General Computing Randomness

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Blackhawk
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Blackhawk »

Kasey Chang wrote: Fri Mar 25, 2022 11:16 am Turns out Chrome or Windows can't handle having more than one webcam active. It can't switch among them. The only way to make it work is to disable the rest of them via device manager.
I don't know about Chrome, but I've done multiple webcams on Windows 10 before. I do it for painting get-togethers, I've done it for tabletop gaming. It works the same way you can switch on the fly between multiple sound devices - you just switch which one is active. It's up to the app you're using them in, though.

Simultaneously displaying both can be more of a pain, though. For one thing, older computers might have trouble processing multiple HD, high-framerate signals simultaneously, depending on the PC's USB internals (running multiple HD 60FPS webcams through one older USB controller can be a problem.) For another, you'd need an app designed for multiple simultaneous views. Most aren't, because most don't need it. A lot of the time when you see YouTubers with multiple simultaneous feeds, they're running them through separate programs and stitching them together later, or they're using a dedicated recording system with special recording software (streamers might use OBS, for instance.)
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Kasey Chang »

It's probably Chrome itself. The Windows Camera app have no problem switching among multiple webcams.

And yes, I sometimes use OBS myself.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

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Why does Windows make it so damned hard to tell one drive from another? I have to drives the same size from the same manufacturer. I want to physically remove E, but not F. It is an absolute pain to find out which model is E and which is F. Windows has about ten different ways to tell you what drives you have installed, but doesn't include the drive letter. Windows also gives you tons of information about specific drives, but doesn't include the model (inspecting the properties of a drive and checking the hardware tab again gives you every drive installed with no indication as to which one is the one you're actually looking at.) The two pieces of information are there - they are just never in the same place.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

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The actual solution required both finding the properties of the drive through disk management and pasting a huge line of commands into powershell, then comparing the two to find the serial number of the drive recognized as (in this case) disk 0.

That's... excessive.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

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I got my wife's laptop back and going. It was under a lot of stuff.

Anyways its a AMD and has a touchscreen. But Id like something for gaming in bed. A normal mouse wont work as I have no where to use it where it will read. If there some kind of hand held trackball? Id think one where its shaped like a pistol grip with the ball at the top for the thumb and the triggers would be left and right ....or something. Anything that I can game in bed with.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Carpet_pissr »

Mouse + book

I speak from much experience! :D
Last edited by Carpet_pissr on Fri Apr 01, 2022 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

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Mouse and book works great. So does a rigid mousepad. Or a cheap cutting board.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Blackhawk »

As to your specific suggestion - trackballs can be great for gaming, and are a great solution if you have limited mouse space (or a bed.) A trackball you hold in your hand and use with your thumb isn't useful for much except maybe PowerPoint presentations.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Anonymous Bosch »

Daehawk wrote: Fri Apr 01, 2022 8:13 pm I got my wife's laptop back and going. It was under a lot of stuff.

Anyways its a AMD and has a touchscreen. But Id like something for gaming in bed. A normal mouse wont work as I have no where to use it where it will read. If there some kind of hand held trackball? Id think one where its shaped like a pistol grip with the ball at the top for the thumb and the triggers would be left and right ....or something. Anything that I can game in bed with.
You could try something like this

Enlarge Image

Enlarge Image

But I suspect using a budget-priced handheld trackball like that for gaming could be an exercise in frustration.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

Ya thats what I had in mind. Not good huh? Book it is then. And a mouse. I dont have a mouse cept on my pc and dont want to fool with plug and unplug. Now Ill need to read up on mice again and one for a book lol.

Wait I have a cheap Azio I won. Maybe that would work. Now to find a book!
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

Checking my router i notice theres 4 connections. kinda freaked me out a sec until i realized what 3 of them were. I still dont know what amazon-5cedec159 is. Google shows nothing.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

My wife's laptop has a strange anomaly...I cant update it. Theres no RUN box or way to find it I can see. Also usually you see CHECK FOR UPDATES front and center on the settings...but nada. It shows theres updates and that i need them but no way to get them. Ive looked all over. Right now Im looking for a way to get the RUN box working so I can type CONTROL UPDATE . Or something. I dont get why there is no check for update button anywhere.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by gilraen »

Is it Windows 7?
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

No its 10.

I found windows key + X opens the missing menu where run is.

Still not gotten windows update to go. I used the troubleshooter on it and it had a fix..i applied it and restarted. Still no check for updates or update now buttons but the updater is showing 4 things awaiting and one initializing. Shrug.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by gilraen »

How to pin Run command box to taskbar

Windows 10 Update stuck on initializing - try the steps to reset the Windows Update service manually from the first answer on that page.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

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gilraen wrote: Sat Apr 02, 2022 12:11 am How to pin Run command box to taskbar

Windows 10 Update stuck on initializing - try the steps to reset the Windows Update service manually from the first answer on that page.
Thanks for the info and links.

1. Got the RUN box pinned to taskbar now.

2. Cannot do this one. It says opne a admin command box. I do as it says ctrl / shift / enter.....it open a cmd box and I try the lines listed to type in...all denied...so its not admin lvl after all or something.

Looking at the update history it seems to fail on a cumulative update. Everything else says installed. But that one update has tried and failed at least 4 times in 2 days.

Also still no way to force a check for update or anything. Its trying on its own again right now though..I think.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Isgrimnur »

Press Windows+R to open the “Run” box. Type “cmd” into the box and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to run the command as an administrator.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

Isgrimnur wrote: Sat Apr 02, 2022 1:00 pm
Press Windows+R to open the “Run” box. Type “cmd” into the box and then press Ctrl+Shift+Enter to run the command as an administrator.
2. Cannot do this one. It says opne a admin command box. I do as it says ctrl / shift / enter.....it open a cmd box and I try the lines listed to type in...all denied...so its not admin lvl after all or something.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Blackhawk »

Try just opening the start menu, typing command, then right clicking on Command Prompt and 'Run as administrator.'
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Re: General Computing Randomness

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Im waiting on this latest update to finish. It was 52% at noon and its 82% now 4 hours later. ts been 82% for an hour though.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

Took all damn day. I started house work at 1pm and just got done...do did the update. It says its updated now and theres a check for updates button again. Im running it again to see whats left to install in optional.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

This is the first time Ive ever actually used my wife's laptop I got her Xmas 2014. Its slow. I can hear the tiny little 5400 rpm hardrive buzzing away constantly. Im defragging it now but it showed only 6% frag. So dont have much hope. Also it only has 4 gig ram. Im pretty sure I wont get to game in bed after all. Id replace the drive with an ssd and add ram but its a totally non user serviceable laptop really. You have to remove the entire back then start removing other parts to get to the parts you want in it. I mean I have an ancient laptop from the mid 90s that lets you ope na little door on the back and add ram or slide the old HDD out the side and replace. Damn HP crap.

This is the laptop.


HP Pavilion - 17z Touch Laptop
Product number: K4R04AV

•No Additional Office Software
•Security Software Trial
•17.3-inch diagonal HD+ WLED-backlit Display (1600x900) Touchscreen
•4GB DDR3L System Memory (1Dimm)
•750GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
•SuperMulti DVD burner
•802.11b/g/n WLAN [1x1]
•4-cell 41WHr Lithium-ion Battery
•Standard Keyboard (black)
•3C14 Cycle AV
•HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Dual Digital Microphone (neon purple)
•Windows 8.1 64 ---------------replaced it with Win10
•System Recovery DVD Windows 8.1 64
•Neon Purple
•AMD Quad-Core A4-6210 Processor + AMD Radeon(TM) R3 Graphics
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Blackhawk »

It sounds like a great system for playing old favorites from GoG. But yeah, it's got internal graphics (ie - integrated, which shares system RAM), so it won't be playing anything even remotely current at the time it was built or newer.

However, it would likely be a great system for loading up with older GoG favorites. It might even run some 3d titles from ~2004 or before (that is guesswork based on experience, and would require testing for just what it can get away with - it likely has plenty of horsepower for something like Quake II or Half-Life, though.)
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Re: General Computing Randomness

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Daehawk wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 2:42 pm This is the first time Ive ever actually used my wife's laptop I got her Xmas 2014. Its slow. I can hear the tiny little 5400 rpm hardrive buzzing away constantly. Im defragging it now but it showed only 6% frag. So dont have much hope. Also it only has 4 gig ram. Im pretty sure I wont get to game in bed after all. Id replace the drive with an ssd and add ram but its a totally non user serviceable laptop really. You have to remove the entire back then start removing other parts to get to the parts you want in it. I mean I have an ancient laptop from the mid 90s that lets you ope na little door on the back and add ram or slide the old HDD out the side and replace. Damn HP crap.
Here's another simple method you could use to easily turn that laptop into a more effective retro gaming machine:

How to Turn Your PC (or other device) Into a Retro Arcade with Lakka
lifehacker.com wrote:If you’re looking for a fun way to use an old PC, Lakka can turn it into an amazing retro gaming machine. This easy setup doesn’t require any advanced Linux knowledge, and you can even use the controllers you already have lying around to play your favorite old school games. Here’s a step-by-step guide to making it happen.
Also, do keep the following section in mind, because it's harmless and effortless to run Lakka live from a USB drive to test out how well it works with your hardware prior to actually installing:
lifehacker.com wrote:Alternate Option: Run Lakka Live from Your USB Drive

Image

When you opened the Lakka Boot Menu, you probably noticed that there is an option to Run Live. If you’re not interested in dedicating an entire machine to being your retro game console, you can run the entire OS from the USB drive as an alternative, without wiping your original machine.

When you select Run Live, you’re greeted with the same exact thing as when you install it. Once you load some games onto the USB drive, you’ll be able to boot into the drive, load Lakka, and play them on almost any computer with the same type of system (if you have the 64-bit image, you can run it on almost any 64-bit system). You can even keep your saved games and screenshots all on the USB drive. This great for getting double use out of a laptop when you’re traveling. Pop your USB in, boot into Lakka, and play retro games on your long flight. When you’ve had your fill, you can reboot into your normal operating system and do some work per usual.

Pro tip: Running Lakka live from the USB drive is a great way to test whether or not your hardware is capable of running Lakka, too. Lakka should work on most PCs, but the developers do mention that hardware can vary wildly, so there’s no guarantee that every system out there will work.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

Hey that looks neat. I love retro.

Wish I could run the system off a thumbdrive. Stick a 500g usb in there and use that lol. Should be fast and unless I lost full power it should work like a hd.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

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Daehawk wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 2:42 pm This is the first time Ive ever actually used my wife's laptop I got her Xmas 2014. Its slow. I can hear the tiny little 5400 rpm hardrive buzzing away constantly. Im defragging it now but it showed only 6% frag. So dont have much hope. Also it only has 4 gig ram. Im pretty sure I wont get to game in bed after all. Id replace the drive with an ssd and add ram but its a totally non user serviceable laptop really. You have to remove the entire back then start removing other parts to get to the parts you want in it. I mean I have an ancient laptop from the mid 90s that lets you ope na little door on the back and add ram or slide the old HDD out the side and replace. Damn HP crap.

This is the laptop.


HP Pavilion - 17z Touch Laptop
Product number: K4R04AV
i replaced the HDD with a SSD last summer on my mom's 2013 HP Pavilion that was very similar to this, since the HDD was dying and the system was no longer usable. yes, you had to take the whole thing apart - but i did do it successfully. i searched for the service manual online for that particular model, and it walked through all the steps of which parts to disassemble and in what order.

also replaced the 2GB RAM module with an 8GB one so the machine ended up having 12GB of RAM. she uses this computer for her gaming now (and by 'gaming', i mean Snow White Solitaire Charmed Kingdom, which she plays through over and over and over and over and.... she thought Fairway Solitaire was 'too hard' and Shadowhand was 'too complicated')
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

I didn't realize you could play Solitaire but one way.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Isgrimnur »

Image
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Kasey Chang »

My 2 HDs on the removable drive dock were giving me problems, and I didn't get to it until just now. Turns out it somehow lost me as an admin, so I can't access it, and all I needed to fix it is add myself back as an administrator with full rights. Now I just need to nuke the drive so I can make a proper backup...
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Isgrimnur »

Daehawk wrote: Mon Apr 04, 2022 10:50 am I didn't realize you could play Solitaire but one way.
https://solitaired.com/games
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Jaymon »

Daehawk wrote: Sun Apr 03, 2022 2:42 pm This is the first time Ive ever actually used my wife's laptop I got her Xmas 2014. Its slow. I can hear the tiny little 5400 rpm hardrive buzzing away constantly. Im defragging it now but it showed only 6% frag. So dont have much hope. Also it only has 4 gig ram. Im pretty sure I wont get to game in bed after all. Id replace the drive with an ssd and add ram but its a totally non user serviceable laptop really. You have to remove the entire back then start removing other parts to get to the parts you want in it. I mean I have an ancient laptop from the mid 90s that lets you ope na little door on the back and add ram or slide the old HDD out the side and replace. Damn HP crap.

This is the laptop.


HP Pavilion - 17z Touch Laptop
Product number: K4R04AV

•No Additional Office Software
•Security Software Trial
•17.3-inch diagonal HD+ WLED-backlit Display (1600x900) Touchscreen
•4GB DDR3L System Memory (1Dimm)
•750GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive
•SuperMulti DVD burner
•802.11b/g/n WLAN [1x1]
•4-cell 41WHr Lithium-ion Battery
•Standard Keyboard (black)
•3C14 Cycle AV
•HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Dual Digital Microphone (neon purple)
•Windows 8.1 64 ---------------replaced it with Win10
•System Recovery DVD Windows 8.1 64
•Neon Purple
•AMD Quad-Core A4-6210 Processor + AMD Radeon(TM) R3 Graphics


4gb ram is barely enough to run windows 10. I mean it will, but it won't like it.
Google tells me that machine has two slots for RAM. Another 4GB stick is not expensive.

The cheap stuff is $16 for another 4GB

Jam that in in there, and you will actually be able to finish the windows updates.


Or, if you are feeling especially fancy, google also says the max supported RAM is 16gb, so you could spend $50 and max it out with 2x8GB
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Daehawk »

Its more the taking it apart and putting it back in working order. Ive failed so many things lately its not funny. I end up spending money then stuff still not work.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by hitbyambulance »

Daehawk wrote: Mon Apr 04, 2022 7:50 pm Its more the taking it apart and putting it back in working order. Ive failed so many things lately its not funny. I end up spending money then stuff still not work.
the RAM slot on the HP Pavilion i worked on was easily accessible. it was just the hard drive that was not...
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by jztemple2 »

I was in my office when I hear my wife talking to someone with what sounded like tech questions in her office. I come in and on her computer screen I see flashing messages saying "POSSIBLE TROJAN! CALL MICROSOFT SUPPORT" and an audible message as well repeating every ten seconds. And it is saying to not turn off the computer or you might lose data. I tapped her shoulder and she handed me the phone and said "You talk to him".

Well, "him" had an Indian accent (I had an engineer from India so I'm somewhat familiar with it) and he give me the usual "Good afternoon, sir, how are you doing today?". Well, this all screams bogus to me so I tell my wife that I don't want to talk to him and hand the phone back. I get in the chair, shut down her browser (where this message was apparently coming from) and then run scans. No malware according to Malwarebytes.

So, my question is, could this be in any way a legitimate Microsoft warning from Window Defender? Or just some scam that got triggered that wanted her to call a certain number? She said she was on the Home Depot site, but I've seen several times where she's accidentally accepted some pop-up she didn't realize.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Blackhawk »

jztemple2 wrote: Sat Apr 09, 2022 3:54 pm So, my question is, could this be in any way a legitimate Microsoft warning from Window Defender? Or just some scam that got triggered that wanted her to call a certain number? She said she was on the Home Depot site, but I've seen several times where she's accidentally accepted some pop-up she didn't realize.
Scam scam scammity-scam.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Kasey Chang »

Scam. They just added an audio-loop to the webpage to make it sound more urgent.
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Rumpy »

Yeah, my Dad came across that one months ago. Gotta say, it all sounds and looks rather convincing. Though in retrospect, I don't think I've ever heard the actual Microsoft Defender with an audio warning.
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Isgrimnur
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Isgrimnur »

If the warning can be cleared by closing a browser, it absolutely should be.
It's almost as if people are the problem.
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jztemple2
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by jztemple2 »

I need to vent.

You can get an idea of what I'm up against. Before all the scam on the computer nonsense I heard my wife on the phone with Home Depot wanting to know where a shipment was that she expected yesterday. They tell her they never got an order from her. So she went online to the Home Depot site and that's when all the excitement over the "Microsoft" warning began.

After I cleared up the scam bullshit she went back to the Home Depot site to check on her order and I point out that she has two items sitting in her cart. She goes to the cart page and sure enough the two items are there. She says that's wrong, then shows me a printout of the same screen she took a few days ago when she tells me that she ordered them. I look at the printout and point out that there is a banner saying "Place Order" at the top. Well, that was a stupid thing to say. She gets snippy with me and tells me how she knows that's what the page said, but that was before she ordered them. She then clicks the "Confirm Order" button three times and each time nothing changes on the page because, as I notice, next to each item there is the notation that the item is not in stock. I pointed that out and that was also a stupid thing to do. I finally retreat back to my room. Later on she proudly tells me how she now ordered the items from Amazon at a cheaper price.

Venting complete, back to the regular technical discussions :wink:
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Blackhawk
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Re: General Computing Randomness

Post by Blackhawk »

FWIW, the scam usually results in either A) downloading an anti-virus/repair tool that does, in fact, give the scammer full access to her PC, or B) confirming identity via credit card.
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