Computer Help

[take_yer_points]

Are you sure its disk space its complaining about and not virtual memory?  Go into computer, right click on you C Drive and click properties.  In there it will tell you the capacity of your drive and how much is free.

149GB used and none free!!

Go into your recycle bin and click "Empty the recycle bin" - that'll free up some space. Check the C Drive properties again to see if any space has freed up.

Have you any music or videoes you could get rid of? Removing some of those (videos in particular) will free up space.

After you have some space freed up go into your list of programs and remove anything you don't need.

You also probably have programs starting up when you log into your computer and they then run in the background - you could turn a pile of those off. You need to type "msconfig" into the run bar (you can access the run bar in All Programs  >  Accessories  >  Run - then type in msconfig and click OK). Go to the startup tab and use the name/manufacturer etc... do work out what they are - turn off the non essential stuff. That should make the computer run a bit faster the next time you start it up.

[armaghniac]

If you have a USB key or the like, copy off some not very important stuff,  e.g. a video or music album and delete this from the machine, empty the recycle bin, the install and run CCleaner, Wisecleaner or similar.

[ONeill]

Old Compaq RIP.

In the market for a decent laptop in the 300-400 range. Any recommendations?

Mostly for word processing/photoshop/browsin and shit.

These touchscreen yokes any worth?

[Armaghgeddon]

Have a look at HP pavilion 15 range

I tend to keep to HP, have had one for 3 years and still performs well.

[ONeill]

I was looking at the 14 range. There seemed to be a criticism of the battery life.

[Armaghgeddon]

Hp laptops dont have brilliant battery life but they certainly make up for performance wise.
Think they have portable chargers for about £30 extra so can add another few hours onto that

[muppet]

@hackernews tweeted this photo of what it called 'secret keys' on Android Apps.

Anyone able to explain the significance?

[Syferus]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography

Passwords are usually secured with a public key and a private (secret) key. If you don't have the private key you can get the password even if you have the public key, which is easy to get.

If they can access the private keys it means they can get peoples' passwords.

[Denn Forever]

I seem to have disabled the keyboard on my netbook. Can anyone answer this?

[Armaghgeddon]

Has anyone used an Alienware laptop and would you recommend?

[Syferus]

Has anyone used an Alienware laptop and would you recommend?

Alienware is Dell's high-end gaming PC brand. Specs are usually great but they are fugly looking beasts.

Depends on the price and on what you need a laptop for. If it isn't gaming or 3D modelling then an Alienware is probably over-kill.

[Armaghgeddon]

Has anyone used an Alienware laptop and would you recommend?

Alienware is Dell's high-end gaming PC brand. Specs are usually great but they are fugly looking beasts.

Depends on the price and on what you need a laptop for. If it isn't gaming or 3D modelling then an Alienware is probably over-kill.

Would probably never use it for gaming, tend to use just for browsing, essays and photoshop. Have even been tempted to buy a projector for the game later!

[Square Ball]

Anyone recommend a decent free file converter that will do most formats so I can burn them onto a DVD?

[The Biff]

Google Calendar Sync has reached its end.  I know it was flagged up a good while back, but I never really understood the reason for its wind-down.  I presume it must be a licensing thing.

Anyway, can anyone recommend a reliable cheap replacement?  All I'm looking for is something to do what the old tool did, i.e. run on my laptop to sync Outlook's Calendar (as used for Work appointments) with my Google Calendar (as used on my Android phone and home computer.

I don't need sync'ing of Contacts or Email, as I keep those separate (work v home).  Just Calendar stuff so that I can see on my phone my Work Appointments and whatever else I have to do before I get into work.

Thanks.

[johnneycool]

ahem, cough,

anyone know where I might get a license key for a Windows 8 Enterprise x64 installation??