Having now got the cable broadband I can just plug my laptop into the cable modem via the network cable and, hey presto, I'm connected to the network.

My Partner's laptop won't do this - seem to have all the same internet connection settings but we're struggling to find out why his won't connect and mine will. Both running Norton IS (mine out of date) Norton Firewall on, Windows Firewall off, checked 'dial whenever a network connection is not present' and so on. We're just trying to connect individually.

And, BTW in relation to my earlier query, have now got firewall routers on order - so I may be back about these!

SC, MAC locking?

Where do I find out about that? Just having a Google search. edit - does mac locking apply to wired machines as well? We are wired only, no wireless.

SC, sorry I didnt give much detail there, MAC locking can be for wired, its not normally used in this situation but as you have one PC thats works OK and the other does not it could be that your cable BB provider does something odd and only allows a singe address.

I dont think this is very likely however, but I have not seen any cable setups in the UK.

How are you PC's getting DHCP info? that could also be the problem. do an ipconfig from a dos box on both machines and see what it says. You can email the results to me if you want me to have a quick look.

hi guys,
is it right that you can use on of those USB Lan adapters instead of an airport card in a Mac? TIA.

Spaceman, thanks. I'll have to look on Friday now as I don't have any more time at this branch now. I understood most of what you wrote there :-)

(Don't bother to explain - I do know what you mean!)

Morning.

My PC keeps sounding like a plane increasing and decreasing thrusts.

Any idea why please?

Thanks.

KD.

KEAYDIAN

Assuming that the noise is coming from the PC and not the speakers, then it is probably either a fan (either CPU, PSU, Graphics Card or case) or the hard disk drive. If it's the latter then you could have imminent problems, backup all of your data, stop using it and change the disk.

Your best way forward is to open the case and see if you can detect where the noise is coming from. If you unplug the power lead to the hard disk (while the mains is unplugged) and then switch it on, the machine will not boot but any fan noise may still be noticeable.

KEAYDIAN:

Optimist is on the money with his method for detecting where the noise is coming from.

However, many computers use temperature-controlled fans which sound like a jet engine spooling up when they increase speed. If this is a new phenomenon (rather than you just didn't notice before), you may have clogged up air vents -- or is the computer near a radiator?

It's that time of year again where I start to clear out old rubbish from my PC.

I've noticed a lot of uninstall folders (approx 50+) in my Windows/windows directory. eg $NtUninstallKB123456$. Inside this folder are various bits n bob, particularily a spuninst folder, again with files inside. These have modified dates of 2004, 2005.

Are these simply leftover uninstallation bits of info that can be safely uninstalled please? Thanx in advance.

Those are folders enabling you to uninstall hotfixes etc. downloaded via Windows Update. The KB refers to a Knowledge Base article number. If you are happy with the updates it is safe just to delete the folders.

K,

In your rush to do your diagnostics do not, at any stage, unplug the power without doing a proper Windows close down.

I did precisely that when replacing a power unit earlier this year and crashed a perfectly sound hard disk.

TP

Cheers Kayak

Kayak, I had 40 of those folders all dated 3 Apr 06. Now currently resting in the recycle bin. Was that a date of a significant Windows Update?
............I know sometimes we expect too much of you :-)

O

He works better under pressure!
:-)

I disappear for a few hours when under too much pressure :-)

Don't think so optomistic, probably more that you downloaded a lot of updates on that day?

Thanks Kayak, I have it on auto update so it just did it's thing.

Maybe you reinstalled Windows and it had to retrieve all the updates? I just had one on 2nd April and five on 13th April (I download them manually).

No didn't reinstall (as far as I can remember) and nothing showing for that date in the update history.
edit: that does seem odd!

My gawd, where did all that dust come from.

Computer has decided not to pretend it's an aeroplane now (touchwood), thanks.

I recall someone mentioning a while back that when they go into a thread they're having to read previously read information. How do you go about making the machine realise that you want the thread to open where you left off?