kumarkumar

Update: I reduced the RAM to 512MB. The "Frame Buffer Size" still set to "Auto". This time the onboard video memory reduced to 64MB. Hence "Auto" means what I thought. Surprisingly now the adapter memory also shows as reduced to 256MB from the previous value of 512MB. I don't understand why that value reduced.

To confirm myself if the statement below as mentioned in my first post is correct, I inserted two 1GB sticks, making the total RAM to 3GB. With the "Frame Buffer Size" setting left at "Auto", the onboard video memory still stood at 256MB. Which implies "Auto" has a different meaning than what I had thought, or the max it could be set with the current BIOS version is 256MB. I will try out by taking out a few sticks and reduce the total RAM to 512MB and see if the onboad video memory reduces from 256MB with the "Auto" option enabled.

Got the message. As per the official help of "devtest", help is invoked on using "devtest help". However I found all the commands below to invoke help. "devtest help" "devtest -help" "devtest -h" All of them redirect to "standard error".

I did understand completely whats that for and eventually I am going to reduce it to a much lower value. I just want to make sure that what I asked in my first post CAN be done. How do I increase the onboard memory to 512MB, since the max value under "Frame Buffer Size" is 256MB? I couldn't find any place in the BIOS to increase it beyond 256MB. Basically, it could be any processor from 3 different lines of CPUs (assuming this even covers all the options they actually shipped with), of wildly varying speeds and different number of cores. That's like a hundred different models total. Are you suggesting or asking? If you are asking, then its quite evident from the last two images that my computer has AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+.

Thanks a lot jalaz. That worked like a charm. It turns out it was from "standard error", hence command 2> file worked too. With due respect...... My "vague" descriptions of commands & programs were intentional. The program I am talking about is "devtest", and the command was "devtest help > devtest_help.txt". I wanted the output of "devtest help" to a text file. Since the outside world is mostly unaware of the program how would it have made any difference to the readers if I had mentioned anything in place of "devtest". Since regular DOS commands are mostly known to everyone hence in this case I did mention the exact command "dir > somefile.txt" so that others may get what I am trying to convey. Let me know if in this case mentioning the exact program and exact command would have helped in any way. If so I will take care henceforth to mention the exact program/commands.

Sorry about that. I have XP Pro SP3. I have added some more information and pictures for clarification in my original post. Got that. But is there a way to increase the onboard video memory? I want to do just for the heck of it. Tried all sorts of software players including MPC. They all fail except BS Player Free v2.57 Build 1051 with Haali media splitter v1.10.262.12. However other functionalities of it not good, hence couldn't use that as well. I have an Acer Aspire T180. Full specs are here Acer Aspire T180

I have onboard video (NVIDIA) in my desktop with Win XP Pro SP3. Under "Control Panel --> Display --> Settings (tab) --> Advanced --> Adapter (tab)" OR in "dxdiag --> Display (tab)" it mentions "Memory Size" as 512MB. What does it mean? Does it mean that I can set a maximum of 512MB memory to it? I have 1GB of DDR2 RAM. In the BIOS under "Frame Buffer Size" the options are "Auto, 16MB, 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, Disabled". Currently it is set to "Auto". If I look at "My Computer --> Properties --> General (tab)" OR in "dxdiag --> System (tab)", I see it mentioned as 768MB of RAM, which means that 256MB of memory is allocated to the onboard video. How do I increase the onboard memory to 512MB, since the max value under "Frame Buffer Size" is 256MB? I currently get jerking with HD videos. If increasing the onboard memory is possible somehow, will it help with the jerking. (I do not wish to get a graphics card right now). Somewhere I read that selecting "Auto" option for "Frame Buffer Size" means that the system allocates the onboard video memory automatically according to RAM in the machine. Which means if I increase the RAM in my machine, the system will increase the onboard video memory to a max limit of 512MB.............is that right?

I have some help commands pertaining to some program which I wish to save in a txt file. Unfortunately all it gives is a blank file. I have used the normal command "command help > somefile.txt". As I understand, using the ">" operator, the output is not dumped to the command prompt window but to the text file. But in this case running this command the output is dumped to the command prompt window as well giving a blank text file. It works with regular DOS commands like "dir > somefile.txt" but not with the specific command that I have. I also tried with clip.exe. Same problem with this too. I could do it with mark & paste but that's not what I am looking for.

Yep, that was the root cause. Put in some password and now everything works, including Remote Desktop which too wasn't working. Thanks to rajuraja and schloss.

Tried that too, both without specifying any password in "-p password" and without using the "-p" flag (in this case it asks for the password after you hit enter). Same error.

I am trying to shutdown computers remotely. All the computers are in the same workgroup. They are not part of any domain. They all have the same login username with no password, which is configured for auto login. I am not able to shutdown any computer remotely from any of the computers using the command "shutdown -s -m \\computername". I get the message "Access denied". I tried the suggestion mentioned here http://www.derkeiler.com/Newsgroups/microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin/2003-02/2268.html. No luck I also tried with PsShutdown. Same error.

100% of previous files would be gone? So absolutely no possibility of any viruses, etc left behind? Say for example I have 100GB partition which has WinXP and other programs occupying a space of 10GB. I make a image of it using Ghost and sometime later due to some virus attack, restore that partition using the previously saved image (with Ghost). So during restoration if Ghost doesn't format the whole 100GB then there could be a possibility of the virus remaining intact in some sector.....right? So does Norton Ghost physically overwrite?

I do have WinXP sp3, but none of the files you've mentioned

When you restore a partition image to your Windows (C:) partition using Norton Ghost bootable CD, does it carry out a full format too?

Thanks cluberti for that information. The only file matching close to the ones you have mentioned is d3dxof.dll. system32 in my machine doesn't have any dll of file name type d3dx(9, 10, or 11)_<number>.dll Do I still have the latest DirectX? I have limited internet connectivity, hence don't wish to download something approx 100MB unnecessarily.

I wanted to know if I had the latest DirectX on my computer. For that I used the "dxdiag" command, wherein it gives me the information in the "System" Tab DirectX Version: DirextX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904). Now the latest version of DirectX for XP is 9.29.1962 (Link). Now in this whole scenario, there are three version numbers to confuse me (9.0c, 4.09.0000.0904 and 9.29.1962). So do I have the latest DirextX or not? If I do have the latest DirectX, where does it show 9.29.1962 (any command/GUI to display it)?

How big can the bootsector be? I have a bootable cd which is like 200MB, yet it shows "0 Objects" in Windows explorer. So does that mean that all 200MB of files/folders are in the bootsector?

Thanks jaclaz. Is there a way to figure out which type of emulation a bootable CD has ("floppy" or "hard disk") or if it doesn't have any emulation at all? I can see the contents of Windown XP bootable CD, if I explore/open it. Does that mean it doesn't have any kind of emulation?

Whenever I try to open/explore a bootable CD/DVD in Windows explorer, it shows "0 Objects" (zero objects). Is this how its supposed to be, or is there a way to view the contents of the CD in Windows (not using any 3rd party software like Magiciso, etc)?.

Thanks. I tried both Sysinternals Process Monitor, Wireshark . Both seemed complex to me. I guess Wireshark was for getting the url and Process Monitor to get the file path & file. At the max I could get the url of the downloads from Wireshark but couldn't get the path to where the files are saved either from Process Monitor or Wireshark. For download url, I found URL Snooper to be a much easier & straightforward option. Pls help to get the downloaded file path.

Very many times I use web installers that silenlty download the required software and install them. Is there any way to figure out (1) what do they download, (2) where do they put the files after the download and (3) the url from which they download?

Yep, tried that. Unfortunately it does not allow file search. It doesn't allow to search any specific site. I just installed and used it and then saw your post. It does just what I want. Awesome

Yep there are such search engines. Unfortunately they don't have an option to specify a particular site. They just index all open ftp sites that their robots come across. I tried this. Doesn't do what I want. Can't put wildcards. Only searches pdfs for some strange reason.

I have some ftp sites. I can open them only through browsers like IE,FF, but not through any ftp software (says timeout). Site urls are for example ftp://ftp.*.*.com In this case how do I search for particular files without having to go through all folders & subfolders manually??

My bad a typo The correct syntax should have been (following the suggestions in http://ss64.com/nt/start.html) @ECHO OFF START "Some Title" "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop" some.exe /h (where /h is the parameter to some.exe) Now if you look at any example in that website you would notice a space after the "path to the exe" and the "exe" START "My Login Script" /Min Login.cmd START "" /wait MySlowProgram.exe