CurlingSteve
-
Content Count
261 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Posts posted by CurlingSteve
-
-
Personally, I've never seen any benefit/gain from having a separate page file partition, regardless of its positioning.
Even where performance was reported improved, the gains weren't worth the effort (in my opinion).
Most systems with 512 MB of RAM or more rarely need to swap to the page file.
For heavy gaming raise that "no swapping" RAM requirement to (say) 1 GB.
-----------
As far as partitioning for other reasons, I do partition my main drive into:
1) Operating System and Programs - 25% or 30 GB (minimum)
2) Data - remainder
Additional drive I organize with folders, not by partitioning.
Separating the OS from data on the main drive make clean reinstalls easier.
-
The "tweak" you're thinking of may be
Start, Run, Shutdown /F
The "/F" switch forces programs to close immediately without a prompt or waiting for them to finish housekeeping (as JDoors warns about).
It is NOT the recommended way of shutting down your system.
There is also a Registry tweak that changes the wait time before a program is forced to close.
(If you insist I'll look it up).
Again, forcing programs to close is NOT recommended.
-
No those are not virus files.
The FOUND.xxx files are created by Error Checking (CHKDSK) finding errors on a FAT32 partition.
They contain blocks of disk space with errors in them.
Explorer doesn't show them normally because they're not only marked hidden, they're also marked as system files.
To see them you need to not only enable "Show hidden files and folders", you need to disable "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" farther down.
-
Well, that pretty much narrows it down to the monitor itself.
Trying another monitor, and having it display properly, would be the final "nail in the coffin".
Another (slim) possibility, if you feel adventurous...
If you can get access to the monitor's motherboard, perhaps a connector has come loose inside.
The likely suspect would be the cable leading to the display panel itself.
I've had laptop LCDs flare to white when the cable from the main motherboard to the display wore out or was damaged.
By carefully adjusting the lid angle I was able to use it until it failed completely.
-
Agreed.
That was the closest thing I ran into.
Out of curiosity, and a long shot, try taking a screenshot and see if the blemish shows up in the captured image.
If it does, it may not be a monitor issue.
-
Pro1Driver,
I once though my newish Sony TV had gonr bad, with a huge pink bleed in one corner.
After fooling around with menus and color settings for an hour, I discovered someone had places a strong magnet on top of the set.
Moved that and, TADA, screen fixed (after I reset the menu settings to default).
------------
IceX,
The only thing close I've seen while Googling around are reports of some LCD monitors with a defect where the backlight shines around the edge of the screen.
That, to me, is definitely a manufacturing defect and should warrant a replacement.
I have no idea how one would verify that, or fix it.
A guess? Try gently squeezing the bad corner and see if it improves.
And I do mean gently.
-
Um... LCD monitors don't need degaussing, and to my knowledge aren't affected by magnetic fields.
--------
Does that color bleeding show up during the boot cycle?
In other words, do you see it on the BIOS spash screen, OS load screen, etc?
-
Water's always been the first thing to try.
Dampen (not soak) a lint-free soft cloth and wipe away.
-
Well, since VoIP requires internet access first...
I don't see where it will lower internet costs.
(Snake eats own tail)
-
I'm guessing Aluvus is right, we're talking about VoIP (Voice over IP) service.
It works just fine, and will likely be the future of long distance telephone service.
I keep my "normal" telephone service just in case my broadband access (cable in my case) goes down.
Then again, when a tree falls, I lose cable TV, telephone, and power; so it's all gone.
(But the cell phone towers usually still work).
Current telephony is already handled as split packets sent over a private(ish) network and reassembled close to the destination.
Sounds a lot like Internet traffic, doesn't it?
VoIP is basically an audio Instant Messaging service.
The providers (like Vonnage) just have dedicated (and restricted/exclusive) servers handling the traffic and "guaranteeing" quality.
-
Did you set the BIOS to boot from CD before the hard drive?
You should still be able to boot a CD even if the hard drive is messed up.
-
That should be a BIOS setting.
If you don't see anything referring to memory test specifically, check to see if Quick POST is enabled.
-
JSKY, are you sure about that?
Could you post a link describing values for EnablePrefetcher beyond 3?
EnablePrefetcher is a bit flag register as far as I can tell.
Bit 0 = Application Prefetch Enable.
Bit 1 = Boot Prefetch Enable.
Bits 2-31 = Reserved or Unused.
Vaules higher than 3 have no effect.
-
I use the VDM Powertoy, so I have these (icons removed):
-
First, see if you can write a script or batch file to automate the procedure.
If that works, you can create a shortcut to the script that will allow you to assign a hot key combo to it.
------------
If that doesn't work there are keystroke and mouse click macro recorders available that may automate the task.
For example Mouse and Key Recorder
-
For me it's:
AdBlock
Super DragAndGo - Drag a link down and it opens in a new tab unfocused, up and the new tab gets focus.
Tabbrowser Extensions - Add a lot of features like Auto Reload, reordering tabs, saving tab sessions, and more.
Spellbound.
-
Even though there's no visible damage to the cable I suspect that's the source of the problem.
I have a Gateway Solo 9550XL that would "white-out" the screen unless the lid was positioned just right.
The only other thought that comes to mind is that the AC power brick isn't making solid contact and that the screen dims as the laptop momentarily switches to battery (to save power).
It could be the connector getting loose or a bit of corrosion on the contacts.
If you watch the power icon in the Notification tray and see it blink to battery in sync with the flashing, this would indicate that kind of problem.
-
Take a look at the APC UPS Sizing Tool.
APC is a well known and respected UPS manufacturer.
The numbers you see rating UPSs are Volt-Amps, not Watts.
An acceptable (with a margin for error) conversion factor is Watts = 60% VA. (officially it's around 80%).
So with a system drawing around 500W you want about an 800VA UPS.
But your power supply, while rated at 420W probably doesn't draw that much power, so I'd say a 750VA UPS would suit your needs.
I haven't shopped them, but a quick look puts them around $100.
Many of these units include a serial port and software that can be configured to automatically perform tasks and shutting down your computer when the power fails.
I have UPSs all over my house (we lose power briefly all the time where I live).
I have a 525VA unit that powers a 30 in television, TiVo, 2 modems, a wireless router, a video amp/switch, a DVD player and a VCR.
Now I'm not running all them at once but the UPS does power them for about 30 minutes during a power failure.
-
That quite likely is an image of he system as shipped.
Post your model number and someone may be able to hunt down specific instructions for it.
-
What model is this computer?
Some Vaio models come with a backup image of the software as shipped from the factory on a hidden partition of the hard drive.
You can check if this might be true in your case by looking at the drive with Disk Management.
To open Disk Management either:
Start, Run DISKMGMT.MSC
or
Right-click My Computer and select Manage
Click Disk Management
Look at Disk 0 and see if there are any partitions without drive letters assigned.
-
I'll see if I can remember what I my PM to you covered (I've purged my PM folders too).
----------
While this information may not be 100% accurate, it will convey the concepts used in file storage, file deletion and file recovery.
When a file is created, an entry is made in the "Table of Contents" (to use your term) including (among other things) the File Name, the File Size, the number of Data Blocks (clusters) used to store the file, and the location of the first Data Block of the file (in other words a link to the first block of the file).
Each Data Block in the file contains links to the Previous and Next block used by the file.
Special link values are used to indicate the first block (Previous = -1 for example) and last block (Next = -1) of the chain.
There is also the File Allocation Table (FAT) that tracks which Data Blocks on the drive are in use.
Without the Recycle Bin when a file is deleted, the first character of the File Name is changed to a "~" (tilde) and the Data Blocks used by the file are marked as Available For Use in the FAT.
The data itself is not erased and can be recovered as long as the Data Blocks aren't used by a new file.
File Recovery programs can scan the Table of Contents and locate the tilde entries and list them as potentially recoverable.
Typically all that's needed is to ask the user for the first character of the File Name, as the Table of Contents entry still has the rest of the information available (File Size, number of Data Blocks, and First Block Address).
(Most recovery programs display a question mark, ?, instead of the tilde, ~, to indicate missing information).
More sophisticated File Recovery programs can even recover files if the Table of Contents entry for the file has been reused.
This is done by using the Previous and Next links in the Data Blocks to attempt to recontruct the file.
Some types of files record the Table of Contents information in their first Data Block and this information can aid in rebuilding the file.
The Recycle Bin was introduced to give users a second chance in case a file was deleted by mistake.
For the most part the Recycle Bin is just another folder, but with some special handlers associated with it and some additional information recorded.
With the Recycle Bin active, when a file is deleted it is moved to the Recycle Bin folder, and information about its original location is recorded.
The Data Blocks used by the file are still marked as In Use.
But the space used by files in the Recycle Bin can be used for new files if the space is needed, even if the user doesn't empty the Recycle Bin.
This space will typically be used only as a last resort, so the user has an opportunity to easily recover files.
Programs like Eraser make file recovery virtually impossible by overwriting all the information about a file.
The Table of Contents entry is cleared completely.
The Data Blocks' information is (at least) zeroed.
(For more secure deletion several different patterns of 1s and 0s is used to wipe the file).
And the Data Blocks are marked as Available for reuse by the operating system.
------------
I think that's most of the old PM.
Anyhow, hope it helps.
-
Denending oin what you need to do, IrfanView may suit your purposes.
-
What spell checker are you trying?
-
Maybe this is the one:
Adding Open With to the Right Click in the Explorer
Added 12/28/99
To add the option Open With when you right click on a file in the Explorer:
1. Start Regedit
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ CLASSES \* \ shell \ openas \ command
3. If this key isn't there then just create it
4. Give it the value of C:\WINDOWS\rundll32.exe shell32.dll,OpenAs_RunDLL %1
How To Determine How Much Memory I Can Use?
in Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP
Posted
Your computer will automatically see the increase in RAM and begin using it.
If your Virtual Memory (Paging File) size is set to System Managed that will automatically adjust as well.
If it's set manually (Custom Size) you will need to increase it yourself.
1.5 times the RAM size is the figure I've seen recommended most.
(But in my and many other's opinion System Managed is the best setting).