The Digital Surgery (computer questions/problems here)

[buksida]

Google is your friend ...
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=re ... it+malware

[richard]

Thanks.............done and dusted

[Terry]

Continuing the saga of my bloated 'D' Drive

A certain Paddy friend of mine suggested the following

Back-up the files that I want to keep on the ‘D’ drive – I do this regularly to a couple of 1TB external drives that I have, so no problem.

COMPLETELY reformat the ‘D’ drive- thus removing all remaining content.

IT WORKED

Now have 480 of 525 GB free space after putting my working files back on the drive.
I have no idea what the remaining crap was on the drive – no doubt unwanted back-up and restore stuff done by Windows.

Anyways – thanks to PADDY POWER all is well again.

[zevon]

Being far from a computer expert I hope that one of the members can assist.

I have recently purchased (in Thailand) a new laptop with Windows 7 Home Basic installed.
On the surface all appears OK. Windows explorer reads fine (English) etc but when I download something from the internet for instance the wizards which occasionally pop up with options such as 'yes' 'no' or'cancel' are in Thai.
How do I change this to English?

I have opened language/region settings and indicated English (US) and region USA.
The language bar at the bottom reads EN but the wizards are still not in English.

[zeitgeist]

Try - 'Control Panel', then 'Region and Language'. Should fix it.

[zevon]

Zeitgeist many thanks for your quick reply. I had already tried that solution but to no avail.
However I think I may have identified the problem.
There is an internet download manager pre installed. Could it be that?
Ina while I am going to delete the programme anyway and see what happens

[Big Boy]

That Internet Download Manager program has appeared on a lot of machines recently, and problems have ensued soon after. My advice is uninstall it fast.

[zevon]

Thanks for the advice BB. I intend to uninstall it later tonight.
I have never found the need for one and your comment has only reinforced my decision to uninstall it

[zevon]

Dumping the download manager seemed to do the trick.
Thanks for the assistance guys

[Roel]

My Acer laptop (Vista) shows the Acer Black Screen of Death. That is how it is called on Google where thousands of people seem to have this problem. It starts up and plays the Windows tune but that's it. On Google you find dozens of probable causes and hundreds of "solutions". In short: it can be anything, caused by anything and solved (or maybe not) in numerous ways.

I am planning to buy a new laptop anyway. This one has served me fine for 5 years or so.
But before I do so I hoped to get the old one back running. Anyone personal experience with this issue?

I think the problem might be caused by overheating. Normally I watch movies alone and use headphones. Then the fan that I bought to put under the laptop keeps running but lately I watched a few movies together with the missus and then I plug in speakers. Then there is no USB port left for the fan. Movie froze a couple of times.

Second question: if I do not get it running again is there a way to copy my stuff from old to new laptop?

[buksida]

Had a similar problem with an Acer, graphics card blew, replaced it and it went again 9 months later - binned it after that.

Can you see anything at all on the screen? If so try starting it in safe mode.

If it is toast you'll need to take the hard disk out to access your data.

[Roel]

Pitch black. Thanks. Will try to find a wizard to help me and go shopping for a new laptop soon.

[buksida]

Sounds like the same problem then, 4,500 baht for a new graphics card ... which will likely blow again within a year.

[Bristolian]

I also had the same problem with my Acer laptop, last month. I thought that it had died for good. My wife took it to the Acer service shop in BKK and they fixed whatever was wrong, obviously nothing serious, for 600 baht. My wife didn't ask what the problem had been so I am still none the wiser but now it's working perfectly again

[Roel]

I have been told that if you open and close your laptop frequently and carry the laptop around a lot the cable connecting to the screen will sooner or later dis-function. That is indeed easy to repair. Could be you paid 600 Baht for a new cable. But I hardly ever carry my laptop around and I not even close it, so overheating is most likely the cause of my black screen. All in all a good excuse to buy a shiny new one as this one is 5 years old.