Calling All TT Computer Geeks

“crash, resize the image to the screensize using a drawing program

it seems that this is what im going to have to do. because centering my image is not an option like it used to be. well, itll center it, but at full size instead of best fit
last edited: 12/22/09 3:36:58 PM”

“and yes, i know this is kindergarten stuff. bite me”

“Increasing the size of the image will make it look like crap. You can get away with a small amount of increase but as a rule increasing image size WILL decrease image quality.

I suggest you save back a version of the original in case you don't like what you end up with.”

“Increasing the size of the image will make it look like crap

yea, i found that out. i still prefer it to the slightly stretched version. a person who had never seen the original would probably not notice it, but it drove me crazy”

“Even better, start off with an original at least as big as your desktop setting.”

“my verybadkid has created an alternate secret admin account on my computer.
how do i find it and how do i get rid of it??”

“that little #&%!$!! tell me how you found it...once you figured it out. [i only know about regular admin and user accounts..sorry]”

“You ground the little s#*t for eternity and water-board him (if necessary) until HE gives it up.”

“Your verybadkid isn't getting enough verybadbutt whippings.”

“Be the parent and make the kid fess up.”

“she doesnt need your parenting advice”

“i didn't find it...his brothers gave him up.
that's why i need help to locate this thing.

ok...tell me HPD how to make him fess up. i'm at a loss since he holds all the cards (or computer secrets in this case). grounding has been tried and found non-effective (plus i really don't want him house-or-room bound) and anyway, punishment isn't going to get me the super-secret computer info. it's just going to make everyone mad.


i hope you're joking stovie, but i don't find your comment funny at all. the kid was abused in the past.”

“i'm at a loss since he holds all the cards (or computer secrets in this case). grounding has been tried and found non-effective (plus i really don't want him house-or-room bound) and anyway, punishment isn't going to get me the super-secret computer info. it's just going to make everyone mad.


That verybadkid has learned his actions have NO consequences.
I see a very sad future for this kid.”

“while i agree the kid needs consequences, it could be said in a less judgemental way. i know these kids personally, and they have improved drastically with hel being the sole parent

like bill said, ground him til he gives up the 411 (thats yankee for info). yea, itll be rough. but the smoothest way isnt always the best way in the long run”

“I agree with Bill, water-board him.”

“If you've got Windows 7 or Vista, this link may help:

Super admin info

However, if you press F8 at boot-time, I think you can still access the Administrator login, by booting into Safe Mode. If he didn't set a password on the Administrator login, I'd set a tough one, and disable the account. If he has set a password, and won't give it up, then I'd take away the computer.”

“thanks guys. believe it or not, i really do have the parenting part under control. (just in case you're wondering, i make liberal use of cord locks in this house-that's waaaay better than grounding)
what i need is info like bit has provided (although i have no idea what the hell he just said)”

“well, whatever the kid just showed me seemed way more complicated than what bit said.

here is what the kid says: "I did the same thing bit said, but on the administrator account I made a new account, then used regedit to hide it from the standard log-in thingy. I think you could go on the hidden admin account and delete it or something."

sorry, gem.no more info than that. for now.”

“OK, read this hel: hiding accounts with regedit.

I think that will solve the problem for you.”

“thanks bit
he actually walked me through it twice yesterday. i think he's kind of proud of his knowledge.

it's amazing what you can accomplish when you focus on trust and respect. the kid came clean without any fuss - no need for threats, waterboarding or any other ridiculous punishment. we discussed boundaries and agreed that the lock will go on if he plays afterhours again.


btw Gem--he googled it all. using his DSi. damn technology.”

“Yeah, home edition XP was funny like that. I hacked a family members due to them locking me out when I was visiting. (long story, a crack head is involved, trust me, it's stupid) Nothing major, just a flaw in the home edition so you didn't lock yourself out, and I exploited it.”

“I'm looking to get an external hard drive and have a few questions.

They are just for storage, right?

I can't put programs on them and run them just like it was the C: drive, right?

If I put all my music on the derive will iTunes play them from where they are or do I have to have them on the C: drive? I'm hoping I can free up some space on the computer as music is my biggest space gobbler.

How big do I need? I'm finding some 1TB drives pretty cheap.”

“they're no different than an internal drive

How big do I need?

You'll have to experiment to see what feels good for you.”

“You can play music from the external drive, yes. We do.

I'd get the biggest one you can afford. Free space is good to have.”

“Keep in mind that if you install a program on that drive, it most likely won't run if you plug the drive into another computer. Some programs will run fine, but usually they are ones that you just need to copy and run - not install.”

“I second what RoamAround said. I play my music and videos off external drives without a problem, but I wouldn't try to run a program off them.

Also, even the nicer external drives aren't super-reliable. I've had my music drive fail on me a couple times. So it may be wise to back everything up as well (which, I understand, may call for a secondexternal drive... it's a vicious cycle)”

“unless you have a firewire port... I'd think that would be fast enough that you could run most programs from an external drive without a hitch. Regular USB or USB 2.0 is probably too slow though.”

“I wouldn't try to run a program off them.

Well, I HAVE tried, and typically it's not a problem.”

“ok, you win the internet then”

“I have a laptop running windowsXP with servicepac 3. How do I set my virtual memory for the fastest speed? Many thanks yo bear!”

““ok, you win the internet then”

”

“Thanks guys. I'll probably not be needing to run programs from the drive. I'm looking to store stuff on there but I need to be able to play iTunes from it.”

“where is Skiracer? I need help with my virtual memory. yo bear”

“yo bear!”

“Control Panel/System/Advanced Tab/under "Performance" select Settings/Advanced Tab/under "Virtual Memory" select Change

The optimal Virtual Memory size is a factor of many things. According to Microsoft, this should be set at 1.5 times the amount of your system memory. RAM has become very inexpensive and the best bang for your buck in increasing system speed is to increase your RAM. For Windows XP 32-bit, this would be 3 GB max. Some XP boxes can recognize up to 3.5 GB of RAM, but I think that is for 64-bit Windows XP. Of course this depends on how much your computer can actually accept and use. http://www.crucial.com has an analyzer which will determine how much memory you have installed, how much you can upgrade to and will give you options to purchase. I have found that memory ordered through Crucial.com has been inexpensive and reliable.

As an example, I have an XP box with 2.5 GB of RAM. My hard disk has 20 GB free. I use approximated 3.8 GB of my hard disk space as virtual memory.

In sizing your virtual memory, make sure you have enough disk space, because virtual memory is really using your hard drive for virtual memory space. If you have multiple partitions, use the partition that has the least file access.

Hope this answers your question without muddying the waters too much.”

“Thanks Ski! Yea they are muddy but I will wade thru it! Yo bear!”

“I have two 2TB external drives USB 2.0. I do have a firewire port but opted for USB2 since it's cheaper. I work with wedding photos that are in the area of 21MB each and average 1000-1500 per wedding and I have no trouble editing these files at high speed even though they are stored externally.

So iTunes and anything else you're going to throw at it will be cake.

The only time you need Firewire is if you're doing a lot of HD Video editing and you need the speed as it's not good practice to not have a scratch drive.”

“Running programs isn't a problem, but like I said, you'll likely have problems trying to run a program from a different computer.

I agree about external drives being fairly fragile. Me and my father have been through a half-dozen in the last few years. I miss the days of the floppy - no USB/plug-n-play/ejection issues, and it worked every time. I have multiple backups of my backups now...”