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Do the ipconfig /allor if you are old skool.... winipconfigyou ip address is on Status of you network connection, click the 'Properties' button and do the same for the 'Internet Protocol Version 4'. You can adjust you IP addresses here.

Just get the required video card for the board. Do a google search for your board that other people have customized. Make not of the video cards they use. Maybe you can get some ideas. Especially some insight on the PCI-Express, the motheboard implementation, and the power requirements.I use a program called Everest Ultimate Edition which was formally AIDA32, and now is renamed to aida64 extreme. This software has helped me identify my motherboards and components for quite a few years.This is especially true when I have to narrow down similar graphic cards and performance capabilities. :PLevimage

Hi.Me personally I've done work for companies and non profits which usually use Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro. I've also seen some oem's use limited or lite trial versions of from the respective vendors. Me personally, since I do computer consulting and troubleshooting, I usually use what the OEM vendors has installed on the workstation or laptop till the evaluation subscription runs out.In the mean time I take note of how the program runs. Is there a performance hit, is there unnecessary scanning when I'm trying to accomplish anything, does the software background scanning/cache engine competing with me? I also let the program do it's updates and occasionaly I run some myself. I HATE THE NORTON PRODUCTS OR ANY OTHER SOFTWARE OTHER THAN THE OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRING A REBOOT. I check to see how much of a typical download size takes, etc. and what permission are required for the software to install it.Looking at the customization options and features are a big plus for me. The more control I have, the more happy I am. I use to like the ablility to create recover disk/cd's, but that feature is always almost removed from modern packages. I HATE THE SUITES WITH ONLINE BACKUP THAT CANT BE CUSTOMIZED OR DISABLED.Once the trial period is over, I notice Norton and McAfee although still running and providing limited protection till that last update, is nearly disabled. All options, reports, histories, and manual update/scans are not selectable. (You can still initiate scanning by right clicking a SINGLE drive letter to scan).What's left is just a software suite with is not operating at it's intended capacity. Strange though 3rd party programs report the software still does program updates but not the virus definitions. The software is more annoying now, it always connects online even more that when it was activated, and keeps pushing out ads with the first option selected to redirect you the website or be reminded later.ONE MORE THING I HATE IS WHEN YOU TRAIL AV SOFTWARE SUITE TRIES TO IMPLMENT A FIREWALL OR NETWORK DETECTION/HANDLING, AND YOU HAVE YOUR OPTIONS DISABLED. TALK ABOUT BAD PLANNING FROM VENDOR. I ALWAYS HIT UP HOTSPOTS AND WIFI'S IF I CAN GET A SIGNAL.Then all the pros and cons are added up, and you get your 1st virus or un removal spyware infection my typical means, or you are tired of all the hoop la. Just uninstall it and try AVG Free Edition, or AVIRA, or which ever package is FREE and possible has the best support for 32 and 64 bit modes, Windows Vista/7 optimizations, and support for multi-processor or Mult-cores.Be weary though one of the FREE AV suites (not going to mention which one) had a problem after a reboot which rendered your Windows 7 64bit operating system disabled, till the patch came out. I'm not sure if it was a Live recovery CD or the actual av suite, cause I'm still on my trial.I haven't posted in a long time and well that's what I have to say about the topic. :PLevimage

I've seen some old school hard drives that were the size of 1 foot square with many platters. It looked like an old phonograph with mirror like disks.

Yeah, I'm wondering if the older browsers, although let compatible with newer technologies could they be faster than never browsers with online protection running in the background. If so, then the bottleneck is programing. A thing to query is the browser and software (anti-virus suites) If they make use of multiprocessing and processor/ram resource sharing or implement some sort of caching to offset speed/responsiveness issues.

If given the opportunity I'd update the bios any day. If doing it for a client, you have to explain the risks associated with the procedures. I think the PROs out way the CONs.Usually if it is a BIOS release, then it is something the original equipment manufacture would like to rectify but couldn't before the product left the factory, due to product to market time, through finding out by testing/consumer feedback, better implementation of hardware discovered or for future compatiblity with newer technology or standards.There was one time I had to jump a BIOS. I was glad it was not for any of my clients but was for my ABit Fatal1ty board. So I have two of those boards now. That was the last time I did a rush bios job without carefully reading all the requirements 1st.There are also some 3rd party bios companies out there that can flash your bios chip or you can buy a preflashed bios chip. I never had to use there services, but I guess that may very from country to country.Well that's it for now, unless someone would like to add to the subject.levimage

If you do get errors make sure you know which RAM sticks have the errors. If you do the test with four (4) or two (2) sticks of ram in your PC/laptop make note of it. Then take a out a pair if you have four (4) and test again; or, if you just have one, take out one and run the memory test again. I know this may take time (time consuming) but you are trying to identify which memory stick is out of commission. Which is giving errors. Also if you need to RMA the stick. A photo or LPT print out of the screen might also help expedite the return/replacement. Hard disks also have a temperature, a failure rate, and a life span called Mean Time Between Failiure (MTBF). So this should also be taken into consideration when you are using a drive which has been out for sometime. Usually I notice the number one problems from hard disks are incomplete shutdowns or power failure as a result of bad power supplies, laptop battery going dead or power outtage. Also some troubleshooting utilities also do not turn off the hard drive properly when you have to force a shutdown with the hard drive light still spinning. What I hate is that hard drive light blinking as a result of antivirus searches, caching programs, and anything that requires excessive use of the hard drive, especially when I want to make my laptop sleep or shutdown, cause you are usually interrupting a process. Dont forget your thermal paste. Looks like it can get quite expensive in your step (4) and Step (5).

Just give us the Make and Model of your laptop. Based of that i(we) can get a general idea what problems you might be having. People here have a considerable experience when it comes to identifying and resolving issues. If you give us some feedback we can give some ideas and suggestions as to where to start. This might also help you save time and money... and even another format and reinstall.To date I have taken apart about 10 laptops. Most of them were old and obsolete, so i got a chance to work on them without worrying about breaking any components - which are usually plastic or from rolled thin aluminum like metals. I have fixed maybe 2-3 laptops.I will say this. There comes a time when the price to replace something like an lcd screen along with upgrading the memory, hard drive, and reinstalling an OS or upgrade is not really worth the cost of fixing the laptop. I just have to inform clients to take it as a loss. Or even buying a more recent used laptop with no problems as an alternative to acquiring a new laptop.Hope this helps.Levimage

considering your from the philippines you could start out by posting some of your interests, what kind of web site you would like to make if you're gonna make one. And something I'd be interested in would be some pictures yourself and where you are from. That would be cool and unique in itself.Levimage

On the processors, I think if you are gaming, try to get a Dual Core processor with the most amount of GigaHertz (GHz) you can find with the largest amount of cache you can find 4MB, 6MB, 8MB. Quad, & Oct core processors are not really gonna make a difference when it comes to gaming. It may have to do with the coding of programmers, their knowledge of 32/64 code operating systems, the limitations of the game platform, and the level of DirectX and specific hardware call features supported by the setup.Memory is beast itself. Typically more is better, for DDR to function I belive the ram has to be installed in pairs to get computing and processing benefits of double bandwidth. Just upping the memory from a setup with one (1) stick of ram to a setup with two (2) identical pairs does make a difference. If you are maxing out the ram on your setup, look to you manual and OEM whitepapers in addition to other peoples experience online. Online calculators are great for finding something that will physically fit in your motherboard but do not count for such subtitlies as as voltage range, latency, and performance profiles which are limited by your motherboards chipsets.Rather than follow all the forums religiously dedicated to customizing / optimizing/ overclocking ilk, I do my own research. It may not be the best source put at least it avoids all the ilk, the propaganda, the marketing, the obsolesce store inventories, and the crediblity gap that you find when you're doing a product return for taking in the advice of 'Best Buy/Geek Squad' kid who swears by his family or close friend, or in an unfortunate event RMA a product from 'Fry's Electronic'. I go to wikipedia. I lookup many topics, 'memory standards, processor architectures (intel, and amd flavors), memory board buses, graphic processors (ati and amd flavors), and other standards like memory cards, and interface technolgies.

Is there anything out there that can make an SDHC or microSDHC in a memory to usb adapter bootable? I was curious. I can then always have spare device at my disposal and always on hand like, in my cell phone in case of emergency. Also on the subject as their been any effort to make a USB bootdisk with the possiblility of password encryption in the boot process or on the opening of files. So there would be no need of company data or personal data becoming public. So in the event something comes lost there is no need to worry about intellectual property getting in the wrong hands.

I tried installing to give it a shot. Nope doesn't work for my setup. Then again it could be my laptop is too new. Maybe it will work on 32bit OS with an older browser. After clicking everything possible on the site i could not find a page with the recommended system requirements, even in the forums. I just glanced at the total reads and replys from some of the the buggy/error like topics. I came to the conclusion that this software is still in the works and their community is still growing or using hardware from the Quake era. Rather than wasting time trying to figure out this free game, I just deleted my account. The apparent value in time lost not getting it to run after 6 plugin installs/uninstalls/repairs, closing and opening the browser, logins to website, and clicking numerous EULAs. Complete waste. I probably would have been better off digging in my archive of retro cd cases for the game, and install/run the original in an virtual os. Levimage

That's pretty much it when it comes to new games coming out. To use the lastest Direct X. To make use of ATI and NVIDIA's cards new graphics/processing capabilities. To make use of 64bit processing in gaming. Running video cards with 1GB or more of memory. Multi-processor setups. Not to mention all the new specifications and motherboard capabilites your are locking yourself out of when it comes to still running XP. Sure XP can be had almost anywhere on the Internet, but to have real hardware productivity now days you might want to consider the upgrades. Unless you are some Linux fanatic who just happens to a be a very adept video/hardware programmer in the industry with all the funds and free time to dabble with code, your best bet is to just upgrade. I upgraded. I just fall back on XP when i comes to running old software via M$ Virtual PC - which is a Free download. Levimage

Don't i repeat dont' ever get your lady mad when you have your laptop out, when your laptop on, and especially if it's within her reach. Also othering common sense thing which is probably overlooked, don't use your laptop when you are drunk, drinking, and when you having or at a party. Believe me... I heard some stories.

I'm not sure about running virus software in safemode or not. Sure there are certain troubleshooting situations where you really cannot do a thorough clean in windows and safemode would be an option. Really what you should learn how to do is use recovery cd's/bootable usb images to assist in the removing of computer viruses/annoyances outside of the Windows environment.Also I found out it is best to update your antivirus and other internet security software in a seperate session from running your windows, installed software, and hardware updates. If you try to do multiple things at once without a reboot between different tasks... you may be asking for future trouble. I'm noticing this with Windows 7 and updating of hardware and software when you first connect to the internet.Levimage.

Hey that's what I want to do. Get something going so I can house all kinds of media on a makeshift server or fast computer. But really I would like an external enclosurer with a FAT harddrive like say 2-4TB on a regular sized hard drive or a 1-2TB on a laptop drive enclosure. I'd like that device to be able to have internet connectivity, bluetooth for keyboard/trackpad combo, a wireless remote, and of course an HDMI connectors with the processing power to play ripped Blue Ray.Let me know if you found a cost effective solution or anything in the open source end. Well that's on my mind, and I would like to get something up before things start cooling down for winter in the states.levimage

Yeah that's true. Upcoming technologies to look into are eSata (external sata), USB3.0, and network drives which have more options that just USB. Like networking features. Sure there are some Wireless Routers with USB ports, but then again you are still limited to you wireless connection setup and the USB Bus. It just like when I use to ghost drive images, it was always more effective to do it over the network. Kind of hassle getting ndis and dos drivers for the boot floppies. So I guess, things are probably different nowdays. But yeah, I use to like how you could broadcast hard drive images to over +25 PC's on the network at once! I'm sure you can still do that, copy whole drive at less than 10 minutes - provided that you boot into a live cd, have software, and open up all the external housings so you can connect all the drives to your pc's SATA or IDE buses. Another option would be just make you own external drive. Get an enclosure with SATA connections and get a good quality sata drive like a 2 terabyte drive. And copy all you data over in Windows. I'm pretty sure if you are in an x64 bit environment, the data transfer speeds might be more better. What are the typical speeds achieved with the cable. Wait are you talking about like at Cat5e/6 crossover cable? Or you you talking about them premade data transfer cables which come in a retail box with some sort of wizard copying software? Levimage

What kind of sofware do you use to troubleshoot or figure out what kind a problems they are having. Like showing the toolbars and browser attachements? Just curious here.

How much does your intended audience know about computers. If they don't know computer terms you can add like a glossary or foot notes, and maybe a URL list. And note things that are free and things that cost money. And maybe include something about how long a typical task will take to run or complete and if there is any prior preparation required on their part.If this is something you plan to do for them... like a support agreement. Making a checklist could help. Listing your contact or phone numbers or 3rd party technical support. And if possible install and run the programs at least once for them to make sure the proper settings are inplace. A hands on walk through on the software for them would greatly be appreciated. You could also setup some batch scripts that they can double click on, schedule tasks for them, or setup automatic updates.Let me know. I have more ideas.levimage

Yeah, get a durable laptop... something with a metal like case. And if it has a rugged rubberized skin for it, get it. Also something new now days are laptops coolers. This may help absorb the impact of a dropped laptop if it is the heat dispersing gel heat types which can be affixed to the laptop like a clam shell.Another thing that cannot be stressed enough is get the warranty or extended warranty for intentional laptop damages/theft damage. Or purchase it with a credit card that covers such damages.I had an iPaq pda from staples that went bad, the screen cracked and they replaced it. It was so simple.Right now I'm getting a HP G60 repaired from HP manufacure for +400.00. It was a laptop that someone broke and considered a loss. Besides being out of their budget to fix something that's going to be dated, they just decided to get a newer laptop with the features they wanted. Rich people.Yeah new replacement keyboards can be as cheap as 29.99 a pop and I've purchased LCD screens for as low as 109.00 + shipping. Go figure. If you are up to challenge to repair a laptop. Search eBay for something broken... like a laptop with a broken screen that can still boot, or a laptop with just a damaged keyboard/spilled. You can easily get functional one going for less than 200.00, provided it just need one part replaced.The 400.00 scenario, required a replacement LCD, a keyboard, and a factory image restore on the hard drive. If worst comes to worst. I would be sent an equivalent refurbished laptop or 400.00 plus the depreciated value of the laptop in credit toward a new one. Cool huh. :)levimage

I use to tease my friend who had a karaoke business with GB or GBs of music. I usta say when we use to integrate another 5-10 GB of music into their existing database, and make a backup only to back that up to two more 1 terabyte drives. I usta say, "Yeah my grandma need a terabyte. She's about due for one."He just use to laugh at me and take a shot rum. We'd do other things - drink, cook out, shoot-the-**** - while waiting for things backup. Sometimes the backup would say USB to USB... 23 more hours to completion. It turns out it was a Vista patch we didn't have. Oh well, it put more money in my pocket and Crown Royal in my liver.So if you backups are taking a long time, you should look into service packs, interface, bus, and drivers patches for you OS. Trust me it helps.Levimage

Sometimes, depending on the game, like emulation - press CTRL+Enter or Alt+Enter. Or if you are not picky, just press the "Windows" key, if you want to at least see something. I agree The CAD is a more safer option cause it tends to halt program. You can always create a shortcut, or if you have the software to assign hot keys or a keyboard with special keys... program it. A mouse gesture would be a cool way to open the task manager. Me, I like setting the mouse to follow the active window at 450ms. One less thing to click (No pun intended). For Windows XP the location is "C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe". I'm not sure about the other versions. But what you probably don't know is... and you can quote me, "You can pretty much copy most of the applications and utilties from the windows directory to another directory, drive, or flash drive and run it. I even rename them sometimes... especially when troubleshooting a system that tries to delete or prevent the said application from running." I've also seen this before you can assign various shortcut utilties to your My Compter when you right click it in explorer. It is in an entry in a script that makes changes to the HKLM in the registry. Hope that helps. Levimage

Yeah, I'm thinking of upgrading my older computers to Windows Starter. Just to stay with the times. I also found out it is possible to upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows XP. Cool huh? Other technicians I've talked to said... Nope, you have to upgrade to Vista then to 7. Goes to show how much they know. :DNow I just have to search for x32 and x64 versions of drivers. Yup but it's cool. It let's me know which manufactures are not updating their old devices for Windows 7 Drivers.levimage

Yeah! My laptop is coming in Woo! Hoo! I can't wait! 'We have the technology!' I was patiently waiting for the IBM/Lenovo people to do their magic - and build me the zenith of laptops. It just shipped out today, this morning, on a Sunday. I'm talking...Core i7! 8GB of DDR3 Ram!1GB of AMD ATI video!Windows 7 Home Premium... but who cares when you have TechNet!320GB HD... but who cares cause I'm gonna get a Patriot Solid State!Wifi/Broadband... but who cares when you have a MiFi 2200!Gigabit Ethernet/USB3.0Remote, 3d Glasses :Dforget the local PC shop down the corner... Staples, Office Max, Walmart, Sam's Club, Target, RadioShack, and even Best Buy didn't have anything I wanted. Sorry Dell, Toshiba, Sony, HP/Compaq, Acer, Asus.levimage

2008 stuff...Also if you keep guessing at the username and password you might lock out your account. If so try the chntpw... and do the unlock option. 1st, save the registry reboot, and then unlock the account. Also the double shutdown might have to apply if your pc shows signs of locking up or freezing. The chntpw website or documentation should explain this, believe me it happens.Also try pressing CTRL + ALT + Del to bring up a logon screen - (not the Welcome screen with icons). There should be a drop down menu to log on locally. Try that and use you local usernames if you have any.iGuest...It might be the model of air card you have. Some of the more recent models will allow bluetooth and some limited wifi (access point) rather than (computer to computer) connections. Look into the manual or call their tech support.chrisadam...Maybe it's your cable or if the drives have some power saving feature. Do you do DHCP or do you manually assign the IP address? Maybe try releasing and renewing you ip address, the same thing can be done for DNS, or othe TCP/IP services. Also check your firewall, ports, proxy, nat, and any other options that might be setup on your pc or other networking setup. If Wifi check everything is broadcasting find and have a decent signal with no interference, efforts, drop packets.