I have a friend who's laptop has faulty motherboard - and completely dead.

He has bought a new Dell Laptop today.

What is the easiest way to transfer the data from his old hard drive in the faulty laptop to his new one.

(Easy to do with a Desktop harddrive using external enclosure - but are they available for laptop harddrives?)

Have a look at post 7786 onwards on this thread. The answer is there.

-- Timeliner,

re: external drive enclosures: yes they are. PC World have a couple at 19-25 quid, probably available for half the price elsewhere.

Bought couple from ebay for less than 10 for the two.

Thanks SC and zzaxx99

I am looking at getting a USB 2.0 Dongal(stick) for a Laptop and/or PC to watch Freeview etc, which ones can you recommend
it must be plug in and watch, no other video cards needed except the ones already installed

Thanks TP & Opto.
Did an new install (it was still on the comp,
but not showing anywhere)
Changed all the settings. OK now.
Learning.
Quick count count of mem usage of the Processes
matches the Commit Charge,
but still getting small CPU blip about every 30secs.
Dosn't seem to do any harm.
Tks
mac

Can I ask Exec ? again

Just checked to see if there are any new Microsoft Updates.

Do I really need 'Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 and .NET Framework 3.5 Family Update (KB951847) x86' and which I see is a 248MB sized download?

That will probably depend upon what desktop applications you run, Fred, as they make use of the NET Framework.

For instance, if you run a proprietary charting package (eg Sharescope or MT4), it will probably only make use of features within the previous version for now, but may well make use of the latest features at some stage in the future. So you might find that it stops working in a few weeks or months time. Similarly if your grandchildren run the latest PC games, then they might also encounter future problems if they don't update.

Is that right DelBoy?

As it is offering SP1 and another update, you probably already have the basic package so it would be a good idea to update it incase there are security implications.

In general, most MS updates - with the odd exception - do less harm than good and very few people are qualified to sort out the bad ones in advance. The best thing to do is install them all and don't worry about it.

Thanks to both.

Had a little difficulty in upgrading, but seemed to do it eventually in stages.

Fred, I agree with Hilary and Optimist.

The whole .NET thing is a horrible monster but it provides a congenial application development environment to developers who, well, use it, dammit.

MM

PS: I did like Opti's most MS updates - with the odd exception - do less harm than good. Quite.

.NET is an oddity in that applications are written to use one particular version and the separate versions can and do co-exist on a machine. I have 1.0 and 2.1 installed. The SP1 and other updates of course are not new versions and so should be installed.

I need to convert a relatively simple ASP to PHP. It may as well be Dutch to me, but I've seen there are conversion tools on the internet. Are they likely to be reliable, or should I call in a pro-coder to do it?

I have a 3 monitor setup for my PC, 1 Videocard connects 1xVGA, 1xDVI and the 2nd Videocard connects 1xVGA

Put the PC on this morning, and 1 of the displays is not working, checked for viruses, adware updated drivers etc, the monitors got power and the display settings shows it in the menu and says its working OK, I can even move my icon off the primary monitor to the one thats off so it still thinks its there, I've tried the cables and found (I think) its the monitor connected to the DVI output

Can you help me with any other ideas??????

Have you tried swapping the monitors to check that they all work?

Optimist, its a bit difficult for me, but did pull the ones slightly out which were connected to VGA so only the DVI was still in and thats the one off plug is coloured blue if that helps

If I do need a new graphics card what do you recommend for a AMD sempron 3100+ 1.81GHz, if I remember its got AGPx8 slot, love it to handle all three but cost no more than 50-100 at the moment plus I want it to be good enough to put in new pc if need, I've got an ATI 9600 Dual VGA-DVI, and Sapphire ATI9250 PCI

I can't really recommend a graphics card, except to point out that many cards these days are aimed at 2D and 3D graphics and their considerable capabilities are good for gaming and photo work but will have little impact on a traders screen.

You need to swap the monitors over to make sure that it is not the cable or the monitor at fault. If it is the DVI output that is not working then get on Ebay and buy an adaptor.

Optimist, Thanks ;-)

Richgit,
You did not state which monitor appears to be duff.
Transpose the Vga leads between the two cards.
This should prove the monitors and cards.
For the DVI, if you have an output on the second card,
try that..
If you have a DVI/VGA adaptor try that monitor on
a VGA output.
mac

tyketto, the monitor that seems to be off is the one connected to my 128mb Radeon 9600 AGPx8 Videocard which has a VGA and DVI connecter, it seems to be the one connect to the DVI output on this card thats not working now, even thou power light is on, and it shows up on display settings, I will have to wait untill I can get someone to come over to check and swap the cables around etc as I cant do it myself (in a wheelchair)