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I have'nt played around much with Sata drives, but you could read up on 'hot swap' for the hard drive. I know my kids Vista box has the 'safe to remove hardware' icon on the task bar. So the theory is to boot the system and then plug in the problem hard drive....But An issue if the drive does not power up and spin though... And then hope Windows recognizes it and you don't have any data loss from hot swapping the data/power cables. Lots of Information on Google. Maybe leave the power cable on the drive and then plug the SATA cable in after boot? You'd have to Google for that, to be sure drive won't go crazy without the SATA cable on. There is also this, to run a bootable CD that uses Linux to fix stuff without booting in to windows. Be very careful with it, as you can cause damage if done improperly. http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=85811&package_id=88964 It is a 235MB ISO.

Does the 500GB drive power up or even spin? Found this interesting tid bit on the net. Don't open the hard drive up. Just hold the case of it and twist your wrist real quick. Other than power supply problems, stiction (static friction) is the usual cause of a hard drive's failure to spin. The drive heads become stuck to the platter and the motor can't overcome the sticking force. To fix this problem, the platters must be rotated with enough force to free the heads. Twisting the drive violently in the same horizonal plane as the heads will usually free them. The inertia of the heavy platters tends to keep them from moving while the heads are moved around them.

Heres a decent one for general things. http://majorgeeks.com/HD_Tune_d4130.html If you know the specs of the original drive then you can compare the reading.

There was a person(lately) in the United Sates who is going to spend maybe 3 years in jail for facilitating that type of activity. The smaller fines are at least one thousand dollars plus probation for two years.

So it's activated. Have 30 days total, from install, and have it do whatever the hell it does to verify genuine online. It still killed my connection the first try. The connection trouble shooter actually checked more stuff this time. I miss the XP connection checker resetter. So fast it is. It would be nice to have a connection reset button. But then again, I aint no programmer that makes a zillion dollars a year and all the blank CD's he can take home.

Ok then. Once the wifes off of the TV(where that computer is hooked up to) I'll do just that. Have not had the time to see if I can make the RC crash. Only made the Beta crash once on purpose. I also see there is a big sale on Vista now. 50 bucks off at least. Each version.

So I'm un-hibernating the computer, and done waiting for everything to wake up..... Old System it's on so a bit slow in that regard...... So then up pops a Windows 7 activation dialogue in the task bar and then it kills my Ethernet adapter and says that it could not activate. My Ethernet adapter died yesterday as well, but no sign of an activation popup. So had to do a Windows repair on the adapter and it still works fine. Very strange... Have not gone searching too deep for the activation center yet. As I don't see it in accessories.

So heres the answer to my own query. Q: Why doesn't the product key returned match the one on my sticker? If you purchased your PC with Windows already installed from a large manufacturer such as Dell or HP, it's likely that Windows was installed using an OEM key instead of the actual key for your PC. This saves them (and you) money because it's much more efficient for these large companies to install Windows once and then clone the drive.

So my product key sticker on the box and product key in the mobo are different. It's an OEM version of XP. Used BelArc Advisor and magic jelly bean.

Microsofty has given as August for Windows 7 to go to production. And then October for sales. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/11/windows_7_2009/ I wish it was a bit sooner, as I have to upgrade one machine due to a motherboard buffer underflow, that sporadically keeps happening(streaming music and videos mainly). And I am now 40% sure that I can save the XP OEM version on it with a swap out to a newer, dual core mother board. From what I've read, I figure as long as the operating system is still on the hard drive it should give me the option to re-activate it. Otherwise it gets Linux. But if it fails to activate, I still need a usable Windows system for the stuff on it, and that makes it Windows 7 as the obvious candidate. And theres no way in Hell that I'm going to buy a Vista machine near the end of it's miserable life as a stop gap. The kids Vista seems to have a Windows update that is causing some major hang twice in the last week, that leads to a hardware power button reboot.

Telus in British Columbia and Alberta has the 15Mbps DSL speed packages now, which run about 13Mbps. But I think that the 15Mbps package is tied close to fiber and then is copper to home. Uploads though are only about 800Kbps for all packages.

Is the WildBlue Optimizer interfering? Toggle it off and try again. http://help.wildblue.net/kb/article/1957

I have not actually used IE8 for anything but Windoze update on the Windows7 RC. My XP box has IE 6 and the kids Vista box has IE7. And let this be a lesson for people. Don't do 'automatic' windows update(do it manually, as in 'custom'). You are never quite sure where it went and what it's bringing home. An interesting story to go with the picture. http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2007/08/skype_blames_microsoft_windows.html

40 MB in one minute on YouTube High Definition. with about 1 MB of upload. But it was some Spanish beach show with nice scenery..... 30MB for 1:53 8 MB for 30 seconds. 42 MB for 2:40

Depending on the videos file size........................ YES. Especially if he uses the newish YouTube High Definition video's. Now for the 450MB, Some videos on YouTube from CBS can be at least 30MB's for 12 minutes of viewing. I have not checked in a while for exact numbers. A 5 minute video can be 14MB as well. With 700KB of upload on top of that. Don't ever let him near the Apple Movie trailers site. Those can do 30MB's in one preview. Depending on your setup, there is a bandwidth monitor to load in to your router. Or if you have only one system connected direct to the modem, then a software bandwidth monitor. http://majorgeeks.com/NetMeter_d5675.html Or the authors site. http://www.metal-machine.de/readerror/index.php?page=10 Also if you try to surf during Hughesnet FAP, you may extend your 24 hours. And also scan your system with MalWareBytes anti malware to be sure you are clean. http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?tag=mncol&cdlPid=10896905 Download, install, update and then scan in about 3 minutes worth of time.

Haven't checked for a long time on the alternate browsers that use Internet Explorer as their 'Engine', but some are vulnerable as IE, as they are just a skin on top of Internet Explorer and therefor subject to the same security risks as if you were(which you are) using Internet Explorer. But I think at the moment, Adobe's PDF reader is the most exploited thing on the Web at the moment. So many holes and so easy to exploit, since it's comes with many Manufacturers OEM version of Windows.

Does whoever your ISP is, do any funny business on it's lines? Or has some Internet Explorer security setting changed via Windows update? I see my IE version 6 has checked "enable third party browser extensions" that I had unchecked. Very odd. EDIT: Would you still get the same problem if you used FireFox? http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

Isn't there a Linux CD(repair function) that will crack your Windows password and get you in? I've forgotten the details on it, so you will have to search. I think you have to use the Windows Admin account(usually hidden) to get in as per your details.... My safe mode with XP , it is visable.

The other thing to check what your "beam congestion rate" is, is to do a speedtest at about 7am and 12pm and 7pm and then midnight. PrimeTime(maximum user congestion) being from 2pm or 5pm to about 10pm or 11pm. It will roughly show how much 'over sold' your beam is. Or in some instances if the NOC(ground station link) does not have enough Internet bandwidth for all the users in the combined beams tied in to the NOC(about 7 beams or so per NOC).

WildBlue keeps digging a hole for itself.. They are soon to have more capacity on one EchoStar satellite that is available for more congested areas. Maybe about May sometime I think it was for it to come online... But if users had any ballz, they would go after WildBlue with lawyers a blazing.. Hughesnet Ka band on the Spaceway3 (HN9000 modem. One million user estimated capacity) should be more reliable for at least two years or more depending on areas. The KU bands are slowly being phased out. So don't get suckered by a bad installer with a HN7000 modem and a KU satellite setup. Otherwise late 2011 till the next KA band satellite gets put up with a lot more bandwidth available for 2 million user estimated capacity. I am guessing that WildBlue/Telesat and Xplornet/Telesat(Canada) will share it like the current setup on the Anik F2. http://www.viasat.com/broadband-satellite-networks/viasat-1 The main issue is that a user is paying for a certain speed tier. But when a user pays for 1Mbps, that should mean that speeds should not drop in to the 512Kbps tier(and also not stay at the around 512Kbps for long times either). Government keeps ignoring the situation for whatever reason... $ $ Now having said all that....... Buyer beware and most of the support is still pure crap on both satellite services And you will be lied too. Always a good idea to check around for a local wireless provider. And if at all possible with any wireless service or satellite, is to not sign a long term contract, even though it can cost more that way. I think Hughesnet has a one month guarantee to try things out and then a 2 year contract. And the software on the satellite systems are now keeping pings in the 1000ms plus range.

Happy Ether time. But wheres my chocolate bunnies!! I'm not allowed to eat the kids chocolate.

The class action lawyers are looking to get in on that Drywall claim as well. I remember the days when 'Made in Taiwan' meant crap product. Now I wish for made in Taiwan. But lets look at footware and Made in China shoe sizing. The shoe size may get longer, but not wider. In a couple of months I'm going to have to get 'local' custom sized hiking boots for my wider than normal feet, Cause the last pair of boots I could get, the particular store does not carry anymore. I liked the boots fit. They were made in Vietnam. Decent quality too. Thick pad on the inside for cushioning. The rest of the boots for sale were Chinese sizing. Meaning too tight on my feet and side of my toes. Heres a Blog where the person 'Tried' to not buy any Chinese made product for one year..And failed.. http://cantankerousconsumer.blogspot.com/

Heres the splash screen from SpyBot. Advertisement robots are an add on to some legitimate programs and removing the robot will stop the program from working and deprive a user of popup ad's in some cases.

So anyone have the Instant answer to what is possibly a "Buffer Underrun" on my system of XP SP3? Is it the CPU or ???? So even with using SonGBird media player to stream online radio, I am off and on getting the stream stopping(from 3 seconds to 20 seconds to having to manually reinitialize the stream).. On my other two systems there is no buffering. Now an interesting thing is that a volcano website that I can watch Volcano movies at, the Quicktime video is very stop and start and skip frames(and does not ever play the frames smooth at any time), But on the other systems it does not happen like that. They are smooth. Link to movie stream. Hawaii. http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/kilauea/update/archive/2009/Jan/Mar25to30HMMcycles.mov Interesting thing is when I have a audio stream running and I screw around with the QuickTime Volcano movie, The audio stream will actually backup a half second. 8 or 9 year old Trash Compaq system. AMD Athlon 2200+(1.8GHz)processor. 768MB ram. Newish Hard Drives. High speed DSL Internet of 5200Kbps. This has been going on steadily for about 2 months, but slightly happening for about 5 months(just before the hard drive change outs). But does not visually affect downloading or webpage loading or SpeedTest speed results. And no problems burning discs. But I can see slight pauses as the CPU glitches during multiple actions wanting it's processing. I've run CPUStabTest and does not crash the system. But it really slows down any program loading with it running. Right now there is no buffering stops. But this afternoon, it keep buffering. And it's not the ISP, as my other systems can stream the same audio at the same time and no buffering. ::::::::::.. Download Stats ..:::::::::: Download Connection is:: 5141 Kbps about 5.1 Mbps (tested with 12280 kB) Download Speed is:: 628 kB/s Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (Main) Test Time:: 2009/04/10 - 10:58pm Bottom Line:: 90X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 1.63 sec Tested from a 12280 kB file and took 19.569 seconds to complete Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 107.13 % faster than the average for host (233.203) D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-EXNVAWPYH User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.0. Gecko/2009032609 Firefox/3.0.8

The parts with Burgess Meredith Shall describe what a bunch of spam mail is for.