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Thread ID: 22720	2002-07-28 23:53:00	sunday news	tweak'e (174)	Press F1

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66269	2002-07-28 23:53:00	Tweaktown (www.tweaktown.com) have done up a guide titled Windows XP From Reformat To Relax (http:). It's a good guide that will help newbies get the most trouble-free install of XP. Here's a clip: This guide picks up at that point. I've gathered all the main tweaks and optimal settings which apply to most XP-based systems and put them here in an easy-to-follow format. The guide progresses logically through the major system settings and tools, rather than jumping around from tweak to tweak or by individual device. It's all about rapidly getting your system to optimal speed while at the same time allowing you to systematically go through and adjust all the little visual and personal settings you need to put the finishing touches to WinXP. Microsoft has published an update for Corporate Administrators who download Dynamic Update. The update is discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) Article Q322069 and it details Corporate administrators being able to download Dynamic Update 1.3 to a network installation share, so users can install Windows XP with the updates included in Dynamic Update 1.3. Download the update here (download.microsoft.com) and read the KB article here (support.microsoft.com). Symantec has announced it will release the public beta of Norton Utilities in February 2003. Norton Utilities is Symantec's PC optimisation program that has been the flagship of the company for many years now. You can read more on the beta here (www.symantec.com). AMD has cut prices on its Athlon XP and Duron processors for both desktop and notebook PCs. They have cut he price by up to 20 percent off prices for the Athlon XP. The price cuts on desktop chips ranged from a 20 percent cut on the Athlon XP 2100+, to a 5 percent cut on the Athlon XP 2200+. The Athlon XP 2000+ dropped by 16 percent, the Athlon XP 1900+ chip fell 13 percent, the Athlon XP 1800+ dropped 11 percent, the price of the Athlon XP 1700+ was shaved 7 percent and the Athlon XP 1600+ stayed where it was. You can read more here (news.com.com). CoolMon version 0.98 is out. CoolMon is an application which displays system information in a small configurable window that will display the following values: Processor usage (up to four CPU's) Number of Processes Number of Threads Process using the most CPU time Processor type Used/Free/Total page file Used/Free/Total RAM Free/Total/Grand Total Disk space (up to sixteen disks, also mapped network drives) Computer Uptime Date & Time Computer name User name All IP addresses Network read and write speed (up to four NICs) Total Bytes sent and received Battery status Motherboard Monitor temperatures and fan speeds Import lines from any text file (i.e. Winamp song title, log files, etc.). The new version has the following changes: Did I miss some versions in between? No, 0.96 and 0.97 were just internal versions Fixed MBM 5.1.9.1 support. WARNING: This version only works with MBM 5.1.9.1 and newer! New spiffy installer Fixed Pin to Desktop option Tidied up the context menu Label dragging option removed (when Lock Form was activated) Grab it here (www.daisyman.arsware.org), but be warned YOU MUST have Motherboard Monitor 5.1 installed. Microsoft has a guide out that allows you to set the My Documents Folder as 'Private' in Windows XP. If you have Windows XP Home or Professional running NTFS, you can hide files and entire folders from prying eyes. When you set up multiple user accounts on one machine, any user with administrator access can view the documents in another's My Documents folders. To protect a folder, right-click it, choose Properties, the Share tab, and select "make this folder private." No one, not even a fellow system administrator, can access these most secret files. Every file or folder contained within whichever folder you choose to make private will take on the settings of the parent folder. If the administrator does not have a password to the account, Windows XP will prompt the user to make a password or risk subjecting his or her private work to public scrutiny. No Windows password means no protected files. Check out the guide at Microsoft (support.microsoft.com). DVD Review have compiled a list of DVD Easter Eggs, those hidden features that are only triggered by doing special actions. Some of the Easter eggs are easily found but others are a bit harder to come by. This comprehensive list will show you how to get to them. Check the list out here (www.dvdreview.com). Microsoft has released a Windows 2000 Patch to fix a problem where a Lock Occurs Between Two Threads of System GDI in Windows 2000. This update resolves the "DeadLock Occurs Between Two Threads of System GDI in Windows 2000" issue in Windows 2000 and is discussed in Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) Article Q322842. Download the patch here (www.microsoft.com). BearShare version 4.01 is out with no list of changes. BearShare is a Windows file sharing program from Free Peers, Inc. that lets you share files. The program is built using Gnutella technology and is easy to use. Get the new version here (www.bearshare.com). System Mechanic, the system optimisation program, version 3.7f is out. This is another update with no list of changes, but if you have Windows 95/98/Me/NT4/2000/XP, go grab it and get full use of it's 15 utilities. Grab it from here (www.iolo.com). Matrox has released new Windows 2000/XP Parhelia drivers that fix some general bug fixes including DVI issue and problem with Neverwinter Nights. Download the drivers here (www.matrox.com) and remeber to uninstall the old drivers first. Asus has released yet another version of PCProbe, bringing it up to version 2.17.04. Get it here (ftp://ftp2.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/probe21704.zip). Neowin has done some investigating and published their view on the Windows XP SP1 Effect On Windows XP Corporate Version. Here's part of what they said: Because most of us aren't used to this new XP yet, BetaOne said that they tried 75 keys or so and that it didn't work, well obviously after receiving, I decided to test this out, and found out why BetaOne was having trouble slipstreaming SP1 into a corp CD. Everyone has forgotten that when MS made XP Retail and Corp (Pro) they used two algorithm's, and the beta of SP1 that is out is NOT for Corp, its for RETAIL, this I found after a friend messaged me and asked for help since he wanted to try slipstreaming and locked himself out, after having him test a corp key and to no avail I asked him to test a retail key I had laying around, and the system took it. So it seems B1 was partly right, Slipstreaming doesn't work, because the keys do change, to retail. Which makes the most sense of this over-hyped bizarre whining of the warez world. Read the whole article and see a screenie here (www.neowin.net). EPoX has released some new BIOS updates for the following motherboards. Check the list for the changes and download links: Model support: EP-4SDM, EP-4SDM+, EP-4SDM2, EP-4SDM2+ Bios filename: 4sdm2722.bin Bios date: 7/22/2002 Enhancements & Fixes for this BIOS release: Solved CPU temp too high 49~53c. Fixed some CPU use default ratio will not get correct CPU ratio. Show PC3200 in POST when DRAM clock over 200Mhz. Download: 4sdm2722.exe (ftp://ftp.epox.com/support/motherboard/bios/4sdm2722.exe) (282 KB) Model support: EP-4BEA, EP-4BEAR Bios filename: 4bea2722.BIN Bios date: 7/22/2002 Enhancements & Fixes for this BIOS release: Show PC2700/PC3200 at POST. Added "EHCI_USB20_SELECTABLE". Solve FSB533 DDR354 Sisoft sandra test memory benchmark too low. Move some Item to feature and modify S3WakeUpKBMS_Item Defaults. Download: 4bea2722.exe (ftp://ftp.epox.com/support/motherboard/bios/4bea2722.exe) (273 KB)	tweak'e (174)
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