Posts by Larry Ortiz5

Take a look at the hard drive health status using CrystalDiskInfo...

+1 to you for selling the graphics card... I'd much rather have one solid performer than two mediocre ones taking up space.

I'm not really sure what makes that specific program such a big deal for burning films?

There are honestly tons of solutions floating around online—for example, this one is totally free and super straightforward http://www.anyburn.com/

There isn't much we can do to help if we're looking at a hardware issue—like a physical malfunction with the optical drive itself. Maybe try popping in a standard CD or DVD (one you haven't burned yourself) just to see if it picks it up? If it doesn't, then you'll know exactly where the problem lies...

Have you tried downloading any other software besides just using torrent clients—maybe something like CCleaner, Mozilla, or Chrome?

If you were the CEO of Microsoft, wouldn't you want the exact same thing? Personally, I’d probably just pull the plug on every version of Windows older than ten years—just like you suggested—simply to nudge everyone toward Windows 10 and the latest tech. No one really knows what Microsoft has cooking for the next few years, but honestly, it wouldn't surprise me (in fact, they’re already doing it) to see the newest hardware from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA designed exclusively for Windows 10. As for where things will stand in two or three years? Who knows...

If you really think about it, there’s no such thing as "pirated" software—there are just all these random versions floating around on torrent sites. People take an ISO and bake all sorts of weird modifications into it, which usually ends up being total garbage and leads to the exact kind of headaches you're dealing with. Honestly, at the end of the day, having a valid product key matters way more than the OS itself 😁
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I won't drone on too long, but just grab the official version of Windows 10 Pro directly from the Microsoft website
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https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Once you get it installed, take a page out of my colleague's book and just pick up a product key for Windows 10 on eBay. You can usually find them for maybe $4 or $5—and I know they work. I've personally used them on ten different computers now, and I haven't had a single issue where the key expired or needed replacing, despite what some people claim 😁
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If your computer is still acting glitchy after that, then it's 110% a hardware issue rather than a software one. If I were you, I'd start looking at the RAM. I'd run a scan using MemTest86+; it's free, so you really have nothing to lose https://www.memtest86.com/download.htm

crimsonstag84 said:By the way, Adam Moore3 and Larry Ortiz5,

I think you both ended up linking to a fake benchmark site. 😛

How can anyone call Anandtech a fake benchmarking site? It’s pretty obvious—I always check their results first before looking at anything else.

You can't pair an AMD processor with an Intel motherboard—that just won't work. From what I can see in your specs, you're running an i5 6600k with 4 cores... honestly, a decent upgrade path would be hunting down an i7-7700k if you can find one at a reasonable price. You'd basically just swap out your current chip for the i7-7700k, though you should probably flash your BIOS before you make the switch, just to be safe. Now, the real question is how much you'd actually have to shell out for an i7-7700k. I was browsing through eBay and this seems to be the cheapest option I could find: though I'm really not sure if it's worth the investment for you. It might be worth checking out some benchmarks first...

https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/2255?vs=2267

So, you're looking to split your C drive into two or more separate partitions?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/partition-disk-using-disk-management-in-macos

It’s actually pretty straightforward—you can probably knock it out in under two minutes. I just sent over a link above that walks you through it..

I honestly can't tell if you're joking or what 😬 Look, some sites let you just sign up using your Facebook account—so "faster" really just means skipping the whole ordeal of typing in your full name, email, birthday, and all that other stuff...

It’s just a tiny bit more powerful..

You’ll want to grab windows from a site like this one https://linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=267

Do you know how to use Rufus to make a bootable USB drive?

I mean, the SATA controller is almost certainly already enabled—it’s not like this laptop is some ten-year-old relic...

Make sure you pull that USB drive out before you hit restart—otherwise, it looks like the laptop just keeps grabbing all the files from the stick and starting the installation process all over again. It’s like the machine isn't quite "smart" enough to know which drive to prioritize... I’ve run into this exact same headache on a few different laptops myself.

To start things off, let's try the standard approach—just try reinstalling Skype...

I wouldn't go overboard if I were you—honestly, I wouldn't waste too much cash on extra cooling for a laptop. From what I can see, this one looks pretty solid on its own since it's got that large built-in fan to handle the heat. I’d say just grab that one and call it a day.

Maybe try going into your Chrome settings and toggling the permissions so Flash is always allowed? I clicked the link and the game loaded up just fine for me... if it still won't cooperate, you might just need to install Adobe Flash Player https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/

Just make sure they're the same color and you should be all set—that’ll give you dual channel mode..

If you want to double-check, just grab https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/cpu-z/cpu-z_1.89-en.exe
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Once you install it, head over to the memory tab; it’ll show you all your specs, and you're looking for "dual" next to the channel info..