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POST COMPUTER PROBLEMS IN THIS THREAD ONLY

Started by Nobody Soup, February 08, 2013, 12:41:30 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

hedgehog90

Quote from: biniput on December 26, 2019, 03:39:09 AM
I recently had to re-install Kaspersky and suddenly it won't seemingly block youtube ads. A lot seem to get this so is a phenomenon and the web suggestions seem to be a bit pap. I have enabled protection in Firefox which had sneakily not enabled it and put the general youtube website onto a blacklist and put the banner ad blocker on and all to seemingly no avail. Kaspersky WAS blocking fine beforehand but not so now so what do I do?

EDIT: Some banners are blocked but NOT the general ads that play at the start and I FUCKING HATE THEM WITH A PASSION.

To anyone this applies: Remove Kaspersky (or any third-party real-time protection anti-spyware software for that matter). Even if you paid for it. They are all junk filled with unnecessary bloatware, services, browser addons, etc.
Instead just use Windows' builtin real-time protection:
Settings > Security > Virus and Threat Protection > Virus and Threat Protection Manage Settings > enable real-time protection.
It's way more optimised than anything else available for Windows and it's all you need nowadays.

lipsink

Hey, does anyone happen to use Adobe Audition? I've just started using it and am trying to work out out how to record just the sounds from something playing on my computer. When I record it seems to pick up from a microphone whereas I just want it to record sounds from music/a video I'm playing.

the

Quote from: lipsink on January 09, 2020, 10:06:53 PMHey, does anyone happen to use Adobe Audition? I've just started using it and am trying to work out out how to record just the sounds from something playing on my computer. When I record it seems to pick up from a microphone whereas I just want it to record sounds from music/a video I'm playing.

I use Cool Edit which was what Audition was before Adobe bought it. The answer is not in the programme but in the recording mixer / 'Recording Devices' in your PC's sound settings. Windows (which I'm assuming you're using) has arsed about and obfuscated this many times down the years, so the method of selecting the right one will depend on your OS version.

Google should be able to help you find the right Recording menu for your OS, once there it'll be a case of selecting something like 'Stereo Mix' rather than 'Microphone' - that should then feed the right audio to any programmes that want to record/capture audio.

lipsink

Ah I thought it might be the sound settings, thanks. I'm using a MacBook so I'll maybe google to see how to fix it.

lipsink

#2224
Sorry, ignore.

the

Quote from: lipsink on January 11, 2020, 06:07:22 PMSorry, ignore.

Did you figure out how to select the right recording source on a Mac? I've never used one for audio stuff, so I don't know how easy it is to capture the output from the soundcard.

earl_sleek


lazyhour

Hey y'all, is there still an appropriate place on here to ask VerbWhores about laptop recommendations? My creative laptop (music making, audio editing, photoshop, occasional video editing) is 9 years old (!) and it's time I got a new one, but I'm flummoxed by all the options in terms of processor or brands to avoid. I always thought that HP laptops, for example, were dog eggs, but apparently that's no longer the case apart from budget models. Same goes for AMD, whose Ryzen processors are apparently very respectable.

I wonder if anyone who knows about such things can give me a steer? How much do I need to spend to get something that'll handle multitask-y stuff in a zippy fashion?

Huge fanks in advance for any advice.

Pseudopath

A lot of video editors seem to favour the Dell XPS range. They come in 13" and 15" versions (oo-er). Certainly not cheap, but you get a lot of bang for your buck and the build quality is superb.

Barry Admin

Know of a decent freeware FTP client please, for Android?

Old Thrashbarg

AndFTP has always served me well, though I've used it mainly for SCP rather than FTP/SFTP. Works pretty much the same with whatever protocol though.

Flouncer

What's the cheapest way to activate Windows 10?

Barry Admin

Quote from: Old Thrashbarg on January 16, 2020, 10:40:13 PM
AndFTP has always served me well, though I've used it mainly for SCP rather than FTP/SFTP. Works pretty much the same with whatever protocol though.

Thanks very much!

hedgehog90

Quote from: Flouncer on January 17, 2020, 09:29:40 AM
What's the cheapest way to activate Windows 10?

The cheapest that I can recommend is on Gamivo: https://www.gamivo.com/product/windows-10-professional
Don't bother with buyer protection and make sure not to sign up to their Gamivo Smart subscription at checkout.
I bought a few games from them over Christmas and they got me with the subscription thing.

Or you can try KMSpico which activates Windows for free. Haven't used it for years though so not sure if it still works. Also be wary of many fakes floating about. The official version one is on the My Digital Life forums (login required)

hedgehog90

Just done a bit of research about KMSpico, the old method I used for activiating Windows back in the day. It's since become outdated, the new guy in town is the KMS_VL_ALL Smart Activation Script
Here's what you do if you want to activate Windows 10 for free (and legally):

Archives - https://app.box.com/s/6quxrz2zuj3644ov918ogqkihehpfijj
Latest Version - https://app.box.com/s/6quxrz2zuj3644ov918ogqkihehpfijj/file/587332297562

The password for all archives uploaded in 2019 is 2019, for all archives in 2020 (of which there are none yet) the password will be 2020 I assume.

Instructions:
Download the latest version, disable Windows realtime protection briefly, unzip, right click AutoRenewal-Setup.cmd, Run as Administrator, enable Windows realtime protection

Quote
How does it work?

Key Management Service (KMS) is a genuine activation method provided by Microsoft for volume licensing customers (organizations, schools or governments).
The machines in those environments (called KMS clients) activate via the environment KMS host server (authorized Microsoft's licensing key), not via Microsoft activation servers.
For more info, see here and here.

By design, the KMS activation period lasts up to 180 Days (6 Months) at max, with the ability to renew and reinstate the period at any time.
With the proper auto renewal configuration, it will be a continuous activation (essentially permanent).

Famous Mortimer

I'm creating a flyer for my local bar, because the guy who works there's wife has just had twins and he has no time. Plus, I'd like to learn a new skill.

So, here's what the last guy, who has long since moved on to other things, used to do:



I can create something which looks exactly the same, just with no images, in Excel, but I presume the rest of it will require something like Photoshop, or GIMP. So, does anyone have any hints or tips for the best program to use? And the right combination of words to find a tutorial or something?

hedgehog90

I'm not an expert, but nobody else has replied so I might as well.
Excel: I can see why you suggested it, but no.
Photoshop is great for most things but I can't recommend it for a job like this. Too many elements, and the grid design would be quite cumbersome to tweak.

I would recommend something like Adobe Illustrator or InkScape (an open source alternative) to create something similar to the one you've pictured. I believe Illustrator is the standard for designing flyers and stuff for print.

Here's something I quickly put together in Illustrator. It simply demonstrates shapes, images, masks and text.
I mucked it up a bit, 4 rows in stead of 5, but maybe you can take this as a starting template and improve on it.



Link to the illustrator file, which should be readable by Inkscape:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1noKIlLu2mfVfCRmXTLmlYkyVVCVwX7ve

Edit:
But I would recommend using gimp or photoshop for the images or backgrounds, if they require tweaking.
For instance, the mortal kombat logo, maybe you've found an image of it online but it has a white background, you'll need to remove that background in something like photoshop or gimp, save it as a transparent PNG or PSD that you can then use in your illustrator file.
However, creating and aligning things like text, the grid and the image elements themselves, would best be done in Illustrator.
Hope that's not too confusing.

NoSleep

Photoshop handles text pretty well. You can contain text within a region by selecting the text option then immediately clicking and dragging an adjustable rectangle which can be sized and moved about. Any text you now type will be contained within the rectangle.

the

Yeah I'd do it in Photoshop as well.

The only particular Photoshop consideration will be to make sure that the canvas you start with is (big enough/high enough resolution) to print at a decent quality.

Then you could draw a grid, and make a layer for each grid square. Each layer could have a layer mask in the shape of the inside of each square. Keep a copy of this as a template, then if you need to update the flyer you can just paste new images into each mask and they'll crop to the inside of the squares every time.

As NoSleep says, set up text boxes for each square (one text layer per square) and any text inserted will constrain to the boundaries of that square.

You can keep your template easy to edit by keeping the layers in an organised order, and giving each layer a name so that you'll quickly be able to work out which one you want to edit.

Blumf

Illustrator is the one to use. Inkscape is okay, but it's Windows version has a very clunky UI (surprising as GIMP is okay and they use the same toolkit I think)

Photoshop/GIMP aren't really ideal as you're working with bitmaps, which means you have to work with a huge image to match the print resolution (something like 10000x14000 for an A4 sheet at 1200DPI), assuming you know what that is ahead of time. Illustrator and similar are much better suited because you're working with lines and shapes which translate well to whatever printing output you need. Save PS/GIMP for editing photos etc. before laying them out in Illustrator/etc.

LibreOffice's Draw application might be a usable choice, simple to use, Windows version is fine, exports to .EPS format which I think print shops will like. Won't impress anyone, but will do an okay job for a beginner.

the

For a layout like this there's not much in it. Bear in mind you have the use of vector lines and text in PS too. (Personally I'd say the learning curve of Illustrator is steeper.)

The main bulk of the artwork will be the raster images within the boxes, and in PS they can be copied straight in and adjusted within the layout, meaning you could do it all in one place. (I don't know whether Illustrator does adjustment layers as well as PS does.)

Also, 600 dpi would cut it for a flyer.

NoSleep

Yeah, I can't see Photoshop being inadequate to produce similar to the examples. Or hopefully better.

Famous Mortimer

Thanks to everyone who replied. I'm doing it mostly at work, and they've told me they won't spring for a Photoshop licence, but have installed GIMP for me. Presumably they'd let me have Inkscape as well.  Let me see what I've got so far.

Open the grid-file created by hedgehog90.

Then, create an image layer for each individual box.

Then, create a text layer for each individual box, which goes over the top of that one. I think?

But I'm going to try and do something myself, cos otherwise I won't learn a damn thing. I'll be back when I've messed around some more.



hedgehog90

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on January 27, 2020, 05:16:14 PM
...create an image layer for each individual box.

Then, create a text layer for each individual box, which goes over the top of that one. I think?

Pretty much.
If you go with a similar grid-design, for each cell (or box) I would consider making a rectangular mask/clipping layer to hide the contents of what's outside the bounds of the box.
This allows for a great deal more flexibility, rather than cropping/stretching each individual background image and/or positioning elements to precisely fit inside each cell.
I demonstrated this in my Illustrator template, whereby the image I used (in the top right) is quite a bit larger than the cell, but the edges are hidden by the mask layer above.

Here's a nice guide for how to do this in Inkscape:
https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/quick-tip-what-are-clipping-and-masking-in-inkscape--vector-24947

the

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on January 27, 2020, 05:16:14 PMBut I'm going to try and do something myself, cos otherwise I won't learn a damn thing. I'll be back when I've messed around some more.

The one tip I'd give you before starting - particularly if you're trying to re-create the layout of the previous flyers (ie. same paper size and proportions) - get a copy of one of the old printed flyers and measure everything first.

Then create a canvas that matches the paper size it'll be printed on, and plot out your grid to the measurements using the rulers in your software. This'll save you a lot of arseache having to adjust it later if it's not right.

canadagoose

Not quite a computer problem, but what does everyone think of the new Chrome-based Edge? Seems pretty decent to me. Mildly faster than Firefox.

BeardFaceMan

I'm trying to print out a stencil and am having trouble getting the size right. Is there a reliable way to work out how many pixels = a centimeter? Do I have to take into account my printer settings or resolution of the pic, things like that? Say I have a 2000 x 2000 pixel pic and want to print it out so it's 5cm x 5cm on a piece of A4 paper, do I need to resize the pic first or do I dick about with the printer settings?

Blumf

Quote from: BeardFaceMan on February 05, 2020, 09:19:11 AM
I'm trying to print out a stencil and am having trouble getting the size right. Is there a reliable way to work out how many pixels = a centimeter? Do I have to take into account my printer settings or resolution of the pic, things like that? Say I have a 2000 x 2000 pixel pic and want to print it out so it's 5cm x 5cm on a piece of A4 paper, do I need to resize the pic first or do I dick about with the printer settings?

You need to know the printer's DPI if you want as high a quality output from a bitmap image as you can. So, say  5cm = 1.9685inchs * 1200DPI = (just over) 2362px

However, if quality doesn't matter that much, just slap the bitmap into a drawing program (LibreOffice Draw, MS Office Word...) and size the image to 5cm. It should take care of all that for you. Even better, seeing as it's a stencil, can you draw it with a vector drawing program directly (LO Draw, Inkscape, whatever MS Office has...) instead of a bitmap? Easier to edit/resize, and guaranteed quality output.

BeardFaceMan

Quote from: Blumf on February 05, 2020, 10:14:38 AM
You need to know the printer's DPI if you want as high a quality output from a bitmap image as you can. So, say  5cm = 1.9685inchs * 1200DPI = (just over) 2362px

However, if quality doesn't matter that much, just slap the bitmap into a drawing program (LibreOffice Draw, MS Office Word...) and size the image to 5cm. It should take care of all that for you. Even better, seeing as it's a stencil, can you draw it with a vector drawing program directly (LO Draw, Inkscape, whatever MS Office has...) instead of a bitmap? Easier to edit/resize, and guaranteed quality output.

Ta muchly. Quality isn't an issue, I'm either printing stencils or an outline of something that I can use with carbon paper so it's mostly black and white pics, I just need to get the size right.

hedgehog90

#2249
They've fucked up Search!



It's apparently affecting everyone with the latest update:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51389623

EDIT:

Here's the solution:
https://superuser.com/questions/1522905/windows-10-search-not-loading-showing-blank-window