Support NeoGAF

[belvedere]

Any group policy experts here?

For multiple software installs (Flash ActiveX and Firefox Plugin) is it ok to include both installers in one GPO or to have a GPO for each individual .msi?

 

[Mudkips]

Any group policy experts here?

For multiple software installs (Flash ActiveX and Firefox Plugin) is it ok to include both installers in one GPO or to have a GPO for each individual .msi?

I'd say one per software, so you can easily enable / disable / alter them.

 

[belvedere]

I'd say one per software, so you can easily enable / disable / alter them.

I'll give that a whirl then. I ask because on certain machines, I'm running into the asynchronous/fast logon for Windows XP error.

 

[EarsOfASnake]

Is there anyway to go about speeding my PC up, similar to what a reformat would do, that I can do without reformating? I really cannot be bothered at this present time to go through the whole process, I use thing's like CCleaner, iobit defrag etc to try and keep my system in a reasonable condition but is there anything else I could do?

 

[TabletopTictacs]

So, I reinstalled Vista (Ultimate) a couple of days ago and it's all running perfectly. One problem I have though is that .wmv files now run really laggy, and don't output any sound. Youtube etc. are all fine, it's just files on my hard drive. I tried opening the file in WMP, VLC and Media Player Classic and it's the same for each of them.

I know it's something to do with codecs but I really have no idea how they work. Ideally, I'd like to continue watching video files with Media Player Classic, like I did before I reinstalled Vista.

Tl;dr, .wmv files run silent and laggy on my PC on all video players. What do?

 

[beelzebozo]

i figured out how to fix my itunes problem

here are the steps i followed:

• give up
• break shit
• format computer
• reinstall itunes
• listen to "we are the champions" by queen three consecutive times

 

[(._.)]

i figured out how to fix my itunes problem

here are the steps i followed:

• give up
• break shit
• format computer
• reinstall itunes
• listen to "we are the champions" by queen three consecutive times

I'm tempted to do steps 1-3 for my Youtube problem but there goes all my Steam installs

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Got a question.

I've installed Windows Virtual PC for Win 7, and used it to install a virtual Win98SE machine to run Realms of the Haunting (old Gremlin horror/FPS/adventure/point n' click game, it's very good). So far so good, I've got it up and running and it all works just fine. But Virtual PC is only running in windowed mode, How is babby formed do I make it run in fullscreen mode? I tried googling for a solution, but only found some jibbajabba about hosts and guests and activating remote desktop stuff or whatever.

Also, the Wikipedia article on Virtual PC mentioned that it should be possible to adjust the memory used for the graphics card used by the virtual Win 98 (adjusting it from 4 MB up to 16 MB video ram). Where can I do this?

Edit: I found out how to run the Windows desktop in fullscreen mode, but the game still runs in windowed mode. How fix?

 

[Lazy vs Crazy]

Every time I try to open a PDF in firefox, Adobe Reader opens in another window and gives me an error saying that the PDF cannot be opened in my browser. I can then hit OK on the error message and the PDF will be open in firefox. Anyone know how to make the reader window not open and not give me that error?

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Every time I try to open a PDF in firefox, Adobe Reader opens in another window and gives me an error saying that the PDF cannot be opened in my browser. I can then hit OK on the error message and the PDF will be open in firefox. Anyone know how to make the reader window not open and not give me that error?

1. Uninstall Adobe Reader (it's shit anyway)
2. Install PDF-XChange Viewer
3. Win at life

 

[Tashi]

So just now my computer got shit on by sime Trojan. It was a pretty bad one but nothing I have not seen before. I was able to run Malwarebytes Anti Malware. It has helped me greatly in the past. So I scan and find the infected files, clean the pc and restart. However, I hit blue screen when I try to start windows normally. It goes away too fast for me to see an error code. I am doing a full scan in safe mode now just in case it missed anything. Any ideas?

Btw I'm running XP SP3 on an old shitty HP laptop.

 

[British Monsoon]

Ugh, turn on my laptop this morning I was greeted with the error message;

"A disk read error occured - press ctrl + alt + del to restart"

It won't let me access the F8 or F12 boot menus, but I managed to get into the bios to get it to load from the Windows 7 DVD and now the Disk Repair utility has claimed it's found an error and is attempting to repair it - however, this process has been on-going for two hours now. How long should this take? Also, if it doesn't work, is my HDD fried? I've got a spare 2.5 HDD somewhere, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem to replace - I just don't want to lose my stuff

 

[Combichristoffersen]

So just now my computer got shit on by sime Trojan. It was a pretty bad one but nothing I have not seen before. I was able to run Malwarebytes Anti Malware. It has helped me greatly in the past. So I scan and find the infected files, clean the pc and restart. However, I hit blue screen when I try to start windows normally. It goes away too fast for me to see an error code. I am doing a full scan in safe mode now just in case it missed anything. Any ideas?

Btw I'm running XP SP3 on an old shitty HP laptop.

Tried writing a new boot sector and a new MBR? Doesn't always work, but sometimes it fixes shit. You could also try using the automated system recovery feature.

 

[Tashi]

Tried writing a new boot sector and a new MBR? Doesn't always work, but sometimes it fixes shit. You could also try using the automated system recovery feature.

Thanks, I tried the system recovery to a few days ago and I still get the blue screen. I will try to boot an mbr tomorrow. I really dont know what else to do. Worst case scenario I back up my hdd and re install windows but i REALLY want to avoid that

 

[British Monsoon]

the Disk Repair utility has claimed it's found an error and is attempting to repair it - however, this process has been on-going for two hours now. How long should this take?

Anyone? It's still attempting to repair the error, but the laptop is running hot after 5 damn hours of trying to do this.

 

[Combichristoffersen]

Anyone? It's still attempting to repair the error, but the laptop is running hot after 5 damn hours of trying to do this.

I don't know about the disk repair thing, but what about booting from a Linux Live or Windows PE disk to copy your stuff to an external drive or something before attempting a reinstall?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Preinstallation_Environment

Be sure to connect the drive before booting Win PE though.
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/145775-windows-pe-cant-find-usb-flash-drive/

 

[British Monsoon]

Oh excellent, i'll look into that as it increasingly seems like i'm going to have to wipe everything and reinstall - it's still doing the 'Startup Repair', I tried to cancel it but it says 'this opperation can't be cancelled'. Do you think it's ok to just turn it off?

 

[Vyer]

Oh excellent, i'll look into that as it increasingly seems like i'm going to have to wipe everything and reinstall - it's still doing the 'Startup Repair', I tried to cancel it but it says 'this opperation can't be cancelled'. Do you think it's ok to just turn it off?

Your HDD is probably fucked, don't think it will matter much if you turn it off or not.

You can try the steps above, also you can remove the drive, try and buy one if those USB adapters, see if you can connect it to another computer to recover your data.

 

[J Tourettes]

Does anyone here have any experience with dlan powerline? I'm debating a purchase as it seems more practical than wireless for my flat. Is it worth the money, does it do a good job? Thanks.

 

[Birbo]

HELP!

I'm running Vista 64 and I keep getting these windows that pop up and say:

Window #1:

Windows Explorer has stopped working.

Windows is searching for a solution.

Option: Cancel box

Window #2:

Windows Explorer is restarting.

Option: Cancel box

Please help me GAF.

 

[Traumahound]

Got a 2TB WD Sata HDD today from newegg. When I install it, it is not recognized on my PC. I only see my 1st HDD and my DVD drive. I checked through the Manage option on my computer and it doesnt appear on my bios. Did I just get a faulty hdd or am I missing something? Thanks

I know this is a week+ old, but just in case you're still checking the thread (or it helps someone else)...

Is your motherboard a few years old? It might have a SATA 1 controller that doesn't properly auto-negotiate with SATA 2 drives. You can set a jumper on the drive to force it into SATA 1 mode. You'll only get 1.5Gbps from the drive instead of 3.0Gbps, but it's better than a brick.

Here's the WD support page on it.

WD Support

 

[MrPliskin]

Alright, so I managed to buy a student copy of Windows 7 64bit, and the cashier told me I could do a full install using this disc? She said basically you install it, don't put in th product key, and then do a custom install and it should work fine?

Anyone heard of anything like this?

 

[adg1034]

Alright, so I managed to buy a student copy of Windows 7 64bit, and the cashier told me I could do a full install using this disc? She said basically you install it, don't put in th product key, and then do a custom install and it should work fine?

Anyone heard of anything like this?

Yup: http://www.infoworld.com/d/windows/windows-7-install-trick-saves-100-353

Okay, now, two issues.

One: My computer has major problems starting up. From a cold boot, it gets into Windows, with sound, mouse control, a populated desktop, the whole shebang, then always (always) gives me a BSOD. Cue automatic restart. This time, the boot process only gets a few seconds into the Windows 7 boot animation before there's another hard reboot, this time without any error messages at all. Only the third time does it start up and stay working. If I restart my PC from within Windows, these issues don't occur. It's only from a cold boot.

(The error messages seem to point to faulty memory, but at the onset of my rig, I replaced my RAM roughly thrice, and my motherboard once, and these issues still persist. Is there a chance I started off with a faulty motherboard that then somehow corrupted my RAM modules, which then would still be having issues even after the motherboard replacement? I've worked with computers all my life, but I still don't know to what extent one part can bring another one down- at least when it's not power supply-related.)

Two is simpler, but no less frustrating. I got a new sound card a couple days ago, an Asus Xonar D2X. I'm running the latest drivers. When I try to play a Blu-ray, PowerDVD 9 goes through about half of its "Loading Blu-ray disc" progress bar before crashing to the desktop, while PowerDVD 10 just refuses to start at all, bringing up an "APPCRASH" error message, to boot.

Any suggestions, GAF?

 

[The Lamonster]

My Windows 7 computer has been very healthy until now - failed updates causing startup to take about 20 minutes after it says 0% complete when trying to update.

Any tips?

 

[BreakyBoy]

My Windows 7 computer has been very healthy until now - failed updates causing startup to take about 20 minutes after it says 0% complete when trying to update.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e212/Jedi631/updates.png

Any tips?[/QUOTE]

Seems like it might be related to a known issue. Try the System Update Readiness Tool.

[URL="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=44e15787-66b0-4e9c-9c3b-1fc9ea40f69f&displaylang=en"]For 32-bit Win7[/URL]
[URL="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=914fbc5b-1fba-4bae-a7c3-d2c47c6fcffc&displaylang=en"]For 64-bit Win7[/URL]

 

[Jill Sandwich]

I'm on the shop for a new modem/router that I can plug my external drive in, so I can share files between the PS3 and my MacBook. Any recommendations?
I was looking at a Draytek box, either the 2710 or 2820 as they have pretty good reviews.
Or I could get a NAS

 

[The Lamonster]

Seems like it might be related to a known issue. Try the System Update Readiness Tool.

For 32-bit Win7
For 64-bit Win7

I think that did it, thanks!

 

[Barrett2]

At my network at the office, we installed a new wireless router. Everyones laptop can connect, but my boss's laptop can't connect to the router, and it doesn't even detect it when you pull up the wireless networks in range list.

Any simple suggestions? I'm not very tech savvy, so keep that in mind.

 

[NH Apache]

At my network at the office, we installed a new wireless router. Everyones laptop can connect, but my boss's laptop can't connect to the router, and it doesn't even detect it when you pull up the wireless networks in range list.

Any simple suggestions? I'm not very tech savvy, so keep that in mind.

Does your boss have an older laptop? Check the router settings to make sure you are broadcasting a mix of wireless b and g.

 

[Barrett2]

Does your boss have an older laptop? Check the router settings to make sure you are broadcasting a mix of wireless b and g.

How do i do that?

 

[NH Apache]

How do i do that?

Depends on your router. What kind of router do you have?

 

[sykoex]

I find that HD video only plays very fluidly when I use Windows Media Player, but I'd like to use MPC-HC because I like its usability/customization options. Anyone know what I can do to make videos run in MPC-HC as smoothly as in WMP? (I have these same problems when I use VLC too btw.)

 

[Agent Ironside]

So here at work, came across this customers system. Checked in because "They cant get online" :lol

 

[CrayzeeCarl]

That has to be a joke. I refuse to believe this. :lol

 

[Agent Ironside]

That has to be a joke. I refuse to believe this. :lol

I wish there was a joke in there somewhere. Sadly its real. :lol

Im going to have a talk with the customer.

Another from a while back.

My Documents. How does it work?

 

[enzo_gt]

My windows explorer crashes and restarts every half an hour to an hour, and even more frequently when running full screen applications. Running Vista SP2. Additionally, when it crashes, my system tray's icons all disappear even though they're still there when you hover over them. I got a script that temporarily fixes it by deleting the Past Icon stream and restarting Windows explorer, but I'm sure as hell not doing that every half hour.

I have searched the internet forever for a cure, and can't find one, so I challenge you, TechSupportGAF.

 

[sykoex]

My windows explorer crashes and restarts every half an hour to an hour, and even more frequently when running full screen applications. Running Vista SP2. Additionally, when it crashes, my system tray's icons all disappear even though they're still there when you hover over them. I got a script that temporarily fixes it by deleting the Past Icon stream and restarting Windows explorer, but I'm sure as hell not doing that every half hour.

I have searched the internet forever for a cure, and can't find one, so I challenge you, TechSupportGAF.

Wow I was having this exact problem a couple days ago. I updated to ffdshow beta 7 and the problem seems to be gone now.
http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/download.php

A message from Windows seemed to be suggesting it was a problem with the codec and once I updated I haven't had any explorer.exe crashes since.

 

[Agent Ironside]

My windows explorer crashes and restarts every half an hour to an hour, and even more frequently when running full screen applications. Running Vista SP2. Additionally, when it crashes, my system tray's icons all disappear even though they're still there when you hover over them. I got a script that temporarily fixes it by deleting the Past Icon stream and restarting Windows explorer, but I'm sure as hell not doing that every half hour.

I have searched the internet forever for a cure, and can't find one, so I challenge you, TechSupportGAF.

Sounds like an infection to me. Guess a failing hard drive is possible as well, even bad memory causes some goofy business like that.

If you can, for now, boot into safe mode with networking, download malwarebytes and (or) super antispyware. See what they find.

 

[enzo_gt]

Wow I was having this exact problem a couple days ago. I updated to ffdshow beta 7 and the problem seems to be gone now.
http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/download.php

A message from Windows seemed to be suggesting it was a problem with the codec and once I updated I haven't had any explorer.exe crashes since.

Wait, are you serious? Will try though, thanks. I never got the codec message though.

Sounds like an infection to me. Guess a failing hard drive is possible as well, even bad memory causes some goofy business like that.

If you can, for now, boot into safe mode with networking, download malwarebytes and (or) super antispyware. See what they find.

I did have a virus beforehand, but this was caused by a friend deleting a whole bunch of processes and whatnot and stuff hasn't been the same since. Now my computer has been cleansed (Microsoft Security Essentials did the job).

 

[sykoex]

Wait, are you serious? Will try though, thanks. I never got the codec message though.

If the codec thing doesn't work, go to Control Panel > Problem Reports and Solutions, there you might find a suggestion of what the problem is. That's the thing that told me to update/reinstall ffdshow.

 

[enzo_gt]

If the codec thing doesn't work, go to Control Panel > Problem Reports and Solutions, there you might find a suggestion of what the problem is. That's the thing that told me to update/reinstall ffdshow.

No solutions for problems found there, with a report submitted every single time. Installed the codec thing, and it still crashed once

 

[Fatalah]

I have a major annoyance with my Aspire One -- the brightness level never stays put. I want the screen to always bootup to the brightest setting.

I actually installed Windows 7 in hopes Microsoft's settings would prevail - but no dice.

This all may be rooted to the BIOS -- is there a simple solution here? Is there an Acer brightness utility that can fix this?

 

[Schrade]

I have a major annoyance with my Aspire One -- the brightness level never stays put. I want the screen to always bootup to the brightest setting.

I actually installed Windows 7 in hopes Microsoft's settings would prevail - but no dice.

This all may be rooted to the BIOS -- is there a simple solution here? Is there an Acer brightness utility that can fix this?

Go into BIOS and set the default level.

 

[Parl]

Problem: Audio driver needs reinstalling upon every startup. It works fine once installed, but it doesn't then load the driver during startup. However, the driver still appears in as installed in the list of installed programs. I've tried uninstalling the driver and reinstalling.

Solved: Just installed Driver Sweeper and got rid. Sorted it out.

 

[Fatalah]

Go into BIOS and set the default level.

I've tried to find the setting in the BIOS screen -- but I don't see anything for it.

 

[Birbo]

HELP!

I'm running Vista 64 and I keep getting these windows that pop up and say:

Window #1:

Windows Explorer has stopped working.

Windows is searching for a solution.

Option: Cancel box

Window #2:

Windows Explorer is restarting.

Option: Cancel box

Please help me GAF.

Anyone?

 

[mrklaw]

quick backup question - do I need to backup my OST outlook file, or is that just for convenience and outlook will recreate it from the online exchange file in the event of disaster? I was hoping I'd just be able to backup PST files to save space/time.

 

[S. L.]

I wish there was a joke in there somewhere. Sadly its real. :lol

Im going to have a talk with the customer.

Another from a while back.

My Documents. How does it work?

meh, i do that too. much more handy to have your stuff right there on the desktop

 

[The Lamonster]

My work blocks Websense so I've been using WeBuzz online web messenger to chat with friends and family during the day. However, it constantly loses connection so I'm looking for an alternative.

I downloaded mIRC so I could chat with my girlfriend but neither of us are familiar with IRC chatting and we can't figure out how to connect in this application. Can someone give me some simple instructions please?

Or any other suggestions of the easiest way we can instant message during the day?

 

[The Lamonster]

Anyone ^ ?

Sorry for the dp/bump, just kinda desperate here.