Tech Advice for all, and for all subjects

[unjonharley]

It's a usb adapter for an internet phone service, also called voip.

I got a skype phone from someone who went to it.
When I picked it up, they had already quit using it and were going back to skype.
Trouble with receiving calls.
Their advice was to stick with skype, but there are other options too.
In certain situations, skype really saves money, like international travel in some places.

I haven't used skype yet, because I find their webhouse incomprehensible, and there is no support to ask.

Have no idea what you just said????

[gyre]

You can plug it into the computer and connect a phone to it.
It uses the net connection to replace the phone line, as comcast and vonage do.

[unjonharley]

You can plug it into the computer and connect a phone to it.
It uses the net connection to replace the phone line, as comcast and vonage do.

Is this any value to me ? Can the phone be used at the same time??

Damn, I'm dumb

[gyre]

Depends on your costs now.
Quality is usually less and when the net goes down, your phone goes with it.

I have a cheap mobile, so there hasn't been an imperative for me to use skype except for international calling.
But it can save you money.

For incoming calls, the person I met was very unhappy with magic jack.
It is cheaper than skype.

[gyre]

I think they are all supposed to work while you do other things on the computer.
Vonage is actually separate from the computer, but is much higher than most.

If you are bandwidth limited, you my have some issues.
Most allow you to adjust quality, ie bandwidth use.

[ygmir]

hi all
so, my antivirus is about to expire.
I'm wondering, and eliciting, any thoughts regarding which work well/best?

I know, it's so subjective.
I use ZA......and, it has served me well, at least, so far.

But, I'm also not such a "technophile" that there may be much better products........cheaper.

thanks in advance, for any help.

[FIGJAM]

Mcaffes three year was about a 40% discount and I use spybot cause its free.

CCleaner once a week to keep my speed up, also free.

[Lassen Forge]

Norton has given me consistantly stellar failures. Just saying...

[gyre]

Avast free, and I would pay for them if I chose one to upgrade.

And iobit and superantispyware.
I use the full iobit care system for defrag and disc restoration.

[gyre]

So far my navigation technique for eplaya threads works on yahoo classic mail also.

Go to the page number, copy the url and store it tagged by page number.
I suggest by hundreds of emails, but that is your choice.
Some times refreshing is needed to kick in the new url.
I recommend testing each url before storing.
Each should be different and is keyed to number of emails, not the date.

[Trishntek]

Norton has given me consistantly stellar failures. Just saying...

"stellar failures"???

We changed to McAfee after Norton would grind our browser to a halt. BBS, stellar failures is an understatement. Our laptops are fine since they were never exposed to Norton. The only fix for our desktop was to do a system restoration and wipe it clean.

[junglesmacks]

I haven't used any type of anti virus or anti spyware software in over 5 years now, and have yet to have a single problem. It's real simple: don't click on stuff that you aren't supposed to. Seriously.

I do run a free online scan every now and again just to check, and I'm always clean.

Go to google and type "free virus scan trend micro" and follow directions. Also a great way to clean computers off when they are infected yet have AV software on them and it has become corrupted from the virus since it's kernel and definition file are not system based but web based.

[junglesmacks]

Also.. the best anti-spyware program is also free if you have a non-pirated copy of windows, or if you do then you know how to get pirated software anyway.

Go to the Microsoft website, and search for "Microsoft Defender". It's a free download, and works great. It's designed to work seamlessly with Windows, and sits in the background monitoring. It also does a scan nightly or whenever you set it to, and will download the latest definition file straight from Microsoft automatically before it scans. Set all of this in the "options".

Forget all of that Nortons/McAfee/Zone Alarm stuff.. They are all nothing but serious system resource hogs.

[gyre]

According to a comcast whiz, enabling systems that can't be turned off is the biggest problem, not viruses.
Some software is much worse about this.
He mentioned having to strip systems to recover them without the antivirus embedded.

You need software that can be turned off when running other things, or focus on one.
I only use avast for active scanning.'
There seem to be no conflicts.

Slow running can be programs running in sequence, or worse, fighting each other.


I use a netgear router with a firewall and the basic windows firewall.
I would like to get a more sophisticated firewall router.
I am advised that just using a router eliminates many problems.

Worth mentioning that viruses can show up anywhere, and may not be endemic to a site, just certain parts.
The worst problems I see are with people that respond to scam emails or answer phishing questions, like those games on bookface that ask you questions.

Trying to avoid all sites that may have stuff planted is like "never going anywhere you might need a gun".
Check out some black hat forums if you don't believe me.
Any honest site can have things added to them.

Always worth checking for exe software that shouldn't be on your machine too.
Mostly harmless except for clutter and privacy.
Software conflicts are where my issues seem to occur.

[ygmir]

well, I installed "Spyware doctor, with antivirus"........so, well see how it goes, I guess.

[ygmir]

I'm thinking about a new laptop.
I see "Pentium" and "AMD" and "Celeron" processors.
Does anyone have input on value for the money?

since it's only for internet and email, it won't be doing much "computing" as such.

TIA.

Yggy

[dr.placebo]

Since your demands are on the lighter side, just about any processor will do, although I'd lean towards a dual core with at least 2.0 GHz, which is easy to get. I'd also advise going with 4 GB of RAM to make Win 7 happy. Disk won't be a problem if you are mostly using it for online stuff.

The price you pay may not reflect the lifetime price. Here's a link you might find interesting that gives reliability by brand:

http://smidgenpc.com/2010/05/07/laptop- ... -reliable/

[geospyder]

Ygmir - We're also in the market for a laptop. Basically the same reason as you - internet access and email - in our case, while travelling. Interestingly we had settled in on an HP (DM4-1160US) but after reading the report that DP (that sounds nasty) posted - definitely having second thoughts. Our twin HP desktops at home haven't had any problem but they are dinosaurs (six year old Pentium 4 machines running XP). We were zeroing in on machines that used the Intel i5 processor. Think we'll start checking out Asus and Toshiba a little closer.

[JStep]

I'm pretty loyal to HP laptops and HP machines in general, although I also have to say that my company uses Lenovo made IBM Thinkpads with XP and they are extremely stable and durable also.

I have a question for any Linux gurus. How do I install the missing plugins to make youtube, etc, work. I have tried a few versions but I don't know if I'm doing it right. I'm a total Linux neophyte.

[ygmir]

that's interesting info, Doc, thanks.
I had not considered the "durability" issue.....just figuring they are all alike.

obviously, not so.

[JStep]

The price you pay may not reflect the lifetime price. Here's a link you might find interesting that gives reliability by brand:

http://smidgenpc.com/2010/05/07/laptop- ... -reliable/

VERY surprising! My anecdotal experience is the reverse of the graph, but I would think relying on the graph would be the way to go.

In my experience directly Dell makes crap, and everything I've heard from others backs it up. Then again, I've owned 5 HP units and one of them went to shit within 3 years, but it was running Win98. (Tell me what machine running Win98 DIDN'T go to shit immediately) which represents a 20% fail rate, anecdotal as it is.

I'd like to see data on more obscure machines and breakdowns on what OS was on them. Alienware is particularly interesting as I hear great things about them and yet almost no one owns an Alienware unit except hardcore gamers and music producers.

[Bob]

Bitches, I'm still running Win 98 on my desktop.

If I bought another laptop it'd have to have a clit mouse like the Thinkpad.

[geospyder]

Bit the bullet and ordered a HP dm4 from Costco.com. Rather than customize it, I ordered the basic Costco configuration - 6GB, Intel i5 processor and 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive.

[ygmir]

Bit the bullet and ordered a HP dm4 from Costco.com. Rather than customize it, I ordered the basic Costco configuration - 6GB, Intel i5 processor and 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drive.

how much was it?
if I may ask.

[geospyder]

$725 plus tax = $782. Shipping was free. Definitely less expensive than the in store version of the dm4 which had a slower processor and only 4GB memory. It was priced at $799 before taxes. The store told us that on line had more choices and was less expensive.

[can't sit still]

Here's a vid on hardware;

[knowmad]

I'm pretty loyal to HP laptops and HP machines in general, although I also have to say that my company uses Lenovo made IBM Thinkpads with XP and they are extremely stable and durable also.

I have a question for any Linux gurus. How do I install the missing plugins to make youtube, etc, work. I have tried a few versions but I don't know if I'm doing it right. I'm a total Linux neophyte.

what flavor of Linux are you using? Debian, unbutu, suse? and what browser.
probly mozilla and that is a flash 10 thing, also no fun.

[EspressoDude]

Ok, after a zillion years of browsing the innernet, yesterday using giggle to search for nissan exterra images, clicked on one that Norton
Security Suite caught, and I thought I had bailed from that properly.

However now whenever I exit internet Explorer, Norton pops a message about an attack from:

lkaturl.com 91.212.158.72, 443
or
34jh7alm94.asia 91.212.226.6, 443

application path \device\harddiskvolume1\window\system32\svchost.exe

any computer gurus out there that have ideas how to stop this?

Internet connection is thru a Netgear prosafe firewall/router.

re-install winnows internet exploder?

not to interested at this point in trying a diffo internet access program

[mdmf007]

You did restart your computer?

[EspressoDude]

yes, have done the restart with windows / start / turn off computer.

OS is XP pro ver 2002 service pack 3. set to allow automatic windows updates.