This is a nice idea for individuals who only have to do this once. However, the RyanVM and Xable update packs have been offered for years and integrate into your installation disc. No need to run another lengthly installation after the install is done.
I do just about everything on my home PC and haven't had any problems with Vista. I honestly don't understand everyone's problem with it. Yes, I turned off Aero and UAC. If you don't know how to turn it off, you probably shouldn't be turning it off.;)
Previously, the odd time a game crashed hard for me I could sometimes recover with a lot of patience and the task manager, but sometimes had to reboot. On Vista, my games crash no more or less than before, but recovers beautifully. Stuff like this leads me to think that once all the major third-parties get their act together, Vista will be the most reliable Windows ever. Around that time the average specs of a home PC will also be high enough that performance will be smooth on any new PC.
The only people I really feel sorry for is those who paid to upgrade old systems, or people buying $400 systems that only come with Vista, but are obviously unsuitable.
Am I the only one that watched this video and couldn't help but feel the same way as when watching certain scenes from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366179/The Second Renaissance!
There's a much better way of doing this. Game Jackal (from the people who make CloneCD) is way easier to use and doesn't require you to store entire cd/dvd images on your hard drive, nor have virtual drive letters, nor temporarily remove registry keys to hide it's existence from copy protection. It's dedicated purely to allowing you to start your legitimately purchased games without a disc.
Something like that probably won't be diagnosed correctly by tech support. Even if they do test the memory they're almost certainly not going to bother running it for a day straight, just to make really sure it's not a marginal case. At our shop if they're having a problem that could even remotely be memory related, and the PC is still on the bench at the end of the day, we start memtest86+ before we head out. Imho, 16 hours is a pretty decent test period. In my experience, in the rare circumstances of a failure, at least 9 out of 10 of them are found in the first complete pass (typically 5-30 minutes). Something else I haven't seen mentioned here: some of those failures aren't even the RAM itself. I always find those ones cool.. and time-consuming.
This is a great point. There's a general trend in personal computers that functions once controlled by hardware are controlled by software. The software is inevitably the operating system, and that operating system is inevitably Windows.
I've seen Spybot take years to fix false positives that have been brought to their attention. Spybot is not for users. The results of its check are not always things you want to remove. Think of it as an intelligent version of HiJackThis that checks more places (contrary to AVs that scan everything). Even if you were to successfully argue that its results were somehow "wrong", its not a commercial product, and is "use at your own risk".
I was surprised by what the guy in Germany got, since that's more than I expected Dell's actual cost to be. I have a feeling your amount is more in line with their true cost. Interesting numbers especially when taking in the $21.50 figure mentioned in the other article today.
Seeing that Dell never receives the COA and PK back, I wonder does Dell absorb the refund, or does Microsoft? I bet they really don't care much now, not unless larger amounts of people started taking advantage of this.
Intel realized this problem very early on, and by their second generation of SATA-equipped desktop motherboards, they had implemented locking connectors on the boards and included cables. This is still a standard feature on all their desktop boards. However, only one end is locking, the drive end is normal, probably because drive manufacturers haven't completely standardized the housing of their SATA connectors.
I see some other motherboard manufacturers are doing this with some models as well now. There's even cables locking on both ends, but I don't understand how they can work across all drives.
The whole thing stinks. It wouldn't of taken an engineering genius to see this problem during development of the spec. At the very least they could of made it part of a future spec, namely SATA 2.0. I saw the problem within the first few uses, why couldn't they? The problem is almost identical to AGP, where the cards and slots didn't have a locking mechanism for the first year or more. Slowly board manufacturers starting creating a variety of their own locking mechanisms but often (especially earlier on) they didn't function with certain cards, or at worst, actually prevented you from seating the card.
Interesting, but it's hard to see it as anything but a defective design. Or at the very least the product should specifically not support hot spares, or drives over a certain power requirement. It is believable though, since large arrays initiate by staggering their spin-up, although they don't start any read/writes until it's all up.
Translation: one array drive failure means a much higher likelihood of another drive failure... Further, these results validate the Google File System's central redundancy concept: forget RAID, just replicate the data three times.
The fact that another drive in an array is more likely to fail if one has already failed makes a lot of sense, but the conclusion to forget RAIDs doesn't. Arrays are normally composed of the same drive model, even the same manufacturing batch, and are in the same operating environment. If something is "wrong" with any of these three variables, and it causes a drive to fail, it's common sense the other drives have a good chance at following. I've seen real-world examples of this.
In my real-world situations, the RAID still did it's job, the drive was replaced, and nothing was lost, despite subsequent failure of other drives in the array. Sure you can get similar reliability at a lower price by replicating data, but I think that's always been understood as the case. Furthermore, as someone else in the forum mentioned, enterprise-class RAIDs are often used primarily for performance reasons. A modern hardware RAID controller (with a dedicated processor and ram) can create storage performance unattainable outside of a RAID.
DTX offers so little difference over mATX or mITX its just silly. Its just yet another size, nothing else being offered. BTX (and mBTX, picoBTX) offers a lot more, most importantly thermals, only requiring a change of CPU heatsink/fan and the case. It allows a single fan to provide non-circulated airflow for the CPU, northbridge, PCI-E video card, and hard drive. The only reason AMD didn't adopt it is because Intel developed it (and that would make them seem weak?). FYI, BTX is used in a lot of Dells, Gateways, and the Mac Pro. Supposedly Intel is abandoning BTX by year end because of lack of adoption.
You have to keep in mind that when ATX was developed when CPUs didn't require fans, and video cards didn't have heatsinks! This standard is beyond antiquated.
There's a lot missing here compared to existing competitors. At the very least 850MHz GSM, EDGE, and UMTS. These are standard equipment in established WiFi phones like the Nokia E61 and others. Will this phone be important to anyone who doesn't want to hack it?
If you compare Intel to other motherboard, chipset, or processor manufacturers, you'll find they arguably have better documentation and support for end-user and IT people than any of their competitors. They also are one of the only manufacturers I've seen to use open-source projects like FreeDOS and ISOLINUX. In their server lineup they support Linux as much as anyone.
Since I'm not a developer I can't speak from a developer's perspective, but there seems to be a liking in this community to paint Intel with a brush of "evil tight-fisted corporation" when they're actually one of the few who act like they care.
I completely agree. She should be first on the list. This list reads like the first 100 female names that came out of employee directory. Who would I list second? Lori Ann Cole, also blatantly omitted.
The Symbian OS is primarly for smartphones, and unfortunately they usually make for lousy PDAs. But if you're still interested check out the Nokia E61 or Sony Ericsson M600i. Same could be said about RIM's Blackberry OS.
There's also an plethora of quirky, mostly-discontinued embedded linux PDAs, including the geek-famous Zaurus.
If you thought having only two major players for PDA OS's was unfortunate, Palm has started replacing the Palm OS with Windows Mobile on some of their own hardware.
The manufacturer is Sharp, and they no longer distribute them in the US. There are new models available in Japan, and they still all run embedded linux.
I think the bias of when a film is made is to be expected. Unlike writing or painting, the method of making a film has changed drastically. I don't think anyone wants to yank the last 50 years of technology from film-making. The audience enjoys it, and it empowers the artists.
You'll note it says, For this top 250, only votes from regular voters are considered. They did this to remedy the "fan boy" problem, as you call it. I was personally very impressed with the amount of classic and foreign films in the list. I think it speaks well to the calibar of the regular voters on IMDB.
I've felt this way a bit myself lately, so I started picking films from the IMDB's Top 250. I'm sure you've seen many of them, as had I, but no doubt there are as many, or more, that you haven't. I've yet to find one that was anything short of outstanding.
There's posts here talking about all sorts of outrageously expensive or involved solutions. In your question, the only problem you actually mention is spyware. If this is true, then I suggest a simple mix of education and configuration.
Education is just a matter of explaining the common sources. Explain to them that anything advertising to give you something for free, often has a catch--just like real life. You can trust someone established, but otherwise ask someone who might know for sure (ie: you).
Configuration has to be done by you. Enable Automatic Updates (including installing). Enable the Windows Firewall. Install Windows Defender (have it auto-update as well). Mozilla Firefox certainly isn't a bad choice either (it updates itself pretty smoothly now). It's all free, and it all works rather well, and best of all, it works on its own. I wouldn't go crazy with "Security Suites" or Anti-Everything software, they cost money, they cost system resources, and sometimes have a habit of causing more problems than they solve. The education you gave her, or as I like to call it, common sense for the internet, is the best product of all.
Slashdot Mirror
yes. just not the OS itself. thus why the slipstream providers can't provide you the ISO already one.
This is a nice idea for individuals who only have to do this once. However, the RyanVM and Xable update packs have been offered for years and integrate into your installation disc. No need to run another lengthly installation after the install is done.
I do just about everything on my home PC and haven't had any problems with Vista. I honestly don't understand everyone's problem with it. Yes, I turned off Aero and UAC. If you don't know how to turn it off, you probably shouldn't be turning it off. ;)
Previously, the odd time a game crashed hard for me I could sometimes recover with a lot of patience and the task manager, but sometimes had to reboot. On Vista, my games crash no more or less than before, but recovers beautifully. Stuff like this leads me to think that once all the major third-parties get their act together, Vista will be the most reliable Windows ever. Around that time the average specs of a home PC will also be high enough that performance will be smooth on any new PC.
The only people I really feel sorry for is those who paid to upgrade old systems, or people buying $400 systems that only come with Vista, but are obviously unsuitable.
Am I the only one that watched this video and couldn't help but feel the same way as when watching certain scenes from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366179/The Second Renaissance!
There's a much better way of doing this. Game Jackal (from the people who make CloneCD) is way easier to use and doesn't require you to store entire cd/dvd images on your hard drive, nor have virtual drive letters, nor temporarily remove registry keys to hide it's existence from copy protection. It's dedicated purely to allowing you to start your legitimately purchased games without a disc.
While the slashdot effect kills the video, there's some pictures and comments at gizmodo
This is a great point. There's a general trend in personal computers that functions once controlled by hardware are controlled by software. The software is inevitably the operating system, and that operating system is inevitably Windows.
Seeing that Dell never receives the COA and PK back, I wonder does Dell absorb the refund, or does Microsoft? I bet they really don't care much now, not unless larger amounts of people started taking advantage of this.
Intel realized this problem very early on, and by their second generation of SATA-equipped desktop motherboards, they had implemented locking connectors on the boards and included cables. This is still a standard feature on all their desktop boards. However, only one end is locking, the drive end is normal, probably because drive manufacturers haven't completely standardized the housing of their SATA connectors.
I see some other motherboard manufacturers are doing this with some models as well now. There's even cables locking on both ends, but I don't understand how they can work across all drives.
The whole thing stinks. It wouldn't of taken an engineering genius to see this problem during development of the spec. At the very least they could of made it part of a future spec, namely SATA 2.0. I saw the problem within the first few uses, why couldn't they? The problem is almost identical to AGP, where the cards and slots didn't have a locking mechanism for the first year or more. Slowly board manufacturers starting creating a variety of their own locking mechanisms but often (especially earlier on) they didn't function with certain cards, or at worst, actually prevented you from seating the card.
Interesting, but it's hard to see it as anything but a defective design. Or at the very least the product should specifically not support hot spares, or drives over a certain power requirement. It is believable though, since large arrays initiate by staggering their spin-up, although they don't start any read/writes until it's all up.
The fact that another drive in an array is more likely to fail if one has already failed makes a lot of sense, but the conclusion to forget RAIDs doesn't. Arrays are normally composed of the same drive model, even the same manufacturing batch, and are in the same operating environment. If something is "wrong" with any of these three variables, and it causes a drive to fail, it's common sense the other drives have a good chance at following. I've seen real-world examples of this.
In my real-world situations, the RAID still did it's job, the drive was replaced, and nothing was lost, despite subsequent failure of other drives in the array. Sure you can get similar reliability at a lower price by replicating data, but I think that's always been understood as the case. Furthermore, as someone else in the forum mentioned, enterprise-class RAIDs are often used primarily for performance reasons. A modern hardware RAID controller (with a dedicated processor and ram) can create storage performance unattainable outside of a RAID.
DTX offers so little difference over mATX or mITX its just silly. Its just yet another size, nothing else being offered. BTX (and mBTX, picoBTX) offers a lot more, most importantly thermals, only requiring a change of CPU heatsink/fan and the case. It allows a single fan to provide non-circulated airflow for the CPU, northbridge, PCI-E video card, and hard drive. The only reason AMD didn't adopt it is because Intel developed it (and that would make them seem weak?). FYI, BTX is used in a lot of Dells, Gateways, and the Mac Pro. Supposedly Intel is abandoning BTX by year end because of lack of adoption.
You have to keep in mind that when ATX was developed when CPUs didn't require fans, and video cards didn't have heatsinks! This standard is beyond antiquated.
There's a lot missing here compared to existing competitors. At the very least 850MHz GSM, EDGE, and UMTS. These are standard equipment in established WiFi phones like the Nokia E61 and others. Will this phone be important to anyone who doesn't want to hack it?
If you compare Intel to other motherboard, chipset, or processor manufacturers, you'll find they arguably have better documentation and support for end-user and IT people than any of their competitors. They also are one of the only manufacturers I've seen to use open-source projects like FreeDOS and ISOLINUX. In their server lineup they support Linux as much as anyone.
Since I'm not a developer I can't speak from a developer's perspective, but there seems to be a liking in this community to paint Intel with a brush of "evil tight-fisted corporation" when they're actually one of the few who act like they care.
do you bill out double when you list "analysis" twice?
I completely agree. She should be first on the list. This list reads like the first 100 female names that came out of employee directory. Who would I list second? Lori Ann Cole, also blatantly omitted.
There's a very good reason Microsoft didn't make it easy. They wanted you to wait so they could sell you their next big thing.
The Symbian OS is primarly for smartphones, and unfortunately they usually make for lousy PDAs. But if you're still interested check out the Nokia E61 or Sony Ericsson M600i. Same could be said about RIM's Blackberry OS.
There's also an plethora of quirky, mostly-discontinued embedded linux PDAs, including the geek-famous Zaurus.
If you thought having only two major players for PDA OS's was unfortunate, Palm has started replacing the Palm OS with Windows Mobile on some of their own hardware.
The manufacturer is Sharp, and they no longer distribute them in the US. There are new models available in Japan, and they still all run embedded linux.
I think the bias of when a film is made is to be expected. Unlike writing or painting, the method of making a film has changed drastically. I don't think anyone wants to yank the last 50 years of technology from film-making. The audience enjoys it, and it empowers the artists.
You'll note it says, For this top 250, only votes from regular voters are considered. They did this to remedy the "fan boy" problem, as you call it. I was personally very impressed with the amount of classic and foreign films in the list. I think it speaks well to the calibar of the regular voters on IMDB.
I've felt this way a bit myself lately, so I started picking films from the IMDB's Top 250. I'm sure you've seen many of them, as had I, but no doubt there are as many, or more, that you haven't. I've yet to find one that was anything short of outstanding.
Education is just a matter of explaining the common sources. Explain to them that anything advertising to give you something for free, often has a catch--just like real life. You can trust someone established, but otherwise ask someone who might know for sure (ie: you).
Configuration has to be done by you. Enable Automatic Updates (including installing). Enable the Windows Firewall. Install Windows Defender (have it auto-update as well). Mozilla Firefox certainly isn't a bad choice either (it updates itself pretty smoothly now). It's all free, and it all works rather well, and best of all, it works on its own. I wouldn't go crazy with "Security Suites" or Anti-Everything software, they cost money, they cost system resources, and sometimes have a habit of causing more problems than they solve. The education you gave her, or as I like to call it, common sense for the internet, is the best product of all.
Read the submitter's question, Norton is not a managed product like they require. Symantec Antivirus is, and it couldn't be less obtrusive.