Small problem...

[casey]

I am just finishing up a computer for my daughter which will be a nice upgrade for her but ran into a small snag.
This computer is a AMD 64X 3000+ and has an 80 gig hard drive with a gig of ram. I've been collecting piece by piece for quite a while now and finally have everything I needed. I installed Win2000 pro for now but did buy an XP Home version to install on this computer, It's just that I am more comfortable with W2000 then XP. The problem came after all the drivers were installed and I was hooked up to the internet thru my LAN that the welcome page on my own web site shows red X's instead of the scrolling background pictures. Now this sounds simple except that seems to be the only page that does it. I then installed Firefox and the page shows normal for Firefox( It doesn't scroll). Everything else on the web site seems normal except the welcome page. Like I said this is no big deal but it was kind of funny. Anybody have any idea why this is happening. I do have three other computers hooked up to the internet and they all show the page normal...

Just realized I haven't updated IE and that might be the problem...

Yep, That done it. I upgrade to IE6.0 and the scolling welcome screen works fine. Learn something new every day...

[mylanta]

Security and privacy settings Larry? I do not know why but on certsin units I have to virtually shut those off to avoid that. Also are you using your "sacrosanct" Norton Firewall? (nuff said here for me???)

[casey]

Thanks Rich, but I'm not running any Norton on this computer yet.

It turned out to be me not realizing that when I installed W2000 it just installed IE5 and once I saw that I had an inkling that would be the problem. It works fine now. I'm deciding what word processor I should install. I guess I should talk to her first but I wanted this to be a surprise. Well most of it's finished and it seems to be running okay with a temp. of 38C... I guess I should let it run a little...

[mylanta]

How about a vote for Word Perfect Larry!!!!

[casey]

I just put that on the newest personal computer but haven't had a chance to use it yet. I really was thinking that... I will push it...

[mylanta]

I don't know if you have the newest version yet X3, but it really rocks!!!!

[Dan18960]

Larry,

Why don't you just revert XP to CLASSIC mode? ? ? Except for the splash boot up page it will act, smell, and seem just like your security blanket Win 2k Pro.

I have ALL my XP systems setup that way - AND if you want to REALLY zip things along - right click on My Computer / Properties / Advanced / Performance - Settings / and select Adjust for best performance.

That will get rid of ALL the XP fisher-price gui stuff.

Another NEEDED step is right click on the Desktop / Properties / Desktop / Customize Desktop / and REMOVE the check mark to clean the unused icons box. That will prevent the message every 60 days to clean up your desktop of unused icons. I don't know about you, but I have some icons I use only a couple of times a year and I NEED those on the desktop (or I would NOT have put them there LOL).

OK flame suit on :cool:

[PeteF]

I have ALL my XP systems setup that way - AND if you want to REALLY zip things along - right click on My Computer / Properties / Advanced / Performance - Settings / and select Adjust for best performance.

That will get rid of ALL the XP fisher-price gui stuff.


After setting for best performance, it's a good idea to open the
Windows Explorer and go to.. Tools -> Folder Options -> General Tab
and click to enable.. Show common tasks in Folders

I gotta tell you Dan, I like the other things you & others suggested.
I have a feeling that we all do the same things to get the user
interface working at it's best. This makes me wonder if there is a
simple way to walk up to any PC and apply the same changes to a
target user account.

---pete---

[casey]

I am slowly getting converted to Xp and as of now I have all my four personal computers on XP Home or Xp Pro.
I already have them set for classic and that's the first thing I do. One of the reasons I started with W2000 Pro was this is my daughters computer and I don't know when she will get it. She's not at all familiar with XP and I do want her to use it but I'm not going to push her. I bought the XP Home for her a couple of months ago and probably sometime this week we will install it. That's after I see how this runs. For some reason I feel more at ease with W2000...

[casey]

Okay that's out of the way and I just finished hooking up the front USB ports. You guys cannot believe how much of a chore that is for these old eyes and stubby fingers. This case has each lead separate and on short leads.Anyway the two front ports work okay. Now comes what you guys can give me some advice with.
This board has a diagnostic bracket that also has 4 led lights which was no problem to hook up as it has the missing pin to let you know which way it goes. The other part is two USB ports that has one connection and is a solid piece. My problem is I cannot tell which way the connection goes on the motherboard. I looked at the color code of the wires but each side is the complete opposite of the other. like red starts on one side but ends on the other. The black for ground does the same thing. The only one that looks right is the green in the middle.The board has the missing nine pin but that doesn't help because the connector has ten wires, This setup is called a D-Bracket 2.

[mylanta]

If I understand what you mean, look at the plug and notice the plug missing in the plug and then you will get it.

[casey]

I looked around and found another D-Bracket 2 with USB ports that had the usual blocked whole and everything is now working. I guess the othe D-Bracket 2 must come from a completely different motherboard and somehow I picked it up instead of the right one. I kind of figured that must be made for a special USB connector. I'll have to look at some of the other boards I have here to see how that works..

[kelly]

On the Word processor question: I've installed Open Office 2 on a couple of computers. It's all you need and it's free. You can set the default save format to MS Office's .doc, .xls, .pps. Outputs pdf and html. What more does the average user need.

Yesterday I installed WordPerfect Office X3, standard edition on a machine. It's also nice. It required 812 MB disk space. Outputs pdf and html format. comes with separate CDs for fonts and clipart and another CD with training videos. Get this - it even comes with a manual, a real book.
-td

[mylanta]

Yeah I meant to say that about manual and .pdf functions as well....thanks Tony.