E-Chat Quick Question Thread

[Homer Thompson]

48 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

*riffling

Absolutely fine for your Mrs' firm to install a VPN on the router - she'll be accessing the company's intranet after all.  The best thing is to get a second phone line installed - and expensed, of course.

It really isnt. Its massive over-kill for what could be done by installing something on the companies device.  As Geedub said, not only will all devices go through it they can monitor everything you do. No way is that acceptable

[The_Kincardine]

Just now, Mr X said:

It really isnt. Its massive over-kill for what could be done by installing something on the companies device.  As Geedub said, not only will all devices go through it they can monitor everything you do. No way is that acceptable

You missed the 'two phone lines' bit which is the simplest way around this.

[Homer Thompson]

Just now, The_Kincardine said:

You missed the 'two phone lines' bit which is the simplest way around this.

I didnt miss it. You're right, it would be the best solution, as long as the company is footing the bill.

I was replying directly to your suggestion that it was in any way ok for the company to add a VPN to a router on a privately owned broadband line.

[The_Kincardine]

21 minutes ago, Mr X said:

I didnt miss it. You're right, it would be the best solution, as long as the company is footing the bill.

I was replying directly to your suggestion that it was in any way ok for the company to add a VPN to a router on a privately owned broadband line.

We all good then?

[Geedub-MFC]

Some bite you got there Kinky

[Homer Thompson]

23 hours ago, Geedub-MFC said:

Some bite you got there Kinky

[boulderdomb]

Considering getting a surface go 2 - really like the idea of being able to use it as a tablet and a laptop, the pen for drawing and the fact (based on reviews and Reddit) it would also let me do a bit of programming in visual studio without much of a difference to my desktop whilst travelling. Before I make the plunge into the surface ecosystem, are there any alternatives for around the same price tag? I'm not interested in Chromebook although would be open to something Linux based if such a device exists. 

 

I was also considering the pro rather than the go although I have a feeling this may be overkill price wise for when I'd actually be using it.

[Homer Thompson]

3 hours ago, boulderdomb said:

Considering getting a surface go 2 - really like the idea of being able to use it as a tablet and a laptop, the pen for drawing and the fact (based on reviews and Reddit) it would also let me do a bit of programming in visual studio without much of a difference to my desktop whilst travelling. Before I make the plunge into the surface ecosystem, are there any alternatives for around the same price tag? I'm not interested in Chromebook although would be open to something Linux based if such a device exists. 

 

I was also considering the pro rather than the go although I have a feeling this may be overkill price wise for when I'd actually be using it.

There are a few other hybrid tablet/laptops from the likes of Lenovo but, to be honest, unless you want to take a chance on a cheap chinese knock-off and save money, I would go for the Surface

[Ex Machina]

I've just purchased a Huawei Matebook 13 2020.  Happy enough with it however the issue is that it only has an earphone jack and two USB-C ports meaning I need a dock to connect it to monitors, an ethernet cable etc. It came with a Huawei MateDock2 but unfortunately that only has one USB and one HDMI port. Can anyone recommend a USB-C dock with two HDMI ports (I want to connect to two monitors), two USB ports and an ethernet cable slot? 

[Homer Thompson]

I've just purchased a Huawei Matebook 13 2020.  Happy enough with it however the issue is that it only has an earphone jack and two USB-C ports meaning I need a dock to connect it to monitors, an ethernet cable etc. It came with a Huawei MateDock2 but unfortunately that only has one USB and one HDMI port. Can anyone recommend a USB-C dock with two HDMI ports (I want to connect to two monitors), two USB ports and an ethernet cable slot? 

I have an HP displaylink for my work laptop. It only has one hdmi but it has 2 display ports, 4 USB, headphones and lan.

I have an HP laptop though so I've no idea if the hub works with other, non HP, devices.

[Ex Machina]

On 23/11/2020 at 15:58, Mr X said:

I have an HP displaylink for my work laptop. It only has one hdmi but it has 2 display ports, 4 USB, headphones and lan.

I have an HP laptop though so I've no idea if the hub works with other, non HP, devices.

Cheers, had a look at it but was ideally looking for more HDMI slots. Picked up this FitFort docking station which seems to be doing the business.

[Quiet Riot]

1 hour ago, MixuFruit said:

Anyone know why a USB drive wouldn't be recognised (no error, just not there) on startup, but is recognised if I pull it out and plug it back in?

Nothing else plugged in is giving me grief.

Is there any encryption software on the drive?  Some encrypted drives are not automatically recognised at start-up.

Otherwise assuming you are using Windows, is it up to date and are your chipset drivers up to date?

[welshbairn]

3 minutes ago, MixuFruit said:

Nope still getting the same issue

If pulling it out and plugging it back in works I don't see your problem.

[Homer Thompson]

Have you tried deleting USB controllers from devices and rebooting to reinstall them?

[welshbairn]

2 minutes ago, MixuFruit said:

Because I've got a batch file copying a folder from my C drive onto it every day and it's annoying me that it comes up with a 'drive not found, retrying' loop every time till I do this.

Fair enough, is that your back up method?

[Quiet Riot]

Not sure I would be using a USB flash drive for backup.  They are notoriously low quality and unreliable.  But good to see you have found a solution.  I had one other thing to try but if it's working now then no need.

If it's just backup you are after could you install the HDD/SSD out of your old PC and use that?

Edited December 24, 2020 by Quiet Riot

[charger29]

Fucksake that's it started happening again. Giving up and taking it out of the equation I think.

Do other USB devices do the same?

[bopolopoluss1]

Does anyone know if it is possible to unlock the BIOS on a laptop if it is password protected and you don't know/can't remember the code you set up?

 

My sister left a job in 2016 and was allowed to take her laptop with her. She used it for a while but it was (is) running Windows 7 and not long after she bought herself a macbook pro. She has 3 young kids who are all home schooling at the moment and they're sharing 1 laptop; I'd hoped to be able to put windows 10 on this machine to give her another option but unfortunately the BIOS is password protected, as is the 'boot from USB option'. I'd try to upgrade from within Windows 7 but she can't remember the password for the either.

 

It's an HP ProBook 645 G1. I've contacted HP but they said the password has been set by a user locally and because of that they can't do anything. Does that seem right? It's a pretty basic machine but it seems a bit daft for it to go in the bin.

EDIT:  Is it possible to install windows on an external hard drive and then put it in the machine? Would that bypass the BIOS?

 

Edited January 20, 2021 by bopolopoluss1

[Homer Thompson]

Does anyone know if it is possible to unlock the BIOS on a laptop if it is password protected and you don't know/can't remember the code you set up?
 
My sister left a job in 2016 and was allowed to take her laptop with her. She used it for a while but it was (is) running Windows 7 and not long after she bought herself a macbook pro. She has 3 young kids who are all home schooling at the moment and they're sharing 1 laptop; I'd hoped to be able to put windows 10 on this machine to give her another option but unfortunately the BIOS is password protected, as is the 'boot from USB option'. I'd try to upgrade from within Windows 7 but she can't remember the password for the either.
 
It's an HP ProBook 645 G1. I've contacted HP but they said the password has been set by a user locally and because of that they can't do anything. Does that seem right? It's a pretty basic machine but it seems a bit daft for it to go in the bin.
EDIT:  Is it possible to install windows on an external hard drive and then put it in the machine? Would that bypass the BIOS?
 

The bios password will probably be generic to the model so you might find it on Google.

There will be a button to press in start up that takes you direct to the boot menu, rather than going through the bios. You should be able to find that on Google too.

Unless the whole thing had been completely locked down by her previous work.

Only other option I can think of is to take the hard drive out of the laptop, chuck it in another machine, on its own, and install windows that way

[bopolopoluss1]

14 minutes ago, Mr X said:

The bios password will probably be generic to the model so you might find it on Google.

There will be a button to press in start up that takes you direct to the boot menu, rather than going through the bios. You should be able to find that on Google too.

Unless the whole thing had been completely locked down by her previous work.

Only other option I can think of is to take the hard drive out of the laptop, chuck it in another machine, on its own, and install windows that way

Thanks. I've tried to find a generic password online but none so far have worked out for me and unfortunately the boot options menu seems to be password protected too. 

 

Is it possible to put an SSD in an external caddy and install windows via my own machine before putting the hard drive in the other laptop? The only other laptop I have here has an m.2 slot and won't be compatible if I do it the way you have suggested.