BrownSugar

Avidemux is an excellent program. I've been using it to edit and convert from very early versions on and it's been greatly improved over the last two years. Another great tool to have (in case you're not happy with the Avidemux editing) is Virtualdub. In the past, if you wanted to make sure Virtualdub handled all files, you had to go to several sites for plugins. but Videohelp.com has put together a pack of all the extra plugins you'll need to decode files such as flv, mpeg2, mp4 and mov. All the links are located here: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Virtualdub Remember that: 1) While Avidemux is an all-in-one self contained program that has all the codecs you'll need, Virtualdub relies on your system codecs for encoding, so if you don't have Xvid or some other codec installed, you can either install them one by one, install ffdshow, or the one of the K-lite codec packs found here: http://www.codecguide.com/ 2) Virtualdub will only convert to an avi file (preferably Xvid), but I find that it's a better editor than Avidemux. When using Avidemux, if you don't cut your scene on a key frame, you'll get several seconds of jumbled video during scene changes. Virtualdub handles edits much better.

I've been using Opera as my main browser now for several months and while I also find it uses a load of memory, it still is faster than Firefox. Right now, it's using 90mb. When one realizes that today's computers are shipping with a minimum of 2 gig of ram (many configurations include 6-8 gig of ram), what we used to think of as a memory hogging program is no longer the case. The programmers are probably writing these browsers with a minimum 2 gig installation of ram in mind. My Firefox browser uses slightly less memory, yet it runs as if it were carrying a heavy weight on its back. Once a few add-ons are installed, Firefox 3 takes a bit longer to load, and with no script and Ad-Block, it feels very sluggish.

I just read your other thread, login123. I also had the missing NTLDR problem, but I think I had a copy on a floppy disk and was able to boot up again after coping the file to the root directory. The NTLDR file doesn't change (check the date and time of yours and you'll see it was the date of installation). It's copied directly from the install disk and is needed for the boot procedure. This site (and many others) gives step by step instructions in how to deal with the problem of the missing NTLDR. I usually like to copy and paste the instructions into a text file for future reference, so that even if you can only boot to Dos, you can use the "type" command to read the text file: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm It's all a matter of booting up from your Windows XP CD, using the Repair option and: As far as whether HP did a factory optimization for your computer, it's possible, but it would probably hurt their labor profit margin to spend any additional time on these computers. You said you reformatted the hard drive but some programs still were recognized as if they were still in the registry. When I reformatted a friend's Dell, I found the only way to really clean the hard drive was to use a Bootdisk.com Win 98 bootup disk from Bootdisk.com and the updated MS Fdisk utility (for drives over 64 gig). I wasn't able to delete the hidden partition from Dell with anything else. When I was sure all partitions were deleted, I then used the dos format command (you could also try Eraser to make sure the disk is really clean, but that would take longer). Have you posted any messages to the HP forum about the optimizing of your system? Have you checked the BIOS to see if anything has been changed or needs to be changed? From what I understand, dual core and quad core processors (if you have them) can really be fine tuned in many ways. You might also want to try the Anandtech forums and ask about your particular computer. I have a feeling that you still had a protected HP recovery partition of some sort that remained even after you reformatted, and that partition restored all or part of your registry in some fashion. In regard to the speed of restoring your Acronis image, it all depends on the speeds of your DVD drive, hard drive. CPU, etc. Restoring from a DVD drive will always take longer than restoring from a 2nd internal hard drive partition, or an external USB/firewire drive. When you reinstalled Windows XP, why did you need so many disks (as indicated in your other thread)? Aren't you reinstalling from the Windows XP CD? Before you installed the service pack and all OS updates, did you make sure your firewall and antivirus programs were installed and updated? Are you using a 3rd party firewall other than the one in XP? Is your computer attached to a NAT router? Did you close unnecessary services before updating the OS? Without all the necessary protection, it's possible to get malware even as you attempt to update a newly installed system. Several 3rd party firewalls are better than the one in XP while some feel that a NAT router makes a software firewall superfluous. I still prefer both (if you have need for a router). With a new installation, there are many services that really don't need to be classified, "Automatic" and start when Windows boots. All they do is leave unnecessary ports open. I'm not stating that this is why your computer felt more sluggish after reinstallation, but the possibility exists if all precautions aren't taken. Take a look at this site and see the recommendations for services that can be changed from Automatic to Disabled or Manual. There's even very good reinstallation recommendations and a guide to using Fdisk: http://www.blackviper.com/

To those that think the recovery partition is useful: Will it still be useful a year from now when your registry might be 5x the size it is now, and you've installed dozens of addtitional programs? Unless I'm mistaken, that recovery partition will send you back to square one, with a registry that just reflects the installation of your operating system without all the MS critical updates and registry strings for all your new start-ups, security programs and other software. That's why I reformat the entire factory drive installation, reinstall the OS, firewall, antivirus program, and all updates before creating an image of the partition. I then create additional images as needed.

With the price of hard drives being as cheap as they are at online retailers, I would think of buying a very large hard drive (or two). Seagate has been having alot of outlet store sales recently. Dell Home was recently offering 2 Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11 7200RPM Serial ATA Desktop Hard Drives (OEM) for $200 after using a coupon code. Techbargains and Slickdeals are good sites to check regularly, especially the reader comments on Slickdeals which usually lead to pro and con reviews. My preference is to buy an internal drive and install it into an external enclosure case so I can use it as a USB drive. As far as the Dell Utilities go, that's what hard drive reformatting and the PC decrapifier is for. The only problem with reformatting is that if you have a defective drive under Dell warranty, when you call customer service (wherever on the planet the rep may be from), they may run you through their textbook checklist before ordering a replacement drive. Part of that checklist might include those utilities. I can't remember the last time I've called customer support for anything hardware related. If the part is cheap enough, it may be worth just buying it yourself (i.e. NIC card) rather than wasting 30 minutes on the line with a Dell rep. As for as partitioning, since these drives are so large, I think the best way to go is to create as many partitions that you can manage. Malware and antivirus scans usually can skip audio, video, and image files, so by separating these files into partitions, you can schedule scans for just the partititions that might contain infected files. I can think of partitions for the following: Operating System/Programs (you might want to have a separate partition for programs) Ghost Partition of above Dual boot partition (Linux or Dos or other) Audio files Video files Games (if you have play computer games) Data (spreadsheets, Word documents, email folders, html and mht files) Images Downloaded programs (or copies of purchased programs) You can even go further and have a partition for programs that need to cache files (such as browsers and streaming files). Using the above partitions, you can probably just schedule regular malware scans for the OS/Program partition(s), and the data, cache and downloaded programs partitions. Secondly, defragging would be a shorter process because you wouldn't have to defrag hundreds of gig at a time. Similarly, you could separate the above files using directories and folders, but it's easier to narrow the location search of a program if you know what partition it's on, and less time consuming.

Dennis. this is actually one of my favorite subjects and I've never found that perfect partitioning guide. Maybe that's because so many were written before the new, very large 1 TB and more, hard drives started being sold. For example, should one create 10 logical disk partitions for a 1 TB drive so that you can save time and allow a utility to defrag or scan for viruses and malware by partition (that are all smaller than 100 MB)? In this manner, you can schedule a few partitions for scanning at a time. I just checked the link that Robbie posted and it does a good job of explaining what partitions are, but its example is based on a 60 gig drive and recommends no more than 4 partitions. You might even want more partitions on your 320 gig drive, such as a smaller 25 gig one for data (spreadsheets, word documents, etc.). How about another partition that's used for a ghost image of your OS/programs partition (although another drive should also be used for disk image partitions in case of a hard drive crash)? With today's 1 TB and 1.5 TB drives (and growing), I can't see having partitions as large as 250 gig, unless those with dual or quad core processors tell me that you can defrag a packed 250 gig partition quickly. I have a feeling that HP's factory partition is similar to Dell's "hidden" restore partition. The first thing I do when I see a Dell computer is completely reformat the disk and delete the manufacturer setup. For some reason, I think the last time I did this, the Dell partition couldn't be deleted unless I used several tools from Bootdisk.com. http://www.bootdisk.com Bootdisk.com is even referenced by Microsoft in its article here which includes an upgrade of Fdisk for drives over 64 gig, and I'm sure Bootdisk has been mentioned here on numerous occasions. http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=263044

I've been using Avira's Antivir Premium for awhile now and I'm beginning to think that other than a softwall firewall and router, Avira Premium is all that's needed. I'm not sure what I'm going to do once I can't find any more free 6 month offers for it, though. I may have to make either a purchasing decision or choose between Avira 9 free (once they iron out the engine problems) or Avast Home, with Dr. Web's Cureit Live CD as a free on demand backup. I still have the free on-demand versions of Super Anti-Spyware, Malwarebytes, and A-squared installed, as well as Spybot S&D and an old version of Ad-Aware. I rarely check them against Avira Premium. Along with Web of Trust for Firefox and Adblock filters, the only other security feature I use is a HOSTS file from MVPS.org along with disabling the DNS service. I'm not even sure that the HOSTS file is even necessary. I also run Hijackthis every month or so and compare the log file to an older one to see if there are any differences, and if so, are they recognizable?

Both Avidemux and Virtualdub are very good editors but I find they work even better when set up to be used with Cut Assistant. When editing with Avidemux and Virtualdub alone, both programs remove the edit, thereby changing the time and frame #'s. Cut Assistant leaves them in, and keeps tracks of the edits, so when you finish editing, then you create a finished, edited copy. Download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/cutassistant/ or: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Cut_Assistant This explains how to use and set up Cut Assistant: http://wiki.onlinetvrecorder.com/index.php..._Assistant_(en)

AV-Comparatives doesn't rate CA's AV program. I recall reading somewhere that CA won't submit to their testing, and Virus Bulletin's last test summary stated that CA didn't pass (albeit by a small margin). Surprisingly, neither Avira, although it does well with AV-comparatives. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2227328/...-windows-server

I've been trying to determine what the difference is using the /Auto switch or using the Program Options/Settings and checking "Run CCleaner when the computer starts". Several years ago, I used the /Auto switch but I've gotten used to just having the option checked. If I did use the /Auto switch, does it matter if I edit the Properties box when right clicking on the desktop icon or the Start/Programs/CCleaner menu item?

I have the urlclassifier2.sqlite file in my profile folder, and it's a bit large at 7.4 mg. After reading your link and a few others, I think the best solution is to rename the file and let Firefox automatically download a new one. I think I solved the problem of most of my Firefox bloat. I enabled logging in my one of my extensions and the log.txt file was 41 mg in size! This file was in one of the Firefox profile extension subdirectories. I deleted it, disabled logging for that extension, and Firefox runs a bit smoother. I think part of the browsing problem is Adblock Plus running in addition to Avira's Webguard and Zone Alarm Pro's cookie and code controls with Ad Blocking. With all this checking going on, it's amazing that the page loads at all!

I've had Firefox loaded for quite some time and added/deleted alot of add-on/extensions in that period. Now it seems to run very slowly when I have several tabs opened, and it also can use up to 150 mg ram before it slows down and I have to use the task manager to end the process. I've also noticed that the menu selection "Help/About" shows that the version number is 2.0.0.16, yet when I right click on Firefox.exe file properties in Windows Explorer, the version number is 1.8.20080.4669. Can someone please check their version number of Firefox.exe using the file properties menu? Is it time to reinstall version 2? I can easily copy the default profile, but I'd like to just keep my bookmarks and start adding extensions to a clean install. Is it just a matter of uninstalling, then doing a clean install and copying the bookmarks.html file back into the new profile?

Excellent site! Thanks.

I just went to the Malwarebytes site to see if this was payware, shareware or freeware. I had to go to Majorgeeks.com to find out it was shareware because other than the purchase icon, I couldn't find much about the program. Does a download allow you to use it for 30 days as a realtime scanner or can you always use it as an on-demand scanner and cleaner as if it were freeware?

I was looking to check and see if Emiel Wieldraaijer (http://www.emro.nl/freeware/) had an upgrade for his JkdefragGUI, so I went to Kessels.com to look for his link and it was gone. Then I checked the Kessels.com forum, and saw this argument between the two parties as to whether there was a keylogger embedded in the JkdefragGUI. Apparently it has to do with Emiel's use of the Autoit program when compiling JkdefragGUI. http://www.kessels.com/forum/index.php?topic=1104.0 Per Jeroen Kessels on May 3, 2008: http://www.kessels.com/forum/index.php?PHP...msg6847#msg6847 The next post by the author of JkdefragGUI is quite descriptive in denying any malware problems with JKdefragGUI and intended for mature audiences, so I'll just post the link: http://www.kessels.com/forum/index.php?PHP...msg6854#msg6854 I've been using Emiel's GUI for Jkdefrag for several years. He also includes several other nice utilities (that I already had installed). It's hard to believe that this nice little program which has been recommended on so many blogs could contain spyware. I just found this thread on the Online Armor forum. That's the program that first picked up the problem with the GUI: Question OA paid says JkDefrag GUI v1.01 is a KEYLOGGER!- FP? The last post of the Online Armour thread is from the Administrator. http://support.tallemu.com/vbforum/showpos...mp;postcount=37 In summary, it appears that the program is clean, but the link to Emro.nl's GUI program is no longer on Kessels.com Jkdefrag page. Does anyone have any updated information?

While you could use Notepad to edit, why not download HostsXpert from Funkytoad? http://www.funkytoad.com/content/view/13/31/ HostsXpert will not only let you edit the file, but it also will download the latest HOSTS file from MVPS.org or the HPHosts file. It's a very nice little utility. Take a look at Homer while you're there. In regard to one of the greatest films of all time, "A Hard Day's Night", not only do I have about 5 different released versions on DVD and videotape but I still remember the day my dad took me to see it when it was first released during the height of Beatlemania! Twelve years later, this film was considered the best of cinema verite, and I found myself watching it for about the 20th time. However, this time it wasn't on late night TV (or the telly), but during a college film studies class! I've always felt the most memorable line was when a reporter asks Ringo at the press party, "Are you a mod or a rocker?" and Ringo replies, "No, I'm a mocker". 15 second clip of "A Hard Day's Night" press party

That's interesting, because whenever I start Opera, both Opera.exe AND Opera.dll run and appear in Process Explorer. When you open Process Explorer, select Find-Find Handle or Dll, and type "Opera" in the find box. See if Opera.dll is running when the Opera browser is running. You might also check the properties and advanced properties and see what security boxes are checked. Maybe it's a question of administrative rights to the exe file. Have you tried logging in as Administrator and running Opera?

What happens when you open the browser? Do you have it set to go to a home page or does it open a blank page (that's currently my configuration. I just type in the site I want after clicking "new tab"? I would have suggested using Regseeker to search your registry using the term "Opera" and try to manually clean out all references, but I just took a look at my Zsoft Uninstaller installation log, and noticed that Opera installed a load of registry strings. Many are in areas of HKLM that have no reference to Opera and would be very hard to find. That's why I find to hard to believe that Revo can actually find all these registry strings that appear to be otherwise unrelated. When you uninstalled Opera, before reinstalling did you make sure all references to it were deleted in your Documents and Settings folder? When you run the program, do you see Opera.dll and Opera.exe files (using Sysinternals' Process Explorer)? Have you tried running Hijackthis when Opera is running (and when it's closed)?

Have you tried Wavosaur? It's supposed to be lighter on system resources. Features: http://www.wavosaur.com/features.php Downloads: http://www.wavosaur.com/download.php

I've seen this link posted in several forums and blogs. This must be Avira's way of getting a bigger marketshare, and with it, feedback from users regarding all the latest trojans, viruses, and false positives: https://license.avira.com/en/promotion-t0q1aatr05zwftftgnqr

Thanks for trying. It's too bad because even an earlier vesion like Paint Shop Pro 7 is excellent.

I always see old versions of graphics programs being offered so that the vendor can email with special upgrade offers, but never for Paint Shop Pro. Oldversions.com has the trial offer downloads, but nothing for free. http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=psp

For several years I've used BRU, also known as Jim Willsher's Bulk Rename Utility. I haven't posted this before because I thought his great free programs were well known. Since I couldn't recall if I saw it here (at least not for awhile), I thought I would post the links. Don't let the GUI scare you. It's an excellent, powerful, rename utility for files and directories. http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/Main_Intro.php He also has a very nice conversion utility. http://www.jimwillsher.co.uk/Site/Software/UCU/UCU_Intro.php Gizmo lists BRU as his 3rd File Renamer recommendation in his 46 Best Freeware Utilities list (actually he lists alot more than that). However, if you read the reviewer's description, it's his renamer of choice: http://techsupportalert.com/dr/best-free-rename-utility.htm

Thanks for the info, Yokenny. What I like to do is just download the entire Sysinternals suite, extract it to the same directory where I had my previous suite and keep the same shortcuts on my desktop. They have so many good utilities that I find myself using one or another again and again. I especially make use of TCPview, Autoruns, Process Explorer and the Whois command line utility. The suite can be found here at the bottom of the page (8 mg zip file): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinte...s/bb842062.aspx I trust these programs so much that I wouldn't even think of running Zsoft's Uninstaller before starting any of their exe files.

As the person who recommended Avanti to you, I now have to actually try it! As far as Mediacoder goes, the program has its bugs but the author is quick to respond with updates, and I really like the menus that use Firefox. Some don't because they think the program phones home, but that's only at the beginning to search for updates, and you can disable that by denying access with your firewall (and possibly through the options menu). As for Super, it's very similar (using all the codecs along with ffmpeg and mencoder in the same container). The major differences are that it's not open source like Mediacoder and that website is very difficult to maneuver because of its demand that you loosen your firewall settings. Read the 2nd comment here from fish1234 http://www.videohelp.com/tools/SUPER#usercomments Then read this thread that fish1234 links to on Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=3556 In summary, they conclude that it probably isn't malware, but until Zsoft further develops their uninstaller so that it can tell if a version # of a system file is changed, I'd be reluctant to reinstall Super. I once had it installed and thought it was a good converter, but since I've read several posts about installations of system files, I'll hold off. I know I've seen a free program that backs up dll files and version #'s. If one can do a before and after comparison subsequent to the installation of Super, I would consider installing it again. To be fair, Super has addressed some of this in their FAQ's. Check out FAQ #'s 32 & 33: http://www.erightsoft.com/faqt.html It's good to know they've changed the install so that the added system files now remain in the Super directory folder.