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    sychost.exe

    To see which services are running behind svchost.exe, bring up a command-prompt window and type in: TASKLIST /SVC <enter>
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    reducing multiple monitor temperature

    Don't know about a heat-rating, but the new LED-backlit LCD screens give off a lot less heat for the same light-output compared to previous flourescent designs. You can compare the power-consumption (watts) as a sort of indicator of heat-output.
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    Please Recommend a PC Configuration for Heavy Excel Calculations

    I mean i7 over the Core2Duo 2.8.
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    Please Recommend a PC Configuration for Heavy Excel Calculations

    That will work fine for you. The main benefits of the i7 over what you have now are optimized SSE4 instructions for video-encoding. You won't see any benefits in Excel calculations from that.
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    Please Recommend a PC Configuration for Heavy Excel Calculations

    Go for the desktop. It'll be about 3x faster than your current laptop and about 40-50% faster than the Toshiba laptop. One big advantage of the desktop is its faster HD, which makes a big difference when you've got large files being loaded from the disk.
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    Myths Regarding Optimizing Windows XP + Optimizing

    Well, if you've got enough memory, like 3gb+, you can just disable the pagefile altogether. Putting on the RAMdisk is silly.
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    Multi-Monitor Vendors

    yeah, you can get some 1/2" water-pipe from Home Depot and weld/braze your own brackets for monitors.
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    Switching to a Mac / Yes or No

    Actually you CAN run multiple OSes simultaneously on a Mac: I run WinXP, Vista, Windows20003-server, Windows2008, Ubuntu, and Solaris on my Mac for testing and development. You're really only limited by available RAM. Parallels used to be on top when the Intel Macs 1st came out. But...
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    new XP Pro install, why Unallocated space ?

    If you slipstream SP3 into the WindowsXP install CD, you'll be able to have 48-bit LBA and format a partition to full-capacity.
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    Repairing a Sony Laptop

    Do a continuity test on the power-switch. Check its state in the on & off position. I got a free Sony laptop once because the power- button was busted.
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    Windows 7

    I always test any new OS and its impact on my software & configuration in a virtual environment before committing to it. Download and install the free VMware Server and install it to run virtual-machines. Then use the free VMware Converter to capture and virtualize your existing computer...
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    Can't even install SP2 after reinstall

    No need to have SP1. Here's what you do: 1. open up command-prompt window 2. CD to directory where you have SP3 extracted 3. CD to update sub-folder 4. type in: UPDATE /passive /forceappsclose /forcerestart <enter> It'll show a progress-bar and restarts when it's done. BTW -...
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    Sql Server hardware - advice needed

    Well.. I wouldn't consider WikiPedia to be a credible source. Good for basic info, but most of it isn't technically valid and lags current developments. Here's an article on Windows7 + SSD drives and how they're optimized for each other...
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    Sql Server hardware - advice needed

    Yeah, if you don't have large storage needs, SSD's higher cost-per-gigabyte won't be too bad. The bang-for-the-buck performance simply can't be beat. Intel's new SSD drives have done away with the write-performance issue. They're seeing 220-240Mb/s reads and 100-110Mb/s writes for single...
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    Sql Server hardware - advice needed

    It's hard to simulate SQL-server's performance, so you can't really predict anything until you've got the actual databases deployed. Then you'll use PerfMon to watch overall CPU-usage, memory/swapfile usage and disk-queue times and lengths. I manage servers for a nationwide company...
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    Can't even install SP2 after reinstall

    Uh, that link was to the MS-Office SP2, not WinXP. Don't bother with SP2, install SP3 instead. Did you do a CLEAN re-install of WinXP with a format and complete wipe of the hard-drive? Or did you re-install it on top of the old WinXP installation? If so, you've got a tonne of corrupted...
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    Sql Server hardware - advice needed

    Actually, unless you're running really complex queries that require complex calculations, disk-speed will be the primary limitation on the performance of SQL-server. You want as FAST as disks as possible, like SAS 15k-rpm drives in RAID-0 configuration for 150-250Mb/s sustained performance. Or...
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    Laptop Issue

    Which model Dell laptop? If you're not super-handy with soldering small parts, you can replace the entire screen. It just requires removing a plastic panel and undoing some hinge-screws. Pop in new screen, tighten down hinges, replace plastic panel and you're done. Takes all of 5-10 minutes...
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    Xview versus Trading Computers.com

    Well, you can buy a Dell business system and get the same support for not much more than the retail pricing on the list of parts posted above. Actually may be cheaper in many cases since pretty much no one can purchase a complete system in parts as cheaply as Dell. I'd avoid HP though as their...
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    Raid help needed. ARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!

    Most RAID controllers are based off chipsets previously developed for enterprise applications, meaning SCSI drives. With most on-board RAID solutions, there's bridge that makes the SATA drives appear as SCSI to the RAID controller. Are you using the 4 red SATA connectors that's managed by...
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