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I just signed up on MS site, said it could be few weeks to get an invite. When I do I'll share invites invites. Hopefully they are a bit quicker than a couple weeks, but i'm sure there are a million people requsting from them. From what I saw on their beta site, this mail software seems to be the most difficult software to get. thanks anyway if someone was gonna send me an invite, I'm now off to go back into battle with Adware.Look2Me. The is a tough virus to get rid of, at least I have something to do today now, ha. later

EAC (Exact Audio Copy) Excellent program to copy cd's. It's free to download and use, although the cretor advertises it as "CardWare". Basically he would appreciate a nice postcard from people who download the software. http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

I like M-audio a lot. Though they are a bit out of your price range. I have the Delta 410, it shows up now and again on sale at newegg. I think around $80. I just checked and I don't even see the Revolution cards on there, maybe I missed them. Anyway Here's the specs for the 410 (It's not on M-audio's website, they are still updating the drivers though) 2 Analog Inputs (RCA coax). 8 Outputs (RCA coax). 1 Coax S/PDIF in, and 1 output, with AC3 and DTS surround. The driver is excellent as well, although it takes a while to get used to. I've emailed customer support in the past as well, and can't say it was very good. Seemed like very generic responses, or they would ask for more information about my questions just to be lazy. They did respond promptly though, can't complain too much. I've owned a Revo 7.1 prior to this and it is equally impressive (although still around 80 or 90 bucks, the 5.1 might be in your price range). I believe Turtle beach is supposed to make good sound cards, but it's been a while since I've I did my research. Definetely, in my opinion, stay away from Creative. Creative lost a lawsuit for selling a soundcard which they claimed had 24 bit output, but the card was simply resampling. I read through their forums a bunch and people seem to have a lot of driver issues. On the other hand, I know there cards are very easy to modify. If you can solder you can add S/PDIF connections to some of the cards. A very important thing is to consider is the connections on the sound card. Make sure you buy a card with enough connections for the equipment you wish to use. Don't get too caught up in different surround formats either, many surround formats go by multiple names, and manufacturers use these formats as a gimmick to sell their products. If you are not buying a 5.1 spkear setup then you don't really have to be concerned at all with any of that dolby crap. For music, I agree with Cyberloner, The 2.1 would be excellent. Klipsch has great product support. They extended my warranty for an extra year on the 5.1 speakers due to possible subwoofer problems caused by parts made by another manufacturer. They have forums there too, so you can get an idea of their customer service. Ok, I'll stop my diarhea of the mouth now. One day I'll learn to keep my posts short.

I just added a reply. Let's see if the spam monsters get me.

I was considering Nero 7 for about 5 minutes. I looked on the website to try and compare with 6 and just from reading about 7 I didn't see anything new that seemed worth the cost. I like Nero for all the opitons and it doesn't try to take over every aspect of my computer. Even though I don't use a lot of the options right now, it's nice to have them available if I do need them. It's a shame Nero 7 is just a bloated version of 6 (I had a feeling about this, and these reviews really convinced me). I understand companies are trying to make money, it's sad there is so much good software that is ruined with bloat. Adobe reader sucks for the average user, but at least this can be slimmed down a great deal. Yahoo and Norton have to be the worst software available. I think I would rather have a virus installed than either of these two programs. I can't say I know too much about Nero 7, but my 5 minute review on their website just gave me the impression they added a few bells and whistles without any new features or improvements. Off topic: My favorite music software is foobar2000. It's simple to use, small in size, and has the best plugin-ins. Winamp is ok, but they just seem to keep getting worse. It seems nowadays you have to buy half their plug-ins (I understand these are mostly third party), and most of the plug-ins in general are not very good. Ok, as usual I ranted on longer than I should have. I'll shut up now. B)

Here's mine, the swtches might help you out. REG ADD %KEY%\055 /VE /D "Norton Antivirus" /f REG ADD %KEY%\055 /V 1 /D "%CDROM%\Software\nav\NAVSETUP.EXE /QB" /f REG ADD %KEY%\055 /V 2 /D "taskkill /F /IM CfgWiz.exe /QB" /f

Just looking real quick I think you may be using the quotes incorrectly. I had mine working correctly and deleted my code. Now I'm working on it again. Here is what I ran without success REG ADD %KEY%\045 /VE /D "ZoneAlarm PRO 6.0.667.000" /f REG ADD %KEY%\045 /V 1 /D "%CDROM%\Software\zonealarm\zapSetup.exe /s /i /noreboot /lickey xxxxxx %CDROM%\Software\zonealarm\settings.xml" /f I knew I was not going to get my settings installed for obvious reasons. I was in a hurry, wanted to test a few other programs and just threw this in there. I'll update here when I have it correct. Your code should look similar to this (this is what I'm going to run, can't verify if it's correct) /D "%CDROM%\........\ZA.EXE /s /i /lickey xxxxx \"%CDROM%\....\za.xml\"" /f I should mention that I found the proper code by searching and testing when I originally installed. If I'm not mistaken the correct code is posted on the forum somewhere, not that everyone in this thread is wrong.

Use the repartition. Whether or not is necessary doesn't matter if you want to format a clean drive. Like MHz said, autopartition becomes irrelevenant, I just leave autopartition in my winnt.sif and haven't had problems with both entries present.

Thanks again for the replies. I will probably end up going in engineering, I've been leaning that way for a while. I still have another few semesters before I really need to be decisive. I started this thread after doing a bit of research about the job market. There was a dearptment of labor report that showed a higher percentage of jobs available for people holding computer science degrees compared to computer engineering. It just got me wondering, and it's always good to find out as much as you can about something. Flash, it seems like we think alike about a lot of things. I'm definetely going where my interests lie. I'd rather have a job I love and make $40,00 a year than a job I hated that paid me a million bucks a year. There are so many people in the military that stay in just because they get a pay check every month. They just complain about everything and tell people that are getting out that they will end up working at McDonalds.

I know you menat you were not spitting on them. the vapor that comes out of people's mouths is not water. Even if it s water, would the minerals that are found in water. Depending on where a person lives determines how much and what type of minerals are in the water. Even with a water filter there are still some minerals. Alcohol on the other hand does not have any minerals, so it is not as abrasive as water (of course I am referring to 99% alcohol). The problem with alcohol is that it's chemcal quality takes off some the coating on the disk. (one of these days I'll figure out how to quote correctly)

@Mastertech I just deleted my prefetch folder and I'm attempting to follow the instructions from your first post. I'm running into some problems though and I'm hoping you can help. Here is what you are saying must be done: Here is what I did (I tried to follow everything to the letter so I wouldn't make a mistake)I looked in C:\Windows\Prefetch and I can't find the folder. Since I don't have the folder I won't waste my time looking for the files you say are necessary. From reading your quote I understand that nlite users are the only people who need the built-defrag to be installed, otherwise they suffer the consequences of the dreaded "invoking of the layout improvement" (paraphrase). Since I don't use nlite I had no fear of layout optimization. I performed a search for "defrag" and deleted every file that was found. I have a quesion though. Since I have everything set up correctly why does windows keep this registry entry? [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters] EnablePrefetcher=3 Wait a second, I just found another problem: At first I thought fridge didn't know what he was talking about. He didn't even state whether he had the built-in defrag installed. Also there is the immenent threat of the "Inovoking to the layout" with an nlited install. Here is the reply (thought I knew it all before the reply): Now I'm WAY over my head. Not only is fridge running a "crippled" nlited install. He may also have a "Broken" prefetch. ok, even sarcasm. "deviating from the instructions will not produce accurate results"(paraphrase). If I monitor my boot test without "deviating" from the article then I must buy the same hardware you are using. Actually, the only harware that may be used is your PC. Since there are so many variables, environmental factors, and lots of other outside factors that affect performance everyone who wishes to test this out must go to Mastech's house to perform tests. I know I was sarcastic but I just don't get what your point is mastertech. You can throw numbers around all day about services and programs blah blah blah, affect performance. I am also not saying prefetch is worthless, I set mine to 5 (read tweaktown guides). The problem with debates like this is that computers are not desinged for end users. what is the purpose of the prefetch? what is it's intended use? Just like the great raid 0 debate. Raid 0 was not designed with the idea that hard drives would sell better if UT displayed 40 fps, rather than non raid 0 @ 30 fps. These things are designed for networking and transferring large amounts of data. Will NCQ improve performance on my mobo? No, I can't even use it on an ai7. Does it affect performance? maybe. I understand testing and wanting to know the best way to set up (in this case install), a system, but all the links in the world will have no affect on people who got lucky and bought hardware that just performs above the norm Ok, enough of my meaningless banter. I'm going to do a fresh install of xp probably tommowr. I haven't use nlite on the source, or made many changes. I delted the support, docs, etc. folders and manually slipstremed sp2 and hotfixes. here si my setup: abit ai7 mobo p4 cpu @ 3.2 WD Raptor HD ATI 9800pro (flashed to 9800xt, my card has the r360 chip which is the same as xt) 400 watt power supply 1 gig (4x256) ocz ram @204MHz

Here is the link with all the info: settlement Quote is taken from website. What you get: AT NO COST TO YOU (caps intended to emulate obnoxious salemsan tone of voice) Abit will replace a faulty diode on those motherboards. Resellers do not have a claim in the suit, just the owners. Shipping, repair, and all other costs are at the expense of Abit, but I'm not sure if owners are re-imburssed for initial shipping cost, or if Abit pays for it. HURRY BEFORE YOU MISS OUT!!!! (same as above caps) claim ends Februaary 2006. <----- read that real fast so that it sounds like the guy at the end of automobile commercials who gives all the disclaimers.

@ truromeo I know you won't be able to install sata drivers for a single raptor on any ati chipset prior to ich6. I am not sure about ich5r. You can only use f6 with pre-ich6 chipsets to setup raid arrays. The only difference you have in performance with the f6 drivers is the packet queuing (can't remember what it's called). Even with the drivers installed you probably wouldn't see much performance improvement, if at all. The queuing was designed to enhance the performance of networks. I don't have my computer completely set up right now so I can't say what DMA mode you should be running in, I think its four. Don't worry your drive is still 10,000 rpms without f6 drivers. hope this helps, you should also go over to WD website and check out their forums, there is a lot of detailed information about this stuff. If you do have intel chipset just read through the readme files and you will find your answer.

Hey Flash, I've tried to write this post 3 times now but can't get it to sound quite right. I don't want to respond in a way that sounds rude, or makes me appear as a someone who thinks they know everything. In a blunt sentence, to keep myself from babbling too much, I know everything you are talking about. I was in the army for a while and got out about a year ago because I love computers. Computers are probably a worse addiction than crack, I have to know every thing about them . I see why you responded the way you did, looking back at my original post. There is definetely no black and white answer to my question, especially with jobs in fields like computers, engineering, or anything that requires a lot of abstract thinking. At the same time there are trends as to who employers hire based on their education. I know I'm not going to graduate and the next day see an ad in the paper for a company looking to hire a computer scientist . (bad pun intented) While there is no definete answer I would just like to hear what real people think, rather than just reading through statistics and national averages. I'm not looking to be influenced by opinions, just curious since I have never worked in any type of computer field before. thanks again for the reply. I like what you said about advisors. I don't talk to mine anymore because she is always talking down to me and trying to tell me what I should major in. I only go see her to register for classes or take care of other mundane tasks which require her presence. Here's a good quote I read somewhere, I think it fits perfectly as a way to describe formal education: "I learn despite my education" It should be mandatory for schools to have this posted in every classroom.

I don't have one right now. You should post yours though so people can help find any errors you have. don't post license key

I have an academic version. The single disk with word, excel, etc.. It's got the 30 day trial wrtten all over it. I used this guide unattend no admin install everything worked fine, well almost. I slipstreamed sp2 and created a silent install. When I tried the silent install it would just roll back without any message. I then tried a silent install of just office2k3 on my installed windows and created a log file for the install. I couldn't make much out of the log file though, I don't have enough knowledge yet. I think my problem was in one of the .msi files or I messed up when I created the mst file-- basically changed something I shouldn't have (If you follow the guides you will understand what I mean). Here is how I created mine: 1. followed guide from link given above to create slipstreamed sp2 2. followed msfn guide to create silent install If you search this forum, there is a thread about hacking an msi file to enable admin install (The person who psoted this warns about breaking the EULA), I don't have time to find it now, there is another for performing the silent install and creating a log file. Lastly I should add, I was able to manually install the slipstreamed version...for what it's worth.

I don't know anything about this player but I think it's worth a shot to try and save the tracks. If it doesn't work, oh well, all that is lost is time. The info. I posted I just found and glanced through but a couple sites said the extension was .oma. I did have a mini disk player someone gave me. I gave up on it in 5 minutes when I realized the decoding was in the hardware. Luckily I save a bunch of tracks and waste a lot of time and money. As far as the hardware decoding, it may be possible someone cracked it and that is how the software I linked earlier decodes it. Sony does provide software to decode "SOME" of the players formats, although I'm not sure which ones they are. Never hurts to try in a situation like this

From what I just found this program should work. HIMrenderer This program is supposed to convert .oma to other formats. It would be a good idea to post the file extension of your music. People can help you out easier: .mp3 .oma .wav etc... or whatever they may be.

I smoke, I love smoking I know it's not good for me and I know I should quit. I know I am not going to quit anytime soon so I voted as a smoker not planning to quit. I think it's good they pretty much banned smoking from public buildings, though I love smoking when I go to a bar (thankfully I don't drink very often). I don't see a problem with smoking outside. I try to stand away from people or at least downwind of people. It's funny sometimes I move away from people almost unconciously when I smoke, and I find sometimes when I'm talking to someone and I step away a bit to light a smoke they will move closer to talk. It's kind of an odd thing with human behaviour. Like in foreign countries (I've been to a few in the army), people stand a lot closer than americans do when they talk. At the same time I find it funny when people complain about second hand smoke being bad for them outside. I can understand not wanting to smell like other people's cigarettes and being just generally annoyed by by the smoke but complaining about health is silly. Aren't car emissions much worse in general? The thing about cars is that you can't smell their emissions very often so no one complains. Allow me to re-iterate what I've said just to be sure i'm understood. I really have no problems with people complaining about smoking indoors or near them outdoors. To complain about health risks from second hand smoke outside is just silly. eating twinkes, drinking coka-cola, not exercising, car emissions, and many other things are probably far worse than second hand smoke outside. My opinion about California is that they are being utterly obnoxious about not letting people smoke outside. They pass laws like this, yet the car emissions are so bad that you aren't supposed to go outside sometimes because of pollution. I've been to California once and only saw the desert, so don't get me wrong that I think I know everything. I'm not exactly sure what the laws are there about smoking. This is just my opinion, I'm not trying to start a war here. Lastly is that it's easy for people to complain about smokers since you can easily attack individuals, we see them everyday. We don't regularly see tons of garbage beting dumped into the ocean and landfills, so we don't complain about it much. I like my car and I'm not some big environmentalist either. I try to think as realisticly as possible. Keeping in mind I understand realistically that I know the dangers of smoking yet I continue to smoke. No one is perfect.

I just tried a search using "company location list" (without quotes) and the first link is this Here I didn't look at any other search results, but hopefully this helps

I saw a sit somewhere about using a laptop for pictures. They took the screen and put in a picture frame on the wall. If I'm not msitaken the guy loaded the pictures in the screen and they display like a slidehow. Looked pretty neat and sounds like your laptop would be perfect for this kind of thing. here's the link LINK There is another guide on wiki, it is referenced in this guide but no link. Just found another great idea:

I'm in College algebra right now. This is not what I meant to discuss in this thread though. I'm curious about people's opinions on availability of jobs between the two different degrees.

how about links not working? I'm really feeling sarcastic today, must be nap time.

Hello, I'm just wondering if anybody has any thoughts on which degree would be better, computer science or computer engineering. I am mainly concerned with availability of jobs. Where I live doesn't really have much impact on my decision either (staying in the US though). The engineering program has a lot more math, of course, but I don't think this will be too much problem for me. I'm just curious what people working in the computer industry think, what they see as far as who gets hired for different jobs. I'm leaning a little more towards engineering right now, seems to be a more "anal retentive" field. I was an IT major, but I'm just not feeling that so much. Also, I'm only in my first year so whichever way I go will not affect me as far as having to take extra classes. Lastly, and least important, which field pays the most? I'm not really concerned with money, I just want to work on computers and get paid for it.

Here's my favorite site. The guides at Tweaktown were my first tools to learning about the computer. From my personal experience, I haven't found any better or more thorough guides. Don't get mad msfn, you guys taught me the most. Here is another good one. I believe, as always correct me if I'm wrong, a static pagefile in it's own partition (for single hard drive) gives the best performance. This I remember from BV, he did some tests running a video game.