getting a new pc; selecting virus software

So today was a day where I got this idea for a video .... and I had to make the video happen. I loaded gimp and started creating little images ... I think I'm getting the hang of gimp pretty good! I like the little notepad thing ... "tom boy"

So I fire up the video editing software (OpenShot) and spend far too long trying to get what i want out of it. And it is buggy.

For the netflix stuff, i was thinking of dropping netflix and just using something else. Or just dropping it because I don't use it that often. Jocelyn has it too, so I like that we can both watch the same thing and then make a podcast about what we saw (recording skype).

I now have about 50 windows open - each window representing something I need to get done. The bar at the bottom is .... too packed. Normally I keep that bar "three high". But how to do that isn't obvious.

I know I have to move all of my video stuff over to windows now and re-install my windows video editor (I'm worried I will lose my momentum for this video project). I suspect that a couple of days from now I'll be moving back to windows - but am hopeful that somebody here will mention super duper video editing stuff and will confirm the ability to easily record skype calls.

I moved back to windows. The video editing software on linux was really lame. With linux I kept putting it into hibernate so I could then reboot into windows. And then hibernate windows to go back to all my stuff in linux. And linux was still being wonky about sleep mode and wireless stuff. Linux was slowly driving me nuts.

So stuff is generally working okay in windows. I have to reboot it too often because I get some FF windows open and everything starts to run like crap. I find that I have to shut down firefox to run my video editing software or things get too difficult.

A few days ago I was trying to get some work done, but couldn't get connected to the wireless internet, so I told it to hibernate. The laptop lost everything.

About an hour ago, the power went out, so I told the laptop to go to hibernate so I could then go to an internet cafe. Again, it lost everything.

I would call to get tech support but I cannot imagine the answer being any different: "it's not our fault."

I paid extra to get a computer that would be more stable. It turns out that I paid extra because I'm a sucker. I post this here in the hopes that others can avoid my mistake.

I've been working my way through listening to the podcast archive. I thought I would pop over here to see how the new PC turned out, since the conclusion didn't get tacked onto the end.

Back 4-5 years ago I was a pc tech and I used to use a program called PC De-Crapifier to remove the crap from the Acer computers we were selling at the time. I'm not sure if it has kept up to date or not.
For malware I was using Spybot Search & destroy, but I think malware bytes has surpassed them. When I left that job, we had started selling Kaspesky antivirus to avoid the Symantec bloat-ware. (Ever had to upgrade the IE5-IE6 on a machine because Norton uses an html gui?) At home I'm now runing Microsoft SE and have only had virus get through, and that was because I let it in. Kaspersky recovery disk to the rescue!

I used to use MajorGeeks.com for sourcing my windows apps, but I'll have to check out www.osalt.com mentioned above.

I'm always nervous about jumping into linux with both feet. I've used it for work in the past, with a set purpose (email, Apache) but when it comes to desktop stuff like cd burning, video stuff like Paul, there seems to be speed bumps.
Last night, trying to get an odb2 scanner installed to use with ubuntu, because I gave away the netbook with XP on it that I had been using. I had an hour & half set aside after my daughter went to bed and spent most of reading linux forums and how-to's.
Oh well try again tonight with a XP laptop borrowed from work. If I have time left over I'll format my ubuntu machine and install Mint.

I don't want to learn how to build the OS, I just want to use it. One of our sales guys has a quote hanging up: “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”

What do you think of my idea of an expensive windows computer?

Robert Reid wrote:
I'm always nervous about jumping into linux with both feet. I've used it for work in the past, with a set purpose (email, Apache) but when it comes to desktop stuff like cd burning, video stuff like Paul, there seems to be speed bumps.
Last night, trying to get an odb2 scanner installed to use with ubuntu, because I gave away the netbook with XP on it that I had been using. I had an hour & half set aside after my daughter went to bed and spent most of reading linux forums and how-to's.
Oh well try again tonight with a XP laptop borrowed from work. If I have time left over I'll format my ubuntu machine and install Mint.

I don't want to learn how to build the OS, I just want to use it. One of our sales guys has a quote hanging up: “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”

It's funny what a point of view does. Any time I get a new computer, it comes with some sort of M$ OS. It's broken, loaded with advertising, etc. Talk to a windows user and they tell me I just have to do this that and the other thing and it will be fine.... my thought is "I don't want to learn how to build the OS, I just want to use it." After being frustrated at getting what I want to work... like maybe just a browser even... downloading something like firefox (made for linux cross coded to windows) I generally download a linux iso... install, enjoy. I realize that i am so used to the right way to do things with linux, that it just works for me. I am coming to realize windows users are just used to the right way to make windows shine. I don't know how to customize windows to work for me, I have to spend hours figuring it out. I can install just about any recent version of linux and just use it, with no tweaks. Better yet, it out performs the original windows it came with.

Like I say, it is all a matter of point of view.

paul wheaton wrote:What do you think of my idea of an expensive windows computer?

I like the idea, but I would never want to be in the computer hardware business. The margins are too slim and the chance of having outdated unsold inventory too high.
I'm sure that's how companies like DigitalStorm get started, but then they either farm out the tech support, or rely on disgruntled university students to provide the tech support and the whole thing goes to crap.
It would be nice to have something to recommend to family & friends and not be their only source for tech support.

Len Ovens wrote:

It's funny what a point of view does. Any time I get a new computer, it comes with some sort of M$ OS. It's broken, loaded with advertising, etc. Talk to a windows user and they tell me I just have to do this that and the other thing and it will be fine.... my thought is "I don't want to learn how to build the OS, I just want to use it." After being frustrated at getting what I want to work... like maybe just a browser even... downloading something like firefox (made for linux cross coded to windows) I generally download a linux iso... install, enjoy. I realize that i am so used to the right way to do things with linux, that it just works for me. I am coming to realize windows users are just used to the right way to make windows shine. I don't know how to customize windows to work for me, I have to spend hours figuring it out. I can install just about any recent version of linux and just use it, with no tweaks. Better yet, it out performs the original windows it came with.

Like I say, it is all a matter of point of view.

I've actually had my own firefox issues, I never traced it as far as you have, but I've definitely had issues with the "plugin container.exe" crashing when I have lots of youtube tabs open.
I do feel the burn when M$ changes versions and hide all the configuration stuff inside multiple windows "for a more pleasent user experience"
What was the joke when Mac switched to a linux base: "OSX, because making linux user-friendly is easier than troubleshooting windows"

Robert Reid wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:What do you think of my idea of an expensive windows computer?

I like the idea, but I would never want to be in the computer hardware business. The margins are too slim and the chance of having outdated unsold inventory too high.
I'm sure that's how companies like DigitalStorm get started, but then they either farm out the tech support, or rely on disgruntled university students to provide the tech support and the whole thing goes to crap.
It would be nice to have something to recommend to family & friends and not be their only source for tech support.

Aside from my "using windows is like using roundup in permaculture" feelings For most people, no matter what OS they are using, I suggest the bottom of the market. This years entry level computer is last years super computer and the price difference and bleeding edge problems are just not worth the extra cash. Part of this is my own problems with having enough money for extras in the first place (kids are expensive, special diets more so). The other half is that I would want to build my own from scratch if it was special use/needs anyway.... though I am finding a $225 netbook does a whole lot more than any salesperson will let you believe.

Paul's case is different. In general he does things most people do, but a whole lot more of it at the same time. Multi-processors sound great, but the reality is that while both windows and Linux (and probably Mac OS) support and use this capability, much of the applications software does not. Even some of the realtime software that is designed to use multi processor systems (even my atom offers some multi-processor features) finds it can not get as much out of it as they had hoped. So the software/OS end is not up to the new hardware yet really, except in a few cases such as fast ocr work for example.... where results from one part of the process can be handed off to another process on a different thread. I don't know of any browser that makes use of multi-processor stuff on purpose, but if they do multi-treading the OS may do it for them.

I do feel the burn when M$ changes versions and hide all the configuration stuff inside multiple windows "for a more pleasent user experience"
What was the joke when Mac switched to a linux base: "OSX, because making linux user-friendly is easier than troubleshooting windows"

Actually, I think Mac is BSD (another unix out of Berkley that predates Linux but comes after the original AT&T) based rather than Linux. BSD does release a free version called "freeBSD" (surprise) that can be downloaded or obtained on cd. It is a little more strict in scope than Linux.... that is, there is only one of them not hundreds... I am pretty sure Mac is not using the free kernel though. It would go against their MO.

paul wheaton wrote:wine is now installed. I thought I would fire it up and there would be a window of windoze - but I couldn't figure it out.

I got Wine to work on my version of Linux. It allowed me to install a Windoze based browser called K-Meleon.
That is my only bit of experience with it. I haven't needed to do anything else yet.

About once a day the laptop just turns itself off and loses everything.

About one time out of three when going into hibernate, it loses everything.

I now choose which software to use based on the ability to keep a copy of a work in progress.

Yesterday I ordered a "laptop cooler" to see if it could be an overheating problem. Although it seems bizarre to overheat when the CPU is running at 7%.

I have some serious overheating problems with my laptop. Sometime I cannot watch even a short YouTube video without my PC shutting down. My PC shuts itself off when the CPU reaches about 110° C. So I can monitor the temps (especially on warm days), I have Speedfan loaded each time I boot up. By hovering the cursor over the tray icon, I can detect when I need to 'ease off'.

One day I was having particularly bad problems. I shut off my antivirus, which dropped the temps a few degrees. Not good enough. I realized that I had a few dozen tabs in my browser. I closed all but a couple I was actually using. Temps seemed to drop well into the safe range for the rest of the day.

Speed Fan is used by many 'overclockers' to keep things safe.
I have never changed any settings, but it allows me to monitor my problem.

Another complaint I have about this computer: if I try to hear something through the built in speakers, I really can't hear much. On the rare occassion that I might try to watch a movie with somebody, but all I have is my laptop, the sound is just too low. It almost always works out better to use somebody else's laptop.

Then, I went and bought external speakers for a laptop. It has a spring clip on it. Tiny speakers that plug into the USB and the audio out. About five times louder, which turns out to be PLENTY. My question is: why didn't the laptop come with decent speakers? I guess they just cheaped out on lots of fronts.

For the volume, one of my computers also have a low volume like that, and I downloaded a program called VLC media player, which can boost the volume up to 400%. It is at www.videolan.org and it is open source Can right click on most any file and always choose to play with vlc, or have it setup as the default player. VLC also uses less CPU, so should keep computer a little cooler.

Another reason could be is that there are two volumes, one for the computer itself, and one for the software that is used to play whatever media (like Winblows (Errr, windows) media player, youtube, vlc, etc). I always increase the computer volume quite abit, not always to 100%, but at least 50%, depending on how good the speakers are, and adjust software as appropriate. Am sure you adjusted the two volumes, but mentioning it anyways.

John Polk wrote:I have some serious overheating problems with my laptop. Sometime I cannot watch even a short YouTube video without my PC shutting down. My PC shuts itself off when the CPU reaches about 110° C. So I can monitor the temps (especially on warm days), I have Speedfan loaded each time I boot up. By hovering the cursor over the tray icon, I can detect when I need to 'ease off'.

One day I was having particularly bad problems. I shut off my antivirus, which dropped the temps a few degrees. Not good enough. I realized that I had a few dozen tabs in my browser. I closed all but a couple I was actually using. Temps seemed to drop well into the safe range for the rest of the day.

Speed Fan is used by many 'overclockers' to keep things safe.
I have never changed any settings, but it allows me to monitor my problem.

I had a similar problem...also during high video use times.

This was my solution:
1) I bought an external fan at the store. I put a bit of care into which one I got... the hot part of my laptop is the upper left corner, so I got the one that would help the most in that area -- which was a top central fan.
2) I took the battery out. I always run my laptop (which sits on my desk) from the wall anyway. Not only is that battery a hindrance when my computer gets hung up, it reduces the air circulation in the hot spot. Personally, I can deal with my computer shutting down in a power outage -- my internet is down then too and having a running computer then doesn't do me much good.
3) I have improvised a bit of an air gap between the fan and the laptop...because the fan is in the central top, and the hot spot is on the top left this allows the fan to cool that area more effectively. My air gap is one of those frames for stretching an oil canvas over -- without a canvas in it -- which I just happened to have on hand and which is almost the same dimensions as my laptop. I have it snugged in between the fan and the laptop. It gives about half an inch of space that makes all the difference in the world.

The same area still gets hot -- but I haven't had it shut down on me for ages.

Hope this helps someone.

John Polk wrote:I have some serious overheating problems with my laptop. Sometime I cannot watch even a short YouTube video without my PC shutting down. My PC shuts itself off when the CPU reaches about 110° C. So I can monitor the temps (especially on warm days), I have Speedfan loaded each time I boot up. By hovering the cursor over the tray icon, I can detect when I need to 'ease off'.

Wow! I guess I can say I am loving my netbook. (atom based) I can set it to performance mode (full speed all the time), load up memory till I have swap problems with realtime audio programs running the cpu well above 50% and while it is a bit hot to have on my lap, I have never had it shut down on me even leaving even leaving it going over night. (Len is stress testing Ubuntu Studio stuff) Videos have never been a problem and run full screen with "ondemand" (mostly cpu at half speed).

I might add that it was the cheapest computer I could find at the time... acer aspire one netbook

paul wheaton wrote:
wine is now installed. I thought I would fire it up and there would be a window of windoze - but I couldn't figure it out.

Wine does not work that way. if you right click on the windows program you wish to run, there will be a wine option. Select that and wine will run that program for you. If it is an installer it should install the program and under the wine part of the menu it should show up in programs and can then be started directly from there. Most of the time a double click on the program will work too as wine installs it self as the program for running windows executables.

My wife's texts for school come with CDs and I copy the whole CD on to her netbook (no CD/DVD drive) and it just works. It seems to work best copying the CD/DVD onto hard drive and then doing:
chmod -R +x *
on it. Linux does not mount CDs in the way windows expects. Windows expects things mounted as 555, Linux mounts 444. It may be possible to change this in /etc/fstab or in the automounter config... I don't do it enough to make it worth while even finding out.

Not sure if anyone posted this or not but Malwarebytes came thru for me when nothing else worked....

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

I now have a fan under the laptop. It is super quiet. It seems to make my laptop's fan run less often. Since putting the fan under the laptop, the laptop has not turned itself off.