OldCodger

Just had a look at the preview in V52esr and it's looks fine. Not come across that "Simplify Page" function. When and where did it appear?

Like most of you, I quit updating at about FF56 when ClassicTheme Restorer was no longer an option and "regressed" to FF52.2esr partly to suppress any nags though also had to add UAControl to access uncooperative sites but it seems Mozilla is now competing with Adobe Flash for the frequency of updates usually on the pretext of "security". But, as I have recently discovered, Themes and Extensions can longer be installed to older versions - presumably new engines and leverage to force updates. Anyone know how to copy Themes and Extensions from one machine to another? I Also occasionally use an old Opera 12.16 when doing multiple downloads, because of the auto-renaming of duplicate filenames (by adding sequential numbers) which FF used do but ceased years ago. [I have several multi-boot machines and resent constantly having update FF and Flash each time I visit a Win install. In Linux I've given up the fight and just allow updates to do their thing, then remaster for distributions to other machines as and when]

Thanks, but resolution wasn't/isn't the issue - it's the loss of Aero (ie compositing).

OK, for anyone interested, my surfing has confirmed that my observation was correct - for reasons Known only to MS and nVidia, they decided not to (fully) support the nForce3 chipset (as on my Asrock AM2NF3-VSTA mobos for example!). This results in the anomaly that multi-core cpus and Catalyst 10.2 won't work together! However, Catalyst 9.1 does work for resolution but no Aero (lack of WDDM).... So we have the tease.. Before Catalyst 10.2 installed... Standard VGA Display Driver After (no errors reported but no prompt to restart either)... ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 Series - (not working Code 43) After removal... ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM) - (not working Code 43 - but drivers still present!) Research led to these threads for example - http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/231596-will-hd3450-agp-work-nf3-w7.html http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/5050-microsoft-listened-nforce3-support.html http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/231810-looking-agp-video-cards-supported-windows-7-32-bit.html So it is neither the multi-core cpu nor the graphics card but lack of support for the nforce3 chipset! As a matter of further concern - what exactly does the wretched Catalyst remove when uninstall is selected since just about everything is still there (including reg entries)? Ironically, on another machine - which already has a dual-core cpu but only radeon 9250 graphics - Catalyst 9.2 works but, of course, no Aero so have installed a "cheat" Aero so purchased another 9550 card to boost that yet, in view of the above, that's was a waste of money too! Have since persuaded Catalyst 10.2 xp drivers to install and, in conjuction with TrueTransparency and Transbar, have pseudo Aero! Nevertheless, these machines have been upgraded without any detectable performance boost over the lowly Sempron and a set back to the graphics (even worked perfectly with Media Centre and Satallite card)! [i resolved, some years ago when these self build projects began (with a then need to perpetuate access to Win98 on multi-boot environments), - whadda a mistaka to maka!]

I have just treated one of my machines to cpu upgrade from Sempron to triple core Athlon - yes it's old hardware but at the time it was important to be able to use Win98SE in addition to other o/s's. Hence the choice of ASRock AM2NF3-VSTA mobo and AGP graphics - Radeon 9550. It was also a cheap route! Recently Windows 7 32bit Ultimate has been added and all was well - Aero et al. However, since the cpu upgrade, the the maximum display resolution available is 1280 x 1024 and no Aero, rather than the maximum 1920 x 1080 as previously.with Aero. Win 98SE didn't complain and Win XP was fine (after Found New Hardware installed about 4 pci host bridges!). There may be a clue here because Win 7 did similar but after the 4th pop-up, I cancelled believing something was amiss - oops! Yet have not been prompted since. Unfortunsately, I cannot remember which Catalyst driver was successful prior to the cpu upgrade but have installed/uninstalled umpteen times various versions of 10.2 (and choices of Compatibility mode) but all failed with "Driver Install: INF file not found". At one point, the wretched Catalyst (un)installer even deprived the system of standard vga! 9.1_xp32 which gives full resolution but no Aero (lack of WDDM). It seems very strange that the cpu upgrade should provoke such disruption to Win 7 and not earlier Win versions or any Linuxs? Can any guru suggest a solution (other reinstalling Win 7) and whether cancelling that "new hardware" can be recovered. I would have expected to be re-prompted on a subsequent reboot?

vinifera - that kind of confirms my suspicions. Perhaps if the folder is already in thumbnail view WinExp doesn't have to do so some much "work" for bubble help? As for codecs, I haven't knowingly installed any packs and none show up in add/remove. However, GSpot shows 231 installed of which about a third have low merit. I guess I'll just have to blunder about - methodically of course! And will try associating more formats with vlc.

When I hover the mouse pointer over video files (to read the bubble info), it causes the desktop to flicker (refresh?). If I persist then, usually after 3 or 4 files but sometimes immediately, Win Explorer will bomb taking the desktop with it, After a few seconds the desktop will recover but WE has to be relaunched. If, however, I click rather than hover then WMP will launch and the video will play as expected. File types include avi, mpg and wmv (though the latter are less "sensitive". Not sure about mov files but they're associated with vlc. Internet research has found reference to this behaviour when in thumbnail view for which a suggested solution is to revert to detail view, But, perversously, it is the other way round for me - ie the problem is in detail view! Also it does not seem to be a problem in third party exploreres. This behaviour seems to have coincided with the aquisition of a video capture decice (EasyCAP - yes, I know!) and experimenting with various capture softerware - uLead, AmCAP and NCH Debut - and video processing apps such as VirtuakDub and Format Factory (It's quite a challenge finding a successful combination of these to capture, which is restricted around 4:3 from a 16:9 tv, in a suitable format to be reproceesed to the correct resolution - but that, itself, is not the subject of this post). Edit: As I write, WE is behaving but I haven't connected the EasyCAP nor launched any of the aforementioned apps so that could suggest a focus for investigation but, even if any such combination does proove to be the culprit, would still be interested to know by what mechanism - something to do with codecs perhaps? [WinXP sp3, dual-core cpu, 2mb ram]

I am endeavoring to up the security level across my wifi n/w - 5 machines, 3 desktops (multi-boot Win98SE/XP + Linux), a laptop and a netbook (each multi-boot Vista/XP + Linux) from WEP to WPA2 (and eventually from manual to automatic configurations). To this end my XPs have been SP3ed and the nic changed on two of the desktops. For consistency, I am setting the desktops to use WZC - the other two are by default. All is well except that one machine, clicking the Wireless Networks Tab causes Explorer to crash (and very difficult to recover even via task manager). Although the problem seems to have occured since SP3, the mystery deepens in that another machine has exactly the same mobo and nic and SP3 yet there is no problem. "sc query wzcsvc" shows that WZC is running normally and my connection is working fine except for this wretched promlem?! Please note that in Win98 all works fine but would also remark that the graphics are much smoother there than in XP. Is there a clue there? Although the nic is in slot 3 (as was the original nic) they do share an irq - as on other machines - but there are no reported conflicts.