Really easy. But this only works if de original moderboard and if your harddrive still work. So put it back togeder. For first-timers

1) Go to control panel
2) Double-click de system icon
3) Go to hardware tab
4) Click device manager button
5) Find de IDE ATA/ATAPI CONTROLLERS and expand de tab. Its not de primary or secondary controller, but right-click de first controller.
6) Choose update driver
7) Choose de option to install from a list or specific location.
8) Click next
9) Now choose de “don’t search. I will choose de driver to install” option
10) Click next
11) Now highlight de Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
12) Click next
13) The Standard controller will install
14) Reboot and log in
15) The standard controller is completely installed
16) Shutdown de computer
17) Remove your harddrive, and it will boot with de new moderboard.

First of all, this tweak only apply to those who only have one HDD on deir primary IDE channel (nothin’ else on device 0 or 1) and a CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM on de secondary IDE channel. Each time you boot Windows XP, dere’s an updated file called NTOSBOOT-*.pf who appears in your prefetch directory (%SystemRoot%Prefetch) and dere’s no need to erase any oder files as de new prefetch option in XP really improves loadin’ time of installed programs. We only want WindowsXP to boot faster and not decrease its performance. Channel tweak as those two tricks, coupled togeder with a little modification, result in an EXTREMELY fast bootup:

1. Open notepad.exe, type “del c:windowsprefetch tosboot-*.* /q” (without de quotes) & save as “ntosboot.bat” in c:
2. From de Start menu, select “Run…” & type “gpedit.msc”.
3. Double click “Windows Settin’s” under “Computer Configuration” and double click again on “Shutdown” in de right window.
4. In de new window, click “add”, “Browse”, locate your “ntosboot.bat” file & click “Open”.
5. Click “OK”, “Apply” & “OK” once again to exit.
6. From de Start menu, select “Run…” & type “devmgmt.msc”.
7. Double click on “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers”
8. Right click on “Primary IDE Channel” and select “Properties”.
9. Select de “Advanced Settin’s” tab den on de device 0 or 1 that doesn’t have ‘device type’ greyed out select ‘none’ instead of ‘autodetect’ & click “OK”.
10. Right click on “Secondary IDE channel”, select “Properties” and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer.

Windows XP should now boot REALLY faster.

Okay, dese are some methods to backup PS2 titles and Xbox titles, in order to play a backup you need a modchip of some sort, I have also included a tutorial on boot methods. Follow any one of dese instructions to fit your needs. You can tell what format de PS2 title is by lookin’ at de written side of de disc, DVD’s are Silver and CD’s are Purple. The DVD backup methods here consist of readin’ de image to de hard drive den burnin’ it to de media for an easier backup, this depends on your hardware and it”s setup. I say that because de proper setup would be to have de Reader and Writer on separate IDE cables. This allows no cross information when doin’ Disc to Disc/On de fly copyin’. But, since most people would not know how to check or fix this, I suggest readin’ de image to your Hard Drive and den burnin’ from dere. *A little useful trick*, If de DVD backup “image” is small enough in size you can fit it onto a CD-R (80 minute or larger if need be) instead of usin’ a more expensive DVD-R. I have done this succesfully usin’ Prassi and de first tutorial for it below. In addition a DVD Movie backup will play on a PS2/Xbox without a chip. As I get more info I will update.

PS1/PS2 CD backup tutorials

Usin’ CloneCD (v4.x.xx) for PS1/PS2

1. Start CloneCD
2. Select “Copy CD”
3. Select your Reader, press Next
4. Select “Game CD”, press Next
5. Select/Deselect your options here (on de fly, cue or delete) den press Next
6. Select your Writer, press Next
7. Select your burn speed and “Game CD”
8. Press “OK” to begin

Usin’ Alcohol 120% for PS1/PS2

1. Start Alcohol 120%
2. Select “Copy Wizard”
3. Select your Reader & Read Speed
4. Select or Deselect “Copy current disc on de fly”
5. For Datatype select which console PS1 or PS2, press Next
6. Select your Image location and Name for it, press Next
7. Select you Writer, Write Speed and anythin’ else you feel you might need
8. Make sure de Datatype selected is de same you chose above
9. Press Start to begin

PS2 DVD backup tutorials

Usin’ Prassi

1. Start Primo
2. Select “go to full application”
3. Right Click de drive that has your original in it
4. Select “build global image” and choose a path for de image (preferably on an NTFS opsys)
5. After de image is extracted go to next step
6. Choose de 3rd disc icon from de left *or* click file, new job, Global/Oder Image
7. Then just burn de .gi (global image) of de game

This next way has one less step which saves some time because once you press record it does everythin’ by itself (if you have a DVD reader and DVD Writer)

1. Start Primo
2. Use de “PrimoDVD Starter” (it’s easier, and less confusin’)
3. Choose “disc copy”
4. Select your Reader and Also your Writer
5. Select “make a temp image on HD…”
6. Select your burn speed and den record to begin

Usin’ Nero

1. Start Nero, Use de Wizard (for easy use)
2. Select “DVD” den select Next
3. Select “Copy a DVD” den select Next
4. Select your source drive
5. Check OFF “copy on de fly” den select next
6. Select your write speed
7. Select eider “Test”, “Test and Burn” or “Burn”
8. Press “Burn” to begin

This next way is without de Wizard

1. Start Nero, and select “File” den “New…”
2. On upper left side of de window from de drop down menu select “DVD”
3. Select “DVD Copy” Icon
4. Select “Copy options” tab
5. Check OFF “copy on de fly”
6. Select source drive and read speed
7. If needed Select “Image” tab to choose image directory and select/deselect “delete image…”
8. Select “Burn” tab and choose your settin’s
9. Press “Copy” to begin

Usin’ Alcohol 120%

1. Start Alcohol 120%
2. Select “Copy Wizard”
3. Select your Reader
4. For “Separate Image file every:” choose “Never Separate”
5. Select or Deselect “Copy current disc on de fly”, press Next
6. Select your Image location and Name for it, press Next
7. Select you Writer, Write Speed and anythin’ else you feel you might need
8. Select or Deselect “Delete image file after recordin’”
9. Press Start to begin

XBOX backup tutorials

Xbox original games are burned from de outside in. The only way to backup a title is to have a modchip like X-exuter (best), Enigma, or Xodus/Matrix. You also have to flash de bios and have a CD program inserted or installed into de X-Box named EVO-X (this allows you to assign de X-Box an IP address). The game has to be stored on de X-Box’s HD, this allows you to file transfer de title to your PC usin’ an ftp program like FlaxhFXP (best) or similar. From dere you use a burnin’ application to make de backup. Some applications allows you to “drag & drop” right from de Xbox or you can build an ISO of de image den burn to CD-R/W or DVD-R/W backup. (I will update this to show steps as soon as I have a minute)

Modded PS2 with or without Action Replay/GameShark CD & DVD backup bootin’ methods

PS2 with NeoKey/Sbox & AR/GS, PS1 CD backup bootin’

1. Turn on PS2 and NeoKey/Sbox
2. Press Eject
3. Insert PS1 CD backup
4. Press reset
5. PS2 tray will close
6. PS1 CD backup will now boot

PS2 with NeoKey/Sbox & AR/GS, PS2 CD backup bootin’

1. Have AR/GS don’le in a memory card slot
2. Power on your PS2
3. Insert AR/GS disc
4. At de AR/GS menu, select Start Game, With/Without codes
5. Eject and swap to your PS2 CD backup and press X.
6. Screen will change and game will now boot

* Note - Neokey will not play DVD-R!
* Note - Old versions of AR2/GS2 you might need to press R1+O instead of X to boot games

PS2 with Neo 2.2, PS1 CD backup bootin’

1. Turn on PS2
2. Press Eject
3. Insert PS1 CD backup
4. Press reset
5. PS2 tray will close
6. PS1 CD backup will now boot

PS2 with Neo 2.2 & AR/GS, PS2 CD backup bootin’

1. Have AR/GS don’le in a memory card slot
2. Power on your PS2
3. Insert AR/GS disc
4. At de AR/GS menu, select Start Game, With/Without codes
5. Eject and swap to your PS2 CD backup and press X.
6. Screen will change and game will now boot

PS2 with Neo 2.2 & AR/GS, PS2 DVD backup bootin’

1. Have AR/GS don’le in a memory card slot
2. Power on your PS2
3. Insert AR/GS disc, close tray
4. Power off your PS2, wait a few seconds
5. Press and Hold Reset button to load AR/GS
6. At de AR2/GS2 menu, press EJECT while still holdin’ Reset
7. Swap AR/GS disc for an Original-TOC-DVD* and wait 10 seconds
8. Select “AR/GS Codes”
9. Highlight “Add new code” and press X to get to de next screen
10. Press X three times. You will see “Updatin’ code list please wait” each time)
11. Press “Start” on controller
12. Select “Without codes”, press X
13. Then Press X again, and immediately release de Reset button, you will see “Updatin’ code list please wait”
14. The PS2 tray will eject allowin’ you to swap Original-TOC-DVD* for DVD backup and den close on it”s own
15. Screen will change and game will now boot

* Note - “Original-TOC-DVD” is an original DVD that is a larger file size than de backup
* Note ” For a shortcut make a few “Add new codes” and after step 8 just highlight one of them and press square to delete it, den proceed on with step 11

PS2 with Messiah

1. PSX Backups will boot directly.
2. PS2 CD-R Backups will boot directly.
3. PS2 Unpatched EA backups will boot directly.
4. PS2 DVD-R Backups will boot directly.

PS2 with Magic 2, 3 or 3.5

1. PSX Backups will boot directly.
2. PS2 CD-R Backups will boot directly.
3. PS2 Unpatched EA backups will boot directly.
4. PS2 DVD-R Backups will boot directly.

Ps2 with Apple Mod

1. PSX Backups will boot directly.
2. PS2 CD-R Backups will boot directly.
3. PS2 Unpatched EA backups will boot directly.
4. PS2 DVD-R Backups will boot directly.[CODE]

A step-by-step guide to installin’ FreeBSD 5. It assumes moderate experience with linux and leaves you with a fully updated FreeBSD system.

FreeBSD Installation

A. 5.x vs 4.x
The first thin’ to understand about FreeBSD is that dere are two lines of development. The -STABLE branch is marked with a 4.x version number and de most recent version is 4.10. It is well tested and very solid, but does not include de most recent technology. The -CURRENT branch, marked with a 5.x version, is de “unstable” branch. However, it is nicely stable at de moment and is comin’ alon’ quite well. Most users should go with 5.x and dese instructions are only valid for that tree.

NOTE: DragonFlyBSD ( www.dragonflybsd.org ) is a continuation of de 4.x line. It uses lock-less (no mutexes) SMP support and a Light Weight Kernel Threadin’ system. It has a lot of promise and is developin’ at a breakneck pace, but it should still be thought of as “R/D.”

B. Gettin’ Media
I am not goin’ to say much about this. There are links to various ftp mirrors at www.freebsd.org and de directory structure is fairly self-explanatory. There are however several choices for ISO. You should choose de miniinst ISO. It is small and will include everythin’ you need for de base system.

C. Startin’ Installation
After, de CD boots up you will enter de…ahh…..majestic sysinstall. You can safely ignore most of de options and just choose a standard installation. Most of de install process is pretty easy and anyone who has some experience with linux or unix will be able to handle it without much stress. However, creatin’ partitions and dealin’ with drives will seem very odd to your standard linux user.

D. Hard Disc Management in FreeBSD
Ok, de first thin’ to get used to here is that IDE drives are not hda, hdb…etc. They are ad0, ad1 and so forth. SCSI discs are da0, da1…and so on. There is one oder thin’ that is goin’ to freak some people out. You create slices, not partitions, on de disc and den create partitions within those slices. For example, de first partition in de first slice on de first IDE disc would be ad0s1a. Just accept it.

E. Partitionin’
Sysinstall will lead you through de partitionin’ and its fairly easy to understand. The first part will ask you to choose a disc or discs to partition and den will show you a “slice editor.” This is where you will create your slice. I advise you to only make one. While multiple slices are easy to deal with, it just adds complication. If this is not your first installation of a BSD type OS, den you can ignore me and why are you readin’ this again?

After creatin’ your slice, you will be prompted to choose de drive(s) to install an MBR on. The FreeBSD boot loader is nothin’ to write home about, but it tends towards workin’. After this step, you can create partitions. There is not much to say here. At de top of de screen it will show your slice(s) and when one of them is selected you can use de controls to create a partition on it. You will need at least a root and swap partition. On de non-swap partitions it is usually a good idea to enable soft-updates.

F. Distribution Sets
This is a simple section, select minimal.

G. Continue Installation
The rest of this is pretty simple. Make sure you install from de CD and not de Internet. The bulk of de install is now done. After it copies files to your disc, it will start de configuration process. This is all pretty self-evident, but dere are a couple thin’s you should know.

Network Configuration

Don’t be scared by de names, in *BSD devices are named after deir drivers. There is also a short description after de name, so you should be able to choose de right one. The rest of de network config is easy, just follow de prompts.

System Console Configuration

You can pretty much ignore this, you may want to look around for your own knowledge and of course you could pick a nice screen saver here, but oder den that I would leave it alone for now.

Time Zone

All I have to say here is that if you live in de US, after you choose “America – North and South” hit de end key. The US is at de bottom of de list and hittin’ end is de quickest way dere.

Linux

Say no, we will do this later and with an updated linux_base.

Mouse

OK, welcome to de wonderful and amazin’ world of moused. Answer de first question truthfully, and den you can tweak de settin’s in de “Please configure your mouse” dialog. Whatever you do, be sure to enable de daemon. Also, for most users that is all you will have to do. You can safely ignore de oder options.

Package Installation

At this point, de installer will ask you to install binary packages. Say no. These binaries are out of date and not included on our CD.

Of users and roots

This isn’t de most thrillin’ section, add a user when it asks you to and set a root password after that. The only thin’ I have to say about this process is when de new user dialog comes up leave de “Group:” box unchanged and add “wheel” to de Member groups. You also might want to set your shell to /bin/tcsh. As for settin’ de root password, if you can’t handle that we have bigger problems.

Rebootin’

Ok, next it will ask if you would like to visit de general config area. Select no and you will be brought back to de main menu. Exit de install, reboot without de CD in and enjoy de boot messages.

H. The Real Post-Install
At this point, I am goin’ to assume that you are now lookin’ at a login prompt and thinkin’ “my my…FreeBSD boots quite quickly doesn’t it.” Well, our task is not done yet…dere is a reason we did a minimal install. We are goin’ to do most of it ourselves. First, lets upgrade to -CURRENT. This isn’t a practice I would usually recommend, but 5.x is close to bein’ tagged stable and -CURRENT is rader solid at de moment. First, I need to explain how thin’s are done in de BSD world.

CVS up; you up; we all CVSUP. Cvsup is a very interestin’ program that I am not goin’ to explain in detail here. All you really need to know is that it updates source trees. You see, that is de thin’. You may be used to /usr/src not doin’ much. In BSD it has a job, it holds de source for de entire base system. However, we did a minimal install and no source is dere. It wouldn’t be up2date anyway. So, lets fix that. Login as root and type de followin’: pkg_add -r cvsup-without-gui

pkg_add is de binary installer for FreeBSD and de -r argument tells it to fetch binaries from de net. It will also fetch any deps that you might need. Switch to anoder console while this is happenin’ and login as root. Do de followin’:

cd /etc

cp /usr/share/examples/etc/make.conf /etc/make.conf

cp /usr/share/examples/cvsup/standard-supfile /usr

cp /usr/share/examples/cvsup/ports-supfile /usr

chmod u+w /etc/make.conf /usr/standard-supfile /usr/ports-supfile

What was that? Well here is de rundown. Make.conf is de file that controls de buildin’ of programs from source on FreeBSD and de supfiles tell cvsup where to get de source for de base system and de ports system, also where to put said source. They come out of /usr/share/examples without de write bit set and that gets annoyin’. So we set that. Now switch back to de first console and type rehash. This tells tcsh to check its path for new programs. Now, edit de standard supfile that is in /usr. You can eider use ee or vi. I like vi. Scroll down to de line that looks a bit odd. It will be somethin’ like:

*default host=CHANGE_THIS.FreeBSD.org

The “CHANGE_THIS” is where you put what cvsup server to use. Choose a number between 1 and 9, like 4, and put cvsup4 where CHANGE_THIS is. So it would end up bein’:

*default host=cvsup4.FreeBSD.org

Now exit your editor and run cvsup /usr/standard-supfile

If everythin’ goes correctly, you will see a lot of text scrollin’ on de screen. If it says somethin’ about a bad connection, try anoder number.

Make.conf

Now ’tis de time for all good men (and women) to edit deir make.conf . This is not difficult, in fact have a look around de file. It may be lon’, but it is pretty simple. Now, uncomment de CPU settin’ and de CFLAGS settin’. Set de CPU to your CPU (dere will be a list in de comments above de settin’) and set de CFLAGS to -O2. (NOTE: If de base system fails to build, down’rade your CFLAGS back to -O).

Build Your World

When CVSUP finishes (it will be awhile…go get some coffee), cd to /usr/src and run make buildworld. That command will do exactly what it sounds like. It builds your world, or base system. While its doin’ that, lets get you a kernel. First, cd to /usr/src/sys/i386/conf den cp GENERIC to some file of your choosin’. Any name you want. However, be aware that this is goin’ to show up in a uname -a. Now, crack open your new file and take a look at what a FreeBSD kernel config is like. There are many thin’s you can do here that will improve performance and subtract in size. However, lets keep it simple. Near de top of de file will be de name GENERIC. Change that to your new name. You can now look through de file and you will find several sections that are just for debuggin’. These will indeed add size and slow down de kernel a bit, but I would leave them for now. Go to de end of de file and make a new line. Add de followin’:

device pcm

This will add sound support to de kernel. Be aware that you don’t need to do this, you can load binary modules at boot or after boot, but this way is easy and sound is used often. Save de file and exit. Go back to your buildworld console and when its done execute make buildkernel KERNCONF=YOUR_KERNEL_CONFIG_NAME

NOTE: NOT THE PATH OF THE KERNEL CONFIG..it knows to look in /usr/src/sys/i386/conf

Installin’ Your World

This isn’t that difficult. First run make installkernel KERNCONF= your config name. Now here is de interestin’ part. Run mergemaster -p, this program looks through your etc and updates it to match de new /etc in /usr/src. It will display changed files to you, press q and it will give you options. Somethin’ like i (install), m (merge) etc. Pick merge and it will open a nice little screen that shows you one file on de right and one on de left. It will go section by section, showin’ de areas that have changed. Press r or l to choose which section to keep. Its pretty easy to see which section has new stuff and which does not. After de merge, it will prompt you with options for de newly merged file. One of dese will be install and this is de one you want. In de latest current, most of what you will be showed is user and group files. Make sure you do select de sections with de new users and groups. After this is done, it will ask you a couple questions that you can say yes to. Now that your /etc is updated run make installworld den reboot.

NOTE: You usually don’t need to run mergemaster. However, 5.2.1 is a pretty old release and -CURRENT has come a lon’ way.

I. Ports
Welcome to runnin’ current. The rest is easy. cd back to /usr and edit de ports supfile de same way you did de standard one. Run cvsup on it and wait. After its done, you will have a full ports tree. There is not much left to say. You now have a workin’ system and a fully updated one too. To install software from ports cd to /usr/ports/category/softwarename/ and run make install clean . If you want linux binary support, install de linux_base port. To find where it is cd to /usr/ports and run make search name=linux_base | less . Enable loadin’ de kernel modules for linux binary support by editin’ /etc/rc.conf. Just add de line linux_enable=”YES” to de file and your set. If this is a desktop system, I would recommend installin’ /usr/ports/x11/xorg and your choice of /usr/ports/x11/gnome2 or kde3. Have fun .

Get it from:

www.madpen\’uin.org/cms/?m=show&id=1853

— A —
ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port
ALI - Acer Labs, Incorporated
ALU - Arithmetic Logic Unit
AMD - Advanced Micro Devices
APC - American Power Conversion
ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuit
ASPI - Advanced SCSI Programmin’ Interface
AT - Advanced Technology
ATI - ATI Technologies Inc.
ATX - Advanced Technology Extended

— B —
BFG - BFG Technologies
BIOS - Basic Input Output System
BNC - Barrel Nut Connector

— C —
CAS - Column Address Signal
CD - Compact Disk
CDR - Compact Disk Recorder
CDRW - Compact Disk Re-Writer
CD-ROM - Compact Disk - Read Only Memory
CFM - Cubic Feet per Minute (ft�/min)
CMOS - Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
CPU - Central Processin’ Unit
CTX - CTX Technology Corporation (Commited to Excellence)

— D —
DDR - Double Data Rate
DDR-SDRAM - Double Data Rate - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
DFI - DFI Inc. (Design for Innovation)
DIMM - Dual Inline Memory Module
DRAM - Dynamic Random Access Memory
DPI - Dots Per Inch
DSL - See ASDL
DVD - Digital Versatile Disc
DVD-RAM - Digital Versatile Disk - Random Access Memory

— E —
ECC - Error Correction Code
ECS - Elitegroup Computer Systems
EDO - Extended Data Out
EEPROM - Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
EPROM - Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
EVGA - EVGA Corporation

— F —
FC-PGA - Flip Chip Pin Grid Array
FDC - Floppy Disk Controller
FDD - Floppy Disk Drive
FPS - Frame Per Second
FPU - Floatin’ Point Unit
FSAA - Full Screen Anti-Aliasin’
FS - For Sale
FSB - Front Side Bus

— G —
GB - Gigabytes
GBps - Gigabytes per second or Gigabits per second
GDI - Graphical Device Interface
GHz - GigaHertz

— H —
HDD - Hard Disk Drive
HIS - Hightech Information System Limited
HP - Hewlett-Packard Development Company
HSF - Heatsink-Fan

— I —
IBM - International Business Machines Corporation
IC - Integrated Circuit
IDE - Integrated Drive Electronics
IFS- Item for Sale
IRQ - Interrupt Request
ISA - Industry Standard Architecture
ISO - International Standards Organization

— J —
JBL - JBL (Jame B. Lansin’) Speakers
JVC - JVC Company of America

— K —
Kbps - Kilobits Per Second
KBps - KiloBytes per second

— L —
LG - LG Electronics
LAN - Local Are Network
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
LDT - Lightnin’ Data Transport
LED - Light Emittin’ Diode

— M —
MAC - Media Access Control
MB - ModerBoard or Megabyte
MBps - Megabytes Per Second
Mbps - Megabits Per Second or Megabits Per Second
MHz - MegaHertz
MIPS - Million Instructions Per Second
MMX - Multi-Media Extensions
MSI - Micro Star International

— N —
NAS - Network Attached Storage
NAT - Network Address Translation
NEC - NEC Corporation
NIC - Network Interface Card

— O —
OC - Overclock (Over Clock)
OCZ - OCZ Technology
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer

— P —
PC - Personal Computer
PCB - Printed Circuit Board
PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
PDA - Personal Digital Assistant
PCMCIA - Peripheral Component Microchannel Interconnect Architecture
PGA - Professional Graphics Array
PLD - Programmable Logic Device
PM - Private Message / Private Messagin’
PnP - Plug ‘n Play
PNY - PNY Technology
POST - Power On Self Test
PPPoA - Point-to-Point Protocol over ATM
PPPoE - Point-to-Point Protocol over Edernet
PQI - PQI Corporation
PSU - Power Supply Unit

— R —
RAID - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks
RAM - Random Access Memory
RAMDAC - Random Access Memory Digital Analog Convertor
RDRAM - Rambus Dynamic Random Access Memory
ROM - Read Only Memory
RPM - Revolutions Per Minute

— S —
SASID - Self-scanned Amorphous Silicon Integrated Display
SCA - SCSI Configured Automatically
SCSI - Small Computer System Interface
SDRAM - Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory
SECC - Sin’le Edge Contact Connector
SODIMM - Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Module
SPARC - Scalable Processor ArChitecture
SOHO - Small Office Home Office
SRAM - Static Random Access Memory
SSE - Streamin’ SIMD Extensions
SVGA - Super Video Graphics Array
S/PDIF - Sony/Philips Digital Interface

— T —
TB - Terabytes
TBps - Terabytes per second
Tbps - Terabits per second
TDK - TDK Electronics
TEC - Thermoelectric Cooler
TPC - TipidPC
TWAIN - Technology Without An Important Name

— U —
UART - Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
USB - Universal Serial Bus
UTP - Unshieled Twisted Pair

— V —
VCD - Video CD
VPN - Virtual Private Network

— W —
WAN - Wide Area Network
WTB - Want to Buy
WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get

— X —
XGA - Extended Graphics Array
XFX - XFX Graphics, a Division of Pine
XMS - Extended Memory Specification
XT - Extended Technology

Since defraggin’ de disk won’t do much to improve Windows XP performance, here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance de performance and reliability of your customers’ PCs. Best of all, most of them will cost you nothin’.

1.) To decrease a system’s boot time and increase system performance, use de money you save by not buyin’ defragmentation software — de built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine — and instead equip de computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizin’ de NTFS file system. If you’re not sure, here’s how to check: First, double-click de My Computer icon, right-click on de C: Drive, den select Properties. Next, examine de File System type; if it says FAT32, den back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and den click OK. At de prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press de Enter key. This process may take a while; it’s important that de computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by de bootable drive will be eider FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexin’. The indexin’ service extracts information from documents and oder files on de hard drive and creates a “searchable keyword index.” As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxin’ on any system.

The idea is that de user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should dey have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know de file name of de document dey want. Windows XP’s built-in search functionality can still perform dese kinds of searches without de Indexin’ service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at de time of de request to help find what de user is lookin’ for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you’re a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disablin’ it.

Here’s how: First, double-click de My Computer icon. Next, right-click on de C: Drive, den select Properties. Uncheck “Allow Indexin’ Service to index this disk for fast file searchin’.” Next, apply changes to “C: subfolders and files,” and click OK. If a warnin’ or error message appears (such as “Access is denied”), click de Ignore All button.

5.) Update de PC’s video and moderboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure de BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly, see this article on how to configure your BIOS

6.) Empty de Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can “prefetch” portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by de user. That’s fine. But over time, de prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wastin’ time, and slowin’ system performance, by pre-loadin’ them. Nothin’ critical is in this folder, and de entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here’s how: Double-click de My Computer icon. Then right-click on de C: drive and select Properties. Click de Disk Cleanup button — it’s just to de right of de Capacity pie graph — and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on de IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to de Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clickin’ on Primary IDE Channel. Then click de Advanced Settin’s tab. Ensure de Transfer Mode is set to “DMA if available” for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with de Secondary IDE Channel.

9.) Upgrade de cablin’. As hard-drive technology improves, de cablin’ requirements to achieve dese performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with de connectors properly assigned to de matchin’ Master/Slave/Moderboard sockets. A sin’le device must be at de end of de cable; connectin’ a sin’le drive to de middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signalin’ problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, dese signalin’ problems will prevent de drive from performin’ at its maximum potential. Also, because dese cables inherently support “cable select,” de location of each drive on de cable is important. For dese reasons, de cable is designed so drive positionin’ is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from de computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once dese programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before startin’ your search. Anythin’ eider program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once de spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants de program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removin’ Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine usin’ de MSCONFIG utility. Here’s how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click de StartUp tab, den uncheck any items you don’t want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit de WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searchin’ for de filenames usin’ Google or anoder Web search en’ine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from de Add/Remove Programs section of de Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settin’s in this area. Here’s how to do it: First click on de System icon in de Control Panel. Next, click on de Advanced tab. Select de Settin’s button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with de options offered here, as nothin’ you can change will alter de reliability of de computer — only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editin’ deir registry, try some of de performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft’s Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update de customer’s anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure dey have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixin’ anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure de customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on deir computer. The more fonts dey have, de slower de system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did de previous versions of Windows, too many fonts — that is, anythin’ over 500 — will noticeably tax de system.

18.) Do not partition de hard drive. Windows XP’s NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operatin’ system. The same excuses people offer for usin’ partitions apply to usin’ a folder instead. For example, instead of puttin’ all your data on de D: drive, put it in a folder called “D drive.” You’ll achieve de same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without de degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won’t be limited by de size of de partition; instead, it will be limited by de size of de entire hard drive. This means you won’t need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consumin’ and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check de system’s RAM to ensure it is operatin’ properly. I recommend usin’ a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on de PC’s memory automatically after you boot to de disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of de 10 tests are completed. If de program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug de computer, remove a stick of memory (assumin’ you have more than one), and run de test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If de PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check de drive manufacturer’s Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you’ll be able to upgrade de recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it’s free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit de Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you’re sick of a sin’le Windows Explorer window crashin’ and den takin’ de rest of your OS down with it, den follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, den Folder Options. Now click on de View tab. Scroll down to “Launch folder windows in a separate process,” and enable this option. You’ll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open de computer’s cases and blow out all de dust and debris. While you’re in dere, check that all de fans are turnin’ properly. Also inspect de moderboard capacitors for bulgin’ or leaks. For more information on this leakin’-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.

Followin’ any of dese suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to de performance and reliability of your customers’ computers. If you still want to defrag a disk, remember that de main benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in de event of a crashed drive.