Oh no! More boring computer problems! Oh no!

Honestly, lex, if you have trouble parsing that sentence, then a Mac was definitely the right choice for you.

Anyone know where I can get a free (preferably legal) DVD decoder on the web (for Windows XP)?

preferably legal

De facto, maybe, but de juro, no.

I was hoping there'd be some kind of legal 'trial version' type thingy (see pkzip etc) where they give you the basics for free and encourage you to pay to 'upgrade' but you never do.

If needs must, De Facto'll do

The point is that the very nature of the beast is illegal. There are plenty of apps that don't charge for DVD ripping, but none of them are fundamentally legal to use.

Enforcement, on the other hand, is selective.

Perhaps I misunderstood decoder. If you want something that just "plays" DVDs -- sorry to use plain English here -- then VLC will do the trick on any platform for $0.

The whole internet should work on Mac.

proprietary windows codecs, i would argue, aren't the internet.

Oh okay. Yeah. Cunts who insist on using proprietary Windows codecs in websites are cunts.

(my point stands)

if you have more then a couple of fonts on a mac you need a font manager. It will make your entire computer much happier. The best is FontExplorer X, which also had the benefit of being totally free, untill a few weeks ago. Now it costs like 40 bucks, which still makes it cheaper then crappier solutions.

http://www.fontexplorerx.com/

"Perhaps I misunderstood decoder. If you want something that just "plays" DVDs -- sorry to use plain English here -- then VLC will do the trick on any platform for $0"

Yes that's what I'm after, should have been clearer. I've just had a look at the VLC website, looks to be just the ticket. Thanks.

Supposedly Flip4Mac can't handle DRMed WMVs, right?

I have pretty stupid question, but anyway: when you delete music from itunes and you select the keep files option, where do they actually go?

"a"

they're in itunes/itunes music

or wherever it is you keep your library

hmmm, I took some tracks out of my library, and selected to keep them, but I know not where. No big deal but thanks!

Has anybody had any experience with Mac TextEdit files going corrupt? I had this 2 page text file with that started acting weird. Sometimes you see it and sometimes you don't. When you click on it sometimes it disappears. It won't open in any program or place anywhere. I made a copy of it and that just comes up gibberish. Is it history? Am I missing something?

can you open it in vi or something?

There is no native TextEdit format. There's RTF(D), Word formats, OpenDoc, and probably others. Which format is it?

TextEdit saves as RTF. I have a copy that says Plan text document but that may be just because I added .txt to the filename to see if that would do it. I mentioned TextEdit because I thought that likely caused the problem.

I don't know what vi is. I've tried opening it in word and placing it in quark and indesign. An IT guy here tried something via terminal but nothing worked.

So it does not open correctly in Word?

If not, you might try opening it in Pages.

No to word. I don't have Pages.

How about Acrobat?

no luck.

You might try rtf2html or unrtf.

that's too complicated for me! At this point I reckon the file is just jumbled up and corrupt and nothing's gonna work.

Also, File Juicer will juice into HTML and text. (xp)

FileJuicer is a super duper utility that has saved my beans more than once.

Dan - you could try downloading a bare bones text editor like Haxial's Text Edit, which should show you the characters in any text file:

http://www.haxial.com/products/textedit/

email me the file, I'll hex edit that mother fucker up if you want.

I really don't think there's anything to edit. That Haxial program just shows gibberish as well.

RIP standard operating procedures and workflow suggestions...

Probably the victim of an ASCII mode FTP xfer.

just say no to non binary ftp kids.

I am also more than happy to try to decode the file if you want to send it to me.

xp: Waht about when you are xferring files from yr EBCDIC VAX?????

there was no FTP. The file just one day went corrupt. The original is still sitting on the computer on which it was made. I see the icon, then sometimes when I click on it, it disappears. The copies I made of it are all gibberish.

OK, this file is seriously corrupt. I tried everything I had on it with zero luck. Sorry, Dan.

thanks in any case, it was worth a shot.

Maybe snag a free copy of TextWrangler and try opening the file with it?

OK. So when I'm leaving the house or going to sleep I close all programs and shut down my PC, as is decent behaviour. This I do by the time honoured start > turn off computer > Shut Down commands, plus waiting until the whole thing has clearly ceased activity before leaving. Yet about 50% of the time (at the moment) I come back in some hours later and it isn't in fact switched off at all. Is this a familiar thing with people, and if so what do you do about it? Pretty sure it's not my housemate dicking around on it, no

I, uh, never shut down.

Often mine struggles to shutdown a particularly process, and unless I shut that process down manually it won't shut down the system.

The other thing it could be is accidentally choosing restart instead of shutdown, I've done this sometimes.

Just sounds like Windows being Windows, honestly.

So, everything about my Apple OS X silver fancy pants MacBook Pro was cool until my cat came and sat on it (he likes the warmth and heat of it) and his paws seemed to hit a keycommand that fucked up my computer and reversed all the colors. Help! Help!

apple-option-control-8

B-but cats are colorblind!

Am now attempting to envision exact sequence of motions...