[AMA] Ask a computer technician, software engineer anything!

[Unknown Variable]

Helloooo guild buddies. I'm stealing this idea from Reddit. On Reddit there's something known as AMA. It stands for 'ask me anything.' People will either post an AMA so others can ask them questions, or people will post requests for specific AMA themes, such as 'AMA Request: Somebody who has spent an entire year traveling between foreign countries.'

Topics are either a field that the person is highly skilled in, or very particular situations that not many people have experienced, that way the questions can stay thought provoking and original.

So without further ado, ask a computer technician and software engineering anything!

Questions can range from something on your computer you're not sure what it's for, to things you're curious about but were afraid to ask (Linux operating system perhaps?), philosophical questions (where do you see computers in X years), high level technical questions, or anything else that might come to mind. I'll do my best to answer with utmost accuracy. 3nodding

(Feel free to make your own similar thread if you're qualified in a particular area and wish to share!)  

[Witch of Rokkenjima]

HOW I USE COMPUTAR?????????? PLEES TELL ME HOW USE COMPUTAR  

[Unknown Variable]

Aikawa Hanae

HOW I USE COMPUTAR?????????? PLEES TELL ME HOW USE COMPUTAR

 

[Witch of Rokkenjima]

Unknown Variable

Aikawa Hanae

HOW I USE COMPUTAR?????????? PLEES TELL ME HOW USE COMPUTAR

OK I PUSH BUTAN BUT THEIR IS NO BACON PLEES HALP  

[Unknown Variable]

Nobody has any questions at all? :o I made this same thread in another guild and it's got a bunch of pages already. blaugh  

[Candycane Scartissue]

♥ 하루하루...

Okay, I've got one. Which internet browser do you recommend that isn't IE or Firefox? XD

...무뎌져가네 ♥

 

[Unknown Variable]

One my Mac I use Safari. On all other computers I use Google Chrome.

They both use the WebKit rendering engine, so you can sit pretty knowing you made countless web developers happy by browsing their websites with that browser instead of a different one. It's by far the most compliant when it comes to web programming standards, so it causes much fewer headaches for programmers to make websites that work fine with it. heart

I wouldn't recommend Safari on Windows because Apple has a track record of putting out some applications (iTunes) for Windows but not optimizing them for Windows, so you get terrible performance. Safari on a Mac however, is a delight to use.

Google Chrome is a very lightweight (yet still powerful) browser. Use it regularly for a while and I guarantee you'll see speed increases for sure. (Of course, by that I mean rendering speed. It can't make your ISP pump out data faster. blaugh )

If you need extensions, both browsers have an extensions gallery, though Safari's is very meager due to the constrains of the code tools. I had a bunch of ideas for extensions to make for Safari but had to give them all up because none of them would work with what tools Safari has to work with. sad

Thank you for the question whee If you come up with any more, please do ask!  

[0mega_Virus]

What recommendations would you give for a person who has problems running multimedia Adobe programs?
(Heavy Lagging, unable to use full capabilities of the program, etc, etc.)  

[Unknown Variable]

If hardware upgrades aren't out of the question, I would probably start with that. More RAM is probably the best you can do for substantial performance gains, though a better CPU will certainly help if your computer is a bit older. If you can get as much as 4 or even 8 gigabytes of RAM, performance should increase a good deal. Anything past 3.5GB will need a 64bit OS though.

Laptops generally have much worse performance and lower grade hardware than desktops, so for serious Photoshopping I would recommend working on a desktop if at all possible.

You may see some smaller returns if you're pretty good about making sure the program you're in is the only thing running at the time. For Windows machines, it's not foreground programs that I typically find to be pervasive, but all those background tasks.

To clean those up, click Start, Run, and enter "msconfig". Go to the Startup tab and disable everything. You can pick and choose on the list if you like, but I tend to click Disable All just because if something needs to start up with the computer it'll end up setting itself back on the list very shortly afterwards anyway.

---

How bad are these performance losses, by the way? Also what are the specs of the system you're having trouble with? surprised  

[Candycane Scartissue]

♥ 하루하루...

Thank you for the answer. n_n A friend told me that Google Chrome is the best, too. My computer is pretty crappy though, so I'm glad if it's lightweight~!

...무뎌져가네 ♥

 

[Bouzen]

Ooo Ooo!! *raises hand* I have a question!! Pick me Pick me! 4laugh
On my laptop a small white line appeared going through the display, its a new laptop about 6 months old..so not brand new but pretty new...its a hp tablet pc. I am very careful with it so dont think it got cracked but its not leacking lcd behind the glass or anything..could it be phosphourus burn through? I heard this can happen rarely but still does happen to lcd. To replace my screen it'd only cost me about 70.00 so should I just do it or is there a way to fix the white line? It only really shows up on bright backgrounds like gaia google, otherwise its unnoticeable. The line has gotten bigger though than when I first noticed it!  

[Unknown Variable]

Suupa

Ooo Ooo!! *raises hand* I have a question!! Pick me Pick me! 4laugh
On my laptop a small white line appeared going through the display, its a new laptop about 6 months old..so not brand new but pretty new...its a hp tablet pc. I am very careful with it so dont think it got cracked but its not leacking lcd behind the glass or anything..could it be phosphourus burn through? I heard this can happen rarely but still does happen to lcd. To replace my screen it'd only cost me about 70.00 so should I just do it or is there a way to fix the white line? It only really shows up on bright backgrounds like gaia google, otherwise its unnoticeable. The line has gotten bigger though than when I first noticed it!

I'd definitely say it's some sort of defect with the screen. gonk The screen doesn't sound to be physically broken, and burn-in wouldn't show up in such a way. It could be "stuck" pixels, but those are incredibly rare, especially for a whole line to show up. I wouldn't say that they're "dead" pixels otherwise they'd be black / black spaces, not white.

Replacing or repairing screens is nearly never worth the price to do so. However, I can say that since your computer is only 6 months old, you should certainly have a warranty with wherever you bought it from, and should most definitely have a manufacturer's warranty as well. If you can handle not having the computer around for a little bit, I'd send it off for repair or replacement asap! 3nodding  

[Bouzen]

Unknown Variable

Suupa

Ooo Ooo!! *raises hand* I have a question!! Pick me Pick me! 4laugh
On my laptop a small white line appeared going through the display, its a new laptop about 6 months old..so not brand new but pretty new...its a hp tablet pc. I am very careful with it so dont think it got cracked but its not leacking lcd behind the glass or anything..could it be phosphourus burn through? I heard this can happen rarely but still does happen to lcd. To replace my screen it'd only cost me about 70.00 so should I just do it or is there a way to fix the white line? It only really shows up on bright backgrounds like gaia google, otherwise its unnoticeable. The line has gotten bigger though than when I first noticed it!

I'd definitely say it's some sort of defect with the screen. gonk The screen doesn't sound to be physically broken, and burn-in wouldn't show up in such a way. It could be "stuck" pixels, but those are incredibly rare, especially for a whole line to show up. I wouldn't say that they're "dead" pixels otherwise they'd be black / black spaces, not white.

Replacing or repairing screens is nearly never worth the price to do so. However, I can say that since your computer is only 6 months old, you should certainly have a warranty with wherever you bought it from, and should most definitely have a manufacturer's warranty as well If you can handle not having the computer around for a little bit, I'd send it off for repair or replacement asap! 3nodding

Ooh! thankyou thankyou!! your advice really helped my problem, the only issue i have is that a close dear friend from america got it for me for xmas and i live in england so dont think it has a valid warranty and i need it for work! sweatdrop