SP3 is not, at this time, to be installed for another month or so because the problems are still showing up. At some time, the patches for the induced problems will be ready and at that time, SP3 can be installed for XP and then the patches can be immediately applied that will make SP3 a useful product. However, SP3 is a good tool to install when a customer’s computer is so messed up that a desperation move is to install SP2 or SP3 in order to not lose the customer’s data. Installing either SP2 or SP3 is an appropriate move when the basic structure is OK and you need to attempt to stabilize the computer from crashing and general malaise. Secunia has a program that checks the revision level of ALL programs on your computer with its 15,000+ database of current revisions of programs and then provides the user with a button to start the download of the update. Everyone should run the program once every month.
Sometime the above actions are taken to merely get the computer running well enough to get the data squirreled away safely somewhere before scraping the hard drive clean and reinstalling.
There are times that reinstalling is required, but the action of reinstalling causes all personalizations and files accumulating data over a period of years to be lost. One must reinsert the changes into the software.
For instance, I had a complete new load installed and found that years of email whitelist and blacklist entries were gone and attempts to restore the entries from backup files were not effective.
One of the problems that universally seems to show up is that Microsoft has an update procedure and non-Microsoft programs tend to not have an automated procedure.
As with so many other programs, Secunia will also implant itself into your START UP queue so that each time you restart your computer, Secunia will also be restarting. The preferred technique is to stop the program from restarting after a single run by removing the program from the startup menu by putting MSCONFIG into the RUN box and unchecking the offending program from there. Another solution is to just remove the program from the computer.
If you get a new LCD panel and you are wondering what to do with what it replaced, keep the old one and put it beside the new screen to make your screen double in size or able to handle two completely separate programs – one on each screen. All you have to do is obtain a dual head video card such as the VisionTek Radeon HD2400 AGP ($70 at Micro Center) which will drive two screens simultaneously. Then install the supplied software and XP will then drive both screens as though they were one. I have the Device Manager up on the left one, Word on the right screen as I am writing this. Often I leave MailWasher on the left (smaller) screen so I can see if email has come in. Quite a large percentage of the Clinic work is merely to accomplish the maintenance that a normal user needs to do on a weekly basis. Routine stuff like defragging, keeping the computer free of excessive files, and keeping all parts of it current – certainly a monthly task. Most critical missed: Noncritical updates. Most effective missed: MSCONFIG cleanup. CrossLoop is an implementation of TightVNC which is literally one-click activation. By setting up CrossLoop on any broadband- based computer, you can assist (for free) your offspring in college, your mother in Timbuktu, or friends with their own problems. You email them a URL to click on and then when the initial panel shows up, have them click on SHARE and tell you the resultant 12-digit number. You plug the 12 digits into your ACCESS panel; the two computers will handshake and the next thing you see will be the screen of the remote computer. It is simple and it works. Once in a while a firewall gets in the way, but that is fixed by shutting down the firewall, starting up the CrossLoop session, then restarting the firewall, which will remember the needed setting. Simple. The capacitor problem is back! And it’s a mess! You may remember that in 2000 two Taiwanese nationals stole from Japan the formula for the electrolyte in capacitors. took to Taiwan and produced billions of defective capacitors because they didn’t steal ALL of the formula. That little debacle meant that millions of power supplies and computers failed in the field about 3-5 years later as the capacitors all leaked, bulged, and dribbled themselves to oblivion. When your computer begins to act flaky and especially if you ever see a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) it is usually a hardware problem and the first thing to do is to resolve the power supply issue. In the BIOS, the voltages will look OK because there is a low current draw in that situation, but when the CPU begins to cause significant current draw when the computing load increases, then the crashes start which allow the data to corrupt. After the first crash, inspect the power supply capacitors and replace the entire power supply as inspection dictates. For years all LCD panels were sprayed with a coating that diffused the surface of the screen, thus eliminating the screen acting as a mirror by showing all of the objects and lights behind you. That coating has largely disappeared from the marketplace for (especially) laptops, yet is essential for a good computing experience. The argument is that the characters are a bit clearer. Probably true, but the reflections make the screen almost unreadable as compared to just a bit fuzzy. So my suggestion is to seek out and purchase only sprayed screens.
Comments
XP SP3
I hear that you can make a slip stream disk for Win XP SP3 with n-Lite. I downloaded the latest edition of n-Lite, but not sure what to do with this. I thought maybe I should walk this one through with someone. It might make an interesting topic some time.
I am new to this user group and this is the first time I am contacting you. i was wondering if there is laptop sig?
Zcorker