WDGC

I downloaded and installed ffdshow [rev] [2006-12-11]. All installation settings were default and it was installed to C:\Program Files\ffdshow. However the problem persists. Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers > Video Codecs > Properties > General, still gives this information: Manufacturer: (Standard system devices) Although at Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers > Video Codecs > Properties > Properties, in the 'Video Compression Codecs' list, there is now, amongst other entries, an entry "ffdshow video encoder" I notice in the ffdshow start menu folder there are listings " Video decoder configuration", "VFW configuration", and "Audio decoder configuration". Do I need to do something here?

Thank you for your reply. I'm not at all knowledgeable in these matters; all I can tell you is the machine is a Dell Dimension 8400, about 17 months old, and the video card is an ATI Radeon X300 which has not been touched or modified in any way Regarding codecs, Device Manager > Sound, video and game controllers > Video Codecs > Properties > General, gives this information: Manufacturer: (Standard system devices)

When I play a news video (see righthand side of page) at this newspaper site I only get a 'negative' like view, although unlike old style black and white negatives, this is in colour. The OS is XP Pro SP2 and this happens using both IE 6 and Firefox 2.0. I'd appreciate insights into the possible cause and correction of this problem.

Windows Audio was set to 'Manual' and wasn't running; changing the setting to 'Automatic' and reinstalling the sound card driver fixed the problem. Thank you to all respondents.

The built-in firewall is disabled and always has been (default setting) and I'm not aware of any other active security functions.

No, I have a NAT router.

I don't know if this is the right place for this post, but ... When I play a video - from google or yahoo for example - I don't get audio. The OS is XP Pro SP2 and the result is the same using IE, Firefox and Opera. I don't know how long this has been the case, as I've only tried to play videos since getting a broadband connection a couple of weeks ago. I don't have any problems with streaming radio using WMP. Any ideas to the possible cause and rectification of this problem would be appreciated.

awergh, DigeratiPrime and LLXX, thank you for the further information. I use Wackget from time to time but wasn't aware of the GUIs - they bear looking into, as does FlashGet now that it doesn't contain spyware.

Thank you to all respondents, I'll have a look at your suggestions.

Unfortunately, according to screenshot #12, DownTheMall doesn't display the completed download speed either. http://www.downthemall.net/images/ss/win/012.png

I'm looking for a download manager - preferably freeware - which shows the speed at which downloading took place. At present I'm using LeechGet 2006 and whilst it shows the download speed as downloading is taking place, this figure disappears as soon as the download is completed. I've looked at a number of other download managers, but have not been able to determine if this feature is present. Rather than installing applications to see if they have this ability, I would appreciate users of other download managers letting me know if their manager displays the download speed for the entire download.

Have a look at BootIt NG - partitioning, imaging, and boot management. Free 30 day trial or $US35 to buy and supports Vista. http://www.bootitng.com/bootitng.html

Yes, this is also how it is with my Dell OEM installation disk.

I've now had 8 successful Standby sessions of greater than 4 hours duration. So, I think it reasonable to conclude that disabling the "Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby" setting at the Power Management tab in Device Manager for both the keyboard and the mouse, when the devices are connected to a USB port, is the solution to my problem. Something I noticed which I found somewhat confusing, was the lack of a Power Management tab for the mouse when the keyboard and mouse are connected to PS/2 ports. However, disabling the setting for the keyboard also produces this effect for the mouse - easily tested - and the overall result the same as when using a USB connection with its separate keyboard and mouse settings.

The OS is Windows XP Pro SP2 on a Dell dimension 8400 desktop. For the past fortnight I've been using Standby, S3 mode, rather than shutting down the system. However, on some occasions the system comes out of Standby of its own accord; this "self-starting" has occurred any time from about 30 seconds after invoking Standby, to more than 4 hours later. Any explanations as to the cause of this behaviour and a possible remedy would be appreciated.

Just so.

Although I've read similar to this numerous times over ther past 4 1/2 years, many, many, more times have I read of XP running very well on 256 and quite adequately on 128. Doesn't MS say only 128MB of RAM is required?

Thank you for you reply and the registry entries. As I don't have Office XP installed, this undoubtedly accounts for the absence of the "Managing pairs of Web pages and folders" entry. If I decide to add the registry entries I will let you know the result.

The reference to "Managing pairs of Web pages and folders" and the three radio button entries at Windows Explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> View -> Advanced Settings, in this thread at Ars Technica Forums has caught my attention. I'm using XP Pro SP2 and these entries aren't present in my installation either. I find this somewhat disconcerting and wonder how common this omission is; has anyone an explanation and possible remedy?

I was mainly concerned about the CPU fan being turned off in S3 mode, but after reading this Wikipedia article see this is as intended, with the CPU itself being powered off in modes S2 and S3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Conf...Power_Interface

With my current machine the S3 mode is the default setting and using standby seems to turn off just about everything, including the CPU fan. My previous machine had the S1 mode as the default setting and it seemed to me only the HDD and monitor were turned off with, as far as I can recall, the CPU fan still running. Broadly speaking, are these the differences between the two modes?

The XP CD hasn't any thing to do with it. The machine is 2 weeks old and the OS, as I said before, was pre-installed, not installed from the CD and nothing has been copied from the CD. I can only assume extra files were added to the I386 folder as part of the factory installation process.

The computer is a Dell and the OS was pre-installed. I'm the sole user and I haven't touched the folder in any way.

With my installation of XP Pro SP2, the I386 folder on the hard drive has a size of 964MB. I'm somewhat surprised it is this large, particularly as others I've spoken to report sizes of 450 - 500MB. What is the size of this folder on other machines? Title edited -- Please, use [TAGS] in your topic's title. Please follow XP Forum Rules from now on. --Sonic

I came across this tip in two threads at Ars Technica: As the poster thought likely, it didn't appear to be commonly known. How many here knew of it, and the other tip, "alt+Print Screen will copy the current window into the clipboard instead of the entire screen" given in the second thread? http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/fo.../m/833001008731 http://episteme.arstechnica.com/groupee/fo...31#239006308731