Recent Posts

2701

Living Room / Re: Seagate's Barracuda 7200.11 drives failing at alrming rate?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 13, 2009, 04:37 PM »

There comes a surprise ... the Barracuda line has had a very mixed reputation ever since the first versions were released.

I bought 2 to run in striped RAID when they first came out. Guess what - there was a bug in the microcode that meant when you put them into a RAID setup they were significantly slower than a single drive. I sent them back!

2702

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft Songsmith

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 13, 2009, 01:53 PM »

I have to say I agree with Curt - I think the ad is truly, cringemakingly, awful in the extreme - but it is still better than some of the stuff put out by MS.

Remember this is a senior exec: http://uk.youtube.co.../watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

2703

Living Room / Re: Please help me build my new computer, DC!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 13, 2009, 12:23 PM »

I think the reason sites use multipage articles is for speed of loading. Don't forget some people are on narrowband packages (such as dial up) so they don't necessarily want a 10 page article with 30 pictures that takes 10 minutes to load.

Not sure but it probably also helps with boosting search engine rankings because one article might generate 10 index entries.

2704

Living Room / Re: Please help me build my new computer, DC!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 13, 2009, 12:01 PM »

We want to see some photos when its done ....

How about a "Build your own PC ... " tutorial thread with lots of pictures?

2705

General Software Discussion / Re: Direct Access - text expander - Complaints about company

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 13, 2009, 05:04 AM »

Can I suggest that this thread is either locked or posts from both sides of the argument removed from the thread before round two starts!

2706

Living Room / Re: Apple Wheel macbook - revolutionary

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 13, 2009, 04:03 AM »

Is it me or is it getting hot in here ....

2707

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 12, 2009, 08:42 PM »

I have to agree - in VMWare (with 1Gb of memory) it is probably as fast as Windows XP, maybe a bit better.

2708

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 12, 2009, 07:47 PM »

If it is any consolation I am 50 and still scratching my head ... I figure 60 is the new 30

2709

General Software Discussion / Re: Powerpoint screensavers ?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 12, 2009, 05:03 AM »

Im guessing the reason why is that the authors dont want their tool to be used to make a lot of money for someone else who plans to sell a screensaver.

-mouser (January 12, 2009, 04:29 AM)

I know what you mean - but does anyone really make a lot of money from pretty simple screensavers?

I can understand screensavers that look like fishbowls etc. but I have never seen anything that allows you to produce anything nearly as complicated in a simple screensaver design package - and many of these packages (which are basically photo slideshows) cost well over $100.

2710

General Software Discussion / Re: Powerpoint screensavers ?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 12, 2009, 04:22 AM »

Thanks - yes I know how to do that but ideally I want something that will wrap up a PPT presentation (including audio and visual effects) into a screensaver package that can be installed (and preferably distributed).

I think I may be looking for something that doesn't exist here apart from expensive paid for options.

Has anyone ever worked out why ScreenSaver generating packages generally are so expensive when they are generally a simple one trick package?

2711

General Software Discussion / Powerpoint screensavers ?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 07:43 PM »

Anyone know of any freeware that will convert PowerPoint files into screensavers?

There are loads of commercial offerings (mostly rather expensive) but I am going to do this so infrequently that it isn't worth buying something!

2712

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 05:27 PM »

I haven't tried them but what about some of the free VM Server editions (VMWare server is free).

I'm not sure what Server is lacking with respect to creating desktop apps.

There is also VMWare player which is free with VM appliances - and I am sure someone will produce a Win7 appliance for both 32-bit and 64-bit before too long.

2713

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 02:10 PM »

VirtualPC is a pretty pointless toy in comparison with other solutions (at least the free version - it doesn't even support USB).

2714

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 12:33 PM »

Just lacks transparency and there are none of the magic preview-thumbnails in the taskbar.

2715

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 11:19 AM »

Crap! So much for my cunning plan to run the 64-bit version in a Virtual PC (note to self: RTFM before downloading the iso!).

Looks like I'll have to install to an extra harddrive afterall...

-Darwin (January 11, 2009, 10:50 AM)

You can install it in a VM - it is just Aero doesn't work so the TaskBar look clunky (though it still works)

2716

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 11:08 AM »

Another strange issue - with multiple boot systems:

If you install Win7 in new partition when you boot into Win7 the active partition doesn't seem to be listed as a drive!

For example my system has:

1 ... Win XP
2 ... Vista 32
3 ... Vista 64
4 ... Win 7

When in Win 7 partition 1 is listed in disk management but is not assigned a drive letter. Partitions 2,3,4 show up and have letters as normal.

Others seem to report it isn't an issue with XP but if you have Vista in the boot partition that doesn't show up either.

2717

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 10:43 AM »

No, neither VMWare nor Parallels can run the windows experience index to completion, and hang in the same place you found. I tried editing registry values to force aero to show, but it didn't work. I know VMWare are working on getting aero supported, don't know why they find it so difficult as they are DirectX 9c compliant.

-nontroppo (January 11, 2009, 09:38 AM)

It probably doesn't help that the VMWare display adapter only allocates 16Mb of memory - and I think Aero requires 128Mb as a minimum.

2718

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 08:45 AM »

I have had another crack at installing the 32-bit version.

Many people suggested it was a graphics issue so I installed a GeForce 7300GT OC PCIe card and disabled onboard graphics.

Win7 then installed - however there were some motherboard devices not recognised (SMbus was one).

I went to nvidia.com and ran the driver ID tool and it appears that Win7 incorrectly identifies my nForce 630MA motherboard as a 570.

There are no other Win7 drivers available at NVidia so I downloaded the Vista motherboard driver (which includes onboard graphics).

Installing the Vista driver for the correct motherboard and then restoring the onboard ghraphics adapter got my system working (at least in 32 bits - I haven't retried the 64 bit version). All devices were installed and working correctly.

As soon as the system booted up Windows update offered my the nvidia 630MA Win 7 beta driver. I let it install it and this killed my system again back into the reboot scenario.

I have now restored the vista drivers and told WUpdate to ignore the beta driver update in future.

It would appear that Win7 has problems identifying some motherboards correctly and also the nvidia beta motherboard/graphic drivers available from MS seem to be the problem - even when you do install the correct ones manually.

Hope this is helpful to others - how do I report this issue to MS ?

For future reference it would be really useful to know how to install Win7 with basic VGA support to be able to bypass these issues in future installs.


I have another issue now - I installed this in VMWare 6.5 but there is no Aero interface available (And without it it looks horrid - especially the Taskbar is grim). I tried running the system performance routing to see what level the system was running at and I can't get that to complete at all - it just hangs trying to optimise media decoding ??

Anyone using VMWare 6.5 got past this - or managed to get Aero working?

2719

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 11, 2009, 04:23 AM »

On the MS forum they report it installs correctly (with graphics drivers) for VirtualBox and VMWare 6.5

There seems to be the suggestion that you install it as a Server 2008 machine (or otherwise Vista) in the new machine profiles.

I posted a query about the problem I had with Win7 not installing properly and there have been quite a few responses which seems to suggest it might be integrated NVIDIA graphics related or otherwise just MS's NVIDIA graphics drivers.

See: http://social.techne...ad-ad97-1a84fae53295

2720

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 10, 2009, 04:30 PM »

ROFLMAO 

2721

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 10, 2009, 12:16 PM »

The official download page is now up and keys being issued. You need to use Internet Explorer if are downloading the ISO files because it only allows you to use MS's own download manager which is an ActiveX browser helper.

Go to: http://technet.micro...center/dd353205.aspx

2722

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 10, 2009, 10:47 AM »

Strange that it won't install on hardware though for me!

System is:

ASRock 939N68PV-GLAN motherboard
AMD Athlon64 939 (single core CPU)
2Gb memory
WD Caviar SATA hard disc (with Win XP, Vista and Vista 64 installed in separate partitions)

Onboard graphics and sound.
Standard MS AT style mouse and keyboard
LCD 19" monitor

Nothing else connected.

2723

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 10, 2009, 09:46 AM »

Anyone had any joy getting either 32 bit or 64 bit versions to install?

I have tried both and for both versions I get to the point were windows is starting up for the first time and then it goes into an endless reboot cycle.

Each install was performed on a clean empty primary partition.

2724

General Software Discussion / HashTab - Great little tool ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 10, 2009, 05:43 AM »

I started using this years ago but just found out there is a new version available.

Basically it adds an extra tab in file properties in Windows Explorer and calculates the hash check values for the files. Currently it supports up to 12 different hash calculations (you can select which ones you want to actually calculate).

For example:



See: http://beeblebrox.org/hashtab/

2725

General Software Discussion / Re: windows 7 beta available for free Jan 9 (!)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on January 10, 2009, 05:37 AM »

The two versions (both from ISOs at the microsoft website):

Windows 7 Beta - 32 bit (7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULFRE_EN_DVD.ISO)
MD5: F9DCE6EBD0A63930B44D8AE802B63825
SHA1: 6071184282B2156FF61CDC5260545C078CCA31EE
CRC32: AABA5A48

Windows 7 Beta - 64 bit (7000.0.081212-1400_client_en-us_Ultimate-GB1CULXFRE_EN_DVD.ISO)
MD5: 773FC9CC60338C612AF716A2A14F177D
SHA1: E09FDBC1CB3A92CF6CC872040FDAF65553AB62A5
CRC32: 8E2FAD39