Zxian

Well... I figured I might as well post my laptop again. Clean Dirty VS - Cyrix (WB) Wall - Wind (can't remember where I got it - ask if you want) Apps - AveDesk 1.3 Beta (no you can't have it... yet) 18 processes on startup with AV, firewall, and all the good looks!!!

What kind of hard drive is it? I know that Seagate has diagnostic tools to test their hard drives, and I'm guessing that other manufacturers have similar programs/ISOs. Check the manufacturer's website for such programs and let us know how things go.

I've got 80GB in my laptop, and a 40GB external drive for it (for backups). I've got 200+40GB in my desktop. Stuff I've got - music (~20GB), movies (backups of my DVDs), installs, VMWare machines (about 20GB or so on my desktop), pictures (about 3GB), all my school stuff (about 1.5GB), and other random stuff. Oh... and another 5GB or so for nLite and the CD images created by it. The most important stuff is with my on my laptop, and a backup kept on my 40GB external and another copy on my desktop.

Thanks for the reply prathapml. Nice to have that cleared up.

I'll have to check this out... looks very promising.

I don't have that many intake vents to light up with LED's... probably only my speakers, but even then I'm not sure. Ever thought of painting your laptop? Link I'm curious about doing it, but I wouldn't want to be without my precious lappy for weeks on end.

Hey... moomba's aren't anyone's pet...

Cool... I'm looking forward to the making of the video on Thursday. See you there (and good luck)!

I talked to my girlfriend and she said she'd see how the laptop was when she got it back. I've got a Targus CoolPad for my laptop and it works wonders (highly recommended for anyone with a laptop). I also borrowed a MacMice iBreeze from a neighbour to give my girlfriend to see if it makes any difference. I've also got the Lapworks LapDesk, which is acutally pretty neat. It folds out to give you a more supportive surface for your laptop (anyone who's tried to balance a 12" laptop on their knees knows what I'm talking about), and can fold up for a stationary stand that raises the screen to a more comfortable level. It's also got cooling channels for more ventilation. Her stupid ex was with her when she bought it (he did the shopping for her) and he didn't quite understand that when you buy cheap, you usually get cheap. I'm still curious about the TDD-3000... I'd like to see if it works better than the CoolPad or LapDesk. I haven't had a chance to stick an actual thermometer underneath, but my SMART hard drive runs at about 31C with the LapDesk, and about 29C with the CoolPad, compared to 38C on a flat wooden table surface (my hard drive is in the center of the laptop near the front).

Or... if you want to save money on ink, get a laser printer. If you print out a lot of documents, it's really a good investment. A little steep initially (~$200 CAD), but the price per page is far lower than that of an inkjet printer. I only use my inkjet printer for printing out pictures and images, and I haven't had to replace the cartridges yet. My original toner cartridge that came with my Samsung ML-1740 has printed about 1500 pages so far, and hasn't shown any signs of letting up yet. $20 refills on eBay for 7000 pages =

Thanks for the update!

@jcarle - You are a man full of wisdom. I'm just like you, only the difference is that I'm a poor student who has to pay for tuition as well...

This is normal behaviour for Windows XP. XP treats an HTML file and the corresponding folder of media (images, sounds) as a single file - rename one, it renames the other - delete one, it deletes the other. It's a bit confusing, but somewhat makes sense. There's an option to change this behaviour in Microsoft's TweakUI.

hehe!!!! The Snuffle!!!!! I think that Samson (the guy who made that video) just used Windows Movie Maker (ugh ) for that video. For the basics, it's alright. The movie quality isn't all that great. You could try using something like Vegas to create the original, and then compress it down with XViD or the like.

Hehe... funny you should mention that... I've got my NOD32 configured so that I never need the GUI. It automatically updates, so no need for that. If it finds anything, it's set to try to clean it, and if it can't delete it. That way I never have to deal with anything.

Well... what don't you like about it? You can find more info on how to configure the settings for maximum protection and minimal user involvement here. Other good alternatives are AVG and Avast - both are fairly lightweight and will be faster than Norton. Did you manage to get your Prefetch folder back? (Did you remove the Task Scheduler service with nLite?) EDIT - have you tried using Hibernation? I rarely actually restart my laptop (only if programs need it for installation/settings).

The Unattended guide has a general section relating to creating ISOs. http://unattended.msfn.org/global/finish.htm Hope this helps!

No. The hard drive can only access the data so fast. Speed is always limited by your slowest component. It's like trying to take an Austin Mini (the old Mr. Bean car) and putting it on the Autobahn. No matter how hard you push the car, it'll only go so fast.

Your best bet is to try to switch around the connections for your devices in as many different ways as possible. Does your BIOS allow you to check the transfer mode of your devices? You could also try uninstalling the device in Device Manager and letting the system find it again on boot.

It'd be funnier if it got you to a webpage with lots of really annoying music (like Hot Butter - Popcorn) and flashy graphics though...

Agreed

Haha.... I love the box! Great work as always!

Well... my girlfriend's Averatec* computer just went to crap. Apparently it's a common problem with her particular model that the area where the power cable plugs in gets very hot - hot to the point where the plastic on the connector tip melted. Here's a link to the closest model to her laptop - Averatec 3200 Series. The main difference is that her computer is a Mobile Athlon XP 2200+, not the Sempron. Anyways... it's still under warranty, so she doesn't have to pay to get it fixed. I'm thinking of getting her a laptop cooler of some sort to help the situation when her computer is at home. I was thinking about getting something like the Bytecc TDD-3000, since it's silent, and she likes to keep her computer running during the nights sometimes while downloading. I've got a Targus CoolPad, which does the trick nicely for my Compaq laptop (Pentium-M 1.4GHz), but my laptop doesn't generate nearly as much heat as hers (even after hours of gaming, the bottom of the laptop is warm - not hot). Does anyone know if the above model is any good or have any suggestions for quiet laptop coolers? Thanks in advance!

@hakeem5454 No, clearing the CMOS will simply set your BIOS back to its original settings. It's actually one of the first things I do when checking for hardware errors. You'll have to check your manual to see how to clear the CMOS on your system. If you have to remove the battery, just be careful that you don't damage any surrounding components.

Are you trying to update from the Windows Update site? There should be an error code on the site itself - check under your installation history (not IE history). For SP2 itself, I would recommend downloading the full installation (Link) and running it offline.