Not looked in here for a while.
Funny, I was just saying to a girliefriend today, I very rarely get any kind of spam even in my spambox in my hottie account (never in the inbox) - but btinternet is just out of control, with an increasing number landing in my inbox. Her private one is Yahoo, which is even worse, so she's resorted to using her business account for friends, which is spam-free.

Same old questions, I'm afraid:
Vista machine - how can I tell if I'm defragging?
Tried it a few times, and there is absolutely nothing to tell me if it's working.

Windows updates - they always get me sooner or later.
And then I have the same old relentless problem - always with a new twist - to re-activate my 2nd screen. I never know what I've done to achieve activation - always just relieved until the next time :S

Chocolat

In Vista, Startbutton, type defrag in the searc h box and select Disk Defragmenter. The window that pops up allows you to schedule a regular defrag, manually run and also gives the time of the last run. When it is running, the bottom portion shows the status but not a percentage bar.

To enable your second monitor, right click the desktop background and select Personalize then select Display Settings. Click the 2nd monitor and check Extend the desktop onto this monitor.

Lately, searching on Google seems to bring up a lot of fake results. For example, go to google.com, type "Gann techniques" and you will see the first result shows a link to "freescan.microsoft.com/gann.html" and that link has NOTHING to do with Gann techniques! Click the "Search" button again and this time it shows far more legitimate links. Is anyone else experiencing a similar problem?

Haven't noticed anything like that.

I got:

http://www.webtrading.com/gannintro.htm

as #1 for "gann techniques" without quotes, #2 with quotes. And everything else Gann-related.

Hmmmm....must be something to do with spyware/malware on my pc. I run daily scans for those and haven't found anything though.

Yes. I have noticed a difference in my search results of late.

I recently signed up for a Google Account so as to access a local community Google Group (a Residents Alliance to fight a local development scheme). I suspect this might have something to do with it.

When I now use Google, I now notice my e-mail address is ready up in the top RH corner of the page and there are also a couple of Google Account links

The Search results now have a variety of symbols associated with them. They are like little boxes. One has a vertical arrow in it ('Promote'), one has a cross in it ('Remove') and then there's one which is like a speech balloon ('Comment').

A search for "Gann techniques" doesn't do anything too wierd, though. Just normal results - with the little boxes as described above

Thanks ExecLine. By some strange coincidence, I too have just signed up for a Google account and have noticed that the earlier weird behaviour with Google search has disappeared. The little boxes you mention - I see then now.

Sorry i'm back!

This "crucial" site, i see i can get more memory from it, as the laptop
is 1.86ghz, can i get a speed grade from it or somewhere else.

Hope thats not a stupid question!.
d.

Sorry but I''m not sure what you mean by "a speed grade".

The 1.85GHz refers to your processor speed, the memory runs considerably slower - most likely around 400MHz although the fastest desktops now use 1GHz + memory speeds.

If you go to the Crucial site and run their memory checker, it will offer you the best memory for your machine although some of the options may involve discarding your existing RAM. If the crucial tool can't identify the machine then check the manufacturers website.

Dailos:

I will bow to superior PC knowledge from elsewhere (I'm just a simple computer scientist/software engineer), but the only cost-effective way I know of to upgrade the CPU speed of a laptop is to buy a new one.

Having said that, more memory will vastly increase the operating speed of your laptop. Don't worry about the CPU GigaHertz (GHz), upgrade the memory Gigabytes.

Your computer can only run program code that is resident in main memory. If the size of all the stuff, including the chunks of Windows you are using, exceeds the available main memory, Windows uses up lots of time swapping the things you're not currently using out so it can load the things you want to use back in from disk.

So, instead of things running at the speed of the CPU, you end up waiting for the mechanical disk heads to scrabble around reading the stuff that you need, while you wait at the keyboard with that dinky little hour-glass cursor in front of you.

Install more RAM.

Cheers

MM.

Thanks.. understand now.
:-)

The Belarc Advisor will build a profile of your hardware and software, and display the whole machine's shooting match in your Web browser.

Then you can print it out for future reference.

Who made the machines parts?
How much RAM and what sort?
What software is on the machine and exactly where is it located?
What are the software versions?
What are the Microsoft Product Keys?
What Microsoft Updates have already been downloaded and installed?

And more!

Less disk activity in swapping means a longer lasting disk drive. I have found that people with PCs with very low memory are frequently the ones with disk failures. A PC with low memory may be swapping almost continuously if you have more than one window open at a time or more than one web page open.

Thanks Optimist - again!
Hope I've cracked it this time - machine looks set for another updateything, so fingers crossed for an easy re-set.
Still don't understand why the screen goes every time though.

Chocolat

You should normally set your auto update options to automatically download and install which in practise assuming you do not switch your machine off, will result in it rebooting some Wednsday or Thursday mornings.

I'ved never lost my second screen during an update, but it has happened if the monitor is disconected for a short time.

MM

As always, you explain it perfectly.

Exec

I totally agree re Belarc Advisor it sould be a must have for everyone. Make sure that you save the report to an independant drive.

Portforwarding?

Firewalls/AV's installed
Norton Internet Secruity
Zonealarm Internet Secruity
AVAST
PeerGuardian 2

Also using Netgear WPN824 wireless router

I need to let my P2P software allow uploads, but i keep getting firewall is stopping part or all of the connection so if i didnt sort it out it will ban me sooner rather than later

I've switched off the ZA, NIS firewalls or told them to allow access to P2P software etc but still nothering. Tried to change the router setting but dont know user name / password etc

I need to make sure my pc is secure for viruses, hacks spyware etc, but also allow uploads for my p2p software

HELP ;-)

Richgit

You will have to get into the Netgear router and alow access on the required ports to your machine.

Thanks again Optimist - think I'm getting the hang of it now.
I kept postponing the updates today, because I didn't want the interruption, and I've just come back to find the machine was waiting for me to let it restart - and the screen is working. Had I shut down earlier (which I'm afraid I tend to do when the boys and their friends are around after I've gone to bed) I'd have had to have a fiddle by now :)

Anyway - next question: do I want this IE security patch?
http://tech.uk.msn.com/news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=11984472

Yes - as soon as posible.

As regards the MS updates, I find that it is best to load everything automatically. It is very rare that a patch will foul things up seriously although there are exceptions. In any case, you can always use system restore to put it back.Your chance of spotting the rouge patch before instalation is almost zero.

Thanks :)
They are s'posed to load automatically, but perhaps I mess up the routine by shutting down - I don't know :S
I noticed that IE patch when I was logging into my hottie account the other day - I'll give it a whizz later.
And you're right about system restore - it's about the only thing I can't mess up :)