Hey moe ! - how do i work this thing ?

[ignoramus11]

Looking at the various components available in desktop pcs has me thinking, and thus looking for some more experienced thinkers. Say I had a machine (leaning to Ohio's systemax, or maybe dell) with a multi-core cpu, fit with sufficient memory, hard drive, video card, and dual tv tuner card, with an hdmi port. It has windows7 os, and it's in our office, with a LED monitor. We have a plasma tv in another room, one 25' hdmi away. Is it possible for my kid to do homework online, or to load photos to facebook with this prospective computer while someone watches cable tv or streaming video and/or records tv to hard drive simultaneously with the same machine ? Can someone help a ham-handed laborer into the 21st century ?

 

[ignoramus11]

Looking at the various components available in desktop pcs has me thinking, and thus looking for some more experienced thinkers. Say I had a machine (leaning to Ohio's systemax, or maybe dell) with a multi-core cpu, fit with sufficient memory, hard drive, video card, and dual tv tuner card, with an hdmi port. It has windows7 os, and it's in our office, with a LED monitor. We have a plasma tv in another room, one 25' hdmi away. Is it possible for my kid to do homework online, or to load photos to facebook with this prospective computer while someone watches cable tv or streaming video and/or records tv to hard drive simultaneously with the same machine ? Can someone help a ham-handed laborer into the 21st century ?

I would also imagine I'll need a free typing tutorial to ever communicate effectively in this manner. My lag time with 2-finger typing is a killer. Any suggestions, other than that the world needs ditch-diggers, too. I'm getting old.

 

[hang-the-9]

Looking at the various components available in desktop pcs has me thinking, and thus looking for some more experienced thinkers. Say I had a machine (leaning to Ohio's systemax, or maybe dell) with a multi-core cpu, fit with sufficient memory, hard drive, video card, and dual tv tuner card, with an hdmi port. It has windows7 os, and it's in our office, with a LED monitor. We have a plasma tv in another room, one 25' hdmi away. Is it possible for my kid to do homework online, or to load photos to facebook with this prospective computer while someone watches cable tv or streaming video and/or records tv to hard drive simultaneously with the same machine ? Can someone help a ham-handed laborer into the 21st century ?

A new PC should be able to handle media use at the same time as other operations. The issue with using one computer for multiple things is that what if your kid shuts off the PC when he's done or closes the wrong application, or locks up the PC with some Facebook virus or an application he's using crashes?

If you do a Google search for "free typing tutor program" you should find a few to pick from.

 

[ignoramus11]

Thanks for the reply, hang-the-9. Aside from the virus possibility, could the other scenarios you mention cause damage, or merely be a source of irritation, like 1/4 of the other things the kids do ?

 

[hang-the-9]

All of those things will interrupt your video watching, and probably more important, recording. Lets say you head for a vacation and set your all-time best favorite Oprah episodes to record. The kid plays his online game, shuts off the PC. You come home in a week, NO OPRAH! That's a major catastophy.

 

[ignoramus11]

All of those things will interrupt your video watching, and probably more important, recording. Lets say you head for a vacation and set your all-time best favorite Oprah episodes to record. The kid plays his online game, shuts off the PC. You come home in a week, NO OPRAH! That's a major catastophy.

Wow. Missing an Oprah episode - I hadn't even considered that. The horror. I'd be rudderless. I have always had to be home for Oprah, anyway, because I never figured out how to work the record timer on the betamax. That "12:00" flashing never bothers me until the electrical tape falls off. If I can do these things without anything worse than possible inconvenience , maybe I'll try. Maybe there's a way to lock a media window open- so one must at least enter a couple keystrokes to exit or close ? If nothing else, it's one way to rationalize buying a little better computer. Are there lot's of viruses flying around on facebook ? Maybe, if I tell my wife to be worried about that, she'll get back to the dishes. Referring to facebook as "social mastrubation" hasn't been much of a deterrent.

 

[hang-the-9]

As far as facebook and virus go, there are probably as many bad things going on with facebook than good. My kids manage to get spyware on my computers monthly even though they say "I did not do anything". What happens is that people's accounts get hacked, the bad guys send out all sorts of stuff to their friends, those friends click on stuff to see the cute kitty dance, and your PC dissolves in a pile of goo.

There is no way to lock a window from closing, and playing around with Windows rights to lock things out can easily do more harm than good unless you know what you are doing. You can remove the close button for example.

 

[ignoramus11]

That "unless you know what you are doing" part kind of rules me out at this point. I can see the value of removing the close button in the aspect used for television activities, as long as there is a way to close.
Does the introductory security software that comes loaded in many computers suffice until something better is found ? You also mention monthly spyware infestations. I take it you have a firewall, antivirus, etc. Do those things merely hold "junk" at bay until you get it out ? With a scan? Typically speaking, if you regularly update security software, does a virus only do harm if you are unlucky enough to catch it early, before it has been addressed with an update ?
The computers we have had at our home have been basic, and provided by the "home-school" programs our kids have been in. Two of them got really slow, and were promptly replaced. (not the kids) I hate to admit it, but I never was all that concerned until it was "my" computer in question. Gotta go to football practice- I'll check back when we return. Thank you

 

[ignoramus11]

Best answer selected by ignoramus11.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey