A thread for boring computer questions.

Are you running Windows XP? The troubleshooting function there is v. good.

Forgive me for being a total technophobe but I actually have no idea how to go about popping out the sound card. If you could supply basic instructions, I'd really appreciate it.

I probably couldn't give you good enough instruction on popping anything out to prevent breakage and general computer rupture.

http://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/sorttable/

I've got a little php script that makes an html table from a mysql database; it's a lot of info (will possibly be around 3000 records when complete) and so want an easy way for a user to sort.

xp: yeah, it doesn't matter, I think maybe I'm trying to skip a step by putting that javascript in an index.php, also, I'm just learning some of this stuff.

Otherwise have you checked the slots at the back of your PC? Is there one that looks like it might be a sound card (headphone sockets/audio out etc..)

If so have you tried looking in Device Manager to see if Windows recognises your card?

Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager (think this is right - I use Linux at home so can't check). Expand what's listed under Sound or Multimedia or some'int like that. If there are any yellow exclamation marks then Windows sees the card but doesn't recognize it.

If there's nothing there, then the card is probably dead.

Am I correct to assume that, becuase ther is an audio out socket and as the computer seems to recognise at least some kind of sound card, that I don't need to go out and buy a new one? All I need is to find out what kind it is and get a driver... correct?

a href="this_page.php?sort=name"
a href="this_page.php?sort=date"
a href="this_page.php?sort=size"
(maybe even sort=size_descending / sort=size_ascending if you feel fancy)

then use the value of the sort variable to call a slightly different mysql statement (with different ORDER BY clause) before printing it all out in the table. (DON'T just pass in the value of the sort variable straight into the sql as people could do bad things with it, like delete all your data)

yes, this requires all the data to be fetched from the server everytime they change the sort order but it's either that or sorting in the javascript which is painful.

hth,
andy

The first thing to check here: are there speakers? If the answer is yes, there's a soundcard.

If you go into the Control Panel and click on the System icon, you can select the Device Manager and look under the sound and multimedia section to see if there's a soundcard; it may just be that the driver has gotten munched. If there's nothing there at all then who knows but if there's something with an exclamation point beside it, you'll have to update the driver.

a) if it doesn't have speakers, see if it at least has speaker sockets on the back.

a) try and see if you can detect "new" hardware

b) Get a Linux boot CD - Knoppix or similar - and run the 'lspci' command. It scans your computer's bus, interrogates the hardware it finds, and prints out what there is.

Your IP was found in the OPM blacklist and will not be allowed to post.

It then takes me to this Open Proxy Lookup where it tells me that my IP address "is an active entry in the OPM blacklist, it was confirmed as an open proxy by our scanning software at 2004-12-31 03:31:22 GMT."

I have no idea what this means. I did call my Internet provider (SBC) the other day because I was having connection problems and they said they'd try to get it taken care of -- which it seems like they have. I don't know if that's related.

I just don't know what to do now. How do I go about "securing a proxy"? What the hell is a proxy in the first place?

*ahem*

At least I'm past the point of feeling stupid because I think I'm missing some simple little thing that will make it all work. Nothing about this is simple.

Fuck this. it's beer time.

http://lawver.net/geek/geeked/002212.php

These are clear instructions for how to install MT... on OS X.

What, it isn't beer time? Damn.

OK, so I have a question.

I have a PC on long-term loan, from a mate who's gone abroad, which over the past year has become slower and slower - pop-ups everywhere ("simply the best!" being the main culprits), another unwanted and useless search window every time I use Google, and all sorts of other gremlins.

While my mate (the owner) has blamed it on me downloading too much t33n-g0th-sc4t-pr0n - an outrageous slur and not true (honest!) - I think it'sd down to my flatmate and his constant search for ever better MP3 mixing software.

Last night, I emptied the C: drive of all my MP3s, documents and JPGs, with a view towards either formatting the hard drive, or defragging the thing, or both if necessary/useful.

I just want to drag the lake, so to speak, to get rid of all the detritus.

But.

Apparently I can't format the HD without a disc to reinstall Windows afterwards, and I don't have one of those.

And I can't, literally can't, find the defrag application anywhere on my PC. Programs/Accessories/System Tools? Nope, not there. But it must be somewhere, right?

Help! Urgh.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html

http://www.ewido.net/en/download/

Do the above gizmos prevent more bad things happening, or actually *purge* bad things that have already happened? In my head, I'm imagining a little fella climbing in and out of every nook and cranny of my PC, grabbing nastiness and putting it in a box like a Ghostbuster, then throwing the box into the ether when it's finished...

It's driving me nuts - often when I have just one window open, trying to open another window, or a document, or a jpg or whatever, results in an "insufficient memory - please close some programs and try again" message...THERE'S NOTHING TO CLOSE, ASSHATS.

*sob*

I mean, I can't say I have a lot of experience with it; I was trying to show a friend a bit about programming and he wanted to know about PHP, so that's about the limit of my experience with it, but it was quite straightforward. PHP was a little more hassle, just editing a couple of files as I remember. Apache was about as easy as installing software gets.

We've used it on an ad-hoc basis at work under Windows too.

Does it not work or something?

http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/malware.ars

It might make things clearer.

If you're *really* stuck, Windows does have a Unix-style /etc/hosts file hidden away in the depths; you might be able to hack that about to get it to work.

(on my work box, which is running XP Pro, it's C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts)

But, as Ed said, you're probably better off going dual-boot and running Apache on Linux.

Anyway, my Windows machine is an inferior piece of crap, part MMLXXXIV.

Start->Run

Type cmd

and type: ipconfig

and you'll get a line that says something like: IP Number: 192.168.0.2

If this changes after a reboot, then you've been assigned a new one (this gets more complicated if you're on some sort of wireless network or internal network).

I wouldn't worry too much about being hacked. Whilst it is possible, the media makes it seem much more likely than it actually is. Taking sensible precautions (firewall for example, not running executables you get in emails) is usually good enough.

Windows only allows IP addresses for the DNS servers, and not FQDNs, unlike UNIX TCP/IP stacks which can use both forms.

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1784110589;fp;2;fpid;1277378924

Well, that's stupid.

If this changes after a reboot, then you've been assigned a new one (this gets more complicated if you're on some sort of wireless network or internal network).

You can also try to force them to reassign you by typing: ipconfig /release

(although they may well just reassign you the same address right back)