CurlingSteve

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Posts posted by CurlingSteve

  1. Have you tried to boot into Safe Mode? (Or can't you get that far?)

    It's quite likely there are a few drivers (that need replacing) triggering the reboot cycle.

    Try doing a Repair install with your XP CD.

    This may allow it to replace the drivers that might be missing or wrong, without requiring you to reinstall all your applications and reloading your data from backups.

    But typically, a major hardware change prefers a clean reinstall.

  2. When SP2 first went into "general release" I ran a poll over on G4 asking folks if they had problems.

    For every YES(had problems) there were 3 NO(just fine) votes.

    I'd bet a lot of NOs didn't bother to vote.

    Another poll referred to in the link below had 1 YES for every 9 NO.

    This G4 Thread has a good section on "safely" updating to SP2.

  3. First, about your taskbar problems, have you tried this?

    Right-click the taskbar and select Properties.

    Click the Taskbar tab (if it's not selected already).

    Uncheck "Hide inactive icons".

    Does this show your Volume Control now?

    Click OK Click OK.

    OR

    If you prefer to have most of your icons hidden, but not the Volume Control do this instead.

    Click Customize.

    Scroll through the Current Items list and highlight Volume.

    Select Always Show from the dropdown list.

    Click OK Click OK.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------

    Have you tried your ME recovery disk to see if Home upgrade will accept it?

    Does HP have any suggestions?

    Can you borrow a friend's 98 install disc? (I think it wrong the Microsoft doesn't accept 95 for upgrading).

  4. Is it just me or is Zelda using correct answers on a given (or first) level as high score criterion?

    And does Solitaire have 2 Jack of Clubs (and no Jack of Spades)?

    Picky, Picky, Picky.

  5. Are you saying you'd rather have (for example) "C:\My Documents" instead of "C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\My Documents" ?

    TweakUI has a section under My Computer called Special Folders that will allow you to change the "My Documents" location for each account.

    It also says (in TweakUI) that you can right drag the folder and click "Move Here" to change the location and move the contents in one step.

  6. For the ultimate bare bones gaming setup you might want to try creating another hardware profile for your system.

    This will let you have one normal profile, and a second minimal profile for gaming.

    Several of the services you want disabled only when gaming are actually loaded before the login software at boot time.

    Having multiple hardware profiles lets you pick the one you want at boot.

    The downside is having to reboot to switch profiles ("accounts").

    Microsoft's Explanation

  7. how about an extesion for firefox that will allow you to assign the F keys (F10, F5, etc) to open up specific websites when pressed? :D

    There is (or was) an extension that allows very versitile hotkey reassignment, including what you desire.

    Maybe it hasn't been "certified" to 0.9+ yet.

    You can also cause that kind of response with personalizations to the "user.js" file.

    I'll have to dig around for the specific code required.

    (You might be able to use a Windows level HotKey program to get the results you want.

    Some I've seen (I think) can change assignments depending on the active process/program)

    ------------------------------------------

    Back to the initial topic,

    Trying to do everything well in one package never works.

    Windows is the perfect example.

    You'll never please everyone with a single program.

    The best option I've seen is the Linux style where you pick and choose what you like.

    Firefox/Mozilla's extension model is the same concept.

    Give everyone a solid (and transparent) base and let them plugin what they want.

  8. If you're thinking of an "I just did a clean install, what else do I need" type CD:

    Anti-Virus (AVG, Avast, A-Squared... pick one)

    Spyware scanners (AdAware, Spybot)

    Firewall (ZoneAlarm, I still prefer it to SP2's)

    Firefox

    Hijack This

    CodeStuff Starter (or another startup manager)

    Zip files (WInRAR, WInZIP, again I like those better than XP's)

    WinRoll (a neat little utility, an alternative to "minimize window"; reduces a window to just the title bar)

    WinPatrol (Startup monitor, although Spybot's TeaTimer seems to have this covered)

    Download Manager (Star Downloader, LeechGet (my current favorite))

  9. One more thing you might look at.

    Start, Run, RegEdit.

    Navigate to the key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ Software\ Microsoft\ Windows\ CurrentVersion\ Policies\ Explorer

    Look in the right-hand pane for the value:

    NoSaveSettings

    If that is set to 1 (enabled) changes to the Desktop (and therefore Taskbar) are only temporary.

    It can be used to allow guests to set things the way they like, but have things revert to your preferences when you log on.

    If it is set to 0 (disabled) then any changes are saved.

    If you don't see that value, then this isn't the problem; nevermind.

  10. External drives are perfect for backups, fast, easy to store securely.

    If you image the C drive (with Norton Ghost for example) you can restore everything after a problem. Operating system, programs, data, whatever.

    It's like the ultimate System Restore, no hunting for drivers or reinstalling applications.

    That's what I do with my external drives.

    You can image your other (data/documents?) partition as well.

    Image backups do take a little longer than other styles of backup, but I think they're worth it.

  11. There's no required location for EXE files.

    As you've noticed, typically they get installed somewhere under the Program Files folder.

    Other "popular" locations include the Root (C:\) or their own folder off the Root (C:\SomeApplication).

    Usually backing up EXE files is a waste of time and space.

    Unless the application is very simple and fairly small, it's actually in several pieces.

    The EXE file that a program's shortcut launchs just gets things going.

    It loads DLLs (Dynamic Link Libraries, think "toolkits"), reads Registry values, loads configuration/profile settings, and so on.

    Unless all these pieces are backed up as well as their dependencies and interconnections you won't be able to reconstruct the application (say) after a reinstall.

    What you do want to backup are the installation or setup files for the application, along with any profile or configuration files you can identify.

    Those will allow you to reinstall the application after a disaster.

    While it's uncommon for an application to install to My Documents, there's nothing "illegal" about an application doing that.

    You also have to be careful if you try to reorganize EXE files.

    Moving them around can "break" an application.

    Shortcuts, Registry entries, and other pieces of the program may lose track of their location and cease to function.

    It's not uncommon for applications to refer to their various components by relative position (referenced from a parent folder).

  12. While cost and burst speed are about the same for satellite and cable, cable is much better.

    Satellite installation usually costs quite a bit more than cable installation.

    And satellite has an unavoidable half second delay minimum between the time you request a page any information get's back (due to transmission time up to the satellite and back down).

    Interactive gaming especially will suffer.