Computer Related Questions - Volume 133 - Pugugly {P}

***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 134 *****


In this thread you may ask any computer related question for which you need help, advice, suggestions or whatever.

Usual rules apply,

No motoring related discussion,
No politics,
No Speeding, speed cameras, traffic calming
No arguments or slanging matches
Nothing which we think is not following the spirit of the thread
Nothing that risks the future of this site (please see the small print for details www.honestjohn.co.uk/credits/index.htm )

Any of the above will be deleted. If the thread becomes difficult to maintain it will simply be removed.

There is a wealth of knowledge in here, much of which is not motoring related, but most of which is useful.

This is Volume 133. Previous Volumes will not be deleted.

A list of previous volumes can be found here:-

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=20892


PLEASE NOTE:

When posting a NEW question, please "Reply to" the first message in this thread, i.e. this one. This keeps each question in it's own separate segment and stops each new question from getting mixed up in amongst existing questions. Also please remember to change the subject header.
20" 4:3 or widescreen monitor - update - cheddar
I said a couple of weeks ago:

>>Further to my previous post on display issues I have come to an accomodation with the supplier, apparently unlike some DVi graphics cards the 8600GTS does not work well with DVi to VGA adaptors. So I am getting a DVI monitor.

Should I get a 20" 1050x1680 widescreen or a 20" 1200x1600 4:3 (which is similar in aspect ratio to my current 19" 1024x1280)?

I like the idea of widescreen in some respects however the 20" widescreen image area is about an inch shallow than the 19", i.e. wider and thinner (a 22" widescreen is not an option).>>


Well I ended up with a 4:3 1600x1200 20" Dell 2007FP which is superb, as is my new system:

Core 2 Duo E6700
4096MB DDR2 SDRAM
2x250GB - 7200rpm SATA Seagate Barracuda (RAID switched off in BIOS)
NVidia Geforce 8600GTS graphics card
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music sound card
XP Professional

Lightening fast!
20" 4:3 or widescreen monitor - update - Stuartli
I'm very envious...:-(

Enjoy.
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20" 4:3 or widescreen monitor - update - cheddar
Enjoy.>>


Thanks Stuart, I was not after envy, just giving an update however while I could not afford nor justify a 335i or 550i Touring or an E63 estate etc I decide that I could justify a high-ish end PC based on business use, it is quite fun to play with as well.
Using a Creative Zen micro in my car - blondiebombshell
I have a Creative Zen micro MP3 player and want to be able to use it in my VW Golf (it has a socket for an ipod but not a Zen) What cable/accessories to i need to be able to do this and where can i buy them?

After some thought moved it in here, its more Computers than IHAQ but Motoring so would have survived in a thread of its own PU
Using a Creative Zen micro in my car - Stuartli
You will probably be able to achieve this with a wireless transmitter such as:

www.crazyaboutgadgets.com/detail.asp?ID=652

tinyurl.com/yswe78 (don't know anything about this company or why the products are so cheap).

tinyurl.com/24usce

There are various types of these devices (I mentioned one that cost less than £10 a while back but can't find the thread).


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Using a Creative Zen micro in my car - SpamCan61 {P}
I bought one of these, works fine at home, even between the bedroom and the conservatory, which is across diametrically opposite corners of an 'L' shaped house.


www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/3271297/-/...0

Sorry about the colour ( I bought a white one for 7 quid a few weeks back)
transferring tracks (apple ipod/zen) - blondiebombshell
Can anyone give me a step by step idiot proof way of transferring tracks from my creative zen to my apple ipod without having to insert all the cds again? Am really not good with computers and cant seem to figure it out at all

{Moved to Computer related, attached to existing question, and the pedantic not related replies removed - DD}
transferring tracks (apple ipod/zen) - Baskerville
Install iTunes. It will find the mp3s on the PC. Plug in iPod. It will pull tracks from iTunes.
transferring tracks (apple ipod/zen) - Bromptonaut
What file format (MP3 or WMA) did you use to transfer the files to the Zen?

using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - George Porge
does anyone out there know where i can find the cable i need to plug a creative zen into the cigarette lighter in my car


Aldi have recently had a special offer on a cig lighter 3way extension lead. HTH

{This, and several other replies moved from Blondiebombshell's other question on the same subject - www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=54137 - DD}
using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - GroovyMucker
In case anyone is interested and hasn't already got a player, Amazon has the 60 gig version for £160 at the moment.
using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - Bromptonaut
The charger input on these is a USB type socket. There is an OEM item, I got mine at the Creative on line store (MP3 accessories--Zen youneed to drill down through several region/language questions to get there). Out of stock at the moment. Try Currys or maybe Dabs?

Quite pricy at around £17, but as we've three Zens in the family it's well used.

Your other question about transferring files to a Nano has been bounced into the Computer Questions thread. In brief if you transferred the files onto the PC/Zen in WMA format (you can tell either using the Zen PC software or the drop down menu on the player itself) you need to start again as this format is unsupported on Apple players.

MP3 should be possible provided you can locate the files using Apple's software or if transfer to I POds is supported in Windows Media Player (not sure abou that one!!0
using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - OldHand
this thread is a good reason to go 'generic' and buy an ipod. Although I think they are carp almost everything aftermarket is designed to work with them. Plus everyone else owns one. Anything else is a false economy.
using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - PoloGirl
I thought 07 reg golfs were all coming with ipod kits as standard now? Can't you just get a zen adapter?

using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - blondiebombshell
initially i got a zen as i didn't want to be the same as everybody else and have an ipod - however when i got my golf it came with the ipod kit so my little sis bought me an ipod nano (bless her) so now i need to try and shift all the music from the zen to the ipod - no mean feat as i have 3 years worth of music on there. i also want to have the option of being able to use my zen in the car though as i do still prefer it to the ipod.
thank you for all your suggestions - they've been very helpful and so i shall carry on my hunt
using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - Pete M
OldHand wrote:
this thread is a good reason to go 'generic' and buy an ipod. Although I
think they are carp almost everything aftermarket is designed to work with them.


I take the opposite approach and have a Creative player. Apple force you to use their software to load tracks in their format that are then inaccessible for anyone using anything else. Other brand players just appear as a USB device and can have tracks copied on and off in a number of formats without restriction. That to me is 'generic' and the Apple approach is 'proprietary' regardless of how popular and widespread they are.
Two of my children (adults) have Apple players, but I, my wife and one son all use Creative players. The Creative accessories are just as available, but without the hype and (IMHO) with better sound quality and reliability.
using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - Baskerville
Apple force you to use
their software to load tracks in their format that are then inaccessible for anyone using
anything else.


Apple DRM-restricted files purchased from the iTunes Music Store are limited to the iPod it's true, but mp3s and non-DRM AAC tracks are also fine (no, it doesn't play Microsoft DRM files, but the reverse is also true). Incidentally I use Amarok on Linux* with my iPod with no problems. It's simply not the case that the iPod is limited in the way that you suggest. I think the iPod interface is by far the the best and that is why it succeeded in an existing market. Even Creative have imitated it.

*As you can probably tell, proprietary formats are not my cup of tea.
using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - OldHand
their software to load tracks in their format that are then inaccessible for anyone using
anything else. The Creative accessories are just as available but without the hype
and (IMHO) with better sound quality and reliability.


That's why I don't use apple's software but a program called EPH pod that lets you do whatever you like without the tyranny of itunes.
I agree the creative players are better and cheaper, the problem is there isn't such a huge range of accessories. Also because the ipod is generic there's a good chance I can go almost anywhere and be able to plug it into someone elses docking station or charger. It's become generic as I said in my first post.
using a creative zen mp3 player in golf - BobbyG
None of my family have ipods but we all have mp3 players. Reason we didn't get ipods was simply that they do not have Built in radios in them. We are all football fanatics and like to be able to listen to the commentary, or catch up on scores when out.

But I agree, it would have been so much easier to get an ipod as every after market accessory seems to be geared towards them.
--
2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
Replies to my Laptop Question - Blue {P}
Just wanted to say thanks to those who replied to my laptop question, I didn't get time to reply on that thread before it was closed.

Your responses have bee very helpful, and the link to the new Toshiba for £379 was of particular interest, I think I'll just stick with my current Tosh for now, I don't think that I'm getting enough of a performance improvement for the £380, my current Tosh was £1000 when I bought it and I think it's true that you do get what you pay for, the fact that I'm still using this laptop is testament to that!

Blue
Replies to my Laptop Question - normd2
I'd apreciate it if someone could point me in the direction of this £379 laptop please? I've tried searching without success.

thanks
Replies to my Laptop Question - cheddar
www.dabs.com
Replies to my Laptop Question - normd2
thank-you
EXCEL - if vlookup returns #N/A then nil - Mapmaker
Hope somebody can help.

Imagine I have shares in six companies called 101,102,103,104,105 and 106. I want to look up the year-end share prices for the last five years and have a vlookup table in Excel.

Now companies 103, 104 and 105 were only floated two years ago, so are not present in the list of year-end prices for the first three years. So Excel returns '#N/A'. Under such circumstances I want it to return a zero.

What can I put in my 'if' statement. (In view of the number of data points in the data I am processing, manual entry of zeros is really not an option owing to the risk of error. I need an auditable spreadsheet.)

Many thanks.
EXCEL - if vlookup returns #N/A then nil - Mapmaker
i.e. if(company 103 is not listed in table,0,value)

EXCEL - if vlookup returns #N/A then nil - Pugugly {P}
Yahoo provide a very good financial service including share prices at a glance over different periods from 24 hrs to 5 yrs. SWMBO who does a little dabbling for money uses them. Saves all that exporting malarkey
EXCEL - if vlookup returns #N/A then nil - Mapmaker
Thanks, PU. I'm actually in the office trying to manipulate something completely different (Company share options - none of them mine) - the share prices was supposed to be an illustration.

My initial illustration was going to be horses...

Any excel wizzes out there?
EXCEL - if vlookup returns #N/A then nil - Dalglish
Yahoo provide a very good financial service including share prices at a glance


maybe ok for a quick glance but their accuracy is not to be trusted at all.
i have pointed out errors to them many times but they do not ever bother to correct them, nor acknowledge the effort i have put in.
so now i don't bother telling them, and rely on other sources for accurate information.

EXCEL - if vlookup returns #N/A then nil - JH
Mapmaker,
I can get by in Excel but I'm no expert. Does this fit;


How to stop the #N/A! error when using VLOOKUP

One very common question asked by Excel users is "How can I stop VLOOKUP returning #N/A! when it cannot find my data?". There are a few ways this can be done, unfortunately the most popular way is also the least efficient. This is to use the ISNA function as shown below:

=IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(368.59,$A$1:$C$1000,2,False)),"",VLOOKUP(368.59,$A$1:
$C$1000,2,False)


The use of the ISNA function like this will force Excel to perform the VLOOKUP twice if the value does exist, which is most often the case. This can become a problem by slowing down Excel's recalculation time. A slightly better options is:

=IF(COUNTIF($A$1:$A$10000,368.59),VLOOKUP(368.59,$A$1:$C$10000,2,FALSE
),"")


However, see Lookup Functions here for more & even better ways.


?

From www.ozgrid.com/Excel. I typed Excel vlookup into Google.

JH
EXCEL - if vlookup returns #N/A then nil - Mapmaker
HERO! Thanks. Didn't think of googling, silly me.
EXCEL - if vlookup returns #N/A then nil - fossyant
Just a thought,

Have you tried sumif instead sumif(range where value is, criteria ie value you are looking for,range where the data value is) - works very similar to vlookup, bu will sum any occurrences of a particular company.
E.g. you have a list of 10 companies in column a, and the value of the share price in column b. Sum if then will work as follows - looks for a value in column a, that matches your criteria, then gets the share price from column b) This way you don't get any n/a's, but if you have two occurrences of the same company, it will add up the sum of each.

It's a very useful formula and is fairly simple.
Help building a simple website - Nsar
Hi, I've done a forum search with the subject heading "websites" and got nothing, so my question is: can any steer me towards a website which has got some easy to follow instructions and preferably some freeware which would enable me to build a simple website for a community group I help out with.

I just want something template based that will end up with a simple site that's half decent. No need for anything like e-commerce or data collection.

I know I can pick up a cover mount CD on loads of web magazines, but would prefer something that someone has used and can recommend to a site build novice with a few grey cells.
Help building a simple website - Stuartli
Do you have Microsoft's FrontPage? That will/should be OK.

You can also do it in Word. See:

tinyurl.com/yqqmxf

tinyurl.com/qld7d

Some advice:

tinyurl.com/2eeb6b

tinyurl.com/27kjxa

websitetips.com/

tinyurl.com/yufxtf

Plenty of others.

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Help building a simple website - Nsar
Thanks - don't have MS Front Page I'm afraid.
Help building a simple website - Stuartli
Or Word?
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Help building a simple website - Baskerville
Or Word?


Please God no! It's not 1997 any more.

If the OP really wants to code it himself then he could do a lot worse than downloading Nvu, a free and easy to use WYSIWYG editor.

www.nvu.com/index.php
Help building a simple website - Stuartli
1997?

I have Word 2000 - it has Web creation features.
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Help building a simple website - Nsar
I do have Word, perhaps unfairly I just dismissed it as a way to do it thinking that whilst it may be possible, the result would be a bit grim.

Help building a simple website - Stuartli
You did say simple website - I assumed that a play about with Word (if you had it) would give an idea whether you could achieve what is required with the tools already available.
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Help building a simple website - Baskerville
whether you could achieve what is required with
the tools already available.


The tools available are online *cough* wordpress.com *cough*. For 10 dollars a year they will even host your own domain name.
Help building a simple website - Nsar
Stuart, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful for your suggestions.
Help building a simple website - Stuartli
Ok, I'll wring my handkerchief out now.

I'm quite sure you didn't...:-)
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Help building a simple website - Baskerville
whilst it may be possible the result would be a bit grim.


And you would be right. Word is the dog walking on hind legs of the web design world. OpenOffice's HTML editor is no better.
Help building a simple website - Baskerville
For a community group a wiki is good. Try pbwiki.com As many (or as few) people as you like can edit it. There are others.

I have also had good results for simple websites using wordpress.com (or wordpress.org if you have your own server--it's more powerful that way). Wordpress is blogging software but it is customisable, especially if you self-host it. Blogger, Google's offering, is also good, as is If you happen to have hosting that provides Fantastico, then many of the "Content Management Systems" used by major corporations are available for free with just a couple of clicks to install. Take a look at drupal.org/ for a live demo of one of the best.

All of these and many more are free.
Help building a simple website - adverse camber
I always recommend wordpress for simple start stuff.

wordpress.org for the (free) software) if you want to play around on your own machine
wordpress.com for the (free) hosting

Its labelled as blogging software, but its rather more than that and I know a couple of web designers that use it to do simple (ie quick & cheap) websites for clients.
EBay / paypal newbie - JH
Hi
I want to bid on an item on EBay. The seller says he takes credit cards "through paypal". I'm in the process of setting up a paypal account but it never offered the option of using a credit card, it wants bank details and that will take a few days. Question - am I stuffed until the paypal account has recognised my bank account or will I just be able to put my credit cards details in?

'scuse me but I'm the last living person on the planet to buy / sell through EBay.

JH
EBay / paypal newbie - Dulwich Estate
JH, as far as I know the two issues that trouble you can be kept separate. I don't think you need a PayPal account to pay for something on eBay by credit card. I've never done it, but I think after you've won an item you simply click on "Pay" or something like that and pay by card if you have no PayPal account.

I set up a PayPal account (it took about 3 weeks in all) and until I had enough credit in it, my payments to sellers were very much delayed while the banking system creaked along by direct debiting my nominated bank account to PayPal and then PayPal paying the buyer. It took around 10 days before sellers would release anything.

We are wealthy (if only!) here in leafy Dulwich and I have more than one current account so, for reasons of security, I chose a little used one with not a lot in it and no overdraft facility.
EBay / paypal newbie - Welliesorter
I'm no expert on eBay or Paypal, only being an occasional user of either. However, I do know from experience that there's a difference between funding a Paypal payment via credit card and direct debit.

Someone once attempted to send me some money (not for an eBay item) via Paypal. Because he'd funded this with his credit card, I wasn't able to accept the payment without paying a fee or upgrading to a merchant account, so I rejected it and was sent the money by another method.

I make Paypal payments funded by a direct debit, and find that the transaction happens more or less immediately, with my bank account being debited on the following working day. Normally my Paypal account has a zero balance as there's no need to credit it unless I actually need to pay for something.

I'm guessing that this eBay seller is saying he'll accept credit card payments via Paypal because that's regarded as a plus, and tells you that he probably has a business account. I'd be very surprised if funding the payment from your current account will be a problem. Certainly, I've never had any complaints about this.
Firefox upgrade - Citroënian {P}
{rant mode}

Booted firefox just now and it says "Firefox is installing updates, please wait"

Brilliant I thought, nice integration and no hassle from the user side.

Then I get "Firefox has detected that Java 6.0.1" is not compatible with this version of Firefox" - "Would you like to check for updates?"

Brilliant again, not sure I care about what updates you're doing, just make it work, but thanks for letting me know anyway.

"Yes" I clicked.

"There are no updates for this component."

So I've not got Java in my browser now which is great as it means I can't get my corporate calendar up. Well, I can in Safari, IE, Opera and Camino, but not Firefox.

If Microsoft broke things like this they'd be shot.

{/rant mode}

So the moral of the story is, if you need Java in your Browser, don't upgrade firefox. Not that it looks like it gives you a choice.
-- Biggedy biggedy bong
Firefox upgrade - Dalglish
.. Booted firefox just now and it says "Firefox is installing updates, please wait" ..


well on one pc that i use for testing various options, where i have firefox installed, i got a message along the lines of "could not install the incremental update so firefox will now download the full program.... etc. "; and after numerous restarts the message that keeps popping up is "... a compponent was prevented from being installed ... restart firefox .... etc.etc. ".

so for the time being i have removed fireofx from that pc.

Firefox upgrade - Stuartli
I installed the new version, 2.0.0.5, of Firefox the other day; Java continues to work exactly as before (version 1.6.0.2).

I presume you've checked that Java is still Enabled from Tools>Options>Content tab and that it's the latest version (1.6.0.2)?
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Firefox upgrade - Baskerville
It's a Java bug.

Solution is to upgrade Java to Update 2:

www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp

In the mean time if you want it to stop automatically updating, go to Preferences-->Advanced.
Firefox upgrade - Pugugly {P}
Updated painlessly here.
Problems with Spam. - 007
For several years I enjoyed life without spam but recently I have been plagued with unsoliticed mail some of which has been of an offensive nature.

I have Norton anti-virus and firewall protection and even their so-called anti-spam add-on but this last item does not recognise all undesirable mail and in any case I don't see much point in filling up a folder with muck which I would prefer to stop reaching me in the first place.

I can click on 'Message' in Outlook Express and select 'block Sender' but imagine the idiots who send this rubbish will simply use a string of different e-mail addresses. Do you agree?

Suggestions as to how I can best put a stop to this 'correspondence' would be appreciated.

TIA.
Problems with Spam. - Stuartli
In many cases spam is related to one particular e-mail address or ISP - Tiscali is a well known "distributor" of spam for example.

In fact the only spam I receive is from a WorldOnline (which was taken over by Tiscali) e-mail address I've had for nearly 10 years, but still use as it is connected with a large number of contacts and also because I retained a WOL dialup service as a backup.

I've never had spam from TalkTalk since I joined it a year last April, nor Pipex, with whom I first had a dialup connection from 1996, apart from one lone occasion.

A quick e-mail to Pipex support about the one spam e-mail brought a quick response and I've never had another since.

I did find that using Thunderbird and its excellent Junk filter (you have to "train" it to recognise the unwanted items) worked well, but for one reason or another I've been using Outlook Express for the last year.


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Website Mailing Lists - billy25
Hi Folks,
A friend of mine has just started his own Tai-Chi training business, and has recently launched a website.
He is keen to build-up a ?mailing list? of email names, in the areas of:
Health, Martial Arts, and Athletics to start with, so that he can introduce both himself and the business to them.

Does anyone know of any sites where he may import lists of any such names from, as opposed to manually ?trawling the net? and logging any he comes across?

Cheers
Billy.
Website Mailing Lists - Stuartli
You can buy e-mailing lists, but I for one don't condone it in any way.

In any case, most people are like me these days - we instantly Delete any e-mails not from a recognised source.

We also ensure that the Preview Pane in Outlook Express is PERMANENTLY disabled...:-)

This is a key factor in releasing little nasties as just a click can release them in many instances.
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Website Mailing Lists - adverse camber
He can first of all read and understand the data protection rules.

>>Does anyone know of any sites where he may import lists of any such names from, as opposed to manually ?trawling the net? and logging any he comes across?

If he does that he deserves a good kicking.

I have a simple policy - anyone at all that spams me will not get business from me. In addition I do everything I can to ensure that companies I am involved with never do business with them either.
Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - John S
A trawl of the net gives conflicting answers to this - some say it's compatible, others that it isn't. Has anyone here experience of running Offiice 2003 with Vista? It wold be great to ditch Works that the new laptop came with!

JS
Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - Number_Cruncher
>>It wold be great to ditch Works that the new laptop came with!

You could also try Openoffice. It's really rather good, and is excellent value for money!

www.openoffice.org/

Number_Cruncher
Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - Dalglish
... Has anyone here experience of running Offiice 2003 with Vista? ...


no experience ( i have office xp, 2003, and 2007 and but have not installed vista as yet to test them with). however, see this:

support.microsoft.com/kb/822129

You can run Office 2003 on the following operating systems:
.......
? Microsoft Windows Vista

Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - Altea Ego
Frankly JohnS I would dump vista.

Its not fit to be let out on its own yet
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - cheddar
>>Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista?>

Yes.

Openoffice is OK though FWIW Office 2007 is superb
Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - geoff1248
We run Office 2003 Pro with Vista on a dual core PC with no problems whatsoever. Just make sure that you download ALL the updates for both Vista and Office and that you have Vista drivers for all your peripherals such as printers/scanners (in many cases however the XP drivers work just fine on Vista).
Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - JH
John,
yes, I'm doing it. Vista is proving rock solid so far.

I will now duck!

JH
Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - John S
Thanks all! I'll load Office 2003 on the laptop. Vista seems ok so far, just the usual problems with finding your way round a new OS - oh and finding Vista compatible firewall and Antivirus programmes. As for Works, well, I found it amazing that I had to install some software to read a document written in Works Word processor in Word on the desk top.

JS
Is Office 2003 compatible with Vista? - Baskerville
I had to install some software to read a document written in Works Word processor
in Word on the desk top.


It's called lock-in. Ultimately your data belongs to Microsoft.
Broadband Speeds - Armitage Shanks {p}
I live about 3 miles in a straight line from my local BT Exchange and my nominal 2mb/sec service seems adequate, pages load in a few seconds. At work my computer is remotely linked to its host or mainframe or whatever it is, thru a microwave link, and the pages load at the speed of light, or close to it. In general terms is broadband speed affected/reduced by the distance from the exchange and type of transmission (cable or copper wire?). Thank you.
Broadband Speeds - Altea Ego
In general terms is broadband speed affected/reduced by the distance from the exchange
Yes
and type of transmission (cable or copper wire?).
Yes
Thank you.
No problem.

------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Broadband Speeds - Stuartli
If you key in your phone number into:

eco.btwholesale.com/broadband1/

or www.adslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

you can find out what speeds are available.


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Broadband Speeds - cheddar
I live about 3 miles in a straight line from my local BT Exchange and
my nominal 2mb/sec service seems adequate pages load in a few seconds.

>>

If you are getting a genuine 2Mb then pages should load more quickly, sounds like it could be a router /modem issue or computer setup / speed problem.
Broadband Speeds - arnold2
There are many issues affecting your actual 'surfing' speed apart from the distance from the exchange unfortunately, many the ADSL companies don't tell you about !!

First, I would go to www.zen.co.uk/broadband/ZenBroadband.aspx , type your phone number into the checker, which should tell you the maximum speed you should get.

But the other issue is your service provider - it sounds to me like you have a heavily contended line, which means you may be sharing your internet with 49 other users doing heavy downloads all the time ! You could switch to another ISP with a less contended service like 20:1.

SNEAKY TRICK ALERT !
The other issue is the DNS Server - this is where all your internet traffic looks to find all the pages you visit. Your ISP's DNS Server is probably much slower than your one at work. In beleive there are some 3-rd party ones (it's just some numbers you type into your TCP/IP settings... I have my own server so fortunately I point it my own ! Also, you could ask your work if they don't mind you pointing your home machine at their DNS Servers - can't think they would mind - ask tech support !
Broadband Speeds - Citroënian {P}
Works DNS is unlikely to be publicly available; if you have your own DNS its performance will depend on where you're forwarding requests too- if it's still the ISPs DNS then you're not a whole lot better off. You could use the root hints directly but it would be massive overkill (imho) for a domestic setting.

I'd agree that the main problem is likely to be contention on your connection. You can often pay more (cf domestic- business) with your ISP to lower the ratio and hopefully get better speeds.

hth





-- Biggedy biggedy bong
Broadband Speeds - Altea Ego
Its probably due to the fact that the orginal poster is in an office with a T2 link, with 100MB/s connection to local proxy and dns, all cached and prefetched.

When you get home - anything will look slow after that.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Broadband Speeds - Citroënian {P}
{coughs, shuffles}

Hadn't read full OP - you may well be right there

{stares at feet, embarassed}
-- Biggedy biggedy bong
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - Dulwich Estate
We seem to have found ourselves with 3 non-working printers most likely due to drying out for lack of use. (2 brought back by uni students who didn't use them at all in an entire academic year).

I've tried cleaning heads with meths and also using the windows control panel cleaning thingy but with limited results. Sometimes I get a good page printed, but usually it's anywhere between blank and a scratchy half with a few big blobs thrown in.

I've used new cartridges too.

What next? I've seen cleaning cartridges for sale but don't know if they're any good. I've seen a £45 print head for our Canon i550 which will probably sort out the problem - but I could buy another printer for that.

Any ideas, please?
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - Altea Ego
Dump them

With a Canon Pixma iP1800 costing under £29 brand new complete with new catridges from amazon, its not worth messing around with the old ones.

You could spend more than that with new carts and cleaning carts for the old ones.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - cheddar
Canon Pixma iP1800 - a very good printer, absolutely top value, Canon are the qual /val leaders currently, you may find it comes with a black cartridige only though.
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - Dulwich Estate
Thank you for the blunt suggestions. Is that how it goes now - when your printer dries up through lack of use - just dump it.

As I've found before, new printers often have a small starter ink cartridge(s) and you soon need £20 to replace them - whether OE or substitutes. My needs are modest and it's so wasteful to dump them if a clean is good enough to keep them going. Maybe before I look at new ones I'll butcher an empty cartridge or two and fill them with meths as a flushing medium.

Surely 15 mins instead of £30 is worth a go. And what about all my new ink cartridges which (entirely as arranged by the manufacturers) won't now fit any budget priced new printers - eBay?
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - bell boy
I have to admit i use lexmark printers with the free cartridge and throw away the lot when replacement comes around,however my working enviroment is not ideal so i add this into the equation,oh and the cartridges are dearer than a new machine usually
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - cheddar
And what about all my new ink cartridges which (entirely as arranged by the manufacturers) won't now fit any budget
priced new printers - eBay?


I have a printer that takes the same Black 3e cartridges as an i550 so would take them off you, not the colours though cos mine uses seperate cartridges where as the i550 (IIRC) uses one combined colour cartridges.
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - Dulwich Estate
cheddar - what's your printer then? The i550 has one big black cartridge BCI-3eB and 3 separate colour ones: yellow, magenta and cyan.

I still can't believe people just chucking them.
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - Dulwich Estate
PS no more than 2 feet away from me is a working HP Deskjet 560C that's 12 years old. It's OK for black, but the Dpi for colour is poor but good enough for web page printing.
Inkjet / Bubble Jet not printing - cheddar
cheddar - what's your printer then? The i550 has one big black cartridge BCI-3eB and
3 separate colour ones: yellow magenta and cyan.


I have an iP4000r, it uses five cartridges:

Black BCI-6BK
Black BCI-3eBK
Cyan BCI-6C
Magenta BCI-6M
Yellow BCI-6Y

IIRC the BCI-3eBK is the same as the i550, not sure about the colours.

Regards.
Video Editing Software - hxj

I need some decent professional video capturing aand editing software - happy to pay for it.

Any personal recommendations out there?


Thanks
Video Editing Software - Kuang
Depends on what you mean by professional really. I always recommend the Adobe Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements double pack, which you can pick up on the high street for about £75 - both programs have three quarters of the features of the full versions and offer quicker ways to do almost all of the common tasks you'll find yourself faced with (albeit with slightly fewer custommisation options). Premiere Elements will do HD and has a great DVD mastering section, and you can incorporate Photoshop images with full transparency to act as credits, idents, overlays, etc.
Video Editing Software - Altea Ego
Top notch hardware helps too.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
Video Editing Software - cheddar
I am planning to try more vid editing with my new PC via Firewire, I had sync probs on the old one using USB transfer. The programme I have considered is Adobe Premier Elements, it is avaiable as a bundle with Photoshop Elements for about £90.
Video Editing Software - cheddar
Snap!
Video Editing Software - Kuang
Budget for some extra memory too if necessary - Elements responds far better if it has more to play with. 1gb is the minimum and will do just fine, but 2gb is noticeably better. If you're getting into it seriously you might also want to think about a fast external hard drive as raw video footage adds up very quickly, especially when Elements caches it in the various project folders.
Video Editing Software - hxj
Thanks for the advice. PC is a 2.8 Pentium dual core, with 2gb of RAM and a second 300GB SATAII drive. Hardware imho is fine.

Currently using both Serif Movie Plus 5 and what ever Windows offers, but neither really 'cuts the mustard'.

Notice that elements is on a free trial download so will try that.
Printer "control sheets" - bintang
As often as not, when I print something from the internet, the first page to emerge is what I call a "control sheet", containing only the website, time, date etc., which I don't want. Only the second and later sheets contain the information I want and these, in any case, contain any vital control details. Is there any way of preventing the wasted first sheet from coming through?
Printer "control sheets" - Citroënian {P}
Try print preview first then print only the pages you want?


-- Biggedy biggedy bong
Printer "control sheets" - Stuartli
In the printer's Properties, try temporarily altering the Print Pages configuration 1 to x (depending on how many pages) to 2 to x.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
Printer "control sheets" - bell boy
if you only want words why not cut and paste to word and then print it if you wish,this way you can jiggle it as well