For more Leo and friends all week long, listen to the TWiT Netcast Network

Sunday, September 5, 2004

Show #72

Today from 2–3p, the new Screen Savers join me: Alex Albrecht, Kevin Rose, Dan Huard, and Yoshi DeHerrera. The Screen Savers new season debuts September 7th on G4techTV.

 toc | toc 

Today’s news items

Noon-1p

Robbie in Lancaster - computer won’t boot

It won’t even beep. That means it’s not getting to the Power On Self-Test, or POST. If you’re getting power to the system (the fans start up, the hard drive spins up) then the motherboard or CPU must be fried. You should probably take it in to see if that’s so - if it is a replacement motherboard and CPU expect to spend around $150.

Norats adds: if you have a spare power supply from an old pc (or friend’s pc) lying around I would try that first. This is truly a simple plug-and-play test. If it still doesn’t work, disconnect everything from the power supply, except the motherboard. Remove all cards except video, RAM, CPU, and disconnect IDE & floppy ribbon cables. If it still doesn’t attempt to boot now you can take your CPU and RAM out and get them tested for free most anywhere. If those test good, you know it’s your motherboard & aren’t guessing. Good luck!

Last week you were talking about emergency boot disks. This site has an emergency boot disk “kit” . http://www.windowsubcd.com/ You have to put it together with your own copy of windows to avoid licensing issues, but it includes a lot of very useful utilities and complete instructions. This might be a little complicated for some users, but if you know enough to be using an EBD, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Ian in Iowa - Installed Linux, what next?

Learn how to use what you’ve got first. Then how to install new programs - that can be complicated. Next learn how networking works on Linux. You might even want to set up your own server: web, IRC, FTP. Finally, learn how to program. I recommend dabbling in shell script first - that’s the language you use at the command line. Once you’re comfortable with the command line, learn a real programming language like Python or Perl. I recommend the free online book Think Like A Computer Scientist. TTK recommends the Linux Pocket Guide from O’Reilly which tells you a bunch of commands to use in the command line.

A listener writes: Most Linux distros include a GUI to configure servers like SuSE, and Fedora Core. When installing programs on Linux, you can download RPMs, which automates the install process, instead of using the command line. Leo recommends using the command line if you want to get proficient in Linux. Here are some commands you can use to untar, compile, and install a program that comes as the source code in a tar.gz file:

• tar xvzf

Untars File.

• ./configure

Prepares program to be compiled.

• MAKE

Compiles Program

• MAKE INSTALL

Installs Compiled Binaries.

Zkay adds that if you want to try Linux for yourself you can go to LinuxISO.org and download SuSE or Fedora Core. I suggest you try Knoppix out first because you don’t have to modify your hard drive to use it.
RHLJay points to DistroMania for another source of Linux ISO’s

Matt in Murrietta - time for a new computer

He’s ready to get an HP Pavilion. It comes with McAfee anti-virus and Webroot pop-up protection. I prefer free programs. Read my article on must have computer software.

[I don’t really like Webroot software, it slows down your system at sometimes, since it runs in the background with your browser -TTK]

1–2p

Cheryl in Santa Monica - Ran Spybot and now can’t see web pages (email still works)

Removing spyware seems to have munged her connectivity. This can happen if the spyware really has its hooks into your system. Try Winsock XP Fix to restore your connectivity.

Mitch Ads: Once you get the problem fixed, make sure you get Spybot back on there and download Windows XP Service Pack 2. You should also stop using Internet Explorer. Always remember to run Windows Update! I suggest using Mozilla Firefox.

You can order Service Pack 2 from Microsoft if you are on dial-up, if you don’t want to spend the time downloading it.

Norats Ads: You can try system restore by clicking Start-Run-Msconfig-Launch System Restore and go back to a point in time when you know the system was connecting to the internet. Keep in mind you might replace some of the “bad” things you removed originally, but at least you should be able to connect. After this try “HijackThis 1.99” from and carefully examine each line and document changes you make one at a time. Then run S&D and repeat careful removal steps. You can research things you’re “unsure of removing” by doing a quick google search on the item.

Trevor Evans says: I would really hesitate to suggest this unless it really needed, and I am not sure if it will work since she has uninstalled Spybot. In Spybot:S&D there is a recovery area which can undo any recent changes for any problems that may have occured after a recent removal. It must be made clear that this might BRING BACK the spyware back to the system but it would be a temporary solution to get web access if it is really needed, and then it would be possible to download the Winsock fix mentioned above onto the system to fix it up.

Anne in Burbank - what’s better than a Zip for backups

CD burners have eclipsed the Zip - they’re faster, have higher capacity, and the CDs last longer

Trevor Evans says: The call also went into a discussion about good computer hygiene. Like the previous caller, those with dial up can order Service Pack 2 from Microsoft for FREE. These users can now limit their online exposure to viruses like Sasser by getting a CD instead of staying online for long periods downloading it.

Clint in Huntington Beach - browser has been hijacked by LOP

LOP can be detected by Norton Antivirus. Boot into safe mode and run Norton, or follow Symantec’s manual LOP removal instructions.

Tommy in Sarasota, FL - uses DeLorme XMAP, prints slow

More RAM will speed up the rendering of the image in XMAP, but the speed of printing is controlled by the printer and the windows spooler. More memory in the printer can help.

2–3p

The new Screen Savers are here!

• Alex Albrecht
• Kevin Rose
• Yoshi DeHerrera
• Dan Huard

The new season begins Tuesday at 4p Pacific on G4techTV. In the LA area watch G4techTV on these channels:

Adelphia 129
Comcast 144 and 136 (varies in different areas)
Time Warner 117
DTV 354
DISH 191

See The Screen Savers live in Santa Monica. Click here for tickets.

Dave in Arcadia - When is Gmail going public and how can I get an invite?

According to Kevin Rose, even with his connnections within Google he has no idea when it will go public.

To see the progress it has going public check out this cached page on the Gmail support page on its wish list. It is a good barometer to see how far they have to go.

Kevin’s gmail invites are right here! They are now up!

Matthew in ? - Using Windows Movie Maker 2 on streaming video source to AVI

He is trying to edit the streaming video of the Pikmin 2 trailer. Streaming video as the source is the problem as the quality is not really good to start with and Movie Maker being not so great either does not help. Alex suggests finding a better source video online.

Chat Logs and Show Audio