ahh should have thought of that. thanks!

edit: doesn't look like it is working. i guess i will just let it sit for a few hours and hope it works.

happens to me every time i try to use megaupload. never found a solution...

i let it sit for an hour or so and i think it worked.

Are you guys using Megaupload anonymously?
I know that if you make a free account and upload like that, your speed is supposed to be faster. And maybe the upload controls won't be so cocked up.
If you're already logged in, maybe try the opposite.

i ended up using mediafire. i think you were right. it just isn't showing an accurate readout of what is happening.

I've had that happen with Mediafile & Megaupload loads of time.

Deleting any cookies from there is usually the quickest & easiest way of fixing it.

ahhh sounds logical. thanks

A couple of things, firstly, my computer keeps turning itself off occasionally - usually when I try to play a game or do something too consuming. What is the most likely cause of this problem? I've had this computer for, I don't know, maybe 4 years or so.

Also, I'm looking into making my own computer able to run some good, current-gen games, etc. anyone got any hints or suggestions on that? I'll probably spend around £500 on it, probably a bit more. Not looking for some super-uber-special-chocolatey-fudge-coated-awesome computer, but I'd like it to be quite good.

Most likely your computer is overheating.
Go to Google and search for a free CPU temperature monitoring program. Run it while you're putting a lot of load on your computer and it should warn you if it's getting too hot.

When your processor reaches a certain borderline temperature, there's a mechanism in place to shut your computer down so that your shit doesn't get fried. Ensure your computer is adequately ventilated and all fans are in proper working order. If you're using a laptop, do NOT place it on your bed as the vents under your laptop will be obstructed.
If necessary, you can buy (for very little money) a fan-stand for your laptop that circulates hot air away from the under-side of your laptop.

If none of that works, you may need to add more thermal compound between your processor and the heatsink above it, and/or replace the fan on your motherboard. This is hard to do for a laptop, so weigh your options in terms of price and effort, especially considering the age of your computer. Parts do just eventually begin to fail.

This is all general information, as I'm not aware of your specific system and whether it's a desktop or not. Laptops are notorious for overheating and hard to repair. Desktops are a lot less likely to overheat and the problem may be indicative of hardware malfunction, which happens to be easier to replace than with laptops.


As far as your computer running newer games, you'll probably find yourself getting a better video card and more RAM. That's easy (for a desktop) and less costly than buying a new processor, which may not be necessary. Giving us the specs of your computer would help recommendations.

I'm using a desktop PC at the moment and overheating does seem the most likely option, but I have made sure all fans on the PC are unobscured, etc.

My current specs are:

Intel Pentium D CPU 3.00GHz 3.00GHz
1.00GB RAM
Intel(R) 82945G Express Chipset Family Graphics Card

Definitely download a CPU temperature monitor to confirm.

As far as your RAM, you should be running 2 GB at LEAST. I assume you're running XP 32bit so you can put up to 4 GB of RAM, although the operating system will only make 3.25 available to you. The more RAM, the better.
Also, if you do upgrade your RAM, go with DDR2 (double data rate / dual channel) and get a pair of them. Doing this will let them run in dual channel mode and you'll have a lot better performance. I'd say you should go ahead and get 2 sticks of 1GB (preferably Kingston) DDR2 RAM with no higher than a CAS latency of 5. Whatever you do, just make sure both sticks are exactly the same and are not "rebuilt". Then you can add those two sticks to your existing 1 (or pair of 2 512 sticks, provided you have 4 slots)

As far as your graphics card, you're using an onboard graphics card and should seriously consider a better one. You can find add-in PCI-E graphics cards at any computer retail store. Your best bet in this department is either Nvidia or ATI. Just find something with at least 256MB, preferably 512MB. (you can even get 1GB, but it won't be necessary. I can play Crysis on high settings with an Nvidia 9600GT at 512MB)
One thing to keep in mind is what kind of ports will be on the card itself. If you're connecting to your monitor with a standard VGA connector (blue D connector), then you'll need one of those on the card. If you're connecting with DVI (white connector) then you'll need one of those, respectively. If you use dual monitors, you'll obviously need a card with dual ports of whatever you use to connect the monitors.

Your processor is decent at 3 GHZ, so I wouldn't worry too much about that because they're more expensive to upgrade. I run a dual core and it's pretty speedy, but it's pricey. I'd upgrade the other two items before thinking about upgrading your processor, as you may find that it's more than sufficient for what you want to do.

So in recap, upgrades to look into:

RAM

• (2) DDR2 1GB Kingston sticks at 400mhz, CAS latency 5 (or lower)

VIDEO

• (1) PCI-E Nvidia or ATI graphics card at 256MB or 512MB

If you do those two upgrades, you should be able to play any game currently on the PC market.
But before you even think of upgrading, you need to track down the exact cause of the overheating, because you may end up having to replace something more important than an upgrade.

Thank you, this is extremely helpful. If it turns out it is overheating that's the problem, I'll probably just get what I need to fix that and then upgrade the video card and RAM, as you said, rather than make a new computer from scratch, although that is something I want to do at some point anyway, just for the experience.

Only thing is, my friend who recently made his own computer told me to get DDR3 RAM, or something along those lines?

chances are DDR3 will NOT work with your mobo. i like Speccy for temps and more. what does your core idle at?

I have MP3s in windows media player that I want to transfer to itunes. When I go to itunes and hit add new folder to library and select the folder I want, nothing happens. What should i do?

DOM:

To go along with what Trace87 said, DDR3 (triple channeling) can only be run by motherboards that support it. You'd have to look up your motherboard online and see if it supports it, but chances are it won't due to it being a low-end every-day consumer type of computer that's 4 years old. It might be worth a look, but I'm pretty sure your motherboard won't support DDR3.

I have two cores but I'm not sure what you mean by what they idle at. That program's very helpful by the way, thank you. Yes, my motherboard is only DDR2 compatible

You're right, my motherboard is only DDR2 compatible. But if I were to get a new motherboard DDR3 would be a good feature to have right?


Hmm, you could maybe try adding the songs one by one? Not really sure I'm afraid.

Idle temps can be found by opening speccy when you have no other programs running.

Yes buying a mobo compatible with DDR3 would be a good idea moving forward. However this could also cause you to have to replace your CPU(processor) because the socket type(processor slot) on your mobo.

I really have no idea about this.

I wouldn't upgrade an entire motherboard just for the sake of DDR3 compatibility, but if you're going to upgrade your mobo anyway, it's definitely a good idea to ensure that your processor is supported first, if you're not planning on getting another processor.
DDR3 RAM is more expensive than DDR2, and you need sets of 3 for triple channeling to work, so you're looking at spending more money than you may want or need to.

Honestly, my mobo is only DDR2 compatible and it's still a beast. If I were you, I'd just settle on what you have and do those upgrades we talked about and you'll see a massive difference. Wait to upgrade your mobo and processor when there's a real need to.

i still run ddr2 and my computer is pretty awesome.

HEEEEEEEEEEELP! My laptop has a virus. My baby! :( I don't know what to do. Currently using desktop computer, but in desperate need of help. Laptop will start normally and bring me to my desktop, but then whenever I click on anything, I get a message saying ''x.y file is infected''. I don't have an anti virus programme, and my computer won't let me surf the internet, instead a page comes up warning me that it's too dangerous to surf normally, so it's a bit of a pickle. :(

Yea, if you don't have an anti-virus program, those popups ARE the virus. Go to a computer where you can utilize google and type in the exact message you get from the virus, and search it. You'll get hundreds of sites explaining how to fix it step by step.

AND USE A DAMN ANTIVIRUS PROGRAM!!!!
It's not hard, people.
www.avast.com
It's free.

but some people like to live life on the edge.

Can someone help me use this Delta The Playstation Autorunner? It just gives me this:
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/555...screenshot.png
..and I don't know what to do with it.

thats pretty obscure. better off finding a board specifically about whatever that is and asking there.

Well someone here on MB (I think it was Urban) recommended it to me, so I was thinking someone here might know. This is not the only site I've posted this question, though.

What is it?

my guess is a playstation emulator.

Then this thread might interest him: Help me with this Delta The PlayStation AutoRunner! - Emuforums.com

While simultaneously insulting him.

i was gonna post that earlier haha.

Ah well, I'm not condemning him yet.. he might have already seen it anyway. It would be hard to miss, being the first result on Google when you search the name of the program. :pssst:

Hey Freebase I've run into a slight snag in a future monitor prospect I've been working on. I just got a VGA splitter so I can plug two monitors into my computer. I had my regular 19.5" monitor plugged in and then the 42" screen TV that sits unplayed next to my computer. However when I turned on both monitors I found to my dismay that both screens were a little discolored. My desktop monitor was more of a pinkish color and my TV monitor was more of a lime green color. I unplugged them and just have my desktop monitor plugged in right now and everything seems to be fine. This was more of a test for my plan on getting a second monitor so I could duel screen stuff for work and have more room to use the multiple programs and files I have open. Will I have the same effect as with the much larger TV?

Well firstly, if you're planning on using dual monitors in such a way that you're able to move program windows from one monitor to the other (extended desktop) then you won't be able to achieve that with a splitter. To achieve that, you need to have a dual head video card. (Video card that has two separate VGA outs)
If you only have one output, the only thing you can accomplish by using a splitter is having the same thing on two screens, and at the same resolution... which doesn't accomplish anything as far as screen real estate is concerned. You'll just have a larger version of what's on your monitor, on your TV.
The only other way around this is if you have a laptop and you use the laptop screen as one monitor, and the VGA output as another. Otherwise, you might need to upgrade your video card. (Believe me, it's so worth it... once you go dual monitor, you will NEVER go back)

As far as why you're getting off-colored screens when you use the splitter, it could be a problem with trying to split the coloring between two monitors... I'm not sure. Have you tried just plugging in the TV? If the coloring issue is only present when both the monitor and TV are connected, I wouldn't even try to diagnose a problem beyond just assuming your graphics card isn't set up to be able to handle that kind of thing.

Huh... my bosses husband has the same computer as me and is far less computer literate yet he's running a duel monitor pretty well. He might of had his son fix it without him really knowing what his son was doing... Oh well I need to make a few minor upgrades to this piece of junk anyways. Thanks for the quick reply.

He's not using a splitter. It's physically impossible to do true dual screens (extended desktop) without hardware that makes it possible, which in the case of video cards, is part of having two outputs, but most importantly the hardware to make it work correctly.

If he doesn't have dual outputs on his video card, then he's using some kind of hardware splitter that I don't know about. Which is completely possible. I just know it's not possible with a simple Y cable.

i have had this really annoying problem with my free ram. i have this nice program that keeps track of the amount of free ram i have and it has a function i can use that defrags/frees up ram(memturbo). quite often i have this problem where my free memory grows lower and lower incrementally until i have to restart to reset it. it must be some program that is fucked up. but i'm guessing the solution would be a pain in the ass(restarting, running programs i use frequently by themselves and watching the free ram counter and using the process of elimination to find the culprit). have an easier idea?

1 - Have you relied on anything else besides Memturbo to validate that your free memory is indeed getting smaller? (Very important question)
2 - What are you doing when this is happening (Browsing, downloading movies, watching movies, playing games, etc.)?
3 - How much RAM do you have?

1 - yes, task manager.
2 - it depends mostly i just use google chrome, mediamonkey and jdownloader. but i am also known to use VLC media player and various games.
3 - 4gb (running w7).

also of note: i think svchost.exe is the process that usually hogs the ram.

Well, it's ordinary that there can be multiple instances of the svchost process running at any given time, but it is definitely necessary as svchost processes are necessary for groups of other processes to function. You couldn't disable them if you tried.

Anyway, that's not your problem.
Actually, I'm not quite sure what the extent of your problem is.. Have you ever gotten an "out of memory" error message?
Just to make sure, go ahead and operate full capacity and watch your free memory get lower. Let it get all the way to zero. If you don't get an "out of memory" error message from Windows or get a blue screen or any other major screwup, then just throw that memturbo program out.
ESPECIALLY if it gets low and Memturbo "suggests" you buy something from them...

Oh and by the way, you can't "defrag" RAM. The program is already conning you just by saying it does.