Archived CalgaryPuck Computer Help Thread

[MoneyGuy]

Microsoft is trying to get me to buy its new Vista operating software. I'm wondering if it's enough of an upgrade to make it worthwhile. I'm a financial planner running three computers. I use MS Outlook now, have spam software that's routing about 30 spam messages a day into a garbage folder and Norton Antivirus. MS says Vista offers improvements in these areas, but I wonder if it's worth it.

????

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Microsoft is trying to get me to buy its new Vista operating software. I'm wondering if it's enough of an upgrade to make it worthwhile. I'm a financial planner running three computers. I use MS Outlook now, have spam software that's routing about 30 spam messages a day into a garbage folder and Norton Antivirus. MS says Vista offers improvements in these areas, but I wonder if it's worth it.

????

don't bother it is a waste of money at present time. Your computers may not even be able to run vista (the computers have to be less then 8 months or so old to run it).

[MoneyGuy]

Thanks to cSpooge for answering the last two questions. Merry Christmas, all.

[Azure]

There is a floating rumor that Microsoft will force you to re-activate Windows Vista every 6 months...or else your system shuts down.

Any truth to that?

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by Azure

There is a floating rumor that Microsoft will force you to re-activate Windows Vista every 6 months...or else your system shuts down.

Any truth to that?

Not sure... I know for volume accounts you have to activate EVERY SINGLE copy ONE BY ONE.... yeah which IT guy wants to do in a large office with 50+ computers.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

Not sure... I know for volume accounts you have to activate EVERY SINGLE copy ONE BY ONE.... yeah which IT guy wants to do in a large office with 50+ computers.

Yeah I heard that too.

Microsoft will possibly lose billions with Vista...but they will also try to save billions by making it as hard as possible for hackers to illegally use Vista.

[4X4]

Hey guys... Please give me hope here.

I have an external HD with all my pics and all my mp3s, but I dropped it... Now, it turns on (power light comes on) but the computer doesn't acknowledge its presence when I connect it.

It wasn't a big tumble, just off the table onto the tile floor (well, I guess that is bad for a HD).

Anyway, please tell me that there is a way to get the info off this thing onto a new one. I have about 85 gigs of mp3s on there plus around 3500 pics. This stuff is very important to me.

So I may be coming to canada in january and I want to get this done by someone who speaks english. That is, IF it can be done.

I just cant believe that the thing is toast. Please give me hope.

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by Azure

There is a floating rumor that Microsoft will force you to re-activate Windows Vista every 6 months...or else your system shuts down.

Any truth to that?

No there isn't.

[keratosis]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Hey guys... Please give me hope here.

I have an external HD with all my pics and all my mp3s, but I dropped it... Now, it turns on (power light comes on) but the computer doesn't acknowledge its presence when I connect it.

It wasn't a big tumble, just off the table onto the tile floor (well, I guess that is bad for a HD).

Anyway, please tell me that there is a way to get the info off this thing onto a new one. I have about 85 gigs of mp3s on there plus around 3500 pics. This stuff is very important to me.

So I may be coming to canada in january and I want to get this done by someone who speaks english. That is, IF it can be done.

I just cant believe that the thing is toast. Please give me hope.

Sounds like you may have to talk to a professional data recovery outfit.
How valuable are these pics to you?
The reason I ask is, you could be looking at +$1000 to recover.

[4X4]

The pics are pretty valuable... Been on a digital camera for about 6 years now, so yeah... All my pics during that time and the last year I've been in Rome and traveled around Europe. Molto importanto.

Pics aside, I've got around 13,000 mp3s. That is also pretty important especially now that downloading is so dubious.

Sounds to me like I'd better start saving 'cause I MUST get this stuff back.

On a lighter note, there is no porn on there, so at least there'll be no embarrassment.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by 4X4

The pics are pretty valuable... Been on a digital camera for about 6 years now, so yeah... All my pics during that time and the last year I've been in Rome and traveled around Europe. Molto importanto.

Pics aside, I've got around 13,000 mp3s. That is also pretty important especially now that downloading is so dubious.

Sounds to me like I'd better start saving 'cause I MUST get this stuff back.

On a lighter note, there is no porn on there, so at least there'll be no embarrassment.

You might be able to take it in to a computer shop to get it checked out... The drive itself may be fine and it just may be dmg to the power unit or the connectors.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

You might be able to take it in to a computer shop to get it checked out... The drive itself may be fine and it just may be dmg to the power unit or the connectors.

That would be the cheapest thing. Often these units just just your standard hard drive inside, so you may be able to take the drive out and just attach the drive as a slave to make sure the drive still works. The million dollar question is: was the drive running at the time? If not, there is a chance. If it was running then that is a "bad" thing.

[4X4]

Well, if by running you mean was I using it? Yes. I was playing mp3s and I got up from the desk and my foot dragged the cord and the rest is history. I hope that I can recover this stuff. 13,000 mp3s takes quite awhile to accumulate.

Hmmm... Anyone here think they can reclaim my HD? There's 13,000 mp3s in it for you...

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Well, if by running you mean was I using it? Yes. I was playing mp3s and I got up from the desk and my foot dragged the cord and the rest is history.

Ouch.

If it was off then the drive heads would have been parked. If it was in use then there is a good chance the drive heads would have touched the platters which is bad news.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Ouch.

If it was off then the drive heads would have been parked. If it was in use then there is a good chance the drive heads would have touched the platters which is bad news.

yeah... worst case your entire drive is ****ed. More then likely they will just be corrupted in a bunch of places due to the new grooves in the platters the drive heads put in them.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Well, if by running you mean was I using it? Yes. I was playing mp3s and I got up from the desk and my foot dragged the cord and the rest is history. I hope that I can recover this stuff. 13,000 mp3s takes quite awhile to accumulate.

Hmmm... Anyone here think they can reclaim my HD? There's 13,000 mp3s in it for you...

You have an iBook, right? I had a iMac's drive recovered for around $350ish including new 250GB hard drive at Westworld if you can wait until January.

They got all my documents, videos, music, photos back in one piece. The drive developed bad sectors.

[4X4]

It's not an ibook its just an external HD that I run on windows based computers. Now that I think about it, I've never even tried to hook it up to the mac...

Anyway, about these blotters you guys are talking about, does that mean that (theoretically) just some of the data would be screwed and that the rest would be recoverable? And if so, what kind of percentage have you seen in th epast? I can handle losing half of it if it means that I get the other half, but if it's most of it, it'd be a tough pill to swallow paying upwards of a grand to get back a few pics and some mp3s that I can probably piece together by harassing my friends.

[MoneyGuy]

I'm looking for some advice on buying a new laptop for my office.

I'm thinking of buying a Dell with at least 1 GB RAM (maybe 2 GB, or upgradable), 80 GB HD, wireless capability, DVD burner. I may want to get one that is lightweight. This is for my business (financial planner). I don't really have sophisticated needs, basically just word processing, Internet use and running some of my business software (not too demanding).

I can choose from the following options: four-year in-home service ($129, I disagree with extended warranty-type offerings so don't think this is warranted), single TV tuner with remote control, 256 MB ATI Radeon x1300 Pro graphics card.

What should I put on this computer?

Is the TV tuner a useful add-on? I don't know how this works. Does it pick up regular TV signals or get them from the Internet? I don't play games so is the graphics card only useful for that purpose? I can upgrade the graphics card, which I obviously won't do if it's only useful for game playing. A flat-panel display is $110 extra, which seems useful.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I'm looking for some advice on buying a new laptop for my office.

I'm thinking of buying a Dell with at least 1 GB RAM (maybe 2 GB, or upgradable), 80 GB HD, wireless capability, DVD burner. I may want to get one that is lightweight. This is for my business (financial planner). I don't really have sophisticated needs, basically just word processing, Internet use and running some of my business software (not too demanding).

I can choose from the following options: four-year in-home service ($129, I disagree with extended warranty-type offerings so don't think this is warranted), single TV tuner with remote control, 256 MB ATI Radeon x1300 Pro graphics card.

What should I put on this computer?

Is the TV tuner a useful add-on? I don't know how this works. Does it pick up regular TV signals or get them from the Internet? I don't play games so is the graphics card only useful for that purpose? I can upgrade the graphics card, which I obviously won't do if it's only useful for game playing. A flat-panel display is $110 extra, which seems useful.

If you don't play games stick with 1GB of RAM and don't bother upgrading the video card. Games are the only things that would utilize them. As for the warrenty i don't know what Dell's in house service is like but from what I've heard it isn't too bad.

[Bobblehead]

Another thing to consider is the speed of the hard drive. Many laptop deals use 4200 rpm drives. You will think the laptop is slow even though it isn't, so consider at least a 5400 rpm hard drive.

I agree with cSpooge on everything, but I may be tempted to get the added ram - Vista is going to want more ram and I believe most laptops (and computers sold) offer an upgrade to Vista when it becomes widely available.