Can I install a New OEM version Without Problems.If i format drive?

Here's a link for a guy on eBay selling OEM copies of Windows XP Professional at 99 ea. He has over 1880 positive Reviews and so looks OK to me. He also has 35 copies for sale, which also means he has a 'Buy It Now' on too.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3657593413&category=4619

After loading up your machine, might I suggest you use the Belarc Advisor to print out an Audit of your machines's Hardware and software?

You can get it as a download from

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html (click on the link on the web page)

The Belarc Advisor is an excellent programme and will even print out where the software is on your machine, the versions of it, and also the Key Numbers for the Version of Windows you are running with, together with loads of other useful snippets of information. It prints out a thorough list of all your hardware too.

All in all, it makes for a great written record should you ever require it for when you take it to be mended at a dealer, for example. In other words, just like what you could have done with when you lost the Windows Key Number.

Cheers Doc.
My Dad lost it!..............:-)

I had BT Yahoo broadband fitted a week ago, but have been unable to use outlook express for email.

I get the following error

"Your server has unexpectedly terminated the connection. Possible causes for this include server problems, network problems, or a long period of inactivity. Account: 'BT Yahoo! Broadband Mail', Server: 'mail.btinternet.com', Protocol: SMTP, Port: 25, Secure(SSL): No, Error Number: 0x800CCC0F"

However - Hotmail emails work in and out through outlook express without problems. I have tried changing the settings but with no joy.

I am using a Linksys Wireless -G ADSL Gateway (router/modem) for access to the broadband - and the main PC which I use is connected via Ethernet Network Cable.

Any help would be appreciated especially from anyone who has a similar setup.

I am getting a bit p**sed off using the Yahoo web-based email service.

Thanks

Timeliner, if your email address is correctly specified in the account details in Outlook Express then the only other thing I can think of is that BT or Yahoo haven't enabled your email address for use via SMTP. BT have a class of email users who can only send and collect their mail via the web interface. Are you using an address you had before?

Does anyone have any tips for cleaning tft screens? My Dell is starting to get mucky - might have to stop the children using this PC!

With my laptop I've simply breathed on the screen then rubbed gently with a very soft tissue or spectacle lens cloth, but am sure there is a better method.

All suggestions gratefully accepted :-)

Kayak

I managed to sort it after phoning BT Broadband, even though the settings which they suggested I use seemed to duplicate the ones already there.

Having used AOL for the past 18 months or so - it is a breath of fresh air!

Thanks anyway.

I had a slight problem with my PC yesterday. Things were slowing down a bit and I noticed from the task manager that nearly 800Mb of RAM was being used!

This seemed excessive and I am at a loss to explain it. This morning I opened up the same windows and under 300 Mb is being used. Immediately thought virus, but I operate behind a Norton firewall with regular virus scans. Norton Internet Security indicates everything is OK

Any other thoughts on this.

Currently have 512Mb DDR 400 Ram with Gigabyte motherboard and AMD Barton processor

2abbey, could be a spyware hijack, have you noticed any other symptons like changed home page?

2Abbey, many PCs exhibit the symptom of the memory usage increasing during the time the computer has been running. This is normally due to a single application that is bad at releasing memory. Keep an eye on it and Task Manager will tell you, in the detailed list, which application is using up the memory. This is if you have Windows 2000 or XP. Windows 98 is very bad to start with in this area so definitely look to upgrading if you have 98.

Thanks for the replies Spaceman and Kayak. Machine currently showing 294Mb being used. I have adaware which I regularly use, but I have not noticed any other problems such as change of home pages etc.

This is the first time that I have had a problem like this. I did use Task Manager and it stated that Internet Explorer was using nearly 600Mb of RAM which seemed odd as I only had 4 windows open.

Currently use Xp Professional with all service packs etc added in.

2Abbey

If you start IE using the shortcut in Start Button/All Programs it will start a seperate instance of IE. This will use more memory but if you run all your IE windows as seperate instances you will be able to find which one has the memory leak.

Thanks Optimist, I'll try that. Have noticed that slightly more RAM is now being used, 312Mb as opposed to a smaller amount earlier, same windows open. As Kayak says, particular application may be bad at releasing memory.

A little difficult to shut down though whilst trading!!!

I'm trying to connect my mobile phone to my laptop via infrared.

The infrared port on my laptop doesn't seem to be enabled as the Nokia Connection Manager says "Media type not supported. Check your system for media settings".

Does anybody know how I enable the infrared on my laptop please? It's a Dell Inspiron 8100 running Windows ME.

Hilary, click settings, control panel and there should be an option in there to switch infra red on. It then switches off after a while if it hasn't been used. My dell laptop doesn't do it any more since I reformatted the hard disk and reinstalled Windows, and I can't find out how to reset it. Suspect there's something I missed out reinstalling.

Hope this helps.

SC,

Thanks for your help, but there's nothing that I can see within the Control Panel which refers to Infrared.

Hilary

Try Start Button / Help and Support and do a search for Infrared.

afternoon campers :-)

could some kind person help me please i have my pc hooked up to ntl cable which is 99.99% reliable but bacause it aint 100% reliable i want to know is it possible to have a back up 56k modem on the same pc if so how ?????

thanks for taking time out to answer my problem :-)

Mega...

Mega Bucks

Yes it should be. Install the modem and set up a dial up connection to it. When you want to use it you may have to change your internet connection options (Tools - Internet Options - Connection Tab).

As it is an emergency connection make sure that auto dialing is dissabled.

Hilary, you may have to enable the infrared port in the laptop before Windows will see it. That will be done in the laptop setup. There is either a special button for the setup settings or they will be accessed in the normal way by pressing DEL on boot.