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Once again, not uncommon. I think they are just refering to the manufacturer's splash screen coming on instead of displaying the BIOS information. I've had several users freak out because they saw all of the computer info display on the screen. So I can see where they are coming from. These requirements and suggestions are only going to be for manufactured computers. The idea is to make them as simple and unobtrusive as possible. Most of the manufacturers have already implemented all of these things. So I don't see what the big deal is. Since most of you build your own systems, you won't be affected. And high-end manufactured computers probably won't be either.

I'v been really happy with my Radeon 64meg. Especially with the latest beta drivers.

I would guess that the expansion slot one was a suggestion instead of a requirement. And it is already done on a number of "value PCs". I'd love to see the source of his info, though. I notice he doesn't post a link to the actual guidelines.

Product activation will not be included in the corporate license editions of XP. I would assume that it won't be part of any of the server editions. It is only there to stop casual copying. An example of this is someone buying it and installing it on his three computers, then installing it on everyone in his family's computers, then passing it around to his friends at the office. Is it a big annoyance? Sure. Can I understand why software companies are moving to it? Yep. Microsoft is not the first to go this route, nor will they be the last.

You could set up different user profiles. One for gaming and one for browsing. Since the Intellimouse software saves settings to the profile, you can have the buttons in the gaming profile be pgup & pgdn and the browsing profile be Back & Forward.

Here's the deal. I got my new FC-PGA Pentium III 1GHz processor. I got the retail so it came with a heatsink. The problem is, the heatsink won't fit on the motherboard. It hits a capacitor and the power socket. The motherboard is an Epox 3SPAL3. It previously had a PIII 933MHz on it. I didn't expect the new heatsink to be that much larger. So, does anyone have a suggestion for what heatsink I should look at getting. Most of the ones I can find either suck or are made for an AMD processor.

SimiaN, I think you're missing the point of what XP offers. Forget about the new interface and added features. It creates a common platform for home and business users. This hasn't really been around since DOS. Do you realize how many support headaches this will cure? As you do this for a living I'm sure you can appreciate that. Personally, I plan on putting my parents and in-laws on XP soon after it is released. They will have the stability on an NT OS, plus the compatibility of 9x. It will also allow me to work on their computers remotely when they have problems. For the business user, there might not be a large number of pluses over 2000. But to the administrators there is. Concurrent logins by itself makes this upgrade worth it. I'm just saying, look beyond the glitz and check out the real advantages. XP really is something to look forward to.

Actually, NDS and Active Directories are very different. NDS is based on ease of management. Active Directories is based more on strict security. Because of this, it is easier to have too lax of security in NDS while it is easier to have to strict of security in Active Directories. Both have their advantages. It's too bad that Novell and Microsoft can't agree on how to implement system security and rights. It would be beneficial to both of them if they could.

The problem you are going to run into is that NT 4 cannot read NTFS 5 before service pack 4 is applied. So the installation will probably fail. If you make the drive or partition you plan on installing NT 4 Server to the active partition, it should work though. You'll just need to modify the BOOT.INI.

Set the security level for computers on the LAN down to the minimum.

I think USRobotics finally got around to releasing Win2k drivers for their Voice Pro modem.

One of the Compatibility Updates (It will be contained in the latest one) deals with the NFS 4 problem. Porshe Unleashed does not work, however. I have heard of some users getting it up and running, but have never seen it done successfully.

That is Microsoft Quality Manager. Do you have MSN Explorer installed? If so, just tell ZoneAlarm to block QMgr. It is sending survey information back to Microsoft. If not, I don't know what else installs it. Either way, I'd block the sucker.

Since your TNT2 won't take advantage of DirectX 8, you might as well stick with 7. You won't see any difference between the two. And I don't think CS implements any of the DirectX 8 features, either.

2MHz isn't going to effect anything. There is always some variation in processor speeds. The given speed is only an average. My 933MHz runs at 937MHz out of the box. That, and a lot of software misreads the actual speed anyway.

Pentium III 933 (soon to become a 1GHz) EPox 3SPA3-L 815EP motherboard Enlight 7237 mid-tower case 512MB Micron PC133 CAS-2 Western Digital 40GB 7200 RPM ATA100 Pioneer 16x DVD-ROM ATI Radeon 64MB DDR VIVO AC'97 on-board sound (until I get a SB Live! Platinum) LinkSys FastEthernet 10/100 NIC Microsoft Intellimouse Optical KDS Trinitron 17" monitor Microsoft Internet Pro Keyboard 300 Watt PS 2 fans Windows 2000 SP1

EPoX 3SPA3L

The problem is caused my fast processors and newer hard drives. Newer hard drives often have built-in cache that needs to be cleared during shutdown. Because the processor ends all of the running processes so quickly, and then shuts down the computer, the cache never has a chance to get flushed. The patch released by Microsoft adds a 2 second wait period at shutdown to slow it down. The chance of losing data would be slim. It would only happen if the data had never left the cache. The real problem comes in the fact that Windows detects the data in cache and thinks that it was not shutdown correctly. This causes it to run Scandisk every time you boot-up. Kinda annoying. Definitely not something you want to download if you aren't having this problem.

I have no problem running MoO2 in Windows 2000. I ocassionally get the mouse lock-up problem, but that is rare and easily fixed by pressing ESC. You shouldn't need apcompat to run the program. Are you using a mouse, or the built-in nub thingie? My guess is that is probably where the problem is. Also, does the game install? Or is that where you are having problems at? Do you receive any error messages?

The inventor of binary code and the mathematical formulas that make digital communications possible died Saturday February, 24th after battling Alzheimer's. Such a sad end for such a great man.

This may just be a feature of the Beta so they can survey how many hours of testing have been done. Microsoft may be planning a huge "Thoroughly tested! Over 1,000,000,000 hours!" kinda push. This would provide them with those stats. Then again, they could just be copying the **** off of your hard drive.

The Primary partition must be FAT16 for you to dual-boot with NT4. NT4 cannot read the FAT32 partition.

Win98 can't see NTFS. You'll need to boot from your Windows 2000 CD and run the setup. When it gets to the point where you can create partitions, delete the NTFS partition. You don't need to go any farther than that. Just exit the setup and restart. No more NTFS partition.

For your processor those are about average for normal cooling. I would suggest adding a bit though. What type of cooling do you currently have? The simplest setup is to have 1.) HSF on the processor (of course) 2.) a fan at the front of the case pulling air in and 3.) a fan at the back of the case blowing air out. Make sure to position the back fan so that is pulls air over the processor. If you do not overclock any of your components, this should be adequate. It is also best if your case has some sort of ventilation vents on the side.

SP2 has not been released yet. The Release Candidate is out now. I'd expect it in another week or so. Hopefully before the beginning of March.