zipp51

I thoughr this was pretty funny stuff.Click here

Why is it that the record companies are clamping down on copying on legal media and copying machines?I along with many who had reel to reel and 8 track and cassette recorders way back in the 70's have been copying off albums in order to make custom tracks for personal use.It was legal then,why is it in question to be illegal now?It was a big money business then as it is now.I believe that the bottom line is control.While a new 52x12x48 cd burner sounds great,if I can't mix up my music on it,I would have the fastest cd burner that will only copy files on my computer.I felt like I had the right to copy back then and do the social thing and share with friends.I didn't sell any copy's and that's where I have trouble with where all these restrictions are pointing to.As for p2p,I would pay a small fee to choose from a library,say 10 or 15 songs so that I could make a custom cd.Competition is healthy and the record companies could have a little cut too.

Very good guide from the Tom's Hardware link Rick,it seems like theres a lot of tech stuff there that you can use to make a wise decision on a purchase.

Ellen I miss you,

Did you try putting your xp cd in before boot up,it may recognize the media,before anything else?Also since it is an older computer as you stated,the graphic card may have been damaged,if not the monitor as FthrJack stated. :santa

MSNwar I would be interested in the cases if they are at least as good as an Enlight 7237(that's my standard case).After the holiday's I will be getting my business certificate as they call it here in Mass.I've begun my research and a sole proprietor status is my best bet.Simple accounting and the laws allow for some tax benefeits for operating from the home.The main thing is to establish good manufacture/vendor relationships. :santa

Same to you FthrJack.You may drink my drink for me.Happy holidays to everyone on MSFN :santa :sorcerer :phone Man it's cold here in Massachusetts.

Vadislav,there really are many choices.I build and have done much research on reliable,and compatible parts.My suggestion to you is to buy Computer Shopper magazine and look for the criteria that MSNwar mentioned(mobo and power supply)jot down what you like and go to the websites themselves and see if they have a configurator which is an add and delete component checklist.By the time your done doing this on a few sites you will have some idea what the medium to large builders are selling.Then find a mom and pop computer store near you that upgrades and custom builds to your specs and compare.You will be equiped to make a wise choice by yourself.(best way,honest) :santa

Your right,manufacturing is where the money is.Sounds good,and doesn't require a huge investment.

Falcon Northwest seems to bulid very fast benchmarking systems.I got the latest PC World mag and they were comparing P4 hyperthread cpu's of the 3GHZ flavor and Falcon Northwest built the only non P4 HT computer for comparison, which was a XP 2600+ AMD.The results were surprising in that their system kept up and even exceeded the P4 3 GHZ.I have seen them appear in top ten performance showdowns too. With cash not being a factor I'll bet anyone on this forum could build a top contender.

Try this;Click start,Control Panel,Performance and Maintanance,and the System icon.In the System Properties dialog box pick the Advanced tab,and click the Settings button in the Startup And Recovery section.In the System Failure section of the tab,deselect the Automatically Restart checkbox,and click OK.Cick OK again to close the System Properties dialog box.The new settings take effect immediately. By default XP automatically restarts when it encounters a system failure.This is only a problem if you would like to control when your computer restarts. If this works I would follow FthrJack's suggestion with the scannow option.Make sure you type it exact and put a space between the SFC and the /scannow.

w00t She's a keeper! w00t

Only two words:"Carol and Sonia".Aye,Aye,Aye.Scroll down and click right

Sorry Sed,this is really good stuff though.I've had the Packard Bell's,the Gateway's,HP's,for upgrades,but the most frustrating are the mom and pop's they have around here.They get alot of business as there are many colleges in the area and they build cheap systems for big bucks.For example;Just in,a P3 866,creative ct4810 sound card,S4 savage vid,motorola modem, and a 145 watt power supply,one ide cable for hd and cdrom.Came with a cheap monitor(Aquaview)Windows 98,for $800.Customer complaining of system freezing up and wants an upgrade to win2k pro.The sound and modem are not compatible so I replace them with USR controller modem,and a Live 5.1 sound but the power supply blows out.The weakest link saved the day.Installed an Antec 300w and put the cdrom and hd on seperate channels.Happy,Happy customer.I had another with a power supply problem a while ago.I like to put quality in from the beginning,I use Enlight cases for a start.

I give a 1 yr. warranty on parts and labor on a new machine and 6 mos. on an upgrade for only the parts upgraded.I have been using one of my systems as a loaner for word processing purposes.I have loaned out an extra monitor when a new one was defective.My business is word of mouth so I don't have up to date parts only some video,sound and modem cards for testing.I buy as I need and a custom system takes 1 to two weeks from order to delivery.Does anyone have a resellers license,and if you do what's the benefeit and how do you get one?MSNwar do you offer a choice for your parts or do you have just one kind?Just wondering since you said you keep one of everything for replacement puposes.

48% Geek w00t "Solid, if unimaginative scoring. You probably know enough about computers to get by, though I bet you have to bluff a bit when it comes to talking to your kids/IT department. Pay a bit more attention when others are trying to help you and you might not be such a drain on everyone's time."

Clear the cache maybe? Worth a shot. :santa

My Kazaa lite is as slow as molasses on a winter morning.Only once in a blue moon does it give up a quick download.I went with Blubster and got better results.

I got 8/16.One of them I thought was not human. Yeah MSNwar just think of those guys up in the isolation posts(in Germany),they got less to do.

Dr.Lechter is that you?"Yes I had a friend for lunch,and ate his buttocks with some faaava beans"

Compatability with software and hardware.In order to recieve the full experience with an operating system like xp you have to get good hardware if not excellent hardware.And of course software needs to be updated.I believe that xp will only get better with the changes being met by computer manufacturers,and cooperation by M$.Linux has a way to go for this to happen.So unless someone comes up with an operating system that I can just set my bios to boot cdrom first and it installs with no issues more than xp and that ain't gonna happen real soon.Try to install Linux,it can be fun and challenging but you won't get everything you have with xp.Spending money on software and hardware on your new computer is what makes the tech world go round.Merry Christmas and Happy Honniker(don't know how to spell it at this time)

That is a hoot,Sed.I'll show that to my girlfriend,she's from W.Virginia.

Too big and too little is all I can think of.Like trying to stuff an elephant in a paper bag.

I found this article which I thought interesting.It's only partial,the rest can be read at PC World. The latest Pentium 4 processor not only passes another megahertz milestone by running at 3.06 GHz, it also introduces Intel's new hyperthreading technology to the desktop. Hyperthreading enables one processor to act like two. As a result, it can simultaneously tackle multiple applications (or a single application that has multiple threads), put idle CPU cycles to use, and boost system performance by up to 25 percent--all without requiring specially written applications, according to Intel. Sounds good, doesn't it? Exclusive PC World tests on three of the first systems to use the new processor, however, show that hyperthreading's benefits largely are application- or even task-specific. For example, on the office applications that most people use--such as Microsoft's Word and Excel--hyperthreading had a neutral or slightly negative impact. And on tests specifically designed to expose the benefits of hyperthreading, many improvements were too slight to be detectable by the average user, except with select filters in Adobe Photoshop, with various video and photo programs such as Adobe Premiere and Roxio VideoWave, and on certain multitasking tests. Furthermore, a comparison system equipped with AMD's Athlon XP 2800+, which runs at 2.25 GHz, more than held its own against these 3-GHz powerhouses that were running 800 MHz faster. Nevertheless, hyperthreading remains a very new technology, and Intel anticipates further performance improvements as applications are modified to take better advantage of it. I did a search here to see if someone had posted this subject.

ThA,46c is normal for your Tbird.As far as the fan fluxuating,they all do that but if you are dropping more than 500rpm to 1000rpm you may want to try connecting to the mobo or power supply directly.Recently I changed power supplies in a system which has dual fans and consequently two wire outputs,both connected to the mobo.For some reason one of the fans would rev up high and then slow down to barely moving.All I did was to connect that fan to the ps directly.If you have a utility which monitors fan rpm's on your mobo you can check this out.Keep an eye on it anyhow you never know if your fan or ps is on it's way out.