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Thanks again everyone. See you again at
http://www.cnet.com/inside-cnet-labs/
But tons of junk is left over from uninstalling, i want my laptop clean. And the "deleted" files arent really deleted, taking up resources.
I recently had to reload my XP operating system due to hard drive issue. Upon attempting to reload my printer software I get an error message "software already installed", etc. I cannot seem to un-install or re-install anything at this point. 1 step away from louisville sluggerville... HELP
.. to reload the OS from scratch, don't install it over the existing one. Backup your documents and format the hard drive during the re-installation. Good luck!
I have an hp notebook, AMD Turion 64 x2 1.8ghz, 2gb RAM. I use Revo uninstaller to make sure to not have any leftover folders or registry files, ccleaner to securely erase all unnecessary data.
It's still slow... How do i improve my speeds?
... on "Identifying Unnecessary Processes" that was asked earlier. Also, I wouldn't use Revo or any kind of third party software like that. They might cause you bigger problem than the solve. Use Windows's Add/remove programs or utility of the vendor to remove its own software.
OK that's all the time I have. Thanks everyone. Remember to install as few applications as possible and treat your computer properly, read the manual when you have time.
Make sure you make backups and don't forget to check us out at your podcast:
http://www.cnet.com/inside-cnet-labs/?categoryId=9958852&tag=rtcol
Have a good one!
Hey,
I have one more question :P
Is there a way to lower your CPU usage on your computer with a program that will automatically kill un-needed processes?
Thanks
No, but you can install less programs and don't use any fancy themes.
Dong, just to tell you that Royale is the Windows Media Center theme, if you google it you can download it for your Home Edition/Professional machine.
when i go to shutdown my comp it will initiate all the shutdown operations and then when it actually comes to shutting down it restarts instead...cant seem to figure out whats the cause of this.
This happens quite often with Windows XP. The cause varies and it's hard to identify. I would recommend a few things:
1. Upgrade to Service Pack3 and latest patch.
2. Change your Power Options settings
3. Check out this page:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311806
I know that there are services that run in the background of Vista that can be disabled safely so that it runs faster. What would those be? and in Win XP are they the same?
... but I can't tell you which ones really 'cause there are tons of them and they are necessary sometimes. Windows XP has that too. Also, check out the answer on the "Identifying Unnecessary Processes" question I answered earlier. Good luck!
I have a Seagate 500GB External HD , to backup my photos, videos, music, and important documents. I have it networked and connected to a wireless Belkin hub. I want to be able to share and access it from my laptop when I am in another room, and to backup my laptop wirelessly, without having to plug it in. How can I do this under Windows Vista?
You just have to access that hard drive. If the Belkin works like a NAS it's easy, just access it the way the manual says (sorry but it's a little different for each NAS), if the hard drive is connected to a computer, make sure you share it from the source computer. Sorry, but I can't be any more specific here but it's totally possible and should be fairly easy to do.
I have the Royale theme on my Windows XP computer with 1.5GB ram and Pentium 4 2.53GHz processor.
Is the Royal theme utilizing a significant amount of memory? Will changing to the standard theme make any difference, or maybe even Windows Classic?
Thanks Dong 
All themes use system resources (everything you see on the screen, color, animation, photos etc require processing power) so if you can live with a little less colors, I'd recommend using Windows classic. Different themes uses different amount of system resources. I've never used any of them, including the nice-sounding Royale.
I know win xp ran more efficiently than win98 as far as handling programs in startup menu. XP seems to boot up faster in my experience. But is there a noticeable difference between win xp and vista? Did vista improve on this?
Ken
... which is Vista has almost no improvement over Windows XP that's worth upgrading.
hi I recently bought Beijing 2008 p.c game and installed it on my p.c. I have all the specs required to play this game, but when i open the icon too play its begins too load and then i get this message " Beijing 2008 has encountered a problem and has too close down, then i see a click here so when i press it it tell me its a signature error. 1) what is a signature error? 2 ) how do i resolve this problem? i would be grateful for input on this matter as i am about to throw the game in the bin. I have 3 hard drives and 4gb of ram, my g/c is good too I play spore so i know that Beijing should work on my system.I run firefon 3 and use windows xp 2003 with service pack 2
It's just an error, I would recommend getting an update of the game, you can get it from the vendor's website, install the update and that should solve it. If there's no update, you might want to contact the vendor.
My company recently moved to Office 2007 under XP, and I've found that, being more resource intensive, my machine feels a little sluggish. I wanted to try and optimize by looking at what background processes are running, using it to jog my memory about programs that may no longer be in use (old versions, found something better, etc.) so I can uninstall them. But the list of processes in Task Manager contains such cryptic filenames. Any suggestions for finding out easily what everything is? And, what if I find that either the program doesn't have an uninstall option, or it doesn't remove the background task--what's the best way to keep the process from loading? Thanks!
Generally if the process's name is so cryptic, it might not be a good process. It's very hard to find out what everythign is, this require experience and even then you can still be wrong. The best way to keep them from loading is checking the loading points including (mostly):
Startup folder on the menu (easy to find)
Startup (RUN) of the registry (harder to find _> use the answer for the slow slow slow... & internet browsing question)
Services (Control Panel -> Administrative Tools)
Good luck!
...but what does your Job at CNET involve?
myself being able to relate to others' technological problems/needs and help solves them.
My computer is moving as slow as snails.. It would really help if you could recommend a software that would clear all unwanted old files.
Also i used to use Modzilla and now i keep getting an error message, tried to uninstall and re install nothing is working... whats better modzilla or Internet exlorer?
The truth is the more software you install the worst the computer gets. So don't go buying software that claims to make your computer faster, none can do that, really.
Here's what you should do:
Run Windows Defender (if you use XP you need to download and install it first:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx)
User the Tools -> Software Explorer to disable as many startup software as you can (just choose to disable them), restart the machine it would run better.
About the internet, this also depends on what connection you have, you have, not always the computer.
FireFox is WAY better than IE.
Sorry for all the questions. What I want to do is be able to re-install windows to alleviate the issue I am having with explorer crashing and then be able to "restore" (for the lack of a better term) the programs and settings from before (minus the program that caused the issue in the first place of course)
Thanks!!
.. That's what I mean. As you are running VM, the whole system is save some where on the OSX, you can just make copy of that folder/files that whole the VM before you install a new software on the vitural OS. If it crash, you can just replace the current folder/files with the copy you have made earlier.
do you know what could be causing this seems like when i try to turn up the volume from the volume icon int the tool bar half the time dont work
Sorry to say but it's the OS. Windows Vista has a lot of strange behavior.
However, it might also be because your account's settings have some conflicts. You can try making a new profile (account) to see if it does the same thing there.
If you can, really, go back to Windows XP.
I am running the folding at home GPU client and need a way to monitor temps on a nvidia 8600gt,any free software for that. And how hot is too hot?
... the particular piece of hardware you use. Some of them comes with utility that monitors that for you.
They can handle a lot of heat up to around 100 degrees Celsious or 212 Fahrenheit... Not that you should try to push the envelope...
Thanks for the tips...It is strange behavior and hopefully when I can uninstall the software it will clear it up. If not, can you suggest a good option to make a backup of my installed programs that I could use once I re-install Windows
Acronis is the best option to create image of the PC system. However, if you run VM, you can just make back up of that particular folder/file that whole the whole Windows OS. You can do this when running OS X.
Windows XP and Vista:
Many folks argue over the effectiveness of defragging hard drives--some say it helps improve the speed of the system, some say it has little or no effect on improving your system speed.
So which is it in your opinion, does defragging help at all? Or is just a waste of time?
Thanks!
... if you have other things to do with the computer at the time, it doesn't hurt to run it during idle time, which is the only time you should run that.
It does help but not much at all.
I have an older computer with two hard drives, both of which have xp pr installed on them, so that when I boot I have to choose whether to boot from windows xp professional or windows xp professional. The boot menu doesn't give me drive names, so how can I figure out which drive I booted from?
So I guess one is not enough, huh?
Here's what you do: Boot into the first one (top option), once booted in you should know which one it is, if not, just go try renaming the Windows folder in the root foler (C: or D:) it will tell you that you can't (if you can, then change it back to Windows)
Now go to that root folder (say C:) open the C:\boot.ini
In this file, edit the part after Windows = " "
Voila!
how to clean up hidden files that have been unintentionally downloaded?
thanks
..and
love
Intentionally look for them and delete them deliberately, I guess.
Not sure what you are askign about but you might want to enable the Explorer to view the hiddle files. Open My Computer -> Tools -> tab View -> Check the "Show hidden files and folders" -> OK.
Good luck! jtm.
Dong Ngo,
My question is concerning an installation of Windows XP running in VMWare Fusion on a MacBook Pro. I installed a program for my wife to use (grade keeping software) and ever since I have experienced strange behavior with My Computer crashing. I can use Windows Explorer directly but when trying to use My Computer to access the drives mapped it crashes and gives me an error and closes leaving XP unresponsive. I can’t uninstall the program because my wife cannot obtain another copy of the grading program for several weeks. Do you have any troubleshooting suggestions?
Thanks,
Chris
You might want to minimize the number of drives or change the driver for the network of the VM, that might help too.
Dong Ngo,
My question is concerning an installation of Windows XP running in VMWare Fusion on a MacBook Pro. I installed a program for my wife to use (grade keeping software) and ever since I have experienced strange behavior with My Computer crashing. I can use Windows Explorer directly but when trying to use My Computer to access the drives mapped it crashes and gives me an error and closes leaving XP unresponsive. I can’t uninstall the program because my wife cannot obtain another copy of the grading program for several weeks. Do you have any troubleshooting suggestions?
Thanks,
Chris
Your situation is hard because it's not typical. I would recommend getting moving her to a PC if possible. For now, you might just have to keep your fingers crossed and try not using My Computer too much. You can open folders using the Run command. Just type in the path like "C:\Data" and press enter.
Before we do anything, please remember to back up your important documents, especially before you want to do any kind of tuning up.
Hi everyone, I am here. You are there! Let's get the party started!
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