The Official Computer Tech Support Thread

[The Batlord]

Hey, just the thread I need. I've Googled this issue and never seen a straight answer. I've been told how to uninstall HP Support Assistant and HP Support Solutions Framework, but haven't really seen any good explanation of exactly what they do, whether they're necessary, and what will happen if I uninstall them. I think that they've involved with using HP **** like printers and such, but it's hard to get straight answers. They randomly seem to use upwards of 60% of my CPU's power, and for seemingly an indefinite period of time. So I need to know if I can safely get rid of them (I can still download them from HP's website if necessary) or I should just disable them until I do need them.

[Plankton]

Originally Posted by Aux-In

If serious: I dunno, probably has similar-but-different functionalities.

It was more a statement of free availability than anything else. Not everyone has MS Office. Still, it just seems like using a broom to comb your hair. It'll get the job done, but there are actual combs.

Originally Posted by The Batlord

Hey, just the thread I need. I've Googled this issue and never seen a straight answer. I've been told how to uninstall HP Support Assistant and HP Support Solutions Framework, but haven't really seen any good explanation of exactly what they do, whether they're necessary, and what will happen if I uninstall them. I think that they've involved with using HP **** like printers and such, but it's hard to get straight answers. They randomly seem to use upwards of 60% of my CPU's power, and for seemingly an indefinite period of time. So I need to know if I can safely get rid of them (I can still download them from HP's website if necessary) or I should just disable them until I do need them.

Unless you know what you're doing, then do that. It's pretty much RAM bloat, and is basically a catch-all for any issues regarding their products. It's a "Terminate and Stay Resident" application that will continually monitor your PC for any HP related issues that are hard coded into it's core system. If it were my PC, I'd remove it entirely.

[The Batlord]

Originally Posted by Plankton

Unless you know what you're doing, then do that. It's pretty much RAM bloat, and is basically a catch-all for any issues regarding their products. It's a "Terminate and Stay Resident" application that will continually monitor your PC for any HP related issues that are hard coded into it's core system. If it were my PC, I'd remove it entirely.

That's pretty much what I figured: I can probably uninstall it without problems, but since I'm not 100% on that and it's not causing any more headaches then I might as well just leave well enough alone.

[Aux-In]

Originally Posted by Plankton

It was more a statement of free availability than anything else.

What do you even use to resize photos? I haven't used Open Office in about a decade, but too much of it had file formatting issues when porting to MS Word. Excel is everything in one. All other photo editing programs want you to resize with actual width and length numbers, only to have the resize not be the actual size you were going for. Excel is drag-and-drop resizing. It's easy.

All of these types of free programs do get the job done, but they are clunky in both programming and design.

Originally Posted by Plankton

Not everyone has MS Office.

I use it for work, but they have everything locked down, so I bought it on my own to enhance my skills. I use it for personal budgeting and building spreadsheets and all of that stuff. The photo stuff is just bonus. So, if I have Excel open and get an idea for a photo resize, it can take as little and 30 seconds to do it, and I get on with my spreadsheetin' without having ever left the program.

And I certainly wasn't going to drop upward of $600 for CS6 or something like Photoshop when I only created mixed-media art for fun.

Originally Posted by Plankton

Still, it just seems like using a broom to comb your hair. It'll get the job done, but there are actual combs.

It's actually more like having your own hair salon. I'm a naturalist with photography most of the time, so if my lighting, framing or angle isn't right, I keep taking it until I get it. Cropping is about as much as I change things.

[Plankton]

Originally Posted by Aux-In

What do you even use to resize photos? I haven't used Open Office in about a decade, but too much of it had file formatting issues when porting to MS Word. Excel is everything in one. All other photo editing programs want you to resize with actual width and length numbers, only to have the resize not be the actual size you were going for. Excel is drag-and-drop resizing. It's easy.

Am I missing something? If I want to resize an image to 300x400, then that's what I get. Never once in the thousands of times I've resized images did I ever get anything different than what I've input. You must be doing something horribly wrong.

Originally Posted by Aux-In

All of these types of free programs do get the job done, but they are clunky in both programming and design.

lol No they're not. To someone who doesn't know any better, it can certainly seem like it though.

Originally Posted by Aux-In

I use it for work, but they have everything locked down, so I bought it on my own to enhance my skills. I use it for personal budgeting and building spreadsheets and all of that stuff. The photo stuff is just bonus. So, if I have Excel open and get an idea for a photo resize, it can take as little and 30 seconds to do it, and I get on with my spreadsheetin' without having ever left the program.

And I certainly wasn't going to drop upward of $600 for CS6 or something like Photoshop when I only created mixed-media art for fun.

You don't have to drop any money for Photoshop. CS2 is available for free. In fact the entire CS2 Suite is available... for free. Also, there's Gimp, Infranview, etc... all for free. You're just stuck in your way of doing things.

CS stands for Creative Suite by Adobe, and it contains Photoshop, btw.

Originally Posted by Aux-In

It's actually more like having your own hair salon. I'm a naturalist with photography most of the time, so if my lighting, framing or angle isn't right, I keep taking it until I get it. Cropping is about as much as I change things.

My God, you need to just learn how to use an image editing program. More robust, more control, more everything.

Originally Posted by Aux-In

What do you even use to resize photos?

Photoshop. Illustrator. Sometimes Corel Draw. I also use AutoCAD just for the calculator.

[grindy]

Originally Posted by Aux-In

For those who were curious about using Excel to resize photos, here's a quick vid on how to do it. The video is a bit choppy due to how it was encoded, but these are the steps.



1) Open Excel.
2) Click on the "Insert" tab.
3) Choose your photo and click "insert."
4) Take one of the four corners and resize it. This keeps it proportional.
5) Once resized, right click and choose "copy." Or, you can use the keyboard shortcut of "ctrl + c."
6) Open MS Paint.
7) Use the keyboard shortcut of "ctrl + v" to paste the image into MS Paint.
8) Click the "crop" button to remove any excess bordering around the photo.
9) Save the photo: choose the file type you want, typically "jpeg." Then save the file to your desired location.

You could do other photo manipulation in Excel, but it's not shown here. Once you get used to this method, it's very easy and quick to do. Now, if there's a way to save an Excel image as a jpeg directly from Excel, without exporting it into another program, I don't know how to do it.

But you could just resize it in Paint.

[Aux-In]

Originally Posted by Plankton

Am I missing something? If I want to resize an image to 300x400, then that's what I get. Never once in the thousands of times I've resized images did I ever get anything different than what I've input. You must be doing something horribly wrong.

So you know in your head when you resize it from 1600x1800 to 300x400 what it's visually going to look like ahead of time? Otherwise it's a guessing game if it will be the size you need by manual entry. In Photobucket, for example, I have had to resize it a few times because it wasn't right. Also, it can appear a different size when posting on a forum than what the actual size is. Ergo, actual sizes vary in their appearance. Any redundancy and inefficiency of manual entry is eliminated with how I do it.

Look, I'm sure there are plenty of programs that do what Excel does where you don't need manual entry, but I don't need to learn every single new program that comes out, particularly when I'm just an end user and not a professional artist.

lol No they're not. To someone who doesn't know any better, it can certainly seem like it though.

I've used Gimp and Open Office in the past. Not a noob, bro.

You don't have to drop any money for Photoshop. CS2 is available for free. In fact the entire CS2 Suite is available... for free. Also, there's Gimp, Infranview, etc... all for free. You're just stuck in your way of doing things.

CS stands for Creative Suite by Adobe, and it contains Photoshop, btw.

I was aware that Photoshop was a part of the CS suite, and also Photoshop by itself (I think). Been awhile since I looked into it, though.

My God, you need to just learn how to use an image editing program. More robust, more control, more everything.

Other things I've used are photobucket and MS Photo Viewer, but the same thing there. There are a million programs available, and since I can do it all in Excel, and it has portable skills that I use for work, there enlies your answer. I don't need to learn every program that comes out.

Photoshop.

All I need is something a little more advanced than MS Paint. I've never used Photoshop. My system is a perfect fit for me, and I've never felt it limited my creativity for what I need it for, other than some things I can do w/Gimp

Every single thing Earth can be used for the creative process and shouldn't be poo pooed.

[Aux-In]

Originally Posted by grindy

But you could just resize it in Paint.

I can insert something like, say, 10 photos at a time, highlight them all, and use proportional resizing to shrink them, all at the same time. You can't do that with Paint. Also with Paint, once you set something in, like text, you can't remove it; it becomes part of the piece, or overlaps onto another. In Excel, different elements stay different elements until you put them all together.

[Plankton]

Originally Posted by Aux-In

<snip>

Every single thing Earth can be used for the creative process and shouldn't be poo pooed.

Look at you go. I've been a Professional Graphic Artist for over 25 years. I'm just trying to instill some of that professionalism into someone that could use it. But hey, keep on keepin on.

[Aux-In]

Originally Posted by Plankton

Look at you go. I've been a Professional Graphic Artist for over 25 years. I'm just trying to instill some of that professionalism into someone that could use it. But hey, keep on keepin on.

I literally have no clue where you are even coming from whatsoever. I was just creating something for fun, and you jumped on me and I don't know why. I was simply stating how something I made was created; what made up the elements of the piece. There are zero issues on my end for the applications I use, and I'm not going to change a single thing. That's it. It's not like I ever meant for it to be serious art, but I still think it's cool.

I'm happy with what I created, and how it was created.