Anusha

I'm using Windows Live Mail desktop as the email client and I want it to start with Windows. Of course, that I can do with the Startup folder, but I need it to straightaway go into the system tray without showing on the taskbar. Any idea about how I can do this? Thanks in advance...

Is it possible for you to give us a download link for this build?

i was using NOD32 and moved to kaspersky to see if it's better. NOD32 was faster by a long way. i went back.

It's the same registry hack in XP (same as what vstatapguy said)

Join the club

@Zxian - Not just after downloading a file. It happens randomly. Someimtes it happens when I extract a file from an archive or sometimes when copying files. Next time it happens, I will note down the file or files it was scanning a let you know. But mainly, those are exe files. But it happens with a very few exe files (mainly setup files, not program files). Has anyone here tried both NOD32 2.51.xx and Kaspersky 6.x.x.xxx? I need to know if Kaspersky's performance has improved (more than NOD32) due to the new iSwift and iChecker technologies. Does anyone know if NOD32 has the same features?

I'm a NOD32 supporter as well. However, all the builds (2.5x.xx) have an annoying problem (dunno if it's a bug). Every once in a while, the PC starts to stall for no reason and when I open the task manager, i see nod32krn utilizing 99% CPU. People say that if I turn of Advanced Heuristics, I will get rid of the problem (and they are right), but it will bring down the effectiveness of the virus shield significantly. So i wouldn't do that. This is not frequent. You might not experience this issue, not even once a day. It's like couple of times a week. I think maybe this happens when it finds certain kinds of files and tries to scan them. Other than that, this is the most trusted and fastest AV software I've ever used. Mind you that I haven't used Kaspersky, but almost all the other main AV software. I was going to try Kaspersky when I was reading the earlier posts. But after reading ClauSoft's last post, I'm not going to try it. Because a rare performance hit would be acceptable compared to living in a overall slower computer environment.

Currently I'm using Server 2003 SP1. 2003 is faster than XP in most areas, but I find two problems with it. 1. I/O multi tasking sucks! i.e. for example if i extract a huge rar file to the hard disk, explorer will go virtually unresponsive. mouse moves, but when i double click on a folder, it wouldn't open until the file operation is over. this is also the case when i'm moving huge files (between partitions/drives) 2. Even with less services running (started) in background in server 2003 Enterprise Edition, compared to default XP SP2 services, server utilizes more RAM. However, the I/O operations are about 20% faster than XP. I got 4196 PCMark05 HDD score in XP and 4800+ in 2003. XP is very unbelievably stable with all the updates. 2003's explorer.exe crashes once a week or so, with all the updates. In games, i didn't see any difference.

Why wouldn't you try Ryan's update pack? He has everything sorted out. Other than that, I can't help you. I'm not into Unattended Windows installations.

Thanks. I'm looking into it. However, I think I need tio have a program that supports commandline inputs to get my job done because I just don't want to open the program, but input the files and then convert.

Who said I have Winamp? I don't - and I hate it. Don't ask why, though. Of course I have faster ways than what you have mentioned. I have Advanced WMA Workshop 2. It does a good job. But it doesn't support conversion from the shell. I want to convert files faster than that (not the processing time) and easier. Anyway, thanks for your help. I'll check out dbPowerAmp. P.S. The "Play All" short cut I was referring to is in the side panel under Audio Tasks - not right click menu.

If you're to clone disks/partitions, then I think Acronis Trueimage does a hellava job.

Well, I use Acronis TrueImage. This is not like Windows System Restore. You have to make backups of entire partitions or disks. However, you can use it to restore a clean Windows Installation in case something happens. I can't imagine living without it as I have to restore the system partition about once a week because of the dangerous things I do with the computer (or do to the computer) However, as Zxian said, you can use those backups on the same system you made the backup - if you're to restore the Windows partition. Whenever I'm trying to do something which might harm the Windows installation, I make a backup first. Then if something goes wrong, you can always go back. It also supports booting from a CD/DVD to restore an image (the image itself can be burned to a CD/DVD) or you can make it load before Windows (by modifying the bootloader - from within the software)

Yeah, utorrent is the way to go. It's the simplest software I use and most probably the smallest (hard drive space as well as memory footprint).

I agree with prathapml. That's why I do it myself when I want to do it.