Recent content by Solar

Yeah, thats what I did, and I wonder if, in some instances, it's incorrect. I'm curious as to whether laptop makers got lazy and simply added an internal hub without telling anyone and are trying to pass it off as self-powered. I read this wikipedia article and I'm trying to see if there is any...

Is it possible for laptop USB ports to register as being self-powered when in fact they are actually bus-powered? If so how can one tell if this is the case?

If your brother wants to take advantage of the 4gigs of memory, then he would want to go Vista64. Also, I doubt that SP1 will be the last service pack for Vista. Just look at the release of SP3 for XP if you want any indication of down the road support.

As long as it's not one of the wireless bluetooth models you should be good. I use normal alkaline batteries and they surely last longer than a week or month. With heavy usage, I think I've had to replace my batteries after 2 or 3 months. But normally I cannot remember the last time I changed my...

Compared to consoles with variety of games available, I think the PC is fighting a battle it lost a long time ago. I've always wondered, my PC is more powerful than an Xbox 360, why can't I play Guitar Hero or DDR on it? Hell what about FightNight360? I have an 8800GTS, Opty170 and a 360...

Check out this Deviant Art Section. I'm a bit rusty on the exact specifics so you'll have to forgive me. Without using Window Blinds, you have to modify your shellstyle.dll file if you want a customized theme that uses Aero. This is from one of the downloads of a modified Aero theme I tried out...

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1302569 You'll find some good recommendations in there, as I'm looking to move to x64 an people started chiming in on what they were using in their 64bit environment. From what I heard Avira (Free) and NOD32 ($50/year) came highly recommended.

Wikipedia says you're right. As for analogies, how about a hyperthreaded Phenom Tri-Core (If there was such a thing)?

Age old question, is it really necessary to defrag to 100%, if in the process you're using more processing cycles to reorganize the data than it would take to access the same data in a partially fragmented state?

Ok thanks guys. It looks like I'll think about Avira moving forward. Personally I don't do stuff that is that riskaay that would necessitate HIPS or anything more than Windows defender + UAC + Firewall. It's like what the last few posts are saying, if an attacker wants my computer that bad...

I'll certainly agree with that. Let me revise that statement and talk about the effectiveness of writing a virus in terms of affected market share. Vista 64 cannot have a very large installed user base at this point, so would the time spent writing the malicious code really be effective? And...

So I'm contemplating the move to Vista x64 and I'm making sure I have all my bases covered. Drivers, programs and what not. One question I'm having difficulty answering is about virus protection. Is it necessary to have an anti-virus program running in Vista 64? Personally I think the OS X...

I have a Thermalright SI-128, albeit slightly modded (removed the front stabilizer bars) inside an SG01. Also, the Scythe Shuriken should fit as well. Remember, the heatsink should fit if it is under 78mm in total height. And with some heatsinks you may have to approximate the heatsink...

Does anyone else like the IntelliMice and their 5+ month battery life? I know I'm a fan of not having to replace my mouse batteries every 2 weeks or not remembering to charge it at the end of two days. Oh and way to go 3 year old thread.

The one thing about Core Temp is that it has a tendency of shutting down my computer if I overclock it (Opteron 170 Vista x32). The problem is documented (link) as a result, I use SpeedFan and take a look at the "Core" reading, which is in line with Core Temps's numbers.