A Couple Of Questions For You Techies...

[properperson]

Hi there,

was wondering if any of you computer techies out there can help with me with a couple of problems...

1) quite a lot of sites nowadays want you to type in a security question before you log in - never had a problem, but with my lap top all i can see is a box with a small "x" in it, as it hasn't down loaded the letters/digits - in fact as i type there are two boxes below and the same red "x"'s are showing rather than the actual box contents..

Any ideas ?/

2) i helped a friend (blind leading the blind) down load Limewire and UK TV Nova - no problems downloading the TV shows, but when you double click on the programme, rather than opening up media player and showing the programme, nothing happens..

Does Media player - Limewire need to be linked in some way ? - any idea how i do it ??

Thanks for your help.

Tommy

[garyh]

Not sure about 1st question, maybe you need adobe flash installed, limewire just downloads the file and does not have anything to do with playing it. There are 2 possibilities, 1 the file is not what it is supposed to be, happens a lot with downloads or you need to install the correct codec to play the file. Right click on the file and select open with and choose media player. Do you download updates for the computer? I am guessing not from your first issue.

[lopburi3]

Believe answer security question after you log in (or they would not know what to ask). You may have to give permission to download the pop up or you may have them turned off in tools menu.

Have not Limewire for years (mp3 days) so not sure of the type file you are getting for video - are you sure it is AVI or other playable media and does not require assembly (RAR/ZIP or something).

[properperson]

Mess 2...

downloaded Adobe Flash - still no diferent - as i type there are several boxes with the red "x"'s in - any ideas - Widows set for automat updates.....

as far as the lime wire / media player goes - i have been using both for a couple of weeks - no probs - just down load, then double click on the program and Media player opens automatically - with my pals - nothing - tried the right click but all that says is open/play and clicking on it, it does nothing - Any more ideas ??

Mess 3 - its not just the box, it seems that most internet browser pages don't download properly and the red box "x"'s are shown...

Any more help gratefully received

Tommy

[OriginalPoster]

Mess 2...

downloaded Adobe Flash - still no diferent - as i type there are several boxes with the red "x"'s in - any ideas - Widows set for automat updates.....

as far as the lime wire / media player goes - i have been using both for a couple of weeks - no probs - just down load, then double click on the program and Media player opens automatically - with my pals - nothing - tried the right click but all that says is open/play and clicking on it, it does nothing - Any more ideas ??

Mess 3 - its not just the box, it seems that most internet browser pages don't download properly and the red box "x"'s are shown...

Any more help gratefully received

Tommy

For your first issue, maybe you could try a different browser and see if it behaves any differently.

[welo]

1.

Check if flash player is installed correctly and report the version:

http://duber.com/LetsTalk/playerCheck.html

http://www.shingoprize.net/courses/require...heck_flash.html

The 'captchas' used on message boards and other sites sometimes use Flash to display the letters/picture. Some use plain images or other techniques. So if your Flash player is not installed correctly then the ones using Flash will not display correctly (actually not at all.).

If your friend's webbrowser has problems displaying normal images this might point to a more serious problem - not very common but possible.

Goto firefox.com and compare your friend's screen with the screenshot below. The site doesn't use Flash, if any images are missing this points to a problem beyond the Flash plugin.

2.

Double clicking a file will open the application associated with this type of file - or in case the file is an application/executable (exe, com, bat, ...) the program itself.

I assume that the files you downloaded are some kind of audio file and the file association is messed up. Try to find out the file type / extension and report back to us to get further instructions.

You can always open the application (e.g. Windows Media Player) first and then use the File / Open menu to open that file.

Another work around is to 'right'-click the file and use the 'Open with...' menu to open the file with a specific application. (Use the 'Always use this application to open files of this type' to fix the double click.

3.

Check your friend's computer for viruses, always a good thing to do in case the computer shows weird behavior

welo

[properperson]

Thanks guys - problem 1 solved - used Mozilla Firefox - perfect, no more red "x"'s....

Still no joy on prob 2 though....

[lopburi3]

Check what the extension is - if you can not see them in the file name make them visible in your operating system so that you can. If different than others you have success with that is likely the problem but make sure they are legit with a good search and not virus type executable files. Never click on exe for example for a file you expect to be music or video.

[garyh]

Try using torrents rather than lime wire, just google bit torrent.

[RKASA]

You may need to check your codex packages and see if you have DivX as well. Some sites may even have a codex that you get from them that way you have to pay for the service. Check the web site and see if they have a special codex for the files.

[lopburi3]

You do not need any material than can not be played by normal good player, such as VLC. Any extra download entails risks you should not be taking without a good understanding of the risks and checking sites with Google and WOT.

[bkk_mike]

If it's a codec issue, try gomplayer (just google it). It uses FFMpeg internally so that most of the time you don't need to install a codec with it for video files.

I have had a few files where it's playing the video, but with no sound. In those cases, VLC seems to work.

If you're using standard Media Player, it is almost certainly an issue of missing codecs, but without telling you to install a catch-all codec pack, or an application to tell you the codec required for the file you're trying to play, I'd go with gomplayer and VLC as the simpler options first.

[welo]

Any update, dude?