• Bill_Bright

    Bill_Bright

    @bill_bright

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    • in reply to: Setting up a Brother Laser Printer #2667764

      I never, as in NEVER EVER install the printer makers “Full Software Package”. If you do, you will also install all sorts of monitoring and communications software, and other applications you do NOT need, most likely would never use, and probably would not want on your system. These would include software programs that load every time you start Windows.

      Some “sound” nice – like a program that automatically checks for, and installs updates when they become available. But, if you don’t need all those programs, you don’t need yet another program checking for updates. And when it comes to basic hardware devices like printers, the fact is, drivers rarely ever need updating.

      So those programs generally just add bloat (resource hogging apps) to you system while adding no value.

      So I agree with Paul. Just connect the printer to your computer (or network for networked devices) and odds are, Windows will detect it and install the necessary driver (and only the driver) for you.

      If, in the rare case Windows does not recognize the printer, you can visit the maker’s website for that device and download and install the latest driver.

      Your driver is located here. In the small “What’s new” window, scroll down and you will see the printer driver only option.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: Is it the PSU? #2620182

      I think of the PSU as being one of the very few components with moving parts.

      Sadly, you told us very little about this computer. Yes, the PSU will have a cooling fan, but the case may have several. The CPU cooler likely has one too. And if you have hard drives (and not SSD), hard drives have motors (thus moving parts) too.

      If this is the PSU fan, you should be able stick your ear by the exhaust vent and hear the noise coming from the PSU.

      For your case and CPU fans, you can VERY CAREFULLY reach in and gently touch the center hub of the fans for just a second. This will cause the fan rotation speed to slow down and speed up momentarily and that should change the sound of the noise – letting you identify which fan is making the noise.

      Hard to reach fans (including in the PSU) can be reached using a wooden Popsicle/glue stick.

      The noise from drive motors (if you have more than one hard drive) can be more difficult to isolate because you cannot touch and slow down the motor, plus the sound often reverberates throughout the case. Often you can GENTLY rest your finger on the drive and “feel” the vibration. If you have more than one drive, unplug the power cable from the secondary fans.

      You might also use the inner tube of a paper towel roll as a stethoscope.

      If this is a drive motor making the noise, you need to back up any data files you don’t want to lose NOW – if not sooner.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: Does heavy web browser usage kill SSD’s? #2614525

      Again while getting up to speed on SSD’s, I ran across numerous internet articles regarding how hard numerous read/write/erase cycles are on SSD longevity.

      First, kudos to you for doing your homework and asking questions. However, I really wish this nonsense would go away. Or at least that the authors would have the journalistic integrity to put it all into proper perspective. And for sure, they need to date their articles.

      Yes, it is absolutely true that numerous write cycles (not read – no impact, and forget about erase – insignificant) impact longevity. So be very careful. If you write (save) several 100 gigabytes of data every single day, 365 days a year for the next 10+ years, you will wear out your SSD!!!! I say again, 100s of gigabytes, every day, for the next 10+ years.

      Those sites recommend trying to “minimize” as much of this activity as possible by turning off stuff that you don’t absolutely need/utilize including minimal  tabbing and restricting the Cache size, even moving it onto a secondary HDD or “disposable/replaceable SSD.

      Then those guys are ignorant idiots who have failed to do their homework, or they are basing that advice on early editions of the first generation of SSDs from 20 years ago.

      Am I being sarcastic? Very! Am I being truthful? Absolutely!!!!

      Understand even busy data centers are more and more often using SSDs to cache their most frequently accessed data.

      Do also note that SSDs are ideally suited for Page Files. See Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives and scroll down to, “Frequently Asked Questions, Should the pagefile be placed on SSDs?” While the article is getting old and was written for Windows 7, it applies to W10/11 too and even more so today since wear problems of early generation SSDs are no longer a problem and each new generation of SSD just keeps getting better and better.

      Why would so many manufacturers use only SSDs in today’s laptops, tablets, even PCs if they were going to wear out soon? And do those authors seriously think thing all the PhDs, computer scientists, and engineers doing the development at Microsoft are stupid?? Or worse, that they are smarter than all those experts?

      Windows knows how to manage SSDs just fine. LEAVE THE DEFAULTS ALONE!!!!!

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      4 users thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: Hot Weather – How is your PC’s power supply? #2576348

      The hot weather should have no effect on power supplies unless your home does not have AC.

      As for having all our computers on a UPS, I agree completely. But it definitely is not necessary for it to have a sinewave output. That is marketing hogwash from the makers of pure sinewave UPSs. Stepped approximated outputs have supported switched power supplies just fine for 40 years. No reason they can’t today.

      Nothing against pure sinewave UPS. If you can find one that meets your needs at a competitive price, go for it. But don’t think you need one. Any decent PC PSU will work just fine otherwise.

      Remember, the UPS is only providing that output when on battery during full power outage. Even here in Tornado Alley, that might be 1 hour total out of an entire year.

      Note too EVGA says no problem. See https://www.evga.com/support/faq/FAQdetails.aspx?faqid=59443

      And while Seasonic recommends pure, they also have no problem if the UPS is a quality UPS such as made by APC, Cyberpower, Triplite, etc. See  https://knowledge.seasonic.com/article/7-what-type-of-ups-does-seasonic-recommend

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: Deleting Pictures from an SD card #2552436

      Quick question – I wondered what the best way was to delete pictures from the SD card in my camera?

      My intention is to batch delete pictures that I no longer want to keep on the DS card – not individually, but a group at a time.

      First, it does not matter which method you use in terms of the effectiveness of the delete. By that I mean this method is not more “secure” or more complete than that method. If you delete a file, the space becomes available.

      Based on your stated intention of wanting to delete multiple pictures in one sitting, the better question might be, “What is the easiest way to delete multiple pictures from my SD card?”

      On my current Canon and my last Sony cameras, using the cameras’ menu, I could only delete them one at a time, or format the card to delete them all. There is no option to select multiple. Just all or 1. And if deleting more than 1 or 2 at once, using the camera’s menu system was a tedious process, especially on the camera’s tiny LCD display panel and these 70 year old eyes.

      But with a card reader attached to my PC, it is simple to insert the card into the reader then delete multiple pictures at once with Windows File Manager. Not only much easier, MUCH easier to see what I was doing on my big computer monitors, but much faster too.

      Moderator Note: Edit to remove HTML.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: Is it possible to swap out my Bluetooth adapter? #2550984

      Well, since you told us absolutely nothing about this computer, or what kind of adapter you currently have (dongle, card, integrated surface mount, etc.) no way of knowing if you can swap it out.

      What is wrong with the current one? Have you tried just adding the second and disabling the first?

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

    • in reply to: Building a PC to put on my network #2550567

      I am quite sure you can NOT rip more than one CD at a time on the same computer. Think of the process as a 1-armed robot sorting mail. The computer (the robot) can only grab one letter (one tune from the CD) at a time, then stuff it in recipient’s box (the disk). It is all “sequential”. You would need multiple computers (or a very fancy – and expensive – multiple processor computer) to do “parallel” copying – more than one CD at a time.

      For the record, I have ripped over 600 CDs to my computer – or rather I ripped the songs I like from over 600 CDs. In some cases, that meant the entire CD. In others, just 1 or 2 songs from the CD. That amounted to 3,728 songs in 443 folders. Together, they take up less than 60GB of space.

      FYI – not sure what you intend to do with your CDs after ripping them to your computer. It is important to understand, for licensing purposes and remain 100% legal, you must keep the original CDs in your possession. If you decide to sell (or even give away) or destroy the original CDs, you must erase all copies of the tunes.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

    • in reply to: power consumption #2529832

      If I can find wattage or amperage I can determine kilowatt hours, or consumption.

      Not really. The problem is, computer power consumption is never consistent. It is constantly varying from idle, demanding a few watts, up to heavily tasked demanding several hundred watts, then back down again, all in a matter of a few seconds.

      I agree with Cybertooth’s suggestions but none of those “log” or keep track of the demands over time. And unless you connect everything (monitors, external drives, etc.) through the UPS or the Kill-A-Watt meter too, you only get a partial picture.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: power consumption #2529815

      There is no “typical”. That’s like asking, “What is the typical fuel consumption of cars with 4 wheels?

      There are just too many different types and configurations to even define the typical desktop.

      I might suggest you visit a good power supply calculator like the eXtreme OuterVision PSU Calculator and plug in some specific hardware components. This will help tell you the maximum power (in watts) that computer will draw.

      That said, it is extremely rare for every component (RAM, motherboard, CPU, GPU, drives, fans, etc.) to demand maximum power at the exact same point in time.

      Sleep consumption would require you to visit each component’s data sheet and research how much it consumes with in sleep mode – “IF” that spec is even published. I will say in most cases, the newer (in terms of state of the art) the device, the more efficient it will be. DDR5 RAM, for example is more efficient than DDR4.

      If you know the wattage, you can calculate current. The basic formula is P=IE (power = current x voltage). Therefore, I = P/E.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: Is 2x4GB RAM better than 1x8GB RAM? #2472350

      Just fit the max. you can afford. Crucial, and most of the other quality brands, will refund/replace but ensure you go through their memory configurators to select the exact version for your specific machine.

      ^^^This^^^

      I never buy replacement RAM from Dell. It tends to be more expensive and as noted, they don’t make it anyway.

      If you use Crucial’s RAM wizard and buy suggested RAM directly from Crucial, they guarantee it will work. We have upgraded dozens of Dell (and other brand) laptops (and PCs) over the years with Crucial RAM suggested by their wizard and not once ran into compatibility problems.

      I recently upgraded my own MSI laptop’s RAM from 1 x 8GB to 2 x 8GB by adding 1 x 8GB of Crucial RAM. I will note that the price from Crucial was $10 less than the exact same from Amazon! 🙂 And note the original RAM is not Crucial.

      Adding RAM the new stick should be exactly the same as the one installed (make, speed..)

      Sorry, but that is no longer completely true – while in most – not all, but most cases they should have the same technical specs (speed, size) to ensure dual channel, they do not have to be the same brand. For example, my MSI came with Hynix 8GB PC4-21300 DDR4-2666MHz and I paired that with Crucial 8GB PC4-21300 DDR4-2666MHz. It works perfectly with no problems.

      My secondary PC even has different brands and speeds for its pairs. That is, it has Corsair Vengeance LPS 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3000MHz and the 2nd pair is Kingston Fury Beast 16GB (2x8GB) 3200MHz DDR4. They work great together for 32GB total, running in dual channel. The only downside (if you can call it that) is they all work at the slower, 3000MHz speed.

      Many many years ago, it was necessary for pairs to be exact matches. But over the years, compliance with design specifications during the RAM manufacturing process, across the entire industry, have improved most significantly – thus ensuring RAM, regardless the brand, meets the design/published specs. RAM reliability has also improved such that it is actually hard to find any RAM from any maker that does not have a lifetime warranty!

      Additionally, CPU and motherboard memory management capabilities have also improved most significantly. This ensures 2 or 4 (or 3 or 6 for triple-channel) sticks, regardless their brands, even if slightly mismatched due to Man not yet able to create perfection 100% of the time, will still work together just fine.

      Decades ago, RAM sold in pairs as dual-channel were actually individually tested, matched, and packaged as dual-channel pairs before they left the factory. This was an expensive, logistical nightmare for the RAM makers – and those expenses were passed along to us consumers. Today, manufacturers do NOT test every stick – they don’t need to. They just grab two off the production line, toss them in the same package and ship them out.

      Last, the “marketing hype” claiming twice the performance for dual-channel RAM was just that, “hype”. Performance typically improves, just nothing close to twice.

      Still, more RAM typically provides the most bang for your upgrade $$$. I would much rather have 1 x 8GB of slow RAM in single channel than 1 x 4GB of fast RAM in dual.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      3 users thanked author for this post.
    • in reply to: Recycling my e-waste #2456902

      It is good you were able to “repurpose” your old electronics. That keeps that “hazardous waste” out of our landfills, oceans, and water supplies, and the stomachs of wildlife – at least for a little while.

      But eventually they too will die or become obsolete. It cannot just sit in your closet or on a store room shelf indefinitely. So when the time comes, do NOT just throw it in the trash. Research your local area for electronics recycling centers. Some retail outlets recycle products. Best Buy, by far, offers the best recycling services. Staples and Office Depot are okay. Sadly, Amazon and Walmart – who sell the most, offer little, if any recycling options.

      Many auto-parts and battery stores will recycle old batteries – particularly old sealed lead-acid batteries as found in UPS.

      Beyond that there may be an actual recycling center in your area. One in mine actually paid me $80 for the scrap value of the steel and aluminum, and the precious metals as found in processors and RAM modules. But more importantly, they recycled or destroyed the rest in an environmentally friendly, and EPA approved way. That $80 paid for a carpet remnant and a couple gallons of paint to turn my old electronics store room into a spare bedroom. 🙂

      Check your local Goodwill and Salvation Army donation centers too. Some accept old electronics and some will “wipe” your old hard drives for you. Some even will come and pick it up – if you have other useful household goods they can use too.

      The recycling center I went to even had a hard drive shredder, similar to this hard drive shredder – so no worries about any of your personal information or files getting into the wrong hands! 🙂 Plus it was just plain fun to watch. 🙂

      Anyway, old electronics needs to be properly recycled. Please don’t toss it in the trash.

       

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      1 user thanked author for this post.
    • I know that many users have had no problems using 3rd party ink. But I also know that many users (including me) have seen printing problems go away simply by replacing 3rd party cartridges with genuine ones.

      Yes, genuine ink is more expensive, but having to throw out the cheaper 3rd party ink cartridges that were nearly full was no bargain either.

      The problem with 3rd party ink is a total lack of consistency, and unknown quality control. Ink is actually some pretty high-tech stuff. And HP, Epson, Brother and the others make their inks using specific and <u>patented</u> formulas with very tight controls for consistency batch after batch.

      The 3rd party makers have to reverse engineer and make their own formulas (without violating any patents). That is an expensive process, especially considering how many different printer makers and printers (and all-in-ones), and cartridges there are out there. So all the different 3rd party ink makers have their own formulas. This means if you buy your ink from Office Depot this time, Sam’s next, BestBuy after that, you likely will be using different formulas each time. And even within the same retailer, who knows how each their  suppliers maintain consistency of those formulas batch after batch?

      I bought my HP 7525 a few years ago from Sam’s and bought some Sam’s 3rd party ink for it. It worked great for about a year then the printouts started looking lousy with streaks, off colors, and other issues. Cleaning and aligning the heads didn’t help. I switched out the ink to genuine HP and all my problems went away. Then once the genuine ink was gone, going back to 3rd party ink went fine – until it didn’t again.

      I am aware of others with similar experiences with various brands, not just HP.

      Over the last few years, I have been using LD Products inks, generally with great results – but not without a few problems either. However, in each case, contacting LD Products resulted in “express” delivery of replacement cartridges – no questions asked, and at no expense to me. So hard to argue with that.

      FTR, HP regularly has decent sales on their ink if you sign up and buy directly from them. And unlike Amazon, HP ships for free even if you buy only one cartridge at a time. I suspect the other printer makers have similar ink buying deals.

      Remember too that inkjet ink has a relatively short shelf life – even if not opened. And if opened, the aging (and drying) process accelerates – especially if you don’t print often. So even if the sale price is great, don’t buy more than you will use in the next year, or two at the most. And if you don’t print much, remember to, at least once a week, print out a test or status page to keep everything moist and flowing.

      Last – while recent consumer protection laws now prevent printer makers from blocking the use of 3rd party inks, because the printer makers have no control over the quality of those 3rd party inks, the printer maker can void the warranties on those products “<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>IF</span>” they determine the 3rd party ink caused or contributed to the problem. So, if warranty support is a concern, it might be wise to only use genuine ink while the printer is still under warranty.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      2 users thanked author for this post.
    • You absolutely should assume any “user setting” in the BIOS Setup Menu you made will be reset. So write them down before you remove the battery. Note many motherboards let you save those settings to a file you can use to restore after a reset. Look around in your user guide.

      Note the purpose of the CMOS battery is to keep power on the CMOS circuit whenever the computer is unplugged from the wall. And the CMOS circuit is used to keep user settings, such as Date and Time. Note the RTC (real time clock) is NOT the same thing as the Date and Time – however the Date and Time depend on the RTC.

      Note the CMOS is meant to be reset <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>easily</span>. If the designers want it to be hard, they would have, and could have easily used a different type circuit instead of CMOS. Perhaps an EEPROM, for example.

      Some motherboards do have a small storage capacitor to hold those CMOS settings for a <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>short</span> time just to accommodate battery changes. But do NOT assume your motherboard does. And I do mean “short” so have your plan of action sorted out to get in there, remove the old and insert the new promptly.

      Last, just as a reminder, do make sure the PSU is unplugged from the wall and you touch bare metal of the case interior BEFORE reaching in to remove or replace the battery to discharge any static in your body. Do not touch the new battery with your bare fingers. Skin oils promote corrosion and attract dust. I put a clean sock over my hand.

      While the case is open, make sure the interior is clean of heat trapping dust, clean if necessary. After replacing the battery, inspect everything to make sure all power and data connections are tight and secure. Connect power and boot directly into the BIOS Setup Menu. Check/set your Date and Time, if necessary, and any other user settings you may have made (like drive boot order). Then <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Save and Exit</span> to [hopefully] boot normally.

      And, as always, make sure you have current copies of any data file you don’t want lost BEFORE thinking of starting this battery replacement.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

    • in reply to: CMOS Battery Wiring Question #2418484

      I am glad you included the picture. It sounded like you were asking if the polarity of the battery matters, and yes, <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>of course</span> it does – isn’t that obvious? But with your picture, I see the confusion – and why it is not so obvious; the red and white wires are reversed.

      I am confused as to why there are even 3 wires – there are only 2 poles on a battery, the Positive and Negative poles. With the original and the red in the middle, that might be used for reverse polarity protection. But with a keyed connector (where it can only go in one that), that is not needed.

      You are going to have some how determine how those wires are attached. If handy with a multimeter, you could do it that way. But I suspect you may need to cut open the blue insulating wrap to inspect the batteries to see how the wires are attached, then rewire the replacement to match. Most likely, the red is to positive, and needs to be swapped (cut, swapped, then spliced) with the white.

       

       

       

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

    • in reply to: The basics of security #2387355

      And no hacker use vulnerabilities in Defender to gain more privileges on the machine. ?

      Did you read your first link or are you just looking for sample-size-of-one exceptions that you think renders moot the whole point?

      1. No solution is perfect.
      2. That vulnerability is already patched.
      3. The report (your link) clearly shows they found no evidence that vulnerability was ever discovered by the bad guys, or exploited by them.
      4. The bad guys would have to already have access to that machine in order to exploit that vulnerability (a HUGE hurdle).
      5. Interesting how a bug supposedly 12 years old existed in WD when WD did not come out until 2012 with the release of W8. The WD prior to that was a different program, an anti-spyware (previously named Giant Anti-spyware) program.
      6. Kaspersky? Really? You trust a product (and its CEO) that has a long history of ties to the Russian government? Crazy! Warning: A Security Flaw In Kaspersky AntiVirus Lets Hackers Spy Users Online, Millions At Risk. It is pretty sad when the 3rd party security solution itself is the bad guy injecting malicious code in to our systems. 🙁
      7. Last – what incentive does Kaspersky and the other 3rd party solutions have to rid the world of malware? If malware were defeated, they all would go out of business! They no longer would have their adware and spyware (including “State sponsored” spyware) hooks in our systems. And Microsoft would stop getting relentlessly blamed by the MS bashers for the security mess the bad guys put us in; the security mess the 3rd party security programs failed to prevent!

      Is Microsoft Defender perfect? Of course not! No one has claimed it is. As noted above, no solution is. But it is important to remember that Microsoft is the only security solution provider that has the true incentive to keep our systems secure. Why? Because otherwise, they know there are lots of MS bashers in the IT media and Alex5723s out there ready to pounce on MS, Windows, and WD every chance they get to blame Microsoft, instead of the real offenders, for the security issues of today.

      Bill (AFE7Ret)
      Freedom isn't free!

      1 user thanked author for this post.
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