PC Tech Thread

if i needed a reputable qualification, in SQL, who would i use? Crash course, work at own pace, online type course? The certificate at the end is vital as I need to show that I can do it.

Who on Earth would this prove knowledge to?

I generally presume if someone can do a SQL NOT EXISTS sanely, or tell me what a DISTINCT ON is going to do, or if they can describe what a data modifying CTE is... that they know SQL.

If I were to sell my Hackintosh, any interest here?
i7 47980K, EVGA 970 SC, 2x Samsung SSD, 1 x 1TB HDD... lots of high end fans (pop a bag on top could prob double as a hoover - I got obsessed with cooling).
Prob looking for around £600?

Cause I know nothing about it, and i have nothing on my CV to say I do. So I would like to learn. And only way i can represent that i know shit about shit is to have a stupid piece of paper to say that in my time off, i learnt SQL to a sufficient level that it is usable thereby helping me gain the required SQL does EXIST while being distinctly ON. They will not know how to ask.

Download SQL Express (if MS still provide it) and play around with some big datasets. I really think its something you can start by self teaching. There are so many free tutorials online.

If you put that you are conversant with SQL on your CV, they'll check if it is important. A piece of paper, especially for something like SQL, does not carry much weight.

^^ that
If you've done anything with Excel or any sort of analysis then just include SQL in those bits of the CV. You don't have to pretend to have been a DBA, it's common enough that you could very legitimately have used it in most jobs, and as long as you actually do the learn enough that you can answer the questions then that should be fine.

I'm totally self taught on SQL @ChainBreaker

Nearly every job I applied for that cited SQL as a requirement for the role on the JD had a SQL test at interview stage. I don't think anyone cares about a piece of paper.

Oracle SQL Developer is a free download. Download it, an SQL Beginner manual and some data and do a bit of query stuff mixed in a with good bit of the old insert and truncate etc. Bobs your uncle you can has SQL on your CV. Anyone who knows a bit will spot a blagger in an interview pretty quickly.

*cough*

Shirley there must be a uk breaker / refurbisher for Dell?

*cough*

@chainbreaker: I'm teaching myself SQL by asking questions in the MS Excel thread in here.

I used/use coursera as well. Caveat: i'm thick as mince and am limited to using Access to do the sql stuff.

wish they'd let people apart from BT/Plusnet offer infinity though

Bit of a dredge but there are plenty of ISPs which resell BT Openreach's FTTC (sold by BT Retail as Infinity). Aaisp and entanet to name but two

Anyone got first hand experience of using a 4k TV as a monitor? I know latency can be an issue for gaming, but it'll mainly be used for CAD and photoshop work so colour accuracy is more of a issue. I was looking at 34" QHD monitors, but 4k TVs will give more screen space for the same price.

Some help please. My laptop's C: drive is getting full. I've down the usual Clean Disk and removing shadow restore points and it has help a bit but not enough. There is a second drive that has about 60gb of space. What is the best tool to use for (safely) moving things across to the E: drive (mainly pictures and music as they take up the most space? (I'm presuming thst I can't just move the whole folders over manually and that it needs to be done 'properly'?).

Just move the folders, no real need to do anything else.
If you use "windows libraries" you may wish to make new pointers. i.e. add the new locations to the libraries.

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Thanks for that. Can I ask another question for the same laptop? It is getting very slow streaming Eurosport (and other live TV). Is there anything I can do to improve the play back which is a bit jittery (ultimately it is 'get a new one' but I don't quite want to do that yet).

Sure it's not your connection?

It streams fine on my phone (Moto 3G) so I think it's the age of the laptop.

Have you tried some different browsers? On an aged PC of mine Chrome would struggle to stream video but Edge (the new Microsoft browser) was fine.

Yes, IE tends to work better than Firefox but I haven't got Chrome installed so I guess that is worth a try.

I find Chrome to be a bit of resource hog.

If you're on Windows 10 give Edge a try, it worked better for me than IE.

Windows Vista so no chance of using Edge!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IfnjBHtjHc

Using one in my living room. Fine for everything, even gaming. Mines a Samsung 9 series (serif).

Your phone will be requesting a lower-quality version of the stream.

You can use FRAPS to show the GPU framerate while you're watching.

I found the EdX/Microsoft course pretty good quality. Free, or £40ish if you want a certificate. Gives full instructions for setting up sample MS Azure DB on free trial, or local equivalent.