DonDamm

I believe the problem is that the monitor is a widescreen model with a 1680x1050 resolution and the Graphics card doesn't natively support that 16:10 resolution (it may support a 1920x1200, but I wasn't able to get the specs of the resolutions available). As mentioned above by nmX.Memnoch. However, a look at the the Forceware guide shows that the latest drivers for your card also include the ability to add custom resolutions! This obviates the suggestion I was going to make about using PowerStrip to insert the needed resolution. It appears that you can set your monitor/TV to be iinterlaced or not, and also add custom resolutions. I was looking at this: http://www.xfxforce.com/web/support/searchManualsSerial.jspa and used the serial codes PV-T44A-WAN7 and PV-T44A-WANG which I got here: http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/listCo...urationId=79772 Dig a bit deeper into your manual, try a few things out a let us know how you get on! :^)

Not necessarily. What you describe sounds like what happened when helping a friend a number of years ago who had WinME and we were installing W2000. ME went in fine, but 2K kept stopping midway through and rebooting. IT eventually turned out that the memory was faulty. It was a new machine, so my friend couldn't believe it. When I installed some good memory on it and 2K went in like butter, he was finally convinced. The may not be what the problem is here as you mentioned you've checked the RAM, but just to be sure, I'd check it again using something like the three different programs you find on Hiren's Boot CD, memtest and Gold diagnostic. The next thing I'd try is creating a folder on the hard disk anad copying all the install files there and then running the install from the hard disk itself. For one, it is faster and two, you said the machine is older which means the CD drive is also older. I've run into to too many dodgy CD drives in customer machines to even count. I sometimes bring a new one with me when I go out on a call just because of this. It has saved me countless of times.

As I mentioned, the RunOnce method works and I have done that (a while ago now). I managed to get Office installed along with a host of other programs (the image wasjust about 3GB) and all unattended. As I recall, I also had to prepare a special file for the Office install to customize the components (the transform file), but I also remember all the instructions were in the Unattended Guide I found here on MSFN. When I followed them, they worked. Sure, there were bumps, but when I checked it was almost always because I hadn't followed the instructions. After that I tried out the WPI method and found that to be a bit slicker and smoother. Update: I just found this which is an extract from my RunOnceEx.cmd file that is is the $OEM$/$1 folder: REG ADD %KEY%\052 /VE /D "MS Office System Professional 2003 with SP1..." /f REG ADD %KEY%\053 /VE /D "...>Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Publisher, Outlook, and InfoPath" /f REG ADD %KEY%\053 /V 1 /D "%PP%Office\Office\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended.MST /qn" /f REG ADD %KEY%\053 /V 2 /D "%systemdrive%\Install\Bats\Normal.cmd" /f REG ADD %KEY%\054 /VE /D "...>Front Page 2003" /f REG ADD %KEY%\054 /V 1 /D "%PP%Office\FrontPage\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended-FP.MST /qn" /f REG ADD %KEY%\055 /VE /D "...>One Note 2003" /f REG ADD %KEY%\055 /V 1 /D "%PP%Office\OneNote\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended-ON.MST /qn" /f REG ADD %KEY%\056 /VE /D "...>Project 2003" /f REG ADD %KEY%\056 /V 1 /D "%PP%Office\Project\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended-Proj.MST /qn" /f REG ADD %KEY%\057 /VE /D "...>Visio 2003" /f REG ADD %KEY%\057 /V 1 /D "%PP%Office\Visio\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended-Visio.MST /qn" /f As you can see, I used the straight setup.exe files, though you could as well use the *.msi file plus you can see the *.mst files which set the exact configuration you want on install. the %PP% refers to the path on the DVD disk I used at the time.

@aka, the start Menu from the time of Win2K ands XP has long been an amalgamation of the current user and All Users, now called Public in Vista. One of the things folks sometimes run up against is that they don't have "access rights" to some folders in Vista. You can solve this by first "taking ownership" of the folder by right clicking and clicking on Sharing and Security. Then give yourself full permissions to change. this is one change I've noticed in Vista over XP. Also, you might note that while this is msfn it is not affiliated, moderated, nor administered by MS, and as such, while there my be some MS folks who frequent this forum, there can be no expectation that you'll get any definitive answer from MS, ... ever. There are many extremely qualified professionals who come to this forum, but they all aren't here necessarily every day and some only infrequently, so answers to questions are a knid of hit and miss proposition. If your question interests one or more of the members and they can shed some light on it, you'll likely get an answer. If you don't hear, it doesn't mean it was a bad question or that no one has an answer - just that it hasn't been seen yet by the right person! :^)

Just a note of caution. Doing a reinstall was probably the best move to be certain. However, I'm surprised a bit that you got fooled into clicking onto malware so easily. That basically means you need to do some research and learning about how these things work so you can recognize real from bogus. Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing you for not knowing, only surprised. Usually, someone who's unafraid of reinstalling has been around enough to have come across these "offers" which are all spyware/malware in themselves. Most of us have been through this at one point in time or other. Eset Smart Security has a very decent spyware module in it. However, it can't know every new program out there. You might want to get a second opion sometimes and if you go to Google Pack and uncheck everything but the PC Tools Spyware Doctor free version, you can have a very good on-demand scanner at no cost.

So, listen to this man! What you need to do is remove that drive from the box and hook it up as a secondary drive to another one. You could attempt this by using a SATA to USB cable (I carry one with me when I go to a client) so you can connect it to another computer. If the drive is spining and you still can't manage to "see" it, try another OS like the live CD from Linspire which seems to have the uncanny ability to "see" disks other OSs fail to. You can boot from the CD and then try to access the disk. If you can, then transfer any data to another disk right away. or if it is too big, then make a disk image and suggested and work on that. Good luck.

I used Symantec Corporate for years. The Norton brand doesn't really do all that well in the many different tests. Besides it is very resource hungry and visibly can slow down many many machines. I just worked on one last week and had to remove it. My customer was amazed how spritely the machine became after I removed it. Now, the trend has been to these Internet Security Suites and both Norton and Eset are no different. My preference is to use the best tool for a purpose and not a collection of tools where one is good and the others are so-so. If I had to choose today between the two you've mentioned, I would far and away go with Eset NOD32 Smart Suite. I was testing it last month while I was on the road and believe me I gave it a workout. It came through with flying colors. The malware/spyware catcher seems pretty good, though I'd prefer PC Tool Spyware Doctor for best of the breed. The firewall so far gave me no problems, but then I used ZA for many years and still have version 4.5 on one of my boxes. I can't say I like the newer versions at all and I can tell you taht I don't trust them. I'll be looking a Comodo's new version next. The one module I find top-notch in NOD32 is the anti-virus module. I'd be inclined to get just the anti-virus version and use that.

AFAIK the OSs takes care of increasing the MFT when necessary. I found Diskeeper to be overbearing. It can't defrag with low disk space (gee, you only have 16.8 GB on your 500 GB disk so I can't defrag!) and I never found it to be exceptional. On the other hand, both Vopt and Perfect Disk can handle low space defragging and you can set the type very easitly. I use both of them. I like Vopt because it is exceptionally fast in its loose packing mode and and meticulous in its tight mode. It also has a varierty of other functions and has a very small footprint. Perfect Disk is slower, but can handle multiple defrags and is designed to run on a server (which my main machine is, though I use it as my main production machine, but maybe not much longer). Any defragging will go faster if done outside the OS. I like to boot to a PE disk once in a while and run a defragger from there. there are no issues of files that can't be moved becaue ethey are in use, and because the OS isn't running, there are no issues with the tiny tijme delays caused by checking the security permission on each file moved. these are small for an individual file, for sure, but it adds up when there are thousands of files involved.

Check out the Windows Post Install Wizard. You'll find it on the main forum page. Yes, you can use RunOnce by using a cmd file to make those entries. All the information about how to create those, what to put in them, and how to make them work is in the Unattended Guide. It takes some time to work through to understand it all, but it is worth the effort. nLite is one great tool, but it can't read for you! lol The RunOnce method works and is good to know, but WPI is much smoother and slicker. Check it out.

toastycheese678, try going to the main site without the filename at the end. You'll find a simple list and all the files are there. You'll find they download a bit easier in some browsers.

First, go and download the manual. The direct site and file is here: http://downloads.trendnet.com/TEW-432BRP_d...2BRP(D1.0R).pdf That will take you through the whole process. I believe that manual is also on the CD. Please read it as it will explain a lot of things to you and will help you as you go along. the default username and password for your router is "admin" (no quotes). You adminjister the router through your browser like Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Opera. You type in 192.168.0.1 in the address bar of your browser when you are connected to your router and the Username and Password dialog box pops up. type in "admin" for both of them and then you'll be in the administration page of your router. You can read more in the manual. If you run into problems come back here and we'll try to help out. As to Network Magic, why do you need it? What are you trying to do that Windows networking can't do? My best suggestion is to de-install it. If you really want something to duplicate the Windows function, perhaps you could try Net Stumbler, which I believe is free. It is particularly good at locating other networks in the area, but it really isn't a necessary program. I'd set up with the Windows native utilities first.

Well, the 53MB came out of the microWin project which was an effort by a member here a while ago. For his own reasons he took the project private, but he did a lot of great work paring down the system and keeping it usable. nLite was the main tool, I believe. How small is a bit academic dependiing on how much you want to get done and what you define as an OS. does it need networking to be defined as an OS? Does it need a defragging utility? And so on. Practically speaking, 80 MB is darned small even with a lot of options removed. I'd say that as long as it does what you need it to do and want it to do, then it's functional for you and qualifies.

Hmmm. Since TweakUI is just a graphical way to make changes to the registry, try this - open up the registry (regedit), go to the first key, HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, scroll down to .psd ( a long way down!!), click on the little plus sign to the left and I bet you'll see an entry for ShellNew. Highlight this and rename it ShellNew-. Now close the registry and it shouldn't appear any more in tweakUI or in Explorer when you right click in an empty area and click on New. I like to keep mine empty except for a text file and zip file. That way it opens very much faster. By using a minus sign at the end you can easily restore it to where it was and you don't have to remember what was there. I use this trick for lots of small changes I make to the registry. I also put the minus sign in front sometimes.

I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean that you don't want to use Ctrl+Shift+Esc, or that it doesn't function when you hit those keys? If it doesn't sunction, then there is something wrong with your installation as that key combination is coded into Windows, both XP and Vista (I checked just now to make sure!). If something that basic isn't working properly, I'd worry about other things in the OS.

Slightly? lol! (a bit tongue in cheek, yes?) Seems Vista also comes in around ~6GB, though I've seen a modded one at around 2GB. I'm not sure how they got away with cutting out the Winsxs folder. I understand the reasoning for including all the binaries, however, it would be nice if they allowed you to decide to leave them in or not. Remember the days whenthere was a nice little feature in the Add/Remove applet to include windows components or not??? I kinda liked that. I think the next machine I build will have to have an additional hard disk specifically for all the MS caches!!! lol When they first came out with the hidden MSOCache, you used to be able to decide where it went or if you wanted it at all. Now they just stick it on C:\ whether you want it there or not. Because I want to keep my images down to a minimum, I like to keep it over on D:\. Sigh.

You need a tiny utility called Nullfile which will write a dummy file in the current directory and fill it with 0s. When the file can no longer write (disk full) it then deletes the file and closes. This effectively does what you want I think. It iwas written to make the compression of free space easier for disk imaging/cloning. You can get it here: http://montgomeryco.com/bfiles/Nullfile/ and this one works just fine, though I think there is a version 1.02 out there somewhere. download the file, place it in the root, and rename it nullfile.exe. It works fairly fast, though it doesn't seem so. Now you can run it in a commsand window. If you stop the file in the middle, remember to delete the dummy.xxx file it creates. It is a good idea to defrag the disk first and consolodate empty space. I read something about a 4GB size limit on the dummy file, so if that is the case, then I'm sure you could rename the file and run Nullfile multiple times. Update: Okay, I found the source. It was written by Matthias Jordan and here is his website. Nullfile v1.02 is a bit down the page after all the cloning stuff. http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/ From that site there's also this: Hope this helps. :^)

If you really want to try, then do the following. Do an XP repair install which will retore the boot files you need for XP. You'll then only be able to boot into XP. Then do a Vista statrtup repair which will leave you only able to boot into Vista. then you'll need to edit the Vista boot file (use the special Vista boot file editor) to add the XP installtion to the Vista boot manager. Then you'll be able to see both installations on boot and choose between them. Basically, you need to follow the routine for installing XP after installing Vista (this is normally done the other way around!). I think there is a thread here on the forum about that, installing XP in a dual boot on a pre-installed Vista. Look for it.

You could always rewrite Logonui.exe and replace that file, but why would you want to when, as pointed out, they provided Ctrl+Shift+Esc to do what you want to do???

suryad, have you tried setting the pagefile size to "None"?? Windows will complain at first, but I've found with a lot of RAM that things work faster in general. It seems to me that any app that tries to maange your system resources in conflict with the OS is asking for trouble. There should be some setting in Oracle to to let the system manage it, or it's sloppy programming, imo.

I've seen this before and wasn't able to determine the exact cause. I solved it by uninstalling IE7 and then reinstalling the latest one that doesn't require the validation. Sorry, I can't be more helpful.

When you uncheck it in TweakUI, and then click on apply, you need to next highlight the item in the list and hit the Delete button to remove it from the list. Then it won't come back! :^)

Somewhere around 53 MB. Does that answer your question?

Actually, while I like DUMeter, I found that it doesn't allow exceptions based on IP address like others do. You can specify a NIC to monitor and that's fine if you use two different ones for WAN and LAN. However, if like many you just connect to a router through only one NIC then you'll need another solution. I'm currently using BWMeter v3.3.3 available from http://www.desksoft.com which very neatly displays Internet activity and LAN activity separately as well as daily, weekly, and monthly totals. NetLimiter will also work, and has other functions as well.

jaclz is right. First, check out restoring the partition before you start file-based recovery. Unless you did a complete format that wiped your data, then you basically reset the partition table so your computer sees all that space as free. There are a number of partition utilities out there and don't discount paid software. There are many programs which will function fully in trial mode (BootIt NG, as an example) and allow you to recover the partition. I'd take a look at Acronis' Disk Director. Years ago their earlier Disk Editor saved my butt when I lost an entire partition that windows just wanted to format. I was able to find the second copy of the file table and replace the one at the front of hte disk and was able to get all of my files. I'm still using that same disk today with no changes since then!

I just installed 2008 Enterprise x86 in a VM and It seems to be very clean and straight. No nonsense and locked down fairly tight You have to specifically add the roles and features you want. The installation is fast, though I will say the base installation seems to be quite large. It clocked in at 6.91 GB before any additions!! I've been using 2003 for years and have loved it because of the stability. 2003 doesn't have the same eye candy as Vista and just sports the classic squared corners and gray backgrounds we all know and love. If it were me, I'd go with 2008. The real decision will be whether to go x86 or 64-bit. If you've got the hardware, I think I'd go for the latter.