adamvjackson

There was an evaluation version of Visual Studio .NET 2003 available (60 day limit) from Microsoft, and if I recall correctly, all you had to do was pay shipping and handling. http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/productinfo/trial/default.aspx http://shop.microsoft.com/Referral/Productinfo.asp?siteID=140 Note, that's not my referral, that was imbedded on a Microsoft page, if you were curious. $5.00 for CDs, $2.50 for a single DVD. Also, you may wish to check out this site: http://www.gotdotnet.com Hope that helps!

Out of curiousity, did you have to rename any of the DirectX 7 files, or do/did they have the same filenames?

If you want the entire page's cells to have 'text' mode set, click on the box in the upper-left hand corner between the 'A' and '1' so that all cells are selected, then right-click and choose 'Format Cells'. From the 'Category' listing, choose 'Text' then click 'OK'. All numbers entered in after that will be treated as text, not formulas. So you could have 3/20/03 (as an example of a date) and it would not try to do the division. If you have further questions, let me know, and good luck.

I know AOE2 runs in Direct3D mode, as opposed to OpenGL, so a version of DirectX is required, you might want to try posting a question on the Microsoft news server. Server name: msnews.microsoft.com Newsgroup: microsoft.public.games.ageofkings No username or password is required to access that server, by the way.

Glad you got it working!

Do you have the onboard video disabled or enabled? Have you tried the updated DirectX 9.0b to see if that may help? Also, I would personally try only the latest drivers, as sometimes there are undocumented bug fixes in newer driver releases. Check for WHQL-Certification, etc.

Quote: Before you see the boot screen of Windows, hit F8 Sorry, but no. Windows NT, 2000, and XP do not have 'True DOS' like Windows 95, 98 and even ME have. If you want to boot to a true 'DOS' environment from NT/2000/XP, you'll either need to have a DOS partition with DOS installed, or a custom CD image that will load DOS, drivers, etc. You might want to take a look at the FreeDOS project, as I know they have a bootable CD image that will get you into DOS. Other than that, depending on your reasons for needing DOS, you could use the recovery console, if applicable, or use emulation, such as Bochs, DOSBox, VDMSound, VMware, Virtual PC, etc, etc. If you post specifically what you're trying to do, many of us here will be able to help you better.

Great post, Xiven! Now... If only they would add 3rd party (read, non-IE) browser support!! I want to download and cache updates from Gentoo!

Quote: is there any way to do it without any floppy drive ? http://www.ntcompatible.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25442

Also UpdateExpert too.

Frog, I have two AT style PSUs, send me an email if you're interested in them, they're yours if you just pay shipping. I don't know 100% that they're good, it's been ages since I had an AT system.

ActiveSMART will tell you, as well as reporting the current and worst SMART disk values. Not free, but an evaluation is available for free download. Plus, you can set it up to send you an email, popup, or alert if any of the SMART drive values change tolerances. http://www.ariolic.com/activesmart/

Dave - If you're in the beta, try the general MSFT FTM troubleshooting tips, such as clearing cookies, using the Betaplace provided 'Relaunch File Transfer Manager' URL, cleaning out temp files, etc.

Are you in the technicial beta, or did you purchase the Beta 2 CD kit?

Not so much of a performance tweak, but a timesaving tweak, if you use the CLI often: Code: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor]"CompletionChar"=dword:00000009 in a CMD instance, pressing TAB will complete the file/foldername you're typing.[/code]

Wherever you get it from, ensure that the digital signature is entact to verify contents.

Microsoft already knows, as does Autodesk. They're working on a solution.

To be completely honest, not really. After a crash, take a look at your event logs, it may shed some light as to why explorer crashed. Other than that, standard recommendations apply, such as Windows Update, WHQL-Certified drivers for (most) all hardware, limiting 3rd party applications that have API calls to explorer, etc.

Quote: Interesting question - yes. I've had explorer.exe tank once or twice. Is this related? It could be, sometimes when explorer crashes, some of the system tray icons can disappear, although the process is still running.

SP4 has seemed to speed several systems up here, noticed also by end users.

Any processes locking the folders? Explorer window, terminal server connection, etc.?

Quote: * DOS = dying art imo! device=ansi.sys There's some DOS art for you! (Sorry for the blatent thread-hijacking...)

Is Explorer.exe crashing/restarting? Are other system tray icons disappearing?

On a somewhat-related note, you may wish to take a look at AccessEnum from SysInternals, a nice utility to audit file/folder permissions. http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/accessenum.shtml

As usual, Christian hit the nail on the head... More information on that appfix can be read below: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279792 P.S. Christian, how's the FreeDOS 1.0 release coming along? I bet you get asked that all the time, sorry...