Dungeon Master Forum

A program used for viewing different picture formats

AVG really isn't very good and consistently misses viruses that practically all other scanners can find with no problems. I really would recommend you to switch to something else and do a full system scan. You may actually have a virus and not know cos AVG has missed it...

well depending if I can get adequet virus protection what should I get?

I haven't used Nod32, but some friends agree it's very good:

http://www.nod32.com/home/home.htm

I personally use Norton AntiVirus which is very thorough, but it's a system hog and slows everything down, using up a *lot* of memory. I am going to switch to Nod32 when my current subscription to Norton expires.

It took me about a week to uninstall Norton when I last had it, it got everywhere! Doesn't help letting my mother loose on the computer either. I am dreading the things I will be finding soon

Downloading trial now. Also why don't we all just go to flashchat?

Just make sure she doesn't subscribe to "Big Knickers for Older Women Weekly" using *your* credit card details...

No chat for me, I'm off to bed. Night night!

Doing too many things to chat! This is the 1st time I have had graphics online for 2 months!

poor paul

The CD has decided to work now!

Cut the processes now to 45. What is this SVCH host thing?

http://hometown.aol.com/Supersonic525/procs.PNG

Windows Xp was pre intstalled, don't have the disc.

Can this be true? You bought it new? What do you
do when you need to reload a piece of the operating
system? Are all Dell computers sold this way?
That's enough to scare me off.

svchost is a core part of Windows that manages other dlls/processes -- don't worry that there's lots of them *except* if your computer behaves oddly as some viruses target it.

If you want to know what any process does, just types it's full name into google and you'll come to lots of pages that will tell you what they are, including those that are spyware, viruses, etc.

Dell PCs do have OEM installs of XP -- you should definitely have a disc with it all on, though it will install their version with all the guff, not a clean vanilla copy.

I have the Works CD, but no Windows one. Though the computer has the product key sticker on the side. Maybe I should email them and ask them to send me a copy.

Here is Dell's reply:

"However, in response to your question, as of 31st August 2004, DELL stopped shipping MRI CD's with their systems. This is called the Media Reduction Initiative. If you ever need to perform a format/reinstall then please contact us and we would be able to give you the necessary steps to resolve the issue."

Seems rather hippocritical as they sent me countless ISP cds and other random bollocks.

Apparnetly it's now a good idea if you run torrents to get a bit torrent tracker checker...can't remember the name! Let's you see how many are sourced by paramount etc affliliates

Wait, jsut read page two - isnt' that illegal? Didn't they uised to mandatorily have to give you the software? Most cheated and gave you a recovery disk which technically let you have the op system

That is frightening you can't reformat and 'own' your own PC operating....hmm....

Just go Linux : )

I don't know about the legaility of it. I can buy a 'version' of windows from a local corner shop that will work with my product code lol

Lol, nice snail, goes with your sneaky cheerful ethos : )

I also think the snail is drunk

ack, troubles with your new dell? Maybe just Dell in BC is awesome.. :/

did you get onsite service when you ordered yours?

if so you can request they come figure it out.

moo

Of course, the drunkness goes against my views on alcohol.

Not troubles as such Cows, just wondering about the Windows disc situations. I got a years warranty with the computer.

Thanks for sorting the snail btw

This may seem like a silly question, but it is bugging me none the less. Every picture file on my HD is recognised as type 'paint shop pro X image'. How do I change it so it reads type as what it actually is ie a .bmp, .jpg, .png etc?

The computer came with Corel PaintShopProX preinstalled.

Well, it still knows what type it is, it is just set up so PSPX handles all of those images.

You'll have to associate Paint with .bmp, Internet Explorer with .jpg, or whatever else you want to do... I'm not quite sure how to do that but I think it's in Properties somewhere.

Paint Shop Pro might have some sort of thing on startup where it asserts itself as handling those filetypes, too. A lot of programs do, but they can all disable that.

Right click on a file you want to open, click 'Properties' and near the top of the dialog that opens will be 'Type of file: x' and underneath 'Opens With: x' with a 'Change...' button next to it. Click the Change button and choose / browse to the program you wish to open the file with. If you want to permanently associate the file with that program, make sure the appropriately named checkbox is ticked (if the filetype is already associated with a program, this should already be checked).

Hope that helps!

also, if you want to have the file extentions of each file show .. you need to do that from an open folder. So go to my computer for example.. and in that window look for the tools/Folder options. Then in those options you can turn off "Hide extentions of known file types" then all your files will show with their .BMP or .JPG extentions..

moo

Another reason for IrfanView. Start it and then connect all picture files with it. Irfan usually starts within a wink...

Thanks guys! I had already done what Pad had suggested but to no avail!

Out of interest I bought a computer mag 'tother day just to see what was happening in this crazy world. In it they were reviewing a budget tower, which in my mind, was well equipped: Intel 3.06Ghz proc, 512MB Ram, 160GB hard drive, dual layer dvd writer, 5.1 card, TV tuner and lots of USB ports, PCI slots etc. It was 380 pounds. They said is was 'adequte for basic office and internet tasks, and image editing' and summed it up as 'a good 2nd PC to cover the most basic of computing tasks'.
This makes my new machine look like a lame duck! I get the impression that some reviewers are somewhat elitest and poncey in their attitude in reviews. In my mind computers 5 years ago could 'confidently handle basic tasks' never mind run some more taxing stuff: hell, my Amiga 4000 suited me fine!
Or is it just me?

It's just you

Nah, not really. Reviewers do tend to forget that a lot of people really won't be stuffing their machine full of rubbish and *really* only need it for basic stuff.

Having said that, part of the problem is Windows XP. It's quite lean when you switch off all the default rubbish, but most average users don't know that and end up with tons of crap slowing it down. As a result, you do need quite a lot of RAM to make it do anything useful. 512 really is the bare minimum for XP...

I suppose as technology advances, the bare minimum spec does as well. Though I dare say even the 'minimum' spec of above is far and away more than most will ever need. And even if they wanted to run the very latest games at high res, a basic graphics card and more ram is peanuts. I am sure a lot of users of this forum still use age old Pentiums running at 200mhz

Yeah, but this extra hardware cost is usually for nothing. The machine you decribed I would say is great, maybe stick in another 512Mb. I always think that unless you play the nwest games or have intence software packages your hardware needs shouldn't be huge. Any software developer seems to not see this and evrything seems to want to cripple your machine and give nothing much in return. NIS is a classic example - the newer the version the more it trashes a briolliant machine, yet most of the interface crap isn't needed...I'm sure peple could be happy with NIS2003