General help with pc audio quality

[Pogre]

Bucknekked, please don't make assumptions about what I can or can't spend, even 2.99 is significant on my budget. You also don't know what resources I can and can't access or where I am, or what my transportation is, or even if I have transportation (or even shoes for that matter). So please leave sarcasm out of your responses, I would appreciate it. You don't have information about how much CDs are near where I live, also it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to use a CD I don't already remember, since I have different equipment now.

No, I am not using earbuds. I agree with the known good source and going from there.

At this point with the information you gave, he only had assumptions. To me, $3 for a cd is a very cheap way to test your sq and I believe Buck gave you good advice. Maybe you should have stated some sort of budget restrictions? That would greatly affect the advice given. If $3 is too much then your options are very limited,

 

[MrBoat]

I never would have pegged you as a Linux user! How the heck did you get to that OS?

Maybe DOS, but not Linux

I've never even really used it much, other than it seems to be the shell for some electronics projects that I've done.

Most people wouldn't. I used to be good at computers until I got tired of them. Now I have a mental block due to lack of interest and laziness.

The last two desktops I have are the only two store bought computers I have owned. Everything else I built from used parts or condemned machines. This meant they were typically obsolete by the time I got them. Linux was a way to get older machines to run faster. Between overclocking and Linux, I could perhaps even get an old machine to contend with new ones, at least with internet processes. Having experience with DOS is what made Linux easy to learn. Mostly because I spent a LOT of time 'repairing' crashed windows OS via DOS, not to mention, removing viruses.

This is the first version of Windows I have owned since 06 and that one (XP) I only used for a year. I had been using a version of Mandrake since about 1998. Funny thing is, while using Linux, I never had a system crash or a virus. Mostly because teenagers that lived here could not install or click on .exe files with any effect to the OS. The ultimate test of an OS is kids/teenagers. They had managed to trash every version of windows prior.

Every time a new virus came out, the "cure" typically involved 2 or 3 different AV programs which essentially ends up being a virus in itself. I learned windows registry and DOS and how to find and fool virus spawn files and to remove every trace, and every other artifact from so-called "uninstalled" windows programs while I was in there. Then there was that love/hate relationship with TSRs and tech support.

Now I don't care anymore. If this version of Windows 10 starts getting weird or bloated, I will remove it and install some version of Linux.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Most people wouldn't. I used to be good at computers until I got tired of them. Now I have a mental block due to lack of interest and laziness.

The last two desktops I have are the only two store bought computers I have owned. Everything else I built from used parts or condemned machines. This meant they were typically obsolete by the time I got them. Linux was a way to get older machines to run faster. Between overclocking and Linux, I could perhaps even get an old machine to contend with new ones, at least with internet processes. Having experience with DOS is what made Linux easy to learn. Mostly because I spent a LOT of time 'repairing' crashed windows OS via DOS, not to mention, removing viruses.

This is the first version of Windows I have owned since 06 and that one (XP) I only used for a year. I had been using a version of Mandrake since about 1998. Funny thing is, while using Linux, I never had a system crash or a virus. Mostly because teenagers that lived here could not install or click on .exe files with any effect to the OS. The ultimate test of an OS is kids/teenagers. They had managed to trash every version of windows prior.

Every time a new virus came out, the "cure" typically involved 2 or 3 different AV programs which essentially ends up being a virus in itself. I learned windows registry and DOS and how to find and fool virus spawn files and to remove every trace, and every other artifact from so-called "uninstalled" windows programs while I was in there. Then there was that love/hate relationship with TSRs and tech support.

Now I don't care anymore. If this version of Windows 10 starts getting weird or bloated, I will remove it and install some version of Linux.

Store important files outside of local drives (or at the least not on same physical device) and don't be shy to re-image on first sight of problems.
This could save up A LOT of headaches. But yeah, linux desktop is very close to point of being good enough, I'd say even if quite limited Chrome OS is even better than general linux distro in sense of working fast, reliable, virus free and teenage/elderly people proof.