Replies

Fred,

Intel has a white-paper on their website (http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/io/universal-serial-bus/usb3-frequency-interference-paper.html) detailing the effect of the “broadband noise” generated by USB3 devices on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. It looks like a pretty serious problem for 2.4GHz-band and Bluetooth devices.

It is unbelievable that Microsoft would not create an easy migration path – think service-pack installation “easy” – that would keep existing customers connected to the Microsoft product and services infrastructure.

My parents do an amazingly good job of keeping their XP system updated with fixes and other software updates; however, they skipped the only real migration path – Vista – when their technology-savy grand-children cautioned them against it. Their computer was purchased at a time when there were really only two options (Apple or PC) and they don’t feel that a new computer purchase can be justified based on what they use it for. After months of discussing the alternatives, the grand-kids have talked them into using Linux Mint.

I imagine there are millions of people who find themselves in the same situation that will make a similar decision.

Mat said: “I recommend purchasing an Xbox Live Gold account (U.S. $60 per year or $10 per month) to access all of the console’s features. Microsoft locked online multiplayer capabilities behind the Live Gold paywall on the Xbox 360, along with streaming media options such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. That policy continues with the Xbox One. (Sony, too, put the online multiplayer option into its paid premium service, but it allows media streaming without extra charge.)”

I am confounded as to why Microsoft believes that streaming already-paid-for media through the Xbox should require an additional $60 charge per year. That is quite a significant toll to a non-gamer for something positioned as a multimedia system.

Perhaps an update to this article might shed some light on what benefit that additional charge provides.

SumatraPDF is an excellent Acrobat Reader replacement.

From the HP web site:

CAUTION: If you have an HP Pavilion, HP Media Center or Compaq Presario desktop computer that has an AMD processor, your PC might encounter a startup problem after installing SP3 (or SP3 will not download from Windows Update). Before attempting to install SP3, install sp37394 – Microsoft Windows XP SP3 Upgrade Utility for systems with AMD processors .

Microsoft Windows XP SP3 Upgrade Utility for systems with AMD processors.

Microsoft Windows XP SP3 Upgrade Utility prevents continuous system restarts or “Stop: 0x0000007E” errors after upgrading to Windows XP SP3 on systems with AMD processors.

File name: sp37394.exe [1/1, 1.85M]
# System requirements: You must be logged on as an administrator to install this update.
# You must own an HP Pavilion, Presario or Media Center with Windows XP and an AMD processor.
# You must install this update prior to applying Windows XP SP3 update.
Released: 2008-05-19
Version: 1.0
Compatibility: Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows XP Media Center, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Fix/Enhancement: Prevents a condition from occurring that causes continuous system restarts or “Stop: 0x0000007E” errors after upgrading to Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 on systems with an AMD processor.

Example: “A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer…

As to the memory question, I have installed SP3 on XP Pro configurations with only 512MB of memory. 1GB should be sufficient.

It seems that PageDefrag does not work on the 64-bit version of XP Professional.

Are there any other utilities that can be used to defragment Registry hives?

Thanks.