The Digital Surgery (computer questions/problems here)

[buksida]

This is what you should be paying for a W7 license: http://www.thanni.com/index.php?main_pa ... &cPath=562

If the price was double it is likely to be a higher spec machine.

[m_right]

If you buy one without OS be sure the shop guarantees it will work with XP Pro. Better yet tell them to install it for you (with your CD) before you pay.
I bought a desktop at Lotus of all places. Very good price. No OS. I asked if they would put XP Pro on it for me. I was lucky and the guy taking care of me slapped in a CD and installed XP PRO no charge. It was a clone version of XP PRO but enough that I could install my version on top of it. Works great. I hate my WIN 7 home premium 64 laptop. I just might try to install XP PRO on it but that might not be possible.

[margaretcarnes]

The irony of it is that most of the 'malware' probably didn't come from viral links, but from installation of open source and other 'free' software.

The viral links do exactly that - direct you to websites that prompt you to download malware to clean up non-existent problems on your computer.

I undestand what you guys are saying - but the irony with my old Windows was that I really didn't have more stuff than I needed - I'd even uninstalled Office. No games (never use them) and absolutely no downloads. No spreadsheets. No movies or TV stuff - zilch. The only progs which were installed as extras (apart from replacing the dreaded Norton with AVG yonks ago) was a media player installed by a computer technician, and the Lumix stuff.
I could understand also if the Windows corruption had been a result of the Hotmail virus - but the Windows probs had started way before that. Anyway - thankfully all history.....

[chopsticks]

For many users an older laptop or PC with Windows XP and adequate memory, small hard drive etc. is perfectly adequate if all you're doing is emails, internet browsing and some word processing, spreadsheet use etc.
The limiting factor on speed will be the internet connection rather than the computer's processor etc.
Only if you're into gaming, video editing etc. will you gain much benefit by upgrading.
(that's how it was explained to me a few years ago).

[buksida]

Has anyone used a Solid State Hard-disk in their desktop PC yet? Since the floods the price of regular hard drives has rocketed and you can now get a SSD for about the same price (albeit with a lot less storage capacity).

Was considering one for the OS and programs since I've had 4 separate regular HDDs fail on me within a year, this looks reasonable:
http://www.thanni.com/index.php?main_pa ... ts_id=6324

[Pleng]

I had a SSD in a laptop a few years back and have to say that I wasn't really impressed.

I think technology has come on a bit since then and write speeds have increased, which was really what let them down in the past.

4 failures in one year? Ouch! I've had about 3 fail on me in the last 12 years. Even in my line of work, where our clients machines get hammered 24/7, we expect a good 2 years+ of lifetime before a drive will fail.

Were all the drives the same make/model? All purchased at the same time? New or second hand?

[buksida]

Yes, it was a little painful - backups were in place though, most of the drives were Seagates and it's likely that power surges and fluctuations knocked them out. Some had bad sectors with read/write issues and some were busted arms, you can hear it clicking away ... a painful sound to any techie!

Wanted the SSD for my own desktop which gets quite heavily used!

[Pleng]

I had a failure with a Seagate. There was a known issue with the particular model number that affected a whole batch. Details here. I suggest if you have any of these models then you do a firmware upgrade as soon as possible.

If you're using the SSD for the system and programs all should be ok. I'd say leave your data on a standard hard disk, as SSD is still a relatively new (and hence unproven) medium. SSDs also have a lot lower amount of write cycles than a normal hard disk (again, unless technology has overtaken me!), although they do incorporate wear leveling which does help compensate (unless your drive is maxed out, of course).

[lomuamart]

I have a couple of issues with the computer that I'm hoping the experts might be able to help me out on.
1. The Hotmail virus. I unfortunately got this as well before Xmas. Basically, I now no longer use the hotmail account and most of my contacts are aware of my new gmail one. It was my understanding that this virus would only affect others with a hotmail account and only if they opened the message up on the text window. However, my father has reported to me that he's getting junk mail that ostensibly seems to be coming from my gmail account. For those who don't use gmail, the mail recipient will see a mail addressed from the sender by name but the actual email address dosn't show unless you open the mail. My father is therefore occasionally getting junk with my name as the sender but he isn't opening the mails up to see the address. He's the only person on my contact list who has reported any problem to me.
Can anyone shed any light on this? Has this Hotmail virus wormed itself into my gmail contact list? I run regular full system virus scans with the latest Avast and do full checks with Spybot. Both of them report my computer as clean.

2. Pictures. When I transfer these from camera to hard drive, they display well on my screen but if I attach them to an email they come out too big on the recipient's screen. They can't view them properly. I've got a re-sizing programme that buksida has recommended before on the forum - shrinkpictures.com - and it's easy to use for avatars and so on. However, I'm wondering which size I should change my pix to to get them sent by email in a better format. Can anyone advise?
Also, if I change the size on my computer to something smaller, am I able to change it back to its original size once it's been emailed?

Thanks for any help on these matters.

[barrys]

2. Pictures. When I transfer these from camera to hard drive, they display well on my screen but if I attach them to an email they come out too big on the recipient's screen. They can't view them properly. I've got a re-sizing programme that buksida has recommended before on the forum - shrinkpictures.com - and it's easy to use for avatars and so on. However, I'm wondering which size I should change my pix to to get them sent by email in a better format. Can anyone advise?
Also, if I change the size on my computer to something smaller, am I able to change it back to its original size once it's been emailed?

Can't help with 1. I'm afraid, but for 2. try this.

Select the pic(s) to be sent, right click mouse and select 'Send to', then click 'Mail recipient'. You will then be asked what size pics you would like to send. Select appropriate size and then click 'Attach'.

Your email client (e.g. Thunderbird) will then open with the pics already attached.
Enter the email address of the recipient and send.

The size of the pics stored on your computer is not affected.

[lomuamart]

Thanks for the quick reply, barrys. I'll give that a go a bit later.

[Whaler]

2. Pictures. When I transfer these from camera to hard drive, they display well on my screen but if I attach them to an email they come out too big on the recipient's screen. They can't view them properly. I've got a re-sizing programme that buksida has recommended before on the forum - shrinkpictures.com - and it's easy to use for avatars and so on. However, I'm wondering which size I should change my pix to to get them sent by email in a better format. Can anyone advise?
Also, if I change the size on my computer to something smaller, am I able to change it back to its original size once it's been emailed?

Thanks for any help on these matters.

If you embed the files in outlook email and not attach them (ie insert picture and scale them down by dragging the corner) the email size will be a lot smaller in size and depending how much you shrink them much smaller than using barrys otherwise good method

[buksida]

I think lomu uses webmail so the Thunderbird/Outlook suggestions wont work. If you cant use the online pic resizer you'll need to download a program to do it, I use Photoshop but that maybe too heavy for you so try one of these:

http://download.cnet.com/PIXresizer/300 ... uctListing
http://download.cnet.com/Free-Picture-R ... 97789.html

The virus issue is a little more tricky, it would help to see one of the email headers so get him to forward one of the dodgy messages back to you so we can have a look at it. Also get him to do the virus and malware scans on his computer. Does he use Hotmail?

[Homer]

I hate Windows 7 so I am holding on to XP Pro as long as I can.

I tried to hang onto XP Pro for my new netbook. Neither Toshiba or the video chipset maker has a video driver that works with any version of XP. My choice was living with 640x480 (insert anguished scream here) or Win 7. Don't hate it yet which is probably because the box is a dual boot with PcLinuxOS. Made it dual boot in case I find something I can't do in Linux.

[Homer]

Also, if I change the size on my computer to something smaller, am I able to change it back to its original size once it's been emailed?

If you change the size by creating a copy, then there is no need to change back.

Every time you change the size of an original image file the image is degraded. So it's possible, but not recommended.