Jeffmack - I've used Logmein Pro (https 256-bit encryption for what it's worth) for almost a year to control my computers in Korea and transfer files back and forth. As Optomist implies - it's a tradeoff as far as security is concerned; the more theoretically secure a remote desktop solution is, the more likely it is to be a pain in the arse to set up, especially for less technical users.

Logmein worked well for a few months, but since then it's frequently dropped connections during sessions, rendering it barely usable. I've talked to their technical people - a plus point is they have good customer service in my experience - but they couldn't get to the bottom of the problem. The distances are large so it might be a factor. Logmein uses a Firefox plugin, Java or IE ActiveX to work. The plugin was relatively fast. When I tested GotomyPC, which I believe just used Java at the time, it was painfully slow and I thought it was very poor. I have a 100 megabit connection in Korea but some poor lag times across the Pacific to GotomyPC's US servers, it could be better from the UK.

Only meee..........again!

Comp.back with me,far too long a story but fixed now.....except!

After the powers that be accepting the 25 bit activation code and re-booting a number of times it's finally come back with something like:

"Since Windows was first activated on this computer,the hardware on this computer has changed significantly....................must be reactivated within three days"

The original comp.that the OS was in failed beyond repair so this new one he or ME is building is obviously a bit different-lol

It was a Medion comp.that came with a XP Home edition CD which has loaded up fine.It won't now accept the original 25 bit activation code but there is a phone number to reactivate via this route! What are my chances and is there anything I can say to swing it?-lol

Cheers in advance

I've had that problem in the distant past. That time I ended up speaking to a real person. I explained that I had replaced the motherboard and hard disk and after a few questions they activated it. They were most concerned that I has in possesion of the original stickon Key.

More recently, I had to phone the number and everything was automatic. Make sure you use a phone with a seperate keypad and speaker there are a lot of keys to press..

If you were using Vista then you would not be allowed to transfer an OEM key.

yep sorted before I saw your post,Opti but your post is much appreciated,cheers.

and yes it's automated,worn out now-lol

Part of the problem was the original HD had Vista on but he wanted XP back but hadn't formated HD from original MB so the OS was rather confused seeing a new MB! Anyway,all up and running now............thank god-lol

Optimist , I see dell are offering the i7

don,t help - until Vista/windows 7 situation resolved

MD

The problem with any i7 machine at the moment is that you will probably pay double the price for only a 50% increase in performance but that will change when it becomes mainstream.

My guess is that Vista will run very well on the i7 although Windows 7 will be better and they won't be giving free upgrades for systems bought now.

Re post 7722.

Just thought I'd update............

Computer back with me now,grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The PS shot up to 16V on the 12V rail-lolz

The only visible sign apart from looking at voltages was the DVD drive didn't work,well lights up and opens but that's it.Working ok now with new PS.

A brand new Corsair HX620W PS now busted!

So,new PS now in along with new 320GB HD.........no hope of me building a new comp.up this year now :-(

Anyway,made the Primary partition 80GB with the rest as an Extended partition-any thoughts as in right or wrong way of doing it? Cheers

I've never been able to see the advantage of partitioning a hard drive.

There is no reliability advantage, as a physical failiure will effect both partitions and there will be a theoretical performance hit. Also, there are plenty of badly written programs that will insist in useing at least some of the C: drive, plus the fact that every program uses registry settings on C.

Use a partition manager to get rid of the 2nd partition.

The theory about partioning was that if you make the C drive as small as possible it will make Windows & other C based programs run faster as there is less disk to search. With mega fast CPU's now & better hard drive pick ups, partioning has become a thing of the past. On old machines it's still an advantage, imo.

Morning all,

My thinking was on the lines of HARRYCAT's along with cutting the time of disk maintenance eg defrag

morning all

If I run XP and Linux without partitioning are there any benefits??

Todays disks have larger sector sizes and often have so much free space that even fragmentation has a lesser effect although I would always recommend it.

If your serious about defragmentation, then buy Diskeeper which will run continuously during idle time.

Bob

Instaling XP and Linux on the same partition would be difficult/impossible as they use very different file systems. If your machine is powerful enough, you could run one as a VM on the other.

Thanks Optimist

Think I will stick with dual boot. Its just that on my laptop XP seems slower now, Linux ubuntu runs fine.

Think this explains quite well and confirms what has been said here:

http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=326

Not a problem but can anybody recommend a good cheap laptop PC ? (Not HP which I will never buy) Thanks. Budget around 400 - 500 GBP

A while ago I gave up using an old laptop which no longer did plug and play with USB devices. An interchange on this thread eventually forced me to think about re-installing the operating system.

I'd like to use this as a way of exploring Linux. However, I now find it comes in various guises other than Ubuntu - which I thought was the only one.

Before I start I thought I'd check if there were any other Linux enthusiasts around here and, if so, which variant of Linux do they use.

TP

TP

The list is almost endless. Try Googling 'linux distros'.

I have tried a few but prefer OpenSuSe because it is full featured and Windows like and Damn Small Linux because it is a 50 MB distro which will run from a USB drive in RAM on any computer.

The problem with Linux is that although you can do most things with it, many parts have rough edges compared with Windows and it is not as intuitative to use. You also have to to do a lot of configuration from the command prompt.

It's well worth looking at though especially for server applications.

Edit

You can also get Live versions of many distros. these tend to be a bit slow (apart from Damn Small Linux) but they will run from the CD or DVD without touching the hard drive. Very good for testing.

TP - I've used a number of Linux distros over the years, but I've settled on Ubuntu in the last couple of years, because it's arguably the most popular 'consumer Linux' there is, so I feel there are generally fewer compatibility issues, it has a decent repositories, and more support in places like http://ubuntuforums.org/. I've also run Damn Small Linux from a USB drive as a way of accessing the Internet more securely from public computers overseas.

The two main problems with various Linux distros as far as I'm concerned are support for certain hardware can be patchy, and installing certain applications (via 'packages') can sometimes turn into a geek nightmare. If you never run into these issues, all well and good, but if you do, they can be absolute show-stoppers. For example, around three years ago I installed Ubuntu 6 on a Dell Inspiron portable - it wouldn't recognise the built-in wireless and the only way to fix it was to 'recompile the Kernel' - which is about as scary as it sounds. Ubuntu has improved a lot since then, and with the community support there's a lot less chance of having to get your hands dirty when things go wrong, or running into an unfixable problem. For me, right now it comes closest to passing the 'it just works' test, although it different people may have different experiences depending on their equipment.

It's worth testing the CD-based Live versions of various distros. If you just want to see what they look and feel like (it won't guarantee hardware compatibility on a natively installed operating system), you could try a system such as the Mokafive Player, which has a number of distros available as virtual machines (http://lab.mokafive.com/List) (some of these are a bit old now though).