Recent Posts

2776

General Software Discussion / Re: Editor for PDFs: recommendations, please?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 30, 2008, 05:30 AM »

My only comments about NitroPDF are that it isn't as comprehensive as Adobe's products and the license is fairly restrictive (unless they have loosened it considerably since I last used it). Very much locked to one machine. Also upgrades are expensive to future versions. I found that NitroPDF doesn't support all the objects that can be embedded into PDF files. This may or may not be a problem for you but I bought a commercial eBook on my digital camera which included some animated effects that did not work in Nitro. Nitro doesn't play well with Adobe products installed at the same tiome so you may find you have to remove current reader software (I seem to recall it automatically removed Adobe Reader when I installed it).

Another commercial product worth considering is www.jawspdf.com

Their desktop suite is cheaper than NitroPDF, their upgrades regular and realtively cheap and their software is solid. I haven't used recent versions of Jaws products but the only downside I remember was that the editor was slow to open PDF files - but PDF creation via the Print menu was as fast as anything I'd seen.

2777

General Software Discussion / Re: SmartWhoIS GiveAwayOfTheDay License Key.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 30, 2008, 04:11 AM »

One of the normal conditions on GiveAwayOfTheDay is that the program cannot be upgraded (or even reinstalled after the day the offer expires).

I am not sure it is true of all products on the website but the keys usually provided with software are usually registered to GAOTD (not the individual user) and so you would not be able to upgrade anyway.

-Carol Haynes (December 29, 2008, 07:55 PM)

There are the GAOTD conditions, but not all developers implement these. Some will give upgrades, some will give support, some are automatically registered, some have registration keys and some of the keys will work with any username and not just GAOTD. You only really find out by trying.

-Dormouse (December 29, 2008, 08:43 PM)

That may be true but as a matter of principle we do not condone handing out serial codes for commercial software - even if it was on GAOTD.

The reason developers put their stuff on GAOTD is to tempt users to buy their products - that is why they restrict installation to the day of the give-away and say upgrade options are not included. As you say some developers may be more lax in enforcing these rules but they put their products onto GAOTD to increase sales and get their product promoted to a wider audience - not so that people can avoid paying for the product by sharing keys in a forum.

OK. I understand. I have purchased the full version via Visualware which was giving a hefty discount. Nice program.

-BCHOWDHURY (December 30, 2008, 04:07 AM)

Glad you found a solution.

2778

General Software Discussion / Re: SmartWhoIS GiveAwayOfTheDay License Key.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 07:55 PM »

Sorry but this question is not really appropriate. One of the normal conditions on GiveAwayOfTheDay is that the program cannot be upgraded (or even reinstalled after the day the offer expires).

I am not sure it is true of all products on the website but the keys usually provided with software are usually registered to GAOTD (not the individual user) and so you would not be able to upgrade anyway.

2779

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 07:15 PM »

Ha ha -- that's what I have figured too.

Until I can afford a large HD TV what is the point (and even then what is the point according to many reviews that suggest upscaled DVD is barely distinguishable from Blu-Ray anyway).

I currently have a 32" widescreen TV which already dominates my living space - I don't want anything bigger in the room - haven't got the space for it - and Blu-Ray isn't going to make a big enough difference on a 32" screen.

Add to that I have a huge collection of DVDs and I can't reaaly see the point in migrating to HD.

The only reason on a computer is the increased capacity of Blu-Ray media for storage. However, I don't think Blu-Ray writable media is financially viable yet for that and no one yet knows what recording longevity will be like on HD formats.

2780

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 06:45 PM »

True but the Pioneer writes Blu-ray too - actually cheaper than I thought though prices will plummet over the next 12 months.

2781

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 05:58 PM »

OK how about this:

http://www.pioneer.e...2/BDR-202/index.html

Ain't cheap though.

What about speakers if you want to do audio work?

2782

Living Room / Re: WinXP incredibly slow (and sometimes failing) login

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 05:55 PM »

Thanks guys - I'll have a look and play tomorrow (too tired now - having just spent an hour on the phone sorting out a problem for someone with MS Word).

Actually if it is the Canon drive causing the issue it is easily solved:

Right click on the mapped drive and click Disconnect

The disconnect seems to survive restarts.

Given that I don't want to use the Canon drive for this there seems no harms just ditching it.

2783

Living Room / Re: WinXP incredibly slow (and sometimes failing) login

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 04:41 PM »

I think you may have hit the nail on the head - I have just got a new network printer which has a mapped network drive for the built in card reader. It generally tries to connect to that drive and complains during startup- because network hasn't yet been established.

Is there any way of running networking as a service or something similar so that it can be loaded when the login page appears rather than when the user logs in? It is a straightforward router based workgroup network.

Failing that is there any way to unmap the drive? I have a front panel media reader in all my computers so the one in the printer is superfluous unless I want to print direct from the card (unlikely).

2784

Living Room / Re: 2008 Cybernet Awards Are Out.. DonationCoder.com Wins Most Useful Forum!!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 02:49 PM »

Congratulations everyone for making this place special - and a big  for Mouser.

2785

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 01:48 PM »

I like the Hiper PSUs a lot - beautifully engineered.

2786

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 01:03 PM »

Sorry - I updated my post and our posts crossed. Look back to my previous post.

HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are different formats. The format war was won by Blur-Ray so HD-DVD (which is what I thought you meant) is now effectively dead. You are quite correct BR Is also an HD format but see my previous comment about why you should wait to consider buying a BR burner.

2787

Living Room / Re: WinXP incredibly slow (and sometimes failing) login

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 12:57 PM »

I'll check out my nForce drivers. I recently updated those (and my GeForce drivers) and there have been a few oddities since. The GeForce drivers were such a pain I removed them and reinstalled an earlier release which I thought had cleared and issue with my TV tuner.

I have two gigabit ethernet ports on my mobo and noticed that one of them was sharing an IRQ with both the graphics card and also a firewire interface (I can't see that firewire and graphics are a relationship made in heaven). Anyway I moved my ethernet cable to the other port and disabled the one sharing an IRQ and it certainly seems to have speeded up startup a little - though time will tell if it has actually cured the non-completion at startup for good.

2788

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 12:49 PM »

What is the point of an HD burner - the HD-DVD format is dead and gone.

Just a thought why go for BluRay burner either.

They are a stupid price at the moment and the media is ridiculously expensive.

Why not just go for a cheap Dual Layer DVD combo drive? You can get them for a few dollars (I quite like the Pioneer multiformat drives and they are as cheap as chips). In a years time BluRay drives will be significantly cheaper thatn they are now, will have bedded in a bit and media prices should starting to fall. It is a 2 minute job to install a new drive so it isn't like you are going to have a major upgrade to perform.

2789

Living Room / Re: WinXP incredibly slow (and sometimes failing) login

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 11:59 AM »

Thanks - yes I know about Repair install. In the past I have mixed success with Repair Install and want to avoid it if possible.

On a number of occasions when I have used it there have been problems getting it to complete without error which left the system in a worse state than when I started. A common issue is the installation asking for files it cannot find.

The strange thing is that when my system starts to the point of being usable there are no problems and I can run it for days without issue. There are no errors popping up in the Event Viewer and I haven't got any devices or software that don't seem to work normally.

I suspect the problem is the order in which device drivers or services are loaded during the boot process but there is no obvious way to change that once windows is installed.

2790

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 11:02 AM »

I have a 5 button mouse and AFAIK it isn't really possible to program the side keys without a driver installed.

2791

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 10:41 AM »

MS and Logitech drivers don't always play nice together!

2792

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Outpost 2009 – A lifetime license for 3 PCs for the price of a 1-year!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 10:39 AM »

Personally I won't be tempted (though it looks like a good deal if you want Outpost).

I have been bitten by Outpost too many times in the past - every new version I tried seemed to be bug ridden as though they like to releases beta versions to the public and then sort out the mess.

Of course with a lifetime license I suppose you could wait to upgrade each time until the howls of frustration die down on the forums!

I found a much simpler solution that I am happy with - buy a router with a hardware firewall and then just use Windows Firewall on each computer. Why slow down every machine you use by adding overly complex and bug ridden security software.

The only other security software I run all the time is NOD32 on some machines and Avast (free) on others. Both have antivirus and antispyware components but are lightweight and don't seem to add much of an overhead.

2793

General Software Discussion / Re: HowTo make Thunderbird re-send 100s of emails from different senders?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 09:30 AM »

Glad it all worked out for you.

2794

General Software Discussion / Re: HowTo make Thunderbird re-send 100s of emails from different senders?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 08:04 AM »

If you are dragging to an IMAP folder it should retain all the headers correctly as you are not posting it anywhere.

Why not simply enable IMAP in GMail and then setup IMAP access to your Gmail account in Thunderbird and try it by just dragging one email to a GMail IMAP folder? You can then inspect the email headers in the web based interface in GMail.

If it doesn't work you have lost nothing.

2795

Living Room / WinXP incredibly slow (and sometimes failing) login

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 29, 2008, 07:40 AM »

I am a bit perplexed.

When I start up my main computer and get to the login page it takes ages to actually login and sometimes when it gets to the desktop it never actually finishes booting up to the point where Windows is usable (I have to use RESET to get control on the next boot).

I realise it is probably a user profile issue but I am curious to try and work out what is going on without having to go through the hassles of setting up and configuring all my apps in a new user environment.

Anyone got any ideas how to troubleshoot this.

I have looked in Applications and System even logs and there are no problems showing up at all (even when Windows fails to complete it's startup process).

I did a boot with Boot Logging enabled and got the following output - any one got any ideas why a number of drivers are not loading, if it is a problem (given that none of them gett events logged) and if so how to troubleshoot this?

Service Pack 312 29 2008 13:07:35.375
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\hal.dll
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\KDCOM.DLL
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\BOOTVID.dll
Loaded driver ACPI.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\WMILIB.SYS
Loaded driver pci.sys
Loaded driver isapnp.sys
Loaded driver ohci1394.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\1394BUS.SYS
Loaded driver compbatt.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\BATTC.SYS
Loaded driver pciide.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\PCIIDEX.SYS
Loaded driver MountMgr.sys
Loaded driver ftdisk.sys
Loaded driver dmload.sys
Loaded driver dmio.sys
Loaded driver PartMgr.sys
Loaded driver VolSnap.sys
Loaded driver atapi.sys
Loaded driver nvata.sys
Loaded driver SI3132.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\SCSIPORT.SYS
Loaded driver nvgts.sys
Loaded driver disk.sys
Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\CLASSPNP.SYS
Loaded driver fltmgr.sys
Loaded driver sr.sys
Loaded driver SiWinAcc.sys
Loaded driver PxHelp20.sys
Loaded driver KSecDD.sys
Loaded driver WudfPf.sys
Loaded driver Ntfs.sys
Loaded driver NDIS.sys
Loaded driver timntr.sys
Loaded driver snapman.sys
Loaded driver SiRemFil.sys
Loaded driver Mup.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\yk51x86.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nv4_mini.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\fdc.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\parport.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ASACPI.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\serial.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\serenum.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbohci.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbehci.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ALCXWDM.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\imapi.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\cdrbsdrv.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\cdrom.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\redbook.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\GEARAspiWDM.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\hcw88vid.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\hcw88aud.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\hcw88tse.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\hcw88rc5.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctoss2k.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctprxy2k.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctaud2k.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\gameenum.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nic1394.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nvnetbus.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\AmdK8.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\serscan.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\audstub.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rasl2tp.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ndistapi.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ndiswan.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\raspppoe.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\raspptp.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\msgpc.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\psched.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ptilink.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\raspti.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\pcouffin.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rdpdr.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\termdd.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\kbdclass.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mouclass.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mcdbus.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\swenum.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\update.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mssmbios.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\AmdLLD.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\AmdTools.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\vmnetadapter.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\NDProxy.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbhub.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\NVENETFD.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\HCW88BAR.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\hcw88tun.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\hcw88bda.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\hap16v2k.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ha10kx2k.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\emupia2k.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctsfm2k.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\ctac32k.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\COMMONFX.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\CTSBLFX.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\CTAUDFX.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\flpydisk.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\lbrtfdc.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Sfloppy.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\i2omgmt.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Changer.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Cdaudio.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Fs_Rec.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Null.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Beep.SYS
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\i8042prt.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\kbdhid.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\vga.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\mnmdd.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\DRIVERS\RDPCDD.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Msfs.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Npfs.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rasacd.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ipsec.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\tcpip.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\netbt.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\epfwtdir.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\ws2ifsl.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\drivers\afd.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\netbios.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\processr.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\PCIDump.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rdbss.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mrxsmb.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\wanarp.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\arp1394.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Fips.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\easdrv.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\CtPmFilt.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbccgp.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\hidusb.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Cdfs.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\USBSTOR.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\usbscan.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mouhid.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\kbdhid.sys
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\VMkbd.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\tifsfilt.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\DefragFS.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\vmnetbridge.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ndisuio.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\rdbss.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mrxsmb.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\wdmaud.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\sysaudio.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\splitter.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\aec.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\swmidi.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\DMusic.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\kmixer.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\drmkaud.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\mrxdav.sys
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\hcmon.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\ParVdm.SYS
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers\vmci.sys
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers\vmx86.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\eamon.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\srv.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\MSPQM.sys
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\PfModNT.sys
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\vmnetuserif.sys
Loaded driver \??\C:\WINDOWS\system32\Drivers\uphcleanhlp.sys
Loaded driver \??\C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\vstor2-ws60.sys
Did not load driver \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\ipnat.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\Fastfat.SYS
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\kmixer.sys
Loaded driver \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\HTTP.sys

2796

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 28, 2008, 11:35 AM »

Actually I am not sure you would need to buy two licenses for Windows to run a dual boot system. As you say you are running only one copy of Windows at a time on the same hardware so you should be covered by the EULA anyway. It isn't as if you have multple VMs running concurrently.

2797

General Software Discussion / Re: HowTo make Thunderbird re-send 100s of emails from different senders?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 28, 2008, 09:07 AM »

From the options I suggested before I would suggest the local IMAP server is a good way to go - that way you can legitimately sync your local IMAP account with your GMAIL account (that is why GMAIL was designed to work with IMAP servers after all - and Google can't really complain if you use it as that is what it was designed for).

Once you have finished you can always uninstall the local IMAP server if you no longer have a use for it.

2798

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 28, 2008, 09:02 AM »

Re. audio applications and CPU usage ...

A better and cheaper solutions is to buy two OEM copies of Windows and install them as dual boot. That way you can have a DAW setup that is totally uncontaminated by any other software. You can disable all non-essential services such as networking etc. and strip down Windows to its rock bottom minimum configuration and only install you DAW apps in that version of Windows (you can download patches and updates in your parallel booting system). Also have a separate har disk fo your DAW data. That way every clock tick you can make available will be there for your audio processing.

Similarly if you want a video workstation.

Buying an overspec system and then plonking all of your software into it will not solve the problem with audio apps chewing up all available CPU - you will just end up with the same problems you had before - an underpowered system because of unnecessary clutter.

Basically the way professionals do this sort of stuff is to buy a Mac and dedicate it to 'studio' work. There is no reason why you can't do it with Windows too (and a separately booting partition would do that) but most people in the business would argue that a dedicated Mac is the best solution and the one favoured by many studios.

Being radical how about going for a Mac for you audio work and dual booting into a Windows partition for other things?

2799

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 28, 2008, 08:54 AM »

I did say that earlier on ...

I know you want a nice computer but if your aren't panning to game with it why go for such a high spec? In many ways high spec computers are a waste of money (unless you have very specific requirements). The trouble is you spend a fortune and a month later the whole thing is old hat and you could have paid half the price.

Think of it like this: if you are a rally driver who needs a high spec car for racing spend a fortune. If you want a nice car to get from A to B then buy something sensible but with some nice touches that give you pleasure - there is absolutely no point in buying an F1 car to go to the supermarket!

If you want a nice computer I would suggest buying something much more basic but actually focus on the things that make a real difference to your experience when using it. Here is what I would suggest:

• A good middle of the road motherboard - tried and tested so you know it is reliable. Anything higher spec will simply cost more for no gain.
• A graphics card to support the monitors you want to use (in your case you want 2 x DVI interfaces which probably means spending a little more but a $200 card is going to be wasted as you are never going to see what $130 worth actually does!
• Onboard 7.1 surround sound these days is fine unless you are a real audiophile - in which case you will need to spend a lot to make sure the whole rig runs silently.
• A keyboard that is good to use. Maybe a wireless one would be nice - but do you really plan to sit on the otherside of the room to use it? If you are planning to use your PC as a media centre then perhaps you will but I bet 99% of the time a keyboard with a wire would be no hardship and you will have a lot more choice. Ditto mice.

If you want to send money then focus on the monitors you have to look at all day and the input/output devices that you have to work with. Perhaps spend a little more on quiet running (have you consider water cooling). These are things that will make a huge difference day to day.

2800

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

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 27, 2008, 07:44 PM »

You know, that's a good point.  But I have a wireless keyboard (logitech) at work and it works fine for Bios and boot stuff.  I'll make sure to get one that works.

-superboyac (December 27, 2008, 07:25 PM)

USB keyboards work fine for BIOS and stuff like that - it is boot time utilities in Windows that get crippled.

With your USB keyboard try this experiment:

In windows open My Computer, right click on your windows drive, properties, tools, Check Now... and check the two options. Now click OK and because Windows is in use it will offer to scehdule a check at next system start. Click OK and then restart your system.

During Windows boot there will be an interruption with a blue screen and it will tell you a Disk Check has been scheduled, press Escape to cancle it. Try pressing Escape ...

If it is like any of the USB keyboards I have used it won't work and you will have to wait until the Disk Check complete.

This is a trivial example - there are other utilities that perform Windows boot time functions (eg. PerfectDisk boot time defrag) which gives the option to abort.

There are some utilities that actually wait for a keyboard choice to be made - these are unusable with a USB keyboard and you get locked in a loop because you can't stop the boot time option from starting and can't respond to prompts - the only solution is to find a PS/2 keyboard and reset the machine.