Sudden Death

I just want to say that my PC died today. Apart from taking my email address book with it I'm reduced to using a Mac. I say "use" but that is an exaggeration as I haven't got an f'ing clue. I can't even get my poker site's software to install on it and I've no idea how I'm supposed to access my EHD.

Anyway just to let you know that I won't be posting any new stuff until I've bought a new PC.

By "buying a new pc" do you mean a pre-built or a build your own?

Building your own takes a lot of the mystery out of what goes on inside that box and you'll end up with a better system (but probably more expensive) as you won't be cheaping out on a few of the internal components like the big companies do nor will you have the price benefit of buying mass quantities of those components like they do either.

otiscleotus wrote:
Buying one mate. I wouldn't have a clue about building one.

OK you Mac users. What do use to open/zip RAR files?

Shadowman wrote:

I think this may work:

StuffIt Expander:

http://stuffit-expander.softonic.de/mac

Monkey D. Ruffy

Monkey D. Ruffy wrote:

That's right!

Free direct download is here
http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffitexpander/index.html

Sugarman wrote:
OK that seems to work (eventually). Thank you guys. It's a shame I can only see the images when I click on them. Did I mention that I hate Macs?

Shadowman, if your Mac is Intel-based you can instal Windows XP or Vista and use Boot Camp to run them. It will then look and feel as if you're still using a PC and you will no longer have any excuse to hate the Mac.

Hi Shadowman

I'm a Machead and I'm sure you can grow to love it as much as I do.

A few tips...

I have had some problems with the Stuffit expander on certain rar files, particularly if there is a complex password to open the file. Stuffit is great for autodownloading zips and stuff, but I also use this:

http://rarexpander.sourceforge.net/index.html

for when I encounter problems with particular files. Best to use the stutffit as the default expander and use the rarexpander for rare cases.

(Anothr tip: stuffit doesn't like it if rar files have really long names or have words divided by hyphens or underscores; an example: you download a file named 'jane-supermodel_photoset-blahblahblah-part001.rar'. Sometimes stuffit will refuse to open a file like this. But tis easily resolved. Simply insert a full stop and make the file name shorter. Using the same example: manually change the file names to 'jan.e-supermodel_photoset-blahblahblah-part001.rar'; and be sure to place a full stop in the same place in each rar file. Then try stuffit again. It will create a new folder just called 'jan' and then put the opened rar file inside it. Hope I've explained that so it makes sense!)

Also, search for a free download of flip4mac and install it. This allows you to watch WMV movies via Quicktime. Some WMV files don't play well on the Mac system. flip4mac is a very small file and it just attaches itself to your existing Quicktime programme so when you click on any wmv file it automatically opens it. Playback is faultless.

Cass

cassandrova wrote:

Everyone eventually does but they first have to 'unlearn' their PC. Once they do, they start to appreciate the Mac's user-friendliness and task-oriented applications, and it becomes hard to go back to the PC's inefficiency.

One other cool thing about stuffit is the ability to preview an archived file without having to download the whole thing. More info here https://www.forumophilia.com/topic23741.html

Shadowman wrote:


Here's what you do...
In Finder,
click the View tab
select as Icons
select Show View Options to change size, grid spacing etc.

The latest version of OSX (Leopard) also allows you to view pictures and preview videos using the Cover Flow option. Check it out - it's pretty cool. http://www.apple.com/macosx/

As you learn your way through the Mac - you didn't really mention how or what the symptoms were of your PC failing. The easy guess is that the hard drive puked.

After you get your new machine up and running a good way to get to learn the internal parts of one would be to replace the failed part in the old one. For example if it was the hard drive that puked you can purchase a new one from a retail store or online - you'd have two choices for the connection type - IDE (the more likely if the computer has a few years on it) or SATA; plus whatever you want the storage capacity to be.

Then you unplug the power, open up the case (which might be the toughest thing to figure out), unplug the power and IDE cables from the old one and take it out, check a jumper connection on the new one, put it in the case, reconnect the two cables. and it's installed.

Then it's reload the OS which you'll need your Windows XP (I'm assuming that's what you use) CD and it'll take care of the rest. If you don't have the CD (which I guess many pre-built machines no longer come with) I guess you'd have to get some help from the manufacturer. If you do have the CD it'll take care of the rest.

After Windows loads you'll probably need to load some stuff from your motherboard CD so you can connect to the internet (preferably through a cable and not wireless) and get a big load of updates for Windows and the failed machine should then be back in business.

By doing that you'll have gotten a good look at the internals of the computer and it won't be such a mystery. You might then try connecting your failed hard drive as a slave to the new one (taking care to reset the jumpers on both to a proper master/slave configuration) and see if you can recover any of the files on the old one.

If you've figured out how to use all those editing programs that you work with replacing a failed hard drive should be well within your ability, it's just doing it for the first time that's a bit unsettling.

Ladies and Gentleperves thank you so much for all of your advice, guidance and assistance above but I'm pleased to say that I won't be needing it. My PC is back up and running!!!! I accessed it in safe mode and was able to sort out the problem and it's now running faster and better than ever. The Mac is securely back in its box for the moment but I may resurrect it at some point and see if I can get to grips with it following the advice you've given me.

Once again thank you all for taking the time and trouble to offer guidance.