Tech Support

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:53 am

Johnny Carwash wrote:As one of the last people who still has a desktop PC, I'm having a bitch of a time finding a computer desk with a compartment for the CPU tower. Is anyone else facing this problem, or do you have any ideas for a solution? I'd like to avoid just having the CPU out in the open, both aesthetically and for protection.

We have the same need. Make it harder, we are looking for a corner piece that puts the CPU in a particular place (away from a heat vent). However, my wife has found a plethora of them. We are looking at an inexpensive piece, so overstock.com, wayfair and a few others like that our where we are looking. I also know there are some idea options (or ikea hacks) that do a nice job.

duff · Post by **duff** » Mon Jan 04, 2016 10:52 am

Just make sure there is enough airflow for cooling. I am in the process of building a new desktop. I prefer them over laptops/tablets/all-in-ones. Of course it is for gaming purposes, but it will be used by the whole family.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 11:22 am

I have a 2009 iMac that has a failing hard drive. Given that the computer is almost 7 years old (other than the hard drive it's fine) is buying a new one a better idea than a new hard drive?

If I get a new computer it'd be a Mac mini and I'd either use this monitor as a display or buy a $100 monitor and plug it in.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:05 pm

Do you have OS disks and all that? If the computer is fine for what you use it for otherwise a HDD is cheap compared to a new machine. I'm sure Apple makes it a pain in the ass to replace, but if you're relatively handy it shouldn't be that though.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:38 pm

I have everything backed up to an external and I have the latest install of El Capitan on that as well (and I'm sure I have the install discs in my desk)

That's good to know. The computer works fine. And I have no problem installing a new one as I'm not exactly wanting to spend $1,000 on a new computer when this is just fine for work.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 1:13 pm

You could even get a SSD and make it a hell of a lot faster for just a tad more money. Amazing how fast HDD and SDD prices have fallen.

How ya do it (saves a google.)

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:20 pm

So, those of you who upgraded to Windows 10, have you noticed any kind of a performance hit at all, or do things run just about the same? My PC is about 5 years old but still pretty fast. I keep getting the Win10 upgrade notices, but my biggest apprehension is that it might degrade my performance.

Post by **Sabo** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:31 pm

Johnny Carwash wrote:So, those of you who upgraded to Windows 10, have you noticed any kind of a performance hit at all, or do things run just about the same? My PC is about 5 years old but still pretty fast. I keep getting the Win10 upgrade notices, but my biggest apprehension is that it might degrade my performance.

I had Windows 7 on my iMac at home, and I decided to move to Windows 10. It was a mistake ... I had far more issues with Windows 10 than I ever had in Windows 7. I eventually said to hell with it and wiped my drive and reinstalled Windows 7. That said, it's entirely possible the problems I had were due to Apple's Boot Camp, which is needed to run Windows on a Mac.

I also greatly disliked how much information the OS would send back to Microsoft. It's rather substantial, and if you try to run all of it off, you have to change a boatload of that goes into details about the information the OS sends back:

http://www.howtogeek.com/224616/30-ways ... ones-home/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 2:30 pm

Johnny Carwash wrote:So, those of you who upgraded to Windows 10, have you noticed any kind of a performance hit at all, or do things run just about the same? My PC is about 5 years old but still pretty fast. I keep getting the Win10 upgrade notices, but my biggest apprehension is that it might degrade my performance.

Run Windows 10 on two home machines. One is a laptop that was originally Windows 8. There is a strange flickering bug that I can seem to figure out with Chrome, Windows 10, and Lenovov. Other than that, it is just as fast as with Windows 8. The home machine I built is a budget gaming tower. I went straight to windows 10 and have had no issues.

blundercrush · Post by **blundercrush** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 5:07 pm

I did a fresh install on an SSD and it has been fine for my desktop. Historically it's has been nearly a requirement to back up your data and start fresh when upgrading an OS, or weird stuff can happen. I will say it worked fine on a laptop that I have that was Windows 8.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 5:09 pm

Hey, a blundercrush sighting. Welcome back.

blundercrush · Post by **blundercrush** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 5:24 pm

Thanks. Wooo slow office work life. Also no Scottie or if he is here, my block is working fantastically swell.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 8:06 am

Sabo works in IT so his expectations are likely pretty high.

Post by **Sabo** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 10:52 am

A_B wrote:Sabo works in IT so his expectations are likely pretty high.

I only have Windows installed on my iMac so I can run Steam and play PC video games. So no, my expectations are actually pretty damn low.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 10:55 am

Sabo's been on the road a lot, so his dander is probably pretty high.

Post by **Sabo** » Thu Apr 07, 2016 12:22 pm

Today, one of our users contacted me about recovering a lost file. The user admits the file doesn't exist, and the only record he has of it was when he sent it to the network printer. And now this user insists the file has to exist somewhere because it's listed in the log and wants me to recover it.

And just when I thought today was going to be an easy day ...

Johnny Carwash · Post by **Johnny Carwash** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 1:11 pm

Does anyone else use outlook dot com (nee hotmail) for their personal e-mail? And if so, do you agree that it is an awful, buggy, clunky pile of shit? I'm still hanging on since I've used it as my primary e-mail for 15+ years and have all my contacts and history stored there, but the bad interface and poor performance are almost inexcusable at this point.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 2:13 pm

Johnny Carwash wrote:Does anyone else use outlook dot com (nee hotmail) for their personal e-mail? And if so, do you agree that it is an awful, buggy, clunky pile of shit? I'm still hanging on since I've used it as my primary e-mail for 15+ years and have all my contacts and history stored there, but the bad interface and poor performance are almost inexcusable at this point.

Have they finally send work that the folder " To My Brother" is over capacity?

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 1:33 pm

Question about the workings of the internets...my local municipality is now offering gigabit internet service...which I'm super excited about. I currently have 25 MB service with Comcast that has been acceptable, but struggles during high traffic times. My major complaint has been relating to DirecTV...it's currently running on wireless and I can't watch anything truly on demand b/c of buffering/time to download.

My question is this...will the gigabit service make enough of a difference in my streaming/download times if I keep running it on wireless? I am torn b/c my neighbor has offered to help me complete the RJ45 wiring (the rooms have the jacks and there is a central connection box in the basement) in the house...so I could in theory hard-wire everything. I already have gigabit router (almost 2 year old Netgear Nighthawk r7000) if that makes a difference.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 1:37 pm

GoodKarma wrote:Question about the workings of the internets...my local municipality is now offering gigabit internet service...which I'm super excited about. I currently have 25 MB service with Comcast that has been acceptable, but struggles during high traffic times. My major complaint has been relating to DirecTV...it's currently running on wireless and I can't watch anything truly on demand b/c of buffering/time to download.

My question is this...will the gigabit service make enough of a difference in my streaming/download times if I keep running it on wireless? I am torn b/c my neighbor has offered to help me complete the RJ45 wiring (the rooms have the jacks and there is a central connection box in the basement) in the house...so I could in theory hard-wire everything. I already have gigabit router (almost 2 year old Netgear Nighthawk r7000) if that makes a difference.

Yes, the gigabit will be great over wireless for streaming. But I also don't have the problems you do with directv buffering with on demand stuff, even though I am only on 20 MB service now (going up to 50 in the next month or so, yay). I see no reason to go backwards in tech to RJ-45 personally, unless you are doing big work re: uploading/downloading.

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:07 pm

Ok...thanks for the insight. I agree that I don't want to go backwards in tech...I guess I can always try and hook it up later if it's still a problem.

Post by **Shirley** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:30 pm

Well, if you can plug something in directly with a wire, that's going to be way faster than wifi. It looks like you have a pretty good router, but maybe it's in a bad spot in the house? Or maybe the device that's buffering is using an older wifi card? If you have n or ac, you should be good for most streaming video.

blundercrush · Post by **blundercrush** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 5:48 pm

AB: hardwired is a ton better if it can be done. As a possible compromise to maybe get to a 2nd level of the house or through a bunch of walls, you can get this: https://www.amazon.com/Powerline-Comput ... de=1194444

Something can only go as fast as the slowest link. So if you translate everything into Mbps (which is what comcast uses) here's how it breaks down

Comcast: 25 Mbps
Router wireless (Assuming it's N protocol, not the newest, but pretty common: 40-50Mbps) if it's g wireless 20ish Mbps - if you go through more than 1 wall both of these can go down pretty significantly
If you hardwire: anywhere from 40-480Mbps (40 is a super conservative estimate of the slowest possible hardline connection you should assume it will be somewhere in the 100-200 range easily)

basically the best way to check is to see what wireless speed you are getting on your router, if it's N, don't bother upgrading, if it's G, it might be worth it, but only if whatever receiver you are connecting to can accept N as well.

If all of this is confusing you, sorry, short answer is hardware + gigabit is best if possible, if not, wireless N is next best thing.

Steve of phpBB · Post by **Steve of phpBB** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 6:03 pm

blundercrush wrote:AB: hardwired is a ton better if it can be done. As a possible compromise to maybe get to a 2nd level of the house or through a bunch of walls, you can get this: https://www.amazon.com/Powerline-Comput ... de=1194444

We just put one of these in our house, to get a stronger signal to my son's room, and he says it works great. (He says it's for gaming and not porn. Sadly, I believe him.) I am actually looking to add a second adapter on the powerline network, because ever since we put in that powerline connection we've been getting a weak wireless signal to the TV in our bedroom, which makes Netflix difficult. But as far as I can tell, Amazon only sells the units in pairs - one access point and one adapter - when all I need is a second adapter.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 6:35 pm

Wired definitely better. But usually overkill in a residence.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 7:10 pm

My Google Fiber is the modem/wireless router in one, so I didn't have to worry about buying a new/faster router.

My only "issue" is that I don't have a gigabit card in either computer of mine because of their ages. So I'm only getting 300 mbps

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 7:54 pm

Brontoburglar wrote:My Google Fiber is the modem/wireless router in one, so I didn't have to worry about buying a new/faster router.

My only "issue" is that I don't have a gigabit card in either computer of mine because of their ages. So I'm only getting 300 mbps

First world problems.

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 8:29 pm

blundercrush wrote:AB: hardwired is a ton better if it can be done. As a possible compromise to maybe get to a 2nd level of the house or through a bunch of walls, you can get this: https://www.amazon.com/Powerline-Comput ... de=1194444

Something can only go as fast as the slowest link. So if you translate everything into Mbps (which is what comcast uses) here's how it breaks down

Comcast: 25 Mbps
Router wireless (Assuming it's N protocol, not the newest, but pretty common: 40-50Mbps) if it's g wireless 20ish Mbps - if you go through more than 1 wall both of these can go down pretty significantly
If you hardwire: anywhere from 40-480Mbps (40 is a super conservative estimate of the slowest possible hardline connection you should assume it will be somewhere in the 100-200 range easily)

basically the best way to check is to see what wireless speed you are getting on your router, if it's N, don't bother upgrading, if it's G, it might be worth it, but only if whatever receiver you are connecting to can accept N as well.

If all of this is confusing you, sorry, short answer is hardware + gigabit is best if possible, if not, wireless N is next best thing.

My router is ac 1900 (600+1300) so I think I'm ok there...the new service is replacing my modem with something that serves as a modem (not sure exactly if/how it's different) to connect to my router. I guess my benchmark will be how DirecTV reacts as that is the only thing I have a problem with.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 9:02 pm

A_B wrote:
Brontoburglar wrote:My Google Fiber is the modem/wireless router in one, so I didn't have to worry about buying a new/faster router.

My only "issue" is that I don't have a gigabit card in either computer of mine because of their ages. So I'm only getting 300 mbps

First world problems.

Completely. When one of the biggest dilemmas in my life is if I should switch from Directv to Google for TV, it's a good one.

(Google doesn't have BeIn Sports as well as NBA/NHL Network, etc. It does have Pac-12 Network, which would come in handy for work. The lack of the three channels + my MLB Extra Innings package is why I haven't switched yet)

EnochRoot · Post by **EnochRoot** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 8:14 am

GoodKarma wrote:
blundercrush wrote:AB: hardwired is a ton better if it can be done. As a possible compromise to maybe get to a 2nd level of the house or through a bunch of walls, you can get this: https://www.amazon.com/Powerline-Comput ... de=1194444

Something can only go as fast as the slowest link. So if you translate everything into Mbps (which is what comcast uses) here's how it breaks down

Comcast: 25 Mbps
Router wireless (Assuming it's N protocol, not the newest, but pretty common: 40-50Mbps) if it's g wireless 20ish Mbps - if you go through more than 1 wall both of these can go down pretty significantly
If you hardwire: anywhere from 40-480Mbps (40 is a super conservative estimate of the slowest possible hardline connection you should assume it will be somewhere in the 100-200 range easily)

basically the best way to check is to see what wireless speed you are getting on your router, if it's N, don't bother upgrading, if it's G, it might be worth it, but only if whatever receiver you are connecting to can accept N as well.

If all of this is confusing you, sorry, short answer is hardware + gigabit is best if possible, if not, wireless N is next best thing.
My router is ac 1900 (600+1300) so I think I'm ok there...the new service is replacing my modem with something that serves as a modem (not sure exactly if/how it's different) to connect to my router. I guess my benchmark will be how DirecTV reacts as that is the only thing I have a problem with.

Echoing what others have said: though the latest generation of WiFi routers have significantly reduced the drop-off in speed associated with the WiFi experience, wired is always the best option if feasible.

If you have a dual band router, consider dedicating the faster band (even if it means you're not getting a full signal) to your DirecTV box.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:25 am

So I am not by any means a Apple guy so I am flummuxed by something that happened to a MacBook that I've sort of inherited and my wife uses.

She was out yesterday using the laptop and it shut off because of low battery. She brought it home and plugged it in and now the computer won't turn on.

The light on the charger is green, and the battery status on the laptop itself appears that the battery is full.

Any suggestions?

Post by **Sabo** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 10:31 am

Rush2112 wrote:So I am not by any means a Apple guy so I am flummuxed by something that happened to a MacBook that I've sort of inherited and my wife uses.

She was out yesterday using the laptop and it shut off because of low battery. She brought it home and plugged it in and now the computer won't turn on.

The light on the charger is green, and the battery status on the laptop itself appears that the battery is full.

Any suggestions?

You might want to try resetting the System Management Controller. The directions vary depending on the model, but here's a link on how to do it:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 11:03 am

I "tried" that (didn't appear to do anything.)

She's going to try to bring it to an Apple Store, but I'm just wondering if they'll be helpful if it's not under warranty, and an institutional device (I got it from work for testing and I've repeatedly tried to return it and no one answers my inquiries.)

Rams Fanny · Post by **Rams Fanny** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 12:02 pm

Rush2112 wrote:I "tried" that (didn't appear to do anything.)

She's going to try to bring it to an Apple Store, but I'm just wondering if they'll be helpful if it's not under warranty, and an institutional device (I got it from work for testing and I've repeatedly tried to return it and no one answers my inquiries.)

They'll be helpful but you would have to pay if something needs to be replaced. They do try all free troubleshooting first. If this is your first time dealing with the Genius Bar, download the Apple store app and make an appointment that way. The chances of her walking in and getting someone to look at it are near nil.

Post by **brian** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 12:13 pm

Rams Fanny wrote:
Rush2112 wrote:I "tried" that (didn't appear to do anything.)

She's going to try to bring it to an Apple Store, but I'm just wondering if they'll be helpful if it's not under warranty, and an institutional device (I got it from work for testing and I've repeatedly tried to return it and no one answers my inquiries.)
They'll be helpful but you would have to pay if something needs to be replaced. They do try all free troubleshooting first. If this is your first time dealing with the Genius Bar, download the Apple store app and make an appointment that way. The chances of her walking in and getting someone to look at it are near nil.

Yeah, this. Make an appointment first. If her schedule is fairly flexible, she should be able to get in very soon. I can tell you that unless parts or actual repair are involved you don't have to worry about the warranty. They'll fix it for free with some different system diagnostics if they're able to. It could be something as simple as needing to replace the battery, which shouldn't cost much at all.

Rush2112 · Post by **Rush2112** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 12:33 pm

Just heard from the wife. Evidently it's older so they don't "support it," but she was given instructions on what to do if they were able to support it.

cerrano · Post by **cerrano** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 9:46 am

i've noticed over the last couple of days that i've got the lowercase i with a circle around it in the address bar to the left of the url (see below) and it indicates that my connection is not private.

i've never seen this before. anybody know what causes this and if i should be changing all my passwords right away but on a different computer.

Post by **Shirley** » Sat Jul 30, 2016 4:46 pm

It's not private, because sportsfrog.net is on http, not https. We don't have a certificate (that I know of), so we can't be https.

I'm guessing Chrome is seeing that there's a password form on the page, so it's warning you that the site isn't https. That means that the connection isn't encrypted.

It's really nothing to worry too much about. I wouldn't use the same username/password here that you use for gmail or your bank accounts, though.

cerrano · Post by **cerrano** » Sun Jul 31, 2016 1:07 am

Thanks, Dave. Usually, it's just the dog-eared page up there. The other icon was starting to appear for any site I was visiting. Then after I posted, chrome started crashing regularly. Weird.

Post by **Sabo** » Thu Sep 08, 2016 9:29 am

So, Apple made a big announcement yesterday about some lame updates to the iPhone (sans headphone jack, because it takes "courage" to force your user base to spend more money, but whatever), lame updates for the stupid Apple Watch no one uses and "AirPods", which are wireless ear buds that probably will be lost a few minutes after you wear them.

Fortunately our friends at the Guardian had a good take on Apple's short-sightedness with having wireless ear buds.

The beauty of the headphone cable is just like the beauty of a tampon string: it is there to help you keep track of a very important item, and help you fish it out of whatever nook and cranny it might have fallen into. Apple's apparent blindness to this blindingly obvious problem is perplexing.

Well said, Guardian writer. Well said.