Hi Folks,

A couple of Vista Things:

1.  I have always used a boot floppy with a memory testing program on it to test memory when I had strange problems with a computer and it has saved me lots of work on several occasions.  I went to use it the other day and found that the floppy was bad.  I can create another one, but I was in a hurry and I remembered seeing something about Vista having a memory test built into it.  A quick Google search revealed the following link on how to use it - by the way, you don't have to have Vista on the computer, all you need is the bootable DVD.

http://vistaultimate.windowsreinstall.com/repairstartup/repairstartup.htm

2. The question came up about a keyboard shortcut to shut down vista.  We found a couple, but the quickest was:

WIN key, Left arrow, Right arrow and then:

U to shutdown

R to restart

S to sleep

3.  Another question came up about getting rid of the annoying popups that result in Vista after you use MSCONFIG to modify your startup programs. 

My favorite program for controlling startup in Windows XP is AutoRuns from sysinternals.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/AutoRuns.mspx

I tried it on my Vista machine and verified that it works without giving you the annoying warnings about things being disabled in startup.

The main difference between AutoRuns and MSCONFIG is the way it handles the things you disable.  MSCONFIG makes a new location in the registry and stores the disabled registry entries there.  Vista sees this and knows that things are disabled and notifies you about this.  AutoRuns, on the other hand, complete removes the entries from the registry and stores them in a special format in the AutoRuns program file directory.

This program comes with a help file and it also allows you to right click on an entry and search on line to find out more information about that item to help you decide if you want to disable it.

Temporary Vista Files

Are you one of the many users now using a Windows Vista computer? If you said yes, then answer me this: do you use Internet Explorer 7 as your main Web browser? If so, are you having a little trouble figuring out how to delete all your temporary Internet files? We have preached on this topic before for Windows XP and it's just as important with Vista. (Just in case you're not sure, temporary Internet files are files used by your computer to save certain information about the Web sites you visit. If you delete them on a regular basis, it will drastically improve your computer's overall performance). Alright, with all of that said, let's find out how you can do this with IE 7 in Vista!

There are two different ways you can do this. First, in Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options and under the Browsing History section, click on Delete. Then beside the Temporary Internet Files option, click the Delete Files button. Click Yes to confirm and the files will then be deleted. The second option is to click on the Start button and type "disk" into the search box below it. In the results, find Disk Cleanup and click on it. Choose the drive you want to clean out and then click OK. Next, checkmark the box next to Temporary Internet Files, click OK and then click on the Delete Files button.

On a side note, another way you can get rid of your temporary Internet files is to use the CCleaner program, but I would recommend using the other methods first. Also, if you would like to view the files you're deleting before you actually go through with it, you can do so by clicking on the View Files option first, before going on to delete them. That way, you can see what you're actually getting rid of and save anything you need to beforehand. Either way, this is something you should do regularly so that your computer will work at its best. Now, go on and give it a try!

Q:
Can you please explain the difference between CDs and DVDs? And how about their ROM drives? Are they really all that different?

A:
I sure can and yes, they are! There seems to be a lot of confusion when it comes to these two types of media. These days, most computers come with both a CD ROM drive and a DVD ROM drive and because of that, I think a lot of people assume that you can use either drive for either type of disk. Well, that's just not the case. Yes, the drives are the same size and shape, but that's where their similarities end. Let's check out some of these differences and get all of this cleared up, shall we? Here we go!

For starters (and this is the biggest difference), DVDs have seven times the capacity that CDs do. If you're not sure, that's quite a bit! Now, I know you're probably thinking, "How can that be possible?" Well, DVDs use more layers than CDs and the way DVDs are written is quite different as well, which is a huge booster for the DVD's capacity size.

Now it's time for a little background information. CDs and DVDs both store their data in little grooves that run all around the disk. Our CD and DVD ROM drives then scan those grooves with a laser beam, which is how we're able to listen to music or watch a movie on our computers. They both also work with lands (reflective bumps) and pits (non-reflective holes), which help to represent the digital information the CDs and DVDs need in order to work.

With that said, DVDs work with much smaller pits than CDs. Basically, the smaller the pits, the more data you can fit onto the disk and that's how DVDs overcome CDs in terms of available space. As a matter of fact, the normal pit length for a DVD layer is 0.4 and for a CD, it's 0.834. Also, the tracks along a DVD are a lot closer together than on a CD, so that allows for more tracks per disk. As you can see, all of this information runs together to give a DVD a lot more room than is allotted on a CD.

This is also where the biggest difference between the CD and DVD ROM drives comes into play. Because DVDs work with such smaller pits, etc., they need a special drive that will be able to read them. Therefore, a DVD ROM drive cannot read a CD and vice versa (a CD ROM drive cannot read a DVD). That is why most computers these days are coming with both drives already installed. So, while it may seem a little wasteful, now you know why it's necessary!

Want to know some more differences? Well, like I said earlier, the layer sizes for CDs and DVDs are quite different as well. Along with DVDs having several more layers than CDs, they're also much thinner. This helps when the laser beam inside the drive is reading the DVD. DVDs also come with double sided layers, which obviously, allow for more information all the way around.

Another big difference is that DVDs can access data a lot faster than CDs can. They also have a better error correction method. And one last difference is the recording format these two types of media use. DVDs record using the Universal Data Format (UDF) method and CDs are not compatible with that type at all. The UDF format allows DVDs to store data, video, audio or a mix of all three onto a single file structure. That file can then be accessed by any drive or computer. CDs just can't say the same.

Now, I know it may sound like DVDs are the best option when it comes to certain things, but don't forget that there are times when a CD is just what you need. Sometimes DVDs are just too much and a simple CD will do. Either way, these two media formats are very convenient and handy for all of our recording needs. You have to give props to both of them for all they do!

~ Erin

More Next Friday,
Chuckstr
----My Web Site----

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