ScinteX

Just for the record I was reading an interesting article earlier today about how Intel have stopped putting effort into their processor-in-progress and diverted its efforts towards multicore. Sun have a processor planned with 8 cores! Anyhow, this site tells all: http://www.devx.com/Intel/Door/6409?trk=Leftnav_FP_Intel S

Oops that should read (without spaces) drive : path

Did someone say DBA?! So what version of Oracle are you using -8i? If you can post the version (probably gonna be 8i, 9i or maybe 10g) then that would help a bit. Also the ORA error you are getting. Typically this is ORA-XXXXX where the Xs are a number. For the TNS error I think you are getting, you need to set the following below. Before you do this you could try verifying what things look like so just type "set" at a command prompt to see if HOME or SID appear. (open up a command prompt) set ORACLE_HOME=<drive:path of your Oracle Home> set ORACLE_SID=<your SID name> Then do this (some CD'ing might be required here) C:\oracle\oraXX\bin>sqlplus /nolog SQL> connect /as sysdba Hopefully you can connect!. N.b.- XX is the version number specific to your install. The SID should appear as an Oracle service. The HOME should be something like "C:\Oracle\OraXX" Let us know if it cr@ps out on you Good luck S

Sounds like another program decides its gonna startup and do *something*. Could be: Antivirus doing a scan. Defrag program on a scheduled defrag when it thinks your laptop is idle. Something else doing somekind of update/update check. I'd look at what progs you run in the background and try to work out which ones are likely to come alive without any user intervention. It could even be the graphics driver doing some kind of "optimisation". Not too sure about how nVidia stuff works, so thats a long shot. The flickering could be a program trying to get window focus, hence your game almost minimising/maximising alot and causing the flickering effect.

Is it because in ghosting your current setup, so too is the configuration for RAID? I dont know of an easy way to it....... To be honest (and if I was in the same situation), I'd move all of my own docs, settings and installation programs to a new partition (on the RAID disks) then build XP from scratch on the new disk. When all is done I'd then blow away the old partition and then make the partition with all the progs and docs on the maximum size of the RAID.

I guess so... if it relied upon some update from windows that came out after SP2. I agree- more info!

isnt the point here that there isnt an SP3 yet? As in "I just installed XP SP3". No you didnt because it doesnt exist yet. lol. Of course any post SP2 updates for XP are referenced in the registry as SP3, since there will be an SP3. At least according to this: http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/c...20-c86a932c7f95 Naturally there are no accurate time scales (no surpirse)

Isnt this just as simple as a driver issue? Try this page: http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/s3pro.html On this page is a good detection utility........ http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/s3iddownload.htmlm ........And also links to Win9x/ME drivers (for 370 and 377 chips). I'd suggest detecting the graphics chip and going from there. Unless you know it already then just go get some new drivers A good source for drivers (if the ones above arent right) is here: http://list.driverguide.com/list/company906/page2/ If you downlaod drivers from here, use the login/pword: drivers/all when prompted. S

[from a previous post of mine] Only do this if you have been using Lavasoft Adaware. The new version of adaware doesnt have this problem btw Try this, usually works. The problem is to with some spyware, and when removed (by adaware) causes the behaviour you are describing. First off, boot your computer from your Windows XP restore cd/OS cd, when the menu comes up hit the R key to get to the recovery prompt. The prompt should start off at C:\Windows. Type cd system32. The prompt should now read C:\Windows\system32 Type: copy userinit.exe wsaupdater.exe Reboot

Hi, Either as part of XP Service Pack 2 or as an install package from here: Web install: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...;displaylang=en Or Redistributable package: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...;displaylang=en S

I was gonna suggest a RAM or a conflicting prog problem but then I see you tried it on other boxes. To be honest, I haven't ever had a problem such as this in all the time I have being using VB5, VB6... VS. Just a thought but are you configuring something a bit different in the installation? SSSCC.DLL is a Visual Source Safe file- maybe you could try either a) doing a typical install or b)take out the VSS stuff and see what happens. The final thing (and please take this as a possible, not a direct statement) is that you have either got a dodgy copy of the program or some nice person has altered the original installation and given you the results Can you get the original discs?

Try anything from Zalman, Coolermaster To replace it you'll need to get the existing one off, exposing the CPU. Then clean up the CPU (get rid of the thermal compound), apply new thermal compound then seat the heatsink on there. Just make sure that: The new heatsink will fit in your case It's of the right socket type You use good thermal compound You clean up the CPU properly (Isopropyl Alcohol -I use 100% isopropyl, most rubbing alcohols use about 70% isopropyl which should be fine also.) Also try Googling for the exact procedure- I am sure there's enough step by step guide out there. Your CPU runs hot out of the box anyway- as previously mentioned. Replacing the HS might help, but I wouldnt expect huge results.

Hi, I'll be hoenst I haven't clue but I did do a little research for you. When enabling or disabling Serial Keys its interesting to see what happens in the Registry. It appears that 2 areas are changed. 1- Enabling or disabling of the "SerialKeys" service. You could try going into Services (type Services.msc in a Run command) and making sure that the service is set to Automatic and that it's started. It might be that for whatever reason this service is on Manual and thus not starting up properly. It seems that when you tick the box for serialkeys this service is changed. 2-After the service is configured, Windows then updates your Hardware Profile. I'm not sure about this but just maybe something to do with your auto logon is missing something in the hardware profiles. FYI the bit in the Registry that Serial Keys looks starts at: HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\IDConfig\ One diagnostic-type-thing you can do is to get you serial keys working, then export the whole registry. Reboot, then export the whole registry again. Get a copy of the Windiff program: http://www.grigsoft.com/download-windiff.htm Compare both registry export files and play spot the difference. From there, you can either work out yourself as to what is happening or send the results to the vendor with a nice note of "these things change, tell us why". Obviously some differences might be legit- however I'm sure you can work out which ones are the rogue ones with any luck. All the best S

If you want an alternative you can try using Microsoft Agents! Just find a VB programmer and tell them you want the robot to pop up in the system tray and say something amusing You can write a server side exe that coordinates all messages, user groups etc- also gives you statuses of who's in/out. Actually.... using a messgener program might just be easier (doh!) Some nice freebies (some use NET SEND, some don't) http://download-ecke.de/nonags/conflan.html S

Hi Chuck, I'm not sure of your specific problem however regarding the general backup solution I have a few ideas. The 1 we use at work is as simple as configuring all 'user' areas to be on the network. Typically this is everything in Documents & Settings (you see we're using Windows2K/XP here) and some other odd areas like the C:\temp folder that one of our bespoke systems uses. All of these areas are setup to synchronise so I can work offline and then synchronise when I dock my laptop at work on the LAN. This is great for our situation however trying to sync over a remote connection (such as a dial-up conenction) would I guess be a nightmare considering some of the file sizes. Another option is to use a USB (if poss) or I assume a firewire external harddisk. Backups are simply a matter of a dead simple batch script that copies files over to the drive. You could schedule this in Task scheduler however you'd have to be careful of files that maybe in use, so you could configure the script to run on shutdown (I think this is in the Group Policy Editor off the top of my head). I tend to use Ghost type solutions for building or backing up entire machines- i.e. where a complete disk image is required. Anyhow, I hope the above is of use- u never know it may have just got you thinking S

The easiest 'tweaks' are to simply disable themes and disable all of the services that you don't need. If you tweak XP too far it all seems to fall apart! So from now on I tend to stick with GUI config stuff. Tweaking is simple: make sure your disks are healthy and that the footprint of the OS is kept at a minimum (so keeping startup progs down, services and anything else that might end up in memory). Sure you can probably go further, but I must admit that if I am that tight to reduce the CPU clicks that the OS demands, I might as well do a hardware upgrade! S

I need FrontPage Extensions!! Umm no, try Dreamweaver lol The Extensions for Firefox must put it in the lead! To name just a few nice additions: Right-click dictionary look up (handy for those big words) Ad-block Auto copy (highlight some text and its copied to the clipboard- what else would you think of doing with highlighted text?!) Firefox is the winner

It also (surely) has to be the case that one of the reasons that Windows appears to be so 'insecure' is purely because it must recieve a lot attention from unwanted sources. What I mean is, 1 (of course not the only) reason is that some people what a big coverage of thier new little virus/hack/malware. The easiest way to do this in the average consumer market is to target Windows. It will be interesting to see what happens as various Linux distros continue to grow. I'm not saying that Linux has similar flaws however surely with more brains trying to break it, the probability of such a similar situation must increase. There's also the arguement that guys running Linux know thier OS better (as mentioned above). True, but what happens when the line is crossed whereby the average person who doesn't know much about Linux starts using it? Maybe initially things will be ok, but there could well be a spiralling out of control moment where every man and his dog is distributing some form of Linux. Of course with Windows, its Microsft behind it. With Linux? Well, there could potentially be an explosion of really bad distros knocking about with money grabbing cowboys behind them. Of course, this isn't a true reflection of Linux since it's great if you do it right. As the popularity of Linux grows, things can only get worse if the quality/configuration etc isn't managed correctly. S

Is this the same FOOOD as in the icon man? 8)

hehe its so easy when you know the answer! lol... good post RA

Off the top of my head (lol he says clicking away at his PC ) - this might help, although it hides the whole group from GAL, not just the members. If you are using Active Directory: # Install the "Exchange-enabled" Active Directory Users and Computers tool on your Pc if it isnt there. # Launch the "Exchange-enabled" Active Directory Users and Computers tool. # Make sure that View/Advanced Features is checked. #Go to your group that you want to hide, right-click on the group and select Properties. # Click on the Exchange Advanced tab and check "Hide group from Exchange address lists" #Click "Apply" then "OK" Give it a few minutes to replicate I'm not if you can create a group, then make it appear in the Global address list, however have all members hidden. Hmm never tried! Cue the Exchange expert! (there must be one around here somewhere) S

You can try a couple of tools that *might* help, but they do require a bit of brain power too :x the easiest way to understand how an OS works is to look at the one you use everyday. So for example, to learn about XP the following is useful: The first is something call REGMON. This will show you what happens when you do somethnig on your PC as far as the registry goes. For example, if you open up an application you can see what registry entries are used. You'll see common patterns like each app checking to see if any compatability mode is set, to name just one. Obviously security always plays a part since the OS checks to see if you have permission etc. Another tool is called APIMon. This will show you what common APIs are used when programs are executed. The other thing you can look at is MSDN. This has lots of information which I suppose is meant for developers but is useful to anyone really. If you can, try reading up a bit on one of the common programming languages (something reasonably high level like Visual Basic will do) since this will teach you how programms become programs i.e. how DLL files fit into it all, plus other 'supporting' files such as OCXs, TLBs etc work. If you can already program in a Microsoft language then thats a good start. A utility called Process Explorer will show you lots of info about things running in memory, which fiels they use and how much memory is taken up. For *nix, FreeBSD, etc the best resource has to be the developer's/community's website. Hope that helps a little S

Hi Stewart, Try looking at this: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/techov.htm The contents page can be found here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim2400/en/sm_en/index.htm S

Try Googling for "Internet Connection Sharing" http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&amp...earch&meta= However this isn't always the best option since its not technically a "proper" router. For that, you will need to buy a separate piece of hardware. Typically (in the most simplest 'home' type setup) you need this: A router (with or without ADSL modem built in for broadband access). A network connection on each client (if the client dont have any, just buy PCI netowrk cards- cost about 5 GBP each). RJ45 cables to connect it all. To expand on this if you have more clients you could buy a hub and give connectivity to more clients. Next step up is "a proper network" lol In a small office/company/enterprise you'll typically have one server acting as the gateway (a proxy), a domain controller, maybe DHCP/WINS etc (plus other servers that might do things like purely control authentication, act as BDCs -backup domain controllers- etc). Depends on the number clients, existing hardware/architecture.. its hard to exactly quantify. .... however whatever the size you can generalise and say that all of the clients connect to the gateway/proxy/ADSL router/whatever you want to call it by setting up the "Lan connection" in the browser, and thus use the network connectivity. S

Maybe by using "Group Policy Editor" or as I mentioned before, the ".default" user. Have a look here: http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBL/tip5600/rh5619.htm S