CoffeeFiend

It depends. Perhaps you have no use for 8GB on your desktop PC, but I could use that no problem (VMWare Server + several OS'es running heavy-ish processes and virtual appliances, databases, you name it). I couldn't live with just 512, my PC with the least RAM has 1.5GB (and I wish it had 4)

You got that backwards. PerfectDisk is great, while DK isn't exactly stellar (and yes, MS licensed an old version of that thing to make a even suckier version), and does support scientology. As for your disk usage graphs, that doesn't mean a whole lot. Your drives could still be fragmented (not like the windows defragger is very smart) - and definitely not optimized (like with smart placement or such). I have yet to see a single partition NOT be fragmented after ghosting it (even if you've defragged before making the image). There has ALWAYS been fragments after restoring the image (except perhaps for FAT16/32 - which I haven't used in ages and truly don't care for). Besides, there's no way you could reimage my PC in 5 minutes, and having such images for all my PCs would take a huge amount of storage for nothing. And imaging your OS and restoring it does absolutely nothing to all my data partitions (which are ~95% of my storage). I'm not going to make a ghost image of the video server to defrag it.

The MFT "file" growing is a total non-issue if you're respecting the growth zone. It can grow a fair amount without becoming fragmented at all. There's no reason to upsize it manually like that, except perhaps very extreme cases. The only real issues I've seen WRT the MFT were oversized ones after resizing partitions - not the inverse. DK won't place it right though, which results in a slower filesystem all the time, on every single PC.

That's odd, because it did work at the time of posting, and I just checked it again before writing this very post and it's still working (I've never seen it being down before).

Yes, it does make sense. I don't know how many replies you'll get on this here though... If you want something simple and cheap, you can peek at snmpboy like I've mentionned before, but it's pretty much a "roll your own" solution (you gotta write the code to get the data you want to monitor yourself, via SNMP or WMI, and it does the graphing for you - or use rrd if you prefer). I also use other apps every now and then (MOM, SolarWinds and WhatsUp), but this is my primary/everyday monitoring tool.

WTF are you bumping this thread for? That stupid comment is over a year old! Geez. What's the point of reacting to it now?

Size is not the issue, it's placement and it truly DOES affect performance - more than you'd think (it's a very important part of the filesystem after all). And respecting MFT growth zone prevents further MFT fragmentation (of the actual file - not inside it).

There are COUNTLESS ways to monitor servers... It really depends on your needs and preferences: -How many servers? -Are all servers local or distant? -Windows only? -PCs only? Or managed switches/routers as well and such?) -How to monitor? SNMP? WMI? something else? ... And the main issue: WHAT to monitor in the first place? -responds to ping? -check to see if web server responsive using HTTP request? -check to see if some database is running OK? -check see if network links are still up? -various server infos like cpu load/ram utilisation/hd space? (this one seems like a "yes") ... There are tons of ways to do this, from simple performance monitors/counters (watched manually), to simple tools like mrtg like seen at snmpboy (I use a very similar "home made" setup, but using rrdtool too and a few extras), to a bunch of open source apps, to high-end, expensive corporate solutions to monitor tons of various hardware scattered across the globe for NOS'es managing mission-critical stuff... One could list tons of app names (mrtg/rrd, munin, cacti, nagios, solarwinds, netcool, snmpc, whatsup pro, openview, zabbix, ...) but it wouldn't help too much not knowing your actual needs and preferences first. If all you really want is email disk space warning or such, then just write a simple script that'll get free space, compare it with a threshold, and send email via SMTP if too low. Schedule that to run whenever you want. Personally, checking disk space alone is NOWHERE NEAR good enough. You may also want to look at MOM (MS Operations Manager) 2005, or maybe even try 2007 beta 2.

Knowing the actual order is nice and handful. Thanks for the little test. But there are more things to take into consideration as well... You somewhat forgot some places (or didn't know of, or left them out intentionally or whatever), like: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer\Run (which is called by MS themselves "Run at Startup" while the old HKLM\...\Run is called "Legacy Run at Startup", so it might be worth adding) or HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\ Run (and the RunServices & RunServicesOnce keys too, and things like logon scripts and group policies which also happen at startup) And there's a TON of little things one should know of... Things like: -The RunOnce entries are only ran if you're allowed to delete the keys (of the entries to run) -They aren't ran in safe mode but can be prefixed to force them to -There are some prefixes (* and !) -A lot of people don't know the difference between RunOnce and RunOnceEx either etc. Mind you most of those keys aren't used a whole lot, and those exceptions don't matter very often. Just like it doesn't matter very much in which particular order things are ran... (You decide between HKCU or HKLM depending on task and users, and Run or RunOnce depending on how many times it must be ran) There's an awful lot of infos about all this on support.microsoft.com, and I remember seeing a list like yours a few times before... (Either on MS' site, or perhaps even linked on a site like digg, and google can find more similar infos too)

I hit search, typed "vmware tools" and clicked search. Right in the first page there are thread with titles like " Vmware Tools Setup", "VMWare 5.5 Tools addon" and a bunch of others, some containing all the infos you'll need (switches, links to repacked silent installers, etc).

Sounds pretty good. As long as the camera does 640x480 @ 30fps, that's the main thing (and decent drivers that don't crash constantly). A good sharp and bright lens and other features like autofocus/tracking and such are all bonuses. For 50$ it's a pretty good deal too - I just might buy one (to replace my old iBot that died after falling too many times on the floor). 15$ might be cheap, and it might not be bad for the money (as in, it does work, and it can't be much worse than most logitech), but 320x240 isn't what I'd call a "good webcam", nor one I'd pick, unless you can't afford something better. Anything not USB2 can't do 640x480 at 30fps, and isn't worth buying IMO - and that includes most logitechs (USB1, cheap and "slow" plastic lens, lots of noise, poor in low light, etc - just mediocre overall), perhaps the newer models don't suck quite as bad though, like that STX which sounds pretty good. I'm surprised to see them make a webcam that's worth using under 100$, as even a fair amount of their cameras over that weren't so great (again, haven't checked their models in a few months, so that might have changed), they were just the same cheapo webcams (no better than that 15$ one), but with some gimmicks added (tracking and such, or more bunded software).

You'd be surprised how much people want great looks more than a better program (with better/more features)... I personally us PerfectDisk because it defrags better than the others. It's smarter at placing MFT properly unlike DK (and also respects MFT growth zone and such), it defrags the NTFS metadata (which other defraggers like DK won't even touch), and hibernate files, and tons of stuff like that. It's far faster too (just do a comparison if you want), and even the basic/cheap versions has network admin features that you only find in more expensive versions of DK. And it can do its job even on volumes with very low space (half of what DK needs - I know I'm pretty bad at overfilling partitions... Always out of HD space!) In short, it's doing a far better job much faster - works for me. Hopefully it won't turn in that opera-firefox thread indeed.

Yes, but look at the bottom, #1 under "Notes". That links to a wired article, which cannot be edited by just anyone, and is held by journalistic standards and would be sued if it lied about something like this ("backing evidence" of the WikiPedia Article) And to answer the original question, I've never had any problems with PerfectDisk (and I've seen quite a few PCs use it over a few years - including on a bunch of servers -- some running exchange too), and it's doing a MUCH better job than DK ever did (O&O was also better than DK last I've tried it). More thorough (PD won't touch hibernate file, nor NTFS metadata and such), much faster, better placement (namely of the MFT) and all (needs less empty space to run, and has a very good network management console too, that DK only includes in pricier versions). Like Jeremy said, you can't blame your hardware issues on PerfectDisk or whatever. I've never even heard of such "PerfectDisk screwed up my PC" claims before, it's just an isolated incident. It's quality software, they've got a bunch of really decent programmers (like Greg Hayes who's been named a MS MVP for 4 years in a row!), and it's pretty much certified by Microsoft for everything (windows 2000, XP and 2003, MS Exchange, etc), they're a Microsoft Gold Certified partner too. It's used by a lot of companies with great success, and it always gets great reviews too (from PC mag, Windows IT Pro, ComputerWorld, Softpedia, CNET and many others) Diskeeper is sub-average (IMO), but sells because it's the well-known name, even though other options are usually better and often cheaper too. I'm looking forward to PerfectDisk 8 very soon!

Nah. Spamming as always. 12 posts in a day of joining, basically 12 being spam for that same junk (some 30$ POS shareware thing)... The annoying part is, (he|it)'s digging old and now-irrelevant threads. Reported already, very much hoping for a ban! Not that I would ever buy anything from a low life company that resorts to spamming forums (or by email) to try to sell their junk. He's even got it in his sig and on his profile and all...

Changes nothing whatsoever. Don't accuse others of what you're guilty of... Being convinced by others changes nothing. I mean, who cares if someone convinced maniaq that it was true too? Would that make him right or justify saying that? Nope, and same to you (except he doesn't accuse others of being unobjective while being heavily biased himself...) Why more options and possibilities would be excessive? That's like saying the liquor store should only carry 10 different bottles of wine (instead of hundreds), because having choice is bad. Or only 3 different shows on TV, because there are thousands right now, so that's surely a bad thing too. Or only different 10 music CDs at HVM... But how is the total count of extensions relevant anyhow? The point is, there is an extension for anything you want or need badly, that often can't be found for any other browser, Opera included. Hey, if there was a plugin that made sandwiches, I'd download it right now, and I do like my forecastfox enhanced plugin to tell me how warm it is outside Choice is good. You pick whatever you want, and get amazing features you wouldn't have were you using anything else. That's what it comes down to. No one cares about the actual extension count. Right. I don't know any single person with a SLI setup. Not even one. No monster rigs either. I bought a Athlon64 3500+ w/ 1GB RAM, 200GB HD, DVD writer and XP MCE 2005 last week for 380$ (@ tigerdirect), so people that still have sub-500MHz (WW2-era) PCs... There's almost no excuse. BTW, Firefox runs just fine on my dad's old P3 866. Likely it's from another source. I've NEVER seen this happen, EVER, or seen reports of it showing such things have in fact hapenned (not just some n00b on a forum not knowing where it came from, right after he installed kazaa or whatever, then blaming firefox from not saving him somehow) Mind you, I doubt anything good's gonna come out of this thread. It's more like "the battle of the fanboys" - it's almost worst than the Vista thread...

Yet, you have no problems expressing your personnal opinion about Opera being inherently more secure than Firefox as a fact (hint: it's NOT). As for customizability, that's actually one thing I despise about Opera - it hardly has any compared to Firefox - it doesn't even compare. With Opera you've got a handful of options under "settings" or such. Under firefox, look under about:config and it's ALL there, and there are extensions to tweak even more things (be it the tabs, the download windows, etc) which you can modify yourself, or even create your own. And while there may be some pointless extensions (and pointless to you might still be useful for somebody else - not everyone has the same needs), there are countless VERY useful ones, that have no equivalant (or poor imitations) on the Opera side. I haven't really seen anyone have problems with extensions so far (with the exception of not understanding mouse gestures - which doesn't matter if it was thru an extension or built-in, it's the concept they didn't grasp. That and some people not understanding tabs much seemingly.) Saying it's a steep curve sounds like a ridiculously biased opinion to me (I have yet to see someone have issues like you mention with extensions - it's no worse than plugins for any app or such) Opera uses a bit less RAM, a bit like Zxian said... Perhaps it does matter on very old systems (a minority), but pretty much all browsers work just fine on average PCs. Opera is a bit faster, but Firefox is way more customizable/extendable.

Perm moninor/counters is pretty much all that's built-in. They're also documented (and I'm sure google can find a lot of valuable information if you try). But that alone... Just doesn't cut it IMHO. The perf counters are available in several ways (thru WMI, dedicated APIs, etc), and hence can be used by other apps (including some freeware ones). Personally, I've got a setup using MRTG that logs and graphes things ("real" SNMP stuff, and also perf counters via WMI), a bit like snmpboy (and then some other stuff). Likely, there are other apps that can do similar things (and likely some freeware ones too).

Unsurprisingly so. People love to bash and laugh at Microsoft for every little thing that goes wrong (although it was a bit funny this time). The only thing you can really blame 'em for here is lack of preparation. Their gain on the mic was WAY high, so it didn't understand anything... But if setup properly, it supposedly works fine (haven't tried it myself)

There is no such thing as a "rollback" or "downgrade" to XP. There's only so many options...

Then don't use opera either? (about 20 tabs open and a single download going, not quite what I'd call "heavy use" or anything.) That's more than 100MB of RAM too. (Download finished, restarted it "clean", it's still over 100MB) Nice notice on imageshack too (and I thought I was losing my mind as it just didn't work, yet it works perfect with every other browser): ATTENTION! OPERA 9.00 USERS!!! There is a known bug that prevents you from uploading to ImageShack! @-I-: Very good points, that pretty much sums it up.

Yeah, that's more or less my scenario too. Plenty of CPU and RAM (~3GHz / 1.5GB average), but low-end graphics (I'm perfectly happy with any old card). I might end up getting Vista with my next PC, but right now I don't really see a need. The main thing that interests me is .NET framework 3, which will also run on XP and 2003. Then there are a bunch of other things which are kinda nice but not quite essential (a non-ghetto installer, newer/better driver model, new kernel improvements, UAC, etc) - and a bunch of stuff I couldn't care less about (IE7? Thanks but no thanks! DirectX 10? Bah, not into games AT ALL... IPv6? Nice, but adoption is ~0%). Longhorn server will have IIS7 at least (an uncrippled version of it), so I'm interested in it (my guess is, it'll cost some ungodly amount, though)

That's both good and bad news ine one post (kinda mixed feelings). I wonder if SP2 will also be for R2, since it's built more or less on top of 2003 SP1 (you install the other CD after). I'm hoping so (haven't heard much about SP2 for 2003 yet) Bad news for WSUS though. I was hoping for a good improvement, and it's not looking like it really delivers (based on what you said). A bit like MMC 3, which didn't seem to change a whole lot so far. The only "real" improvement seems to be support for SQL Server 2005, then it's all minor things like views/filtering. Also, it seemingly runs on win2003 only (2k unsupported) - and if it needs beefy hardware like you say, then it's sounding like a fairly expensive upgrade (new hardware + win2003 license) for a free product (after all, we're using this just because it's cheap - or cheaper than SMS that is). Oh well.

Another "1" score... Running inside VMWare Server (still on a decent machine though, 3GHz, 2GB RAM). Haven't played much with it though, because I missed that window to get evaluation codes, and 14 days just isn't enough to even bother with it. My guess is, all of my PCs would need upgrades to run Vista with Aero - mainly new video cards (but without it, it runs just fine really)

That's pretty close to my setup. The main difference is I use no router as they all suck IMHO. I've pretty much tried 'em all (Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, etc), and they've all overheated and died on me in no time flat (2 weeks average before they start having major problems). So I'm using a firewall on a PC instead (along with a nice Linksys SRW2016 switch). Currently it's RRAS, but I'll likely move to smoothwall (or maybe sieve) soon. I also run nod32 just in case as it doesn't really slow the PC down much, but it's never found anything... As for spyware scanners, I now call 'em "cookie finders", because it's all they've ever found every time I've bothered to waste time with 'em. Trying to fix your PC (like remove spyware) is nowhere as good as not getting it messed up in the first place (i.e. don't use IE and you'll quickly forget what spyware even is)

Blame them for serving a different stylesheet? Sure (I haven't even bothered looking if they do that). But the text doesn't show up AT ALL, yet it works fine under Firefox (windows and linux), IE, Konqueror, etc. And that's just one site. Many others also have issues (like the scollers on the widgets used by yahoo's webmail - that don't show up on any other browser), or often not working with google's new apps... I'd say ~75% of pages I use work fine, but that's hardly good enough. And if Opera doesn't get extensions, it will never be my primary browser (and I suspect that's the case for a LOT of other people). Besides, adding the possibility to create/add/use extensions isn't a bad idea. Don't want to cope with an extra one second startup time for awesome features? Just don't install any, no one's forcing you. Most Firefox users are quite happy about that tradeoff. Although, if they're willing to add all those features in the browser themselves, I'd be happy with that too (yeah, not gonna happen - exactly my point - so make writing extensions simple!) And funnily, the page you link to shows that there are no equivalents for many of the extensions I use, or when it lists one, it's often a pale imitation (Block content vs AdBlock? Web Developper toolbar equivalent? ...)