ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2003
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Welcome to the 222nd issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists mainly of news and tips. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. If you give me two or three issues, I know that you will come back for more!
You can reach me at editor@pcin.net with any suggestions or comments.
Recommend PCIN at http://PCIN.net/recommend.php
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
After a very long delay, I finally completed the review for Paragon Hard Disk Manager 5.5. It is a software suite that has products similar to PowerQuest's PartitionMagic and Drive Image or Drive Copy. Details are in the Tips and Other Stuff section below, but I still wanted to let you know how great a product it is. If you need a product to resize, create, delete, or copy partitions, then you should definitely check it out.
Everything is going well with Lisa and Andrew. I forgot to mention the great pictures we had taken of Andrew. Chris (Assistant Editor) is also a hobby photographer, and came over with a complete setup and took pictures of Andrew. We then used those pictures to put together some gifts for our family. They look great! You can check them out at http://wingfamily.ca/lisagraham/Andrew/20021214a/index.html or http://wingfamily.ca/lisagraham/Andrew/20021214b/index.html
Graham editor@pcin.net and Chris chris@pcin.net
Governments to see Windows code
"Microsoft will share the source code underlying its Windows operating system with several international governments, a move designed to address concerns about the security of the OS.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant, which dominates the market for desktop software, has signed deals or expects to shortly with 10 countries and organizations, Salah DanDan, worldwide GSP manager, said in an interview.
'The GSP is the global initiative announced today that seeks to provide governments with access to source code and information that governments need to be confident in the security of the Microsoft platform,' DanDan said."For more info:
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-980666.html
A Microsoft Watch Will Provide Much More Than Time
"Microsoft, continuing its effort to extend its reach beyond computers, today introduced designs for a new class of watch that gives more than the time and a pocket audio and video player.
The designs, which will be available from several manufacturers by the end of the year, were presented by Microsoft's chairman, Bill Gates, in a speech today that opened the annual International Consumer Electronics Show here.
But even as the company extends its reach to new devices, Microsoft's vision is closely linked to the computer. Both the watch - which can provide weather information, text messages and other data - and the media player are designed to be controlled through wireless connections to their owners' PC's."For more info:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/09/technology/09SOFT.html
SGI Uncloaks Linux Super Servers
"Silicon Graphics Tuesday revealed servers and software that make it possible for the Linux operating system to tackle massive computing chores.
The Mountain View, Calif. firm, known for its development of high-octane supercomputers for life sciences and government markets, unveiled its Altix 3000 family of servers and superclusters. The systems combine SGI's supercomputing architecture with Intel Itanium 2 processors and the Linux operating system to dash a number of scalability and performance records."For more info:
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/1565121
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Last Week's Poll
Microsoft trial and settlement | ![]() |
19.75 % (16) |
Viruses | ![]() |
12.35 % (10) |
Microsoft vs Linux | ![]() |
9.88 % (8) |
Launch of Xbox | ![]() |
1.23 % (1) |
Wireless devices go mainstream | ![]() |
9.88 % (8) |
Segway | ![]() |
8.64 % (7) |
Other | ![]() |
2.47 % (2) |
Nothing, it was all pretty boring | ![]() |
35.80 % (29) |
Total votes: 81 |
This Week's Poll
Return to the top | Recommend PCIN Poll of the Week |
Visit the PCIN.net FreeHelp Forum at http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/ to post your questions or answer others.
Question
I have an M810 mother board with an AMD Duron 1.3ghz processor and every time I try to run Win98se setup from DOS, it gets to the point of copying needed files to start setup and goes to a blank screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left hand corner of the monitor. I've tried putting windows on the hard drive in another computer and then transferring the hard drive to my computer, I've tried clearing CMOS, I tried a different windows install disk, I made sure everything was plugged in where and how it is supposed to be and whether I'm trying to boot into windows or windows setup it nearly always gives me that blank screen with the cursor. Although, two out of about twenty times it actually did boot into windows.
Response
Some possible causes:
1) Your RAM is faulty.
2) You computer is going into Standby because the CMOS is set to a low value for the timeout.
3) The problem is a Video Card you've added (usually Video card's BIOS is not compatible with the Mainboard's BIOS). Remove the video card and use the on board Video.
4) You are using a UDMA 66 or higher capable Hard Disk drive with a 40 conductor IDE cable instead of an 80 conductor cable.
To post a response, visit the General Hardware Help forum at http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/index.php?board=4 and click on the "blank screen in os" topic.
Visit http://www.pcin.net/help/forum/
to post a question of your own.
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Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 5.5 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/paragonhdm55.phpObject Desktop Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/objectdesktop.phpLG GCE-8400B 40x 12x 40x CD-RW Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/lggce8400b.phpSome Useful Registry Tips
http://PCIN.net/help/articles/registry_tips.php
Return to the top | Recommend PCIN.net Update |
USB Hubs
This is a practical tip if you are need more USB ports. Rather than buying a hub, it might be better to purchase hardware that has ports built in. For instance, you can buy a keyboard from Dell that is USB (will use up one of your ports, but which has 2 ports built in as well (so you actually gain one. It has multimedia buttons on it, and is very nice keyboard. The price is about $30.
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 5.5 Software Review
"For years PowerQuest was the only name in hard drive partition utilities. Over the last few years others have joined the fray. I recently had an opportunity to review Paragon Software Group's Hard Disk manager 5.5 (HDM55). If you were thinking of purchasing a hard drive utility, then you had better give this a chance.
Overall, Paragon Hard Disk Manager 5.5 holds its own against the competition. The interface needs some improvement, but the software is all quite easy to use. And I can't emphasize enough that if you are looking for a complete set of tools, then this is the product for you."
Read the full review online at http://pcin.net/help/software/paragonhdm55.php
More on the Outlook 2000 Holiday problem
In each of the last 2 newsletters, I have included links to help solve the problem of Outlook 2000 not having any holiday's past 2002. It turns out that there were problems with both of those suggestions. Microsoft has released a couple of different files to update the holidays, but the updates had all sorts of wrong dates, so they were removed. I don't know when a proper fix will be available, but the best place to look for it will be at http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/default.aspx
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DISCLAIMER and OTHER STUFF
PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing and Chris Empey accept no responsibility for the results obtained from trying the tips in this newsletter.
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Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.netCopyright 1998-2002, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
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