Jim Maryland

I have two questions concerning the Microsoft Windows App Store related to Microsoft Windows 8. I recently purchased a desktop computer for my son and a tablet for my wife, both running Microsoft Windows 8.1

Questions:

How can I use Windows 8 App Store without a Microsoft account? I only have local accounts on the systems, not wanting to rely on a Microsoft account. I have one, but I only use it as a junk email account (Microsoft does a pathetic job of filtering compared to Google & to a lesser extent, Yahoo).

Prior to disconnecting my account while setting up my wife's tablet, I tried launching Netflix to see how well it would perform at streaming playback. The app immediately indicated that an upgrade was available. Upon hitting the Microsoft App Store, I was presented with upgrading 23 applications. I tried to find a way to only upgrade Netflix, but there didn't appear to be an obvious way to only upgrade one application. How can I upgrade a single application? Does the upgrade of a single application present me with all the permissions that an application requires (similar to how a Google Market Place app request permissions)?

Thanks in advance.

My 2006 Nissan Altima has about 105K miles and recently had a few problems that we fixed and started a couple new ones.

Last 2 problems fixed about 2 months ago:

- Passenger side engine mount replaced

- Thermostat and heater control valve replaced

About a week ago, few new problems:

- Cylinder #3 misfire (replaced plugs, but appears related to the next problem)

- Pressure test of cooling system indicates a leak into cylinder 3. Appears to be a head gasket, but guess I won't really know until removed and tested.

- AC having electrical issues on the compressor and loss of freon (or whatever gas is in it now).

Is this common for Altimas? I've heard from two mechanics (one that did the diagnosis, and another a few years ago) that Altimas have issues and they wouldn't recommend them. I've had multiple Nissan Sentras and one Altima. The Altima has definitely been giving me problems that I wouldn't have expected until 200K or more miles.

So opinion question, would you fix it if and if so, what would be the upper cost before looking to invest in a newer car? I don't really have a place to work on it myself, plus can't really afford to have the car out of use for that long (wife will not put up with having to drop/pick me up from work much longer).

Additional details: Couple rust spots, but nothing out of control (yet at least) and interior blower motor seems weak (not putting out a lot of air flow).

My parents (ages 67 & 62) are currently struggling financially. My father was a plumber until his heart issues became more severe about 5 years ago. My mother is a school bus driver and is still working. While my father worked, they had health insurance, but since he was forced to stop working due to health, they haven't had health coverage outside my father's Veterans Affairs benefits. Fortunately my mother has been in pretty good health since affordable care and affording basic life needs at a bus drivers wages is not realistic. Over the years, they managed to put money into retirement funds (believe this to be ~$70-80K from discussions with them), so probably not really enough to live off of, but at least it helps.

So recently, my mother fell and has multiple fractures on one of her toes. Without coverage, this is going to be more expensive than what their budget can cover. Looking at the Pennsylvania Medical Assistance eligibility guidelines, it looks like they are required to spend their retirement savings before any assistance would be available. According to my mother, if she withdrawals any of the money at this time, she'll have penalties for taking it early. I thought with my father hitting 67 that he'd be able to withdrawal, but maybe they do it on the age of both my mother and father? Does it make sense to spend everything they have now so that they are forced to apply for assistance later? While my siblings and I can help for this specific injury, I would like to know if there are health options that wouldn't deplete their retirement funds and leave them completely broke as they get older.

I am hoping someone can help link specific rule guidance (high school rules preferred since this is what my youth league follows) to explain the ruling by the officials for a game situation we encountered this weekend.

The opponent faced 4th & 25 and decided to punt the ball. We dropped a player back to receive the ball and the punt was less than the 25 yard to the first down marker for the opponent. Our player attempted to catch the ball but missed. The ball was recovered about 10 yards short of the initial first down marker.

The ruling, after a few minute discussion by the officials, was that the opponent recovered the ball, 1rst down.

Was this the correct ruling? As this is youth football, nothing here will impact that particular play/game so this is just for my information in case it ever happens again. Surprisingly this is first fumble occurrence in all the years I've coached youth football during a punt return.

Please include a link to a rule or scenario, don't just state opinion on the ruling.

Thanks

The fan on my XFX 5770 video card has a fan blade that is broken off. I've removed the current fan, which is a

Power Logic model: pla08015s12hh

I've seen one on pchub.com, but that is a 4 pin version and I need a 2 pin version.

Anyone know where I can find a 2 pin version of this fan or a suitable replacement? I'm not looking to overclock so no need to list high end coolers. This card is not in a gaming PC (used to be used for gaming, now mostly for homework) so I could go back to the integrated, but would like to continue using a dual monitor setup. I can pick up a relatively low end replacement card for about $70 so I'm really looking for a fan that will be about $15-25, otherwise I'll consider a replacement card instead.

Thanks in advance.

Check engine light in my 2004 Nissan Sentra came on recently. Went through the sequence to get the blinks and came back with the 0460 code which apparently is the Fuel Level Sensor Circuit. I'm hoping this is something I can wait until next week to fix (have a day off next week so more convenient) or should I switch up my schedule to get it in sooner?

I purchased a 3 pack license of Windows 7 Upgrade since the recovery media for one of my home PCs was not working (discovered when the primary hard drive started failing). I worked with Microsoft over the phone to perform the "upgrade" to a new bare drive, which required downloading an executable that overrode the checks for a previous version of Windows.

I'm preparing to upgrade my wife's PC now and her PC's hard drive is only 250 GB so I'd like to do the "upgrade" but place the OS on a new 1 TB drive. Can I do this without having to call Microsoft? I could try the recovery media to put a factory version of the OS on the 1 TB drive but since that version is Vista 32 bit and the upgrade is Windows 7 64 bit I'd like to avoid the step.

My current shoes I use to run at the gym are showing their age. I was wondering if picking up a low cost insole would extend the life or if it would end up being more uncomfortable. I haven't used insoles in a very long time and never for exercising. Are they effective or should I just go buy a new pair of shoes ($70-90)? I'm not running marathons or anything like that, just trying to drop some weight and get into better shape so please don't suggest anything high end or expensive.

I recently purchased a new system along with an OEM Windows DVD. I'm familiar with all the holographics on a retail version so I was figuring the OEM would be similar. The DVD I received ended up being "branded" by the vendor. Now the PC is a custom build that only optionally comes with.an operating system so I wasn't figuring to get something like a system restore disc. It isn't a problem, just was curious if this was normal. I have the appropriate sticker and the installation activated fine, I just want to know if a purchase of the OEM DVD with a system should have a typical MS pressed holographic DVD.

Thanks

Looking to purchase a new gaming PC and considering a Crossfire setup. I have a 5770 card from my current system so I wanted some input on which way to go for my video configuration. A second 5770 would run about $95 at the configuration site I'm using while a single 6870 would go for about $165. If I didn't have the existing 5770 I would just go for the single 6870 but since I do, I'm looking for input from the community.

I'm attempting to fix my aunt's PC that won't boot and looking for suggestions (other than reinstall).

Hardware: HP Pavilion a6750f

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?cc=us&l...

OS: Windows Vista 64 bit (not sure of patch level since I can't boot it up)

The initial problem was a fail(ing) power supply, which I've replaced. Attempting to boot the system fails. The process shows the initial BIOS checks and eventually goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner of the screen.

I've tried to "safe mode" boot, but the system doesn't seem to recognize the key press or it isn't making it that far. Mounting the drive on one of my PCs shows that the files on the drive are there (was able to backup her home directory). I've used utilities (Parted Magic & TestDrive) to analyze and attempt to rewrite the MBR in case that was the issue.

At this point, I'm looking for suggestions on how to proceed next.

Thanks

First, I'm currently employed. My current assignment is about to end on Friday (2011/09/30) and up until about a week ago, I was facing a layoff notice. I had been looking internal for positions for a while and eventually started looking external. Since the start of my search, I finally found and was approved for a position that is closer to my home. This will be a lateral move as far as pay is concerned. Here comes the heart of the question. One of the external job searches I did is looking very much like they will offer a position. The external offer is a slightly different position but moves me somewhat into a manager role, which could further my career path.

Internal position: Software Engineer - Developing web applications for presenting various data sources Position is about 20 minutes away from where I live.

External position: Product Engineer - Enhancing commercial product capabilities, technical lead for developers, responding to proposals, interaction with standards organizations. Position is about 60 minutes away from where I live.

If I'm making approximately 100K (not including company covered benefits, which I'd still need to factor in) now with the internal position, what would be a reasonable request for the external position?

My daughter (14) and her friends are wanting to get involved in an amateur film festival for high school students in the county. These are some of the criteria that I have:

- Relatively easy to operate but includes some advanced options as she learns to use it

- Cost less than $200 (USD), maybe a little higher if necessary

- Playback on the camcorder

- Easy transfer to a PC

- Mountable on a tripod

Optional but desirable

- Video editing software

Last year she used our digital SLR, but the video capture wasn't decent enough to work with. The videos are presented in an auditorium so the video must be captured at a resolution suitable for a large screen.

Thanks

I've been trying to rebuild my in-law's Netbook computer for a while now and I believe the issue could be hardware related. The system is a Gateway LT20 netbook system. Searching the Gateway site for "hardware diagnostic" or even just "diagnostic" returns no results. Can anyone suggest a reliable diagnostic application that can be run from CD or USB? I can't boot into MS Windows so the tool must not rely on the operating system being available.

Adding the symptoms here in case anyone has suggestions on the problem too...

- Initial hard drive failed.

- Replaced with new hard drive

- Purchased Gateway recovery media (none included with the Netbook, in-laws never made a backup)

- Used recovery media

- Attempted to boot system, but the BIOS still can't detect a bootable device.

- Removed hard drive and hooked to a working system. OS files are on the drive so it seems the recovery at least installs the files (i.e. BIOS can see the drive to restore them).

- BIOS does show the hard drive in the boot menu.

- Updated the BIOS

- Still no luck booting from laptop hard drive after recovery (and files verified on the hard drive).

Thanks in advance,

Jim

I'm trying to fix my mother-in-law's Gateway LT20 Netbook that has a boot up error. The original hard drive failed so I purchased a replacement. I also had to purchase the recovery media.

I went through the recovery process and I'm still unable to boot the system up. The boot order has the hard drive booted first (even identifies the make/model/size correctly), but still shows the "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key".

I know the recovery media installed to the hard drive. Using a IDE/SATA to USB cable, I can view the files on another PC and everything appears to be fine with it.

I'm open to suggestions on resolving this. The system is out of warranty and the Gateway site doesn't seem to have any useful suggestions for the error message.

Thanks in advance.

My daughter came home from school today with the sad news that her iPod and cell phone were stolen. She kept them in her purse (devices off, just used on the bus to/from school) and someone went through her purse during her Tech Ed class (kids tend to move around in the classroom a bit). There were about 30 kids in the class. She reported the theft to the teacher and school administrators, but there is little that they can do. A report to the police will do little to recover the devices so I'm curious if I should even bother reporting the theft. I can get the serial number for the phone, but the iPod is several years old and locating the receipts for that might be a problem.

I've suspended service on the cell phone and fortunately we have the protection plan. The thief can't run up any charges, but we'll definitely be checking to see incoming/outgoing communication with the phone, just in case they tried something immediately with the phone.

On a related note, my son's iPod had been stolen from the locker room a couple weeks ago. Several other kids had money and their phones stolen as well. We reported the theft to the wrestling coach who reported to the school administration, but nothing happened as a result.

Upset and looking for opinions.

With Blizzard implementing guild achievements and reputation, I was curious if there were any major negative consequences in switching guilds. I recently left a guild and joined another so this is more of an "after the fact" question. I know guild reputation is reset, but hadn't seen any other consequences.

My daughter and some of her friends (9th graders) are planning to submit a video to the school system film festival. The video is supposed to be 3-10 minutes long and can have some audio, just nothing copyrighted. Since this is just a fun project for them, I'm looking for suggestions for free (or low cost) and easy to use video editing software. Web based solutions would work, and if it has an option to collaborate between multiple user it might even be a better option.

Oh, not sure of the video capture source. If none of the friends have a digital video camera, they'll probably end up using my digital SLR in record mode or (hopefully not) a cell phone.

Software platform: Microsoft Windows (could setup a Linux system if needed) or web based.

Thanks

I'm planning to coach some youth football this summer/fall and the one area that I'm really weak is on defensive pass coverage. I played on the offensive line (mostly tackle, but some center and a guard as well) and defensive line (NT, T, and DE) for 6 years when I was younger, but wasn't fast enough to be a defensive back. I picked up a few books on defensive coaching but they were a bit light on the various strategies. I know the basics for man to man and zone coverage, but not well enough to properly prepare a youth team (9-11 or 10-12 age groups). Can you all recommend a some good books, videos, or web resources to help with proper positioning by offensive formation, coverage rules, stunts, etc...

I guess offensively, I'm stronger with running plays (dives, leads, traps, counters, sweeps, etc...) and basic pass plays, but understanding which work best against defensive coverage is an area to improve as well. Are there any standard offensive playbooks (mostly for pass routes and receiver designation) that you can recommend?

I've assisted coaching in the past when my son was moving up through the program but that was over 5 years ago and I'm not sure who is still involved or available. I do know two coaches, but they are at different age groups so I'll be working with a fresh group of volunteers that may or may not know enough to take the pass defense coaching.

Thanks in advance

For the past couple of weeks, the clutch on my 2006 Nissan Altima has been giving me trouble. Initially the fluid level (hydraulic clutch) was a little on the low side and topping it off seemed to help but only for a short time.

Symptoms:

- Occasionally difficult to shift into 1st, 2nd, and reverse gear. Mostly when first starting to drive the vehicle after parked. Don't notice issues with 3-5.

- Double pressing the clutch seems to resolve the shifting issue most of the time

- Sitting idle with the transmission in neutral, releasing the clutch (still in neutral) causes the engine to act as though shifting in gear. Doesn't stall, but the RPMs do end up jumping up about to about 1.5K RPM.

This is my first hydraulic clutch so I'm not that familiar with what these symptoms are indicating. The vehicle has about 70K miles on it so I'm guessing the throw out bearing or pressure plate could be the problem since it doesn't seem to fully disengage. The other thought is that it might be some sort of adjustment (but unlike a linkage type setup, I'm not sure what to adjust). Any suggestions before I take it into a garage?

Thanks in advance.