Computer help?

It's time to buy a new computer. My requirements:

• Very fast processing. I don't have a good feel for how the best performance is achieved these days. I see Intel Duo processors out there at about 2.0GHz, and more expensive boxes using 3.0+GHz processors, but how they compare performance-wise isn't easy to find out.
• >=2GB memory
• 2x300GB hard drives (approx.)
• Fast and solid graphics. I'm not a gamer, but I'm watching increasing amounts of video on my computer.
• DVD-RW/CD-RW - all formats
• Microsoft Office
• Reliable service and support, good reputation

Cost is not a factor, but I want the most bang for the buck. Any advice out there? My only constraint is no HP's - both that we've purchased have had continual hardware problems, unlike computers we've purchased from Micron, Gateway and Dell. So HP is out (though they did demonstrate that they have excellent service).--Percy

Would you be interested in building me a box and shipping it to me? If so, how much, including a markup for yourself?--Percy

I also need USB connectors, the more the merrier, I currently use 5 or 6. And I need at least a 5.1 sound card with microphone input. And anything else that usually comes with a higher-end machine that I haven't mentioned yet.Dell and Gateway both ship a 20" or 21" flat panel free with their higher-end stuff, so that has to factor that into the price mix, I'd give it to my daughter. I definitely do not need yet another mouse and keyboard.XP/Home is better than XP/Pro, at least in the incarnation I'm familiar with. My XP/Pro computers refuse to network with their XP/Home brethren - they ask for account/passwords before connecting because they're in a different domain, then they reject them. There's probably a solution for this, but since I don't know what it is I'd rather have XP/Home.I know Microsoft Office is pricey, which probably makes matching other computer makers on price kind of tough. Dell and Gateway sell a Word/Excel/Outlook combo for less than $150, which is all I need, but in retail stores it seems to sell for around $400-500.I don't have any idea what the raw components for this stuff cost, so don't waste your time pricing it out if you can tell at the outset it wouldn't be worth it. The savings would have to be substantial, at least 30%, to be worthwhile.--Percy

I don't play games or compile, but I do lots of things simultaneously, like downloading while watching video and updating an iPod. Javascript is especially slow on my current machine.--Percy

Hi Crash,You're right about the benefits of the warranty, but who knows, if we can save a few more bucks it might be too interesting to pass up. How much do we save if we drop the monitor?Questions, issues and things I forgot:

• Sound card?
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• Number of USB ports?
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• Firewire?

The case is a bit, uh, unusual. What's behind the doors?What's the new rollup?--Percy

The computer is really brand new?In that case everything is plug and play and you need do nothing, just plug the printer into the USB port.But it sounds like you already installed the printer software, or you stopped installing it in the middle?Anyway, yes, the machine can be turned off. Push the power button and hold it down for 5-10 seconds and it will turn off.While it is off, plug the printer into the USB port, unless it was already plugged in when you powered down.Wait 10 or 20 seconds, then push the power button to turn it on again.Now what's happening?--Percy

Here's my theory on HP printers.You don't need to install any software. Just plug the printer in to the USB port and it'll work. But...HP printers come with software that allows them to work as a print server for your home network. They like you to install this software. They don't like their software to be ignored.But you don't have a home network, you just have the one computer? Is that right?If so, then if it will let you get away with not installing the software, just don't install it. Click on "cancel" or "no" or whatever choice they give you, if they give you a choice. The printer should still work fine.Now, about that AOL... Best of luck! I'm supposedly a computer professional and PC's make a fool of me regularly. Eventually someone comes up with the right answer for a particular problem and I'm going again. In other words, don't worry or panic, even if it doesn't get going today or tomorrow, it will soon if you keep at it.So I'm nosy, er, I mean curious, what's the deal between you and Iano?--Percy

Here's an idea to try...There's a neat program called VNC that allows someone anywhere else on the Internet to see your computer screen and control it through their own mouse and keyboard, assuming you give them the VNC password you set up, and assuming you're running VNC at the time. It installs in seconds and is VERY easy to use - you just run it and it works, which is untypical of most software. My mother lives in another state, and whenever she has a computer problem I just bring up her computer screen on my own computer using VNC and poke around to see what I can figure out.If you want to try this let me know and I'll tell you where to download it from. Anyone who has VNC installed and who knows the password you set up can help you, like Iano, Me, Jar, etc...If you think you feel helpless with computers, it might help to know you're not alone. I like to tell this story about the first PC I bought back in 1995. Both my wife and I have computers at work, and we never saw the need for a home computer, but as the kids approached school age we felt we needed a home computer, so we bought one around Christmas of 1995.The workstations where I worked, which were state of the art at the time, had boot proms that would bring up a line oriented operating system, and then you had to type the right command to bring up the graphical interface. This is what I was expecting.So I read and reread all the instructions for our new computer looking for how to do this and never found it. I was on the verge of calling technical support when I suddenly realized what the instructions were telling me: all I had to do was turn it on! Who woulda thought?I have a feeling you're in a somewhat similar boat. The expectations based upon your old computer combined with HP's over-mothering software for their printers caused you to do more than you had to do, and now you might very possibly be temporarily wedged. Don't worry, it'll all work out eventually.--Percy

About VNC, Faith would give you her IP address and the password she chooses for VNC. She can lock you out at any time by simply changing the password. Once installed, the VNC server runs every time you boot, but it has an icon in the system tray on which you can right click and select exit, another way of shutting people out.Setup of VNC to allow someone else to view your computer screen can be more complex if you're working through a router (instructions are available at the RealVNC website), and probably impossible with AOL, as I assume you don't get a fixed IP. When you VNC to a remote computer, whatever is displayed on the remote computer's monitor is displayed in a window on your screen. If you set it to full screen mode, it appears as if you're looking directly at the remote computer's monitor screen. When you move your mouse, the mouse on the remote computer screen moves. When you type on your keyboard, the keystrokes go to the remote computer. So yes, the other person can see precisely what you're doing. It is an especially effective remote teaching aid if you can also be on the phone at the same time.VNC is very similar to Microsoft's Remote Desktop (Start->Programs->Accessories->Communications->Remote Desktop Connection). I had occasion to use Remote Desktop recently, and it appears to work great, but it requires that you know the ID and password for an account on the remote computer. When I first started using VNC about 5 years ago, Remote Desktop was very primitive and virtually unusable in my environment, but it looks like it has come a long way. Anyway, I mention it because it is another alternative, and it is already installed on any XP system.--Percy

If Iano wants to access your computer using Remote Desktop, then it is a program he would run, not you. What you have to do is provide him an IP address (in place of the computer name) and an account name and password. You could give him the account name and password that you yourself use for your computer, or you could create an account for him on your computer.But this remote access stuff may not work well for you since you're an AOL user. You don't have a fixed IP address. You could tell Iano your IP address and it will work for that session, but the next time you log in to AOL the IP address will be different and you'll have to tell it to Iano again.The next time we're both on at the same time let's spend 15 or 20 minutes and see if we can get either VNC or Remote Desktop going between my computer and your computer. If we can get one of them going then we can provide the details to Iano. I'm suggesting you try it with me first because I'm familiar with these tools.--Pecy

If at any point you feel you'd like to understand something better, just ask, but otherwise I'll just tell you what you should do.Click on this URL and it will tell you your IP address: Send the IP address to percy@.Now download and install VNC. These are the steps:

1. Go to RealVNC - Remote access software for desktop and mobile | RealVNC
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2. In the left hand column is the navigation bar. Click on "download it now".
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3. Under the "Free Edition" column at the bottom, click on "Download & use".
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4. If you want, fill in the form on the page that appears next, but it is perfectly okay to leave it blank. When you're done, click on "Proceed to download".
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5. You'll see a bunch of Download buttons down the right hand side. The top one is the one you want. It will be on the line for "VNC Free Edition for Windows, and it will say "Executable" next to it. Click on this top Download button.
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6. Click the box for "I accept these terms and conditions". Caution: actually reading anyone's terms and conditions can induce somnolent symptoms and is a known cure for insomnia. After clicking the box, click on Download.
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7. You will see a box that asks, "Do you want to run or save this file?" Click on "Run".
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8. When it completes downloading, a window will pop up that asks, "Do you want to run this software?" Click on "Run".
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   Sometimes this window will pop up behind other windows that are already open, and when that happens it can't be seen. If you don't see this window, minimize the already open windows on your desktop until you see it.
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9. A window will pop up that says Welcome to the VNC Setup Wizard. Click on Next.
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10. Click on "I accept the agreement", then click on Next.
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11. The next page is called "Select Destination Location". The one it selects by default (probably C:\Program Files\RealVNC\VNC4) is fine, so just click on Next.
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12. The next page is called "Select Components". The boxes for both "VNC Server" and "VNC Viewer" should be selected. If they aren't click on the boxes so that both are selected. Then click on Next.
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13. The next page is called "Select Start Menu Folder". It uses the name RealVNC, and there's no reason to change this. Click on Next.
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14. The next page is "Select Additional Tasks". The selections that have already been made for you are fine, but make sure the box for "Start the VNC Server in Service-Mode" is selected. Then click Next.
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15. The next page is "Ready to Install". Verify the information. If everything looks okay then click Install.
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16. It will bring up the "VNC Server Properties (Service Mode)" window with a number of tabs, but you don't have to worry about them at this time. Just click on the Configure button next to VNC Password Authentication, which brings up the VNC Server Password box. Enter your password - they make you type it twice. This is the password you'll be telling to me and Iano. You can change the password at any time. Click on OK in this box, then click on OK again in the server properties box.
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17. There should still be a window on your desktop called "Setup - VNC". It says to read the following. You can if you want, but it's just more boring, unnecessary info. Click on Next.
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18. This should bring you to the "Completing the VNC Setup Wizard" window. Click on Finish.

You should now see a tiny VNC icon in the little tray of icons on the right hand end of your taskbar. It will have the letters VNC in it. The V is green and large, while the n and c are small with the blue n above the red c. If this isn't present then I'm mystified and we'll have to try Remote Desktop.But assuming the VNC icon is present in the service tray, then all is well and you can send me the password you selected to percy@. I'll see if I can get things to work from my end. If they work, great. If they don't I'll let you know and will request information about your DSL modem.--Percy

Curses! Foiled again! If you can access the Internet without using AOL, that would be a really good idea. Keep posting questions here, and good luck!--Percy

The message title actually has little to do with the topic, though I do feel like I just got screwed. I just wanted to share my recent experiences adding a brand new disk drive to a brand new computer so that this page will come up when people Google "idiotic stupid computer companies".I just bought a brand new computer from Dell. I was going to use an existing IDE drive as a backup drive in the new computer, but it turned out the new computer isn't IDE friendly, so I went out and bought a 500 GB SATA drive from Maxtor. I installed the disk successfully, but every time I tried to copy large amounts of data to it (i.e., perform a backup) my new computer would hang.It didn't take long to discover that the problem wasn't the backup program. Copying large amounts of any data to the new drive would hang the system.I called Dell technical support. He tried to be helpful, but all he could suggest was to swap controllers, which produced no improvement. He felt this argued against the computer being the problem, and I agreed that it seemed to make the disk drive the more likely culprit. What surprised me is that Dell has no diagnostics for you to run to verify the disk controllers are okay.So I called Maxtor. Twice. The first time they explained how to run diagnostics on a system that has no floppy drive. If you don't know that a .iso program is for creating a bootable CD-ROM then you are apparently an idiot, and since I didn't know this I was treated like an idiot.The diagnostic program could not find the disk drive, so I called Maxtor again and was again treated like an idiot. I made all kinds of stupid "mistakes" while the tech was on the phone. When the program I'd just run from CD-ROM asked if it was being run from CD-ROM or from floppy, I answered "CD-ROM". The correct answer was "floppy", of course. So I was an idiot and we had to start over. And later when the computer failed to respond to ctl-alt-delete (it was again hung), the tech explained to me in excruciating detail how to hit ctl-alt-delete, as I was obviously an idiot.He gave me an alternative approach to diagnosing the drive by writing a zero to every single byte. It took 20 hours to run, and it completed successfully. Having no other ideas, I returned the Maxtor drive to CompUSA and bought a Seagate instead, but I felt terrible about it because I had no evidence it was drive that was actually bad and not the computer. It was just a lot easier to exchange the drive than return the computer, so I exchanged the drive.I installed the Seagate drive fully expecting to have the identical problem with the computer hanging when moving large amounts of data, but the Seagate drive worked perfectly. I've already performed a full backup and an incremental with no problem.So how do I feel after having lost nearly 2 days of work while being made to feel like an idiot? Pretty angry, I must admit. I wonder what tech support people do to those who don't know anything about computers? Maybe they're much easier on these people. Maybe I brought on my own problems because I would push back against suggestions that seemed like questionable courses of action, of which there were a number.Anyway, the bottom line is that the Dell tech support guy was nice but not very helpful or knowledgeable. The Maxtor tech support guys were knowledgeable, but also gruff, arrogant, unhelpful and, ultimately, wrong. In my book, when one behaves like an arrogant ass one had better be right. If they'd been right I could have forgiven the rest, but they were wrong.By the way, the only guy who provided helpful and accurate information? Jar! I've already thanked him, but it doesn't hurt to do it again, so thanks again! Thanks should also go out to Crash who, although I didn't take him up on his offer to configure a computer for me, did suggest the configuration I ultimately ordered from Dell. I gave the flat screen that came with it to my daughter (I already had one), and along with a new graphics card that allows her to play WoW on her own computer instead of borrowing her brother's she is in seventh heaven, so I'm a hero this week and the story does have a happy ending! --Percy

Yes. It looks like a ghost has taken over the computer.--Percy

People do get shot on street corners every day, but I'm not going to begin wearing a bulletproof vest anytime soon. Computers do get compromised and/or hijacked everyday, for a number of different purposes, but we shouldn't let paranoia reign.Much of the decision of how much caution is warranted is based upon what risky behaviors you engage in. It's the wild link clickers who get in the most trouble. But temporarily shutting off your security software is a standard thing that is done all the time. I just installed a small application last night that suggested the installation would go more smoothly if the security software was temporarily shut off.But protecting yourself by keeping no personal information on your computer, somewhat analogous to only driving your junker car into the big city, isn't really practical for most people. Making our computers into personal extensions of ourselves is what makes them so useful. And those who hijack personal computers for use in such things as an anonymous source of spam email aren't looking for personal information on the computer anyway. By not having security software and/or a firewall you leave your computer vulnerable to being hijacked for nefarious purposes. The server for this website has been hijacked by spammers several times, and it's not even Windows, it's Linux.The bottom line is to be prudent but not paranoid. There are those out there who are out to get you, but we shouldn't go so crazy in trying to protect ourselves that our computers lose much of their utility.Most security software provides a way to make exceptions, a sort of "allow in" list. Once Iano and Faith have got things going they can turn the security software back on and figure out how to add Iano to the exception list.--Percy