Grafitti

Here is a little more info gleaned from various postings and articles, but since i'm basically rewriting them i'm not going to put them in quotes. Basically: The upgrade from XP to Vista can be compared to the upgrade from windows 3.1 to win95. XP is basically a cosmetic upgrade to Windows 2000. It's built on the win2000 kernel. Vista is packed with eye candy stuff. -- It'll need a much more powerful computer to run than what you can run XP on. Shadow folders available. User Account Control -- they finally stumbled upon getting everyone, including admin accounts, to run as regular users, and before you can install anything or do anything to the system you've got to input the admin password. It employs the sandbox approach for running programs. Better network protection. and lots more... I could go on, but here's a wikipedia article that pretty much gives a comprehensive Vista overview. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Features_new_to_Windows_Vista and here's microsoft's version: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/products/windows Let's see how well they do on their release schedule, how many bugs it has, etc. I'm going to hold off for a year after it's released before i switch.

That's sort of a vague question. There are lots of differences between XP and Vista. For that, you can even go to Microsoft's web site and see what the differences are. I think the difference between XP as compared to Vista and Vienna is:Vista=reformationVienna=revolutionof course that's assuming that microsoft is serious about those rumors. They're also stuck with big cash clients who don't want to have a fundamentally new OS.

that sounds like a solution. what particular freeware mirroring software would you recommend?

I had a couple threads going on this subject a while back. I've also got a 3.0 Ghz processor, and had countless problems with it overheating. I also have a 2.8 and a 3.2 Ghz computer that run fine. It seems the 3.0 processor, at least some of them, have basic overheating issues. they run at a temperature much higher than either higher or lower rated chipd. go figure. anyways, there didn't seem much the techs could do other than shrug their shoulders and say, you shouldn't have bought that one. anyways. I'm averaging 55-60 degrees when it's running normally, and up to 80 when heavy processing. It would constantly overheat and shut down unless i had a wall fan up against it. By chance my power supply (450w OEM) gave out, and i had no choice but to spring for a $100 ASUS 450W. My computer has not overheated ONCE since installing that new power supply. it will still get up to 75 or so sometimes, but never more. You can tell the difference in quality because while the OEM one weighed in at maybe 750g, this one weighs about as much as the rest of my computer. I would give it a shot... if you can borrow someone's good PSU or bring it to a friend, and try running some processor-intensive stuff and see how it does. that faulty power supply also damaged 2 of my hard drives, as it wasn't supplying the proper power and the needles kept dropping. That could be the case with you too.

thanks. since i can't afford to ruin things, i guess i'll stick with weekly backups. but that definitely would be something to try.

If you're really interested in opening up your hard disk, check out this guy's step-by-step guide to defragmenting his hard drive. Opening a Hard Drive

I want to implement a RAID 1 array in my computer with 2 80 GB drives. However, after reading a bit, (maybe the wrong stuff) I ended up at the point that Windows XP Professional does not support mirroring. I'm not interested in the other forms of RAID to increase performance. with the power outages all the time my primary concern is backing up the data. So is it true that mirroring is not available with XP Pro?

Yes, reinstalling is sometimes the most time-efficient solution. In any case, I'm planning to sell the laptop once it's repaired. I've been offered $500 for it, and I'm willing to go a year without a laptop till i've got enough saved up for a new one.

I wondered about that, but since i have to disconnect the adapter AND remove the battery before my "chip pulling" technique does any good, i'm leaning towards it being hardware-based. Not that i entirely rule out a virus infection. with windows, it's easier than any other system for that to be the problem. One other point of interest though. I don't have another hard disk to try out, but when i first bought it i did, and it refused to boot off the other hard disk. tried it in several other computers and it worked perfectly. Also it occasionally had issues with waking up when in standby. luckily i have 2 desktop computers to work on still, but no more travelling and working at the same time. I also use PGP whole disk encryption, zonealarm firewall, and NOD32 antivirus, so i'd be rather unhappy if it turns out to be a virus.News! I don't have the option anymore to try Knoppix, and i'm sure glad i made a backup of my hard disk before i sent it in, as i just found out the technician wiped the hard drive to see if that was the source of the problem. Though Omkar, I agree with Yordan, that once a windows system has been infected, even if it's cleaned, it's often more of a hassle to bother fixing all the things the virus messed up than installing from scratch. i have an easy way, have an 80GB that i've pre-loaded with all latest patches, programs, everything in top shape. when i need to reformat someone's computer, i back up their crucial data and simply duplicate my good drive onto theirs, and then copy the data back. a couple hours, and no more installing 50 different programs after you finally got through with installing windows.

This is more out of curiosity, since i've already sent my laptop in to the store for repair, but they're not that adept at pinpointing the exact causes of problems sometimes, and so i'd like to get other people's input on what it could be. Basically it's a laptop that i've used heavily for around 3 years, the presario 2500 series, which I've found has a reputation for overheating. --yes, i've definintely found that to be true. I upgraded the memory to 1 GB (2x512) a couple years ago, and it seemed to be working ok all that time. Now: it randomly freezes. nothing will move, no buttons work except the power button, or pulling out the battery. the screen stays normal most of the time, but when this freezing happens one pixel line of the mouse cursor starts flickering. or if it's not freezing, anywhere from right when it's logging on to 5 or 10 minutes later, i get a BSOD with different messages. Sometimes it says IRQ NOT LESS OR EQUAL, or PAGE FAULT IN NON PAGED AREA, or WIN32K.SYS ERROR. Then, when i power off, and reboot, the fans go on, the lights come on for a second, but then nothing more happens. screen stays dead, hard disk doesn't start, nothing. I have to open the ram cover, pull out the chips and stick them back in, and then it will start up again as if nothing happened, until it freezes or BSODs again. i've tried single chips, in either slot, and i get the same problems each time. Then the last couple of days, it would only boot into safe mode, it sometimes refused to boot windows (running XP Pro) with a different file error each time. Once it'll be ntfs.sys is corrupted. so i turn it off and boot up 10 minutes later and it works fine. Then the next time it crashes it has a config.sys error. So I don't get if it's a hardware or software based error. the first set of problems had me convinced it was hardware-related, but the second batch of problems seem software based. I have issues with the BIOS as well. it's a Phoenix bios, and had basically no troubleshooting-related settings, or anything except changing the boot order and sticking a password in.

well mine comes sort of close, for being 1 1/2 years old.P4 3 Ghz1 GB DDR2XP ProGeforce 6600GT 128MB DDR3DVD/RW300GB HD74GBx2 Raptor HDDell P1130 21 inch CRTAsus 450W PSU---edit: paid $1000 for it

i believe that's onboard memory. generally, 3 beeps indicate a motherboard problem.

How is 98SE more secure than XP? 98 was only slightly more secure than 95, and both of them have absolutely laughable security. really, even someone with almost no understanding of computers could bypass every one of 98's secure features. Not that XP is all that safe, but if you're speaking comparatively, it's a world of difference. The reason we still hang on to 98SE is for its performance in gaming, mostly. since it's much less of a memory and system resource hog than XP is. Even though there are easy ways to bypass XP's security, they definitely take more effort than 98SE.

Roxio??? Now THAT is a bloated piece of software. So is Nero 7. But if you use the latest version of Nero 6 (6.6.0.16), that's pretty hard to beat. Nero also uses overburning to burn past where the disc ususally can go up till. Even DVDs can be overburned with Nero if they're good quality. Personally, using branded cds, I haven't had more than 1 or 2 errors in a stack of 100, and generally that's because i was playing games while it was burning and the buffer got depleted.

Tell me.. where did you buy that? I'm guessing dubai because of the AED, but just checking. as in Karachi i'm still looking to find something that good in that price range. I've got a Presario 2568CL that i bought in the states 3 years ago for $1000, and it's about time i upgraded.

Apple is a fashion accessory. Nowadays it's nothing more. Forget the "superior quality". Maybe compared to a no-name chinese knock-off, but other than that i think it's pretty much a level playing field for the major competitors. Creative and iRiver, to name a couple, also have great mp3 players that come at a much more decent price.

There's usually a layer of sealant after you get the screws off. Wedge a screwdriver in and pry that off. You'll want to be extremely careful if you're working with live disks. If they're trash that's one thing, but you're supposed to open a hard disk only in a completely dust-free environment. Just about everything you can think of is bad for the platters. i mean, once open they're about as vulnerable as a floppy would be

Good basis, though. I think if it were a bit less colorful, more subdued, with one major thing standing out, it would be more balanced.

Of course, in the long run the only way to prevent someone determined enough from breaking into your account is to remove physical access to it. Now, to better secure XP, padlock your computer case, password the BIOS, set it NOT to boot off a floppy, cdrom, or usb, disable the guest account, remote access, remote desktop, etc. Disable fast user switching and use the classic logon, enable syskey for double protection. To delete the default administrator account, go to Windows>Run>Compmgmt.msc then Local Users and Groups>Users> and it will display a list of all accounts. you can right-click and delete it, as long as you've made another administrator account. A safer thing to do is rename Administrator to something uncommon, so that someone trying to bruteforce the admin account will come up against a blank wall, which to discover his error will cost time for a serious hacker, and probably defeat a novice script kiddie. Or just disable the account. From this compmgmt window you can assign rights to all the various user accounts on the computer. You can change any password for any account, or disable/delete them. This isn't the most technical way to do things, but for starters it's good. Others here with more knowledge of registry editing and other modes can expound on that. A separate layer of protection can be found with PGP version 9.0 or higher. Whole Disk Encryption PGPs the full hard drive, and requires a password on boot. or a program like PC security can provide similar features.

BUT.... that's why you'll go and bust double the cash on a brand name, because of its supposed superior quality control, servicing, etc. So it's pretty lame that Dell didn't catch this sooner. I find it hard to believe that either they didn't do any quality control testing, or that if they did, not one of the models tested showed signs of extreme overheating. Or does testing now mean pushing the power button and seeing if all the lights come on? What would be real classic, and maybe not so possible since the latest bomb freakout, is if a Dell would explode in flames on a transatlantic flight as the plane is coming into Washington. We'd probably hear next about the "terrorist masquerading as a businessman with his laptop full of solidox" or whatever. Anyways, I never was such a big fan of Dell.

With the Administrator version of NOD32 you should be able to update locally. I only have the personal versions, and a slow connection, so i just download the virus defs on one computer and then copy them to the other. it seems to work fine. tho not suitable for a large-scale application.

I wouldn't know, as my upgrades went Office 2000, Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007. But i do know there are freeware PDF writers that can integrate with your M$ Office software. Or if cash isn't an issue, Adobe Acrobat. That's a great built-in with lots of capabilities. I just had a thought. when i had Office 12 Beta 1, it had a built-in native PDF writer. Now my Beta 2 doesn't have it anymore. Why did it get cut?

Actually, you're probably right. I remember back when i had a Toshiba craptop it wouldn't use regular keys to get into bios or safe mode. it took me forever of searching online to find the special key combos you had to press to get into those modes.

It's an improvement. but it is too slow to be useful, especially to those who still have a slow internet connection. i think it's alright, but it's a bit late.

My useless internet prevented me from connecting to the internet for weeks. the file's expired again. if you're not fed up and still have the files, just email them to me at boobies4free@gmail.comgreat email address that i use for all my signups.