Troubleshooting DSL Modem Not Working

DSL stands for digital subscriber line, and though it has been around as a technology for quite a while, phone companies are just finally starting to utilize it to its fullest abilities. For fast connections to the Internet, the only requirement other than a phone line and a computer is a DSL modem. The DSL modem translates the data over the phone lines and is a simple but critical device. Troubleshooting a problematic DSL modem is usually straightforward.

Test Connections

Make sure all connections in the back of the modem are fully connected and not loose or ripped. If everything appears to be plugged in, try unplugging each connection and reconnecting them back. Restart the computer and see if the DSL modem is providing any connection to the Internet.

Reset Modem

Reset the DSL modem. There should be a small pinhole in the back of the modem that you can reset by pushing a pin or the end of a paper lip in and hitting a button. Hold the button in for a few seconds and then release. This should reset the DSL modem and often clears up problems.

Disconnect

Start taking out any unnecessary parts of your network. If you have a separate router remove it from the network and connect your DSL modem directly to your computer to see if you still have problems. This could point to issues elsewhere that are unrelated to the DSL modem.

If everything else is working and you are still having DSL modem problems, contact your provider to see if there is a local outage. Outages, and not equipment problems, are often the reason for a failure to connect to the Internet.
_________________

Hina

Increase your hard disk speed....

To speed up your hard disk speed we need to configure a special buffer in the computer's memory in order to enable it to better deal with interrupts made from the disk.

This tip is only recommended if you have 256MB RAM or higher.

Follow these steps:

1. Run SYSEDIT.EXE from the Run command.
   
2. Expand the system.ini file window.
   
3. Scroll down almost to the end of the file till you find a line called [386enh].
   
4. Press Enter to make one blank line, and in that line type Irq14=4096
   
   

Note: This line IS CASE SENSITIVE!!!

Click on the File menu, then choose Save.

Close SYSEDIT and reboot your computer.

Done. Speed improvement will be noticed after the computer reboots.
_________________

Nadia

If You Want To Make your Folders Private

Quote:

• Open My Computer
  
• Double-click the drive where Windows is installed (usually drive (C, unless you have more than one drive on your computer).
  
• If the contents of the drive are hidden, under System Tasks, click Show the contents of this drive.
  
• Double-click the Documents and Settings folder.
  
• Double-click your user folder.
  
• Right-click any folder in your user profile, and then click Properties.
  
• On the Sharing tab, select the Make this folder private so that only I have access to it check box.
  

Note

Quote:

• To open My Computer, click Start, and then click My Computer.
  
• This option is only available for folders included in your user profile. Folders in your user profile include My Documents and its subfolders, Desktop, Start Menu, Cookies, and Favorites. If you do not make these folders private, they are available to everyone who uses your computer.
  
• When you make a folder private, all of its subfolders are private as well. For example, when you make My Documents private, you also make My Music and My Pictures private. When you share a folder, you also share all of its subfolders unless you make them private.
  
• You cannot make your folders private if your drive is not formatted as NTFS For information about converting your drive to NTFS
  

stive thomas

How To Block Websites Without using any Software

Code:

1. Browse C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc
   
2. Find the file named "HOSTS"
   
3. Open it in notepad
   
4. Under "127.0.0.1 localhost" Add 127.0.0.2 www.sitenameyouwantblocked.com , and that site will no longer be accessable.
   
5. Done!
   

 
_________________

Maria

Laptops - Tricks

Make Your Own Power Plan

Windows laptops include a few preset power plans for maximizing battery life, but you can also customize your operating system's power-management features (in Windows XP, under Power Options in the Control Panel; in Vista, under Mobile PC in the Control Panel). Setting aggressive targets for when the display turns off and when the machine goes into sleep or hibernate mode will help your battery last longer.

Limit Your Connection

When you aren't actively using your notebook's Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, WWAN, or other wireless connections, turn the radios off (via the hard switch, if your PC has one, or using the appropriate utility), so they don't run down the battery while they keep searching for a signal. Also, use USB-attached devices sparingly while you're mobile.

Track it down

Thousands of laptops are reported stolen every year. Our advice? Prepare for the worst by investing in tracking software like Absolute Software's Lojack for Laptops, CyberAngel Security, or the free TheLaptopLock. These utilities can pinpoint a registered notebook's location once it connects to the Web, increasing your chances of recovering your system.

Dim the display

A laptop's biggest battery-life-sucking component is its LCD display. To eke out more juice when you're off the plug, turn down your panel's brightness to the lowest level your eyes can stand. Most notebooks have a Function key combo—or even a dedicated hot key—for a quick crank-down. (You can also adjust brightness in Display Settings under Control Panel.)

Keep It Cool

Thanks to their small, cramped cases and tiny vents, laptops are prone to overheating. Unfortunately, using your notebook on your lap—or on top of a blanket that protects your lap from your scalding-hot notebook—can seriously stifle ventilation and make matters worse. To help keep temperatures in check, opt for a lap desk or a laptop cooling pad that won't conduct heat or block your laptop's vents.

Back Up Everything

Constant movement puts computer components at risk, and because of their portability, laptops suffer a lot more wear and tear than desktops. All of that on-the-go use increases the risk of hard drive failure, so make sure you back up the data on your laptop to an external hard drive, thumb drive, or home server on a regular basis. Portable hard drives like the Western Digital Passport Elite make it easy to back up your data on the road.

Cover Your Keyboard

Keep liquids away from laptops at all times. That rule often gets broken, of course, and accidents happen. Should that accident end up on your laptop's keyboard, however, you could end up with more than just a mess: Liquids that seep through your notebook's keys can fry its components. Protect your notebook from spills with a custom-built, plastic keyboard cover from ProtecT Laptop Covers.

Buy a Bag

If you plan to carry your notebook with you, the most useful accessory you can buy is a laptop bag. They're available in a number of styles and prices; for maximum protection, we recommend investing in a model with a built-in padded sleeve. If you want something less conspicuous (thieves have been known to target obvious-looking laptop bags), cover your laptop in stand-alone sleeve and stow it in your backpack or briefcase.

Let It Accumulate

When you move your laptop from a cold to a warm environment, and vice versa, don't boot up until your system reaches room temperature. Sudden temperature changes can cause condensation to build up inside the notebook case; turn it on too quickly, and the moisture could damage your system's inner components.
_________________

Hina

How to insert YouTube movies into PowerPoint slides?

You can insert the YouTube movies into your PowerPoint slides to express your idea or better way to communicate something. You can convey these ideas in more effective ways, if you are using movie files with your simple slides.

Follow the given steps to add YouTube movies into PowerPoint slides:

First of all download the YouTube.com movies and then save on your computer hard drive. Mostly movies are available in flash video file format on YouTube site. You can convert also the downloaded movies from YouTube into any common format, for example, windows media video file (wmv), windows video file (avi) and movie file (mpeg).

• First of all open the presentation in which you want to insert movie file.
  
• Now click on "Movies and Sounds" option from the Insert" menu and choose the option "Movie from File".
  
• Now select your movie that you want to insert into slide and click on Ok button.
  

Here now you are asked "Do you want your movie to play automatically in the slide show? If not, it will play when you click it."

Recommend choosing Ok button to play automatically even if you want the movie to play when clicked.

Finally save your PowerPoint presentation and run it for test.

_________________

SO NICE DEAR

Usf

If You Want Speed Up Browsing

When you connect to a web site your computer sends information back and forth. Some of this information deals with resolving the site name to an IP address, the stuff that TCP/IP really deals with, not words.

This is DNS information and is used so that you will not need to ask for the site location each and every time you visit the site. Although Windows XP and Windows XP have a pretty efficient DNS cache, you can increase its overall performance by increasing its size. You can do this with the registry entries below:

Quote:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dnscache\Parameters]

"CacheHashTableBucketSize"=dword:00000001

"CacheHashTableSize"=dword:00000180

"MaxCacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000fa00

"MaxSOACacheEntryTtlLimit"=dword:0000012d

Make a new text file and rename it to dnscache.reg. Then copy and paste the above into it and save it. Merge it into the registry.

_________________

stive thomas

How To Speed Up Mozilla FireFox ???

1. Open up FF click into the Firefox address location bar, and type about:config , press Enter.
   
2. The "Config" file will appear in the Firefox browser as a page with hundreds of lines of code in it. Now, we start by enabling some advanced tabbed options:
   
3. Locate the line browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs . (tip: press "b" on your keyboard to quick scroll).
   
4. Double click on browser.tabs.showSingleWindowModePrefs . This will set its toggle to "true". Now your advanced and enhanced tabbing should be set.
   
5. Next: we will increase the "pipeline" RAM ability for Firefox to accomodate more packet transfer. In the same config document, scroll down to the line that says network.http.pipelining . Double click this line to set it to "true".
   
6. Lastly, we will increase the maximum pipeline requests to 100. Find the line that says network.http.pipelining.maxrequests . Double click on it, and a dialog box will pop up. Change the setting from 4 to 100.
   
7. No need to save this file. Simply close and restart Firefox, and you should see an immediate 10% to 40% increase in web page transfer speed, and faster opening of your tabbed windows! Enjoy!
   _________________
   

Hina

10 Most Useful Free Twitter Tools for Bloggers

I present to you my list of 10 most useful free Twitter tools for bloggers that we use daily and find of the most practical use in our blogging routine. I am sure you too would want to grab all these tools for your blog. Check them out.

Best Twitter Tools for Bloggers

1. Twitterfeed – This amazing tool will let you publish updates from any RSS feed to your Twitter account. You can decide how frequently you want Twitterfeed to check your feed updates and how many updated articles to post to Twitter so that you dont overwhelm your twitter followers with tweets. If you follow us on Twitter, you know we direct our blog feed, photoblog feed, new jobs feed, delicious feed all via Twitter feed and keep updating our Twitter account automatically.
   
2. Tweetdeck - I know there are lots of Twitter desktop clients out there. For one fact, Twitstats says Tweetdeck is the most popular Twitter client in the market. Next it allows you to keep control of multiple Twitter profiles and keep regular track of your tweets, profile mentions, replies and direct messages – all on one screen. For me, it is the best way to keep using Twitter like a pro. Another popular alternative is Twhirl.
   
3. Twitpic – Simply put, TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter. Now most popular Twitter clients have inbuilt support for Twitpic. This a valuable addition to make your tweets interesting. If you want to share videos, its worth taking a look at Twiddeo or Vidly.
   
4. Tweetmeme Button – this nifty button has emerged as the most popular way to get your articles retweeted. Supporting various blogging platforms and websites, a Tweetmeme button is the best way to get retweeted and make your article go viral across Twitter for extra site traffic. We use the Tweetmeme Wordpress plugin on our blog and you can spot the green retweet button on this page and our feed.
   
5. Twitter Counter - is a statistics tools which allows you to show off your Twitter followers count on your blog. It will also show you how rapidly your followers are increasing (or decreasing!) over the week or months. See how our Twitter follower counts looks like. You can also add their Twitter Remote widget to your blog sidebar for more interaction. If you really want to look for the most popular twitter users, catch them Twitterholic.
   
6. Wickett Twitter Widget – As seen on many blogs on WordPress.com, it displays tweets from a Twitter account in the sidebar of your blog. It is by far the easiest, lightest and best way to add Tweets to Wordpress. Here are more tools to integrate Twitter with Wordpress.
   
7. Twitter Search Widget - Official Twitter widget which provides a cool custom interface to display your own profile search results in your sidebar. An excellent way to show how popular you are on Twitter as hundreds of your profile mentions and replies scroll across your blog every second. There is an official profile widget also if that suits your need better. Here is an official Twitter badge for Blogger.
   
8. Twibbon – lets you add a logo of your website or a cause you support to your twitter profile avatar. This also enables your supporters to add the same logo to their profiles and show support for your blog or cause and is great to develop a community of supporters and get lots of publicity.
   
9. Twitterberry – is a popular Twitter client for Blackberry mobile phones. It helps me stay connected with my Twitter account anywhere in the world and on the move. I can access my Twitter followers, get replies and post tweets without my computer. My friends with Iphone and ipod Touch will like Twitterific or Twitterfon. Other mobile phone users can check the official mobile version of Twitter.
   
10. Twitbin – is a firefox extension that allows you to keep up with all of your Twitter conversations right from your browser sidebar. This really helps you stay connected with your followers while you are busy blogging. Or open Twitter 100 in a tab and keep following latest tweets from 100 followers on one screen.
    

What are your most useful tools which you use on a daily basis? Post in comments and I will add to the article. Image by mark.benton

_________________

rizwan1989

Hidden comands in XP.....

1- Private Character Editor

This program is for designing icons and Characters(Alphapet)

Click :start

Then :run

type :EUDCEDIT

.................................................. .................................................. .............................................

2- iExpress

This Program is for conerting your files to EXCUTABLE files

Click : start

Then : run

type : iexpress

.................................................. .................................................. .............................................

3-Disk Cleanup

This program used for cleaning harddisk to offer space

Click : start

Then : run

type : cleanmgr

.................................................. .................................................. .............................................

4-Dr Watson

This program Is for repairing problems in Windows

Click : start

Then : run

type : drwtsn32

.................................................. .................................................. .............................................

5-Windows Media Player 5.1

Opens the old media player

Click : start

Then : run

type : mplay32

.................................................. .................................................. .............................................

Program ............. CODE

__________ __________

Character Map = charmap

DirectX diagnosis = dxdiag

Object Packager = packager

System Monitor = perfmon

Program Manager = progman

Remote Access phone book = rasphone

Registry Editor = regedt32

File siganture verification tool = sigverif

Volume Contro = sndvol32

System Configuration Editor = sysedit

Syskey = syskey

Microsoft Telnet Client = telnet

Side Jacking– Now Secure is not secure

A security researcher at the Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas demonstrated a tool that allows attackers to break into your Inbox even if you are accessing your Gmail over an encrypted session.


If you use Gmail and haven't yet taken advantage of a feature Google recently provided to prevent hackers from hijacking your inbox, now would be an excellent time to do that (click here, and read Tip #1).


A security researcher at the Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas demonstrated a tool that allows attackers to break into your Inbox even if you are accessing your Gmail over an encrypted session (i.e. using https://.. which you might recognize as the "gold lock" icon).


Here is a video demonstration of how an attacker would use an automated tool to hijack your login. The music may strike you as offensive, and there's no narrative, so feel free to mute the sound.

(Well.. once again WordPress is preventing me from embedding the video. To watch it, please click here, Surf Jacking Gmail demonstration.)


While it may seem like Gmail is being singled out here, you should realize that other websites are vulnerable to side-jacking and cookie stealing too.. notably Facebook (I mention it because it has so many users), but Gmail is one of the few sites that allow you to thwart this attack method.


So how do you prevent side-jacking? Here are some simple, but inconvenient, solutions you can use to protect your data.


* If possible, avoid using public or open wireless networks.

* If you need to use a public wireless network, do not access Web sites that require personal information.

* Always use the "logout" feature when finished with a Website that requires a login ID/password.

* For Gmail, click the link in my first paragraph and set the "Always use" option.

* When you need to provide sensitive data in forms, such as if you are doing online banking, open a new instance of your browser and complete your transaction; logout, and close that Browser. Do not open any other websites in that browser.


Folks, the Internet is broken.. and it is the hunting ground for criminals. Please.. let's be careful out there (and by careful, I mean "paranoid").

Saving your Windows System from Disaster

You have deleted or overwritten system files and now your system or application doesnt want to work? Or maybe you had the system corrupted by a 3rd party application or virus? Its time to go back and restore a point in time when the system was stable and working fine.


On the Mac OS Leopard its the TimeMachine, in Windows XP and Vista its System Restore. Though both are not exactly the same they can serve the same purpose, to backup critical data, applications or system files only and create a restore point of these. Its up to you to control and decide what and when you want to backup your data.


However, since not everyone has terabytes of free space to have their system completly backed up incrementally every day, the average user really needs to pick and choose exactly what matters most. In other words make sure you are backing up your system files only at a minimum. Applications can always be re-installed with less hassle, but the operating system, well thats another story.


In Windows we want to backup the registery files primarily and a few other default files which the Windows system Restore takes care of automatically. System Restore enables you to restore your computer to an earlier state without losing data.


This is ideal if your computer is not operating well because of a configuration change, a problem with an application, or the introduction of viruses or other unwanted software. By restoring to an earlier point in time before your computer began to have problems you may be able to get to stable or normal state.


On the Mac, OSX the Time Machine keeps a continual chain of backups over time, allowing you to turn the clock back in time to find the file you're looking for. However needs to be told in the advanced settings not to backup all applications for example, all you want are your main user system profile files primarily, those are the ones that contain your system preferences amongst many other things which can be the cause of many system corruption issues


In my years of experience with Windows and users it seems to have the most issues with system file corruption, so lets focus on that in this article. In the case that your system has become unstable, no longer functions properly or your getting the blue screen of death.


Don't despair , and definitely don't re-install the entire operating system with the Recovery CD you might have, there is a good chance that if you have enabled System Restore and done a regular restore point every so often you will be able to get your system back.


The key here is that before you do a major update, upgrade or do a change to your operating system you need to do the System Restore checkpoint. Most problems tend to occur after you install something new which didn agree with your system. We have seen this in Windows when you install drivers, applications or get a computer virus. We have seen this on the Mac with a simple upgrade of QuickTime which the OSX system depends on for much of its multimedia playback compatability.


Windows Vista Users should use - Windows Vista Backup and Restore Center

Follow Microsoft's step by step instructions here in using the Backup and Restore Feature in Windows Vista. Then follow these step by step instructions for using System Restore. Since Windows XP the System Restore feature has been carried forward in Windows Vista and slightly improved, but are basically the same.


You can watch PCWizKid's video tutorial for using the Backup and System Restore (see below).


Windows XP Users should use - Windows XP Backup and System Restore

PCWizKid has put together a video tutorial for using the Backup and System Restore (which is similar in Vista).

Easy steps to enhance ur XP performance and looks....

Hi i have got this stuff from another site and its very intresting tips about Windows XP. So i wanted to share with u guys. Now that I have your attention. Let's make a thread of everyone's favorite tweaks or things they do to make Windows XP run smoother, work harder, and perform better. So if you've got something to bring to the table, bring it and make all of us better with XP.


Microsoft Windows XP Professional Configuration

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Installing Windows XP follow these steps


Instructions:

Click Start

Click Control Panel

Click Switch to Classic View

Click View

Click Details


Click Display

Click the Desktop tab

Click Customize Desktop

Uncheck Run Desktop Cleanup, and then click OK

Click the Screen Saver tab

Choose (None) for the Screen Saver


Click Power

Change Turn off monitor to Never

Click Apply, and then click OK

Click the Appearance tab

Change the color scheme to Silver


Click Effects

Uncheck Use the following transition

Uncheck Show shadows under menus

Click OK

Click the Settings tab

Change Screen resolution to 1024x768 pixels


Click Advanced

Click the Monitor tab

Change Screen refresh rate to 75 Hertz

Click Apply

Click Yes

Click OK

Click OK


Click Folder Options

Click View

Check the following boxes:

Display the contents of system folders

Display the full path in the title bar

Display the full path in the address bar

Show hidden files and folders

Uncheck the following:

Automatically search for network folders and printer

Hid extensions for known file types

Click Apply

Click Apply to All Folders

Click Yes

Click OK


Click Internet Options

Click Use Blank, and then click Apply

Click the Content tab

Click AutoComplete

Check Forms, and then click Apply

Click the Connections tab

Click LAN Settings

Check Automatically detect settings, and then click OK

Click Setup

Type area code, and then click OK

Click OK

Click Next

Click Next

Select Set up my connection manually, and then click Next

Select Connect using a broadband connection, and then click

Next

Click Finish

Click the Programs tab

Change HTML editor to Notepad

Uncheck Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser, and then click Apply

Click the Advanced tab

Uncheck the following:

Enable Install on Demand (Other)

Enable page transitions

Notify when downloads complete

Show Go in the address bar

Check the following:

Use inline AutoComplete

Use Passive FTP

Do not search from the Address bar

Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed

Click Apply

Click OK


Click Mouse

Click the Pointer tab

Change Scheme to 3D-White (system scheme)

Uncheck Enable pointer shadow

Click the Pointer Options tab

Uncheck Hide pointer when typing

Click Apply, and then click OK


Click Sounds and Audio Devices

Check Place volume icon in taskbar

Click Sounds Tab

Choose No Sounds for the Sound Scheme

Click No

Click Apply, and then click OK


Click System

Click the Advanced tab

Click the Settings button under Performance

Select Adjust for best performance

Check the following:

Show window contents while dragging

Smooth edges on screen fonts

Use drop shadows for icon labels

Use visual styles on windows and buttons

Click Apply, and then click OK

Click the Error Reporting tab

Select Disable error reporting

Uncheck But notify me when critical errors occur, and then click OK

Click the System Restore tab

Check Turn off System Restore on all drives

Click Apply, and then click Yes

Click the Automatic Updates tab

Select Turn off automatic updating

Click the Remote tab

Uncheck Allow Remote Assistance

Click Apply, and then click OK


Click Taskbar and Start Menu

Uncheck Lock the taskbar

Check Show Quick Launch

Click the Start Menu tab

Select Classic Start menu

Click Customize

Check Display Favorites

Check Show Small Icons in Start Menu

Uncheck Use Personalized Menus

Click OK

Click Apply

Click OK


Click User Accounts

Click Change the way users log on and off

Uncheck Use the Welcome screen

Click Apply Options

Close the Window

Exit the Control Panel


Open My Computer

Right-click on the hard drive icon and select Properties

Uncheck Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast searching

Click Apply

Select Apply changes to X:\, subfolders and files, and then click OK

Click OK

Reboot machine

How to retrieve old copies of files- Ultimate style

From time to time Vista creates 'snapshot' copies of your files with a service called "Shadow Copy". This allows you to retrieve older versions from files you accidentally delete or alter.


To go back to a prior version of your file/document, you simply right-click on the file and select "Restore previous versions". Using the Shadow Copy service is a far easier way to recover your files than opening a backup you've made, and can get you out of some nasty jams.


Shadow Copy is enabled on all versions of Vista, but Microsoft grants user access to these copies only in Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise editions. (Clearly as a method to try to sell more copies of the pricier Ultimate Edition. Shame on you Microsoft; backup and recovery should be free.)


Tip of the day: Users of the "Home" editions of Vista can use Shadow Copy too.

The odds are pretty durned good that if you bought a new computer, and it came with Vista, it came with Vista Home Premium. I say that because if you walk into a store selling computers, I dare you to find the one that has Ultimate Edition on it. It seems to me that they all come with Home Premium!


Remember how I said Shadow Copy was "enabled" on all versions? Yes? Well, for owners of Vista Home Premium and Vista Home Basic, the service is running, but you need a way to "interface" with it (sometimes called a "front end"). To do that, download and install ShadowExplorer, and gain some of Ultimate Edition's functionality. This cool piece of software is free, but donations are accepted.


Today's free link: People who are using Windows 2000 or XP can get an almost identical file functionality with FileHamster from Mogware. This program is designed for people whose talents lie in the Creative Arts, so you don't ave to be a geek to use it. There's helpful user forums, too.


Please note: This ability is by no means a substitute for regular system backups. This is for small "oopsies", not recovery/restoration.

Meaning of BEEP in PC

ERROR CODES IN A PC


One Beep :

Quote: DRAM refresh failure

This may be due to - Bad memory chips

- A bad DMA Chip

- Bad memory addressing chips on the motherboard


Two Beeps :

Quote: Parity error or Parity Circuit failure

Your memory may not be seated properly on the mother board.

Unplug and plug it properly


Three Beeps :

Quote:Bad memory or bad mother board


Four beeps :

Quote:Timer failure in the RAM.


Five Beeps :

Quote:CPU chip may be dead


Six Beeps :

Quote:Keyboard controller may have failed


Seven beeps :

Quote:CPU is dead. Retry the connections and test.

Replace the whole motherboard.


Eight Beeps :

Quote:Video card is missing or Bad.


Nine Beeps :

Quote : damaged ROM BIOS. BIOS chip has to be replaced if it persists.


Ten Beeps :

Quote:CMOS shutdown. Replace CMOS memory and associated chips.


Eleven Beeps :

Quote: Cache memory test has failed.

To enable cache memory try CTRL+ALT+SHIFT++.


One long Beep and Three short Beeps:

Quote:Memory failure


One long Beep and Eight short Beeps :

Quote:Video card failure. Try to install video card in another slot.

No Beeps :

Quote:Check Power supply

Check mother board connections

Remove all cards except video card and check for system power up

Insert all cards one at a time and check their operation.

If system hangs on the installation of a particular card, then it is the cause for the problem and replace it with another of that type and check

Convert To Basic And Dynamic Disks In Windows Xp

Windows XP Professional supports two types of disk storage: basic and dynamic. Basic disk storage uses partition-oriented disks. A basic disk contains basic volumes (primary partitions, extended partitions, and logical drives).


Dynamic disk storage uses volume-oriented disks, and includes features that basic disks do not, such as the ability to create volumes that span multiple disks (spanned and striped volumes).


General Notes

Before you change a basic disk to a dynamic disk, note these items:


You must have at least 1 megabyte (MB) of free space on any master boot record (MBR) disk that you want to convert. This space is automatically reserved when the partition or volume is created in Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional. However, it may not be available on partitions or volumes that are created in other operating systems.


When you convert to a dynamic disk, the existing partitions or logical drives on the basic disk are converted to simple volumes on the dynamic disk.


After you convert to a dynamic disk, the dynamic volumes cannot be changed back to partitions. You must first delete all dynamic volumes on the disk, and then convert the dynamic disk back to a basic disk. If you want to keep your data, you must first back up or move the data to another volume.


After you convert to a dynamic disk, local access to the dynamic disk is limited to Windows XP Professional and Windows 2000.


If your disk contains multiple installations of Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000, do not convert to a dynamic disk. The conversion operation removes partition entries for all partitions on the disk with the exception of the system and boot volumes for the current operating system.


Dynamic disks are not supported on portable computers or Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition.


Before you change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk, note that all existing volumes must be deleted from the disk before you can convert it back to a basic disk. If you want to keep your data, back up the data, or move your data to another volume.


How to Convert a Basic Disk to a Dynamic Disk

To convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk:

1. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
   
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
   
3. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
   
4. In the left pane, click Disk Management.
   
5. In the lower-right pane, right-click the basic disk that you want to convert, and then click Convert to Dynamic Disk. NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 0.
   
6. Select the check box that is next to the disk that you want to convert (if it is not already selected), and then clickOK.
   
7. Click Details if you want to view the list of volumes in the disk. Cool Click Convert.
   
8. Click Yes when you are prompted to convert, and then click OK.
   

How to Convert a Dynamic Disk to a Basic Disk

To change a dynamic disk back to a basic disk:

1. Back up all the data on all the volumes on the disk you want to convert to a basic disk.
   
2. Log on as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
   
3. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
   
4. Click Performance and Maintenance, click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management.
   
5. In the left pane, click Disk Management.
   
6. Right-click a volume on the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Delete Volume.
   
7. Click Yes when you are prompted to delete the volume.
   
8. Cool Repeat steps 4 and 5 for each volume on the dynamic disk.
   
9. After you have deleted all the volumes on the dynamic disk, right-click the dynamic disk that you want to change to a basic disk, and then click Convert to Basic Disk.
   

NOTE:You must right-click the gray area that contains the disk title on the left side of the Details pane. For example, right-click Disk 1

More Ways to Protect Yourself From Phishing

Rob Griffiths, Macworld.com

In my recent Editors' Notes post on Consumer Reports' recommendation that Mac users dump Safari because the Apple browser lacks the anti-phishing tools of Firefox and Opera, I focused on behavioral changes one can make that minimize the risks of phishing attempts.

I didn't, however, discuss a relatively simple configuration change you can make to your Mac that will give you a real anti-phishing tool--in Safari or any other browser you might want to use.


Consumer Reports touted Firefox or Opera over Safari because of the built-in anti-phishing tools in those first two browser; Safari has no such built-in capability. There is, however, a free service you can use that will give every browser on your Mac a full set of anti-phishing tools (and additional tools, if you choose to use them).


This service is called OpenDNS, and it's a free replacement for your Internet service provider's (ISP) domain name servers. So just what are domain name servers? A domain name server looks up addresses in the Domain Name System (DNS).


In other words, a domain name server is the phone book for the Internet--it translates domain names (www.macworld.com, for example) into Internet protocol (IP) addresses (70.42.185.230, in the case of macworld.com).


When you load a Web site, it's this IP address that's used to find the server, not the server's name you typed into the URL bar. Without the DNS, you'd have to know the IP address of any Web site you wanted to use--not a very practical method for browsing the Web.


By default, you are more than likely using the DNS servers provided by your ISP. These are typically included in the setup instructions you used when setting up your Internet connection. But just as there are many companies providing telephone books, there are many different DNS servers you can use--you aren't required to use the DNS servers provided by your ISP.


OpenDNS is one such alternative "phone book," and it's one that comes with many features (most are optional) that you probably won't find in your ISP's DNS servers. One of those features is phishing protection, based on OpenDNS' PhishTank project. Once you've set your Mac to use OpenDNS' DNS servers, you get this protection automatically, in any application that uses DNS servers to resolve names.


Note that OpenDNS is able to provide its services for free because it changes how your browser behaves when you enter a non-existent URL, say for asdfjklasjxznn.com. If you enter that URL using your normal DNS servers, you'll get a standard "page not found" error message.


If you load that URL using OpenDNS, however, you'll see the image at right (click the image for a larger version). The ads you see there are what help OpenDNS pay for its services. If the prospect of seeing such ads when you enter a bad URL concerns you, then you'll want to pass on this solution. For me, though, it's a small price to pay for an excellent free service.


Setting up OpenDNS

So how do you use OpenDNS in place of your ISP's DNS servers? The answer depends on which version of OS X you're using, how you connect to the Internet, and how your current DNS server information has been set.


Answering this question for every version of OS X and every possible network configuration simply isn't possible in this space. Instead, I'll provide some generic configuration advice, a specific example, and a pointer to OpenDNS' own very usable installation instructions.


First, the generic advice: To replace your ISP's DNS servers with the OpenDNS DNS servers, re-read the installation instructions that your ISP provided. When you get to the step about setting up the DNS servers, replace whatever DNS server IP addresses you've been provided with the OpenDNS DNS server addresses: 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220. Save your changes, and you're done.


As one specific example of a configuration change, here's what you'd do if you're using OS X 10.5 on a machine that connects to the network via AirPort, but has a locally-assigned DNS server (that is, defined on that Mac). Launch System Preferences and open the Network pane. Select AirPort in the leftmost column, then click Advanced. A new sheet will drop down, displaying a number of tabs across the top.


Click on the DNS tab, and then click the plus sign at the bottom left of the DNS Servers window. The cursor will move to a blank line in the DNS Servers window; type the first OpenDNS DNS server address here, 208.67.222.222. Click the plus sign again, and enter the second OpenDNS DNS server address, 208.67.220.220.


f you see any other addresses listed above these new entries, click on each one and then click the minus sign to remove them. (If you see entries that are grayed out, that means that another machine--your AirPort Base Station or other router, for instance--is providing the DNS server information. If that's the case, you'll need to change that machine's DNS server information to point to the


OpenDNS DNS servers.) Once you've only got the two OpenDNS DNS servers' information visible, click OK. This will return you to the AirPort screen; once that appears, click Apply to, well, apply the changes you just made.


If you need more specific installation instructions, the OpenDNS' Web site has a number of how-to guides for many different computers and operating systems, as well as 14 different brands of home routers (including the AirPort Base Station).


Confirm the setting

After clicking Apply, the changes you've made should take effect in about a minute or less. To confirm that your system is using the new DNS, the quickest thing to do is open up Terminal (in Applications -> Utilities), and run a quick nslookup, which runs a name system lookup on the URL you specify. Included in the results is the IP address of the name server that was used to run the query:


As seen here, the Server and Address both point to the OpenDNS DNS server addresses I entered earlier, meaning that my machine is using the OpenDNS DNS servers for address lookups.


Conclusion

Changing your DNS servers isn't very difficult to do, and by using OpenDNS, you'll get the benefit of an active and constantly-updated anti-phishing tool, regardless of your browser of choice.


If you don't feel you'll always be able to spot a potential phishing scam in your e-mail, using OpenDNS is a great solution that will allow you to keep using Safari with some peace of mind. (But remember, no anti-phishing tool is going to be 100 percent accurate, so you'll want to practice "safe clicking" as I described in the prior article, too.)


In the long run, I really think that something like an Internet-wide anti-phishing tool, such as the one offered by OpenDNS, makes more sense than any number of browser-specific tools. With individual tools, your phishing protection will vary based on which browser you're using; with a DNS-level tool, though, you've got the same level of protection regardless of your browser choice.


Hopefully we'll eventually see an Internet-wide solution, so that you'll have the freedom to use whichever browser you prefer without worrying about the quality (or lack thereof) of its built-in anti-phishing tools. Until that happens, though, OpenDNS is a great alternative.


For more Macintosh computing news, visit Macworld. Story copyright © 2007 Mac Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

Some Working Tips For Microsoft Windows XP/Vista

1. Add Daily Use Files To your Start menu
   

   All Are Using Some Important files Daily. Some Saves Them On Desktop And Some Save Them in Folders. But Now you can save it any where and excess it when ever you want only with a click. Yes add your file to Start Menu. Just go to your file drag it to start menu just hold a while and drop file to the menu when it opens. See here it your short Cut
   

2. Sort your files using the Details view
   

   To search for or sort files within a particular folder, open the folder, click View and then Details. Your files will be listed with the details—name, date modified, size, and type—in columns. You can sort the files by clicking any column heading once (for newest to oldest) or twice (oldest to newest). You can then quickly locate the file you're searching for.
   

3. Add details to music, pictures, and videos
   

   When you save music, pictures, and videos to your Windows XP computer, the Details view of that folder shows certain columns by default. To sort or search for files within this folder, you can add more columns to the Details view. Click View and then Details. Right-click any column heading and click More. Click the checkbox against the details you want to add and click Move Up or Move Down to fix their location in the Details view. Click OK.
   

4. Increase text clarity in Windows XP
   

   You can adjust display settings so that on-screen text looks clearer to you. Right-click on the Desktop and click Properties. A dialog box will open; click the Appearance tab and the Effects button. Ensure that the checkbox against 'Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts' is selected. Then, click the down arrow under this option and select ClearType. Click OK and then click OK again to close the dialog box. You'll find most fonts clearer and easier to read with this.
   

5. Customize the buttons available on toolbars in Windows XP
   

   You can add or remove buttons from toolbars available in some programs. Right-click the toolbar and click Customize. The Customize Toolbar dialog box opens—you can add, remove, or rearrange the buttons from here. Click Close when you're done.
   

6. Use the Quick Launch Toolbar
   

   The Quick Launch bar is located to the right of the Start button and contains shortcuts to your frequently used programs. To display the Quick Launch bar, right-click the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, point to Toolbars, and click Quick Launch. Now, you can click the shortcuts on this bar to access your favorite programs.
   

7. Search the Control Panel in Windows Vista
   

   If you're having trouble locating the various options in the redesigned Control Panel, type what you're looking for in the Search box of the panel. For instance, if you want to change sounds, type 'sounds' in the Search box. The search results will display the required options for you.
   

8. Resize the Quick Launch Toolbar
   

   If you want to see all the programs on the Quick Launch bar, right-click the taskbar (the horizontal bar at the bottom of the screen) and click 'Lock the taskbar' to uncheck it. You will now see some handle marks appear on the edges of the Quick Launch bar. Drag the handle on the right to adjust the size of this bar.
   

9. Add or remove programs on the Quick Launch Toolbar
   

   To remove a program from the Quick Launch Toolbar, right-click the Toolbar, select the icon of the program, and click Delete. Select Yes when asked for confirmation. To add a program, click its icon in the Start menu or on the Desktop and drag it to the Quick Launch Toolbar.
   

10. Add a toolbar to the taskbar
    

    You can add many toolbars to the taskbar at the bottom of your screen. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar and click Toolbars. Click the toolbar that you'd like to add. Click New Toolbar if you want to add a toolbar for a folder on your computer.