BeeCeeBee

Sorry Quacker but your profile does say XP and you did not specify. There is "paint" in windows 7 under accessories. A screenshot will probably be more helpful but I think I will stay away from this and allow someone who knows a bit better to post.

It seems to me that the trouble may be with your home page rather than the browser. If you set your home page to a site that is down you will get an error message. Type another address in the address bar or click on a bookmark and see if this is happening with other sites. Another word of caution here. It is never a good idea to post your email address on a public forum. There is no way of keeping bots, spiders and even people from using that to spam you or even get you to download malicious programs. I wish I could remove it for you but I can't. I am sure someone will come along who can.

Did you enable the card in windows or only in your bios? If you go to your device manager it should tell you exactly what card is installed.

If you right click on "my computer" and select manage then select "Disk Management" (found under "Storage" on the left column) you will be able to have a look at your disk layout. If you need clarification just post a screenshot of the window.

Here is the problem Harry, by adding a signature link to a commercial website that may or may not be any good leaves one to wonder if your question is legitimate or simply an exercise in spamming. I have followed that link and while it in itself is safe enough to go further with it leads directly into a dangerous site with a confusing popup when you try to leave. What you get is one of those boxes asking you to "chat" with a live representative and makes saying what you think would be No to mean Yes. It is not for me to judge your motives but if you are legitimate you will remove the link from your signature and continue with the thread. It may be that the staff here will view this differently and you are running the risk of being banned from the site. Members should avoid that link!!

Not at al;l sure what you mean??? Are you having problems downloading and using WinRar itself or a program downloaded as rar files or simply a program that requires extraction?

I agree with Goku. Once you have the picture as your wallpaper it is no longer necessary that the original photo remains in your computer. If all that seems a bit much just move all your desktop icons away from the picture. If the picture is stretched to fill the whole screen it is probably a bit distorted from the original so set your desktop to "center" which will eliminate the distortion. Once that is done you can simply follow the prnt/scr (my keyboard actually spells out print screen ) once it is in paint you can crop to remove the rest of the desktop and save the result as either a .jpg or .png file. There is a great program called snaggit that works a bit better but is no longer free. I think you will be satisfied with the photo you save using paint.

OK so what you will have is an old computer with a brand new blank drive. If that is the case there is no need to even buy a new drive. Unless you plan on reinstalling the old drive and using it (which may be the case, I obviously don't know what you intend,) You can simply format the drive which will wipe it clean (some people will suggest that you use a shredder program.) Once that is done you will still have to reinstall windows with all the upgrades. I think when you mention drives you mean drivers. The best place to get specific drivers is from the official site of the hardware manufacturer. Many 3rd party sites are not all that trustworthy. However, unless you have some pretty specific hardware (special graphics or sound cards, etc) Windows will probably already have the generic drivers that will conform to your hardware.

You are quite welcome, let us know if this happens again as I have no idea why the change. It is possible that the last time you used the drive you had another drive such as a flash or optical attached first. If you use any virtual drives that may also be the cause.

Go to your desktop and right click on "Computer." From the drop down menu select "manage." make certain that your external drive is attached and recognized. Right click on the external drive where it shows on the lower portion on the left. (drives show as bars) there will be an option to change the drive letter designation.

I am using a laptop with an external monitor. It is true that the arrows will not work. Are you using the external monitor as an extended desktop, a clone of your laptop screen or alone? DSTM's suggestion that you go to your screen resolution (right click on your desktop and there should be a screen resolution option to click. (in Windows7 at least) in XP you may have to select graphics properties. When you get to the window that shows you the numbered monitors click on your external (usually 2) and you should be able to change from landscape to portrait.

There is an open source program called Eraser I can't vouch for it since I have not used it but it appears legitimate. (I am sure there must be others as well.) The program allows you to overwrite specific files and folders multiple times while leaving the remainder of the drive intact and usable. That would eliminate your need to discard the drive and, more importantly, reinstall windows when you don't seem to have the discs. Are you giving this old machine to a computer expert or just a friend? While it is true that deleting a file does not fully remove it, deletion and defragging will keep the nosy casual user from ever finding those files. You also have to be sure to clear all your temprary internet files and passwords from the browser and change your bank passwords. While it is possible to retrieve the information it is an expensive proposition.

No need to apologize!! It seems to be a pretty busy weekend elsewhere and I am afraid I personally do not have a solution for you. But then I am not the one most likely to have had it in the first place. A little patience should pay off.

Let me see if I can give you a better answer. It appears to everyone that the problem is not the CPU no matter what the error message may say. As a result nobody here is going to offer you help. Pirated copies carry all sorts of problems and give off all sorts of bad information when they fail.

Ok so if I got it right what we are talking about is an old computer with a broken hard drive. I suspect that it is an IDE drive. (connects to the PC by a wide ribbon cable.) The first thing you need to do is consider a larger capacity drive (they are all the same size and connect the same way) A 40gb drive is tiny by todays standards and may even cost you more because they are dinosaurs. You can get a 250gb drive which is still on the low capacity side and probably not spend much more. If the computer is old I would just shop price. If you are using the internet I would wait for someone from Britain to give you sites since I am in the US. Just be sure you are getting the right kind of drive. If it attaches by a ribbon cable it is IDE if it has a thin cable that attaches to the motherboard it is SATA. PS Take it from someone who knows, pensioner or not you are doing just fine! :) :)

I am getting a bit confused here. (Nothing new) Are you talking about increasing your memory or replacing your hard drive? If you replace your hard drive you will need to reinstall everything including Windows and all programs updates etc. You will also need to save your data and move it to the new drive. If your hard drive is functioning ok why not add a 2nd drive and increase your capacity. Memory sticks are entirely different and effect your performance not your storage capacity.

Happy Birthday Nev. I just happen to have a picture of the moment of your birth that I would like to share. http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp336/beeceebee123/welcomes/688bb88c.gif

In Internet Explorer, have you looked under tools and then the security tab? You should have it set to "Internet." The setting should be at medium high or medium. If FF is working for you the answer must be in the settings. With regard to other programs not connecting you would need to be more specific. Some programs are Internet Explorer dependent and if you cannot get on through the current settings neither will such programs.

You need to go back to the shop that installed Windows XP and find out why your system appears not to be valid. Without a product key you will not even be able to check the validity of the installation let alone run it. Even if there were a way (and I am not saying that there is) our forum rules would not allow anyone to provide assistance on how to bypass Microsoft's licensing procedures. Sadly, it may be that the "shop" was not all that reputable and may have installed an unlicensed copy to start with. If that is the case you are truly in deep (water) wben it comes to using that OS.

Well then if the results are the same (green light etc.) it would seem that the mobo was what got hit. If it were the hard drive (or only the hard drive) you would get some kind of post screen. I would suggest you wait for a real hardware specialist to reply but it does not look good.

Are you saying that it is not working or that you have a problem with your graphics card? Was this an upgrade to Windows 7?

I am by no means a hardware expert but I assume you changed the PSU because nothing was happening at all and that it was, in fact, damaged or destroyed by the strike. The fact that the MOBO light is lit at least lets you know that there is power but does not rule out the possibility (probability?) that it got fried along with the PSU.

The optimum pagefile setting is 1.5 times the physical memory as a minimum and twice that as a maximum although the latter is less important. As for its effect on the particular issue probably very little or none unless the inability to access all resources is a memory issue. Since you list yourself as a "PC Guru" it is not for me to argue with you.

Have you changed your bios settings while you were eliminating programs. Also, make sure of your page file settings (which you can find under computer properties using the advanced tabs.) Sorry I do not have my xp open to take you through it step by step but you are looking for "Virtual Memory" It should be set for 1.5 times your actual memory. If windows is handling this by default it should show you the current setting so if, for example you gave 1 gig og memory it should read around 1500kbs (1.5 X1000) Beyond that I will leave it to the hardware experts.

I loved Outlook Express until I was forced into using Windows Live Mail or Thunderbird. Chose Live Mail and now that I got it organized I think it is great. Thunderbird, not so much! Gmail works just fine with WLM along with my other email, no delay at all.