mosan

Ok level with us Crushdepth, did you do a Custom (clean) install or did you do an Upgrade right over top of your old Vista setup. I truely think it makes a difference. Of all the installs I've done, I've yet to see a machine slow down unless it was full of crap to begin with. Many users have many programs loading at startup and running in the background because software they've installed load "call home" software or small applets that "monitor" for "this, that and the other" which invariably causes many PCs to slow to a crawl during startup and for the duration of the session.

Try this...click on the start menu, type MSCONFIG in the search box and press enter. Click on the STARTUP tab, remove all of the checkmarks from the listed items, click APPLY, click OK, restart your system and then get back with us and let us know how long it takes for your system to start up...

P.S. I run bottom end, cheap hardware, I've done clean installs for myself and my friends and all of our machines are flying. In fact most are still using the Release Candidate (too cheap to purchase the retail version just yet)...no problems and very reasonable speed increase.

If you want, send me a private message with a phone number and I'll give you a call and talk you through the connection process. I believe you're set up to "obtain an IP address automatically" and system is not supplying a good one and is not able to locate the "Default Gateway". At any rate, the easy way around this is to manually set a static "IP address", "Subnet Mask" and "Default Gateway". These can be obtained by looking at the ADSL or Wireless Router setup page.

Type this URL [ http://192.168.1.1 ] in the address bar of a browser window and in most cases it will take you to your router's setup page. If it asks you for a username password, try the ADMIN/ADMIN combination—if that fails, break out the manual for the router to get the default username/password combination. Then look for IP Address, Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and DNS Server entries for your router. Write these numbers down and return to your Network Connections Panel. Right-Click on your Wireless Network Connection and choose Properties. Now open Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and choose "Use the following IP Address" Next fill in the numbers you copied down from your wireless router setup page with the exception being that you want to set the "IP address" to 192.168.1.10 (just make sure the last number in this first sequence is higher than 1). Now click OK a couple of times to close the properties box. You may just want to minimize the Network Connections control panel for now.

Alrighty now...get back to your browser, close out your router settings page if you haven't already done so. Type in a website in your address bar and lets see what happens. If you're not surfing by now, then we definitely need to work on that security setup next. But I suspect we won't have to.

Cheers, and don't forget to PM me if you're still stuck.

The original poster will probably find that ninety percent of the things that he doesn't have, he will probably never miss. Netbooks were intended to be lightweight on the fly long battery life surf machines. Even still, they'll do most tasks quite well. Besides the small screens (which zooming will overcome) they are just about as powerful as most desktops were from the late '90s to about 2005. People are fooling themselves if they think 1 gig of memory and a 1.6 GHz single core processor is a slouch. You'll be just fine, and when you're home, you can hook that thing up to a larger monitor/LCD and you won't even have to zoom to see your screen. Slap a USB keyboard and Mouse on that little box (not to mention an external DVD) and park it on the side of your desk and it'll be just like having a desktop when you're home—that is if you don't already have one.

Cheers and happy computing!

P.S. and you can always up grade to Home Premium as previously mentioned...

Amazing. Guy asked a simple question and we got hijacked into a p_nis size contest. It's not the system, it's your knowledge about how it works. Supernova (Post #2) hit the nail right on the head. The topic should have ended there.

At any rate I've had no problems with either Legal or copied Windows, high end/low end or old/new systems.

And just for the record, I been a geek for over 20 years but the number of years in the business or the amount of dollars spent may or may not mean anything.

Microsoft is not going to visit your house and ask you where you got Windows from. If you have the original CDs or DVD for WindowsXP and you have the product key, then by all means install it on one of those systems and it will activate by calling the Thailand 800 number. The software doesn't know what machine it's on. And I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that the only thing that Microsoft is really worried about is that your software is legal. I brought a laptop with me when I came from the States. When the laptop died, I built a system and used my "OEM" cd purchased from Tiger Direct back in 2004. After installation, the activation screen in WinXP noted that I was in Thailand and that I had no internet connection active yet—it then proceeded to offer me two phone numbers for Thailand. One number was a regular Bangkok number and the other was a 800 Toll Free number. The computer operated system answered and asked me to choose what type of software installation medium I had—I choose OEM CD. Then the automated system asked me to input code generated by WindowsXP using the number pad of the phone with each group of numbers followed by the # symbol. After entering the entire sequence of digits, the system responded with an activation code and instructions to insert it in my system. Walla...two minutes later, Windows was activated. I then turned on automatic updates and the system updated (took a while as the original disks only had service pack 1). I have since upgraded several times and subsequently installed and activated that same software. As long as you don't try to activate more than one machine with the same product ID, I think Microsoft will be fine with that. Once in 2007 an operator did come online and asked why I was trying to reactivate again and I explained that I was upgrading to newer hardware. She then turned me back over to the automated system to complete my activation.

P.S. I've been building and upgrading my own computers for quit some years and Microsoft has never refused to let me move Windows XP or Vista from one dead computer or hard drive to a newer computer or upgraded hardware. If they ask, you simply tell them that you're upgrading and the software is still only being used on your personal machine. Full stop.

Just found out the Kata Center Hotel & Restaurant just got TrueVisions satellite.

The Restaurant is open 24 hours so if you are willing to stay up late you can watch the NFL.

They only have 1 receiver so not sure what Game will be On. I guess it will be majority rules.

You don't have to stay up late to watch the NFL games that are broadcast on the ASN channel. All the games are replayed/repeated numerous times throughout the day/week. Get the schedule at asn.tv

You need to look at it as an extension of your stay - not your visa. Your permitted to stay is what is being extended.

Just a little jab in the ribs Lop—no actual harm meant, but didn't you mean "Your permission to stay" is what is being extended.

In the future, I'll try to only single out those whose writing is totally incomprehensible.

First of all, you should not be doing any other thing on a computer when you want to resize a partition or create a new partition. Second, you don't have to worry about swap files or any other thing. Windows handles most chores automatically and you don't have to worry about managing them manually. Just get your download done, backup of your important files and defrag drive C:\. Then shut down all applications, open windows disk management console and get on with the task of resizing (shrinking) your C:\ partition leaving that 85 gigabytes as unallocated spaced. Next create a new partition in the unallocated space and give it a drive letter. Close disk management and reboot. If you haven't already done so, burn the Win7RC iso to a DVD, boot from the DVD and choose to install in the new partition. If you have any questions send me a private message and we can hook up on the phone if necessary.

The items you want to accomplish are reasonably simple but judging from your questions, I suggest you take the two computers to a qualified friend or IT specialist and tell him/her what you want done. I would volunteer, but I live in Ubon Ratchathani. Before you purchase a new video card for your system, have the technician acertain if your old one will live happily in the new Compaq. An experienced geek should have your 320 GB hard drive resized and partitioned in under and hour using software built into Vista itself. And by the way, video cards do not care what screen ratio your monitor is—it only deals with screen resolution (like 1024x768 pixels) and refresh rate (like 60 Hertz). A good technician will guide you through these nuancies. In all what I'm saying is the best way to handle these situations is face to face with someone you can speak to in your native language. And preferrable that someone is also the one who is going to do the work. Trying to wade through this geek talk on a forum and then translate that into action doesn't work too good. Send me a private message if you want to talk on the phone. I don't need your money, I'm just a retired guy who's been building computers since 1980. I help out other guys here in the area just to stay busy and to keep my mind and skills sharp. One never knows when he or she may have to return to the workforce.

I don't know how it works out for the majority of you, but after figuring in the VISA charge and the 150 Baht, it comes out to about $7 and some change for a withdrawal at my present $400 limit. At approximately 6 withdrawals a month that's what...$42 plus or minus a few dollars a month. I know this can be worring if you're living on the edge, but it's not really going to change anyone's lifestyle much. But judging by the number of posts and multiple calculations on this topic, you'd think it was the end of life in Thailand for expats.

My guess is that it's just something to talk about and all will be forgotten in about a month—like most things. Besides I spend more than that just buying a round for my mates! New charges for services, either hidden or visible are not going away. I say we just all get on with life.

Next...

I'm not an expert but I think the answer is quite simple. If you're under 50 years of age and have no particular ties to the country, you get a tourist visa, spend your 30, 60 or whatever days in Thailand, have a good time, spend your money and then go home! If you want to marry a Thai, start a business/invest or secure a job, then you open up other avenues. That's it. There is no more. And, yes you are still at the mercy of the local officials if you are or appear to be a bit shady or are dodging the rules even unknowingly! Oh and one more thing...I believe it's better to appear in person. In Thailand appearances mean a lot (even though your inner demeanor may not be truly sincere).