Martin

You may want to check the partition layout, because during a Vista installation (where the installer partitions the hard drive) the first partition starts at sector 2048!! If you then try to install XP on the existing partition layout, it will fail!!! mb

looks freaky-scary!!! mb

Is that a tag around your ankle? mb

Well i have been driving one for the last year and a half - and i am perfectly happy with it. Just to correct a few "un-truths"... It is an expensive car, but you get an awful lot for your money. The top of the range Spirit has proper sat-nav, bluetooth, climate control, reversing camera, umpteen speaker multi-CD stereo and so on. I've also got the intelligent parking assist - you tell it where to go via the dashboard touchscreen display, and it parks itself! It isn't heavy, in fact it is lighter than my previous car - a Subaru WRX with PPP. It also has 400nm of torque, compared to a mere 300nm on the Scooby!!! It doesn't come with Michelin "economy tyres" - it is shod with quite grippy Bridgestone Turanzas, and the 195/55 profile does a good job. The whole synergy drive system has an eight year warranty, so no battery replacement worries. Acceleration is easily on a par with your average 2 litre motor - often other drivers seem quite surprised how nippy it is. I get 40+ mpg, but i tend to drive it like i stole it If you do long motorway journeys then a diesel is probably better, but around town the Prius is far superior. The continuously variable transmission makes driving in traffic a dream - and lets face it, we are stuck in traffic most of the time. Switching to electric-only mode is great fun in car parks - scaring old folks and totally freaking out most cats So, don't slag it off until you have (properly) tried it!! mb (donning flame suit )

Naaaaahh, look harder (courtesy of Scoobynet) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/cdodsworth/bunny.jpg mb

From What Are The PXE Error Codes? PXE-E51: No DHCP or proxyDHCP offers were received. The client did not receive any valid DHCP, BOOTP or proxyDHCP offers. To resolve this issue, check each of the following network configuration items: DHCP services are not available on the network to which the PXE-enabled NIC is connected. A DHCP proxy or IP helper address is not configured for the subnet on which the PXE client is connected. The switch port connected to the PXE NIC is running Spanning Tree Protocol, EtherChannel Protocol, or Port Aggregation Protocol and is thus not activated immediately when a link is detected. This forces the DHCP request from the PXE client to timeout. DHCP is available on the network, but PXE is not. The network cable is not attached to the PXE-enabled NIC on the target server. ...and just a thought, but does the server have a firewall enabled? mb

We have just had someone with a similar problem on a Latitude D830 - and it turned out to be the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) settings. See Wikipedia AHCI, especially the bit under "Common problems switching to AHCI under Windows" Thus, assuming the D810 also uses SATA, in the BIOS change SATA BOOT OPERATION from AHCI to ATA and give it another try. Cheers, mb

You gotta laugh Cadbury sold off it's in-house IT to management about 12 years ago to create ITnet which was an independent outsourcing business. Then 3 years ago, after losing a major contract with the cabinet office they got bought out by Serco. Meanwhile, now it seems that Cadbury are outsourcing to HP. Musical chairs anybody? mb

Freemind is quite good, and, er, free!! mb

I've got the Three USB dongle mobile broadband thingy - a tenner a month for up to a gigabyte download (which sadly you can't carry over). You get up to 2.8Mb/sec, depending on where you are. I was Google Earthing quite happily in the Ribble Valley over the Christmas break, and 'cos it is based on data and not time, you can stay connected without worrying about excessive costs. Brilliant as a backup at work in case the wired connection goes down, but i have yet to try it out on a train (thus moving between cells). Info and costs here. mb

That seems to be the official Microsoft line, but we have successfully encrypted just the D: drive (used for data) and left the C: drive (for the O/S) un-encrypted. I think that Microsoft use D: to refer to the bootable (and hence unencrypted) partition, which then "unlocks" the system partition to run Windows in their vanilla configuration - hence the confusion. Obviously, if you don't encrypt the system partition, you should redirect your pagefile, temp etc. to the encrypted drive, so that data doesn't leak unexpectedly! Oh, and if you work for HMRC, don't forget to stick a post-it on the back of your keyboard with the password on it mb

Have you got Spanning Tree Protocol enabled on your switch? It can delay the initial activation of a port for 30 or more seconds, causing a DHCP timeout. Windows is a lot more forgiving (and remembers it's last address) which may be why you can login as normal. mb

More like twenty one quid return each if you leave after ten in the morning. Type your preferred times and dates into National Rail Enquiries - with a start of "Birmingham New Street (BHM)" and destination of "Kensington Olympia (KPA)". It is scarey the number of fares available, and the fact the "peak" starts at three thirty in the afternoon (thus take your time, have a beer, and catch a later train ) Cheers, Martin

Ric, have you managed to get things working? I have looked at my configuration, and IE has a Browser Extension for "Start WebEx MeetMeNow", which for some reason sits in my Firefox plugins folder. I can't see any references to plugins or extensions within Firefox itself though. However, bear in mind that i am configured to actually start a meeting (rather than just join one), so i am not sure exactly what gets downloaded when you simply connect. Regards, Martin

How are you installing the controls? Simply joining a meeting should do it for you! I am sure that it all worked quite easily, and i am on FireFox (thus no ActiveX). mb

You could try a two-step approach. Export (print) to PDF, then use a converter such as PDF-to-HTML to get the final format. mb

PXE booting is where the network card itself (no disk-based OS required) establishes a connection with a server and downloads a program to run. What happens next depends on the downloaded program - typically it is another mini-OS that can copy further files or images down to the client PC. mb

Screen Grab Pro ...you can also set a timer, thus you can grab menu drop-downs as well - very cute! mb

The DELL provided installation CD contains a "pre-activated" OEM version of the operating system - this locks the installation to OEM-specified BIOS information in the PC. Similar installation CDs are provided by other major manufacturers such as IBM, Stone, HP etc. Thus an image taken from one of the OEM pre-activated installations should theoretically work on other PCs from the same manufacturer (assuming the relevant bits in the BIOS match). However, i believe that Volume Licensing is the only "officially supported" method for use when deploying via cloning - so don't call Microsoft for help if you use other methods mb

Just a couple more thoughts... Are all the NICs identical - the precise type and revision number may not appear within the motherboard BIOS settings? Also, do all PCs have exactly the same peripherals connected (even down to USB or PS2 mice)? mb

It could be different "out of the box" BIOS settings - see Reboot on ghpcw2k.sys mb

cooper, as Ric_ mentioned, have you fully enabled the NIC for PXE booting. DELLs usually have three settings for the NIC - e.g. "Yes" or "No" and "On w/ MBA" or "Disabled", "Enabled" and "Enabled with PXE". You should then save the settings, re-enter the BIOS as the PC boots and set the boot order accordingly. Good luck, Martin

Stewart, net-runna can deploy software in two ways - preboot or post-boot: Preboot we deploy by copying the differences of files and registry settings that make up an installation. These are sent via multicast (for efficiency) and stored in the local cache partition, so subsequent deployments are much faster. Post-boot (or Live Software Deployment) allows you to copy and run MSIs or .EXEs to clients that you have Windows permissions to access. Pop over to our forum if you want to know more (despite what strawberry might suggest ) Martin

Alan, regarding virus definitions etc. - with net-runna it is possible to turn off "self repair" for given folders (such as the AV definitions one). That way you always have a system in a known O/S state, but with the latest antivirus configuration. If you want a more permanent image, you can capture AV settings, patches etc. either for each indivudual PC, or very quicky re-deploy an updated image to groups of PCs (in minutes). And depending on how your anti-virus works, you could use "repair on demand", which won't reset your PCs unless you choose to do so (e.g. after a harddrive failure). We are only just up the road in Tamworth, so give us a shout if you want to know more. Cheers, Martin