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Insurance and Viruses

Posted 05-01-2013 at 02:49 PM by Splat
Updated 05-01-2013 at 02:52 PM by Splat

So last month the 3-year cover on my laptop expired; I was getting letters asking if I'd like to cover it for another year but as the price was over £70 I decided not to.

So naturally my laptop now won't recognise any CDs placed inside of it, be they music, DVDs or games. Tried Microsoft's online solution which didn't fix (or even register) the problem. Leaves me at a loss.

On a lighter note, I think this has more to do with me being unlucky than with dodgy insurance; I accidentally downloaded a virus last week and, while it was swiftly expunged, it's not inconceivable that it may have brought a friend along - my virus protection let one through, so why not two?

Perhaps I'm being pessimistic but I can't help feeling that £76 isn't going to feel like very much in a day or two.

In other news, does it surprise anyone that my first activity on OWF in quite a while is me bemoaning computer problems?

Posted in Life

Comments 11

Total Comments 11

Comments

	Laptops generally don't last longer than three years anyway.
	Posted 05-01-2013 at 05:38 PM by Sekto Springs Updated 05-01-2013 at 05:42 PM by Sekto Springs

	My laptop is also nearing that age now. No particular problems yet, except the more and more regular cooling fan speed up, which might get worse enough to cause problems eventually.
	Posted 05-01-2013 at 10:30 PM by dripik

	I've had my laptop for... nearly five years. It's not as powerful as it used to be, not even close, but it works for what I generally use it for, and it still runs most of the games I'm interested in playing.
	Posted 05-01-2013 at 10:42 PM by Oddey

	This is why I prefer desktops even if they're not as portable and need more space and power. Individual components are easily replaceable if they break... Easier to upgrade too.
	Posted 05-02-2013 at 12:13 AM by DarkHoodness Updated 05-02-2013 at 07:11 AM by DarkHoodness

	Have you tried uninstalling and resintalling the drive's drivers? If that doesn't work, you should consider reinstalling Windows before paying someone else to fix it.
	Posted 05-02-2013 at 03:10 AM by Nate

	Did you try cleaning that little diode that reads the discs,I had the same problem with my laptop,the dust tends to stick to it,and block it's reading capabilities.
	Posted 05-02-2013 at 06:34 AM by Scraby

	You can also get an external DVD drive as a stopgap. Something cheap like this. Or make one from a desktop computer DVD drive hooked up to the remains of an old USB hard drive caddy, like my bro in law did.
	Posted 05-02-2013 at 07:19 AM by DarkHoodness

	I've had my laptop since '06. It's a hunk of shit but hey, it runs pretty damn well for its age. Every time it had a problem like that I had to completely reinstall the OS and magically everything was working just fine again. Oddly, I've never had a problem with the hardware unless you count the fact that the hinges are slowly but surely breaking.
	Posted 05-02-2013 at 11:59 AM by Slog Bait

	EDIT: I've reinstalled drivers with no profit. It seems to be an issue with auto-playing rather than drivers. It'll play things but if I try and auto-run them I get an error message. So I can start games by entering their files and opening them directly, but I can't play music or films.
	Posted 05-02-2013 at 03:30 PM by Splat Updated 05-02-2013 at 04:04 PM by Splat

EDIT: I've reinstalled drivers with no profit. It seems to be an issue with auto-playing rather than drivers. It'll play things but if I try and auto-run them I get an error message. So I can start games by entering their files and opening them directly, but I can't play music or films.

That's wierd. Not sure what could be causing that.

Have you tried opening the music and films in your media-playing program? VLC, for instance, has a specific option for opening disks.

Posted 05-03-2013 at 01:03 AM by Nate

	That was a good idea; thanks, Nate!
	Posted 05-08-2013 at 01:03 PM by Splat

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