MIKE MANE 60

EasyBCD bootloader. http://neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Easy...16CB8EAFBC6B599

If you have a look at "Processes" in Task Manager and see what is using 100% CPU you are going to be well on the way to finding out what the problem is. I'm thinking your Tech is not quite as Tech as he/she is making out, or charging you a lot of money ! XP is very easy to fault find and fix. If someone is telling you different, - beware ! First step when this sort of thing starts to happen is:- Backup all of you data in case you get a complete crash. (CD's, DVD's or external disk etc;) Once you have done that, have a go at getting it back to "Factory Settings" if you have a disk supplied with the PC. Or completely re-install XP if you have an original copy. Sounds a bit drastic maybe, but with your level of understanding at the moment I can see you getting ripped off by a con artist, or for ever more bouncing back and forth on this forum (or others). We could start talking about MSCONFIG, Safe Mode, Selective startup, and many other things to help you but I think it would perhaps be time consuming, and perhaps a little difficult for you. I am not talking down to you in this situation, but as you have had to turn to a "Tech" to help you out I am taking it that your level of computer understanding is not that great. Sometimes someone will come along, - make a suggestion, and it will fix the problem (Lucky shot) so keep a watch on here for any other cures for your problem. It can happen. All the best of luck Meggsie.

Thanks for the reply. I must say that I didn't think of right clicking and choosing, I just went straight into Defrag. I'll have another go when I go back to Vista. Thanks.

I am a bit confused by that. Are you saying that you have found a way of defragging an individual partition or a disk from within Vista ? At the moment if I leave it running overnight it just runs through all five HDD's and would still be running way into the next day. The only way I've found I can do a selective defrag it is with third party software, am I missing some important information here ? Anybody know how to do this from within Vista please pass the info on . Thanks.

There is a free defrag tool for download here: http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/index.php It works fine and gives back the ability to defrag individual partitions/disks See screen shots here: http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/screenshot.php

"SYMPTOMS When you configure the video functionality to use interlaced mode on a Windows Vista-based computer, you may experience poor video quality. Specifically, the video output may be very jerky. You may also notice many dropped frames." Microsoft have done a patch for it here : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

That has fixed the problem. I just downloaded them to myself and all is ok. Anyone using this, just remember to back up your registry first. ERUNT is at: http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

You are quite right. My apologies. I will try to get the four files on here again as a zip file. If it dont work this time perhaps someone can step in with some help. I've never ever been any good with technical things !!!!!!!! take_ownership_reg._files.zip

Well, I managed to make a mess of that post by uploading files all over the place !!!!! You should be able to sort it out if you are smart. Remember to backup your registry first before making any alterations. I'll just paste in the text only again to make it a bit clearer. A guy called "Herby" came up with this workaround. So credit goes to him. TakeOwn.reg adds a Take Ownership Context Menu Item to all files and folders. It opens an Elevated Command Prompt which recovers full access to the selected file / directory, sub directories and their content. You can access the Context Menu Item by holding down Shift + right-click on a file or folder. If you want to access the Take Ownership Context Menu Item on an exe file, you must merge "RunAsAdmin_Exe-.reg"; this reg file removes the "Run as Administrator" Context Menu Item from all exe files (they both use the runas key). Merge "RunAsAdmin_Exe+.reg" if you want to restore the "Run as Administrator" Context Menu Item. Install: Merge TakeOwn+.reg Uninstall Merge TakeOwn-.reg (Use the files from the previous post)

I found this that I had saved on my computer. Hopefully it may give you some sort of insight. TakeOwn_.regTakeOwn.reg adds a Take Ownership Context Menu Item to all files and folders. It opens an Elevated Command PromptRunAsAdmin_Exe_.regRunAsAdmin_Exe_.regRunAsAdmin_Exe_.reg which recovers full access to the selected file / directory, sub directories and their content. You can access the Context Menu Item by holding down Shift + right-click on a file or folder. If you want to access the Take Ownership Context Menu Item on an exe file, you must merge "RunAsAdmin_Exe-.reg"; this reg file removes the "Run as Administrator" Context Menu Item from all exe files (they both use the runas key). Merge "RunAsAdmin_Exe+.reg" if you want to restore the "Run as Administrator" Context Menu Item. Install: Merge TakeOwn+.reg Uninstall Merge TakeOwn-.reg RunAsAdmin_Exe_.reg TakeOwn_.reg

I think if you try the following 2 links it may just be the solution that you are looking for. http://www.apcstart.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp http://www.apcstart.com/5023/dual_booting_xp_with_vista

The easiest way to do what you are requesting is to read through the "Vista Tips & Tweaks" on this forum. Also a very good source is the internet itself. A "Google" search will turn up answers for you. Trying to turn your "irritation" time into "learning" time may just produce the answers you require.

There are many ways of keeping up to date,saving,slipstreaming, and implementing all of the updates and patches that Microsoft put out to us. The one obvious source is Microsoft themselves. Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/Search....?displaylang=en "Saved" Updates and patches can be very timesaving and useful when doing a nice new install, or in the instance where you perhaps do not wish to connect to the internet at a certain stage of the install procedure. Also handy for easy transport on a Pen Drive to friends or customers homes. Yet another source is "The Software Patch" Link: http://www.softwarepatch.com/windows/index.html A website that is certainly more easy to navigate quickly than some others that I could mention. Plenty of good stuff here for everyone. I cannot see that this website breaks any of the rules on legality, however I am willing to stand corrected by the moderators of this forum.

As you have discovered ScanDisk doesn't exist in Vista (or XP for that matter). You now need to use the 'chkdsk' command. You can either do this from the drive properties, click the tools tab and then select error checking, or you can run chkdsk directly from the command prompt. With the command prompt you do need to be in 'elevated' mode to run chkdsk. To run the command prompt in elevated mode right click on the command prompt and select 'run as administrator'. Hope this helps you.

A bit of an explanation here for you on cut/copy/paste. Most that you will need to know can be found on the internet (Google Search) Link: http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/ho...6-cutpaste.html