Plastic Nev

HiLouise, it is one of the very minor drawbacks of Windows 7 that it insists on everything being in either numerical or alphabetical order, no longer can you put things in the order of preference or importance unfortunately. The result of course means the folder marked "Most important" is a long way down the list from the one marked "Arts and Crafts" and is a nuisance, so if wanting that "Most Important" folder at or near the top, just add "All the" to the front of it. The only thing you can shift around and will stay where you put it, are the desk top Icons for programs etc. (Providing you don't alter any screen settings) One of the good things, once used to it ,is the new Windows Explorer pages. If you have a card reader installed, you can remove the card from your camera, put it in the reader and once an explorer page has been opened with the card contents, you just click on and drag each picture into the folder of choice, it saves the need for camera wizards and such. Also, it is worth a look on Youtube for Windows 7 tutorials for good idea's about other aspects of Windows 7. Other wise I hope you find Windows 7 is in the end a lot better, quicker, and easier to work with. I will mention that if you have a look in our magazine pages, there are now many of Kens tutorials there as well regarding some of the more complex things you may need, otherwise any questions you have please do come and ask, we are happy to help. Nev.

I will add, if you have a router with at least two ports, you can set up a network between the two computers and copy files across using the network. A little, not a lot, more complicated, but can be done easily. Nev.

Rather than Snippy, try using the "Print Screen" key, then open "Paint", and click "Paste", that should give you the full screen. When copying drop down menu's it is the only way, as menu's close when you click on snippy.

Hi Megtop, sorry but we cannot help with password issues, it is against forum policy due to the fact we have no way of knowing if this computer is yours. If the password did once work, we can only recommend you take the computer to a technician, bearing in mind he may ask you for receipts or other proof of ownership. Nev.

Hi Bob, just what I thought, a burner program possibly thinking it has a disk in it to burn, therefore holding the drawer shut. If it gives more trouble, uninstall, then reinstall if you need it, it could be a corrupted program file that a reinstall should fix. Nev.

Yes it can happen and would be funny if not so serious. It appears that so called smart gadgets have been targeted with malware that can then send spam e mail, more here :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25780908 Nev.

Hi, first thing to ask is have you run any anti virus or malwarebytes scans just in case it is an odd malware causing it? Second thing is to have a look in the task manager, and look to see if a strange process is running if you think it is some software problem. On XP click start, then run, in the box type :- taskmgr then click OK or hit the enter key. Click on the Processes tab. Let us know what you find in both cases please, Nev.

I agree with Ken here, I would certainly recommend you look elsewhere, he doesn't sound like a very knowledgeable sort of guy, he shouldn't need to see camera or connection leads. If it were me, a couple of questions would answer all I would need to know. Plus a quick run up of the complete machine and a walk through some of the minor differences from XP isn't going to break the bank either. I don't think this guy actually wants your business any way. Nev.

Good to hear Ray, that at least is one problem sorted, till we hear anything from the other Ray. Running at the wrong or too high a frequency is quite often a cause of this sort of trouble. Nev.

I will just add that if there is still a problem, the USB cables are cheap enough to buy so a replacement is the next to try. Nev.

Hi, Ken asked me to check and as far as I can see, you can only initiate the verify function as a part of the image creation process, I cannot see any way to do so after the image has been created. The best I can find is the "Explore image" which will give you some idea if the image is OK or not. Nev.

Hi Silva, can you tell us please, the make and model of the printer, and is the connection wired or wireless. For now I will assume wired, have you tried a new cable? Nev.

Hi, does this new motherboard actually have a small speaker fitted to make the beeps? If no speaker, you can't hear any. Nev.

Hi again Ray, have you tried the option of 70Hz? I am a little surprised at it being a full fifteen Hz above the usual.

Hi, is the new motherboard exactly the same make and model as the original? If not, you may not get it to boot anyway as windows is fussy about that. However, with the new motherboard and PSU, is there a separate video graphics card or is the graphics integrated with the motherboard? If a card, it may be that at fault. The other possibility if you used the original CPU, that could be faulty though very rare. However my bet now is the hard drive faulty. To find that out is to remove it, use a USB adapter, or enclosure, or if one available to borrow, a hard drive to USB docking station and connect it to a working computer, then see if the working computer recognises it and that you can access the data on it. Nev.

Hello Louise, No doubt Ken and maybe others will also give their opinion, however the direction you are looking towards is certainly a good one providing you can find a very reputable shop or small business that will do that for you. Once you are certain about that, you can basically ask for everything you have outlined, though the version of office may have to be a later one, for maybe two reasons, firstly it may no longer be available, unless you already have a disk for it, and secondly, Windows 7 may not be too happy running the older version, that also might apply for your camera scanning software. I will say that I recommend the initial install of Windows 7 ideally should be the Professional rather than the Home Premium version as the pro version is more able to handle earlier programs and it does have some other minor improvements on the Home Premium too. As for price, it then depends on the items the builder fits, however bearing in mind also you will also be paying for his time, so the whole thing may be a up to 20% more than an equivalent ready made from a big store, or if the parts required can be obtained at reasonable prices, may even be a little cheaper. It does depend quite a lot on what you require, especially if at some later time you may want a graphics card fitted, the mother board would need to start off as being one that can take a graphics card, there are other variables too. Don't let that put you off though as the one good thing is that you will not be lumbered with all the junk softwares those ready made things come with, it will only have the operating system plus whatever you ask for installed on it, and it will be exactly as you specify, not something that will do, but not fully what you wanted. Do discuss what your requirements are at great length with whoever you find to build it for you, the more you tell him, the more he will understand what you need, and he can then give recommendations from that. However don't let him talk you into one of the expensive paid for anti virus programs such as Norton, McAfee or similar, have a look at what our security guys recommend and go with that. Nev.

Hi Ray, have you looked at the refresh rate, the normal setting is 60HZ, is it set at that? Also have you looked at changing the resolution and tried that? Nev.

Hi, as yet we don't know what you have, is this a desktop computer or a laptop, and also can you tell us the make and model please. We can advise better from knowing that. Nev.

Hi to both, a little puzzling is this and confusing now as I am now talking to two Ray's :D However, Ray PEV has said he is still using an old CRT type monitor and to be honest a new flat screen would possibly solve his problem. Is yours also a CRT type Ray 2000? The older CRT types do generate more heat, which eventually does change component values over time, therefore making things unstable. Used to be a real problem with the older CRT televisions did that, and if I may show my age, when TV's were full of glass bottles all glowing orange, the heat build up was even worse. I have found electronics resistors have really wandered well away from their original values in those older all valved telly's. Any way, a new LCD flat screen monitor will give a much clearer picture. Unfortunately, they are no longer as cheap as they once were, so a well looked after second hand one may be worth looking into. Nev.

I am in a similar situation to Ray, I have a surge protection multi socket on the end of a short lead, the multi socket has its own on off switch which shuts everything down once the computer is off. I never leave power on to the computer overnight or at any time when I am away from home due to the computers power supply is still active, though the computer is shut down. I once found the power supply had blown while I was away, which also blew the motherboard making it an expensive repair. Besides which, turning all off at the end of the day saves me a surprising £20.00 a quarter on my electricity bill. Nev.

CryptorBit is another Ransomware and appears to be a spin off from the now well known Cryptolocker and was probably coded by someone not quite as clever as those who developed Cryptolocker, as CryptorBit is a much simpler code or program. It does appear to have encrypted files and folders, however not quite as heavily as Cryptolocker does and there are ways out without paying the ransom. More here from our friends at BC with instructions for decryption. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/cryptorbit-ransomware-information Nev.

Hi Jayden, to get into the UEFI Bios system, from boot up tap the F2 key. Nev.

Hi, if you already have an external hard drive, which I assume plugs into a USB port, the case it is in is similar to what you would buy as an enclosure. When you get the hard drive out of the laptop, (as per the video) you will see there is a connector on the edge. A USB adapter has a plug that fits that edge connector with a USB plug on the other end. A docking station, is a unit that the hard drive just drops into with a socket inside that the hard drives edge connector fits into, you then plug the docking station into a USB port. One important thing is the possibility of your external hard drive may be a different and older type than the laptop one, the older type is known as IDE, the one from your laptop is most likely to be SATA. However you won't know which it is until you take the external hard drive apart. If the drive out of the external looks like this, it is the older IDE type, and is the 3.5 inch version, the 2.5 inch version looks similar but is smaller and a narrower connector. neither are swappable. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/IDEharddrive_zps1d671289.jpg However if the connections look like this, you are in luck and the laptop drive should fit as the SATA connections are the same for either a 2.5 inch laptop drive or a 3.5 inch desktop drive. This is actually a 2.5 inch laptop drive. SATA connectors are swappable. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y282/plasticpig/SATAharddrive_zps2e7dd09e.jpg Hope that helps, Nev.

Hi, I now suspect that from cold, the hard drive appears to be working, however after a few minutes and once the drive starts to warm up, it is then failing. It can be checked out if you have another computer, though it will mean having to buy either a USB adapter, USB docking station, or a full enclosure in order to connect the hard drive to another computer for checking purposes. As you saw on the video, removing the drive from the laptop is just as easy as it was to access the RAM. If no other computer is available, the drive could be taken to a repair shop for checking, but that would mean paying a small fee perhaps. The only other alternative problem could be something on the mother board, however my bet is now the hard drive. Nev.

So far we are looking at the deal from a users perspective, in my previous post I stayed away from this in order to give my opinion on the actual software, not the mindset. So let's try and look at this from the developers point of view and his or her mindset. There is plenty of open source software, this is software developed by people who do so entirely voluntarily and with no goal of financial gain for themselves. After all I am a member here as a volunteer, I do not look for any rewards and there are millions of people in this world who volunteer for all sorts of tasks with no reward, doing the job is the reward. I used to drive railway steam engines, the reward was to have the control of a powerful engine and to give a pleasurable train ride for the passengers, with a good few other people who were also volunteers, just as another example. OK there are quite often financial considerations, the passengers on the train paid a fare, some members here give donations, all very welcome cash, but that is used primarily to maintain the infrastructure, not to give me or any other volunteer a wage. The same applies to open source software, donations are accepted by the developers if only to pay website fees and other background costs. The developers are well aware that not many will consider donating, so their goal is to keep certain resources as free for all and even have the general aspect of freedom for the people. All sounds a bit altruistic, which it actually is, some people have a passion for this freedom. So what about the commercial company who offer software for free? Quite often the free version is a watered down version of the paid for software, I would be surprised if they were as altruistic, rather it is the fact that they offer a free and watered down version in the hope you will realise the software is what you want and are willing to pay for the full version. Also there are those companies who offer a free trial for a time period, then after that time period you have to pay the fee to keep using it. They tend to offset the costs of creating and maintaining free software against the money they get from those who pay for the full version, it is all part of business, and in my mind a well run business, it gives the company a good name, which is a lot more important to a business than most folks realise. So, in conclusion to that, if the software is open source, it is free to use, there is also a lot of software that isn't open source as such, but still free to use and for as long as you want, if you feel it is worth a donation to the cause, fine, but you are not forced to give and the developers don't want that, they are volunteers doing it for fun, a few dollars or pounds is an added extra. Where the software is paid for, either right away or after a trial period, if you want what that software does, you are forced to pay for it, because the mindset of the developers and the business is that they are doing it to earn a living. A good look at life in general shows that the whole, either a volunteer, or a paid worker is just the way life is. Computer software is just a newer aspect in life, and just a more recent part of something that goes so far back in time it is lost in history. Nev.