The Official Computer Tech Support Thread

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by Cadrian

naaa it didnt work... Sorry I went back and edited my post but I guess ya didnt see it.

I think I am going to change my DVD drive to Drive Z: and that should push the virtual drive to D: when I boot up which should set all my other drives correctly. I know not having my burner set for D: is going bite me in the ass when it comes to default programs that want to burn there but I am sure I can change those.

Sucks I gotta live with it though

Oops.

Nah you won't have to worry about the burner being set as Z. It's recognized through the hardware drivers regardless of the drive letter you assign it, so go ahead with that.

Another thing that crossed my mind is whether you recently installed some kind of burning software, or even a virtual drive program like Alcohol... Some programs like that assign you a virtual drive by default. If this is happening and you have one of those programs set to load on startup of your computer, that could have been the reason your virtual cd drive reappeared after you re-started.
Just thinking out loud here.

[Cadrian]

Originally Posted by Freebase Dali

Oops.

Nah you won't have to worry about the burner being set as Z. It's recognized through the hardware drivers regardless of the drive letter you assign it, so go ahead with that.

Another thing that crossed my mind is whether you recently installed some kind of burning software, or even a virtual drive program like Alcohol... Some programs like that assign you a virtual drive by default. If this is happening and you have one of those programs set to load on startup of your computer, that could have been the reason your virtual cd drive reappeared after you re-started.
Just thinking out loud here.

I GOT IT!!!! NOISE hinted at it in a early post but I didnt look at it because I havent touched it in forever... Then you said Burning Software I found PowerISO has a Virtual drive I went under options and disabled it!!! MUAHAHHAH


I dont know why all of a sudden it added a virtual drive considering I dont even think I have used it in like 3 months.

[Freebase Dali]

Good stuff!

[stormjh]

MY flatmates got an issue with vista where he cant take a file off read only, he'll change it in properties, then it'll just go back when he presses ok, we also had a look at the permissions in the security tabs, any ideas?

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by stormjh

MY flatmates got an issue with vista where he cant take a file off read only, he'll change it in properties, then it'll just go back when he presses ok, we also had a look at the permissions in the security tabs, any ideas?

Make sure he's signed into the account that made the file, aka, the owner of the file. Also, if you take the file and move it to a different physical drive, all the permissions should reset and you should be able to make any changes necessary.

[stormjh]

Ok I'll give that a go

[TheBig3]

So my D:\ drive disappeared. The Cd-Rom thingy. Gone.

Its not on my computer, it won't open when I hit the button. I was using Windows XP (original) and thought when I upgraded to Version 3 it would be fixed but no.

The weird thing is, occasionally (1 in 100 times) it will open, but I can't do a damn thing the rest of the time.

Any solutions?

[Freebase Dali]

Originally Posted by TheBig3KilledMyRainDog

So my D:\ drive disappeared. The Cd-Rom thingy. Gone.

Its not on my computer, it won't open when I hit the button. I was using Windows XP (original) and thought when I upgraded to Version 3 it would be fixed but no.

The weird thing is, occasionally (1 in 100 times) it will open, but I can't do a damn thing the rest of the time.

Any solutions?

Sounds like it could be a physical connectivity issue. If you want to check without opening up your case, simply restart your computer and enter the BIOS, and see if your CD drive is listed. If it isn't, you know there's a connection issue, or your device has totally failed.

It's not a bad idea to check the physical connection between your CD drive and the mobo anyway. If gunk buildup is causing intermittent issues with your drive, it can be fixed simply by disconnecting and reconnecting the cable on both the drive side and the mobo side a few times. (Ensure you finalize with a good solid connection that doesn't wiggle)
While you're at it, check and see what the manufacturer and model number of your drive is. If re-seating the connections doesn't do it, then you'll want to search online at the manufacturer's web site and download the latest driver for your CD-rom. Install it, and restart your computer to fix any possible driver issues that could be causing your problem.

Let us know if that solves it. If it doesn't, we may have to look at registry editing, which is a lot more complex, but do-able.

P.S...
If you open up your computer case, make sure you discharge any possible static electricity you have built up on you. You probably don't have an ESD wrist strap, but you can simply touch the case while it's plugged in and that will do it. Afterward, make sure to unplug the computer before opening it up.


Edit:
This is all assuming the computer isn't a laptop. If it's a laptop, you can omit the physical step unless your drive is removable. In that case, pulling it out and putting it back in several times should suffice. If it's not removable, just go to the BIOS and see if the drive is listed. If it is, continue on with the driver installation. If not, you need a new CD drive.

[littleknowitall]

Im just guessing there might be someone who's done something similar in terms of education I'm currently half way through a first year BTEC National diploma in IT, second year I'll be doing games programming using Dark Basic/ Edit software I was wondering if anyone on here would have the know how to help me through it if I get stuck at all. Starting to look at it now and having a few tiffs.

[Burning Down]

I don't have time to go through the entire thread at the moment, so this question may have been answered already. Here goes:

What is the best anti-virus/anti-spyware program for a Windows 7 laptop that I can get for under $100? I know there are several different ones out there (Norton, Trend Micro, etc.), but is there one that really "stands out" and works well?

I also have a new Mac Book Pro laptop. I've been using Macs for a long time and know that they aren't generally prone to viruses and such, but I still like the security of an anti-virus/spyware program. Is there one that works well with Mac OS X Snow Leopard?