Computer, Software and Cellphone Questions and Advice

[mstee2u1972]

I need some help please! My hard drive had to be replaced today on my desktop computer. So now I have no sound because the person that did the work couldn't find the model number for my computer in order to download the correct sound driver. So I wonder if someone on here could help me with this issue? I believe I've found the model number. Also, I need to download Microsoft Office to my computer but I don't want to pay out the nose for the software. Any one know if it's available elsewhere? Thanks!

[Bidmor]

I need some help please! My hard drive had to be replaced today on my desktop computer. So now I have no sound because the person that did the work couldn't find the model number for my computer in order to download the correct sound driver. So I wonder if someone on here could help me with this issue? I believe I've found the model number. Also, I need to download Microsoft Office to my computer but I don't want to pay out the nose for the software. Any one know if it's available elsewhere? Thanks!

As to your audio prob, I would first go to your device manager.
Right click on the My Computer icon then left click on "properties".
Find "Device Manager" and left click.
In the tree of devices you'll see "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers". Left click to expand that list.
You should see listed some type of audio device listed such as Realtek Audio or similar.
Right click on that then left click on Properties.
You should see a window with 3 tabs labeled General, Details, and Driver. Select General if it's not already displayed.
In the center of that tab window you should see a smaller window labeled Device Status.
If your system has detected an audio device, within the smaller window you should see "This device is not working properly."
If so, click on the Driver tab then click on the button labeled "Update Driver" or "Download Driver".
Ideally your system should then go out on the web, find the proper driver, and download it.

If you still need your pc's model number, open your Start Menu, then click on All Programs, then find Accessories and click on it, then System Tools, then System Information.

As to MS Office, did you have it previously? If so, you'll need to find your serial number to reactivate it after downloading from MS. If you didn't have Office previously...sorry. The only free alternative to MS Office is Sun Microsystems' Open Office...for all intents and purposes compatible with MS Office documents. Just Google Open Office to download and install.

[mstee2u1972]

As to your audio prob, I would first go to your device manager.
Right click on the My Computer icon then left click on "properties".
Find "Device Manager" and left click.
In the tree of devices you'll see "Sound, Video, and Game Controllers". Left click to expand that list.
You should see listed some type of audio device listed such as Realtek Audio or similar.
Right click on that then left click on Properties.
You should see a window with 3 tabs labeled General, Details, and Driver. Select General if it's not already displayed.
In the center of that tab window you should see a smaller window labeled Device Status.
If your system has detected an audio device, within the smaller window you should see "This device is not working properly."
If so, click on the Driver tab then click on the button labeled "Update Driver" or "Download Driver".
Ideally your system should then go out on the web, find the proper driver, and download it.

If you still need your pc's model number, open your Start Menu, then click on All Programs, then find Accessories and click on it, then System Tools, then System Information.

As to MS Office, did you have it previously? If so, you'll need to find your serial number to reactivate it after downloading from MS. If you didn't have Office previously...sorry. The only free alternative to MS Office is Sun Microsystems' Open Office...for all intents and purposes compatible with MS Office documents. Just Google Open Office to download and install.

Bidmor, I thank you kindly for the information. I will work on this tomorrow as I just had a tooth extraction today and am feeling really under the weather right now.

[Wendy A.]

Does anyone know anything about these new tablets? I want to get my 11yr old one for Christmas and wasn't sure if I need wifi or android or does it matter? I need it to go wireless from our home cable internet service.. HELP!

[MiraculousMandarin]

Do you have a wireless router?

[Wendy A.]

Do you have a wireless router?

Yep, sure do. That should do the trick right?

[MiraculousMandarin]

You should be able to connect with any wifi or internet enabled device.

[Wendy A.]

Cool! Thanks. I'm showing my age.. I used to have to help my grandparents with all the new technology. Times have sure changed! I'm still trying to figure out how to use my TV! lol I'm also a dog breeder, and lucky for me this younger couple that was buying a pup came over at least once a week to see the pups.. They came over and hooked our tv up and showed us some of the stuff on it otherwise it'd still be in the box!

[Tiffany]

Pandora is gone for good! I just reinstalled Firefox & still nothing.... and not working on IE or GoogleC.

I was just listening to Pandora on Firefox & then I think I may have refreshed the browser & then I get a page that says "No site at configuration at this address" but when I go to Pandora on googlechrome, the page will pull up however Pandora radio does not actually play. It just looks like its 'loading' the page.


AND when I restarted the computer after this I get this: Runtime Error!
Program C:/Program Files (x86)\Launch Manager\LManager.exe
This Application has Requested Runtime to Terminate in an Unusal Way, Please Contact the Application's Support Team for More Information



Please help. What do I do? I just got this laptop back in June with a new mother board thing...

[Stevie Lynn]

I just went there and no problems. See if this works http://www.pandora.com/station/play/1154498793583719734

[Tiffany]

I just went there and no problems. See if this works http://www.pandora.com/station/play/1154498793583719734

Ok that worked maybe the link name is just changing. I just meant "no more pandora" for me- but the site came up just fine. Thanks!

[Stevie Lynn]

[Mammy]

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate thread, but hopefully it's close enough. I've been looking at Nooks and Kindles and wanted some opinions on whether they are worth the money and if anyone here owns one and really likes it? I love to read and think they seem pretty cool to have, but I wanted some hag input before making up my mind. Opinions?

[KallyKatt]

Well I bought a Kindle Fire earlier this year and I really like it. Have several books stored on it, Dallas seasons 1-11 bought and stored,games and photos downloaded. The bad part is I don't think I can expand the memory. But it is well worth the $200 I paid. at least to me.

[Mammy]

Thank you for your reply, Kally. My husband had asked me if I thought I would like one and I wasn't sure. I thought they were quite a bit smaller than they actually are and I was afraid I couldn't see them very well because my eyesight is not good. I was surprised when we looked at them at Target and they were so much bigger than I expected.

[Miho]

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate thread, but hopefully it's close enough. I've been looking at Nooks and Kindles and wanted some opinions on whether they are worth the money and if anyone here owns one and really likes it? I love to read and think they seem pretty cool to have, but I wanted some hag input before making up my mind. Opinions?

I love mine! It is big, but not too big and perfect to carry in a purse.

[Mammy]

Thanks for your reply, too. Which one do you have? I was pleased to see that they are bigger than I expected and I wouldn't have a hard time seeing the words.

[Wendy A.]

anyone ever see a smart phone that loses time? My HTC rezound was 10 minutes off the other day, and I am responsible for shutting the lines off in my area and letting the employee's leave.. (we have NO clocks out in the factory) My lineworkers were telling me "hey! Second shift is out there (our area only runs on days) and it's five after" I was like "Bullshit!" I thought they were fuckin' with me... as we all do. Nope! My time was off on my phone!I don't even see how that's possible? I tried to reset it manually, and called Verizon twice.. it's still off. Any suggestions?

[Tiffany]

I need help. Is there a way that I can get my Kodak Picture Share pictures I want, to be emailed/transferred at once? I am doing this: My Computer, Shared Documents, Shared Pictures and then the dates of the pictures will show up and then I have to click an individual picture in an email. This is so time consuming. If I want to transfer pictures, is there a USB device I can put in and just transfer the albums, instead of the pictures individually? That way I will have the album & all pics. ?????

will any USB device work????

[MiraculousMandarin]

I need help. Is there a way that I can get my Kodak Picture Share pictures I want, to be emailed/transferred at once? I am doing this: My Computer, Shared Documents, Shared Pictures and then the dates of the pictures will show up and then I have to click an individual picture in an email. This is so time consuming. If I want to transfer pictures, is there a USB device I can put in and just transfer the albums, instead of the pictures individually? That way I will have the album & all pics. ?????

will any USB device work????

Are you trying to email them to yourself or transfer them to from your camera to your computer or from your computer to something else?

[Tiffany]

Are you trying to email them to yourself or transfer them to from your camera to your computer or from your computer to something else?

I am trying to get them in an email from home computer which does not have very much space anyway, to my laptop.

[MiraculousMandarin]

Yeah, that kinda sucks. The easiest way to do it would be a a usb storage drive of some sort if you have a lot of them. Otherwise e-mailing them sucks because you can only send a few at a time depending on the image quality and file size.

The other possibility would be if you have windows 7 on both computers. You could create a home group that allows file sharing between the 2 computers. Then you could copy all of the files onto your desktop and then delete them from your laptop.

[Tiffany]

Thank you miraculous, but my home computer is so old & has so much s on it I wouldn't even know where to start. And second, I get pop ups that say I don't have much disk space for anymore updates anyway.

[MiraculousMandarin]

Or, if you have an Apple ID you could start an icloud account. I think the free version will let you upload a gigabyte or two of photos or documents that you could access from any computer after they have been uploaded. That would clear up a some space anyway.

Hope you get it figured out.

[Tiffany]

thanks!

[Tiffany]

When I go to WORD I get this popup: "This copy is not activiated. You have 29 days left to activate. Ensure you are connected to your corporate network to enable automatic activation."

I can't find the box with the software so would I have to purcase a new Microsoft Office 2010???



& Error code: 0xC004F074

How do I change the product key if I don't have the box the software is in????

[Bidmor]

When I go to WORD I get this popup: "This copy is not activiated. You have 29 days left to activate. Ensure you are connected to your corporate network to enable automatic activation."

I can't find the box with the software so would I have to purcase a new Microsoft Office 2010???

Did you buy a new pc with trial Office on it?...that's what your popup strikes me as.

[Tiffany]

Did you buy a new pc with trial Office on it?...that's what your popup strikes me as.

No I bought the software/disc, separate.

[jaynedoe]

mammy just now saw your post - i bought a nook initially a couple of years ago. i have had trouble constantly with the barnes & noble website. and their customer service isn't great either. so i quit using it. i recently bought an amazon kindle touch for $99 (i believe it is cheaper now). i love it. it is a little smaller than my nook. i'm already an amazon lover and had no problem connecting it to my account and buying a ton of free books which were easy to synch to my kindle apps on the kindle, my computer and my iphone. i also have a wishlist on amazon with books i want to read so i can easily check if they come down in price. the kindle has a dictionary in it where you can touch a word to find out the meaning and also you can highlight and save sections of books you are reading. it keeps a charge a lot longer than the nook too. i've been really happy with it. i'm getting an ipad for Christmas so i am giving it to my mom to use. if i had it to do all over again i would have bought the kindle to begin with. i don't know about any other versions of either. and i know nook and kindle both have newer versions. just my 2 cents. as an avid reader myself, you are going to absolutely love having a ton of books at your fingertips. best wishes!

[Tiffany]

K someone help me by tomorrow night please. (Thursday night 12/2012) This is a doosey



So tonight I was on my home computer on 'Safari' and I kept getting the error message RUN TIME ERROR. RUN TIME COMPONENTS MICROSOFT VISUAL C++ LIBRARIES... something or other.
I did something. I put in 'msconfig' in the Run, then I went to the 'services' tab and I clicked 'Hide all microsoft services' & I clicked on 'Disable all'. Then I clicked on the 'startup' tab, I clicked on 'disable all'. Now, my

printer is not hooked up. Printer spool is not working. Now when I go to "print" something,my Lexmark X6150 printer is not setup anymore,.

the home computer is a 2000 Windows XP. I don't know what bit nor do I know how to update any kind of hardware.



PS I was trying to use Safari web browser because for some unGodly reason Google Chrome stopped printing anything suddenly & then I go to I.E. & the site for my school is all in text; not the actual site. So I can't sign in or anything.

[Bidmor]

K someone help me by tomorrow night please. (Thursday night 12/2012) This is a doosey



So tonight I was on my home computer on 'Safari' and I kept getting the error message RUN TIME ERROR. RUN TIME COMPONENTS MICROSOFT VISUAL C++ LIBRARIES... something or other.
I did something. I put in 'msconfig' in the Run, then I went to the 'services' tab and I clicked 'Hide all microsoft services' & I clicked on 'Disable all'. Then I clicked on the 'startup' tab, I clicked on 'disable all'. Now, my

printer is not hooked up. Printer spool is not working. Now when I go to "print" something,my Lexmark X6150 printer is not setup anymore,.

the home computer is a 2000 Windows XP. I don't know what bit nor do I know how to update any kind of hardware.



PS I was trying to use Safari web browser because for some unGodly reason Google Chrome stopped printing anything suddenly & then I go to I.E. & the site for my school is all in text; not the actual site. So I can't sign in or anything.

I think what you did by disabling all displayed in start-up is just that...not just MS apps only.

Re-open MSCONFIG, then General tab, then select "Normal Start Up", then restart. This will re-enable all start-up apps. That should get you temporarily going. Then if there are apps you don't want to run at start-up, you should go down the full list in MSCONFIG and check them one by one. If you're not sure about any given start-up item, leave it alone. Doing this might rectify your browser issue.

As to the Run Time error message, a MS update might be in order here. If you know how to check for MS updates, do so. I think you might see Run Time update or two hanging out there for you to install.

Regarding your Office issue, if you can't find your Office license key, I think you'll have to purchase another. When did you install your copy of Office?

FYI, you can find your XP bit rate by right-clicking on My Computer then click on Properties...it'll be displayed in the General tab. As I recall, XP Home is 32 and XP Pro is 64.

[Tiffany]

Thank you everyone I do appreciate it. I restarted the computer and then when I went into 'msconfig' I checked off the 'back up information' or something like that... so I 'backed up' stuff so it is normal now. IE is even working- I can go to my school site & its not in text only. I reinstalled Google Chrome...

thanks people. Appreciate it. I wish I knew more abotu computers but it seems I just make the problem/s worse sometimes.

[Tiffany]

so I play a dvd and it says its playing, I hit record and it says 'recording' but I know its not because usually the VHS plays while it is recording on the DVD. All of the INPUT are blue. I have tried switching out the color-coded cords and putting a new color-coded cords from a previous machine and put them where they go- red into red, white into white... still nothing.

Its a Panasonic. I don't know what more else I can do unless its broken internally perhaps.
I have tried to look behind the TV and all the plugs but its so dark and its so tight spaced its impossible.


please help someone and please speak English and speak step-by-step

[MiraculousMandarin]

Is there an input selection on the recorder display? It might be set to hdmi or svideo instead of aux.

[Tiffany]

Is there an input selection on the recorder display? It might be set to hdmi or svideo instead of aux.

Recorder display ok please tell me, what you know, about how to check it.

[MiraculousMandarin]

Is there a remote for the recorder and if so is there a input button?

[Tiffany]

Yes there is a remote, I have hit input on the recorder, then I go to the TV and put the same input as what is on the recorder & still nothing but blue screen.

[jerryvr]

Did you try connecting the yellow one as well as red and white only give sound?

[Tiffany]

Did you try connecting the yellow one as well as red and white only give sound?

??? Yes all the colors are correct and there is no sound

[McMorbid]

Alrighty here we go. You may need a flashlight so you can see. I'm not sure exactly how your setup is wired. Generally the VCR will hook up to the recorder and then the recorder to the TV. It sounds like you're using RCA jacks. Make sure the red, white, and yellow cables are hooked to the TV on one end and the output side of recorder. Then a second set of cables (same colors) will run from VCR to input side of recorder. Let us know if this works. If not you may have to run coaxial cable. How old is your equipment?

[Tiffany]

Alrighty here we go. You may need a flashlight so you can see. I'm not sure exactly how your setup is wired. Generally the VCR will hook up to the recorder and then the recorder to the TV. It sounds like you're using RCA jacks. Make sure the red, white, and yellow cables are hooked to the TV on one end and the output side of recorder. Then a second set of cables (same colors) will run from VCR to input side of recorder. Let us know if this works. If not you may have to run coaxial cable. How old is your equipment?

Thank you so so much. I will try this & let you know. The Panasonic item is ..... older. I am only estimating we got it in 2005/6 maybe 7

[Tiffany]

- FRONT OF TV INPUT

BACK OF DVD RECORDER MNOT TV AND IT SAYS OUTPUT at BOTTOM ; NOT INPUT

[jerryvr]

did you look at the front of the recorder.. there might be an input there..

[Tiffany]

did you look at the front of the recorder.. there might be an input there..

yes I did and that did not work either. Perhaps I should just buy a new one. Or perhaps use a different blank DVD? I'm going to Target tomorrow it won't hurt to use another kind. Should I use R- R+ ??
Does it matter? I used Memorex first....

[Leasie]

Why would my toolbar keep vanishing? It appears with my cursor, but otherwise it is gone.

[MiraculousMandarin]

If you are using Internet Explorer, the F11 button will release it from full-screen.

[Leasie]

If you are using Internet Explorer, the F11 button will release it from full-screen.

ahh, thank you!!!

[PurrPurr]

Anyone know how good Crap Cleaner is? I've been wanting to try it to keep up free hard disk space and whatnot.

[Bidmor]

I've used Crap Cleaner aka CC Cleaner after I uninstall an app to remove obsolete registry entries and have had no problems. When doing that, CC will back up the current registry before hand (always do that) just in case it removes an entry that it shouldn't.

I can't tell that it decreases boot up time but still. As far as freeing up hd space, I've never used it for that, although it would be a good idea to as I believe CC will perform a multi-pass write over on deleted data which is a good idea if you want to make sure deleted personal data can't be easily recovered.

CC has done me no harm.


BTW, F11 toggles from full screen to regular in Firefox too. That's an old IE feature, and I mean old. F5 refreshes the browser.

[Maxster]

Here's my less than expert opinion. Computers are good for 3-5 years. I think they are programmed to begin a slow death after three years. Then get a new one. I am on number 4 and needing a new one soon.

A relative is still using a Dell 5150 bought in 2005. It need a power supply replacement, but otherwise it's still working alright. I'm trying to convince said owner on a Solid State Device and an upgrade to a newer version of Windows.