4 posts tagged “windows”

Brian and I recently discovered the magic that is Skype, a calling service that is free between Internet users and has some terrifically stable video stuff as well (we used to use Yahoo Messenger, but calls usually dropped at least once during long conversations, webcams froze quite frequently, and it just generally ate up a lot of system resources--we could barely do anything else but talk on Yahoo).  I had nothing but praise for this new and wonderful service, which anyone in a long-distance relationship (or even anyone who is temporarily away from loved ones) should check into.  I did notice that the day I downloaded and installed Skype, I was unable to check my university e-mail account, as it just kept refreshing itself over and over again, but since that crap is pretty glitchtastical anyway, I thought little of it.

Until today, when I decided to continue my exploration of Internet phenomena that I'm way behind on and downloaded StumbleUpon.  After a few minutes of Stumbling, I realized that any websites using Shockwave Flash (ending with an ".swf") were not functioning properly--either not bothering to load at all, or sometimes it seemed refreshing over and over again, as before. 

I did the thing Firefox users dread; I opened Internet Explorer.  And to my horror... everything that wasn't working in Firefox worked in IE.  Cue Darth Vader:  Nooooooooooo!!!!

An hour of frustrated battling with my computer and I was no closer to a solution:  I had every necessary plug-in (and probably some unnecessary ones) downloaded and fully updated, as well as the latest update of Firefox.  I downloaded all the "recommended" updates for Windows (I try to stick to the "important" ones, but I figured what the hell)--no dice.  Remembering that my original problem started the day I downloaded Skype, I thought I would have to do the unthinkable:  choose between my beloved Firefox and my new love, Skype.  Joie's Choice, you might say.  (If you wanted to make a moderately offensive reference.)

And then I noticed the little turd of a plug-in Skype automatically installed on my Firefox browser.  I do not need phone numbers on web sites highlighted, thought I!  I can recognize them myself!  Was this the source of my problems, this little unwelcome browser parasite?

I disabled the plug-in, crossed my fingers... and successfully logged into my university e-mail without constant refreshing of the page.  Success!

I was unable to find a known issues page on Skype's website, but a Google search found a lot of other people annoyed with the same problem.  I left a comment on a help page that explained what the plug-in was, so hopefully that will get through to somebody, if they don't already know it.  Fix it!  Or at least give a warning!  Or don't have the plug-in install itself!

Still, my love for Skype remains unchanged.  I hope that it and Firefox may now live in harmony forever with their new friend StumbleUpon.

It's been nearly a month since my last Vista update.  Which is great, because that means it's been nearly a month since I've had any major problems!  Of course, that kind of peace isn't meant to last.

Here's something unfortunate I've now learned the hard way:  Unlike Windows XP, Vista does not automatically create system restore points every few days or before big system changes.  Actually, I'm wrong; apparently it will, you just have to tell it that.  I'm not sure if I told XP System Restore to do that and then I forgot I did so, or if that was the default setting on XP, but either way--when I discovered some weird problems this morning that I felt certain a good system restore could take care of for me, I was cheerfully informed that I have no restore points.

So now, due to some problem with either a USB port or my webcam or Yahoo Messenger or Vista or my computer itself or some combination of any of those (insert side thought here:  what were those things called in math?  those things you used to figure out the number of possible combinations... and it would look like "5!"--funny in itself, i might add--but it meant 5x4x3x2x1... wait, am i remembering that right?  are there really 5x4x3x2x1=120 possible combinations of trouble spots my computer is experiencing?)

...Wow, I went on such a long mental aside that I forgot what I was saying.  My point is, my webcam is working only sporadically and I've gotten the Blue Screen of Death two or three times this morning (and I'm still wondering how on this new OS that Microsoft is promoting as beautiful and streamlined and blablabla, they haven't managed to come up with a better way to display "HELLO YOUR COMPUTER IS ABOUT TO EXPLODE AND DIE HA HA HA").

Of course, now that I think about and research that, I learn that early versions of Vista in fact had a Red Screen of Death, and I'm grateful that I didn't get anything like that.  I think if I ever saw an error message in any color besides blue, I would be terrified and most likely hide under my bed.  (Unless it was like, lavender, and then I'd probably want to cuddle with the error message BECAUSE IT WOULD JUST BE SOOOO ADORABLE.)

This turned into a lot more talking than I meant to do.  Really, I'm just trying to avoid figuring out how to fix this problem.  Another fun nugget I'm facing is the existence of a desktop shortcut that won't allow me to delete it because since I've uninstalled the program it goes to, it can't find itself.   ...I'm not even going on that rant.

Major Problem Numero Uno:

My sound has just.  Stopped working.  Earlier it stopped working, and I could find no reason for this--according to my computer, everything was working fine.  I got home, plugged the bad boy in in hopes of that magically returning sound--but it didn't.  I noticed updates were ready, one of them involving my sound card mo-bobber (highly technical term), so I said, "Update away!"

In addition to that particular update FAILING (giving me an error number that magically was not listed in the help file), my computer now boldly declares I have no audio output device installed.  Fantastic.  I'm told I have no driver installed for my sound card; my computer can find the driver online, but for a reason unknown even to it, cannot install it; I'm getting an error message informing me that my "Driver Installation Module Has Stopped Working"; and I just found an entire message board thread full of people with HP Pavillions bitching about how their sound/drivers/whatever aren't working on Vista.

I don't understand computers, and I am not qualified to fix this, but by George, I shall. I shall.

I suspect this is the beginning of a long, homework-less evening.  And not the good kind of homework-less.

Update:  three hours later.  Definitely a long evening, but problem solved (at least for now).  I spent almost two hours dicking around with stuff, trying solutions I found on a forum, downloading an audio driver from the HP website.  After this I gave up and called HP tech support while also waiting for a tech support person online, waiting to see who I got to first.  After 25 minutes (!) they both responded almost simultaneously; I closed the Internet window and continued with the nice Indian woman whom I couldn't really understand.  And then as soon as I explained my problem, one of our phones cut out.  Tears ready to burst forth from my eyes almost as much as the profanity was from my mouth, I uninstalled and deleted the audio driver in a rage, re-downloaded the one from the HP website, installed it, restarted, and... !  Startup music!  Amazing.  Probably a very simple solution that anyone would've known to do, and it took me nearly three hours.

At least I feel like I learned stuff.  I feel like I actually acquired knowledge and skills that may help me in future situations.  If nothing else, I sort of know what a driver is now.... ~is pathetic~

For the past several months, my laptop has (with increasing frequency) been acting a little sketchy on startup.  My parents became concerned that it would die on me in the middle of a late night project, and since my brother has been wanting a laptop, they decided to give my old laptop to my brother and find me a new one.

...Ok, I know.  Slightly spoiled.  Shut up.  I do feel guilty, but my feelings of excitement kind of overpowered that after awhile.

The glorious thing is that this new piece of shiny deliciousness has Windows Vista on it, and I don't think my family has ever used an operating system that was less than a year old (much less one under a week old).  I feel like an explorer discovering new lands!

Now I've heard lots of crappy comments relating to Vista, but so far I have no complaints.  It's taken me quite a number of hours (and will take a few more, I imagine) to get everything the way I want it, but I would expect that with any kind of computer change.  About half of all that time was spent trying to figure out how to transfer my old anti-virus subscription to this computer, a process made all the more complicated by the fact that Norton 2006 is not compatible with Vista.  I almost got pissed off until the whole process landed me 220 extra days (the remainder of my subscription) of Norton 2007, which I had to download.  That's been the only compatibility issue I've had so far, but then again, I'm not exactly a hardcore computer user (Internet, Word, iTunes, and messenger services for communications with the Significant Other... that's about all I need).

Conspicuously absent?  MY COMPUTER.  I mean, seriously.  There is no "My Computer" anywhere.  It's freaking me out.  The whole My Documents situation seems to be organized slightly differently, but I really haven't messed with it enough to know the full extent of that.  I've become a recent convert to Firefox, so I won't bother discussing the changes to Internet Explorer (which you can see for yourself if you've downloaded the newest version--I dig the older version better, myself).

As far as my computer--as in, my actual, physical computer--I am 99% in love.  It's cute, it's light (6.14 pounds, a pound and a half lighter than my old one), and full of bigger numbers on all those things like "RAM" and "Processor Speed" and "Hard Drive" and whatnot.  (Like that's important; IT'S SHINY!)  Unfortunately, I'm still not used to this touch pad.  Also, there's some kind of high-pitched sound going on, and I'm not sure what to think about that. 

But that's all for now, as I have to lead a discussion group in 30 minutes and... I haven't looked at the material.  Maybe it's time to work on that.