How do YOU keep your computer crap free?

Discussion in 'Technical' started by ghrit, Nov 18, 2013.


Page 2 of 3
  1. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    My last one, the power pack malfunctioned, and fried the motherboard.
     
    kellory, Dec 10, 2013
    #21
  2. Quigley_Sharps

    Quigley_Sharps The Badministrator Administrator Founding Member

    Take it out to the back yard and shoot it in the back of the monitor...lol Made me feel better once.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2013
    Quigley_Sharps, Dec 10, 2013
    #22
    BTPost likes this.
  3. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    I think I see how you got your moniker, sir:rolleyes:
     
    kellory, Dec 10, 2013
    #23
  4. EtDub

    EtDub Monkey

    Some laptops have a VGA plug in the back to hook up to a monitor. Could rule out if the screen died.


    Sent from my MiPhone !
     
    EtDub, Dec 11, 2013
    #24
    kellory likes this.
  5. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    Nice to know, I will look for it tomorrow.
     
    kellory, Dec 11, 2013
    #25
  6. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    Update, screen finally lit up, did windows update for 13 critical, and restarted. Lit up again. So far, so good. Will try updating drivers tonight.
     
    kellory, Dec 11, 2013
    #26
  7. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Had a real nice post all typed up, Didn't hit the "Post Reply".. Uhhh!
     
    Dont, Dec 11, 2013
    #27
  8. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Just to extend this a bit - Google Chrome is a fork of the Chromium Project, which is open source (before Google's fork)

    The Chromium Projects
    Strict Linux distros (those who will not ship any closed source/proprietary code) will often provide Chromium as a FF alternative.
    Chromium is also cross platform and can be DLd here: Download Chromium - The Chromium Projects

    One problem with Chromium is that it's 'Chrome for nerds' which means that you need to 'build' the application rather than install it. There are a few sites that offer pre-compiled versions Download latest stable Chromium binaries (64-bit and 32-bit) From my experience, Chromium works well on Linux as it's pre-compiled (PGP signed) and sitting in most Linux software repositories.

    Back to the topic of the OP.
    I don't count my office laptop (Win 7 64 bit) as it's not my responsibility to maintain it ;)
    At home:

    Wife -
    • OSX Mavericks on 2013 Macbook Air - no AV or MW protection
    • iPad - no AV or MW protection
    • iPhone 5s - no AV or MW protection

    Daughter -
    • Linux Mint 15 on netbook - no AV or MW protection
    • Win 7 64 bit hooked to a TV for Netflix, amazon prime instant video, educational online games, etc. - Whatever ships with Win (Defender?)
    • hand-me-down iPhone 4 - no AV or MW protection

    melbo -
    • Fedora 19 on main laptop - no AV or MW protection
    • Fedora 20 Beta on test laptop - no AV or MW protection
    • Empty laptop for testing The Byzantium Project on a USB stick (Emergency comms/mesh networking in a neighborhood) - no AV or MW protection (or HDD!)
    • Empty laptop with USB stick containing Tails - Privacy for anyone anywhere - no AV or MW protection (or HDD!)
    • iPad mini - no AV or MW protection
    • iPhone 5 - no AV or MW protection
    When I used to run Windows, I tried most all of the free and paid solutions and found that it pretty much came down to click restraint. Even with full (and expensive) AV solutions, my kids could still manage to fully destroy a system with a few careless right click/save as browsing sessions. These AV solutions were also cumbersome and hogged resources.

    At one point, I performed a fresh install of XP and ran with zero AV/MW protection for a 4+ years without any issues. I did the same with Win 7 for a couple of years although it wasn't my daily driver - no issues.

    I've come to the conclusion that with a little research and restraint in clicking on stuff and installing free software, you should be alright. An insidious practice has become that of bundling 'extra software' with the install of free (as in beer) software. The defaults are to have all the boxes checked and you have to be really careful about finding and unchecking all the boxes before you click 'install'. I just installed a Nintendo 64 emulator on my daughters Win7 box and almost tripped up when Project 64 tried to offer me (again, checked by default) around 7 or 8 additional crapware applications. They were even hidden in what at first glance looked like standard EULAs for P64...

    If I were still a Win user today, I'd probably stick with this method of running nothing - YMMV
     
    melbo, Dec 11, 2013
    #28
  9. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Strange, the system 'auto saves' your drafts as you type so it should have been there when you came back to it.
     
    melbo, Dec 11, 2013
    #29
  10. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    It was , but no longer relavent..
     
    Dont, Dec 11, 2013
    #30
  11. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    ...and back to the black screen of death. ( no external monitor hook ups either.)
     
    kellory, Dec 11, 2013
    #31
  12. Dont

    Dont Just another old gray Jarhead Monkey

    Oops... Sorry Kell..
     
    Dont, Dec 11, 2013
    #32
  13. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    Why? You didn't do it.o_O
     
    kellory, Dec 11, 2013
    #33
  14. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    Black screen for the last 4 days, with endless attempts to restart and light it up. I had one brief success, and while it was up, I went to power settings and tilt it to never go dark, or sleep. Did no good. I can't even hear the windows start up noise now.
    Last ditch for this laptop, I think it is time for a factory reset and wipe. How do I go about doing it though? Any ideas?
     
    kellory, Dec 14, 2013
    #34
  15. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Have you tried it with the charger plugged in? Almost sounds like a dead battery. Or, if it's older, might be time to replace and use this one for target practice.
     
    ghrit, Dec 14, 2013
    #35
  16. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    Battery removed, running on mains power.
     
    kellory, Dec 14, 2013
    #36
  17. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    If is is some sort of driver issue, isn't there a factory backup on board at F1 or something? I would lose windows 7 and be back to vista, but that ain't a big deal.
     
    kellory, Dec 14, 2013
    #37
  18. Brokor

    Brokor Live Free or Cry Moderator Site Supporter+++ Founding Member

    I had that problem once with an older laptop. The screen would go black, but laptop power was still on. I just slammed it against the floor and it started working again.

    Anyway, that's my repair story. Works fine. lol
     
    Brokor, Dec 14, 2013
    #38
  19. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    It may. Come to that....
     
    kellory, Dec 14, 2013
    #39
  20. wastelander

    wastelander Bad English, bare with me

    Simple windows setup + Tinywall, Panda Cloud Free and ClamAV that I run once a week or so. On my Linux computers I just use tight IP tables and ClamAV for my NAS/torrentbox. Mostly I try and avoid getting crap into my computers.

    Trying tails out also! Cool stuff, liking how it looks like XP.
     
    wastelander, Apr 21, 2014
    #40
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