I woner if anyone can help me with a problem on Outlook Express? I've ticked the box to play sound on message received, my sound works fine with all other programs (windows media player, gni, etc) but I can't get any sound with Outlook. Now stuck....

Kernow

There may be a BIOS setting that turns a RAM socket off, but if it was working once then there is a good chance of it being a motherboard fault. If that is the case, I wouldn't like to speculate on cost or feasibility of repair. You can now get 512MB laptop RAM so that is one way to get round it, assuming your machine will accept it.

How do i share documents on a wireless network.I want the kids to be able to send a file to my Pc for printing.
Ive tried the Network setup wizard woithout any luck.I choose the option that the computerconnects directly to the net.The other computers connect through my computers.Its says this is not possible.
Im using a D-Link g604t.
On first setting up.It had an icon in my network places for my sons computer.But this has gone now

Am about to upgrade my quad graphics card.

The new card requires removal of everything associated with the old card before attempting installation.

Q. Does anyone know if you have to 'uninstall the drivers four times' and also 'remove the adapter four times' too? And in that order?

Q. Would it be best to boot up in Safe mode after changing the adapter?

Q. Will winXP automatically be able to 'see' at least the No.1 monitor so that I can tune things up or do I have to change some settings so I don't just get completely blank screens?

Thanks Optimist. My laptop is limited to 256mb per slot unfortunately.

Doc

You only have to uninstall once.

There is probably a utility program associated with your present card that will have an uninstall program, use this first.

Check device manager and uninstall the drivers if they are still there.

Fit the new card. Windows will find at least one screen and you will be prompted for drivers.

Iain

First of all, as you have an external ADSL router, all computers should look to the router for their internet connection.

To share a printer, open printers, right click on the printer and select sharing.

To share a folder or hard drive, open windows explorer, right click on the folder and select sharing.

On the other computer, open printers and select new printer, click next and then check the Network printer box the following dialogues will find your printer and allow you to install it.

To connect to the shared folder, open windows explorer, navigate through network neibourhood to the shared computer and then the shares drive. Richt click on the drive and select Map network Drive. The shared drive will then appear as an extra drive on the computer.

When you first switch on, it will take several minutes to see all machines in the workgroup.

Multi Tasking Optomist! ;-)
Cheers

Am getting a completely blank window when opening L2, and a message at the bottom of the screen which says "Applet Javadetect not inited". I have redownloaded java, but it is still the same. Any suggestions gratefully accepted. Thank you.

splat - seems for some reason you are struggling to download the applet - have you tried a restart on your machine?

Ian

Have restarted lots of times, Ian.

With Ian's, robber's and Spaceman's help, all seems to be sorted now. Thank you very much gentlemen! :-)))

DocProc and Optimist thanks for suggestions re buying XP on E-bay

My new PC has a very noisy fan, am considering buying a 'quiet' fan for a few 's or a fan speed controller for about 30 Any suggestions?

ilanderton

Be very careful! Especially if your machine is under warranty.

I always try to get my machines as cool as possible and do not worry about the noise but is you must make it quieter, look around for an especially quiet fan. There are some around with very large heatsinks on which are mounted large slow moving fans.

Check your motherboard manufacturers site and see if they have any utilities for displaying system temps.

Our work systems are about to give up and die. (Running a mix of Win 98 and 95) The fans are running strangely!! I need a new system with three PC's to start with at each of our three sites, increasing to about 7 eventually at the busiest place. Our software is presently a DOS based system, and in the next three months we will move to a Windows system.

Can anyone give any guidelines about what I need to look for. As I see it we are going to have to do the following:
Rewire the network - to take higher speed data transfer (only 10 Mbs at the moment)
Include wireless so my Partner's laptop can access the network
Include the option of having broadband later.

The only concrete requirements I can think of that will be needed are:
Windows XP Pro on each machine
Network router with wired & wireless networking - should give the option of having a VPN should we decide on that route.

What have I missed!!! I'm thinking of Dell as a one stop solution - have dealt with local manufacturers twice in the past and got poor machines - although to be fair these have lasted about 6 years.

SC

If your existing machines are sounding strange then you should buy some new fans and possibly a spare power suppy so as yo can keep them going.

Your best bet is to wire your building with CAT 5 cables running between fixed sockets and use patch cables between the sockets and computers/router. Put in plenty of extra sockets to allow for expansion and breakdowns. Remember that Cat 5 cable should not have any tight bends.

The Netgear DG834G is a good ADSL, Ethernet hub and Wireless router but although they say that it has a VPN connection It is not very good or secure. For this you will probably pay hundreds or you could run Smoothwall on one of your old machines.

Most wireless kit will now handle 802.11b & g but if you have any machines using the slower 802.11b then you have to use WEP security which can be cracked.

Consider using seperate Ethernet hubs ans Wirless accesss point incase the router goes down.

I find that the easiest way to run a small network is to set them up as Domains with a server to provide User security and possibly central storeage. The server does not have to be a high spec machine (I use a P2 ) but you would need one on each site.

I can't comment on manufacturers because I always build my own. Many people find Dell OK but they once lost a printer that I ordered. Their customer service is very shallow when things go wrong and I will not touch them again.

SC, if you're getting rid of your DOS system it might be worth replacing the typewriters at the same time, not to mention the coal fires :-)

Most/all network equipment will handle 10Mbps as well as 100Mpbs, so no particular reason to upgrade unless you need the extra bandwidth, or do it later when you need it.

The above advise from Optimist sounds good to me. I'll add that the comany I like best for network gear is called www.solwise.co.uk - they'll give you excellent advise and help over the phone, they've been in business for years and their products always seem to work for me.

On Dell - the machines are OK but a non technical lady i know bought a Dell, the internet connection stopped working after a couple of days so she rang their pay help line and hung on, and on - eventually a Dell engineer answered and a day and a half later he still hadn't fixed the 'fault'. She brought it round to my house and I ran a virus checker which cleared the fault, he'd never suggested that! The phone bill for ringing Dell, she later told me, came to 211.00

Thanks Optimist. Just the sort of answer I was hoping for (One that was slightly ahead of my understanding of networks!!).

The ethernet hub is a bit you stick all your cables from the machines into isn't it? And it won't really matter where it is in the building as long as all the cables run to it and it's accessible for maintenance. (I'm thinking of in the office rather than near Reception.
Don't want to spend a fortune. Only machine with wireless at the moment is a brand new Vaio laptop with "g".

We've always used peer to peer as it's one less machine and on the other two sites we're only likely to use two or three machines, very light use as well.

I am aware that Dell put some "unusual" components into their machines so you can't easily add non-Dell bits later.

Thanks for the tip re fans & PSU's. Will get that attended to.

SC

You ar correct, The ethernet hub is a bit you stick all your cables from the machines into .. The best place for this may well be the centre of the building where cable lengths can be minimised. The ADSL unit is best positioned where the BT line comes into the building.

Thanks everyone else as well. Kayak, you must have been to see us. We're also presently upgrading the lighting system as the lamplighter has retired. Seem to be shopping around for something called "bulbs".