Random Tech Questions you want answered.

Is there a way to lock the brightness on my laptop? Its a partly cloudy day and it is driving me nuts.

I'm running a windows 8.1 asus

Ego Man wrote:

Is there a way to lock the brightness on my laptop? Its a partly cloudy day and it is driving me nuts.

I'm running a windows 8.1 asus

I have an Asus Zenbook and it has a shortcut to disable the ambient light sensor by hitting Fn + A. Give that a go. Then just use Fn + F5 (or F6) to adjust your brightness.

PaladinTom wrote:
Ego Man wrote:

Is there a way to lock the brightness on my laptop? Its a partly cloudy day and it is driving me nuts.

I'm running a windows 8.1 asus

I have an Asus Zenbook and it has a shortcut to disable the ambient light sensor by hitting Fn + A. Give that a go. Then just use Fn + F5 (or F6) to adjust your brightness.

Thanks,

That seemed to work

I have a Bluetooth mouse, the Logitech M557, that works perfectly in Windows but always disconnects while in Pillars of Eternity. I tried installing the latest Setpoint stuff, and some obscure Bluetooth setting changes suggested by other users with similar issues. No luck so far.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

I have a 1080p monitor, but some games I have to run at a lower resolution for reasonable performance. For those that I've set to 768p, is there any reason to choose 720p instead? There's no difference in performance and I can't see any visual difference, so this is just a question of curiosity (since 1080 and 720 have a nice 1.5x relation, while 1360x768 and 1366x768 do not).

What's the easiest way to migrate a profile from one Mac to another, if you aren't set up to use Apple's cloud service?

You can assume that both Macs are available at the same time, signed in to the same network, and there's a large network drive also available.

In particular, I'm wondering about iTunes (don't care about "played" counts on the songs, and 99% of them are just pointing to the network drive already, but I don't want to screw up the iPhone profile.), iPhoto, and Steam (I don't know where the Steam library hangs out on a Mac.). And also that one thing that I don't know I should be migrating, but will be much happier if I do.

I'm guessing that just copying the user directory over is probably not quite enough.

Run Migration Assistant on the target machine. Ideally, both macs have firewire and you can connect them that way, though it also runs over the network and I think also via USB.

I have a broken pair of Grado SR125 headphones, the Y connector got worn out over the years and instead of just having these cans lying around unused I'd like to recondition them. Any good recommendations for headphone cables? I've read high quality 4-wire microphone cable would work out pretty well, but I really don't want to spend $40 to repair $100 worth of headphones.

complexmath wrote:

Run Migration Assistant on the target machine. Ideally, both macs have firewire and you can connect them that way, though it also runs over the network and I think also via USB.

Before I do that, what's the easiest way to clear out the apps section of iTunes. There's no way all 50GB+ of that is actually useful anymore (there are plenty of apps that I've tried and discarded and probably have a stray copy hanging about the hard drive.) Safe to just delete them all (through iTunes somehow?) and then sync back from my phone?

(And then there's the 12GB of the iPhoto library to pare down photo by photo to figure out which photos really should be safely stored in the network backup directory and which should be deleted. ugh.)

Katy wrote:

Before I do that, what's the easiest way to clear out the apps section of iTunes. There's no way all 50GB+ of that is actually useful anymore (there are plenty of apps that I've tried and discarded and probably have a stray copy hanging about the hard drive.) Safe to just delete them all (through iTunes somehow?) and then sync back from my phone?

(And then there's the 12GB of the iPhoto library to pare down photo by photo to figure out which photos really should be safely stored in the network backup directory and which should be deleted. ugh.)

You're using iTunes to manage the apps on your phone? This cnet article seems like a good start. Personally, I've found using iTunes to manage phone apps to be more trouble than its worth, so I have that turned off. Maybe someone has more recent experience with it.

And the photos thing... yeah. I'm in kind of the same boat as far as that goes.

Regarding Steam, if you open a command prompt you'll see a Library folder in your home directory. This contains pretty much all application data outside of user-created content. Of particular interest is the "Appliction Support" subdirectory, which is for post-install data (plugins, config files, etc). So for example in here you'll find:

"Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common" -- installed games
"Library/Application Support/Pillars of Eternity/Saved Games" -- PoE savegames

There's a way to specify in the GUI that you want to see hidden files and then the Library folder will show up in Finder, but I can't recall what this is offhand. If you want to transfer everything manually though, your Library directory should definitely be on the list.

complexmath wrote:

You're using iTunes to manage the apps on your phone? This cnet article seems like a good start.

Sort of? Mostly as a way to keep the phone backed up. There's not a lot of management per se going on. But I'll check the article out.

mr_n00b wrote:

I have a broken pair of Grado SR125 headphones, the Y connector got worn out over the years and instead of just having these cans lying around unused I'd like to recondition them. Any good recommendations for headphone cables? I've read high quality 4-wire microphone cable would work out pretty well, but I really don't want to spend $40 to repair $100 worth of headphones.

If you're ok with soldering and such (unlike me...) you might be able to repair the y-cable. http://www.tested.com/tech/accessori...

Mermaidpirate wrote:
mr_n00b wrote:

I have a broken pair of Grado SR125 headphones, the Y connector got worn out over the years and instead of just having these cans lying around unused I'd like to recondition them. Any good recommendations for headphone cables? I've read high quality 4-wire microphone cable would work out pretty well, but I really don't want to spend $40 to repair $100 worth of headphones.

If you're ok with soldering and such (unlike me...) you might be able to repair the y-cable. http://www.tested.com/tech/accessori...

I actually did just that a couple years back, but the connection has not stood the test of time very well. A new custom cable seems to me line the best solution for a long term fix. I'm just not sure what quality of cable is sufficient for 4'+ cable runs.

So I've been using a set of Logitech G930 wireless headphones for close to 5 years now. They work fine for the most part, but there's one nagging issue that has started to become so frequent I can't ignore it: they turn themselves off for seemingly no reason. They were working absolutely fine for so long, and now they turn off at least once or twice an hour. They turn right on if I mash the power button, but they'll cut back out in due time. I just updated my Logitech Gaming Software program on the parent PC a few days ago, but I seriously doubt that would cause these kinds of issues. Anyone experienced this before that can suggest a cause/solution?

I've heard of those specific headphones having issues like that, and it looks like forums are full of people complaining about them: search: "Logitech 930 turns off".

Reading about issues like that chased me away from potentially buying a refurbished set of them when I saw a sale for them a few months ago. My guess is that you're probably doing well having gotten 5 years of service out of them.

Could it be wireless interference? 2.4GHz seems like a pretty busy band these days...

My hard drive crashed in my Asus desktop computer, about a day after I installed Windows 10. That's unrelated, I'd been having issues with my hard drive for a while. The problem is that I hadn't gotten the chance to download the recovery disc, and the USB drive that had my old one is now missing. I've ordered a new hard drive, but I don't have a clue how to reinstall Windows without the Windows key. Suggestions?

trichy wrote:

My hard drive crashed in my Asus desktop computer, about a day after I installed Windows 10. That's unrelated, I'd been having issues with my hard drive for a while. The problem is that I hadn't gotten the chance to download the recovery disc, and the USB drive that had my old one is now missing. I've ordered a new hard drive, but I don't have a clue how to reinstall Windows without the Windows key. Suggestions?

If you have access to another computer, and your Windows 10 install was activated, you can use the Windows 10 media creation tool to make a bootable DVD or USB stick. You need to create media for the same edition of Windows that was previously installed. Microsoft's activation servers should detect that your laptop is already licensed for that version of Windows 10 and allow the install to activate.

Would this be the appropriate place to say that I'm seriously considering upgrading from my XBox 360 in the next 30 days, but genuinely have no idea whether to go XBox again or Playstation?

I mean, I've been perfectly happy with everything the 360 has had to offer, but I have also been intrigued by what I've heard about the PS4 over the XBone. I still feel a bit sad that I have missed out on a number of PS exclusives, like the Uncharted series, Heavy Rain and The Last of Us (I haven't played a single one of those titles, and I'd like to).

I have little to no alliance to either company, and in all honesty, I do the vast majority of my gaming on my PC these days. But I still go back to my console occasionally, for a myriad of reasons (for instance, I much prefer playing sports games on the console).

So, speaking as someone who wants a new console (but is also willing to admit that its primary use would be for Netflix/Hulu/et cetera) I'm just canvassing for opinions here. I have to admit, at this moment, I'm probably 60/40 PS4.

So, speaking as someone who wants a new console (but is also willing to admit that its primary use would be for Netflix/Hulu/et cetera) I'm just canvassing for opinions here. I have to admit, at this moment, I'm probably 60/40 PS4.

PS4 will have slightly better visuals in cross platform titles and may in some cases have a higher frame rate. But the Xbox One is a better media platform. For example the Plex app is much better on the Xbox One than the PS4. If you spring for the Kinect then voice control is pretty cool for all the media functionality.

Bubs14 wrote:

Headphone issues

I spoke to someone last night with the same headphones. Turns out he had the same problem and fixed it by downgrading the Logitech Control Center software (version 8.70.whatever is sad, I went back to 8.54.whatever). I had a suspicion this was the issue, because it started after I updated the software and I hadn't had any serious issues up to this point. I sit right next to the receiver most of the time. Just thought I should let folks know for completeness' sake, because I love these headphones.

Prederick wrote:

Would this be the appropriate place to say that I'm seriously considering upgrading from my XBox 360 in the next 30 days, but genuinely have no idea whether to go XBox again or Playstation?

I mean, I've been perfectly happy with everything the 360 has had to offer, but I have also been intrigued by what I've heard about the PS4 over the XBone. I still feel a bit sad that I have missed out on a number of PS exclusives, like the Uncharted series, Heavy Rain and The Last of Us (I haven't played a single one of those titles, and I'd like to).

I have little to no alliance to either company, and in all honesty, I do the vast majority of my gaming on my PC these days. But I still go back to my console occasionally, for a myriad of reasons (for instance, I much prefer playing sports games on the console).

So, speaking as someone who wants a new console (but is also willing to admit that its primary use would be for Netflix/Hulu/et cetera) I'm just canvassing for opinions here. I have to admit, at this moment, I'm probably 60/40 PS4.

The two major factors are: Do you have Rock Band for 360, and if so, do you have a lot of DLC? If you want to buy RB4, it'll only carry over the DLC within an ecosystem.

And: where are your friends for online play? There's good communities of GWJ-folk on both systems.

That said, I'd give PS4 the edge for its exclusives over XBox's exclusives, unless you're planning on using it primarily as a media device, as GameGuru's points about the Xbox's media features are valid.

Bubs14 wrote:

So I've been using a set of Logitech G930 wireless headphones for close to 5 years now. They work fine for the most part, but there's one nagging issue that has started to become so frequent I can't ignore it: they turn themselves off for seemingly no reason. They were working absolutely fine for so long, and now they turn off at least once or twice an hour. They turn right on if I mash the power button, but they'll cut back out in due time. I just updated my Logitech Gaming Software program on the parent PC a few days ago, but I seriously doubt that would cause these kinds of issues. Anyone experienced this before that can suggest a cause/solution?

Since these have rechargeable batteries, could it just be that the batteries are not holding a charge any more? Five years out of rechargeables would be really good. I have a rechargeable wireless phone for which I have to replace the batteries every couple years. A couple links for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmxc... and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Q8.... Battery available here: http://buy.logitech.com/store/logib2...

Bubs, I have the answer for you. I had the same problem, sent my headphones back to Logitech, and the new pair had the exact same problem. Then I lucked out and found the answer on Logitech's own board from a helpful soul (not a Logitech employee). It's a software issue, and every time you update Logitech gaming software, you will need to check this file again because it can be overwritten.

Open this file: C:\Program Files\Logitech Gaming Software\Resources\G930\Manifest\Device_Manifest.xml
(I use Notepad++, which is free). Obviously, if you didn't install to the default directory, you'll need to locate where the file is.

Note your turnOffInterval, which is set by default to 900 seconds (15 minutes). That's how frequently the headphones are turning off. You can set it to 0, or some large number. I set mine to 36000 (10 hrs).

IMAGE(http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp106/dondesio/LGSFix.png)

Question for the hive mind.

Last night I was gaming on my pc and suddenly heard the audio cue that a USB device was disconnected, then the audio cue for USB device reconnected a few seconds later. Didn't think anything of it. Then, a little while later, we started smelling gunpowder. A search indicates that this is usually the smell of a circuit board with a short. It doesn't seem to be the AC since the smell was isolated to the main floor. We opened the windows, the smell dissipated and I kept playing with no issues on my pc.

Took the pc apart today, but trying to identify if that was the cause is difficult. I did notice the lingering gunpowder smell in the case when I opened it but that just may be something that was captured last night. Any suggestions on how to approach this? Do I just keep using my computer until something else happens?

If you can't identify what was causing it I don't think you have much choice. I would say use it again and if you smell it again immediately get down in the case and see if you can figure it out. If I had to guess I would say it's probably your graphics card or maybe a stick of ram. Did you notice any artifacting or anything while using it?

No, nothing whatsoever. Was in the middle of a game and there were no issues whatsoever. Working on cleaning out all the dust and crap of the case now.

If you really want to give a good test you can download something like Furmark to stress the system out and then get close to the case to see if you smell anything.

Apple finally allows ad-blockers on iOS, so which one should I get?

misplacedbravado wrote:

Apple finally allows ad-blockers on iOS, so which one should I get?

Crystal if you want dead-simple zero setup and controls. Blockr for more options and controls such as whitelisting.