Month: February 2011

After years of running Diskeeper, it is no longer on my system. All gone. After reading that Diskeeper could be the culprit, I just couldn’t get my head around it. However, I did disable auto defragging on the boot drive, and guess what? Restore points do NOT disappear. As there is no point in defragging my other partitions and drives continually, there seemed no point in having any part of Diskeeper, least of all ‘DKService’ a process which could be invasive at times. Windows Defragmenter runs now, and if I feel like doing it manually, Auslogics Defrag is fast and … Continue reading Lost restore points.. It really was Diskeeper

Now you have your original installation DVD and a service pack ISO. Oh joy. And if you have an old machine like I do, the prospect of maybe re-installing Windows 7 in the future and then having to wait nearly three hours for the service pack simply palls. At the end of the tunnel there is light. There is a tool called RT 7 Lite which can slipstream a service pack into the original media. Be sure to use the correct bit version. http://www.rt7lite.com/downloads.html  I used the beta version download at the bottom of the website because no other version … Continue reading Windows 7 SP1 – Slipstreaming the Service Pack

So you regularly do your Windows updates and all is as it should be. Why install a service pack which only amounts to a rollup? Sooner or later, there will be an update which will require that SP1 is in place, so why not do it now? If the PC is in good order, there is no better time to install a major collection of updates. A service pack ensures that you have no gaps in the update history If the service pack is going to be a problem, why not sort it out now? The service pack is not … Continue reading Windows 7 SP1 – Install now or wait?

I set it going on the Celeron powered Conroe 1333 at 09:45hrs  today and I have no idea how long it took because I was out until 14:00hrs. Suffice to say, all went well and SP1 is now installed and running well..

.. and the computer came out of hibernation this morning without a squawk. First time since the last round of updates. I stopped the first attempt to install the pack when I noticed WinPatrol intercepting it. The computer had been sitting appearing to do nothing for a while. The only indication that anything was rumbling was the hard drive LED. I shouldn’t have worried because the second time into the installation with WinPatrol turned off took two hours and forty minutes back to a working desktop. It has to be remembered that my system is an aging dual core AMD … Continue reading Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is now installed..

.. is on it’s way. February 22nd is the release day for the general public, and today is the release date to MSDN and TechNet subscribers. Here is the public link..  http://windows.microsoft.com/installwindows7sp1 Presently, the page shows the MS Corporate background and a ‘Page cannot be found’ message in the area where the body text and download button will appear. Windows 7 SP1 brings bug fixes, security patches etc., but don’t expect any new features because there aren’t any. Windows 7 should already be working ok for you and if it isn’t, that will teach you to install it on some … Continue reading Windows 7 SP1 Service Pack..

.. is now at the release candidate stage. Ed Bott has done a nice review.. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/ie9-release-candidate-review-will-microsofts-big-browser-bet-pay-off/2954?tag=nl.e539 What’s new in photos.. http://www.zdnet.com/photos/internet-explorer-9-release-candidate-whats-new-whats-changed/6192722?seq=2&tag=content;get-photo-roto I have used it exclusively since it was released as a beta. If pages wouldn’t play ball, I added the address to compatibility view, and if It didn’t find what I was searching for, I typed in different search words. I never run 3rd party toolbars and add-ins unless I absolutely have to run them which gives me trouble free operation. Apologies for being so boring, but it browses and browses well. That is good enough for me.. 

The latest 266.58 graphics drivers are working well, no twitching or conflicts with Ultramon 3.1.0. All is well, and the drivers can be found here. I use the nVidia scan service, but you can play with the selection boxes if you have nothing better to do.. http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

After almost a month of trouble-free operation, D-link’s Shareport software has let the side down yet again. I have contacted D-link re the problem, and so far have received an e-mail confirming the contact. No hint of an answer as yet. However, Silex America is the originator, and they have a latish version which I just downloaded and installed. I was rather surprised that it worked directly after installation, although it did require an automatic reboot. Silexamerica live here.. http://www.silexamerica.com/support/software/svl.html. Be prepared for another update soon. I feel one coming on..

If you are in the process of building a computer with a Intel 6 series support chip, or have a computer with one of these, you have a problem. Fortunately, the affected motherboards have only been shipping since the beginning of January, and computer manufacturers are responding very quickly to the problem. Sales of all affected computers and motherboards have been suspended, and Intel are looking to ship revised versions in the latter end of February. Purchasers of computer systems bought from major manufacturers will no doubt be accommodated by the manufacturer. If you have not already registered your purchase … Continue reading Intel Sandy Bridge 6 series issues