Posts by Larry Ortiz5

Rockstar really nailed the optimization this time around—they definitely didn't mess it up the way they did with Grand Theft Auto IV

Exactly—there’s really no need to swap out the thermal paste. In fact, it actually needs a little bit of time to "cure" properly to reach its peak performance levels...

From what I can see, under the NVIDIA section, it’s actually listing an Intel graphics card and its specific model. Maybe you could try doing what alpha55 suggested.

It looks like it’s set up that way on your end—here's a link so you can check if that setting is actually toggled on.

http://www.howtogeek.com/137681/how-...-your-browser/

If you're really running an MS power supply—and you mentioned earlier that you are—I’d strongly suggest swapping it out. Those units don't actually deliver the wattage they claim to have on the label.

This would be a solid upgrade for you 👍 provided that the price of $167 isn't breaking the bank..

Which specific model of the NVIDIA GeForce GT 640 are you running? You could probably just grab the drivers directly from the manufacturer's site for your particular version...

Honestly, the easiest way to handle this is just to grab a Linux Mint live USB. Here’s how I’d go about it:

1. Download Linux http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
2. Once that's done, you'll need to burn that ISO file onto a blank DVD—or, better yet, just flash it to a thumb drive.
3. Head into your BIOS settings and make sure your CD/DVD drive (or USB drive) is set as the primary boot device.
4. Boot into Linux, and that should be pretty much it—no full installation required. You can just plug in an external hard drive or a USB stick, move all your important files over there, and then you're free to format the main drive and install a fresh version of Windows.

p.s. I'm assuming you're comfortable with the actual Windows installation process, right?

Honestly, I think your best bet would just be to wipe the drive and do a fresh install of Windows

Yeah, the issue here is you ran a scan using some junk software, and well—there you go—it ended up making things worse. Can you manage to boot into Safe Mode by tapping F8, or is that not working? Does it throw a specific error message at you while Windows is trying to start up?

It looks like things aren't quite hooked up the way they used to be... Is this your first time putting a build together?
Just double-check all your connections—make sure that 24-pin power connector is seated firmly into the motherboard, and that you've got the 4 or 8-pin CPU power cable plugged in correctly.

By the way, how much thermal paste did you end up using on the processor? I really hope you didn't go overboard—you don't want any of it oozing out and causing a short circuit if it misses its mark. 😁

To get things moving, what kind of budget are we looking at—do you have a specific number in mind? It’s honestly a bit silly to start throwing suggestions your way if they end up being way over your limit, or if you actually have more room to play with.

Sorry, but I'm honestly not sure what you want me to say about that?

Just run the advanced scan—that’s what I call the "aggressive" mode—and it should wipe out everything tied to that software.

I’ve been using Revo Uninstaller lately—basically, instead of just hitting the standard "Add or Remove Programs" in Windows when I want to get rid of a piece of software or a game, I open this tool first. It lets me run the uninstaller and then specifically scans for all those annoying leftover files and registry junk so I can wipe them out completely.

Are you logged in as an Administrator? If not—and assuming you have multiple accounts set up—you’ll need to sign into the admin account first, otherwise the system won't let you through.

If you're dealing with bad sectors on your hard drive, running the standard Windows Disk Cleanup isn't going to do anything for you—it's kind of like trying to use CCleaner to tidy up a pile of actual trash, right?

You might want to grab CrystalDiskinf to check your drive's S.M.A.R.T. status; that'll give you a much clearer picture of what's actually going on under the hood. Feel free to snap a screenshot of the results so we can take a look together.

http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html

Yeah, you get a ton of extra space out of it—you can even mount it right on the wall if you want. 😁

Nowadays, it’s pretty tough to move a whole PC build on Craigslist—most people are just hunting for one specific part anyway—but either way, I’m rooting for you! 😁

The graphics card is discrete, not integrated. At the end of the day, it's still just a laptop—I wouldn't mess around with it too much. Even if you managed to swap in a different model, would you actually see any real boost? Not really, especially when it comes to gaming performance.

Have you tried running a scan with your antivirus software? It might be worth checking if there's any malware lurking around...

You could also run CrystalDiskInfo to check the health of your hard drive—who knows, maybe the drive itself is starting to fail.