Posts by janda5

I have really enjoyed watching and listening to videos on YouTube for many years. But today when I went to the web site I couldn't get any sound when I was trying to listen to Susan Boyle sing. I even tried a Walter Cronkite video and couldn't hear anything. I checked my speakers and they were plugged in and the volume control was 100%. If anyone has any advice on what I should do, please speak up. I downloaded a new version of Adobe Flash Player last night and wonder if that could have caused a problem. I really need to find a way to restore my sound. Any help is greatly appreciated.
JANDA5

I would like to copy (burn) photos stored in My Pictures folder onto blank CD-R discs but have never done this before and need a little advice. I have a CD-RW drive and I also have Nero StartSmart (Nero 7 Essentials) software installed which I understand is capable of copying photos to CD-R's. I am unfamiliar with CD-R's but I understand that once data has been copied to a CD-R it cannot be erased. Here is my question: once I start adding photos to one CD-R disc, do I need to fill the disk at that one session, or can I come back and use that same CD-R disk again at a later time to add more photos until the disk is full? A friend tells me Windows XP also helps copy photos to CD-R's so I don't just have to use Nero. I'm choosing to use CD-R's because I have a bunch of blank discs that need to be used. Thanks in advance for your input. Any suggestions will be welcomed.

janda5

My PC is an Intel Pentium 3 with 999 MHz, 384 MB RAM, and runs Windows XP Pro SP3.

Thank you, crunchie, for your much needed advice. But it turns out that my McAfee Total Protection antivirus program is NOT a "trial" offer after all. It's a paid subscription and my new computer has Windows 7. I have a new problem now...I have no idea how to open McAfee Total Protection in order to run a scan. Any ideas? Please help if you can.
Thanks.
janda5

My Compaq computer with Windows Vista Home Premium crashed last week because a virus killed off my hard drive and I have had to purchase a new computer. It is the same model and includes a free "trial" McAfee antivirus program. But I've heard that two antivirus programs should not be installed at the same time. Can anyone tell me if I can safely remove this "trial" McAfee antivirus program and download/install another antivirus program, such as AVG Anti-Virus Free, which would be far more affordable? I do not want to harm my new computer. Please help! All advice will be much appreciated. Thanks.

janda5 :)

I would like to upgrade to a larger computer monitor but have no idea how to do this! I currently have a 17" ViewSonic Flat Panel Monitor (LCD Display), 1280x1024 Black, Model #VA712b, with 8ms Video Responce! Can anyone offer advice on what I should look for while shopping so I'll avoid buying the wrong monitor? I'd like a 19" or 20", something not too large to read emails but large enough to enjoy watching my DVDs. All advice will be greatly appreciated. I have NEVER purchased a new computer monitor before so am a little nervous, to say the least! Please help! I use Windows XP Pro SP3, Intel Pentium 3, with 27gb hard drive, 384 mb RAM, Video card is ATI Radeon 7200 with 64 mb RAM, Sound Blaster audio. I have DVD-ROM, a CD burner, a 10/100 network card and US Robotics v90 56k modem. Thank you for your help.
janda5

I run Windows XP Pro SP3 and have an Intel Pentium 3 computer with 27 gb hard drive, 384mb system RAM, video card ATI RADEON 7200 with 64MB RAM, Sound Blaster audio, DVD-ROM, CD burner, 10/100 network card, and US Robotics v90 56k modem. Yesterday I noticed that none of my DVDs would play and then I discovered to my horror that my DVD disk drive (E:) is no longer listed in My Computer with my Hard Disk Drives. I've also lost my CD-ROM drive!! The only disk drive listed is Local Disk (C:). I do have a 3 1/2 floppy drive (A:) but rarely use it. I can't imagine what on earth has happened!! I played a DVD the night before this happened and I recall shutting down the Cyberlink PowerDVD 6 player improperly. But that shouldn't have resulted in my losing two disk drives!! Does anyone have any advice on how I can restore these drives, especially the DVD drive? Does it sound like I need new drivers? Any advice will be much, much appreciated. Thank you.

janda5

Does anyone use Yahoo! Mail Classic as their email program? I find that this program blocks all those annoying ads that used to crowd the right-hand side of my screen and limit my space when writing my emails when I used the original Yahoo! Mail. Is it just me that's noticed this or has anyone else? Thanks. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
janda5

I have a new Windows Vista Home Premium Edition OS and have been using the Mozilla Firefox browser for my email. But lately my space is so limited where I'm typing that I can't even see what I'm writing. I know I've typed some other stuff, but I can't see it. I can't even see below this line I've just now typed here.
Is there any way to enlarge the window or screen size so that I can view a larger working space? Any suggestions would be welcome. Thank you.

janda5

Can someone please recommend a good, reliable FREE antivirus program?? Since AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5 will no longer be supported by Windows as of Feb 25 I downloaded and installed AVG 8.0. But it does not update automatically and a "You may not be protected!" message appears onscreen whenever I open the program. I will be uninstalling AVG Free 8.0 and need another antivirus program to replace it. What works for you? I use Windows XP Pro SP2 and Vista on my computers. Thank you for your help.

janda5

I have an Intel Pentium 3, 27 GB hard drive, 384 MB system RAM that uses Windows XP Pro SP2. I am looking for advice on the best and easiest way to "burn" data/music to a CD-R. I have too many files stored on my computer hard drive and loaded on 3.5" floppies and really need to learn how to burn to CDs. I have Nero 6 StartSmart on my omputer and, of course, I understand Windows XP has a built-in CD-burning program of its own. All tips are welcome. Thank you.

janda5

I need some advice on firewalls. I have an Intel Pentium 3, 1000MHz computer with Windows XP Pro, SP2. I already have a built-in Windows XP firewall but until last week I also had ZoneAlarm installed. Due to a recent conflict with a critical Microsoft update, ZoneAlarm would not allow me to connect to the Internet so that I could download an updated version. So I uninstalled ZoneAlarm and got my connection. Since I surf the Web often, I would like to know if installing a firewall such a ZoneAlarm would interfere with my Windows XP firewall. I believe one cannot have more than one firewall installed. I'm a little confused, though, because I thought my Windows firewall was always ON even when I had ZoneAlarm. Any help is much appreciated. Can anyone recommend a good firewall, perhaps a freebie?
Thank you!

janda5

Does anyone know how to make web pages print out in a larger text size? I have tried and tried and each printout is the same size. I change Text Size under View and the text does enlarge onscreen but when I print there is no change in text size. I end up having to copy and paste the info I want from the web page to a Word document and that works fine. But I'm wondering if there is some easier way to print a web page in large text size. Any suggestions will be welcome. Thanks!

janda5

Yes.....

Please goto TOOLS/OPTIONS/FILE TYPES and check every type and click Apply :)

The Dude:

I did as you suggested and WMP is now my default player. But now I cannot listen to any of my midi files. I double-checked and I have every file type box checked, including midi. I'm wondering if there is a connection because I had no trouble listening to midi files before I tweaked with WMP. Any ideas as to how I can fix this? Thank you.

janda5

Is there a way I can set Windows Media Player as my default music player? When I download a music file it opens in Real Player. I would like to use WMP instead. Thanks.

janda5

Ten days ago I added a post that complained that my PC wouldn't boot and may be crashing. Last August I bought an emachines T3616 desktop PC w/AMD Sempron processor 3600+ and Windows Vista Home Basic OS. Well, I have been having on-again, off-again problems with booting. Today my PC started up normally and Windows Security Center detected NO antivirus software. So I began to download AVG Anti-virus Free Edition but when the download completed an error message stated that it was a corrupt file and that I should download a clean copy. When I tried closing the window another message said a cord was not connected to a Local Port. Should I attempt a second, clean download and see what happens? I don't know what I should do. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

janda5

Today my PC took over half an hour to boot. When it finally did, I clicked the Start Menu and the window immediately froze solid! I tried turning my PC off and then back on but that frozen Start Menu remains onscreen. This is maddening and I have a hunch that some virus accessed my PC and caused the crash. Therefore I will be using my one-year warranty. The next computer I get will be fully protected with anti-virus software which will be updated as needed. Thank you.

janda5

Ten days ago I added a post that complained that my PC wouldn't boot and may be crashing. Last August I bought an emachines T3616 desktop PC w/AMD Sempron processor 3600+ and Windows Vista Home Basic OS. Well, I have been having on-again, off-again problems with booting. Today my PC started up normally and Windows Security Center detected NO antivirus software. So I began to download AVG Anti-virus Free Edition but when the download completed an error message stated that it was a corrupt file and that I should download a clean copy. When I tried closing the window another message said a cord was not connected to a Local Port. Should I attempt a second, clean download and see what happens? I don't know what I should do. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

janda5

My thanks to both holmes008 and caperjack for your advice.

janda5

Thanks, jbennet! I'll try that. But it's really too bad that there isn't some shortcut that I could place on my desktop rather than having to go through the Control Panel. Do you know of any other way? Thank you.

janda5

I have a new Compaq Presario Desktop computer that uses the Windows Vista Home Premium OS. When I finish reading my email messages (in Earthlink WebMail) I would like to play a game offline but don't know how to disconnect from the Internet to do so. From the START menu, I see the options Log Off, Lock, Restart, Sleep, Hibernate, and Shut Down. Which one should I click that would get me offline and yet not turn off the computer. Any help is welcome. Thank you.

janda5

holmes008...
Thank you for your input but I think I should use my warranty before it expires in August. If I do as you suggest and make things worse (if that's possible) then my warranty will be null and void. Thanks again for making the time to share your advice.

janda5

Can someone tell me if it sounds as if my computer has crashed?? For the past two days when I turn on my computer a STARTUP REPAIR box appears, saying "Your computer was unable to start. STARTUP REPAIR is checking your system for problems." Then the words "Searching for problems" and a status bar that moves very slowly (on dial-up connection). Today it froze and my PC is not responding to any commands. Even when I turn the power off and then on again the STARTUP REPAIR box remains. I bought this eMachines T3616 Desktop PC wuth AMD Sempron processor 3600+ last August 2007. It has Windows Vista Home Basic OS. Last week I saw the first of several error messages: "A disk read error occurred." I probably should have acted then but had no idea it would lead to this! Has my computer crashed? If so, what should I do? I would appreciate any advice. Thank you.

janda5

I have a big problem that I hope someone can help me with. I recently purchased a Compaq Presario desktop with Windows Vista Home Premium pre-installed. All was working well until this morning. I turned on my computer to find only a white screen with a small wheel turning round and round and the words "DETECTING PROXY SETTINGS." Anybody know what this means? I can't get past this to even connect. Any suggestions? Thank you.

janda5

I would like to send electronic greeting cards (E-cards) to family and friends but have heard that many of these web sites are virus-prone. Can anyone offer advice on which e-greeting web sites are the safest to use? If you have personal experience with sending e-cards, which sites would you recommend? Thank you.

janda5

Thanks to The Dude, forumdude123, and caperjack for taking time to address my problem.
Since I first posted this months ago the problem has somehow managed to disappear. I deleted a bunch of old stuff I had long forgotten and allowed to pile up in folders and even got rid of some programs I no longer used. Afterwards, I noticed that my dial-up connection was smoother and I have not lost connection since. I'm still a novice at this but I wonder if dumping all that junk not only freed up lots of RAM but also improved my computer's performance. Caperjack is SOOO right on when he says not everyone can afford to purchase a newer computer. I am on a very strict budget and even a used PC is out of the question right now. I do have Windows 98SE and it works just fine for me. But once again I must thank you all for your insights into my problem.

janda5

I've read horror stories about the wrong cleaners and LCD monitos. I use a very mild water and Dawn dishwashing detergent combo, but even that doesn't get it all off. Just be very carefull when wiping, so you don't crack it.

Thank you very much. Yes, I know one must be extra cautious with cleaners and LCD displays. Thanks again. janda5

I recently purchased a used 17" ViewSonic flat panel monitor. I've been swamped with different ideas on how best to keep it clean, everything from alcohol-free premoistened wipes to using a soft, damp cloth. There are some smudges on the monitor, possibly fingerprints, since a friend had used it for three months previously. I tried the alcohol-free premoistened wipes but they do next to nothing to remove smudges. The monitor seems to be made of glass. Any suggestions on what I should use to clean the monitor, especially with the smudges? Thank you very much.

janda5

brings back memories ,i once bought a new mmx 166,$2175.00

so nothing haqppens when you click on send and recieve ,did you check in tools /accounts and make sure you correct user info is there,like password and username and ,ISP's phone number and stuff!

Thanks a lot, caperjack! I'll try that.

janda5

I have an Intel Pentium 166MHz w/MMX computer that uses Windows 98SE. I've been using Outlook Express 6.0 as my email client without any problems. But yesterday when I opened OE to read my messages I noticed a yellow triangle at the lower right of the window that read "ERROR!" Nothing else happened. What should I do? I really need my email messages. Any advice is welcomed! Thank you.

janda5

Janda5 - thank you for your kind remarks.

Here in the UK, we don't have Thanksgiving. Indeed, what would we Brits have to thank anyone for?

We don't have enough turkeys to eat. The turkey population is being slaughtered because Bird Flu has blighted the farmlands where they are bred;

The government has just lost 25 million personal records in the post with full bank details, personal identity data and social security numbers;

The government has just bailed out a failed bank for the equivalent of USD 60 billion; that's $1,000 for each person;

Gasoline now costs the equivalent of $2/litre; I doubt you pay that for the gallon.

The dog's dead; the cat shat itself and all the salmon in Northern Ireland died yesterday because they were eaten by jellyfish!

The only light in our lives is relieving the misery of all the virus and malware ridden souls who grace this forum!

Be hearing from you.

Suspishio:

Please forgive me for wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving. I had no idea you were living in the UK. That's something I must remember when using the Internet...we are a global community after all and not everyone lives here in the USA. I do agree with you 100% that relieving the misery of those of us who turn to these computer forums for advice is a tremendous light in our lives. But whether or not you celebrate Thanksgiving as we do here in the U.S. I'm sure that there are many …

Hi Janda5

My caution is there only to support yours. The reason for caution on my part is that I don't have your PC in front of me so I don't know how your Netscape e-mail is set up.

So, to put your mind at rest my advice is - copy the messages you want to keep into My Documents; uninstall the Netscape e-mail client and happy Earthlink.net.

If Earthlink.net is working fine now, it'll continue working fine when you've dumped that Netscape (and AOL) overhead.

Suspishio:

Thanks so very, very much for your much needed advice. I do appreciate it! I'll let you know what I decide to do. Earthlink WebMail is working just great and I wonder now why I didn't take advantage of that service to begin with. I've been an Earthlink subscriber for three years now. Oh well, sometimes one has to learn the hard way. Thanks again, Suspishio, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

janda5

I hope you get another opinion.

I want to be sure of what I'm recommending.

Reading your original post more carefully it seems to me that you are now registered with Earthlink.net. If you are using the Netscape browser (you didn't say), I can quite see how you could view Earthlink.net via Netscape. You wouldn't be signed into Netscape mail (isn't it that awful AOL service now?).

Can you confirm this please?

In any case, if you can log onto your Earthlink.net mail account, it doesn't matter about Netscape. So dump it. But what is there to dump? If you're using their mail client, uninstall will get rid of that. There'll be a bonus in that all the AOL overheads will disappear at the same time - if I've got that right which I think I have.

OK?

Suspishio:

You sound as cautious as I am! Good for us because computers are sensitive and anything can happen. I certainly would like to get several opinions on this. To answer your questions: yes, I am an Earthlink.net subscriber but have been using Netscape 7 only as an email client, not a browser. I usually use Firefox or IE7 for that. There are emails in Netscape's inbox that I would like to save (perhaps to My Documents) before I "dump it." Once again, I totally agree with you that I need other opinions. I hope I've answered your questions. Let me know. Thanks for all …

dead simple. Uninstall Netscape ... simple if you haven't any e-mails lodged inside your Netscape 7 Inbox that you need to keep.

Suspishio:
I do have emails in my Netscape 7 Inbox but I have already saved the ones I want to keep to My Documents. That way I can print them out later if I choose. I could also delete those other emails I don't need and then uninstall Netscape 7. How does this sound to you? It makes sense to me but I'd really like another opinion or two. Thanks, Suspishio!

janda5

I have an Intel Pentium 166MHz w/ MMX computer and use Windows 98SE. Recently I installed Earthlink's WebMail for sending/receiving email after my Netscape 7 email program malfunctioned. However, I have not uninstalled Netscape and now I have two email programs that seem to be competing with one another. I notice that I have emails going to both places. Since I am unable to reply or even print a message at Netscape I've decided to just use Earthlink's Web Mail. I am tempted to simply uninstall Netscape. Any opinions on what might happen if I do this? Logic tells me that uninstalling one (Netscape) would leave only Earthlink WebMail as my one and only email client and therefore all emails would go directly there. I think having two email programs must be confusing even for my computer! I really need some advice. Thank you.

janda5

Thanks to Suspishio and Serunson for your advice. I had a gut feeling that the "expired" AVG Anti-Virus Free download was trouble waiting to happen so I uninstalled it and downloaded a "clean" version. It went beautifully and I could see a huge difference in how quickly I was able to Check For Updates. In the future I will err on the side of caution when downloading. Thanks again. Problem solved.

janda5

I downloaded AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition on a computer that runs Windows 98 and uses a slow dial-up connection. When I went to install AVG an "Expired Download" box appeared, advising me to download the latest version. I ignored this and installed my AVG download 7.5.503. Everything went fine. But I noticed a red exclamation mark on the AVG screen and I ran a "Check For Updates." I thought it was nearly finished as it reached 100 percent but the Time Left line began counting upward. Confused by this, I cancelled the process. I wonder if I should try to Check For Updates again or uninstall AVG and install a later version. I need to keep AVG updated but wonder if the "Expired Download" means it is
unusable. What would you recommend, fellow computer users? Thank you.

janda

I have an Intel Pentium 166MHz w/MMX computer and I use Windows 98. I have installed AVG antivirus which I run daily. The only time I go online is to read my email. However, I do occasionally access Web sites of interest. Can anyone recommend a good antispyware program specifically for us old Windows 98 users? Thank you.

janda5

I'm using my IE 6 browser and yes, I have done as you said, going through Internet Options, clicking Security tab, Custom Level, and under Active Scripting I've checked Enable. I checked Prompt but every two seconds an annoying 'prompt' kept popping up on my monitor. I went back to Enable. Still even after all this I continue to run into a red Error message on that one web site. It is so frustrating to have downloaded and installed Java and not know how to activate JavaScript. Luckily, most web sites do not require it. Guess I'll just move on to the next computer challenge. Thanks anyway, Dude!

janda5

I have an Intel Pentium 166MHz w/MMX Computer and use Windows 98. A web site I was trying to access had this error message: "ERROR! JavaScript is required to use this site!" I then downloaded and installed JRE (Java Runtime Environment), Version 6, Update 1. I even customized my Security Settings to enable Java Scripting but I still see that error message when I go to the web site. I do see the Java coffee icon in my Control Panel so I know it's there. What do I need to do to activate JavaScript so I can use certain web pages? Did I miss a step in the download/installation? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

janda5 :?:

Thanks, pty!! I took your advice and am now using Firefox. I love it! IE is okay but I ran into too many problems trying to upgrade it. Now my web browser troubles are over. Thanks for your help.

janda5

I have an Intel Pentium 166MHz w/MMX computer with 64 MB RAM and I use Windows 98. While attempting to renew my Norton Antivirus subscription online, the following message appeared: "Your browser is not supported because it is not considered secure enough to conduct an online transaction. Please upgrade your browser and then begin your session again." I use IE. Can anyone tell me how to upgrade it? Is that even possible with my old Windows 98 platform? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

janda5 :rolleyes:

Thanks to The Dude for his input.

janda5

I have an Intel Pentium 166MHz w/MMX that uses Windows 98, 2nd edition and has 64 MB RAM. To access my emails, I click a Connect To Internet desktop icon, then an Email icon. This takes me directly into Netscape (AOL?) and I can read my messages there. A friend suggests that I should switch to using Outlook Express instead. Can anyone tell me how I can set up OE as my email program? Would doing so cause any computer problems? Thank you.

janda5 :rolleyes:

I doubt that my dial-up connection is the problem. I usually go online only to access email but today I surfed the Web. Not once did I lose the connection. Something goes haywire when I open my email in Netscape. The program freezes immediately and remains so for 25-30 seconds. Then it unfreezes and I barely have time to read one message before it freezes again. Yet I remain connected to the Internet. This problem is very disruptive. If I cannot find a solution soon I will contact my ISP (Earthlink) and see what they can do. Any advice out there? Thank you.

janda5

I am a Windows 98 user and only go online to access my email via Netscape. Nothing more. Lately my dial-up connection has been shutting off before I can finish reading my emails and I am forced to connect again. Can anyone explain the reason for this? If I can't find a quick-fix solution I'm thinking of contacting my ISP to have them check on my connection. Any ideas you can offer are greatly appreciated.

janda5 :?:

I have a computer that uses Windows 98 and whenever I try to forward an email I lose my dial-up connection and have to reconnect. Sometimes I'm unable to save the email. Any ideas on why I'm losing my connection while trying to forward emails? Thank you.

janda5:!:

Which blogging system are you trying to use?

I am very new to blogging and have no idea what a blogging system is. Sorry. How could I find out which blogging system I'm trying to use? Maybe posting to a blog is just too complicated for a newbie like myself.
Any suggestions? If not, thanks anyway.

janda5:rolleyes:

I apologize if I'm not in the correct forum for this question, but here goes: can someone tell me how I can post to a blog? Do I need a URL in order to post? I started to register for one blog to post my comments but stopped when the registration form asked me to provide a URL. I don't have one. This is my first time dealing with blogs and I need a little information to make it easier. Thanks to anyone who can offer some tips.

janda5

I suddenly am unable to receive email sent from my friend from her primary email address and when I try to send email to that address it bounces back. Yet when we both use her alternate email address the messages are received. It's as if something is suddenly blocking access to the primary email address, Any ideas as to what might be causing this problem? Thank you.:sad:

janda5

I am a Windows 98 user and recently installed Norton Antivirus 2005. Can anyone recommend a good anti-spam program that won't conflict with my Norton Antivirus? Thank you.

janda5 :rolleyes:

I have downloaded and installed Windows Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 so that Web pages that I choose to print will be properly sized on the paper. I printed a couple of Web pages and though the print is indeed sized correctly, now the text size is too small. I have already selected the Largest Text Size on my IE browser but still seem to print small. Any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong? Thank you.
Janda5:rolleyes: