Recent Posts

4751

Living Room / Re: Odd problem with System Restore ... anyone any ideas?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 16, 2007, 07:49 AM »

I think all this came about because I had a multiboot system but all of those installations have now gone and only the rubbish remains.

I checked (using Acronis DiskDirector) and almost all of my partitions have loads of crap left over ... I'll try WinPE.

4752

Living Room / Re: Odd problem with System Restore ... anyone any ideas?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 16, 2007, 07:29 AM »

No I am using NTFS

When you have done this have you literally just deleted the files? Are there any consequences?

4753

Living Room / Odd problem with System Restore ... anyone any ideas?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 16, 2007, 07:07 AM »

I generally keep System Restore disabled on my system unless there is a compelling reason to enable it temporarily.

Today I am doing a mass cleanup and defragmentation session on some large drives and found on my external USB drive a large number of System Restore files appear in the 'most fragmented' files list after Perfect Disc finishes. Some are quite large files and there are dozens (if not hundreds) of them.

Anyone any idea how to get rid of these old System Restore Point files?

Normally when you disable System Restore it deletes all these files but obviously I must have had my USB drive switched off at the crucial moment and the files were left behind. Switching SR on and off on the drive has no effect and running the Windows DIskCleanup utility on the drive has no effect.

The files are obviously orphaned but I can't delete them manually as they are in the inaccessible "System Volume Information" folder which is locked by Windows.

Short of reformatting the drive (not practical as it is nearly 400Gb of data and I have nowhere large enough to copy it to) I can't see any way to get rid of them!

4754

What's the Best? / Re: cd burning

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 15, 2007, 11:48 AM »

Thanks Darwin, Carol.  ImgBurn proved sufficient for my present purpose.  I am saving this added info for possible future use.  This is a very helpful site:  Thank you all very much!
ek

-kurtzern (May 15, 2007, 11:05 AM)

The main thing is that it is difficult to build DVDs properly with ImgBurn (even if you have already created the VIDEO_TS folder full of VOB files). The AShampoo software allows you to burn compliant DVDs straight from the VIDEO_TS folder and you can even build ISO versions of DVD Video discs. AShampoo also allows CD and DVD copying on the fly whereas ImgBurn makes you 'read' a disc to an ISO file and then burn the image out again. I still use both but find AShampoo quick and easy to use for most things too - whilst not free it is worth considering at $9.99!

4755

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 for $9.99

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 15, 2007, 11:05 AM »

Link in above post was personalised (now removed) so here are the generic versions

US Link is here and UK link here

Remember to untick the crap before submitting the order.

4756

What's the Best? / Re: cd burning

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 15, 2007, 10:56 AM »

Just to note that Ashampoo just offered me Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 for $9.99...

-Darwin (May 15, 2007, 10:12 AM)

And to me for £6.99 + VAT (still about 50% mark up on US prices but I am not going to whinge at £6.99). I wasn't sure whether to post the coupon code here or not (not sure if it is personal).

Darwin you show me yours (by PM) and I'll show you mine (so to speak ). If we have the same code I see no reason not to post it here. Just look in the URL on the order page when it opens.

Edit: Just checked your link and it is unique to you. I have edited on the discount page to the generic (non specific link ...)

4757

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Bejewled Deluxe for free

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 15, 2007, 08:41 AM »

It is very addicitive and also extremely stressfull!!!!

4758

General Software Discussion / Re: Faststone Image Capture now Shareware

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 15, 2007, 03:34 AM »

That's only because the author of the article has mirrored the file - which probably brakes all sorts of licensing rules. As far as I can tell FastStone always hosted their own files and didn't use mirrors precisely to keep control of what was available. Naive maybe but that was their intention apparently.

4759

General Software Discussion / Re: Faststone Image Capture now Shareware

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 15, 2007, 03:25 AM »

I don't even know what a Scree is, but I want to magnify one!

-cthorpe (May 14, 2007, 11:44 PM)

Here yah go...just click to magnify:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scree

 

-app103 (May 15, 2007, 12:21 AM)

LOL - but that ain't scree by any definition I know - that is a a rockfall or boulder field. Scree is something you can run down in some sort of precarious control (but can't easily stop!)

You can still download 5.3 from mirrors!

-justice (May 15, 2007, 03:17 AM)

Not any more - it has been pulled.

Interesting that only Capture is listed to buy on the website - the rest is still freeware.

4760

Living Room / Re: Ask Leo: How do I fix this high CPU usage svchost virus or whatever it is?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 13, 2007, 01:54 PM »

Eh? We already dealt with this issue - just revert from "Microsoft Update" to "Windows Update". Unfortunately can't find the thread now.

Not sure but I'm sure I read recently that MS have now fixed this bug in MS Update.

4761

General Software Discussion / Re: DVD playback software

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 13, 2007, 09:12 AM »

I really like WinDVD (http://www.intervideo.com/WinDVD/)

If you don't want to buy that you can buy just the codec and watch DVDs in Windows Media Player. See http://www.intervide...owsxp/media_pack.jsp

4762

General Software Discussion / Re: Autoplay Repair

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 12, 2007, 03:50 PM »

Nice little app. Thanks.

4763

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ConceptDraw VI Standard on Giveawayoftheday today

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 05:29 PM »

I have had odd issues with non-standard drive letters before now - but can't test this particular package as my system currently uses drive C: for Windows and I currently don't have multiboot partitions set up.

4764

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: New Raxco Product : Defragmenter - Optimizer ; $9.99 until 2007-05-13

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 03:55 PM »

OK Fair enough I suppose - but personally I would never defrag more than one volume at a time (what's the point - it will probably still take twice as long - or longer if they are on the same physical disc) and I don't use scheduling because I don't like my computer suddenly launching into something disc/memory intensive just when I have started burning a DVD or doing something else that requires the computer to run smoothly.

As for speed - given that Windows defragmenter IS DiskKeeper (sorry about the typo before ) I can't see how DiskKeeper runs faster! Perfect Disk runs at about the same speed in my opinion.

All the speed gains on the websites are highly eggagerated (my experience anyway). They may be a bit faster but it isn't hugely significant as far as I can tell.

The speed of defragging depends much more on how long it is since you last defragged your system than what software you are using.

4765

What's the Best? / Re: cd burning

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 01:35 PM »

You mean like Mac doesn't get viruses either ...

Seriously I'd guess there is a growing problem under Linux these days but like Mac the user base is so small it has not got to epidemic proportions yet.

4766

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: New Raxco Product : Defragmenter - Optimizer ; $9.99 until 2007-05-13

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 12:34 PM »

Under Windows XP most of these tools use Windows APIs to actually perform the disc operations required and are as safe as saving files to disc. The main difference is the software ability to do boot time defragmentation (which means system files that are usually in use can be defragged) and also rearranging your disc data and application layout to improve performance.

Other than those two benefits you may as well use the built in defragger (which Microsoft actually derived from DiskKeeper under license but with most additional functionality removed).

4767

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ConceptDraw VI Standard on Giveawayoftheday today

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 12:30 PM »

I don't know why this should happen ... two suggestions you could try;

1) Make sure you have admin rights on you login account and exit all open applications (including those in the system tray) and try again

If that doesn't work try:

2) START > RUN > MSCONFIG go to the Startup tab click "Disable all", then under the "Services" tab check the 'Hide all Microsoft services' tab  and then click "Disable all". Close the window and restart when prompted. Try the install again after it restarts. To restore your normal working setup open the MSCONFIG window (it should already be onscreen) and under the "General" tab select "Normal Startup" and then OK - restart when prompted.

Process 2 above is a good way to make sure no other software interferes with software installation.

4768

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: ConceptDraw VI Standard on Giveawayoftheday today

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 11:24 AM »

Works for me (Win XP Pro SP2)

4769

General Software Discussion / Re: More offensive — Resource bloat or Feature bloat?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 10:17 AM »

I nominate Nero for the winner of this pageant.
I was looking for something to burn image files in Vista and found that Nero 6 did not like Vista.
Even installing the 'Essentials' got me Nero Home and the lovely Nero Scout.

Anyone know a burner that will handle NRGs?
Or something that will convrt them to ISO, reliably?

-GHammer (May 09, 2007, 07:24 PM)

Haven't tried it but NRG2ISO might help or ISOBuster can convert image formats (free version and paid version of ISOBuster).

(By the way I have found ISOBuster really useful recovering data from damaged discs. You can set it to keep retrying until it reads damaged areas and often succeeds in the end)

There are loads of links at http://www.google.co...%2ENRG%20to%20%2EISO too !!

4770

Living Room / Re: Solving an hibernation-related problem on a XP Home PC

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 08:27 AM »

Mine is a desktop too - I can use hibernation without any of the issues you describe.

4771

Living Room / Re: Solving an hibernation-related problem on a XP Home PC

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 04:55 AM »

That's right

4772

What's the Best? / Re: cd burning

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 11, 2007, 04:53 AM »

Kurtzern - can I suggest you start a new thread for information about linux AV solutions - makes things easier to find if others are looking for similar answers.

Cheers.

4773

Living Room / Re: Solving an hibernation-related problem on a XP Home PC

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 10, 2007, 01:59 PM »

Not a feature on my 3 PCs which hibernate fine with XP (when the discs aren't too full to accommodate 2Gb files!)

4774

What's the Best? / Re: cd burning

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 10, 2007, 01:58 PM »

Ha Ha, I just looked at Burning Studio 7 and for me there is nothing compelling - plus I asked for the upgrade price and it is £19.99 (that's UK pounds) whereas it is advertised as a firt time purchase at $39.99 (USD)  ....

Given that v. 6 was $9.99 I ain't paying nearly 4 times as much for the upgrade.

By the way you can't backup DVDs - you can build DVDs with any media video file but I can't see the recoding being brilliant (may be wrong but I don't need more software to do that). You can burn VIDEO_TS files to DVDs, but you can do that in version 6.

Another big plus is ripping CDs to MP3 files - whoopee - can't you do that for free in WMP and numerous other apps that are available for free.

Strikes me as though they are heading in the Nero direction - in which case I will stick with version 6 which is lean and mean and gets the job done.

4775

What's the Best? / Re: cd burning

« Last post by Carol Haynes on May 10, 2007, 05:54 AM »

ImgBurn for all image file burning (easy, quick and efficient - and free).

Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 for everything else. (Search the form and there is a freebie version 5 too). Cheap (cost me $9.99) and does everything I need - and crucially allows conformant DVDs to be written from a VIDEO_TS folder (which ImgBurn doesn't - at least not easily) and also CD copying.

I used to use Nero but as far as I am concerned it's bloat is now consigned to the trash.