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

There is a dedicated website / forum for newcomers to computers. At this early stage you may wish to head off over there for a while. (Come on back though, it's good here) The link is (Click on the following link) http://www.newbies.ws/forum/ Hope this is of some use to you.

Yes, have got to agree with you on this one. Installed it and for a period of time there I thought I was running Windows ME (Yep I was the one who bought it !) Quite nostalgic but not good. Opening up "Task Manager" brought visions of Disney like characters running around trying to achieve something, but they were not quite sure what it was. Tried their latest one on XP with the same results, so I dont think it is just a "Beta" thing. Prefer to stay paranoid about viruses/spyware etc; than use this at the moment. Perhaps it gets better, but as you say - bloated - is the operative word here.

Most of my posts seem to revolve around "Freeware" and the importance of backing things up as a contingency plan for some future disaster. No apologies for this as I have learnt my lessons the hard way with many disasters where I have thought "If only I had backed that up before I started messing around with this". Also freeware works just as well, if not better in many cases. Many new computer users will be finding their way to this forum. Vista perhaps the first operating system they have ever used. Their money spent, freeware offers them the chance to try things out, and start on the learning curve of their computing education with no cost. "DriverMax" is free. You do have to register with a legitimate e mail address to get a registration code. (A small price to pay) "DriverMax" will backup all of your drivers, re-install your drivers, and give you a HTML or Text readout. Not bad for free. Many time in the past I have done a nice new "Clean Install" and then spent about an hour trying to find where I filed away the drivers for that Graphics Card!!! "DriverMax" is at - Link: http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/ Just got to get a link in again for registry backup tool ERUNT at Link: http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/

This article by Business Week.com is quite informative on the subject of "Lost" memory. Link: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/con...gn_id=rss_daily

For anyone not quite satisfied with what we have been given to do a defrag in Vista, here is a link to a "Free" defrag tool that I have found to work well. It also gives back the capability to defrag individual disks. Link : http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag/ Whilst on the subject of freeware there is also a memory defrag by Bernt Levinsson here Link :http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Memory-Tweak/MemDefrag.shtml And a slightly underated (in my opinion) Memory Meter which works well in conjunction with the above memory defrag. Link Here: http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Better_Me...emorymeter.html I have found them all to work well and must give a high score for simplicity. Hope that the information is of use to somebody out there. Mike Mane.

Just as a quick afterthought to what I said about the Microsoft update KB929427. It crossed my mind after I posted, that anyone reading this particular thread may be interested to know what incompatibility issues this update deals with. Just like everybody else I wanted the **** thing (Vista) out of the doorway when I first installed it. Wont work wiyh my existing modem (never will). Wont work with my trusty old Agfa Snapscan e20 scanner (probably never will). Wont work with this, wont work with that, etc; etc. Thinking back I had similar issues and feelings about XP - but here I am (past headaches forgotten) using it. Corporate business will not be adopting "Vista" for at least two years. Home users will be the testing ground, and the feedback that Microsoft receives from home users will be used to make a good and stable operating system that will be acceptable to corporate business. In turn, hopefully we home users will eventually gain a good operating system also. If you have bought a new PC and "Vista" is pre-installed for goodness sake, dont throw it away - You have paid for it !!. Squirrel it away somewhere. Annoying ? What we as home users see as a pain, Microsoft tells us is progress. Neither is wrong. But it would seem "Never the twain shall meet" Software compatibility issues are gradually being dealt with. More updates will I am sure be on the way. KB929427 Deals with it in this way :::::: File Name Windows6.0-KB929427-x86.msu File Size 4.1MB Description This update for Windows Vista is a collection of software updates that will fix common software compatibility issues affecting Windows Vista. When you try to install or run certain games or programs in Windows Vista, they may: crash or cause Windows Vista to slow down; not install properly; not work properly or generally just become a nuisance. According to Microsoft, this update improves support in Windows Vista many programs and games including: Absolute Poker Version 5.7 ACDSee 8 Adobe Create Suite CS2 Adobe Photoshop CS 8.0 Adobe Photoshop Elements Version 4.0 Age of Empires III Age of Empires III : The WarChiefs Expansion Pack AOL 9.0 - x64 Arcsoft Photo Impression 5 Auslogics Disk 1.0.3 AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5.0.47 Azureus 1.0 Battlefield 2 Deluxe BeatJam 2006 SE BitLord 1.1.5.6 BitVise Tunnelier 4.20 ColdFusion MX 7 Enterprise Edition Crystal Player Professional 1.97 Cyber link Power Cinema 4.0 Delphi 7 Professional DevStudio 9.0 Digital Image Suite 2006 Digital Zenkoku Map Townpage Database 7 Doranet Kids Nyugaku Jyunbi Taikenban Doranet Shogaku Ichinensei Taikenban Dungeon Siege II Dungeon Siege: Legends of Aranna EasyRecovery Professional Version 6.04 Fable: The Lost Chapters Family Feud Online Fireworks MX2004 7.0.2.295 Flight Simulator X Google desktop 4.2006.1008 HD Tach 3 HD Tune 2.5.1 IBM Rescue and Recovery with Rapid Restore 3.00 ICHITARO 2006 J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 9 Java Control Panel Jv16 Power Tools Label Mighty 6 Lego Star Wars LimeWire 4.12 Microsoft Money 2005 Microsoft Money 2006 Minna de TV Denwa Starter Minna de TV Phone Starter 2.1.0.1 MotionDV STUDIO 5.8J for FUJITSU MS Encarta Standard 2007 Office 2003 Web Folders OmniPass 1.0.0.1 Opera 9.02 Outlook 2003 Palm Desktop 6.0 Photoshop 7.0.1 Point 5.3 Power Utility - Remote administration 3.1.0.0 Premiere Elements 3 RealPlayer 6.0.12.1700 Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends Rosetta Stone 2.1.3 Roxio Easy Media Creator 7.5 SG TCP Optimizer 2.0.3 SmartInstall 2.16 SmartSuite Millennium Edition - Freelance Graphics 9.8 Sony FeliCa Port (PaSoRi) 3.0.0.0 Speedfan 4.31 The Weather Channel Desktop 5.0.1 Total Commander 6.55 TweakNow PowerPack 2006 Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5 Plus Virtual CD 8 Zoo Tycoon 2 Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure Expansion Pack Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species Expansion Pack Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania Expansion Pack Zoo Tycoon 2: Zookeeper Collection Expansion Pack

Hi Laze. Well you are still unsure of that registry are you not ? I can tell by the remark " IF it isn't the registry tweaks ". The operative killer word being "IF" Get that registry out of the way Laze and start afresh. I have spent a very long time chasing down elusive faults on operating systems as well as doing the same on electronic systems when I was a T.V / Audio engineer. It is all a wonderful challenge, and when we do solve the problem we think " next time that happens I'll know how to fix it". The problem is the fault never ever occurs again. We do however in the process learn a lot about the systems we are working on, so something is gained. Yes it could be a dll, yes it could be this or it could be that. You are searching for a needle in a haystack which you may well find ( and I hope you do ) and you are going about it in the right way by asking people. The question is, how much time are you going to commit to this when you could be enjoying something else with your PC ? Format the drive on one computer and do a normal straightforward install. Obtain, learn, and understand how to use "Norton Ghost" v2003. This can be used without having to install software to your PC from either a Floppy or a CD. A good guide is here : http://ghost.radified.com/ Once installed ,make a "Ghost" image of your new operating system and save it to a partition or another hard disk. As you add software and make various adjustments to your new system make new "Ghost" images. You will now have saved an operating system/s that you can have up and running in about 20 minutes. It gives "Unattended Installation" a completely new perspective. Always make registry backups before adding new software or tweaking. A good tool as I have already mentioned is here : http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/. Well you can continue to try to chase the fault down Laze and end up like me - a serious mental wreck with bits of operating system and electronic guff floating around in your nightly dreams, or go the easy way and do a clean install. Your decision mate. I used to work up around your neck of the woods years ago as a T.V engineer Laze. Then I moved to Cornwall for tranquility. Then I started computing and I am no longer tranquil !! All the best with your quest. Mike.

The first thing to think about here is that you will invalidate your warranty with Dell. Secondly, it would perhaps be worth waiting a while because a lot of the software incompatibility that you speak of is gradually being dealt with. (Some of it never will be). The latest Vista updates from Microsoft such as KB929427 are starting to sort out incompatibility issues, as is the WinHlp32.exe download. Try to keep up with the updates. At the moment you have a machine which with "Vista" installed is a little bit "Future Proofed". Software written from now on could well be just for "Vista". I.E, it may well not be backwards compatible with XP or previous operating systems. So a few months or years down the line you may fancy getting yourself a program only to find you need "Vista" to run it. I have not answered your question of course. Just offered a little advice before you jump into the deep end of the pool. Take your time, Think it through sensibly. Formatting a hard drive is reasonably simple. Most HDD manufacturers offer a download on their websites which you can use as either a Floppy disk or CD to install an operating system or format their Disk. Once obtained you now boot the PC from either one and follow the on-screen instructions. Firstly try to ascertain the manufacturer of the Hard Disk in your "Vista" machine. You can do this by opening up the case and having a look, or downloading a simple piece of free software from Belarc which will tell you quickly what you want to know. Belarc is here : http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html. In your position, I personally would buy a new Hard Disk, (Cheap enough these days) install XP to the new Disk and put the old one away intact for a rainy day. Now you have XP, and Vista should you need it in the future. Easy enough to do with a desktop PC. Not as easy with a laptop of course, and you will of course still have invalidated the warranty. Try to think the whole thing through logically. Once formatted there 'aint no going back !!!

I'm hoping to give a reply here that doesn't sound too obvious or make it sound like I am trying to be a "Smart Guy" The only way to check out your suspicion that it could be a registry tweak is to go to your registry backup and re-instate a previously saved registry. ( I take it that you do the obvious thing and make a new backup before each tweak) I have just posted on the "Vista Forum" about "ERUNT" (registry backup tool) available absolutely free here : http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ Basically try to go back in time on whatever operating system you are using. Seems strange that you are experiencing the same error on two different computers. Have you tweaked the registry in exactly the same way on both ? Other Suggestions : (A) Use System Restore to go back in time. (If the operating system you use has it.) You dont say what the operating system is. (B) Put the error code into Google and see what it comes up with. © Do a new clean install of your operating system. (D) Try running with no connection to any of the usb ports - does fault still occur? - If not it could be a peripheral causing the problem. It sounds as though you have put a lot of time and effort into being very technical with Prime 95 & memtest. Sometimes it is useful just to keep it simple & non technical with a registry backup and re-install that takes a couple of minutes to do. Nobody else had at this time replied to you so I thought I would. Mike in Cornwall.

You say you are running the DA version and you have an IT error ? Having a problem associating all of this with gre8 soft. In which way do you wish to implement your boot logo file ? I think you may be running into an English language problem which is making it difficult for people to understand you. Here is a link to a website you may find useful. It relates to a boot logo generator. http://www.computa.co.uk/staff/dan/?p=18