The Computer Thread

Sixthhokage1, regarding your comment on MS's Security Essentials, I have to disagree that it's good.

It used to be good, but as time went on it became more and more useless, leaving fewer nasties caught, until it got to the point that anything it did was purely cosmetic.

If anything, now it's worse than no AV at all, as it gives a false sense of security to the users who think they can go anywhere because they're covered, but really aren't. Kinda like the "security theater" by TSA at airports.

edited 22nd Feb '15 9:51:14 PM by Nohbody

And that's what I get for not keeping my mouth shut on something I haven't researched in a long time.

If anything, now it's worse than no AV at all, as it gives a false sense of security to the users who think they can go anywhere because they're covered, but really aren't

That's true of any AV. I mean, it can detect some stuff, but it's not like it makes you safe or absolves you of caution.

Bah. The new toys came in, but I'm off to work shortly so I don't have the time to install them.

/FirstWorldProblems

So at work they gave everyone tablets and keyboard cases to try out, but I really have no idea what to do with one since it seems inferior to a laptop in almost every way.

What do you even use a tablet for? I mean, it can't fit in your pocket and as long as you're carrying something that big you might as well just carry a small laptop instead.

edited 23rd Feb '15 8:41:27 PM by storyyeller

I use mine for lightweight internet browsing while laying down in bed or going back and forth between rooms of the house or other situations where a laptop is inconvenient. Also listening to music while doing chores like laundry and dishes because there's not enough space in this house to keep my laptop stable during those chores and unlike my dumbphone I can stream music on it and access my Amazon Music library and play lossless files and not be limited to a small amount of microSD storage. And mine's a 7 inch tablet so I can fit it in my pockets just fine.

Having had a school-issued tablet, I can verify that they absolutely suck for productivity. The tablet form factor is one that's specialized for content consumption and social media. Anything else is generally gonna be frustrating.

Though my first gen Kindle Fire did come in handy when my laptop and wireless router weren't getting along and I needed to SSH into a server to fix something on a Mediawiki installation. It's nice that running things through dtach will keep my tasks from aborting each time my connection crashes but I need to be able to stay connected to get shit done. Yeah, using a terminal emulator on a touchscreen is a pain in the ass but it was the lesser of two evils.

edited 23rd Feb '15 8:58:46 PM by Sixthhokage1

I use a Kindle for reading because I'm in the military and a bookself is too bulky for me. Many manuals are on .PDF formant which many tablets display with no problems. I may get a tablet in the future.

With some apps you can stream media from your PC or media server to your tablet.

If you wish to take your tablet on the road get a lifeproof brand case for Ipad or Otterbox case for some of the droid tablets. Or some similar cases for your tablet. It's still a computer afterall.

I suppose tablets also have the advantage of a camera and letting you tilt it to vertical for reading (though partially offset by the fact that the screen is smaller). So there are some uses I guess, it just doesn't seem like something that would be useful in a work environment.

They're mainly useful as laptop-lites. They're smaller an more mobile, but not pocket sized. Good for some things, but for actual computer work you're almost always better off with a laptop or desktop.

Is anyone else finding that on Firefox (v36.0, but it's been happening since a day or two before I updated to it), switching tabs is sometimes causing bits from the tab you just had open to overlay the one you switched to?

edited 26th Feb '15 6:10:26 PM by Bisected8

Nope, but it broked Download Helper. Seriously, Mozilla? I get that you can't work w/every addon. But Download Helper is like the Coca-Cola of addons. How am I supposed to download pr0n DIY youtube videos?

Do as your forebears did, and record it off the screen with a camcorder.

Researchers have achieved wireless speeds of 1 Tb per second: "Researchers at the University of Surrey in England have achieved 5G speeds of 1 Terabit per second (Tbps) over 100 metres in the lab - by far the fastest wireless connection to date.

The 5G, or fifth generation, mobile network will eventually replace our current 4G technology, with its comparatively poxy speeds of around 15 Mbps, and it's hoped that it will revolutionise how we use mobile devices.

It’s previously been estimated that speeds of 50 Gbps could be achieved on the 5G network, but now the University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) has gone and smashed those expectations."

And your typical American phone company will still probably throttle it down to 28K if you go over your 5GB data allowance for the month.

Should I build a new PC or just upgrade? My current PC runs most new games just fine on my old 5:4 - I get 60fps on Elite: Dangerous at near-max settings- but I recently acquired a 1080p HDTV, and I want to use it as a monitor for my PC.

Current specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom II 3.4GHz

RAM: 8Gb GPU: GTX 660 2 Gb

PSU: 600 W

HDD: 1tb Western Digital

I'm mostly going to be playing Elite: Dangerous, Skyrim (+graphics mods), and possibly Star Citizen (assuming it ever comes out).

Depends. That's a pretty decent machine you've got already. Could get a better video card if you wanted and you'd likely see improvement, especially if you want to run things in high quality. Ram's fine. 3.4 Ghz cpu is pretty damn good.

I've also heard good things about Solid State Drives for gaming since the data's accessed much faster. Not a requirement though.

edited 28th Feb '15 10:39:24 AM by Joesolo

Having just gotten my system up and running on an SSD (Samsung 850 Evo, 120GB), even if it's not used for gaming if you can find a decent price (sub-US$100) I still would say "go for it". Just make sure it's of the latest generation, as they've improved drastically on lifespans (the one big weakness of SSD storage), to the point of being competitive with conventional HDDs in terms of how long they remain viable.

My system before, using a Seagate 320GB HDD, booted up in about 2m 15s or so. With the SSD, you can drop the 2m part. (Not sure exactly how long from power button click to mouse clicks, haven't timed it after everything was installed, but that shit moves now.)

edited 28th Feb '15 11:13:02 AM by Nohbody

Yeah, but it's quite an old one. I first got this PC back in 2011, and since then I've only changed the RAM (from 4GB) and graphics card (originally a 560Ti). I did have to get a new CPU once, but that was a replacement not an upgrade.

edited 28th Feb '15 11:10:48 AM by optimusjamie

I had an odd problem with firefox myself recently, where opening a new tab would cause my CPU to go berserk, and cause firefox to start consuming ungodly amounts of memory for a few minutes before dropping back down to normal levels (at one point saw it max out at 1 GB).

Refreshed my firefox profile twice, upgraded to 36.0, tooled around with plugins, finally installed AVG Tuneup (with AVG's promise that i'd get one go at it for free) and that seemed to do it, cleaning out a lot of unneeded profile files.

Although then i had to go through several hoops to get rid of AVG Tuneup, which refused to uninstall. Had to download a program from AVG to get rid of it, which seems counterintuitive.

Edit: Nope, problem's still there. I have now switched to Pale Moon. We'll see where this goes.

edited 28th Feb '15 2:04:06 PM by Ogodei

Possibly a stupid question: Is there an internal drive that plays Blu-Ray discs, but also burns CDs and DVDs?

My current CD/DVD burner is apparently in need of replacement, as there are more than a few discs it can't read at all (and not burned ones, I mean prerecorded stuff like hardware driver discs), but while I want the ability to play BR discs I don't need to burn custom ones, whereas I do somewhat regularly burn CDs.

Can't all BD-RW drives also burn DVD-RWs?

As far as I've seen, yes they can. I was thinking that maybe it'd be a little less expensive without the BD burning functionality.

I just spent nearly 300 bucks on system upgrades, I'm trying to not go overboard on other stuff for said system.

[edit] From what I've seen in my searches so far, it seems that "A but not B" doesn't exist... and knowing my luck even if it did the price difference would be marginal anyway.

edited 3rd Mar '15 8:17:15 AM by Nohbody

I'm not sure where exactly to post this, but I think this may be the best place for my question, given what I'm asking...

I have a few 16-bit applications from Windows 95 I want to try and run, which includes a few games which to the best of my knowledge CAN through WINE. I want to try and get some old files which have some issues translating to more modern filetypes but can be done through several steps, and will need some checking over in each step.

My two main questions are thus:

1. Does anybody have any experience on running Windows 95 games through either a virtual machine and/or WINE, and if so, which do you prefer? I'm undecided as to which to go for at this moment, and both will take some time.
2. Are there any particular issues relating to 16-bit applications in WINE I'd need to be wary of?

I don't have a model number but I've got an LG drive labeled as a BD-Rom/DVD Rewriter so they definitely exist.

Edit: Checked Newegg; here's a newer version of the one I have BD reader + DVD reader/writer. On the other hand the BD-RW version is $10 more and lists a $15 coupon code on the page

edited 3rd Mar '15 5:25:56 PM by Jaustin89*

In a week or two, I'm going to have enough money to put together a mid-range gaming PC. I bought a WD 10 EZEX 1TB hard drive and an NZXT Source 210 Elite mid tower case a few months ago. My plans for the remaining parts are:

• CPU: Intel i5 4690 - $215
• RAM: 8GB DDR 3 - $60
• Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 7 - $140
• Heat Sink Fan: 212 Evo - $35
• Power Supply: EVGA 850 G2 - $130
• Monitor: ASUS VX 229 H - $150
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium - $80
• Mouse + Keyboard - approx. $45
• UPS - Approx. $40
• USB Wifi adapter - approx. $20

Total before GPU - approx. $ 915

What should I do for a GPU? I told my dad it might cost about a thousand dollars, so I probably don't want to tack on another $520 for a GTX 980. I'm trying to decide between a GTX 970 and an R9 290x, and the prices for both seem to be in the $320-$360 range. How much difference will the 970's much-discussed trouble accessing the last 0.5 GB of its 4GB memory actually affect the average non-overclocking gamer? And are there any other obvious problems with my suggested build?