NTP66's thread of IT

[dodint]

Yes. At least in Houston. Not sure about nationwide right now.

[DigitalGypsy66]

San Francisco had a lot of wifi hotspots for xfinity customers, particularly in residential neighborhoods. I used my parent's xfinity password (we have Time Warner at home) and it worked pretty well. It makes sense to have them in bigger cities, although I'm not sure I would want to share bandwidth with other customers.

[MR25]

The trackpad scrolling problem ended up fixing itself. Not really sure what I did to make it work.

However, now I keep getting MSN windows opening on startup and have no idea why. Literally just ran a malware scan and nothing popped up. My theory is that I updated Java and Flash and forgot to check a box, or the wifi at the condo we're staying at has to be activated by connecting to the rental agency's homepage (and my laptop goes through MSN to get there).

If it's the first guess, how would I go about changing that setting? I can't seem to find it in my Firefox settings.

[dodint]

Click the three line "pancake" icon on the top right of the screen. Select Options (the gear), and it's on the General Tab which should be what opens automatically.

Alt+T and then the Options menu item will also get you there.

[tifosi77]

Has anyone ever switched ISPs while staying at the same address? Only time I've ever changed is when I've moved my physical address; is it more of a hassle if you're just firing your current ISP to get a (presumably) better product from a competitor?

[DigitalGypsy66]

I switched from AT&T DSL to Time Warner - no hassle at all. I had to return the modem via mail to AT&T (I think they provided the box) and it was really smooth.

[tifosi77]

That's good to hear, as my current ISP is AT&T U-Verse. Currently paying $65 a month for 18 Mbps down; I can pay the same for TW and get 300 down.

[mikey]

I switched from Optimum to Verizon Fios at the same address once. So, basically, from about the worst service I've ever had to the best...

[DigitalGypsy66]

Source of the post Currently paying $65 a month for 18 Mbps down; I can pay the same for TW and get 300 down.

I pay $67.99 - own my own modem, no phone or TV through TW - and get 20 down. The best they offer in my area is 50 down for $88 for the first year (and I think they throw in streaming basic cable TV).

You southern California folks have got it made. (It might be the only thing cheaper than where I live though).

[count2infinity]

Looks like as good of a thread as any... I'm going to buy a cable modem. I have comcast (if that matters) any recommendations? I'm not even sure what I'm looking for as far as a decent modem is concerned.

[Beveridge]

Looks like as good of a thread as any... I'm going to buy a cable modem. I have comcast (if that matters) any recommendations? I'm not even sure what I'm looking for as far as a decent modem is concerned.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XC ... ge_o06_s00

This is what I got last year when I got my own.

http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/

I called them up, they get the serial number, do their stuff on their end and it was pretty much plug and go.

[mikey]

Choose carefully, I won't be home again until late Saturday or Sunday or I'd tell you what I just bought...not all modems play nicely with Comcast...

[count2infinity]

also, my router is really old, and kind of weak as far as signal is concerned... is a modem/router combo the way to go?

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

Source of the post Currently paying $65 a month for 18 Mbps down; I can pay the same for TW and get 300 down.

I pay $67.99 - own my own modem, no phone or TV through TW - and get 20 down. The best they offer in my area is 50 down for $88 for the first year (and I think they throw in streaming basic cable TV).

You southern California folks have got it made. (It might be the only thing cheaper than where I live though).

not just Southern California. I was told by a coworker that internet speeds will boom here in North Carolina too because TWC will start using their fiber cable network. Or something.

He said everyone will get a 100 mpbs bump to their current speeds. Unfortunately I'm paying for cable as well, but it'll be $140 a month for 150mpbs

[tifosi77]

Los Angeles is one of maybe a dozen US cities that has given the go-ahead for the deployment of a municipal gigabit network for free public access.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Google Fiber is coming to NC - Research Triangle and Charlotte areas, so that will cause other ISPs to raise their game.

[Miami Vice]

Has anyone ever switched ISPs while staying at the same address? Only time I've ever changed is when I've moved my physical address; is it more of a hassle if you're just firing your current ISP to get a (presumably) better product from a competitor?

When I moved into my current home it was wired for Fios. All I had to do to switch to Comcast was disconnect the lead wire outside where it enters the house and connect the Comcast one.

[Miami Vice]

Any thoughts on unraid as a server solution?

[Silentom]

When I moved into my current home it was wired for Fios. All I had to do to switch to Comcast was disconnect the lead wire outside where it enters the house and connect the Comcast one.

I ran into that when we moved into our apartment. We had the choice between Fios and Comcast. Decided on Comcast and had them ship the equipment for me to install myself only to find that that jack ass who put in the Fios for the last tennant, cut the Comcast lead when he installed the Fios gear.

[Miami Vice]

i have a compression tool to terminate rg6, but im not very good at it.

i had coax coming into my house, then split immediately to go up to the kitchen and up to the living room.

the kitchen run went back to where i wanted all my a/v gear to go, so i though i could pull it through the floor and connect it in the basement instead of the kithcen.

nope, i pulled and the hole in the floor was too small. the twist connector is stuck somewhere in my walls, and i had to figure out how to terminate the coax to use it where i wanted.

adding the connector is pretty easy (you just squeze something that looks like a staple gun) but unless you have a proper stripping tool too thats the difficult part.

[dodint]

I'm not good at tipping cable. Fat fingers.

[Nuge]

My laptop battery (for a Toshiba satellite) is saying "plugged in, not charging". After trying a few quick fixes after I googled it, it's still not working. This happened once before and I was able to get it to charge but everything I've tried this time hasn't worked. Is it just time for a new battery or is there any way to fix this? Anyone have any experience with something like this?

[dodint]

I've never been able to bring a battery back after that. Coincidentally it happened with a Toshiba Satellite, but this was way back in like 2004 or so. It's also when I learned that batteries had drivers. Seems obvious but it wasn't to me at the time.

If you figure it out, let us know. I'm curious.

[schreibdog]

I had a Toshiba laptop with the same issue. There is a small board that connects to the motherboard and I think it's called a Battery board. I had to replace that to get it to work. The board was cheap on ebay, $10-15, but I had to take the whole thing apart (there was a tutorial online of how to swap it out). Just have to keep an eye on where cables go, etc. I found it was best to snap photos with my cell phone as I took it apart to help me put it back correctly.

Hope that helps and good luck

[schreibdog]

Maybe someone here can help. Have an HP desktop with a semi-dead hard drive. I can connect via USB to another machine and copy things over, which is good. However, there is a partition of the disk that is a recovery partition. I need to be able to access that and reinstall windows. Any idea how I can do it? I don't have a copy of win 7 to install on the new disk