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LangaList 2005-08-08 Please visit our sponsors and help keep the LangaList S.E. free! --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 1) A *Must-Have* Repair/Recovery ToolThe name "Bart Lagerweij" is well-known among a certain subset of geekdom:
he's a very talented programmer who's been developing outstanding free repair
and recovery tools for Windows for many years. We've covered many of his tools
in past issues:
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=nu2&as_sitesearch=langa.com Bart describes some of the additional functions this way, in his usual enthusiastic style:
And more... all free! I've been experimenting with BartPE for a while now, and enthusiastically recommend it. So much so, in fact, I devoted a new InformationWeek column to it. It starts with screen shots, showing you what BartPE does and exactly how it looks in operation (on one of my PCs here), and then goes on to provide links and info so you can download the free tools to build your own copy of BartPE. In all, I think the latest BartPE is one of the best, if not *the* best, foundation for a CD-based repair/recovery toolkit I've seen to date. With native NTFS support, plus support for networking, file sharing, and Remote Desktop Connections, it's powerful and flexible, and yet the XP-derived interface makes it familiar and easy to use. Click on over for full info on this must-have repair/recovery tool! The article, like BartPE, is free! Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList Free! ) ---
--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 2) Re-Install Grinds To A Halt
I think you're right--- my guess is that you're trying to install SP0
(the original release of XP) or SP1 (the first service pack version) over
SP2 (the current version). Like most software, XP lets you move from earlier to
later versions, but balks when you try to mix older code back into a newer
version. Click to email this item to a
friend 3) Intel's Advice On Laptop RAM
Up to a point, yes, more RAM will improve battery life (and overall performance) by reducing needless disk accesses. But having more memory than you need does nothing for speed, and yet still consumes power. The extra power isn't a lot, and in desktop PCs, you can size the RAM for the "worst case" scenarios; ie maximum expected memory load. This ensures that you'll always have as much RAM as you'll reasonably need; and will always have only a relatively modest amount of swapfile accesses. You can think of it this way: In desktop systems running today's best OSes (XP, Linux, etc), it's hard to have too much RAM. But I think laptop RAM should be sized for *average* memory load, rather than maximum expected memory load. This way, your laptop will have enough RAM for normal use, and simply will revert to virtual memory, as usual, if you start some memory-intensive task that exceeds the RAM's capacity. But during normal use--- by definition, that'll be most of the time--- your laptop won't have to power and manage a ton of idle RAM. In other words, in laptops, you want to have enough RAM to prevent excessive disk accesses (and that's what the Intel site is talking about), but--- RAM *is* an electrical component--- so you don't want to have way more than you'll normally use, because you'll pay for the unused idle RAM in shorter battery life. Note too that "hibernation" involves writing the entire contents of RAM (even if it's unused) to the hard drive and reading it back in again at startup. Having a ton of extra RAM on board will slow down hibernation stops and starts; and increase the size of any backups you make, if they also grab the hibernation file (usually something like "hiberfil.sys" in the root directory). Lots more info: http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20020927S0028 So: Desktop RAM follows the Gordon Gekko principle: More is better. Laptop RAM follows the Goldilocks principle: Not too much, not too little, but an amount that's "just right." <g> Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- "Hi Fred, I was receiving your free
newsletter for a while and --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 4) "Superfetch?"Hola Fred! I'm always trying to tweak the last bit of performance out of my aging hardware. (AMD XP 1500, 512 meg DDR-266 RAM) and came across this on line at the Inquirer UK today: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24749 Google is now returning some information on this ( http://www.google.com/search?q=Superfetch ), with, IMO, the best link being "No, Virginia, there is no Superfetch in Windows XP" http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000863.html --- a page that also makes me glad I have *not* recommended aggressive Prefetch cleaning--- you'll see why when you get there. <G> So why can you add a "Superfetch" line to the XP Registry? Well, there are *lots* of keys and settings you can add to the Registry, but that doesn't mean they do anything! In fact, you can even make up whole keys and settings, and have them be accepted into the Registry; but they won't do anything positive. "Registry Bloat" occurs exactly because of this--- useless and nonfunctional crud that's in the Registry, but not doing anything. Normally, we want to *remove* nonfunctional Registry items, not add more! As we've said in the past, the Inquirer is a fun read, but is often silly, hyperbolic, and just plain wrong, especially when it's discussing *anything* regarding Microsoft. Treat it skeptically and mainly as entertainment reading, rather than as solidly reliable source of tech info. Click to email this item to a
friend 5) Two Networks, One PC?
Yup, and it's built into XP, but buried enough so that most people never see it. It's called the Alternate Network Configuration. You can find it in the XP Help system, or here: Alternate Networking Configurations Wrong-Way Default Settings For Small LANs http://www.google.com/search?q=alternate+tcp%2Fip+configuration+xp [BTW, I appreciate the sentiment of "I've been with you since before you were electronic..." but I've been online professionally since the late 1970's. So "before you were electronic" goes *way* back to my very earliest days as a freelance writer for such publications as "Mother Earth News," "Yankee Magazine," "Woodburning Quarterly," and their ilk. Yikes! Get me out of this reverie...! <g>) Click to email this item to a
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--------------( the above is an advertisement )------------- 6) New Month, New ChancesIt's a new month, and right now your chances are the best they'll ever be! Click to email this item to a
friend 7) "Very Nice Software"
Thanks, Eran! Click to email this item to a
friend 8) They Loaded The CodeDo you have a home page or website? (It doesn't matter what size.) Please
click over to http://langa.com/code.htm , and maybe you can join the hundreds
and hundreds of LangaList readers who have "Loaded the Code!" (If you've already
"Loaded The Code" and are wondering if your site will appear here or on the
Langa.Com web site, please see
http://langa.com/link.txt ) Manually Browse All Posted-to-Date Sites Starting At SpywareData The PC You Buy Blog Fat Guy Friendly Treasure Coast Computing Webutante Design Hand painted Reproductions Gwer's Site Sinzio Project Business Card Tips The Tattered Coat Click to email this item to a
friend 9) Cooling A Cabinet-Mounted PC
There are many variables, but two main issues rise to the fore: "Passively" cooled components (fanless devices, such as monitors) need more open space around them than do "actively" cooled components (such as PCs with fans) because passive cooling depends on the relatively gentle forces of convection to move heat out of a device. Passively-cooled, fanless devices generally need to move a lot of air at extremely low speeds--- that's why the backs of most monitor cases have so many openings, louvers, and grills, for example. Owner's manuals often will specify how much space a passively-cooled device requires for adequate airflow: often, it's two- or three finger-widths to the sides, and about a hand's width above a passively-cooled electronic device; with more space being better than less. A fan-cooled device can do OK in a smaller space as it powers the air it needs for cooling into, though, and out of the case--- the gentle forces of natural convection play little or no part. But a fan-cooled device (like a standard PC) still needs at least a modest amount of airspace. For one thing, the expelled warm air has to go somewhere; if the PC's fans are blowing into what is essentially a closed space, very little air will actually move, and the PC may overheat. Or, if a PC is in too-snug a space, warm air may be drawn back into the case in a kind of recirculating closed loop, with overheating the likely eventual result. But note that an open or partially-open back on a cabinet can help solve the above problems, as long as the cabinet isn't snug against a wall. An open-backed cabinet (or one where you cut ventilation holes where they won't be seen, behind the components you're installing) that stands two or three finger-widths away from the wall will probably be fine, especially if the devices are only used when the cabinet doors are open. The above addresses getting rid of heat, but the other main issue is limiting heat gain in the first place. For example, LCD monitors produce only a fraction of the heat of a standard CRT monitor, and thus have lower ventilation requirements. Laptops and PCs with low-power motherboards (such as some "whitebox" PCs we've discussed in the past: http://www.informationweek.com/story/IWK20030206S0014 ) need much less cooling than some top-of-the-line, full-blown desktop PCs. And, due to the way the chips are manufactured, Intel chips generally run cooler than AMD chips of similar clockspeed and power. (Normally, the difference doesn't matter much, but in heat-critical situations, it might....) So, by providing a reasonable amount of airflow, and/or carefully selecting lower-power devices, "hideaway" cases and cabinets can work fine! Click to email this item to a
friend 10) Just For GrinsSpeaking of cooling:
Wow--- that may be the best and worst PC-cooling... I said the best and worst PC-cool... I... SAID... THE... BEST... AND... WORST... PC... COOLING... EXPERIMENT... EVER! <g> Click to email this item to a
friend --- ( Your Clicks On Ad Links Help Keep The LangaList S.E. Free! ) --- CyberGuys! --------------( the above is an advertisement )-------------- 11) Plus! Edition Highlights:Today's LangaList Plus! Edition contains all ten items above, plus about 40% more content including: ...
The Plus! edition is only pennies per issue, and comes with a MONEY BACK GUARANTEE from Fred. How can you lose? Check out the details: http://langa.com/plus.htm Click to email this item to a
friend (Give a gift subscription to
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