Sampson

You were probably referring to this thread: http://www.ntcompatible.com/outlook_expr...les_t33708.html As far as I know Outlook 2003 does pretty much what the other "Outlooks" do. One slight difference is that it will do some of this when the machine is idle only. Under intensive disk or CPU activity, it is not supposed to do automatic backup/compaction. If you are absolutely wedded to Outlook, you may have to wait awhile for a change in its behavior (and that would seem to indicate waiting for a new OS, but I wouldn't hold my breath even then). There are other email handling utilities out there that may execute more along the lines you desire and give you a broader form of control. Outlook Express has been around a very long time and it is similar in behavior back to its original predecessor. The fact that the program has become more insistant in compacting your folders should indicate a "vulnerability" that is common to many database programs - excessive deletions 1) retain unreusable "blank" space and waste hard drive storage and 2) can "stump" the indexing function and its pointers confusing the finding of its proper content.

Is this the same machine that you updated from an Oem version of XP?

You can set up your network using the CNSH-800 alone. However, as peterh indicated, to set up a connection so that your network can share the ADSL connection, you will need a Cable/DSL router. Again, presuming your ADSL modem is to be connected by Ethernet, you have one major hurdle - will your ISP recognize the ADSL modem connected to you? If you are presently using a 56K modem connection to your ISP, your free ADSL modem is pretty well useless. Normally, a company that offers Cable/DSL will send you their own modem that can be programmed by them to establish the connection. It is possible for you to configure your ADSL modem to work with them if their service recognizes that modem. So, actually, your first step is to speak to your ISP to set up a Cable/DSL connection.

This is Microsoft's take on it: http://support.microsoft.com/default.asp...;NoWebContent=1

Right click on My Computer, choose Properties from the dropdown menu, click on the Hardware tab, then click on the button Device Manager. When the new window comes up, there will be a list of devices, click on the "+" next to the Sound, video and games controller. Your sound device should be listed. Right click on it, choose Properties, then you can choose the course of action you want to take - find the drivers, have Microsoft provide a driver, uninstall the device once you know what it is and install the drivers you found on the net.

I had assumed because this was a new computer, it would probably not have any spyware, but this is acting like a computer that has been infected. If your firewall is disconnected, which is what usually messes up internet access, then, it might be best to download and install Microsoft's Anti-Spyware, Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destroy, and HijackThis to be on the safe side.

Linda_92, Just run the Nortons and have it scan your computer. Norton's however will not always pickup spyware and some trojans. Download the programs above and install and run them.

What is the name of the anti-virus?

You've clearly been visited by some sort of trojan. If you have an anti-virus program whose definitions are pretty recent, you should run it now. If not, download AVG http://www.majorgeeks.com/AVG_Free_Edition_d886.html or Anti-vir http://www.majorgeeks.com/AntiVir_Personal_Edition_d955.html and install one or the other of them and have them scan your machine. Then, download Ad-Aware http://www.majorgeeks.com/Ad-Aware_SE_Personal_d506.html , install it and run it. (It goes without saying that you should download the latest definitions if you can before you scan.) After you have done that, there is no guarantee that you got everything. Download, install and run Hijackthis http://www.majorgeeks.com/HijackThis_d3155.html . It will report to you all of the processes that have been loaded on your machine. You can post that report back here. There are several guys who are expert at reading it and telling you what is a virus and what is a legitimate process. In the meantime, you can look many of these up yourself by searching for the .dll or .exe you find on Google.

I believe that IRQ 1 for the keyboard (Microsoft Standard) and IRQ 12 for the PS/2 mouse is correct. You can go to your Device manager and after it comes up, click on View and then Device by connection and then open the IRQ connection to find your values.

Now it almost sounds like there is a short where the Keyboard and mouse connect. Did find a manual: http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/slot1/pro133a/p3v4x/p3v4x-102.pdf If the keyboard is connected at inial bootup does it run fine until it gets to windows or does it die even before that? I noted in the manual that from the BIOS both the Keyboard and the Mouse are defaulted to IRQ 12. Generally, Windows wants the Keyboard on IRQ 1 and the mouse on IRQ 12. What it seems at the moment is that you may have a short in the plug-in to the computer for your Ps/2 devices or that Windows SP2 is in conflict with the info of Via 4in1 drivers.

This is a patch for IE 6 when you get the page cannot be displayed: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...9E-3DCADF913045

johnkilo, do you have Adblock running perchance? And in IE do you have things like yahoo.com as trusted sites or sites not to restrict?

johnkilo, I am assuming that you are using IE or a browser that uses its components. Because this is specific to pages that have some kind of security check or logon, after you've checked out checked out your security section to make sure that your SSL are properly checked, sometimes you can force IE to put up the prompt for the login: -Right click on the IE logo on your desktop. -Select Properties from the drop down menu. -Click on the Security tab -Click on the button labeled Custon Level -Scroll down to the bottom of all the options until you see User Authentication and under it Logon. -Click on Prompt for user name and password. Then, click reset, OK. Then, bring up IE and see if it works.

The break key is located at the top right (the last key next to the num lock light also has Pause written above it). By uninstalling the keyboard, I didn't mean to physically detach the keyboard from the computer, rather you right click on the 'Standard 101/102-key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 keyboard' under the word Keyboard in your Device Manager and click on uninstall from the drop down menu.

I share your lament. Anyway, rather than just looking at a software firewall, you really have to think of "defense in depth." If you are using broadband, your first purchase is not a software firewall but a router. Many routers now have their own firewall software that you can configure with no need to have an additional software firewall. Your machine will certainly run faster that way. Having said that, and the addition of a software firewall may be like using a belt and suspenders, I use a software firewall to protect me from my own stupidity. Many routers will disallow most incoming packets, but do not necessarily impede outgoing packets, which, of course, is what bots and trojans do once they are installed. And, we get those varmints from installing software that we find interesting on the net. After this, you will want to install anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Sygate probably is still one of the best. As to being "old", on one of my machines I am still using a very old version of Tiny. Port blocking sounds like rocket science, but they are just ports. Down to cases - if you are on broadband, many of these ISP's will provide you with free software that they have arranged with some company. For example, many Road Runner ISP's use CA's EZ Firewall, Anti-Virus, and PestPatrol. The reason - it is cheaper to give away free software than to have their techs overwhelmed with people calling in because they have clogged their computers with viruses, trojans and spyware that have brought their computers to their knees and they can't figure out why their high internet speed has slowed to a crawl. As I understand ZoneAlarm's problem, it has to do with vsmon.exe and the size that it grows to and the instability that results. Sorry that your computer got clobbered, but for the most part, they've had good results. Since you have decided to abandon them, and since you seem to be allergic to Symantec, you would probably also be advese to McAfee since like Norton's it gets a tad bit territorial with your system. As a suggestion - AVG now provides a Firewall in addition to their anti-virus software. I believe Ad-aware also provides a firewall as part of their premium package. One you might look at is Outpost. To me (and I am no software tester) it seems to do an above average job. As to your last comment that with all the spectacular goodies that new computers offer, it is a shame that seem still to operate as Dos speeds.

Katana-Thriller, I believe that we hava a problem in communication. Not all socket 478 boards are created equal. Yours is an AsRock AGI AGP compatible board. AsRock did some slick engineering to make its onboard VGA work with the 478 socket, but added the AGP slot in case you wanted to use another card, but that slot is a "compatible" slot not a real AGP hardware designed slot. This is a list of cards that are compatible with the slot they created: http://www.asrock.com/support/AGI8X_LIST/p4i45gv_r50_xp.htm You will note that the 850X is not on the list. It will probably never work. Given that jwp2600 gave you some extremely sound hints. It is not clear that you understood. First, using the onboard graphics (this is your default), you would need to uninstall the graphics drivers. After doing so, Windows will immediately tell you that it has found new hardware and would you like to install the drivers for it. You would cancel the request and reboot. Then, in the process of rebooting you will see a message that if you press (usually DEL, but it could be any key of the manufacture's choice) to get into Bios, you should press that key before the computer goes any farther. Once in Bios go to the graphics menu and disable the onboard video and choose instead the AGP default. Exit Bios but write the changes when prompted (in other words, answer 'Y'). When it comes out of Bios, it will want to continue to boot into windows, but turn it off before it does. At this point, you would physically install the new card. jwp2500 alerted you to the fact that the 850X has an auxilliary power tether to make sure that it will draw enough power to work. Most older AGP cards get their power through the AGP rail and don't need the extra power but the 850X may. At this point, you should be alerted to two things - 1) because it demands more power, you should be sure that your PCU can supply it without being overly taxed and 2) depending on the tether, where to plug it in to get that power. Again, the 850X is not going to work with your "compatible slot" unless AsRock has managed to create a new BIOS that can handle it. But, pretending that you have your AGP card installed, because you left Windows in a state that it was using a standard VGA driver, the card should display either 640x480 or 800x600 and look pretty washed out. Sometimes Windows will tell you that it has found new hardware and want to install the drivers it thinks that you need and sometimes it doesn't. You would cancel Windows attempt to provide the drivers, and stick the CD in that contains the installation procedure for your card. Normally, it will spin up and walk you through the process. Again, it is highly unlikely that the 850X will ever work with that motherboard because it is an AGI not an AGP system.

For the moment forget the Bios. Go back through My Computer through the Device Manager and Delete or uninstall the Keyboard. Don't worry about the Driver since XP will provide them, though more often than not it will select the "Natural PS/2 keyboard" when you go through the Hardware Installation wizard. You can let the wizard examine your system and have it come up with what it finds, or you can choose to install manually what driver you want to use. So, for example, if you have your Logitech keyboard plugged in, if you let XP make the choice, it will, in all likelihood, choose the Microsoft default. So, if you choose to install the keyboard manually, you could select Logitech and then choose the appropriate driver for your specific keyboard in the list found under Logitech. In theory, this should clear up your problem. What concerns me is why the keyboard quit being recognized in first place. Keyboards, mice, A:\ drives are pretty much dumb devices that have been around for a long time and generally have the same memory locations assigned so that they hardly ever conflict. Be sure that there are no other devices with exclamation points in front of them in the Device Manager. Also, it is possible, you have some useless devices that were not uninstalled and no longer exist which XP loads anyway. To see if that is going on, you can do this: 1. Press [Windows]+[break] to bring up the System Properties dialog box or right click on My Computer, then click on Properties. 2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Environment Variables button. 3. Click the New button below the System Variables panel. 4. In the New System Variable dialog box, type devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices in the Variable Name text box and 1 in the Variable Value text box. 5. Click OK to return to the System Properties dialog box and then click OK again. 6. Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button. 7. In Device Manager, go to View | Show Hidden Devices. 8. Expand the various branches in the device tree and look for the washed out icons, which indicate unused device drivers. 9. To remove an unused device driver, right-click the icon and select Uninstall. It just seems that some program may have remapped your keyboard to make it unrecognizable, or the connection between the PS/2 input and the motherboard may be shorting out occassionally.

I have flogged this machine for the typing mistake; it should very well know what I am trying to type. Anyway, with your machine, it has been noted that starting it up without the keyboard attached, messed up the memory module - so they had to be replaced. In any case, did the machine start acting up after SP2 and never act up under SP1? Given what you said, it seems that the keyboard needs to be reset in Bios or its value is not being passed to XP or at least passed incorrectly. When it first starts up, there should be a message passed to you that says Hit Del or some Function key to enter the Bios. When you get in, look around to see if there is an option as to what Keyboard your machine is defaulted to. If you have nothing, just bail out and don't save any changes, but if you do when you are about to leave, it will ask you if you want to save your changes so answer yes. If the error persists and you can get back into Windows, right click on My Computer, choose Properties, then click on the Hardware tab, then click on the Device Manager. It will bring up a list of your devices. One of those devices is the Keyboard. Clicking on the "+" sign beside the word should reveal the type of keyboard XP sees. Right clicking on that specific keyboard will bring up a menu from which you can uninstall the device, just its drivers, see if it can't find new drivers, or ask it to search for a hardware change or simply Properties. Going to Properties, it should tell you what kind of driver had been selected and whether it is having a conflict. In any case, depending on your desperation, you can uninstall the device. Then, XP should say that it has found a new device and prompt you to install its drivers, or you can bring up the Hardware wizard and tell Microsoft to look for new hardware so that it can recognize and locate the Keyboard. Install the appropriate drivers and see if this works.

It has been a long time since I looked at those files (it was not just one post but several). As I recall it was an extended hosts file that was primarily set up for a computer with a phone modem. It was enormous. Perhaps, if you could detail what you are looking for (I suppose in the way of better security), there are some very knowledgable people here who could point you in a particular direction.

bigdan, that is a pretty old board - perhaps a Pentium III. I sincerely doubt that there would be any new Bios upgrades for it. Perhaps, you could describe what you did or what software you installed between when the PS/2 worked and when it stopped working. Did you try booting the machine without a keyboard connected? (Don't try it if you haven't this particular model is known to have memory module problems it you have) Does the connector from the keyboard have an adaptor at its end; for example, from a serial connection to a PS/2 adaptor? Did you recently update to SP2 from SP1? Some VIA driven machines have been known to fail after the upgrade since Windows defaults its own hardware layer for the VIA? Finally, have you tried a different PS/2 keyboard just to see if the keyboard finally shorted after drinking too much coffee?

While both computers are running XP may be relevant to compatibility to a particular game, it isn't always determinative. More often than not games that collapse after a given interval of time have as their culprit heating, memory module problems, video or video driver problems. Then, there is always the case that a piece of software running in the background, like an Anti-virus package (or it can even be a .Net application) has reserved a swath of memory that the game wants to write to but is excluded and then crashes. So, you will have to query your friend for some more specifics.

There can be a variety of difficulties. Some of the motherboards - the P4M266-8233A have onboard video. It is possible that when you erased the drivers for the Nvidia installation of new drivers that the board reverted to the Savage onboard video. If your machine does have onboard video, you will need to turn them off in BIOS. Or, you could have not uninstalled the old Nvidia drivers and just installed new ones of the old, which eventually leads to problems. Or, this is a VIA chipset and you may need to reinstall the VIA 4in1 drivers which act as its own layer to configure hardware. Sometimes, it is helpful for you to describe step by step what you did, for example, why you wanted to put in new Nvidia drivers, was this a new card or one that has been running for a while, exactly the procedure of how you went about installing the drivers, whether you know if you do have onboard video. This is not to say that you didn't give a lot of helpful information, but in describing what you have done sometimes helps in figuring out how to undo it.

Again, tool_462, it looks like you have diagnosed your problem adequately. Later Pentium processors throttle down when the system perceives that the processor is running too hot. Because it is a laptop, this is not something that you can really repair. Send it back to Dell to get it fixed.

ChristyNichole, bring up Windows Explorer. Click on the + next to My Computer, then click on the + next to Local Disk ©, then click on the + next to Windows, then click on the Repair folder. Then, click on the file Autoexec.nt . Hold down the Ctrl button and then the letter C on your keyboard (Ctrl-C). This will copy the file. Now, using the mouse click on the system32 folder. Then, hold down the Ctrl button and then the letter V (Ctlr-V). You will then be prompted that the file already exists, do you want to copy over it, click on Yes. You're done. (You might also want to copy Config.nt from \repair to \system32 also).