Computers

I decided to start a thread where we can discuss anything related to computers.

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What inspired me was a recent experience with an inkjet cartridge. I needed a new colour cartridge for my Lexmark printer. The last time, I got an old one refilled at a kiosk in the mall. But it didn't last very long, especially considering how little colour I print. (People have since told me that these places only half fill them.) While I was debating what to do, I saw a colour cartridge in Zellers made by a company named MSE. The package said it was compatible with my model of printer. It was on sale for $25.00 (regular $29), so I bought it. That's a lot cheaper than buying a Lexmark cartridge. It was about 4 weeks before I installed it. It looked like the original cartridge and it snapped into place properly. But it would not put any ink on the page. I checked all the settings, tried to align the cartridge, etc., but nothing. I know it had ink in it because when I dabbed it with a tissue, there was colour ink on it. Then I compared the printing head on the cartridge to that on an original cartridge. They were completely different. How on earth could they say it was compatible when it was totally different?
So I returned it to Zellers, wondering what kind of hassle they were going to give me when the receipt showed I had bought it a month ago. I took an original Lexmark cartridge with me for comparison. The lady at the customer service desk actually was familiar with computers and inkjet cartridges, and needed no convincing that it was a joke for MSE to claim this cartridge was compatible with my printer. I got my money back, and some advice: get an old cartridge refilled at the kiosk in the mall where I had gone last time!

Yeah, if you your going to buy a color and a black cartridge then you might as well buy another printer Rolling Eyes

eric

Just beware of stores selling printers for an insanely low price: they don't necessarily come with cartridges! Shocked

I refill my black cartridges with a refill kit made by a company named NOMI. I bought it some time ago and it has saved me a small bundle.

my computer sucks i hate it it has 40 gb Sad

and shuts down by itsself the montor turns off and wont come back on till you restart and i have dial up and its slow this is a 400 dolelr cmputer why are they so much

Gearjunky: You can build one that'll be better for like 250$.

Heres a little note for all you people considering buying computers by brands like Dell and HP. DON'T.

BUILD YOUR OWN.

Its as easy as building a shelter. Just read up on it first, or watch someone do it, and your set.

There are literally THOUSANDS of tutorials on the internet to help you build your own computer.

Plus you've got me. I've built 3 computers, and assisted on 2.

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When it comes to ink cartriges they try to ripp you off, and they get away with it.

This is what I do:

Buy a new cartrige.

Buy a refilling set (I got mine on ebay). You can use it 3-4 times ushally before it runs out. All you do is drill 3 holes and fill them. Works great, just be sure to refill as soon as the printer runs out of ink, or else it drys and renders useless.

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"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

	Tel wrote:
	There are literally THOUSANDS of tutorials on the internet to help you build your own computer.

But I need a computer to access the internet to learn to build my computer! It's such a cruel joke, kind of like needing a fire to make char cloth so you can start a fire.

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Where the Eagles fly, and the Caribou lie is where I want to be, the Wolf waits there for me.....
-Les Stroud

	TrooperMax wrote:
	Works great, just be sure to refill as soon as the printer runs out of ink, or else it drys and renders useless.

Good tip

eric

Just saying from experiance, I wasted many good cartidges on that. And I bet i;ll do it again.

Lazyiness has a way of screwing you over in the end.

_________________
"There dosen't look like there's much shelter over in those mountains, but that's the only choice I got right now, this is gonna be a long week" - Les Stroud Arctic

My computer is so old it's one of the last ones sold with Win 95 Embarassed

.
Actually I also have a slightly newer one that someone put out for the garbage. It was made for Win 98, but someone loaded Win XP Home Basic on it even though it has less RAM than my Win 95! I hardly use it because it has some issues. Sad

I'll likely get a new pc soon. I won't get a whole system; just a basic computer capable of running Vista Home Premium and IE7. Then I'll put an LCD monitor on my Christmas list or go out on Boxing Day.
Once I've got a new pc, I'll be able to go digital with my photography. Very Happy

And I'm on dial up, too. Sad

But I see that my ISP offers a version of high speed that's the same as I'm paying now for dial up and that's including modem rental. So when I get my new computer I'll likely go with that when I connect it to the internet.

ugh, windows vista is a total pain to me! Laughing

It took me a week to find out where the heck the "save as" was located. And even longer to find the internet. Laughing

I have to admit though it is a nice OS from what I've used. Cool

_________________
Where the Eagles fly, and the Caribou lie is where I want to be, the Wolf waits there for me.....
-Les Stroud

	Azarcher wrote:
	ugh, windows vista is a total pain to me! It took me a week to find out where the heck the "save as" was located. And even longer to find the internet. I have to admit though it is a nice OS from what I've used.

I've heard that Vista is more about not letting you do things than enabling you to do things. But that's likely what I'll get because it's the latest and eventually there will be stuff that only works on Vista and not XP.

Just wanted to tell everyone to be careful about email that says you have a greeting card from someone. I got such an email, saying I have a postcard from a family member. I can't think of who would have sent me a card, and if they know it is from a family member, why don't they tell me the name of the person it's from. I didn't click on the link they provided to see the card, but I did go to the company's website. It's uhspat.hk (which is suspicious in itself Rolling Eyes

) and it's just a page of links to other sites. Heaven knows what would happen if I had clicked on the link to see the supposed postcard.

The best thing to do to get your computer to run better is:

1) Run chkdsk (start - run - type: chkdsk) this is a DOS program, but works better than windows scandisk. It won't tell you anything but it will help if your hard drive is old, and full

2) Run Disk Defragmentor (start - programs - accessories - system tools - disk defragmentor) A hard disk is a bunch of disk (platters) that are basicly the same material that tapes are written on (you know the things before CD's, and after 8 tracks) and has a small magnetic lever that runs up and down the circle writting whereever the hell it can and disk defrag puts the peices closer to make the reading lever move around less (thus speeding up the computer)

3) Install these programs:

a) Ad-aware (and run it monthly) this will scan your computer for bad viruses, spyware, ect)
b) spybot search and destroy (AND INSTALL TEATIMER! ITS NOT AUTOMATICLY CHECKED ON INSTALL!) this will keep spyware from getting in, and teatimer will tell you if something is doing funny stuff. Like if some program trys to change your browsers home page, or add a toolbar to your brower, or add it'self to startup. You will have to decide if the program will allow it, but it works well and I swear by it on my computer.
c) Zone alarm firewall (best free firewall hands down, set it to whatever mode your comforable with)

4) Install more ram, atleast 512 megs if possible, if not max your computer out. Costs a little money, but will work wonders....

5) Buy a cheap graphics card.. something even 32 megs, or 64 megs will help alot, but 256 is the best for it's money right now

6) In windows xp (sorry I don't, and won't do vista, I am switching to Ubuntu (Linux) that is free and good) go to Control Panel - System - (Tab) Advanced - Settings - Click (Adjust for best performance)

There you go... hope this helps some people, it's my standard protocol when I am trying to fix a friends computer.

Good tips, Cold.

Idea

If someone is looking for free antivirus protection, Avast is good.

	BushRat wrote:
	Good tips, Cold. If someone is looking for free antivirus protection, Avast is good.

> Thats what i run as well. Been good to me so far. Cool

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

I was having computer trouble recently. (Surprise, huh. Rolling Eyes

) When I tried to past text or links into an email I was composing in my web-based email account, my computer would freeze. I also experienced problems at other sites that ended in an error message saying that Internet Explorer had stopped responding. I have Vista Home Premium which comes with Internet Explorer 7. While wading through Microsoft's online help maze, I ended up downloading IE8. It made a big difference. I have experienced none of the previous problems for days now. I would suggest replacing IE7 with IE8 if IE7 seems to be giving you problems. IE8 of course has some new and mostly useless features, but the transition from 7 to 8 is smooth and there is no real learning curve. Before changing over, I had noticed some new features creeping into IE7. It turns out that these are new features of IE8 that MS apparently started putting on IE7. I think the reason they did that was to make IE7 unusable so people would switch to IE8. But that's just my conspiracy theory.

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"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica

^ That is good to hear Bush.
But i just went from IE7 to IE8 4 days ago and it was slower & was giving me grief when surfing the web Shocked

....
So just yesterday i deleted it & went back to IE7 & its smooth again, no web surfing probs Very Happy

Its crazy this computer crap, when one thing is great for one and hell for another.
I also read serveral times that Vista was a pain in the butt too.
Ive never installed it or been on a computer with it, so im just going with what ive read and heard.

Just having a computer run smooth is a good thing no matter what programs are being used Cool

Cheers

_________________
A Knifeless Man is a Lifeless Man
Canadian To The Core
Carry Less by Knowing More
Knowledge Weighs Nothing

Yea I had computer problems a month back.My windows crashed and after reinstalling it and putting everything back on my hard drive it started smoking..lol
Ended up buying a whole new computer which it was time to do any way. Anyway Bushrat have you heard of Mozilla Firefox? I use it instead of IE.It runs a lot
better and less errors than IE has.You can check it out here if ya like.

http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/

Drummer - That's weird that your experience was the exact opposite of mine.
Lara - Thanks for the link. If switching to IE8 hadn't worked, I was thinking of switching to something like that. Who knows, I still might do it once I free up some memory on my pc.

Stupid computers. Evil or Very Mad

Stupid internet. Evil or Very Mad

_________________

"The monkeys are throwing stuff at me again."
-Survivorman in Costa Rica