptop monitor.

I've actually managed to fix this two times, but it seems to be a temp solution as it keeps happening every time I turn off or restart the computer. I've looked up some solutions, and I found that turning the lappy off, unplugging it from the power source, taking the battery out and holding down the power button for about a minute usually fixes it, but it doesn't seem to be working this time.

I don't know if I forgot a step this time, or whatever. I'll keep trying it out, see if maybe I just need to hold down the power button longer (I read it gets rid of excess voltage or something.) But, I just wanted to see if you guys might have had an alternate or more permanent solution.

The fuck is going on? When I get on my school network, I can't browse OR get on Steam. Yet it says I'm connected and I logged in to my account. And everyone else in the room has a perfectly fine connection.

>>10288
I've had good luck with super anti spyware

Is there any house material or element in the earth that could interfere with internet connection? No matter what kind of high grade LAN or router I buy the connection always sucks at mi casa.

>>10296
CHeck your internet settings, make sure you're not set to go through a proxy, that usually will keep you from visiting sites while being connected. It also means you probably have a virus.

>>10300
Excessive electromagnetic interference can cause issues, especially for Wi-FI or unshielded ethernet cables. If you're talking about wireless connectivity, it's all radio waves, so having relatively solid concrete or metal walls, or even just a lot of crap between the router and the computer can fuck the connection.

So I got a brand spanking new Windows 7 PC built from the ground up, since my old PC (re: >>10177) wen FUBAR.

There have been a few bumps in the road, but it had finally started working properly... until my screen started blacking out and my computer stopped receiving any commands, such as from the keyboard, as soon as a log in. I've tried using System Restore, and while it provides a temporary fix, it always keeps coming back.

If it helps, I can access Safe Mode and other maintenance features.

That...
That does not seem like the best solution for my dock clock.
I hope someone invents one with the universal dock in mind.

Well, incompatibility with old accessories and cables aside, the idea of a plug you can plug in any way seems very convenient.
I've known a few troublesome USB ports that I wouldn't mind "trying to put it in backwards" not be the reason I'm having trouble plugging it in.

>>10304
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/windows-7-black-screen-when-booting-up/93a2c6e2-9418-4f45-b217-2a152fcce665

While the video cards ay be different, it seems this is a commonish problem. There's a myriad of fixes, as there are a myriad of causes for it. I'll let you climb through the docs, as I'm not there and I can't tell what's happening to it directly.

>>10303
I actually learned that if I keep my laptop on, and drive to the school, it won't connect. But if I shut it down, drive to school, then turn it back on, it works.

I have no fucking clue why it does this but oh well.

For now, I unplugged my graphics card. That problem's been solved for now, but now I have another problem.

My MSE has not been able to update for a while, even after downloading the manual update. I wanted to see what you guys think before doing something as drastic as making Internet Explorer my default browser.

>>10317
I've seen MSE become corrupt a time or two. I might actually recommend updating windows, as MSE's capabilities are in part tied to windows updates. I'd stick to the important updates, and if that doesn't work, I'd uninstall, get a fresh MSE copy, and reinstall.

If it doesn't like that then it might be indicative of deeper issues, but, bridges when we come to them.

>>10318
>I'd uninstall, get a fresh MSE copy, and reinstall.

When I got some malware that managed to keep MSE frozen, reinstalling managed to get it working again--except for that the malware kept forcing my whole system to restart.

So I advise that you do it, but if you have the same problem uninstall it again and wait to reinstall until you've used some other programs; that specific one I was able to get rid of with ComboFix, Malwarebytes, and Roguekiller.

>>10319
gotta say, Malwarebytes is practically required in addition to whatever front-line AV you're using. Updating everything is also generally preferred, as a lot of malware requires un-updated systems to be effective

>Ad-Aware tells me it has a new version out and I should get that.
>The installer offers some kind of optional browser protection feature.
>No option to continue without accepting the agreement for the add-on even though it's optional.
>Gives two radio buttons, one for installing it all and the other for letting you choose which of the two browser protection components to install via checkboxes.
>selecting the second option causes both checkboxes to be filled in
>uncheck both boxes since that's the only way to claim you want to continue without these supposedly optional components
>They install anyway.
>Pressing cancel while the optional components install cancels the whole installation process.
>Install anyway, thinking they might be installed but off if unselected.
>Nope, on by default anyway.
Yeah, I think this is a program I'd like to get rid of now.

>>10323
full recommendations at the moment:

MSE (or your choice scanner AV) + Malwarebytes (installed in Safe Mode)
Your browser should be running Adblock+ and Noscript or similar to prevent casual attacks like Cross-Site Scripting
If you get a lot of programs off piratebay or just those without a GNU public license or similarly suspicious, I would heavily recommend Sandboxie, though that may cause some slowdown, but it's worth it to have unknown processes not infecting your computer

If you do not have a firewall you should activate Windows Firewall (MSE does this as a matter of course). Norton, Kaspersky, and Nod32 are all generally accepted as very good if you're paying for your AV, but I've been getting by with MSE.

YOU SHOULD BE UPDATING. Operating System, Programs, whatever. Updating is a lot like an Apple a day; it can't ever entirely prevent you from being infected, but it will ensure that the malware will be relatively cutting edge, as opposed to the majority of malware which still targets older, unprotected systems. Java and Flash both have glaringly huge security holes, and you can disable them if you really want, but I find the Noscript method of blocking untrusted sites from executing code is about as efficient. May need to do more research on that last one, but the rest of this is solid atm.

Is it just me or does Windows 8 look like a fucking mess?

>>10327
You and Gabe Newell are at least two people.

>>10327
>>10328
I'll third it.
I'll be skipping this generation of Windows entirely, as I did with Vista before it.

>>10327
>>10328
>>10329
like, it's nowhere as bad as vista was, so far.

But I really struggle with the overall purpose of it. It's meant in some ways to encrouch upon the tablet market because everyone thinks that's where we're all headed, but I can't see it beating out iOS or Android for king of that little pile.

Removing the start button and replacing it with "just hit the windows key" smacks of the same kind of "future thinking" that caused Vista to use as much RAM as possible under the idea that idle RAM was wasted RAM that could be freed as needed (or, y'know, just lock up because the processes involved incurred enough overhead to use all the RAM).

I mean, they put a fucking smiley face on the Blue Screen of Death. That might've flown back in 2001, but now? I can totally see people getting insulted that their computer just keeps smiling at them as it repeatedly fucks up. And for myself as a repair tech, a smiley face on an error screen is like a kick in the dick after getting punched out; you just don't need it.

I mean I'll deal with it, I'll have to. But I see no reason to make it my prime operating system. (That award currently goes to Linux Mint, which only has the problem of totally locking up after extended video play thus far).

>Building a computer for the first time ever
>Everything goes great but it takes forever because I have no idea what I'm doing
>Turn it on
>It works!
>Go to install Win7
>Starts loading
>Choose custom install
>I can't believe this is so easy!
>It can't find a disk drive to install on

I guess I messed up somewhere.

>>10332
probably not as badly as you think.

SATA connection with a new HDD, yeah? When you're in the select hard drive page, select Drive Options (Advanced) and see if you can't format the drive (windows sometimes can't see drives if they're completely unformatted you may have to do a low level format to prepare it). If you still can't see the drive, check that the jumpers on the drive are set correctly (directions should be on the drive itself or with the documentation. If that doesn't work try just removing the jumpers). Also, make sure your drive is plugged into the first SATA slot (this should not matter but for OCD's sake), and that it is visible in the BIOS (usually done by pressing a key at the initial splash screen when you turn on the computer, usually Delete, F4 or similar. The key to press should be listed when the computer starts up).

That you simply got it up and running without shorting it is the biggest hassle most face with this sort of thing. Just remember to ground yourself while working on it still.

>>10333
Thanks for the advice, anon!

I checked the BIOS and the only SATA it found was my DVD drive so I opened it back up and the HDD wasn't even connected right. I thought it might have been worse than that but it was just me being dumb

>>10332
>>10334
Amusingly enough, I ran into this exact problem while building mine. Everything was fine and dandy except the HDD, I panicked and thought I'd fucked something up, and it turns out I'd just needed to connect it to my power supply.

>>10335
>>10335
No problem.

It's an interesting thing about computers: they only need 4 parts to run: power supply, motherboard, chip, and RAM cards. Hard drives are technically optional, if you want to say, boot Linux from a USB drive into the RAM. But if you disconnect everything except those 4 parts, and you hear a beep code, it means 1 of the 3 parts (not the power supply) is damaged; if you hear nothing, the power supply is damaged. It's not the most accurate but if you learn the beep codes, you can diagnose, just by sound, what the issue is.

Should you? Not really. Error codes are searchable through google and through the product manufacturers' site. And sometimes, these errors can be produced by improper seating of the RAM cards, for example.

But if you run into Hard drive issues, you are most of the way there in building your own machine. Generally from that point it's either the hard drive itself or the connection.

i swear to christ i cant stand how horrible youtubes design is fuck fuck fuck

Opera sure knows how to cache captchas such that the only way to get a fresh one is to refresh the whole page.

I'm thinking about buying a laptop during Black Friday and I need help figuring out which one to get.

Dell will offer their Inspiron 15 for $300, but Walmart will have the Compaq Presario notebook for $180. The model for the Presario is CQ58-bf9WM. Which one should I get?

>>10345
While I'm at it, how's the $250 Samsung Chromebook?

>Computer Woes
Does that mean I can discuss things that are software related and beyond the understanding of an, at best, novice? Sorry in advance, as I'm about to ask a very simple, very basic question that should and probably could be fixed with a few google searches, but I would greatly appreciate a second, more focused opinion on the subject of anti-virus software.

You see recently I got a ban on 4chan for "Proxy/Tor Node" which is above my head as far as what could have triggered it. I waited my three days and made my appeal, to which it was denied and I was told " Please run a scan on your computer for malware/viruses. We have detected malicious activity from this IP."

Now I ran a scan with Kaspersky and Malwarebytes, both of which are telling me nothing is detected...but I still am not convinced. I was wondering if there was a more thorough option I could use for checking my system for bugs? Again I apologize for such a simple question, but 4chan's /g/ simply says to "install gentoo" and don't be stupid. But being stupid or at least too lax is what I think if not know what got me into this problem in the first place. Again any input on the situation is great.

>>10348
do you use wireless/is the wireless secured?

It could be that someone is connecting through your wireless field rather than hijacking your computer. A virus is a possibility but to have one be undetected and using tor nodes would require a bit of novel programming. A breach from without seems more likely.

>>10351
Well on that day I had spent a bit of time browsing at the nearby mcdonalds, since the friend in question doesn't allow liquids (like a morning cup of coffee) in his basement. I closed my laptop, putting it to sleep, and came over later, and connected to his secure connection...but I think it could have something while I was at mcdonalds?

>>10353
The IP addresses should've changed when you changed access points. If you're receiving this issue while on your friends' setup, maybe he's a Tor user.

>>10345
>>10346
A little late on these but I don't like to do outright product comparisons because generally I have to research to do that and my research may not be entirely accurate (I have no idea how chromebooks perform for example)

So, I'm running Steam and portable firefox off of a cheap 32gb office store Lexar drive while I'm PC Room hopping until I can afford my own laptop.

I can actually run TF2 off of it at full settings, but it hits a wall every few minutes and freezeframes for a second or two. Still playable but it can be irritating.

Anyone know if getting a dual channel flash drive would help to fix this issue? I tested the drive and it averaged about 38-40 MB/s read speeds (couldn't test write without deleting the contents, screw that noise). I know that USB 3.0 would probably fix the issue but none of the places I go to are 3.0 equipped.

Do they make dual channel usb 2.0 drives? Would a 3.0 be a better option anyways, would it give me the maxed possible 2.0 performance?

Halp please.

>>10354
I don't think so. I mean when I told him about the ban I didn't know what a TOR was. And since his connection, like the entire house's internet, had caught the ban alongside me, I'm not sure what to think. Even computers that belong to people who come by once in a blue moon were being affected by it. Going to try posting again, since the ban's been lifted, and will report back later.

>>10356
This info is probably not helpful, but maybe it is.

You're using USB versions (3.0, 2.0, 1.1 and 1.0) like speed values, but they are not.
Partly independent of version, you get the following speed standards in USB (in order):
SuperSpeed (5 Gb/s; Version 3.0)
Hi-Speed (480 Mb/s; Version 3.0 and 2.0)
FullSpeed (12 Mb/s; All Versions)
LowSpeed (1.5 Mb/s; All Versions)

This means, even when using USB 3.0 devices, your devices can end up falling back to LowSpeed.
A lot of Hi-Speed devices fall back to FullSpeed, depending on trivial things like cable length and quality, etc..
Just an USB 1.1, for example, device will never run on Hi-Speed or SuperSpeed. So upgrading from 2.0 to 3.0 does not guarantee SuperSpeed, but just makes it possible to go SuperSpeed in an ideal situation.

Also the transfer rates are "signaling transfer rates", meaning apart from payload, there will be some overhead from the USB system itself (device detection, speed negotiation, etc.). So even a SuperSpeed device may transfer much less payload, depending on what other info it transfers and what the other devices, sharing a host port/controller transfer.

Just sayan.

Good luck.

>>10356
This info is probably not helpful, but maybe it is.

You're using USB versions (3.0, 2.0, 1.1 and 1.0) like speed values, but they are not.
Partly independent of version, you get the following speed standards in USB (in order):
SuperSpeed (5 Gb/s; Version 3.0)
Hi-Speed (480 Mb/s; Version 3.0 and 2.0)
FullSpeed (12 Mb/s; All Versions)
LowSpeed (1.5 Mb/s; All Versions)

This means, even when using USB 3.0 devices, your devices can end up falling back to LowSpeed.
A lot of Hi-Speed devices fall back to FullSpeed, depending on trivial things like cable length and quality, etc..
Just an USB 1.1, for example, device will never run on Hi-Speed or SuperSpeed. So upgrading from 2.0 to 3.0 does not guarantee SuperSpeed, but just makes it possible to go SuperSpeed in an ideal situation.

Also the transfer rates are "signaling transfer rates", meaning apart from payload, there will be some overhead from the USB system itself (device detection, speed negotiation, etc.). So even a SuperSpeed device may transfer much less payload, depending on what other info it transfers and what the other devices, sharing a host port/controller transfer.

Just sayan.

Good luck.

>>10357
The ban is being applied to the IP address being sent off from your internet demarcation point, or the Modem connected to the router. So, anyone who connects through that router will connect through that modem, and face the same ban. Really, if there's no visible weirdness on your machine, it's entirely likely someone else in the house is using TOR somehow, albeit apparently to browse 4chan.

>>10358
So...maybe?

>>10363
Possible but unlikely. Even if you have a dual-channel USB 2.0, it's going to be limited by whatever version the USB hookup on the computer is. SO if you have a 3.0 that plugs into a 2.0 computer, you get 2.0 speeds. You only get higher speeds if the USB versions match up. But if your comp doesn't support 2.0 dual-band speeds, then you won't get 2.0 dual-band speeds even if you have a dual-band (and I'm not even right sure what that is).

>>10364
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-channel_memory_architecture#Dual-channel_architecture

Basically I'm just hoping that gaming off of a flash drive is taking up too many components for the single chip on the card to handle, so that if I got a dual channel drive it'd be able to take the full workload at once.

Then again, I don't really understand computers as well as I'd like to, which is why I'm asking the internet for advice :3

>>10366
That article is referring to dynamic memory, or RAM, which is not used in any kind of storage capacity. Those can only be used directly on a Motherboard that has the correct slots for them. And it has really not anything to do with your USB issue. Even if you did upgrade to Dual-Channel Memory, it would not boost your USB through-put. (More RAM might give you a higher memory ceiling but I'm not sure that would matter all that much in TF2. Does the game just become unplayable past a certain point?)

>>10367
>dynamic memory, or RAM, which is not used in any kind of storage capacity.

You're probably right about USB stuff and whatever, but there are actually physical RAM storage devices. It's pretty much like a software RAM disk, but as an actual hardware device, often with a backup battery, so the data survives system shutdown for a while.

This for example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815168001

These things are rare and expensive and of very limited use. Basically they can be useful in always-on systems, that need high speed disk storage separate from actual RAM.

However, they are highly confusing in terminology and thus hard to find and hard to talk about.