DP,

That BlackViper site is interesting.

I have done the indexing and themes tweaks and it seems to have speeded things up for me.

TP

Needing a couple of new PCs running XP pro for the business, want fastish machines, looking around 400-600 without screen, any ideas? Have been looking at Ebuyer HP machines, but has anyone got any other suggestions.

SC

It depends what you want to use your machies for. Many business machines need a good processor and plenty of RAM but do not use much hard disk space and CDROM and floppy drives can be a disadvantage. If this is the case with your bussiness then find someone who will make the machines to your spec and don't pay for stuff that you don't want (also you avoid the rubbish free software/spyware that comes with most new computers.

In any case, make sure you get at least an Intel Core 2 Duo proccessor. That seems to be the best low end at present.

Having said that, in the past year I've bought very old second hand IBM and HP units. They are a pain to set up, because they use some non standard components but the build quality was far better than other machines. I guess that sometimes, you get what you pay for.

Thanks Optimist (again!). These are mainly to be used for database work and mailmerge type stuff using word, which is painfully slow at times on the current cheapo machines we have :-)

Hav had bad experiences in the past with custom made units using cheap components - some suppliers promising the earth and delivering rubbish.

SC have a look at power computing Ltd. Free delivery, Good warranty and varity of specs.
Anyone else used the co?

www.powerc.com

Have a look at this machine. These guys are excellent computer dealers and the experience I have had in dealing with them for about 5 years now was second to none. Check out their site for trouble free software downloads and also their site's computer hardware search engine facility.

http://www.computerdoctors.uk.net/shop/v6000w.htm

DP,

Still running noticeably faster.

Indexing was on manual anyway so it must be those themes tweaks that have speeded things up. Didn't do much else.

TP

Thanks Optomistic and Doc. Will have a look.

Haven't done anything about the new PCs yet.

However, my crashing desktop has had a new HD fitted and everything re-installed by my tame PC man, and he has "optimised" the installation. It has never run so fast, boots up incredibly quickly, multitasks with ease, plays DVDs better than it ever has and just seems like it's got a new processor. Amazing what a good install can do. Took him about 5 hours, so I'm glad I didn't atttempt it.

Finally got rid of the Trojan.killav from my friends PC. Excellent help from www.CEXX.Org (shame about how it is pronounced). Used Combofix, HighJackThis, Smitfraudfix and AVG Anti-Spyware 7.5 under safe mode. All under supervision of course:-)
Phew! What a b*****d that was!
I think it would have been quicker to do a re-install with hindsight. :-))

The power supply for one of my 19inch monitors has died on me,it a 240v-12v 4amp thingy by Digimate.Does anyone have any suggestions please on this one.do PC World do replacements or can it be sourced from another supplier.

Rick..........

You may be able to get a replacement one but if you have dificulty you should be able to use a universal power supply. Try Maplins.

I thought it was time I looked at a bit of 'spring' cleaning of my programmes on my PC.
I am perplexed by some Java progs in add/remove programs.
I have a total of 6 of them. There's J2SE Runtime Enviroment 5.0 updates 6,9, 10 and 11. And also Java (tm) 6 update 3 and Java (tm) SE Runtime Enviroment 6 update 1.
All of the progs are 120Mb+ so thought they should be taken a look at.
Is Java 6 update 3 the only one I need to keep? Assuming it's the latest one.
Thx in advance.

Mega,

I needed a 24v doodaa for my scanner the other week. I got a universal one new off eBay for 10 including postage.

Bolshi

When Java updates, it does not remove the old version so you are normally safe to remove them.

The rare exception is if you use an application that requires an earlier version, but you can always reinstall.

hils,just had a look and Bingo there are loads of them,sorted i thank you very much :-)

Here's a useful 'update checker', which tests your PC to see what software needs updating. It also points you to the safest place to obtain the update too.

http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/

It tells me Java Runtime Environment 1.6.0.3 is the latest version and my Installed Version is: 1.6.0.2

Ah well.

Thx chaps.

I'm tweaking my friend's PC (still). Her PC doesn't automatically connect t'tinternet on start up. I thought it was just a matter of ticking the box 'Dial Whenever an Internet Connection is Not Present' under the Tools>Internet Options>Connection box. This hasn't worked and I'm just come home to compare it to my settings and I notice that the whole box under 'Chose Settings if you need to configure for a proxy server etc....' is shaded out so I cannot chose one of these boxes anyway.
Obviously I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I can't for the life of me see anything else relevant.

What sort of connection does she have? In fact dial whenever an Internet Connection is Not Present would be wrong for broadband say. Te setting would be never dial or use local network.