Booted the computer today. Was greeted by a message informing me that Samsung Magician, the software that monitors and configures my 2 Samsung SSDs for best performance, was due an update I clicked the "install update" option. All went well, except that when all was said in done Magician found my two HHDs and an old 1st-gen non-Samsung SSD, none of which it works with, but NOT my Samsung SSDs! I rebooted the PC. Still didn't find them. I searched my computer for an older version of Magician to reinstall. There isn't one. I searched the web for older Magician versions. Nope. Finally, rummaging through old CDs that came with various pieces of hardware, I found a copy of Magician 4.3. Installed that. Rebooted. If recognized my 850 Pro, but not the 850 Evo! Did more rummaging. At last found another Samsung disk, this one containing Magician 4.5. Installed it. Voila! But SSDs found and recognized. This isn't the version I had before today's original "update". I apparently never had a physical copy of its installer. I'd like that version back, but can't find it on the internet. 4.5 will do, I suppose. Any in case, with luck this will soon become my secondary PC.

ADDENDUM: Found a place to download older Magician versions. Will prolly try a few once after my walk?

14 Jun 2017 ADDENDUM: Restoring older version of Magician fixed it.

Not a current problem, but something I don't like coming down the pike.

Firefox has been my preferred browser for ages. One thing I like a lot about it is that at least one add-on allows me to move tabs below the address bar. I abhor tabs at screen top. Later this year, with release version 59, Firefox is scrapping its current add-on format. According to its creator, the add-on that let's me relocate tabs can not be converted to the new format. Ergo, tabs at top for me, unless something else that serves the purpose comes along. Won't rule it out, but I'm not holding my breath. Not yet anyway.

My question for users of alterative browsers is, does your browser of choice place tabs below the address bar or offer ways to move it there? Much as I love Firefox I will certainly consider jumping ship a decent quality alternative with that functionality exists. Again, it might not be necessary, but I want to have my ducks lined up before hand just in case.

Not an "issue" in the sense of something wrong. Instead, it seems that once I finally bit the bullet and convinced myself to shell out for a 2tb WD Black HDD, it's out of stock everywhere. No big deal except it slows down getting the new PC configured to the point it can become my primary rig.

Along those same lines, I convinced myself to spend $9.99 at GOG for their edition of Oblivion, which doesn't require either online or disk validation to launch. Wouldn't ya know that when I went to the site their sale had just ended. It's still only $20, but I decided to pass. I already own three copies of Oblivion after all.

Since assembling my new PC I've not been happy with what little sound quality I am nowadays able to appraise. Specifically, I don't hear adequate rear channel sound in Oblivion, which I did with my "old" PC. A week or two ago I noticed that the rear left speaker puts out distorted sound, while the others produce clean audio (so far as my decrepit hearing can ascertain). I feared something wrong with the PC motherboard's sound circuitry. I then discovered that "tapping" the power amp with sufficient force causes the offending speaker to cut out altogether. I later recalled that that channel had acted finicky even on the "old" rig, but only occasionally, and tapping the amp fixed sound rather than silenced it. I'm not yet 100% sure if the problem is in the amp itself or a connector. I'm guessing amp, but we shall see.

Should it need replacing, I've an old audiophile grade NEC a/v receiver collecting dust on a shelf in the living room. Problem is, it needs to be set to defaults, then adjusted to produce equal volume from all four PC speakers, a mismatched set. (The fronts are an ancient Realistic bookshelf model from the early 70s when Radio Shack still carried respectable quality gear, the rears a pair of Polk bookshelf units from the mid 80s. The misbehaving amp is a 4-channel fairly low power Yamaha from the mid 80s.) Thing is, the NEC is so old it doesn't sport HDMI or any other video connectors more recent than RCA and "SVGA." Neither of my PC monitors accept those. I can hook the NEC to my living room Samsung, which DOES accept RCA input. That'll let me reset channel levels to default, but I still have no way to adjust 'em for the PC speakers. On the plus side, the NEC will let me add a center channel should I so choose. (And yes, I've a spare one of those handy.) I don't believe a gaming centric PC needs a center channel, but if properly set up it surely won't hurt.

Another minus, the NEC is heavy. SUPER heavy. A younger me wouldn't give it a seconds thought. As I am now I'm not sure I can lift the thing, much less carry it where it needs to go. (Those old audiophile units were built like tanks.)

This is, thankfully, the only PC related issue that comes to mind. My recent build went well, with only a few minuscule SNAFUs during the assembly process, all easily corrected.

Ugh. Finding out what causes sound issues is a PAIN. Had to do it myself with my current rig and it still doesn't function as it did on my last one. Then it played perfect surround sound including music in all speakers, now it only plays music in the front ones. But it produces nice surround effects so I just leave it at that.

I've got that going on too. I've assumed it's due to the sound chips and/or audio control panel on my Gigaybyte motherboard being understandably not as sophisticated as the $100+ sound card in my i7-930 rig. Then again, maybe I just haven't stumbled on the right control setting. One can hope.

My PC issue of the day centers on my having recently bumped up font size in Windows 10 from default 100% to 125% to make reading text easier on my tired old eyes. Since then YouTube videos watched in windowed view via Firefox have been blurry. I recalled having this issue on the i7-930 under identical circumstances. Back then I researched it, found a fix, and implemented it. Problem solved. This time I could not find the web article containing the fix. No biggie. I booted the i7-930, opened its Firefox, checked my installed add-ons, found the one containing the fix, installed it on the new PC and configured its options to match those on the i7-930. Fixed.

Seems like my snassy graphics card has given up now. Currently using the onboard graphics which leaves A LOT to be desired.

Oblivion? Nope. Fallout 3? Pffh. I can run the chess game but I can't use the 3D graphics.


Have my guy on it though and hopefully things will get back to normal before Y3K.

Ugh! You picked a bad to have your GPU go south! Well, depending on what you want to replace it with. I was unknowingly extremely lucky in buying my GTX1070 several months before ordering the rest of the parts needed for my "new" PC build. Prices for the better graphics cards, which my is numbered amongst, have skyrocketed due to "mining". Not all cards are affected, but many of the more desirable GPUs are. Then again, maybe things aren't so bad in your neck of the woods?????

Best of luck (says the fellow preaching doom and gloom)

Thanks, Decrepit


I had a nvidia GeForce GT250 and want something similar as that has worked well with my games. We'll see what the tech guy comes up with.

Interesting. I wonder if the GT250 is from the same generation as my old GTX260??? An odd coincidence if it is, as that card is the only GPU I've owned that died from no apparent cause. (In the long ago dark ages I owned a PCI (not PCIe) slot graphics card that got fried during a lightning storm. Or was it an ISA slot card?)

I think the first number is the generation (except that now we've reached 10!) and the second was the type of card. IIRC the x70's were the biggest, fastest single cards, and then the x80's were SLI-capable, and the x90's were dual-slot SLI-included monsters. In effect an x90 was two x80's in one package. What was below that, I don't recall, but it may just be been less VRAM on-board than the top ones. The processors were often the same. (Early ones may also have been PCI and AGP slot variants in the lower numbers).

I run two 680's for triple-screen surround, which is a few generations old now, so Skyrim SE is a bit of a strain at 6000x1080 unless I turn things down a bit. LE runs maxed, but I haven't overloaded with higher-res textures.

I'm getting somewhat used to the MS Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard I switched to after assembling the new PC. Sort of. Thing is, its keys are slightly bigger than those on my old ergonomic keyboard. Unlike a certain US president who shall remain nameless, I readily admit to having tiny hands. The new stretch is uncomfortable for me. I'm getting better at correctly hitting most letter keys, but not as good at it as I was with the old keyboard. Number and F-key rows are awkward. I fish and miss a lot there. My fingers tend to become stiff and sore after a lengthy typing session. It doesn't help that, like most modern keyboards, mine is black with white letter symbols. The old ergonomic is beige with black symbols, which I far prefer.

On the other hand, the old ergonomic B-key occasionally sticks, and the ridges atop F and J have worn to practically nothing. If I type on the old ergonomic now ... it's attached to my secondary computer ... it feels awkwardly small. More comfortable for my hands, but I'm no longer used to its finger stretch.

In general, the new PC hasn't given me a lick of trouble since assembly. My only real complaint is that its onboard audio doesn't equal that of my stand-along Soudblaster X-fi card. But I knew that going in. Boy do I wish the X-fi was PCIe rather than PCI. Although boot time beyond a certain point is of no significance to me, I gotta admit it boots impressively fast. I'd estimate 8-10sec from power-on to Win10 Desktop. I unexpectedly sorta like the motherboard's RBG bling. Not that it matters. The computer sits to the left of my desk. Its glass window is case left. Ergo, I never see the bling. I might as well have bought a case sans window.

ADDENDUM:
Forgot to mention that my audio power amp issue has not gone away. It's better than it was, but not cured. I suspect I'd need to replace it for that to happen. I still swat the amp's top ever now and again to ensure all four channels play. Otherwise, sometimes the rear left channel is dead. Sometimes the right. Sometimes the rear left plays but is distorted and/or hums. Sometimes swatting fixes one issue but triggers another. If I swat long enough eventually all four channels work. Once they work, they tend to stay fixed until I need to shut the computer down, though that's not a given.

New graphics card installed! And it even seems to be working, fancy that


Nvidia again, Geforce GTX 1060 with 3GB memory. Initial trial run with Fallout 3 got greenlit. Haven't tried Oblivion yet but expect no problems.


Overall: Yay!

Woot!
The GTX1060 ain't bad at all. Prolly decently faster than the GTX670 housed in what is now my secondary computer.

My secondary computer has Windows Millennium on it

Yikes!

Don't know if anyone else uses CCleaner by Piriform, but it has apparently been hacked.

An uninstall is advisable.

Thanks for the reminder. I saw a blurb about this several days ago, but it contained no specifics. I need to research and find out what's going on. Maybe it's just one release version that affected?????

ADDENDUM: Here's a detailed article on the issue. It is indeed confined to one specific free download version, spelled out in the article. Thankfully the version I'm running is NOT hacked. Also, the free download(s) now available at the official site are (supposedly) safe. But yes, if you run CCleaner for sure check and see if you need to take action to protect yourself.

Another article regarding the CCleaner:


https://blog.avast.com/update-to-the-cclean...curity-incident


Thanks for the heads=up, Treydoggie!

I do use CCleaner on the BOOTCAMP side, but not on the Mac side.

As I haven't logged into BOOTCAMP (my Win7 boot drive inside my Mac tower) since May/June, I'm good.

Whew!

And my third one has Windows 3.1 as you may recall

My fourth had Windows XP until yanked its hard drive and gave it to GoodWill. For now, my first and third run Win10, the secondary Win7, all three 64-bit, though some might argue that Win10 is a two-bit OS.)

Not sure what version of AppleSoft the IIe runs... I would need to fire it up to see...

I'm really happy with my new graphics card. Works great and is in fact just as quiet (almost anyway) as when I used the onboard graphics on the computer while waiting for the new Geforce. It has two fans instead of one like the old card, I guess that allows it to run quieter with lower speed on two fans as opposed to high speed on one fan.


Quoting RinryGameGame: Happy gaming!

For those who, like me, have be plagued by Photobucket no longer showing embedded images in this and other forums, I stumbled on a solution that will work for many of us. It's a browser add-on available for Firefox, the browser I use. The add-on's home page mentions it being ported from Chrome, so in theory it's available for that browser too. Its name, unsurprisingly, is, at least the Firefox version, "Photobucket Embed Fix." (Who would've thought, eh?) Just tested it by visiting my Minecraft Forums "Hill Fort" thread, which houses a good many embedded Photobucket images. All are viewable again.

(Firefox users can find it easily via Tools/Add-ons, then search.)

Not a major issue but a pair of ironic minor snafus.

A couple of days before attending my uncle's funeral I had need to use the secondary computer for the first time in awhile. It booted up just fine. Its keyboard, however, didn't respond. I shut everything down and checked the case rear panel. Sure enough, the keyboard's PS/2 connector was loose, barely touching it's socket. It must have been like that since the technician converting my internet from DSL to U-verse reconfigured the computer room internet/phone wall socket last month, that socket being next to the PC case. Plugging the keyboard back into its receptacle fixed the problem. Not worth reporting, except that...

Fast forward to this past Saturday night. I'd returned from our trip to TN for the burial. It was close to normal bedtime. I had not planned to turn on my primary PC. But two bills arrived in the day's mail. I decided to write out payment checks and log the expense in my computerized finance ledger. The PC booted without issue...except its keyboard didn't respond. Unlike with my secondary computer, I had of course used the primary PC daily, including that very morning. A quick check showed its USB plug solidly in place. A restart didn't fix it. I shut everything down, removed and replugged the keyboard's connector, and fired up the PC. Solved. Again not worth mentioning, except for the coincidence of both PC keyboards suffering the same issue within so short a time period.

If you're running Windows7 it may be a bug in the OS. I've been having issues with mouse or keyboard locking up. Sometimes unplugging and re-plugging fixes it, sometimes it doesn't. I thought it might be an issue with my Wacom tablet, but booting without it made no difference.

Colleagues at work have had similar issues (we all use Win 7 pro), which is making me think it's MS's problem, maybe in the USB drivers.

My primary PC runs Win10 64-bit. This is the only time within the PC's nearly 3 month existence this has happened. I'm hoping that it's a one time fluke. Worse come to worst I hope the issue, if issue it is, is with the Keyboard rather than my motherboard.

Interesting YouTube video on "Why You Need to Stop Using Google". Me, I abandoned Google as a search engine for DuckDuckGo quite some time ago, and use Firefox rather than Chrome. Gotta admit I really liked Google Earth...until they restricted it's use to Chrome Browser not too long ago.

Speaking of browsers, as of now three Firefox add-ons I use are LEGACY and thus will not work with the upcoming release 57. There's an alternative for one of 'em, though it's not as full featured. I'm really gonna miss Classic Theme Restorer, for which there is no v57 alternative, my favorite add-on along with a good Ad Blocker.

As a followup of sorts for my previous post I'm currently auditioning Brave Browser, which I knew nothing of until today. So far I'm rather impressed. It's got built in ad blocking (defeatable if preferred), transferred my Firefox settings and bookmarks like a chap (it even kept me logged in here!!!!!!), has a built in password remember function, lots of configuration options, tabs BELOW the address bar as I prefer, and in the little time I've used it has had no issues with the few sites I've visited (here and YouTube). There are things about it I like less than Firefox, but maybe I'll come around with time...or not.

It seems to have the ability to install add-ons, but I've not yet figured out how to find any. Maybe it's too new for extensions?????

Worth a look-see for sure, imo.

I may look into that at some point, Decrepit. Sounds interesting



As for me I have now gotten the correct cable between the new graphics card and the screen and finally the image is once again crystal clear!

My audition of Brave Browser didn't last long. Nothing overtly wrong with it. In fact I like quite a lot about it. But when all is said and done, at this stage of the game I prefer Firefox with a number of add-ons. We'll see if that still holds true when release 57 hits next month, as two of my favorite add-ons become obsolete at that time, with no replacements yet in sight. (On the plus side, a third favorite add-on recently announced that it should soon be v57 compatible.) Too, Brave is still fairly new and will surely fine tune itself as time passes.

Played some Oblivion yesterday, trying to adjust the settings so it would look like before. Easier said than done, no matter what I did I couldn't get the lighting correct. I pushed light and contrast all the way up and I still had pitch black areas outside, in daylight. Granted, Lothran was in Blackwood, but it's not supposed to be pitch black.

I was at the point where the screen was way too bright while still having those totally black areas. Then I decided to not be a simpleton and adjusted the Brightness setting in the Video menu....

Had an issue with wavey lines when playing my games after I changed graphics card. They were only visable in darker areas and I did not have those before changing the card.

Seems like my issue stemmed from wrong screen setting. I had 1280x1024 when it appeared I needed 1280x960 and now when I think about it, I do believe that's what I had before as well. I entered Fallout 3 briefly and went to a dark location on Rivet City and presto - no wavey lines!

The wavey lines are gone but I still had an issue with the brightness in both Oblivion and Fallout 3. The issue was that while it was too bright in the menus and in daylight, it was too dark at night and in caves. The problem contradicted itself which was why I couldn't adjust the settings to get it right.

But just now I looked at Nvidia's settings and noticed something about limited and unlimited dynamic area output. Didn't make much sense to me but I read the descriptions and it turned out that having it set to unlimited, which I had, made dark things darker and bright things brighter. So I set it to limited, made a small adjustment to the contrast and entered Oblivion. And now I finally have it as I want it!

Whew! Glad puter's graphics bits are happy again!

This is why I hate change I didn't ask for; it messes things up and forces me to think

GAAAAAAH! Oh, I hope I can find it for Chrome! Thank you so much for this bit of info!







Urk, it does sound connected somehow. (like if one is working, the other one won't, etc).






Bold: HA! No, you won't! But I am leary of new stuff too, so will wait out the early stages while brave people like Decrepit test out all the new stuff and I stay with my old comfortable standby, (until it is proven to be a solid investment years later)










Thank goodness! Seems like those graphics cards would come pre-set to the normal type settings; and this is exactly why I don't dabble inside my PC but take it to the shop,

Well, I might! If IE suddenly doesn't do it for me

But yeah, I don't like change either; and will only initiate change when it has been tried and proven to be a valid alternative. But hey, at least I moved from IE to Chrome a couple years ago, Been happy with the change until just recently; Chrome has started adding things (to MY computer!) that monitor my browsing in order to gear advertising to my interests = I don't like that at all. When I type what I want to see TODAY on YouTube, I don't expect today's request to be interspersed with what I requested last week. I had it removed twice; and twice it has bypassed Norton to reinstall itself. Grrrrr.

So actually, right now I am a bit iffy on how long I will remain with Chrome, but it will take another browser proving to me that they won't do the same thing.

IE doesn't do that...

I actually did love IE, but a lot of sites started refusing to allow any members who used IE just because they seemed to have some security issues with viruses carried in on IE accounts. That is when I turned to Chrome; but I had always preferred the Google search engine back then. Now Google is so interested in showing you what it thinks you want based on previous searches that it has almost completely stopped showing you what you asked it to. It is really starting to suck, but is there a better alternative out there?

DuckDuckGo!

DING! We have a winner. I've used DuckDuckGo! several years now. Works like a charm and avoids Google's evil ways. I wish DDG always showed search results with posting dates so I can rule out overly old info when newness is pertinent. But this can be largely solved by better defining search inquiries. Rather than search for, say, "Best gas hot water heaters", type instead "Best gas hot water heaters 2017."

So far as I've been able to ascertain, this is the day Firefox is scheduled to move to release 57. I've dreaded this "update" since learning that it irreversibly breaks what I consider an essential add-on. This morning I went ahead and switched from Zoom Page to Zoom Page WE, another downgrade in my opinion, as WE isn't as feature rich and versatile as its non WE predecessor. (My hope is that ZP_WE continues to improve.) I'll give release 57 a fair shot, but suspect its inability to move the tab bar where I prefer it (beneath the address/search bar) might at long last end my romance with Firefox, which has been my browser of choice almost since its initial release, if memory serves. I'm not yet 100% sold on Brave, but for now it's my prime alternative. (I've never liked Chrome.)

ADDENDUM: Looking over my Firefox Add-ons tab, I notice that it looks as if Adblock Plus, for years my ad blocker of choice, has at last been made compatible with upcoming Firefox release 57. That said, I switched to the already r57 compatible Adblocker Ultimate some months ago. For my purposes Ultimate works as well as Plus. I'll stick with it unless Plus ends up performing some useful function(s) Ultimate doesn't.

If you didn't like Chrome before when it was much more functional and much less invasive to your PC; then you REALLY won't like it now! I am even looking to leave it, and I used to prefer it.

Returned to the computer after lunch to find Firefox ready to update. I don't like release 57 as well as prior releases, but knew that going in. I enabled the Menu Bar first thing (as always), which has the added benefit of lowering the Tab Bar so that it isn't at screen top. Can't move it below the Address Bar as I prefer, but that too I knew going in. I still prefer it over Brave, but it's not as clear a victory as before.


Tell me about it! I think Firefox with add-ons remains a fine alternative, even watered down as it is with release 57. Brave isn't bad either, if you buy into its philosophy and realize it's still in beta and currently lacks some control options and bells-and-whistles Chrome and Firefox provide.

(I don't fully understand what Brave is attempting to do. It comes with ad blocking automatically enabled without need of add-on. From what I gather it offers the option of watching adds and being paid in online currency for viewing them. "Money" earned doing so can be selectively set up through the browser to help fund your favorite sites. Or something like that. It's all Greek to me.)

It must be some kind of cyber-currency, like Bitcoin.

[censored] ADMIN RIGHTS! WHY THE [censored] IS IT ALWAYS SUCH AN ANNOYANCE TO GO THROUGH THIS [censored]?! I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO USES THIS [censored] COMPUTER! WHY CAN'T IT JUST GIVE ME ADMIN RIGHTS AUTOMATICALLY?!

Okay, deep breath...

Can somebody give me the steps by which to grant myself admin rights? I have Windows 10 and an HP computer. I need to delete my Windows.old folder, which takes up 32.8 GB on my C: drive and has left it with literally less than 4 GB left. I have tried moving it to my D: drive which has a ton of space, but when I attempted to do so before it told me that I still need admin rights. Why can I not just have admin rights in the first place? Can somebody tell me how to do it?

Because not having Admin rights automatically prevents Trojans from doing any major harm.

However, Win 10 hides stuff even better than before, so I'll have to check my own HP machine before I can give instructions.