1.  Adding a Large SATA Drive to an Older Computer

A couple weeks ago, I bought a 1 TB SATA II hard drive to add to my home theater PC. I already had one SATA II drive (3.0 Gigabits/second) installed in the computer, on which I had the drive's jumper set to SATA I (1.5 Gigabits/second).

I "knew" the new drive wouldn't be a problem because the PC's motherboard had two SATA data connectors and I would only need one for the drive, and I could use the drive's jumper to set it to SATA I.

Unfortunately, I built this PC back in 2004. Not only was the SATA I and issue (and which was solved by the jumper), there was a hidden problem. The motherboard's BIOS could not handle the size of the 1 TB drive.

As the motherboard started to boot, it displayed the normal steps: memory test, finding the IDE drives, andn finding SATA drives. It found the first one, showed its model number and size. Then, it showed the second drive's model number. And, nothing else...

The boot hung at that point, showing the model number but not the size of the 1 TB drive.

I suspected that the problem was that the huge size of the drive was simply too big for the SATA drivers for the motherboard. I used my bookmarked link to the Abit web site, only to find that they had retired the abit-usa.com domain. Abit.com looked like it could be right, but checking it showed that its results were all "sponsored search" — meaning paid advertising. Eventually, I founnd the main Abit web site only to find that that all the drivers for this motherboard were dated 2004. This was a surprise, as I had previously bought Abit motherboards and one of their policies that I liked was that they had updated the BIOS and drivers for several years following the motherboard's introduction.

So, I started searching for a PCI adapter card that would do SATA I or SATA II.

I found a number of available cards and narrowed my choice to:

• Rosewill RC-215, with 2 SATA I connector and one ATA 133 connector

  Rosewill RC-215 VIA PCI SATA 1.5G x2/ ATA 133 (IDE) x1 HDD Controller Card Supports Raid 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD, un-RAID mode

• Promise SATA300 TX4 PCI SATA II 4-Port Adapter - Retail

  PROMISE SATA300 TX4 PCI SATA II 4-Port Adapter

Both of these cards would do non-RAID, while the Promise card would not do RAID. That was fine, as I wanted single independent drives if I hook up multiple drives to the interface card.

The Promise card would do SATA II (3.0 Gigabits/second), while the Rosewill card would oly do 1.5 Gigabits/second. However, the real issue would be that the PCI interface to the motherboard would be the limit at 1.06 Gigabits/second. So, that issue didn't guide my choice.

I finally decided to get the Rosewill card for the most mundane of reasons — price.

Newegg delivered it in a couple days. I installed it in an open PCI slot, installed the drivers when Windows found the new hardware.

After that point, I needed to go into the Windows XP Disk Management Console, create a partition, and format the drive. Start > Control Panel > Performance and Measurement > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management(Local)

2.  The Lighter Side of Technology

This week's computer/technology cartoon at Terry's Computer Tips!

Everybody's getting into computers...

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3.  Email Problems: Sending Multiple Email Copies Accidentally

Reader Ginny K. wrote about accidentally sending multiple copies of large emails:

Hi Terry:

Have been having a couple of problems lately. 1. When I send attachments, usually in pps form, they are received numerous times. Also, I was just informed that when I sent a link to an email buddy, they received it the email twice, which has never happened before. 2. I am using Outlook express and just in the last couple of days, I have received numerous messages saying that IE has encountered a problem and needs to close. I did a system restore - did it twice - and right now things seem to be ok; but I never know. That same message came back after the first system restore and that is why I did it the second time.

Any info on this would be greatly appreciated

Thank you
Ginny K.

Unknowingly and accidentally sending duplicate emails is almost always a situation of your software or internet connection messing up. If you have a dialup connection, a noisy phone connection could cause it.

Basically, what happens is:

1. your email program tells the remote mail server that it wants to send an email
2. the mailserver says "ok, send it"
3. your email program sends it
4. your email program waits for an acknowledgement that the mailserver received the email correctly
5. the mailserver checks whether it received the email correctly - if yes, it confirms to your email program. -- if no, it tells your program to send (at least some of) the data again
6. when your email program receives the confirmation that the email was received correctly, your email program moves the email from the Outbox to the Sent folder
7. If anything happens to prevent that confirmation being received, your email program will send the message again.

So, you see, a communications bobble can cause a duplicate email to be sent.

4.  Problem Networking XP and Vista Computers

Reader Donnie Messenger wrote to ask about a networking problem:

I have set up a home network using a Netgear router. I have one Dell Computer using Vista connected to the router via an ethernet cable and another Dell computer using XPconnected via a wireless USB plug. When I try to connect from the computer with the wireless card, the other computer does not show up in Windows explorer at all, however, when I right click the My Network Places and do a search for this other computer, it sometimes is located where I can cut and paste files from one computer to the other, but at other times when I do the search it can not find the other computer. I have verified in my wireless connections that I am connectecd to the correct router and not someone else's by mistake. On the unit with Vista, I can also see the other computer with XP but when I try to connect to it, it doesn't make the connection. I have already made the change on the XP computer to reflect the LLTD needed to communicate with the Vista system.

Is there any reason you can think of as to why the two computers are able to occassionally connect with each other, but not show up anywhere in Windows explorer network connections.

Also is there any software utility program that could help manage the network connections.

Thanks,
Donnie Messenger

It sounds like Donnie has already taken this step from Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922120

Since it's working some of the time, it appears that he must have set both the XP and VIsta computers to the same Workgroup name — their default workgroup names are diffeent MSHome (XP) and Workgroup (Vista).

Welcome to the wonderful world of networking, especially wireless networking, the Microsoft way.

By the way, sometimes it's the simple things — has the other computer gone to sleep or hibernated from inactivity? Although many computers these days have Wake-on-LAN capability, it's not usually turned on (in the BIOS) by default. If it was, they'd never sleep as the Windows way of name resolution on workgroups is to send out periodic >who's listening> queries, which would wake up the sleeping computers.

It is sad to know that there are problems between XP and Vista on networking, although not surprising — it seems like Microsoft isn't ever going to make two versions of Windows fully-compatible for networking.

Sometimes it helps to set up networking all over again, as the smallest slip or omission can wreak havoc with the networking. Check out this page from Microsoft for steps to set up XP and Vista network file and printer sharing:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb727037.aspx

 

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5.  Followup: Stopping the Windows XP "Found New Hardware" Wizard

David from the U.K. wrote a followup commment to the article in last week's email newsletter:

Message: Hi Terry. Re. your article ‘ Stopping the Windows XP "Found New Hardware" Wizard’ and the piece about showing hidden devices, that method doesn't actually give the whole picture. If you right-click My Computer and go to properties>advanced>environment variables and under "System variables" change or add the variable "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices" (without quotes) and a value of 1 and then go back to device manager and view hidden devices, chances are there will be all manner of wonderous greyed-out items on there that will get you wondering where the devil they have come from. In my case, I had a second, unrelated greyed-out processor (amongst several other things that had never had so much as a sniff at my computer!). I'm told that this is due to different machines being set-up in the factory using a common image for them all. The article I extracted this info. from suggested uninstalling these "surplus" non-existent items by right-clicking and "uninstall", as they can cause instability in some cases but it might be a case of "if it ain't broke...." as you gotta be careful.

Thanks for the tip, David.

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6.  My Computer Security Software Recommendations

Anti-Virus

I'm often asked about several other popular anti-virus or anti-virus combination packages. Yes, I realize that they are not in my recommendation list. "Enough said..."

For the last five years, until very recently, my personal choice has been ESET's small, fast NOD32 anti-virus program, which offers a FREE 30-day evaluation license. I consider NOD32 one of the best in anti-virus protection. Unlike some of its competitors, ESET offers multiple-year licenses also, and includes program updates in the multiple-year license.

Now, I've changed from my long-time programs NOD32 (antivirus) and CounterSpy (antispyware) to Sunbelt's new VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware.

I've found that VIPRE puts even less load on my computer than the speedy combination of NOD32 and CounterSpy. I've also been impressed with the way its "deep scan" has found and eliminated risks that were stored in zip files, which is one of the latest malware email tricks.

Read more about anti-virus programs on my web site.

Related articles:

• Anti-Virus Programs and Online Scanners
• Free Online Antivirus Scan
• NOD32 Anti-Virus Review - A Look at NOD32
• VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Review

Click here for more information about VIPRE.

Firewall Software

While the Windows XP firewall is much better than no firewall at all, don't count on the Windows XP firewall to meet your needs. You need a two-way firewall, which the Windows XP firewall is not!. Microsoft woke up and supplied a two-way firewall with Windows Vista.

The Windows XP firewall does not control outbound communications originating from your computer — and you should want to have control if adware/trojans/spyware or even commercial products want to talk to the Internet. Whether they are calling home or spewing spam, you want to be able to control your computer.

Do you want Windows Media Player to call home every time you play something? It does! Do you use the Search function in Windows Explorer to find things on your hard drive? Did you know that every time you search, Windows Explorer talks to Microsoft?

I didn't know that when I ran ZoneAlarm, but the Sunbelt Personal Firewall flags that to me, and I can stop it or allow it to happen. Many other programs try to call home when you run them, too.

I recommend my choice for a firewall program, which is Sunbelt Personal Firewall.

You can try the full-featured "paid version" of Sunbelt Personal Firewall free for 30 days — after that, you can register it or, if you're using it on a home non-business computer, you can let it revert to the free, lesser-function license.

Sunbelt Personal Firewall is regularly $19.95 (with discounts for multiple computers and/or multiple years!) for a non-expiring license for the program and includes one year of their updates subscription.

Related articles:

• The Internet Versus You
• Do I Need a Firewall Program?
• My Sunbelt Personal Firewall Review

Anti-Spyware / Anti-Adware Software

CounterSpy, from Sunbelt Software, has received many kudos from the computer press for its always-running and periodic full system scans. It has been my personal choice for my PC's and my family's PC's.

Sunbelt's CounterSpy v2.5, both improved CounterSpy's performance against malware and reduced its impact on system resources and responsiveness when its scanning.

Sunbelt continues to release updated program versions — the current version is v3.1. Nicely, they do NOT install the updated programs automatically. You have to use the Update process in the program, which means that you'll know that something significant has changed.

Now, I've changed from my long-time programs NOD32 (antivirus) and CounterSpy (antispyware) to Sunbelt's new VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware.

I've found that VIPRE puts even less load on my computer than the speedy combination of NOD32 and CounterSpy. My computer seems to have much more pep and power than it had previously. I've also been impressed with the way its "deep scan" has found and eliminated risks that were stored in zip files, which is one of the latest malware email tricks.

Related articles:

• Fighting Against Spyware & Malware
• My CounterSpy Review
• My VIPRE Antivirus + Antispyware Review

Anti-spam Software

In today's Internet world, the question is not "if" you will get spam, but "how much will you get?"

I use and now I recommend POPFile as my first choice for handling spam. POPFile sits on your computer, between your email program and your ISP mailbox, and handles emial as it downloads.

POPFile uses a different approach to handle spam than some other programs do — it does nothing to reduce spam. It is designed as an email classification tool — you train it to recognize spam and any other type of email that you want to classify. These classifications can help you sort your emails into appropriate folders in your email program.

Sunbelt Software, who makes the anti-spyware program CounterSpy (which I use and recommend) and the firewall that I use and recommend (Sunbelt Personal Firewall) also has a well-regarded, award-winning anti-spam program called iHateSpam for Outlook and Outlook Express. Since I don't use Outlook or Outlook Express for email, I haven't tried iHateSpam.

Mailwasher Pro would be my first choice to handle spam before it ever gets into your computer's Inbox. Mailwasher Pro uses on-line Realtime Black Lists mail servers sending spam recently, "training" by you of what you think is spam, and your own "friends" and "blacklist" lists. Note: I found that PopFile generally meets my needs and stopped using Mailwasher Pro, even though PopFile works AFTER the emails have been downloaded. If I used a dialup connection, I would be more interested in Mailwasher Pro.

Mailwasher Pro can even bounce spam messages, as if your email address was not valid, although the usefulness and appropriateness of this is questionable. There is a free version called "Mailwasher," but it omits the functions that I consider critical for this purpose -- such as safely previewing the emails safely before they ever get to your email inbox.

Related articles:

• Spam Filtering
• Keeping spam out of your Inbox
• Getting Control of Your Inbox
• How Can I Prevent spam?

Cable/DSL Router

If you have a cable modem or a DSL modem, you need to have another layer of inexpensive protection between you and the Internet. A cable/DSL router isolates your computer from direct connection to the Internet. Your computer can easily request your email, web pages, etc. through the router. The responses come back to the router and are smoothly routed to your computer. But, someone on the Internet side of the router can not initiate a connection to your computer — they can only respond to your request.

Even if you only have one computer to connect to your cable or DSL modem, I recommend that you purchase and use a cable/DSL router because of the protection it can give you against attempts to attack through some flaws in Windows itself.

A router isolates your local network, whether it is only one computer or several, from the Internet by actually making it a separate network. The router gets the "public" IP address and handles all your outbound communications and the responses to them. But, it blocks computers on the Internet side from being able to initiate communications with your computer! This will prevent you from falling prey to many worms that try to attack security holes in Windows itself.

For a wireless router, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G wireless router. I'm using the relatively new version 6 of this router.

If you don't want wireless, I recommend the Linksys BEFSR41 wired router, which I also use. Either way, based on my experience, I recommend Linksys routers for price, reliability and Linksys' habit of releasing updated firmware for their products..

See these related articles:

• Wireless Security
• Wi-Fi Hotspots and Computer Security
• Wireless Networking Problems & Wireless Networking Security

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