Posts by wiredcanyon94

Justin Edwards97 said:Hey everyone!

I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. A buddy of mine is trying to pick up my Wi-Fi signal on his laptop from about 50 yards away, but we’ve got another house sitting right between us, so the connection is pretty much non-existent.
So, he needs some kind of Wi-Fi antenna for his laptop—I might not be using the right technical terms, so bear with me—but does anyone have any recommendations on what to grab from eBay? It doesn't need to be some crazy high-end industrial setup or anything super expensive (honestly, the cheaper, the better), just something that can boost the signal enough to make it usable. If you happen to have a direct eBay link for something that works, that would be amazing.

Thanks so much in advance!

So, you want the cheapest option.
Well, the absolute cheapest thing to do is just leave it exactly how it is right now.
Any extra antenna, whether it's external or just a little thing for the room, will probably give you a boost.
An external one will obviously do more than an internal one. A directional antenna will do even more—assuming you actually point it in the right direction.
Honestly, nobody can tell you exactly which one will work without seeing the actual layout of the houses.

But hey, Google is your friend. Just search for "external Wi-Fi antenna" and browse through whatever shops pop up.

Casey Bishop26 said:Tycoon, thanks for the advice and the heads-up. After this mess, I’ve definitely got auto-backup turned on now.

They managed to fix the issue for me. Most of the file was saved, though the very last few entries were lost—still, I’ll take the win.

You mean "autosave"?

Whenever I'm typing, my most frequent finger movement is hitting Ctrl+S.
A line of text, then Ctrl+S. Another line, then Ctrl+S. Just a constant rhythm.

It's just pure muscle memory at this point. Honestly, I had to train myself this way after losing enough work over the years to fill a massive hardcover book.

Now, it's automatic. Ctrl+S. Moving my hand to click "Save" in the menu feels like too much effort when I can just hit those two keys in a split second while I'm in the flow.

Tyler Johnson6 said:I need some advice here 🙂

I’m currently paying for internet at five different spots—all within about half a mile of each other. Is there any way I could just set up a single antenna or some kind of hub in one location to broadcast Wi-Fi to the rest of them? The catch is that there isn't a clear line of sight between these locations.
I'm a total novice at this, but I see all these signal boosters being advertised everywhere, so I'm wondering if there's a way to actually save some money here.
Thanks 🙂

If you don't have a clear line of sight, you probably can't beam internet from one spot to all the others. Most antennas won't be able to punch through buildings or whatever is in your way. That said, nothing is certain until you actually test it out on-site.

One more thing... since you have five locations packed into such a small radius, there might be a couple of them that *do* have a clear view of each other. Even if you can't link the whole group, connecting just a few of them would still save you some money.
But again, you really need to go out there and test it. Trying to answer this without seeing the layout is basically just guessing, and I'm not using a crystal ball to give you advice. That's a different kind of service.

mistydriver2 said:Neither MSConfig nor even Task Manager can find an internet manager in the startup list 🙂

I might be asking a total moron question here, but what on earth is an "internet manager"?

shadowwalker7 said:Look, man, I don't have a clue what you're talking about... if you actually know what I need, just try explaining it to me.

http://prntscr.com/85yqvv

It’s like calling an auto mechanic and saying, "My car won't start. Look, I don't know the first thing about engines, so if you actually know what's wrong, just explain it simply so I can fix it myself!"

Alexander James15 said:I’ve got this vacation house out in a spot where the cell signal is pretty much nonexistent. In certain parts of the house, I just get "no service," and in others, my phone manages to cling to an Edge connection just enough to trickle some data through. But here’s the kicker: when I try to use my Verizon internet USB stick with my laptop, nothing works. It connects to the network, sure, but then says the signal strength is at 0%. I tried tethering too, but no luck there.

I heard there are these access point devices designed to grab a better signal—basically, you plug the USB stick into them and they broadcast Wi-Fi to your laptop. Has anyone actually messed around with those? Any specific gear you'd suggest? I really don't want to drop money on some hardware, head out to the mountains, and realize I'm totally cut off from the world since I need the web for work...

What you’re actually looking for is a GSM signal booster.
Something like this:
http://www.lightinthebox.com/hr/c/booster_6070

I haven't personally used one, though, and honestly, the big question is whether it would even make a dent in your specific location. Nobody can give you a straight answer on that without testing it right there on your property.

Kevin Thompson66 said:Hey, I'm getting this error message on my laptop, kind of like what you see in these screenshots. Is this a sign the hard drive is dying or what?

image 1 : View on imgur

image 2 :View on imgur

Yeah, probably the drive.

Edit:
To be more specific, the issue is likely with the OS on the drive. The hardware itself might actually be fine, but that error message is basically saying it can't find an operating system to boot from.
Of course, the drive could be physically dead too.

rowdybadger18 said:What do you mean there aren't any drivers? Look, here's the deal—there aren't any official ones for Windows 7, and there's a good reason for that. You really need to just run XP on that laptop. Grab these drivers and toss them onto a USB stick, or at least get the driver for the network card. Then install XP, use that driver to get online, download everything else from there, and you're done.

In the post you're replying to, he actually mentioned he doesn't have the XP installation media. 🙂

Here we go again, everyone picking fights over things that don't even matter. 😉
If someone actually needs Microsoft Office, they’ll just buy Office. If they don't, they won't.

I honestly don't get why everyone is bickering about this. 😉

urbancyclist8 said:Google is acting up on me again. Ever since I decided to Reset Chrome, everything seems fine except for the fact that I can't load certain sites (Gmail, Facebook, etc.). For instance, whenever I try to log into my Gmail, I get hit with this message:
"This Connection is Untrusted
You have asked Chrome to connect securely to mail.google.com, but we can't confirm that your connection is secure.

Normally, when you try to connect securely, sites will present trusted identification to prove that you are going to the right place. However, this site's identity can't be verified.
What should I do?

If you usually connect to this site without problems, this error could mean that someone is trying to impersonate the site, and you shouldn't continue.

This site uses HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) to specify that Chrome only connect to it securely. As a result, it is not possible to add an exception for this certificate."

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Based on everything I've read here—from the very first post onwards—I might just be being paranoid, but honestly? I’d kill that computer and rebuild it from the ashes. Meaning: wipe the drive and do a clean OS reinstall.

urbancyclist8 said:Thanks for the input, everyone. I tried out that software the eighth person suggested, but no luck. I guess I'm stuck with this other option from Walgreens. Honestly, I had no idea uninstalling stuff could be such a massive headache.

Best,
Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods, just wipe the drive and reinstall the whole OS. Start fresh.

Eric Carter said:Well, here we go again... it’s acting up once more. Any idea what could be causing this mess?

Windows Firewall?

Eric Carter said:Hey everyone... I've run into a bit of a snag here. Basically, I’m trying to test out a specific mod for SAP with a few buddies of mine, and obviously, I don't want to go dropping cash on dedicated hosting just yet. I figured I'd just try running it locally via a port first. So, I set everything up exactly like this (see the screenshot)
...but now, if I want my friends to join, am I supposed to just give them my IP address plus the port? Like, something like 12.34.56.78:7777? I've already got the "sap-server.exe" up and running.
The thing is, my friends can't actually get in; they just get stuck staring at a "retrieving info" message. What am I missing here? How can I set this up differently so it actually works?

If you're positive your server settings are correct, it’s most likely just some antivirus software or your Windows Firewall blocking those ports.

ruggedhawk10 said:hey guys

I haven't touched my PC in about three months because I was out of town... now that I'm finally back, I hit the power button and everything seems to start up, but the screen stays pitch black like the whole thing is dead. I already swapped out the cable—nothing. I plugged the monitor into my laptop and it works fine, so it's definitely not the display. I even gave the tower a good cleaning with some compressed air, reseated all the connections, popped the GPU out and back in... nothing. Still no luck.
Is it possible the hard drive died? Or maybe the graphics card? pls help! 🙏 🙏 🙏

Thanks!

Anything is possible, but it's tough to diagnose this over a forum thread.
If you're positive the monitor isn't the issue, then yeah, it could be the GPU, but there are plenty of other culprits inside the case.
If the hard drive actually bit the dust, you should still be able to boot into BIOS or a recovery environment using a bootable USB or a disk.
But if the fans are spinning and the system sounds like it's running normally while the screen stays dark, it's most likely the graphics card.
Try swapping in a different one if you can.

Chris Fowler2 said:Hey everyone!
Just a quick heads-up—tech stuff and all this computer gear isn't exactly my specialty. 😁 I was looking for a decent webcam for my laptop (mostly so I can hop on Zoom calls without looking like a total mess), and well, before I actually pulled the trigger on buying one, I was borrowing a camera from a friend... and honestly, hers works way better than mine.
Here’s the deal: with my current setup, I have to push my laptop incredibly far away just to get my shoulders in the frame instead of just my face. The view is pretty terrible; it’s basically just a tight shot of my face—I don't even get my whole head in there 🤦
The funny thing is, with my friend's camera, I could just keep the laptop right in my lap and still have a perfectly normal view of myself.
Is it just how this specific camera is built, or did I accidentally mess with some settings? (I'm desperately hoping I somehow managed to zoom in too much, haha). Or am I stuck with no choice but to go out and buy a new one? 🤔

ps Sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong spot, I honestly wasn't sure where else to put it 🙂
Best,

You basically answered your own question. Either the camera is acting up, or you messed with the zoom settings somewhere. Did you zoom in or not? That’s not really our business—it’s yours. So, let's be real: did you hit the zoom button?

Look, if you’re really that unhappy with the camera, just return it and grab something else. It's not rocket science. But if you do decide to go shopping again, please, for the love of God, don't just pick the cheapest option on the shelf. You saw how this played out.

Yeah, you should be able to return this thing without any drama. Under US consumer laws, you’ve got that window where you can just send it back within a certain timeframe without having to jump through hoops. You don't even need a fancy excuse. If they ask, just tell them, "It's not really my vibe," or "I'm just not feeling it." Simple as that.

Next time you ask "is my camera like this?", just throw the model name in there too. Either that, or just tell me upfront—maybe you already mentioned it and I completely missed it.

Brandon Davis7 said:But the card works fine, since it works on every other computer I've tried it on.

My bad, misread the post. Yeah, if it works elsewhere, then the card is good.

Brandon Davis7 said:So I picked up a micro SD card today and popped it into my PC (running Windows 7), but it’s nowhere to be found in My Computer. When I check Device Manager, there's just a yellow exclamation mark next to the SD memory card entry.
I tried a reboot, but no luck. It works fine on other laptops, though.
Anyone have a clue what's going on?

Just take it back to the store. Tell them to swap it out for a working one or give you your money back.

Look, let's be real: the person sending the email doesn't have much say in how a recipient's spam filters—or their entire mail provider—decide to flag things.

It honestly doesn't matter which service you're using to hit send. Even if you're blasting them from a Gmail account, it's all the same.

It’s honestly just good practice for everyone to use their own individual account on a computer.
It keeps all those specific settings exactly how you like them, so you aren't constantly messing up someone else's layout or getting annoyed because they changed something you actually liked.

nimbleskipper5 said:Honestly, you guys are being ridiculous. You're actually worse than the people over on the other forums. It’s not rocket science: just grab the Windows 8.1 ISO and use a USB download tool to make a bootable drive, just like you would for Windows 7. Do a quick Google search to find a Windows 8.1 key and some Microsoft Toolkit to handle the activation. Install the new Windows from the USB and—voila—it's like a fairy tale. Everything works perfectly, and you can even run standard updates through Microsoft.com if you used the toolkit correctly. Either learn how to do this or just stay quiet.
ps
just hit EZ Activator in the toolkit and you're done.

Wait, isn't sharing pirate solutions against the rules on this forum?