Terry's Computer Tips - Newsletter
May 27, 2007

Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter
http://www.terryscomputertips.com
A computer tips newsletter for users of PC's.

Volume 2, Number 50 — Sunday, May 27, 2007

Part 1  | Part 2  | Part 3 | Part 4

IN THIS WEEK'S ON-LINE ISSUE:
   1.   Replacing Your Hard Drive
   2.   Updates Last Week
   3.   Windows Registry sam File Repair
   4.   Outlook, Outlook Express and Usenet News
   5.   Converting WMA Audio Files to MP3 Format
   6.   My Computer Security Software Recommendations
   7.   Vista's "Not enough privileges" Error
   8.   Recommend my Terry's Computer Tips Newsletter to Your Friends

Welcome to the on-line edition of my Terry's Computer Tips newsletter.

My emailed newsletter is sent weekly to individuals who have subscribed to the newsletter. Click here to subscribe. It's free!

1.  Replacing Your Hard Drive

Last week, subscriber Harold wrote me to say:

Message: Great newsletter! I have an 2000 gateway computer with XP OS. On bootup I keep getting a message that one of the registry files was corrupted and had to be overwritten with a backup. This has continued even after re-format and re-install all software. I have even gotten locked out by getting to the welcome screen in bootup and not have any icons to click on. I removed the hard drive and put it into my usb hard drive thingy and copies the repair 'Sam' file over the one that Windows uses and then was able to get back into the system. If I replace the HD should I get an ATA, or SATA, IDE or EIDE? Should I keep it under a certain size - say 120GB?

If your computer is newer than about 1998, you shouldn't have a problem with any hard drive size - and it probably is if you're running XP and use a flash drive. The BIOS was modified in the late 1990's for larger drives — but even Windows XP required Service Pack 1 before it supported anything over 132 GB.

If your computer was new in 2000 or later -- especially if it came with XP — I wouldn't hesitate to put a 160 GB drive in it. You'll probably pay more for a 120 GB than a 160 in today's market. The 120's have much lower demand so they'll force a higher price from anyone who really wants one.

Regarding IDE/EIDE/ATA/Parallel-ATA/PATA -- all the same thing in today's world..

SATA is different though, and your computer will have to have a SATA controller and you'll have to load the SATA driver for that controller into Windows — whether this is the boot drive or a second or later drive.

Get whichever kind your computer currently has. I'm still using parallel ATA drives (with the big wide IDE cable with 80 small wires) in my computers. I just installed my first SATA drive as an add-on under Windows earlier this year.

My motherboard had built-in SATA connectors and I had SATA power connectors on my power supply, but I still had to download and install the SATA drivers to get Windows XP SP2 to recognise the drive.

See these related articles:

• Backing Up Your Hard Drive
• More about Acronis True Image
• Second Hard Drive failure with Windows XP Pro SP2
• More on Hard Drive Failures
• Adding a SATA Hard Drive to Your System
• Adding a SATA Hard Drive to Your System, Part 2

 

2.  Updates Last Week

Microsoft (operating systems, email, web browser, office suites):
Microsoft releases almost all updates once per month, on the second Tuesday.

There was an out-of-cycle update last week to fix a problem with the Windows Installer program. This program is used my many applications during their installation process. More importantly, it is used in Windows Updates, Microsoft Updates and Automatic Updates — and was hanging computers at 100% CPU usage.

Update for Windows XP (KB927891) This is a reliability update. This update resolves an issue in the Windows Installer (MSI) that can affect performance during software updates. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Firefox (web browser, http://www.mozilla.com, free):
Versions 2.0.0.3 and 1.5.0.11 were released on March 20, 2007. Firefox is free.

Opera (web browser, http://www.opera.com, free):
Version 9.20 was released on April 11th. This release of a recommended security upgrade, in addition to having several new features.

Netscape (web browser, http://browser.netscape.com, free):
Version 8.1.3 was released during he week of April 1. Quoting the web site:
  What's new in this version? Security fixes

SeaMonkey (web browser, email, HTML editor, newsreader; http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey; free): Version 1.1.1 and version 1.0.8 were released on February 28, 2007. These are security update and stability releases.

Eudora (email, http://www.eudora.com):
No update last week. Version 7.1.0.9 was released October 11, 2006. Eudora is now free, with no ads and no "paid mode" option.

If you are still running "Sponsored Mode" in a version before 7.1.0.9, it's probably too late now for an easy update. Sponsored mode in the earlier versions expired on March 31st — and reverted to the less-functional "Lite" mode. Fortunately, Eudora is very nicely designed. You can install a new version in a new directory and then copy the data files from the old version to the new.

Mozilla Thunderbird (email, http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird, free):
Thunderbird version 2.0.0.0 was released during the week of April 15th. Quoting the web site: "Mozilla’s Thunderbird 2 email application is more powerful than ever. It’s now even easier to organize, secure and customize your mail."

OpenOffice (office suite — spreadsheet, word processor, presentations, graphics, web design; http://www.openoffice.org; free):
Version 2.2 was released on March 29th.

From the OpenOffice.org web site:

OpenOffice.org 2.2 is an important new release and all should download it, as it resolves security issues and includes significant enhancements. These are both general and specific. A full list of the new features and fixes is given in our release notes, but among them:

• Enhanced text display throughout
• Better support for Pivot Tables in Calc
• Several key improvements in Base
• A more robust Mac version for X11
• ... And many more

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Part 1  | Part 2  | Part 3 | Part 4

Volume 2, Number 50 — Sunday, May 27, 2007

Copyright © 2007 Terry A. Stockdale.  All rights reserved.