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3676

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else having random reboots with Firefox 2.0.0.11

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 13, 2008, 08:47 PM »

I am doing a reinstall - early today (well yesterday actually) my system randomly rebooted about 15 times in 3 hours.

Enough is enough.

I am pretty sure it must be an installation problem rather than hardware as I have been running other software without any problems from outside Windows, and now I have a backup installed (of a fairly early install on this hardware when it was new) the problems seem to have disappeared even if I do multiple stress test applications on the system.

Frustrating though as I can't really afford the time or hassle at the moment.

3677

Living Room / Re: The MacBook Air is So Thin…

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 13, 2008, 12:23 PM »

LOL - hilarious.

Actually one of the reasons it is so thin is that it is basically an almost empty box!

Impressive dimensions but there are various articles in ZDNet etc. saying that whilst the acheivement is impressive what you actually get for your $1800 is something rather less functional that a $300 cheapy laptop. It is slower, has a relatively small hard disc, a slow hard disk (4200 rpm IIRC) and has hardly any ports to attach things to it (no optical drive, no ethernet connection, only one USB connector - so you can't even attach a mobile exteral drive that needs 2 USB sockets to draw power).

Like most of Apples output it is another triumph of style over substance aimed at the executive toys market.

While I am on a rant - did people see the recent news about the iPod Nano that started emitting sparks when it was being charged?

3678

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else having random reboots with Firefox 2.0.0.11

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 12, 2008, 06:24 PM »

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but ...

My system has started to randomly reboot (ie. screen goes black without warning and the system boots up from the BIOS again). There are no associated errors in the event logs.

There is a recurring error set of errors that seems to be happening pretty frequently though:

• At restart/shutdown I sometimes (but not always) get a string of errors with various applications hanging: explorer, memory addressing errors, .Net Broadcast 2 Error and others. It seems totally random if errors occur and what errors occur.
• I am getting a frequent error in my system event log
  

[Select]

Event Type: Warning
Event Source: Disk
Event Category: None
Event ID: 51
Date: 12/03/2008
Time: 21:13:40
User: N/A
Computer: LAIRDSWOOD
Description:
An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk3\D during a paging operation.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 04 00 68 00 01 00 b6 00   ..h...¶.
0008: 00 00 00 00 33 00 04 80   ....3..€
0010: 2d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00   -.......
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0020: 00 7e 00 bc 00 00 00 00   .~.¼....
0028: 12 65 13 00 00 00 00 00   .e......
0030: ff ff ff ff 03 00 00 00   ÿÿÿÿ....
0038: 40 00 00 84 02 00 00 00   @..„....
0040: 00 20 0a 12 80 01 20 40   . ..€. @
0048: 00 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00   ........
0050: 00 40 42 88 a8 8f a6 88   .@Bˆ¨¦ˆ
0058: 00 00 00 00 e8 ca 5e 8a   ....èÊ^Š
0060: 00 00 00 00 3f 00 5e 00   ....?.^.
0068: 2a 00 00 5e 00 3f 00 00   *..^.?..
0070: 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........
0078: 70 00 02 00 00 00 00 0a   p.......
0080: 00 00 00 00 04 02 00 00   ........
0088: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00   ........

which seems to be a memory problem with paging stuff in and out of memory to the pagefile. I have checked all of my partitions thoroughly with chkdsk including file data consistency checks and free space checks - so every block has been checked on every partition and there are no errors. I have also run a lengthy MEMTEST to check there are no memory errors and that tests fine too - so I am puzzled.[/li]

There are no problem devices in my hardware setup that are apparent and the random reboots don't seem to coincide with any particular programs running, tasks being performed (ie. heavy or light system usage) etc.

Anyone got any ideas or is it just time to backup, format and reinstall again ?

3679

Living Room / Re: prevent users from loging into certain workstations on a domain

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 12, 2008, 05:11 PM »

You got it - do you mind deleting the images (togrther they are ~1.5Mb - which is a lot given the number of people who open the pages around here!).

You can delete them just by hitting Modify above the post and deleting (or replacing) the attachment.

3680

Living Room / Re: prevent users from loging into certain workstations on a domain

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 12, 2008, 04:21 PM »

Thanks ... I'll have a play when my system stops crashing!

By the way to insert attached pictures into the text browse and add them as usual and then in the message insert something like:

[attachimg=1]

Replace the number for multiple images - they are numbered 1, 2, 3 ... from the top of the list of attached image files.

If you use the new post or full reply window (rather than the quick reply box below) you will see a drop down menu top left of the editing pane called "Link Inline Image ..." you can insert the tag from there and just edit the number - there are various options including fullsize and clickable thumbnails.

Have a play with it in reply to this post

3681

Living Room / Re: prevent users from loging into certain workstations on a domain

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 12, 2008, 10:53 AM »

Thanks that would be really useful.

3682

Living Room / Re: prevent users from loging into certain workstations on a domain

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 12, 2008, 06:41 AM »

One other quick question - can you set up clients to be members of Workgroups and Domains simultaneously ?

3683

Living Room / Re: prevent users from loging into certain workstations on a domain

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 12, 2008, 06:39 AM »

I am just trying to get to grips with Windows Server 2003 (but I know how to use the MSKB  )

Have you any suggestions on how to get started building a domain with no prior knowledge?

I have bought a book which is quite good and it tells you how to set up the active directory service, DNS service etc. but it doesn't tell me how to get other computers to actually connect to the server or even how to check that the server is running properly.

Under the education scheme I got a free copy of Server 2003 Standard to play with so I have set up a virtual network in VMWare (mixed clients Windows 2000, XP and Vista - though at the moment I am only trying to get the XP client working) - trouble is it doesn't seem to matter what I do I don't seem to be able to login to the server from the clients or join them to the domain. They can all 'see' the domain but just not actually move out of workgroup mode and join the domain!!!

It's all very frustrating - and almost everything you read about Windows Server requires about 10 years prior knowledge of geekspeak !!

Also do you have any good pointers on planning the actually network setup (for when I go physical with a domain controller) - including things like wiring, mixed wired and wifi networks.

Anything you can suggest would be really useful.

3684

Living Room / Re: prevent users from loging into certain workstations on a domain

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 12, 2008, 05:18 AM »

Do these help (esp. the second link)?

http://technet2.micr...8d1033.mspx?mfr=true

http://support.micro....com/kb/816666/en-us

3685

Living Room / Re: the award for most clueless pc user ever - my candidate.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 12, 2008, 04:14 AM »

I have mentioned it elsewhere on these forums but there is the story of the user who after the introduction of 3.5" floppies was confused and folded his old 5.25" floppies in half to get them to fit ....

3686

Living Room / Re: the award for most clueless pc user ever - my candidate.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 10, 2008, 03:38 AM »

For #2, all too true. But the installer itself should usually guide you through. I like to package my own software in a ZIP file so that I can include instructions before the installer is run at all. I don't always include that, but sometimes.

You quite often see restrictions or pre-requisites listed in the installation instructions that only appear after you have installed. I have lost count of the number of time I have had to un-install a piece of software in order to do something before installing it!

3687

Living Room / Re: the award for most clueless pc user ever - my candidate.

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 09, 2008, 06:58 PM »

Some of the best 'clueless ideas' come from software companies that:

1) Include a license inside the shrink wrapped product that you have to agree to BEFORE opening the package (MS and Adobe figure largely here)

2) People who design installers that only unpack the installation instructions so that you can read them after installing the product (almost all shareware and freeware seems to fall into this category)

3688

General Software Discussion / Re: split PDF files - context menu program?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 09, 2008, 07:26 AM »

Hmmm at $350 ..... not even bothering with the demo

3689

General Software Discussion / Re: Xobni beta - Outlook Mail indexer and organizer

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 08, 2008, 07:55 PM »

I really wish there were some other way to play iTunes files (ie without using iTunes).

There is - either use SoundTaxi or similar to convert them to MP3 or burn them to CD and then import them to a proper music player.

Trouble is I keep meaning to do this but I have a large number of files to convert and there isn't a quick way to do it.

Thinking about it the Outlook plugin is probably related to syncing  contacts and calendars etc. with iPods and iPhones.

I really can't see why Apple can't include simple tick boxes during installation of iTunes to allow you to choose whether to install iPod support etc. Why should every PC user that installs iTunes have loads of iPod crap permanently running in the background when they haven't got a stupid f************ !

3690

General Software Discussion / Re: Xobni beta - Outlook Mail indexer and organizer

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 08, 2008, 07:26 PM »

Hmmm - I think I have found the culprit on my system.

I have iTunes installed and for some reason it installs a COM addin in Outlook. With that disabled Outlook exits correctly.

God alone know why Apple have to put a plugin into Outlook and the problem is that every time iTunes gets updated I will have to remember to disable the plugin as updates re-enable it.

Note from past experience it is not worth removing the plugin (or any of the service Apple insist on installing) as the next time you run iTunes it detects that the installation has changed and puts them back again. Disabling the Outlook plugin, however, seems to work fine.

3691

Mouser's Zone / Re: Multi-browser Bookmark Synchronization Tool and Other Multi-Browser Ideas?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 08, 2008, 06:58 PM »

I know it has been mentioned elsewhere but no one has mentioned Bookmark Buddy in this thread. I really quite like it and it is pretty quick and easy to use with multiple browsers. See http://www.bookmarkbuddy.net/

3692

Official Announcements / Re: The site is now back online (March 6th, 2008) - Come Say Hello!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 07, 2008, 06:40 PM »

Can't we employ Cody to stand beside the server with the electronic equivalent of a crowbar to bash any other idiots over the head if they try in future 

3693

General Software Discussion / Re: Another System Explorer

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 07, 2008, 06:32 PM »

New version of System Explorer was released! Feel free to visit product homepage at http://systemexplorer.mistergroup.org.

-mistercz (March 07, 2008, 05:08 AM)

Thanks - I really like the new layout - much cleaner

3694

General Software Discussion / Re: Xobni beta - Outlook Mail indexer and organizer

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 07, 2008, 02:21 AM »

Does Shutdown Add-In actually do it gracefully? If so how? I tried it but I wasn't sure what it was actually doing to acheive the result.

I don't want to get into using a utility that just kills processes. It wouldn't matter too much with Word because so long as you save your documents you are fine, and Word has built in protection for terminating unexpectedly. However Outlook has no such protection and closing it by force often causes Outlloks data files to become error prone.

If Shutdown Add-In actually acheives this in a sensible, rather than brutal, way then I will probably install it permanently but I think the actual long term solution is to find out why Outlook isn't closing properly and get it fixed.

The other part of the solution is reularly backing up your Outlook data (and that includes all aspects of Outlook not just the PST file!).

3695

Official Announcements / Re: The site is now back online (March 6th, 2008)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on March 06, 2008, 08:26 PM »

Don't know about other people but my withdrawal symptoms have been great.

Never mind going for walks (which I can't anyway as I have a foot injury) or looking out of the window ....

Thanks guys for all the hard work and welcome back online!

3696

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Bid for Yahoo - Interesting Development...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 29, 2008, 07:45 PM »

Ah but you would have to buy 900 iPods to make a 60" screen so they are more than 90 times over priced!

That means on average an iPod with video should be priced at around $5 to $6 ! (About the right price IMHO)

3697

General Software Discussion / Re: Auto-installer Problem

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 29, 2008, 07:40 PM »

There is a way to tell Windows to install all software to a specific drive (at least for Windows XP - not sure about Vista):

You can change the default locations of your Program Files and Common Files directories by editing the registry:

- Click Start -> Run -> REGEDIT
- Navigate to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
- You will see two values: CommonFilesDir and ProgramFilesDir
- Double click each one and enter a new path value, eg. if you want new programs to install on drive H: set
CommonFilesDir = H:\Program Files\Common Files
ProgramFilesDir = H:\Program Files
- Close REGEDIT
- Reboot

From now on all properly coded installations will install on drive H:

Don't be tempted to move the contents of C:\Program Files to H: it doesn't work and it is not trivial moving already installed programs.

If the program you are trying to install is hard coded to install on drive C: this won't work, and I'd guess if you installed the OS on drive H: those two registry values will already be set to drive H: so this trick won't help you much and the only way to work around that would be to contact the author and ask them to supply a properly written installtion routine!

3698

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Bid for Yahoo - Interesting Development...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 29, 2008, 06:26 PM »

Sorry where are the rabid competitors for Windows? Mac has about 8% share of desktops in the US (rather less in the EU) and Linux has a very small following on desktops (though it does compete well in the server market).

I can't find the website at the moment but there was an article the other day about Apple's financial problems growing apace - mainly because their one real seller (the iPod) has just about reached market saturation and is now not the cash cow it once was - especially as people have realised that watching a Hollywood blockbuster on a 2" screen doesn't really provide the Hollywood glow of a 60" plasma screen!

3699

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Bid for Yahoo - Interesting Development...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 29, 2008, 03:45 PM »

And I would argue that MS doesn't have an OS monopoly... Linux, *nix, and OSX compete quite well.. they just have a large market share.

-wraith808 (February 29, 2008, 03:33 PM)

Something well over 90% in the US and even higher everywhere else - looks like a monopoly to me.

Anyone noticed how lots of US TV shows (24 is an obvious one) only use Macs - pure product placement. I refuse to believe that the Mac is the US government standard issue - especially in security circles 

3700

General Software Discussion / Re: Version control on dual-boot system? (XP/Linux)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on February 29, 2008, 10:31 AM »

You have to be careful with some file formats.

The only ones I have heard of problems with are MS proprietary formats (so probably would affect you) but back in the days of Office 2000 I read reports of file corruption when using the SAME (!!!) version of Office applications on different systems,

I can't imagine why that should happen but if you are editing the same file with different tools under different OSes there may be issues unless they are totally generic formats (such as JPEG).