Computer questions you'd be embarrassed to ask any where else!

Alice1

Can anyone tell me how to enable Java on my PC please?

It was enabled up to last Friday (I know cos I did the Pigsback crossword), but when I tried to open the crossword for today I got the error message "You need Java enabled to view the crossword applet"

I have tried Googling it and following the instructions there and rebooted but no joy.:(

_AVALANCHE_

What browser are you using?

Alice1

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

What browser are you using?

Internet explorer? I think? I'm a technopeasant and Darlink (who is not a technopeasant) is currently putting one of our "drains on financial resources" to sleep.

Jellybaby1

Galen wrote: »

If you're forced to do a hard shutdown (4 seconds) then technical help, it sounds like your hard drive is dying at the very least - get help NOW.

Thank you, will look into that.

Rubecula wrote: »

Ditto what Galen said, get it looked at now before it does go 'poof' on you. I didn't and I lost a lot of stuff that i can't replace.

You are scaring me now.

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

Is it a Dell?

Their systems/hardrives do that real loud knocking when they start to fail. I've never heard it on any other machine like that.

Theirs a really simple test to confirm its the harddrive, on my phone now so will put it up later....if yoyo doesnt beat me to it.:-)

Yes, it is a Dell. This is getting scarier by the second!

Galen wrote: »

I've 3 words for everyone - backup backup backup. Quite simply get yourselves a nice big external hard drive (Argos 1TB for 128 Euro) for all your documents, music, pictures and videos. It's well worth the money in the long run because hard drives are built like a record player - they die hard and fast.

We already have an external hard drive. Don't know if I can back up absolutely everything but will get himself to look into that asap.

Thanks all for your help.

_AVALANCHE_

Alice1 wrote: »

Internet explorer

Try this, if it doesn't work, then this.

If they don't work I'd just delete it from control panel, restart and reinstall again.

If no one turned it off (but it's off) then it would be no harm to run this (free), just incase. Virus(s?) usually do things like that.

Alice1

Thanks Avalanche - all working now:)

looksee

I learned to use a computer on a Mac. Macs tend to use the keyboard a lot more than PCs, though now the PCs can be used much the same. There was one particular keyboard combination which you would not have occasion to use, except by accident, but the first time I hit it threw me into complete panic.

There was an ominous grinding and clunking noise from the hard drive, which went on and on as I got more and more anxious, then just as I was about to go into meltdown a little animated robot figure entered from the side and walked across the bottom of the screen. As he disappeared all went quiet and everything carried on as normal.

There are a few of these easter eggs in Windows, but in XP they are all kinda boring, the Mac ones were funny (after you got over the shock:D)

volrex

_AVALANCHE_ wrote: »

Try this, if it doesn't work, then this.

If they don't work I'd just delete it from control panel, restart and reinstall again.

If no one turned it off (but it's off) then it would be no harm to run this (free), just incase. Virus(s?) usually do things like that.

And how do you do all the underlined links in your replies? Thats Cool.

Jimoslimos

volrex wrote: »

And how do you do all the underlined links in your replies? Thats Cool.

1. Type word you want to link, say Boards
2. Highlight word
3. Click on little Earth icon with chain/link - Insert Link
4. type URL/website link into pop-up box, in this case - http://www.boards.ie
5. Voila!

Alternatively to do it manually

type following
[URL="http://www.boards.ie"]Boards[/URL]
and substitute website you want to link to instead of http://www.boards.ie

_AVALANCHE_

volrex wrote: »

And how do you do all the underlined links in your replies? Thats Cool.

Jimoslimos wrote: »

1. Type word you want to link, say Boards
2. Highlight word
3. Click on little Earth icon with chain/link - Insert Link
4. type URL/website link into pop-up box, in this case - http://www.boards.ie
5. Voila!

Alternatively to do it manually

type following
[URL="http://www.boards.ie"]Boards[/URL]
and substitute website you want to link to instead of http://www.boards.ie

Can't say it any better than Jimo. Apart from this is the earth icon

Their's a couple of FAQ pages here and here, handy tips in them.

Jellybaby1

Anyone got knowledge of Photoshop elements 6? I've created a page of text, each word is in a text box, every word is a different font and a different size and and its the same word in every text box. I want to change the colour of all the text but I can't find a way to do that in one go. I know how to do this in Word but Photoshop needs more savvy. Begging for help please.

looksee

Assuming all your text is still 'live' - it has a T and the word in the layers palette - hold down shift and click on all the layers till they are all selected.

Then make sure the Text tool is clicked and go to the colour square on the top bar (its just to the left of the curvy T icon) and click it, choose a colour from the picker that will come up and all your text will turn that colour.

Edit: thats in Photoshop CS5, that process hasn't changed through several versions so I assume it will be the same for Elements 6

paddyandy

Is there any one person who understands everything that goes on in a typical desktop .I get the impression that it's darker and darker the further you go into them and eventually nothing makes any sense at all .

DeVore

Correct... there is no one who even understand any given layer imho. You have specialists at each level Firmware (the very machine-oriented sort of software that talks to electronic hardware), then the OS (operating software) which orchestrates all the programs, peripherals and general management, and then software (apps) which do stuff for the user (like Word and Excel) and then networks which transmit data around the place. Along with these there are other specialities like Databases (where large amounts of data are stored for fast summing-up and retrieval, like maybe the Census) and security ... those guys are so odd, even I find them a bit nerdy

So no, you would be pushed to find anyone in any of those sections that understood even their layer completely. To give you an example, I know someone who has spent about 7 years writing software for microsoft which deals with modems... nothing else, just telephone modems and mobile modems.

Computing is a VERY big area

Jellybaby1

I'm wayyyyy out of my league here. Thank goodness there are some specialists hanging round to help us out!

OldGoat

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

I'm wayyyyy out of my league here. Thank goodness there are some specialists hanging round to help us out!

+1
That to me is the real strength of Boards. The chat is nice but the availability of real people with real experience is the real treasure.

Jellybaby1

looksee wrote: »

Assuming all your text is still 'live' - it has a T and the word in the layers palette - hold down shift and click on all the layers till they are all selected.

Then make sure the Text tool is clicked and go to the colour square on the top bar (its just to the left of the curvy T icon) and click it, choose a colour from the picker that will come up and all your text will turn that colour.

Edit: thats in Photoshop CS5, that process hasn't changed through several versions so I assume it will be the same for Elements 6

Just before I read this I had found the way to do it. I kept doing Ctrl+A which works in Word but not PS of course, silly me! But if you select 'All Layers' in 'Layers' it did it for me. Although I did some PS on my previous course I didn't really get enough time to make friends with it but that's on my 'to do' list again now. Thanks for the help anyway.

looksee

Yes there is a vital phrase missing out of my instructions...you click on the layers with type on them that you want to change Anyway you were obviously nearly there!

I find I can look at a program I know really well and think - I know how to do this, but just can't remember. Very frustrating!

frozenfrozen

If the text in photoshop is no longer on a text layer and instead has been rasterized to just being like pictures of text, then you can merge all the layers, control click on that layer and then fill in the layer with the colour of your choice. On Photoshop extended the shortcut to do that is shift + F5, but I am not sure if it is the same thing on elements.

looksee

But the text shapes would have to be selected or you would just get a rectangle of solid colour?

frozenfrozen

Control clicking on the layer selects all of that layers contents (so control clicking on the little preview of the layer in the layers tab) and then filling that fills all the selected area, it's really handy

looksee

I missed the essential word 'control' - but yes that's a handy one I didn't know about.

tipptom

I want to put up a page of an el cheapo exhaust from ebay on motors,I have saved it on my documents but when i try to upload it down below,it trys and then comes back as invalid file,why is that?

looksee

Possibly it saved as a web page, which you can't do a lot with. You will probably have to either post a link or save it as a screen grab. (open ebay page, hit PrtSc key, it will be on your clipboard then ctrl v (paste) into a graphics program where you can save it as a jpg.

That is general instructions if I understand your question correctly, it does not establish that what you are trying to do is 'legal' in motors.

tipptom

looksee wrote: »

Possibly it saved as a web page, which you can't do a lot with. You will probably have to either post a link or save it as a screen grab. (open ebay page, hit PrtSc key, it will be on your clipboard then ctrl v (paste) into a graphics program where you can save it as a jpg.

That is general instructions if I understand your question correctly, it does not establish that what you are trying to do is 'legal' in motors.

No,i think it should be legal,putting up back exhaust from eastern european country for sale that costs 35 nicker excl postage,spurious one in Ireland €345,was wondering what they would think of it but metinks they would be looking for a link.

Rubecula

OldGoat wrote: »

+1
That to me is the real strength of Boards. The chat is nice but the availability of real people with real experience is the real treasure.

I have to agree totally on this OG. Some of the forum's I visit have real experts posting in them and I can and often do, learn a lot.

looksee

Have you ever looked at the weather forum, there's one guy on there seems to have an uncanny ability to read weather charts.

noddyone2

Here goes: Suddenly, I can't play any video clips - runs for about 5 seconds, then stops. This is with Google chrome, which I normally use for everything. I switched to Firefox, ok for 1 day, then the same thing. I've checked that broadband is connected, done a full scan and anti-virus etc is up to date, no change. HELP. This is not a laptop, in case that makes a difference. Thanks guys.

Galen

It sounds to me that you have a internet explorer bug. Google chrome uses a different version & type of flash to Firefox or internet explorer so that rules out flash. Firefox & Google Chrome route all traffic through internet explorer so I think you need to visit your local computer repair guy or gal.

ectoraige

Galen wrote: »

It sounds to me that you have a internet explorer bug. Google chrome uses a different version & type of flash to Firefox or internet explorer so that rules out flash. Firefox & Google Chrome route all traffic through internet explorer so I think you need to visit your local computer repair guy or gal.

This isn't quite accurate. Chrome and Firefox do indeed use different flash players. However they don't route traffic "through" Internet Explorer - it's just another browser. Check that you have plenty of disk space, try cleaning the cache in your browser too. Also, is it any video, or just ones from a particular site such as Youtube? Try watching something on another video site, e.g. BBC news or Liveleak