ravashaak

@cheezus420: Your avatar rules - Ravashaak

I guess you could try an updated driver for your wireless adapter. Or hard-configuring your IP... - Ravashaak

Hahaha! Now that's funny! - Ravashaak

When the system freezes, have you tried just letting it sit for about 20-30 minutes, then try it again? I'm wondering if just maybe you applied too much thermal paste to the cpu, and the paste is now actually causing cpu overtemp. Re-seating the CPU could allow enough time and room temperature air into the case to cool it enough to allow normal operations, only to freeze up again once operations are resumed. Of course, it could be something entirely different. The CPU could be damaged, or even more likely, the motherboard could be the cause. Are your fans still spinning? In any event, run the test as I described above. If just letting the system sit for awhile corrects the problem, then it's likely a cooling issue. Thermal paste does its job well, provided you apply the correct amount. It should be a thin and uniform film. If you apply it until it looks like you applied a full coat of white paint, you've probably applied too much. - Ravashaak

Painfully slow..................... - Ravashaak

It was either VMWare or MS Virtual PC. I use VMWare myself, but I hear Virtual PC is pretty good as well. - Ravashaak

Thank you very much for the PDFs. BlackViper's was always a good place to turn when it came to system tweaking, etc. Shame to see it go. - Ravashaak

For someone whose avatar has its head up its a**, you sure can make a fine post. Thanks for the excellent info! RIS is something I cannot implement in my work environment. However, I need to learn it just the same. After all, odds are I'll work somewhere else sooner or later. - Ravashaak

Chilifrei64's advice about downloading the GPMC (Group Policy Management Console) is something you should take to heart. Get it, install it, and learn it. It makes group policy FAR more manageable. - Ravashaak

If they are computer policies, does the "DOmain Computers" group have permissions to read the GPO? Give us more info and we'll try to help. - Ravashaak

Glad to help. - Ravashaak

If the procedure actually works, it won't work for very long. We're talking minutes here in most cases. There have even been instances where I had to repeat the procedure several times in order to limp the data off the drive in sections. And if this procedure actually works for you, it means that by the time the drive heats up enough to cause condensation, you're most likely unable to get data off it at that point anyway (since this procedure causes the metal components within the hard drive to contract due to cold, and thereby become temporarily functional...so, once the drive has heated up enough to cause condensation, it's likely that the components have swelled due to the heat, and your data is once again inaccessible). - Ravashaak

I like both myself. However, I tend to lean one way or the other depending upon how hot the chick is holding the can - Ravashaak

This is an actual and sometimes effective technique. I know this to be true because I have used it myself. It's not always successful, but it has worked for me on several occassions. I sealed mine inside an antistatic bag and then stuffed that inside a ziploc freezer bag. I let the drive chill for a couple of hours, then pulled it out and quickly connected it to a system, then recovered the data. This method (if successful) only buys you a small amount of time to retrieve the data. So make certain that you have your gameplan in order before you begin (what data to recover, location to recover data to, etc). - Ravashaak

Home: 4 Mbit Cable Work: OC-48 (too bad I can't use it for whatever I want ) - Ravashaak

Some devices can configure their ports to deal with either straight-through or crossover cables (regardless of the type of device on the other end). IMHO, this is a bad feature, as it only leads to confusion. But nevertheless, they exist. As far as full and half duplex modes go, cable type has nothing to do with it. - Ravashaak

Try adding those lines to a batch file which you call from [GuiRunOnce]. Your winnt.sif file [GuiRunOnce] section might look something like the following: [GuiRunOnce] %systemdrive%\install\start.cmd Of course, the full path is up to you, so modify it to your liking. Your start.cmd file (or whatever you wish to name it), would contain your code such as the following: ECHO. ECHO Installing Office XP Professional with Frontpage ECHO Please wait... start /wait %systemdrive%\install\Applications\OfficeXP\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended.MST /qb- Not stupid at all. It's part of the learning process to ask questions. Good luck. - Ravashaak

Ya know...I haven't really thought of that one. However, I have the luxury of being able to lock down my users' systems pretty tightly...and for the most part, management backs up the policies. Between those factors, giving users as little privilege as possible, and regular system audits, we get almost zero unauthorized software installs. Doing so in my environment would likely lead to dismissal...or worse. But I am definitely tucking away that bit of advice you gave me. It might come in handy at some point...thanks Another good point. And my understanding of restricted zone functionality matches yours. I haven't yet implemented any SCS restricted zone blacklisting, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. I'll need to experiment with adding hostnames to see if there's any way to bypass the lack of wildcard usage. I'd say you could block *doubleclick* by IP range, but I'm sure those greasy <insert colorful expletive here> vary their IPs enough to make effective blocking difficult. You should make the suggestion to Symantec to add wilcard capabilities to their hostname zone implementations. Not saying they will listen or actually take action, but you never know... - Ravashaak

Your system "should" be able to support that module according to my research. However, there's obviously a problem somewhere. I still think flashing the BIOS is an option. However, I have another thought (albeit a longshot). Is this new memory module single-sided or double-sided? In other words, when you look at the memory module, do the chips all appear on one side of the memory stick, or both? If they all appear on one side of the stick, then your system doesn't support that, and you'll only see 512 from the new stick. Just a thought... - Ravashaak P.S. - And many posters here are correct about dual-channel needing to be matched pairs for best results. However, I think they are confusing the issue. Your problem isn't that the memory isn't running in dual-channel mode, your problem is that not all of your installed memory is appearing. Those are two distinctly different issues. Just FYI.

There should be an option to disable the Dell splash screen and reveal the post statistics (including amount of detected RAM). This will at least tell you if the system itself supports the size of your memory module. What particular model of dell do you have? If you tell me, I might be able to determine memory support for you. Less likely, you may need to flash your bios in order to support this memory module. Note: make flashing your BIOS your LAST option! - Ravashaak

If the above advice doesn't work for you, check to see if there's an updated firmware revision for your burner. This cured a similar problem for me with my Plextor PX-708A DVD burner. - ravashaak

I also must agree with you on another point: I would never recommend this package to someone starting fresh. The only reason I use it is simply because my employer has a site license for it. - Ravashaak (currently enduring strep throat)

I've used SCS for years myself. The client itself isn't so bad really (but could use some improvement: de-bloating, etc). However, managing the thing from an administrative level is outright hellish. In fact, as far as SCF goes, I gave up on pRules entirely (far too much maintenance). I do all of my blocking and allowing via General Rules...with a big fat DENY ALL (TCP/UDP) followed by a big fat DENY ALL (ICMP) as the final two rules. I also use the Trusted systems list where prudent to make my life easier. The above method meant some work up front in order to allow everything I really needed. However, once I got a handle on the exceptions my network clients required, it has resulted in FAR less maintenance. In fact, the first time in months that I've had to add a rule was merely because I am migrating my clients to a new domain/forest, and had to add a couple of systems to the trusted list, and add a couple of new general rules because of security policy differences between domains. If you decide you'd like to attempt this method, just let me know and I'll see what advice/help I can give to you. - Ravashaak (currently enduring strep throat)

Rolling your own system is by FAR the best solution. You can cherry-pick each component in terms quality, performance, and value. And since you've built it yourself, you obviously know how to work on the blasted thing. So, if a component dies, you still have the manufacturer's warranty for the component in question. Ship the dead part back and get a new one. As far as the major players go, I for a long time would have said Dell. However, their support has thoroughly gone to the crapper. Blame offshoring, outsourcing, etc...take your pick. Whatever your poison, Dell's support has plummeted to be some of the worst I have experienced (and I have dealt with them all at one time or another). Their part quality has also suffered in specific areas. The hitachi hard drives they use in their laptops are the former IBM Deskstar/TravelStar line (yes, the dreaded "DeathStar" line). And yes, they still have major reliability issues. If you get two years out of one of these hard drives, consider yourself lucky! I've also noticed quality issues with their integrated network interfaces. I definitely vote "Other", since building your own system beats all the other choices, any day of the week. - Ravashaak (currently enduring strep throat)

Logon as a different user and try Firefox. If Firefox works, then it's almost certainly a Firefox profile issue under your primary user account. If this is the case, delete the profile, then try Firefox. - Ravashaak