Spooky

I can't see the pic you posted, but try the power options advanced settings.

Look at it this way. Even if you can presently use the method to activate and use the RTM that "your parents have" it will soon be disabled by MS not allowing any pre RTM keys to work any longer. So..even if you still have the RTM you will need to purchase an actual license to use it before you can activate it. So just save your self some trouble now and buy the RTM when it hits the shelves.

Those aren't zip folders, they are compressed folders that use the .zip engine. there is a setting in the GUI somewhere, can't remember right now and i'm not at my Vista machine, about showing compressed folders that you can disable. You can also change this by installing winzip and associating .zip files with winzip and the compresses folders will then become regular .zip files.

N1K, Theres a common thread here. You said that you basically burned the images twice, once for the first install and once for the second install. have you tried burning at a low speed like 2X or 4X?

EnablePMTUDiscovery and EnablePMTUBHDetect ? Are those the ones your asking about? EnablePMTUDiscovery: TCP attempts to discover MTU automatically over the path to a remote host EnablePMTUBHDetect: Allows "black hole" routers to be detected, it also increases the maximum number of retransmissions for a given segment. And your question: "What I was getting at (or pondering aloud) was, might the AutoTuning algorithm be using the PMTU option (among other things) to do an on-the-fly adjustment of the RWIN to more closely hit an ideal base-line and maintain that balance?" OK, I see now what you were getting at. The answer is basically I don't know for a fact. However, given the basic simple definitions of EnablePMTUDiscovery and EnablePMTUBHDetect above I would initially assume some type of interaction by AutoTuning due to the fact the window size is changed by AutoTuning. So...based upon this observation only, my initial answer to your question is - Yes, the AutoTuning algorithm is probably making adjustments on the fly using as part of its own parameters the PMTU option. One of the problems with stack tuning in the past was that while one could set up the stack based upon the conditiions present when the stack was set up within its own network segment, once the packet left that network segment the adjustments to the stack really had little effect. One could just look at the number of re-transmissions and tell that something was happening to the packets once they left the network segment. If the stack tuning had any effect beyond the network segement then there would not have been any re-transmission problems. This is where AutoTuning, in my opinion, is really at its best - detecting those conditions and adjusting accordingly for the most efficient connection. Will some of the past adjustments like PMTU have any effect and are those past stack tuning parameters obsolete? I don't know if all of them are obsolete except maybe the TcpWindowSize, but I do know that AutoTuning will have a far greater chance of tuning the connection at any point in time better, faster, and more efficiently then any manual adjustment could ever do. Would those more traditional parameters be detrimental to a connection? Don't know really, but I will expect them to be detrimental based upon the fact, like anything, if you put a fixed parameter into something that supposed to automatically adjust you begin to limit its effectiveness to do its automatic adjustments by limiting its boundries. OK, now that i've really mangled these explainations and confused even myself, forgive me if I got anything wrong. Its early and I need more coffee.

are you sure the hard drive cable is plugged in? have you tried to restore the boot sector?

I'm not sure what your seeing. I mean i see what your pointing out in the graphics in your post, but i'm not seeing any of that on my Vista Ultimate even when they are blown up some.

Let me see if I can say this correctly, if i made a mistake don't jump all over me No, the AutoTuning does not adjust the MTU, it uses what ever is reported by the interface. Each interface used by TCP/IP may have a different MTU value specified. The MTU is usually determined through negotiation with the driver, using that driver reported value - for example...an ethernet connection (a NIC hooked to a cable modem for example) has an MTU of 1500. The link layer is responsible for discovering this MTU and reporting it to TCP/IP and since most (about 99.9% of whats commonly used) connection interfaces report thru their drivers what the MTU is from the interface and thats what TCP/IP uses as the MTU. Basically; MSS tells the OS how large a packet it can create. MTU is used for routing that packet. Using a 'Bucket' analogy; As far as MSS being affected by AutoTune it seems there wouldn't be any need for AutoTune to directly adjust the MSS because its already telling the OS how big of a 'packet bucket' there is to fill and the OS responds by filling up the bucket with ever how much AutoTune reported back was suitable to be sent for the connection at that moment in time according to the conditions AutoTune sees on the connection and the bucket is sent on its way. If too much is put in the bucket some of it spills out and this is where retransmits come in (another story) which causes the efficiency of the connection to suffer. This AutoTune method is a whole lot better than having a fixed MSS because a fixed MSS dosn't account for the most efficient packet size all the time where as AutoTune does. So I guess in a way AutoTune does affect the MSS but i've not had a reason to explore that yet as its been good enough that it just works the way its supposed to. Just a quick word about Window Scaling and RWIN here also which plays a part. Window Scaling is a TCP option. AutoTuning is an algorithm that decides how much to increase and maintain the Receive Window (RWIN). Window Scaling only enables us to be able to increase the value all the way upto 16MB if needed, with a scale factor of 8. One is an option, the other is an algorithm which uses the option. Hope I explained it properly. I know what I wanted to say but sometimes i don't explain it too well.

LoL, i've done that too I think MS has something up that shows the differences between the versions. The differences are only features, nothing to do with the basic operations as all versions have the same foundation. Its just the differences in features that distinguish between the different flavors of Vista with the Ultimate version having all the bells and whistles (features) enabled.

m1ck, Was this version you bought sold as an RTM version or advertised as an RC1 version? If it was sold as an RTM version and it really turned out to be an RC1 version then if you contact ebay and microsoft, microsoft will prosecute the person who sold it. If it was an RC1 version it was not for re-sell and if you contact ebay and microsoft about it, microsoft will prosecute. These two conditions specify fraud and piracy both. You don't have to 'crack' or 'hack' something to have pirated it like many people think, you just have to improperly or unlawfully distribute it.

If you are a subscriber to MSDN and were able to receive the Vista RTM from MSDN then you should have recceived a key also. Yes the Vista x86 needs a product key to activate it. If you were a valid subscriber there should have been a key in your key table. Maybe a a call to MS will fix the problem for you.

I keep seeing numerous posts all across the internet about tweaking connections with various utilities. All of them swear that such and such utility improved their bandwidth raw speed, especially on broadband connections. All these have something in common, they try to use and set the TcpWindowSize registry entry for the raw speed, this doesn't work, it can't work, in Vista contrary to what people swear and heres why in plain english... One of the new things in Vista is AutoTuning for TCP connections. Basically and taking everything into account, what AutoTuning does is tune individual connections initiated by a client for best performance and efficiency. It also tunes the Tcp Window Size. In WinXP and past MS Operating Systems we used the registry entry "TcpWindowSize" (a DWORD) and set its value to adjust our TCP window size for best raw connection speed which was an indication of taking advantage of available bandwidth. However, in Vista, this is no longer a valid registry entry to use because its not included as a registry variable in the Vista files that deal with TCP, if its not in the files the registry entry is not recognized by the OS. This is the reason the "TcpWindowSize" registry entry does not work in Vista. Without an ability to control the Tcp Window Size all these utilities that swear they will increase your raw speed and bandwith in Vista are nothing but smoke and mirrors. It can't be done because the Tcp Window Size in Vista is based purely on AutoTuning being either on or off, and there is no 'magic' switch or registry entry to use. If you disable AutoTuning your Tcp Window Size will be at the default, with AutoTuning enabled Vista will tune your connection far more efficiently then any tweaker or registry entry adjustment could ever hope to do. If you want to play around with TCP and AutoTuning you can do so from an admin command prompt using the below commands: (these are not the only TCP commands, there are still a few that can be set in the registry but they do nothing for raw speed and bandwidth as they only set vaious parameters of items in the TCP packet its self) netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=normal netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disable Usage: set global [[rss=]disabled|enabled|default] [[chimney=]disabled|enabled|default] [[autotuninglevel=] disabled|highlyrestricted|restricted|normal|experimental] [[congestionprovider=]none|ctcp|default] [[ecncapability=]disabled|enabled|default] [[timestamps=]disabled|enabled|default] Parameters: Tag Value rss - One of the following values: disabled: Disable receive-side scaling. enabled : Enable receive-side scaling. default : Restore receive-side scaling state to the system default. chimney - One of the following values: disabled: Disable Chimney offload. enabled : Enable Chimney offload. default : Restore Chimney offload state to the system default. autotuninglevel - One of the following values: disabled: Fix the receive window at its default value. highlyrestricted: Allow the receive window to grow beyond its default value, but do so very conservatively. restricted: Allow the receive window to grow beyond its default value, but limit such growth in some scenarios. normal: Allow the receive window to grow to accomodate almost all scenarios. experimental: Allow the receive window to grow to accomodate extreme scenarios. WARNING: This can dramatically degrade performance in common scenarios and should only be used for research purposes. congestionprovider - One of the following values: none: Use the built-in standard congestion control algorithm. ctcp: Use the add-on Compound TCP congestion control algorithm. default: Restore the selected provider to the system default. ecncapability - One of the following values: disabled: Disable ECN Capability. enabled : Enable ECN Capability. default : Restore ECN Capability state to the system default. timestamps - One of the following values: disabled: Disable RFC 1323 timestamps. enabled: Enable RFC 1323 timestamps. default: Restore RFC 1323 timestamps state to the system default. Remarks: Sets TCP parameters that affect all connections. Example: set global enabled enabled normal set global rss=enabled chimney=enabled autotuninglevel=normal

A little secret about Vista and perhaps one of the best help methods for learing your way around Vista and setting a lot of stuff in Vista Ultimate is already included in Vista. There are a whole slew of help .chm files included in Vista Ultimate (may be in other flavors as well) that you can get to directly without having to drill down through multiple menus in the GUI, some of the help topics in these help files are not even presented in the GUI's. Heres how you get to them: 1. Open up Windows Explorer and right click on the Windows folder and choose 'Search' 2. On the 'Search' GUI click on the 'Advanced Search' down arrow. 3. In the 'Name' field type (without the quotes) "*.chm" and hit enter (or click the 'Search' button) 4. The search will be a little slow because the windows folder in Vista is not normally indexed for search (go figure) but in a short while you will be presented with a bunch of .chm files covering a range of subjects having to do with various parts of Vista. Copy them out to a seperate directory and start reading, you might get some of your "How do I..." type questions answered.

Seems MS is still at it with Windows Media Player, they force auto updates of media player. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with updating. However, sometimes their updates will break the changes youv'e made that affect Media Player, and guess what...they don't give you any way to turn it off in the GUI either. Its a sneaky little thing too as it will update on you before you know it if your just connected to the internet and not even using media Player. So...you can do away with auto-updates for Windows Media Player in Vista by using either one of the below methods: First method: a reg entry to turn it off by adding the below 'WindowsMediaPlayer' key and 'DisableAutoUpdate' DWORD. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsMediaPlayer] "DisableAutoUpdate"=dword:00000001 Second Method: the method uses the built in policy editor. 1. Click on 'Start' and in the 'Start Search' box type (without the quotes) "gpedit.msc". When it shows up hit 'Enter' 2. Now the group policy editor should be on screen, under 'Computer Configuration' expand 'Administrative Templates' - then expand 'Windows Components - then scroll down to the 'Windows media Player' item and click on it to highlight it. 3. On the right side you should see a policy item named 'Prevent Automatic Updates' - right click on it and choose 'Properties'. 4. Click the 'Setting' tab, then click the 'Enabled' radio button - then click 'Apply' 5. There ya go, no more auto updates for Media Player. Both of the above do the same thing, they both add the registry entry.

One of the problems with a boot screen in Vista is the switch to high resolution it does by default during boot, this takes time. This is one of the reasons that MS did not put a boot screen in, because it added 6 seconds average to the boot process.

That little bluish-green animated circle thing in the Vista Aero theme. It was affectionately dubbed the 'Cheerio' during the beta testing.

$250 for an 8GB stick! Wow...I paid $95.00 for that little 60 GB flash drive thing from Iomega (I think it was from Iomega, the label is missing now and i can't remember) they had for a little while, I think they took it off the market now because it didn't go over so big and they advertised it wrong - they advertised it as a way to hold your MP3's but baiscally it was a 60 GB flash drive. But about a year ago i saw one in SAM's and bought it. Its been great. I've tried the autounattend on it and it worked. The reason I like it on DVD is that anywhere i have the DVD it will install without having to plug anything in. I do a lot of customized deployments for my customers and sometimes its just eaisier, but your right it is faster from a USB flash drive device. Spooky, I have an 8GB USB Flash stick with WinPE 2.0 and Vista RTM on it. What I do is put my Autounattend.xml at the root of the USB stick and I edit the Startnet.cmd so that I can change directory to my DVD source and run setup.exe automatically after Winpe is finished booting. The install from a USB stick is A LOT faster then installing from the DVD. I realise that most people don't want to fork out the $250 for an 8GB stick but the prices will come down soon enough.

Maybe its the fact that the 'transparency' for the title bars is not truely transparent but instead seem to 'blur' instead of allowing a real see thru look. If thats it then the answer is - unless you hack some files, or download one of the utilities on the internet for transparent windows, you can't.

Whoops...slight correction, I said that wrong...how the third line should have read is: "I did happen to speak with another guy today and he said he got an email that told him he had completed his requirements and his copy would be shipping." (sorry 'bout that) Anyway, this site is horrible..its as slow as snail snot in january...the first part of the site, the very first page is fast enough but after that its slowwwwwww. Anyway, when you get done your selections will show as completed at at the bottom of the page it will show: "Shipping Info Congratulations! You’ve completed the number of Webcasts or vLabs required to receive a free, fully-licensed copy of Microsoft Office Professional 2007. Once we’ve confirmed that you meet the eligibility requirements stated in the offer details below we will ship your gift within 6-8 weeks of the release to manufacturing of Microsoft Office Professional 2007. While you’re waiting, why not check out additional Webcasts of vLabs to further your skills?" (if you did the Vista it will show the info for Vista too" heres the clincher that i've got to look into, see the line "eligibility requirements stated in the offer details below" Hmmmmmmm....OK, lets take a look at those 'eligibility requirements' then: "* The Power Together Campaign consists of two (2) offers, the Windows Vista Business Offer and the Microsoft Office Professional 2007 Offer, and is open only to legal residents of the 50 United States (includes District of Columbia) 18 years of age or older. You are not eligible to receive these offers if you or your employer is a participant in the Microsoft Partner Program or the Microsoft Developer Network. To be eligible to receive Windows Vista Business, you must register at www.powertogether.com and participate in at least three (3) qualifying web casts and/or virtual lab sessions within 30 days of registration. To be eligible to receive Microsoft Office Professional 2007, you must register at www.powertogether.com and participate in at least three (3) qualifying web casts and/or virtual lab sessions within 30 days of registration. In order to register at www.powertogether.com, you may be asked to provide personal information including name, telephone, and address. All personal information gathered during registration will be subject to Microsoft’s privacy policy. Limit one gift per person per Offer. These offers are non-transferable. These offers expire on February 28, 2007, or while supplies last, and are not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the recipient. If you are eligible for and register to receive both gifts, you must complete a W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification) form prior to receipt of the second gift. Any gift returned as non-deliverable will not be re-sent. Please allow 6 - 8 weeks for shipment of your gift(s). Government Customers: Microsoft intends that use of the services and products offered as part of this promotion comply with applicable federal, state, provincial, and local government gift and ethics rules. If you are a government employee (including an employee of a public education institution), these services and products may be used for evaluation purposes only, solely for the benefit of your agency or institution, and not for the personal use or benefit of any individual. You should consult with your agency or institution counsel or ethics officer prior to use of these services or products. You may return the products to Microsoft at its expense. " "Microsoft Partner Program or the Microsoft Developer Network" - thats going to screw a lot of people right there. And then at the very bottom of the page, finally, some type of acknowledgement from MS where it says: "© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Statement This site hosted for Microsoft by Ascentium." I want to go to America, watch the videos, get Vista and return home

Well I don't need the Vista cause i got my copy from MS so i just did the Office 2007. But i'll let you know when it arrives. I did happen to speak with another guy today and he said he got an email that told him his had been shipped. Spooky, please let us know if you'll receive a free copy of Windows Vista and Office 2007..

Orb! Orb! Orb!.........thats what everyone wants...that ORB! Gheesh...doesn't anyone like the Cheerio?

There is no watermark on the RTM thus there is no reason to remove it.

Its legitimate. Although the strange way in which it appeared would have certainly caused one to have concerns - no advertisements of promotions from MS, no public acknowledgement on any official MS site. I think what has happened is this site was in preparation for the public release of Vista and was possibly disclosed a little too early. There are a lot of problems with the site, its spread like wildfire across the internet because of the offer of a free copy of Vista, I tend to think there are problems because the servers are getting saturated with thousands of connections. I watched my vids.

Bet some of you didn't know you can design your own fonts in Vista. There is a little app in Vista called eudcedit.exe that will help you build your own fonts/characters - this is the Private Character Editor. To start it up just go to 'Start' type 'eudcedit.exe' in the 'Start Search' box and hit enter. This is also in WinXP. For more information visit: http://vlaurie.com/computers2/Articles/privchar.htm

I'm not sure that I fully understand your question, but here goes... If I understand your question you should be able to install Vista on an external hard drive. If you still want to keep winXP have it installed on your internal IDE drive - then install Vista on the external drive. Is that your question?