Posts by Lisa Perez50

Ran all the updates and now everything is running perfectly! 👍

Hey there.

Does anyone know a reliable program that actually works for auto-shutting down a laptop? I’m looking for something simple—like setting a timer on a TV so the laptop just shuts itself off or goes to sleep after an hour or so.
I’ve tried a few different tools myself, but they always fail. There's nothing worse than waking up in the morning to find the laptop still running full tilt.🙏

JBL Flip is going for $133. Anyone here actually used one? Can I pair it with my laptop without any issues? Is it actually loud enough for real use? Any advice would be appreciated.

BTW, there's another model on sale that's just a few bucks more, which looks pretty much identical
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When I had to deal with something similar, I just centered the image and then hit print twice so they’d land in the exact same spot.
Of course, you have to set up your Word doc so the paper size is specifically 6x6 inches. Just go to Layout -> Margins -> Size.



Look, I know this isn't exactly a pro move and it takes a little bit of messing around, but it’s not hard. I'm sure you can pull it off.

If ads are driving you crazy, just grab the right tool for whatever device you're using right now:

PC
* for Google Chrome
* for Mozilla Firefox
* for Opera

MOBILE
* for iPhone/iPad via Safari
* for Android

or just download the app:
* Reddit for iPhone/iPad
* Reddit for Android

What’s the best move here? I’m not doing anything heavy on this thing, but considering what I paid, I expected a machine that was actually better than some bottom-of-the-barrel budget model.
Regarding the Wi-Fi, I managed to fix it myself. Even though Siri didn't find any necessary updates to install, I just went ahead and manually reinstalled the Wi-Fi drivers. It’s working fine now, which is my main priority since I don't exactly have an Ethernet port nearby. Honestly, how do drivers just "vanish" from a laptop out of nowhere? Makes no sense. 😁

As for the screen, I tried plugging it into my TV via HDMI for the first time, and when I connected it, the screen just went black. To be fair, I didn't wait forever because I was low-key panicking that the whole thing was fried, so I did a hard reset immediately. Maybe something would have popped up if I'd waited, but right now it looks like a dead laptop, except for these million different colors flashing on the laptop screen itself.

I’ve got a 3-year warranty, and I’m barely nine months into using this thing—not even a full year yet. I’ll wait until after the holidays pass and then take it in so they can figure out what's going on. This has only happened twice so far, and I'm hoping it stays that way, but I’ve got photos and video to prove there's a real issue. My biggest fear is that the tech at the service center will try to tell me everything is perfectly fine when clearly it isn't. But hey, I'm seeing this through to the end!

Thanks for the help, everyone! 👋

Kenneth Cruz67 said:I think my graphics card might be on its last legs, maybe around 99% dead

So you're suggesting I take it in for repair? Should I rush to move all my data onto an external hard drive right now?

wearymason4 said:Grab HWmonitor or something similar and check if things are running too hot before you head back.
Your Wi-Fi drivers are definitely installed; otherwise, you’d notice right away because that Intel Dual Core would be showing a yellow warning icon.
The actual issue with your Wi-Fi is just that you've got "Airplane Mode" turned on.

Yeah, I ran the analysis and here is what it shows. There are entries where the temperature hits over 50 degrees. Even though the laptop doesn't actually feel hot on the outside and stays pretty quiet. Are you recommending a cleaning, or are those temperatures okay for certain components?

As for the Wi-Fi, it isn't in Airplane Mode because the icon turns blue and says "on" when it's enabled, just like here. The Wi-Fi is literally dead. The only way I can get online is via Ethernet.

Hey there.
I’ve got a new Latitude 550, picked it up back in January 2017. It didn't come with Windows pre-installed, so I had a technician set up Windows 10 for me.
The trouble started about two weeks ago. Out of nowhere, the colors on my screen went haywire—like a thousand different shades shifting at once—and then everything just froze. Eventually, the screen turned almost completely black, kind of like the image attached to this post.
It happened again today. Interestingly, both times I was using Excel, if that even matters. When the screen went dark, I had to force a hard reboot. The first time, two weeks ago, it booted up fine. But when I turned it on today, it acted like the Wi-Fi component was just... missing. I tried running HP Support to see if it was a driver issue, but nothing came up. Should I be installing something manually?But which one would I even download? Is it even a driver problem? Everything was working perfectly until that second blackout. Right now, I can only get online via an Ethernet cable. It might help if I shared screenshots of my Device Manager and what the connection options look like without Wi-Fi.

Anyway, I need some advice. I still have two years of warranty left, but is this actually worth sending in for service? What should my next move be?

Andrew Peterson2 said:Look, the whole reason people turn on two-factor authentication is so you get an SMS code to verify your login—it just makes things way more secure. And please, for the love of everything, don't reuse passwords... if you have an account on some random forum, don't use that same password for your Gmail. If the forum admin is shady, they can see your credentials and try them out on your email. Just because a login shows up from Pittsburgh doesn't mean you're actually sitting there... anyone can use a VPN to mask their actual location and make it look like they're logging in from somewhere like Russia or whatever.

Are you kidding me? People can actually see our passwords when we register somewhere? That's pathetic. Honestly, until a few months ago, I used the same password for everything.🤣
I don't recommend two-factor authentication. I've had n issues with those codes. Either they don't arrive, they show up too late, or my phone decides to freeze right when I need it most. For me, having an instant alert about a login attempt is perfectly fine.

(The question is, what if the person was in Washington, D.C.—would they even bother reporting it? But yeah, I've just had way more bad experiences than good ones with this SMS stuff.)

Look, just try this out: FlvtoConverter. You can grab it here (just click or download FlvtoConverter.exe—you're getting the actual software, not some Windows 10 patch or a Chrome extension)
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How does it work? It’s simple. You just paste the YouTube URL, a little window pops up, and you hit MP3. One less thing to copy and paste, if that even matters. If you've got an entire playlist, just grab the playlist link and it starts ripping the whole thing in whatever format you want. You can even pick between HD or standard quality. Give it a shot 😉

I used to run into constant issues sending SMS messages. They just wouldn't go through, even though I had the login verification turned on for my new device. Then, after a few days, it was like they suddenly fixed the texting service and everything started working again. Who knows what actually happened? You should try reaching out to support, though I'm not sure if they even bother checking their emails regularly. Just make sure you write to them in English. (here’s the info on how to get in touch)

@Andrew Peterson2 and @ruggedpanther2, thanks for the input and the help.

@Andrew Peterson2, yeah, I get that the resolution is lower. But on my old laptop, everything would snap back to normal once I unplugged it. Now? Nothing happens. It just stays stuck. This current setup actually works best for me since I can let things run on the TV screen while the laptop display stays dark. But if it won't revert to the old settings automatically, I'll just stick to moving windows manually between screens.

@ruggedpanther2, I managed to get it working by centering them first and then dragging everything over to the left corner. So far, so good. I saved the layout using that program you suggested. Hopefully, I won't have to keep resetting my window positions constantly. Thanks.

Hey there.

I’m having an issue with my desktop icon layout. I'm running Windows 10.

Basically, ever since I hooked my laptop up to my TV via HDMI and then unplugged it, all my icons shifted down a few rows. I tried moving them back to where they were originally, but it's like there's this "ghost space" occupying a spot where they refuse to go, which just ends up pushing all the other icons out of alignment again.



To give you an idea: I can move Google Chrome to the top left corner just fine. But the second I try to put Adobe Photoshop right underneath it, Chrome jumps down below Adobe Photoshop. Why does this even happen? Is there some actual reason for this behavior? I already ran scans for viruses and other junk, and nothing came up. It's incredibly annoying if I have to manually reorganize everything every single time I plug my laptop into the TV. I'm just trying to keep my desktop organized.

I recorded a quick 20-second video to show exactly what I mean.

Kimberly Hughes24 said:Honestly, I just type the keyword into Google and add "Reddit" at the end. It pulls everything right up.

Try doing it the other way around. Type "Reddit" first, then your search term. It works just like the old search engine used to. You'll probably get the same results, or at least most of them. Personally? I think this way is better.🙂

How do you even search this forum? If you’re using Google Chrome, just type "forum.com" into your browser's address bar. On my end, it shows up as a little gray box that says "Search on forum.com." Just click that and type in whatever you're looking for. 😉

Hey there.

I picked up a new HP laptop back in February. Lately, I’ve noticed it’s running incredibly hot. Is this something I should be worried about, or is it just par for the course? Or maybe it already needs a cleaning? I’ll paste my Speedtest temperatures below. Is there anything in the settings I can tweak to help with this?

Any advice would be appreciated. ☕

From what I can tell, those 450 models mostly run on 7th gen processors. Based on the specs I've seen, you're pretty much stuck with Windows 10. Look, I’m no tech expert, but go find the manual that came with the laptop. It seems like Windows 10 is your only real option here. 😉

Eric Alvarez said:Just buy an external hard drive and move all your critical files onto it.

I already have an external drive. But I’m assuming the same thing could happen to that, right? That's where my most critical data lives. I've tried uploading stuff to Google Drive, but I'm constantly adding new files. Who has the time to manually sync everything to Google Drive all day long?

Hey there.

I need some help. How do I turn a standard PDF into a "print-ready" version? I want to set everything up myself so I can save a file that’s ready to go—you know, like how they do it at a FedEx Office or Staples where you can fit multiple pages on one sheet (like a 2x2 layout). Is there a specific program or a website that does this? I've been searching through Google, but I can't figure out the right terminology to find what I'm looking for.

If anyone here has figured this out, please jump in and help! 🙂

Reading this makes me seriously nervous about my USB😬

What can I actually do to prevent this from happening? How should I handle backups? Are there specific programs worth downloading? Any advice would be huge! (Please quote!)