[waldojim]

coastie65, on 08 April 2012 - 05:25 PM, said:

Actually you can run up to 4 Gb in 32 Bit, but it will only use 3.0 - 3.5 Gb. That is unless the MOBO is restricted to 2 Gb.

Windows limits all 32bit software to 2GB unless that software is "aware" of large memory pools. Most are not.

EDIT: Even then, 32bit software has an upper limit of 3GB.

This post has been edited by waldojim: 09 April 2012 - 11:40 PM

[crazy4laptops]

waldojim, on 09 April 2012 - 11:38 PM, said:

crazy4laptops, on 08 April 2012 - 02:00 PM, said:

coastie65, on 03 April 2012 - 04:51 PM, said:

I'm using about 1.9 Gb of ram, but as usual I have a bunch of stuff open.

In my browsing, Firefox has passed 4.5GB of RAM usage (image-heavy sites with flash in multiple tabs and windows)

Gotta love having 8GB of ram!

You have a 64bit version of firefox? If not, I am curious how it managed that, with a flat limit of 3GB... That could be interesting to see.

Yes, FF is 64bit on the Mac

Try WaterFox, it's the 64bit version for PC

[techie4fun]

I've always hated setting up network shares/printers in Windows XP-Vista, cuz I can never get anything to work. Vista's been a little easier to set up than XP, but I have never been able to share a printer across more than 1 computer on either OS.

This post has been edited by techie4fun: 10 April 2012 - 09:21 AM

[Evildave]

Buy a printer with the network connection built in, and use that exclusively.

Or buy a router or NAS with a USB port to share the printer, and make sure it's 'compatible' with that.

[crazy4laptops]

techie4fun, on 10 April 2012 - 09:18 AM, said:

I've always hated setting up network shares/printers in Windows XP-Vista, cuz I can never get anything to work. Vista's been a little easier to set up than XP, but I have never been able to share a printer across more than 1 computer on either OS.

Just get Windows Server, works great! But I had the most success having Windows XP Pro do the file/print sharing to my Win7/Mac/XP/Linux clients. Once I setup a Win7 share, it just failed miserably.

Also, never use the Lexmark Z45 printer, it is probably one of the worst printers because of the driver, it was nearly impossible to connect to it if you didn't have XP.

[LiveBrianD]

crazy4laptops, on 10 April 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

techie4fun, on 10 April 2012 - 09:18 AM, said:

I've always hated setting up network shares/printers in Windows XP-Vista, cuz I can never get anything to work. Vista's been a little easier to set up than XP, but I have never been able to share a printer across more than 1 computer on either OS.

Just get Windows Server, works great! But I had the most success having Windows XP Pro do the file/print sharing to my Win7/Mac/XP/Linux clients. Once I setup a Win7 share, it just failed miserably.

Also, never use the Lexmark Z45 printer, it is probably one of the worst printers because of the driver, it was nearly impossible to connect to it if you didn't have XP.

I had a Canon D680 from 2002 or so (I'm guessing) and it wasn't compatible with macs or 64-bit Windows. (the driver was clearly designed for Win 2000/XP and back, but worked okay on Vista 32-bit) I had to replace it when my mom got a new Win7 64-bit machine. Guess what company is no longer earning profits from selling me cartridges and is no longer getting recommendations from me...

[smax013]

LiveBrianD, on 03 April 2012 - 01:07 PM, said:

What are some of the most annoying geeky things you've seen? For instance, see the attached.
browser toolbars.png

I think you missed a few.

[LiveBrianD]

I have another thing to add to the list - product manuals that give you instructions for something that don't work on your particular model, forcing you to look elsewhere online to get the actual ones (and the actual way to do the thing isn't at all obvious). For instance, I just replaced the belt on my printer (a Brother), and the manual tells you to go into certain menus to reset the counter. Actually, that menu doesn't exist in the printer. It took quite a bit of searching to find what it really was. (and it's not at all obvious - go to the home screen and push the 3 key and the 9 key... why isn't it in the menu where the life of the components is listed?)

[coastie65]

smax013, on 11 April 2012 - 08:33 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 03 April 2012 - 01:07 PM, said:

What are some of the most annoying geeky things you've seen? For instance, see the attached.
browser toolbars.png

I think you missed a few.

[snorg]

Open a program, shows it in the task bar and keeps blinking in task bar till you click on it.
I hate that.




.

This post has been edited by snorg: 15 April 2012 - 05:23 AM

[LiveBrianD]

Another thing - Windows Update (particularly in XP).

Windows Update: You need to restart to finish installing updates... I'm doing that in 15 minutes.
Go away!
(5 minutes later) Restarting in 15 minutes.
Piss off!
(5 minutes later) Restarting in 15 minutes.
I said, go away!
(5 minutes later) Restarting in 15 minutes.
UGHHH!!!!!!
(5 minutes later) Restarting in 15 minutes.
WTF????
(5 minutes later) Restarting in 15 minutes.
(15 minutes later, with the user having left the computer) Restarting computer...
NOOOOO!!! I had unsaved documents open!

At least Vista and up let you delay it by 4 hours (the option I ALWAYS use). I reinstalled Windows on my grandmother's PC yesterday (which was infected), and just realized that I forgot to tweak the registry key on it that prevents AU from automatically restarting Windows. Oops...

[waldojim]

Then try turning off automatic updates. Set it to download only, and let the user decide when to install them. That is the same setting I use, and for the same reason.

[Evildave]

What part of 'for grandma' did you miss? If such a machine is set for manual update, it will never be updated, ever.

The more important thing would be configuring grandma with a 'user' account and all the software she needs, and making a drive image snapshot for the next time Windoze self-destructs.

That way you can restore it trivially from that snapshot whenever there's an issue, and spend more quality time visiting, rather than being tech support.

[Evildave]

Annoyance: Being everyone's 'tech support', wherever I go.

Even with appropriate attire...
http://www.thinkgeek...strations/388b/

[Evildave]

It wouldn't really be so bad. If you're the car mechanic, everyone has a car bug to look at, but they don't expect you to pull new tires out of your arse.

If you're the builder, everyone has a 'small project', but they don't generally expect you to come up with all of the construction materials.

Of course, with computers, they want the 'name brand' software (for free) and all the parts you can scavenge (for free).

Me being helpful: "Oh, you want a word processor and an image editor? Lemme slap on LibreOffice.org and the GIMP and Audacity, while I'm at it..."

They give me that face: "Why can't you just install Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop for me?"

"Because you have zero budget, and that software costs more your whole computer is worth, along with half the furniture in your house, and you don't know how to use it, anyway, so you may as well learn how to use the free software until you can afford to make that kind of investment, instead of rent and groceries."

[waldojim]

Evildave, on 15 April 2012 - 09:41 PM, said:

What part of 'for grandma' did you miss? If such a machine is set for manual update, it will never be updated, ever.

The more important thing would be configuring grandma with a 'user' account and all the software she needs, and making a drive image snapshot for the next time Windoze self-destructs.

That way you can restore it trivially from that snapshot whenever there's an issue, and spend more quality time visiting, rather than being tech support.

I suggested DOWNLOAD ONLY - meaning that Windows update on restart only.

GRANDMA is the one who shuts her machine off every 5 minutes to save electricity - at least mine sure did. If nothing else, she was the one who had to make sure her machine was off every day so it didn't get struck by lightning.

GUESS WHAT?

The moment GRANDMA shuts her PC off, it will update! LIKE OMG! If you had a CLUE how Windows worked, you would have known this.

This post has been edited by coastie65: 16 April 2012 - 12:41 PM

[waldojim]

Evildave, on 15 April 2012 - 09:54 PM, said:

It wouldn't really be so bad. If you're the car mechanic, everyone has a car bug to look at, but they don't expect you to pull new tires out of your arse.

If you're the builder, everyone has a 'small project', but they don't generally expect you to come up with all of the construction materials.

Of course, with computers, they want the 'name brand' software (for free) and all the parts you can scavenge (for free).

Me being helpful: "Oh, you want a word processor and an image editor? Lemme slap on LibreOffice.org and the GIMP and Audacity, while I'm at it..."

They give me that face: "Why can't you just install Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop for me?"

"Because you have zero budget, and that software costs more your whole computer is worth, along with half the furniture in your house, and you don't know how to use it, anyway, so you may as well learn how to use the free software until you can afford to make that kind of investment, instead of rent and groceries."

SAdly, there is considerably too much truth to this. I get this at work all the time too. "But can't you bring me in a special copy?" No. If you want your "special" copy, go steal it your damned self. Leave me out of your pirating business. I use Open Office, and I am fine with that.

[oral2012]

That is great!

[coastie65]

[quote name='waldojim' timestamp='1334563866' post='604284'

The moment GRANDMA shuts her PC off, it will update!
[/quote]


Yep. Get most of mine that way.

[Evildave]

A clue about how windows works?

http://main.makeuseo...orks.png?54b313