Tough. Ivy bridge intel GPU is probably not what you want. I lean toward nVidia, but their Optimus series has its own problems, esp if you are going to try to run linux on it. Bumblebee is not that awesome... and nvidia has REFUSED to support linux. There is a new beta driver with some optimus support. I am not sure how well it works. So... no matter what you end up with, I would avoid hybrid graphics... though they have support in windows... there are often issues predicting how well they will work. Basically, there is a weak GPU (typically intel) and a power GPU... when a demand is made it switches to the more powerful GPU (as both are connected to the same head and integrated, this is seamless). However some games trying to load will die not seeing the stronger GPU in operation. So... it is something to be aware of. I would avoid hybrid graphics at this point. This will likely relegate you to a gaming laptop... and they are typically more expensive. A low end non-hybrid ATI or nVidia gaming laptop would be where I steered you.
This is a decent price, good reviews, with dedicated graphics. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834216457 If you like the mac stuff, you would probably like the vaio products... a little pricier. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127961
Was printing when using all colors, but not solely B&W. Last time I tried to print something, it acted like it was printing but there was nothing there, despite the ink cartridges showing sufficient ink and being properly seated. This is all using the same document, which prints fine on the new printer and had printed fine before; nothing in the document has changed. I'll have to see how feasible dismantling it will be.
Correction, it will print using color only, but not black only. When printing using all colors, it only prints the color portion, not any of the black.
Well yes... but black is different than the other colors if you are using a multicolor cartridge... The reason it "appears" to work when printing in color is because it creates its own black using the color ink, it is actually a purple... but regardless... it is not using the black ink cartridge most of the time. You can print black and white documents in color to see what I mean. Different printers handle "when" to use the black cartridge. Each cartridge has its own jet.
Understood. There doesn't appear to be any way to disassemble the printhead - it seems to be molded as a single, solid piece. Illustrations here and here. At this point I suppose the solution is to buy a new printhead.
There is a new one of these. Safe mode and safe mode with networking are both dead. You can get safe mode with command prompt up, and type "explorer" from there which will start the desktop unaffected. However in this mode you cannot edit the registry with the native hive tool. What you CAN do is download MalwareBytes here, transfer it with a thumbdrive or burn it to a cd or whatever, and install it. Then grab the latest update here, and run the updater. If you are finding this post months after its posting, please just search http://majorgeeks.com for both links to make sure you have the most current definitions.
Update: I finally got my computer to recognize the USB drive. First, I tried to format the USB drive as Ctrl suggested; only to get the message that it cannot be formatted. After being unable to restore to several previous configurations, I went online and ended up here, where this post caught my attention: I took the USB drive to work and discovered that even though the message "drive cannot be formatted", all files were gone. (good thing I copied files before attempting the format). Formatted the drive to NTFS, copied files back to drive; plugged drive into unco-operative computer which recognized the drive and all is well again. Only question which remains is "Why?".
Couple theories... cannot say for sure. The partition table was blown... boot sector chunked... I am not sure by what... I always suspect virii on windows... or it was mounted to the root of the drive (as opposed to a partition), which is known to explode if it gets interrupted writing data. I believe fat16/32 may be the only way possible to do this successfully at this point. Firefox Spellcheck fix So I cleaned everything the other day and my spellcheck stopped working. Someone had asked me how to fix it... and I didn't really know as I could not replicate the problem. First go to Edit/Preferences/Advanced and make sure that "check my spelling as I type" checkbox is checked. Then, reply to something on here. Right click in the reply space, and go to Languages. The dictionary is probably corrupted somehow... so I just chose add dictionary... this will take you to this link... https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/language-tools/ Install the appropriate language dictionary, and it will download, run the install and it will select itself, and spell check is back. If you have two dictionaries listed, you will have to probably physically remove the corrupted one. As a side note, I am now experiencing the flash bug... so I will try and figure that out as well.
Actually, my general opinion of inkjet printers is not very good. I have had a few, and I find that their lifespan leaves something to be desired. In fact, for a long time I simply suggested people to throw them away when the ink ran out, because a few years ago some models (with ink) were actually cheaper then the replacement ink cartridges by themselves. For over a decade now, I have used nothing but laser printers. They are more durable, do not have most of the clogging and dry ink problems that ink jets have, and the price per page is much lower. Myself, for the last 7 years I have used an HP 4050TN that I got used for $100, and am still using the same toner cartridge I bought with it. Black and white only, but with the duplexing tray and network adaptor, it is easy to use from any computer in the house. And when my wife finally realized that her inkjet was dead, we replaced it with a color laser printer. I think new it was around $200. Now if we need to print color, we use that one. But for B&W only we use the HP. There are some pretty good deals out there for laser printers, especially the older commercial grade models. HP 4050s have lifespans of several million pages, and can be bought for around $150 pretty easily.
Last night I updated 'Avast', just to find out this morning that it had taken over my computer, denying access to both Google Chrome and FF. I was able to uninstall the entire mess, but am left with the question WHY? What happened? Those who have an answer...English please and baby steps... Thank you kindly.
It is simple, Avast is considered by many to be "crapware". They make a lot of money in up-selling services that are not needed, implying that the user is in "dire danger" if they do not pay for the service. Avast is one I have long had on my "avoid at any cost" list, along with McAffee.
You can add Symantec/Norton to that list. Their enterprise grade antivirus is half-decent, but their home/commercial software is abysmal - like, one of the worst. Personally, as far as free antivirus goes, I'd actually recommend Microsoft Security Essentials. I am by no means big Microsoft fan, but I've tried a bunch of different antivirus programs over the years, and theirs is pretty good. It probably has the smallest system resource footprint of any of them which, to me, is the most important factor. Since it's MS, it also integrates with Windows Updates (but can be updated separately also).
Actually, their AV is not to bad. The biggest problem is that it is tricky to find just "Norton Antivirus" anymore, they want you to get an entire suite of crap that is not needed and drags your computer down like a boat anchor. As for MSE, I say to avoid that as well. It was pretty decent when it first came out 3 years ago, but it now pretty much sucks. Pretty much every review source says to stay clear of that because it has not kept up with the AV industry (which is typical of MS in this area, their AV since 1993 has pretty much always sucked). http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/none/305401-microsoft-fails-av-test-certification Myself, I use AVG and have for years. I also try various others (Avast and Panda were the last 2 I tried) on my test computers, and I normally get infections on those within a few weeks.
My PC never gets infected anymore. I browse the web using Sandboxie and delete the sandbox after browsing, eliminating anything loaded onto my PC. I am always surprised that people rely more on trying to catch it with programs that do not catch everything than choosing a program that eliminates everything you choose not to become permanent on your PC.
Well, their software may be good at detecting and cleaning infections, but I was referring more to the state of their software in general. Even just Norton Antivirus by itself has a very noticeable impact on system performance. Plus it digs itself into the system so incredibly deep that when it has an issue or you want to uninstall it, it's almost impossible to fix or get rid of without using a special removal tool (I've had lots of experience with this working in a PC repair shop for several years). So even if the AV portion is good, there are others choices that are as good or better that won't turn your system to (*)(*)(*)(*). Wow, I hadn't realized it's gotten so bad. That's a shame, because it has such low system resource usage, which is very important to me.
Actually, I used computers for around 20 years or so without any antivirus software at all and never got a single infection (or spyware). Then one day a few years ago, I let my young cousin use my PC and got a virus. I installed some AV software to remove it and just left it installed as a safety net. The best prevention isn't AV software, but learning where not to go on the web and what not to click on (including email).
[MENTION=62691]Tom Joad[/MENTION]: This is how to insert a video instead of just posting a link. Click on the movie icon and copy and paste a video URL.
I haven't had too many problems with Avast. I use it in Linux and apart from fiddling with the parameters to make it work with the updated kernel I found it okay. I have AVG on my W7 laptop and that seems to be okay too. I did put ClamTK on one of my LInux machines and that seems to work very nicely too.
Running anti-virus programs is a waste of PC resources . Avast database is far from the best . Secure your browsing with addons , use a free antispyware program to scan everything you download and get full control of your computer with sysinternal 's process explorer.
Can you recommend any particular anti spyware? It seems to me that many of my searches are being observed, and I do get adds on whatever topic I have been researching soon after. That, of course, can result in very ...shall we say ...interesting ads, esp when one looks for entertaining material for PF's cafe. Privacy and malware protection are my main goal. Thank you
*Clean your cookies , use duckduckgo instead of google . *I am using both superantispyware and malwarebytes free editions *Note: no software will give you 100% protection so sysinternals PE is a must and uses minimum resources (note2 this tool does nothing of itself it just show what is running and you can check "strange" processes on the net with one click) *Occasionally check out your start up configuration and the services running ( msconfig will do that for you ) , remove crap like adobe updates , office.lnk *Use THIS to kill anything that refuses to die . * Fireproof your Firefox ( scriptblock is invaluable but it has a learning curve) I know those look too much but FF addons will do 90% of the job , what you have to do is scan everything you download , run a complete scan with the two antimalware programs once a month and check your start-up & services if you think something isn't right .
SpywareBlaster (free) ~ Trustworthy little program, lightweight and runs silent behind the scenes to stop spyware. I use it. ~ http://www.brightfort.com/spywareblaster.html Spybot Search and Destroy (free edition) ~ Another program, good for finding and removing spyware. I use it. ~ http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html Malwarebytes (free edition) ~ Great little removal program. I use it. ~ http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/ CCleaner (free edition) Trusted program that is good for clearing searches/history, cookies, cache. I use it. ~ https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download Shang, I know it may seem like overkill, but I have all 4 programs. They may or may not be necessary for my actual use. But I can attest, I have zero issue with spyware/malware. As with almost all free editions, they have to be updated manually. However, each can be set to notify when an update is available. You may chose one, all or none obviously, but thought you might like to read about them.
