My MS Picture It is retarded.

I have the Microsoft Picture It Photo thing on my computer, and it will just randomly open by itself without me doing anything. Then it won't let me close it because it says it isn't responding... I didn't do anything that would need a fucking response! So I have to do that End Program thing... It happens all the time. Can I fix it, or should I just deal with it?

 

It sounnds like the program is running on it's own from startup. If you're using a windows machine, you could select "run" from the start menu and type in 'msconfig', then there should be a "services" or "processes" tab or option, click that and de-select the program from the list. If not, it might be corrupted. Try reinstalling it, or if you don't use it maybe just delete it. Hope that helps.

 

thanks for the tip. I've wondered how to do that. And for the first question - see if you can get a copy of Photoshop. It's the greatest program ever.

 

Thanks. I haven't tried doing that yet, but I will.

I downloaded one of those 30 day trials of Photoshop from the Adobe site, but I could never figure out how to work it. I didn't put a lot of effort into it, though... after like 10 minutes I was like, "I can't fucking do this!" and I quit. Maybe someday I'll get it right.

 

You should never download software. It's wrong. Especially from peer-to-peers like Limewire or Imesh. Those software developers spent long hours writing that code, so you should shell out the 500 bucks or whatever it is. (but if you don't have 500 bucks, and you do, you should use the evidence eliminator program and install a firewall because the program will try to contact Adobe every time you start your machine.)

 

No... on the Adobe website, they have free trial things so you can try it out before you buy it. I didn't steal it or anything. Geez....

 

I guess my sarcasm is a little too dry.

Didn't mean to suggest you were a theif. I've just...um...heard that you can get a lot of software for free.

 

Oooh.. I've had a hard time picking up sarcasm the last few days... I usually dish it out like a champ and can tell it when I see it, but I've been struggling...


My stepdad is an entertainment lawyer and he represents a lot of musicians and stuff, so we're "not allowed" to download anything. I never really did it, anyway. I have downloaded a couple songs that I couldn't find anywhere else, or something I was using for fun and didn't want to buy some shitty Kenny Loggins cd or whatever...

I love you.

 

I got my Photoshop and Dreamweaver, as well as a crapload of games and movies from "illegal" online dling, and I haven't been arrested yet. It's not dangerous at all, unless you don't know what you're doing and you think you just can click an icon and the stuff is yours. I even wrote a little rant about that stuff on my site, which you can find here (yeah, I just advertised for my own site). Just remember to turn off sharing if you're using one of those programs like Kazaa or Morpheus (I use mIRC, so that's not really an issue). Also, NEVER store your downloaded files in those "My Shared Folders" folders that those programs create. Way back when I used Kazaa, it had a nasty habit of turning sharing back on while I was offline, and upon opening up Kazaa after being online for a few hours I found that most of my files had been uploaded. Bastards.

 

Hope his advise helped you out. If you don't use the program and have no intrest in using it, just uninstal it.

As far as the whole dling pirated software, music, or movies....I do it, and I do it often. Never used kazaa or whatever. Was amember of and FxP group. Access to private FTP's. I retired from the scene a few years back and tried getting back into it a year ago. Everything changed. New ways of hacking, well, to put it short, I didn't want to learn the new stuff. So now I just leech off of the ftp's I still have access to when ever i need something. I myself am a huge movie fan. Some movies I refuse to watch at home because they are just more enjoyable on the big screen. However, I see it as a test run to see if I will buy the DVD when it comes out. I dont burn the movies and watch them on DvD. I watch them from my HDD and if I like it, when it comes out on DVD, I buy it.

 

I used to use kazaa alot. I stopped. I really can't find anything. I know how to use it, but I've downloaded all the music I've wanted, all the movies. It's all the same re-hashed stuff over and over. People we're ripping any new cds to their hdd, so what's the point? I've got thousands of dollars worth of warez, movies and music. I'm content. Plus, I buy alot of used cd's from amazon, and trade with friends, so I don't even have to pay half what it would cost for a normal cd. Maybe 8 bucks at best(or worst, I suppose)

 

Max, I read that piece you wrote, and I completely agree. I used to get kids like this in my computer apps class(note--Take it, boosts your GPA like mad for such an easy class). I'd be messing around in flash making a movie or something, and everyone is like, "wow thats amazing!!" and they'd all sit and stare into the screen. Then they all laugh and joke, "har har har, I thought the cd drive was a cup holder; har har har". It's like these people are fucking monkeys or something. Microsoft products are idiot proof--yet they still seem to get lost in the simplest of tasks. And about the aol thing-- I hate that shit. It's not even an ISP, you can't even use another browser. And that's another thing, IE. I hate that shit. Someone should send that shit back to the depths of hell it came from. Kudos on the maddox mention, btw.

 

Yes I know what you mean. It amazes me how everyday people who you think are smart, who appear normal and fairly intelligent, can sit down in front of a computer screen and suddenly lose 80 points off their IQ. And the way I get praised for doing painfully simple shit or being able to use Photoshop is ridiculous. And the AOL thing....don't even get me started. I had a conversation a few days ago with a co-worker who has two kids and was complaining that her kids know so much more about the computer than she does. Not suprising, she really thought that the Internet and AOL were one in the same entity, that AOL was the only way to access the Internet. I tried to explain things, but all I got was a blank, dumb stare. I mean, come on. I know AOL has all but a monopoly of American Internet, but COME ON! It really drives me insane.

We can only believe in Karma, and hopefully one day all the morons who never took the time to learn how to use a computer will have their jobs being done by computers; and the computers will do their jobs better, faster, and more efficiently.