can someone recommend a solid state drive preferably 256gb or larger that works with the sata plugs on a new optiplex ? I mean that it plugs in to the existing sata/power harness and matches the pins for cables already in system. they all come with sata 80gb drives by default (samsung, etc)...

With the main purpose to save money say over 5 to 10 years, what do you think is the best way to prolong the life of a dell laptop (E1405) battery ? After that time, I'd probably replace the laptop with a new one and want to use the same method to prolong its battery too. If it matters, I'd say I...

I have a question on domain names. I know how to buy them, I have a couple and use one for my site. But anybody can look up my site and find my name. I know when I bought those domain names Go Daddy offered some special service where they keep my information private. Is that what I think it...

I was putting a new WD Green 1.5TB SATA HDD in a Dell Dimension 8400. It is the third HDD. HD does not show up in Comp Mngmnt/Disk Mngmnt. I put the second one in w/o a problem. Original is a 160mb, 2nd was a 640mb. I cycled power but nothing. This was an OEM drive. Is there a limit on the...

Either news.eternal-september.org is broken or this newsgroup has become comatose. Haven't seen a post here for a couple of days... Ben

Posting this here in case someone else runs into this. I just bought a Dell Inspiron 570 package from Staples - had a 20 inch LCD monitor. Set up Windows etc - in the power settings set the PC to go on standby after 1 hour. But I subsequently found that the PC would not come out of standby...

Looking for a netbook that is fan-less. Does anyone still make such a unit or do they all have fans now?

Just months ago, my friend gave me a complete set of PC which is DELL optiplex 360. It's from Saudi. But the thing is, just a few months after I used it, it's already having trouble. It turns into blue screen and then restarts. What could be wrong with this?

I can get a really good deal on Optiplex 780 here at the engineering university I attend. However, besides doing school work on it, would also like the 780 to act as home theater PC. As such it would be nice to have HDMI output on it. Will I need a whole new video and sound card with...

I've always used Window's defrag program. This is adequate or can I/Should I be using something better? A newsletter I got today mentioned a program called UltraDefrag. It's free so maybe it's worth what it costs g What would you guys suggest? Thanks, Monica

Hi I have a Dell Dimension 8400, running XP Pro SP3. I recently noticed that my (Dell) Driver Reset Tool is not functioning. I downloaded the latest version (R92578.exe) and re-installed it - just for good measure. Still no joy. Symptoms: When I run it from Dell Accessories (Start All...

I'm in Australia and am waiting for the release of the i5 Studio 17 Laptops. Dell's local website says available, but only the i7 is listed: http://www1.ap.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/studio-1747?c=au&l=en&s=dhs&cs=audhs1 When I e-mail Dell sales I do not get any response. Are...

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 with an 80gb drive. I would like to replace it with a larger drive (350GB). This will be a clean reinstall. My recovery disk does not have SP1 on board. My intent is to... 1) format a 130GB partition on the new drive 2) install Xp from recovery disk 3) apply...

Have an Inspiron 1720 running Vista Home premium with 2.5 Ghz dual core CPU and 4 Gb RAM Recently the sytem has developed a problem with "skips" or hiccups with sound when playing music. It doesn't matter what player I use (have tried VLC, jet Audio, and Windows media player). skips are more...

After 6.5 years of faithful service, it's finally time to replace my Inspiron 8500. (Still works OK, but I'm starting to see things which make me wonder if it's about to head downhill.) Among the major vendors, I'm looking at Dell and Toshiba laptops. (For various reasons, I'd prefer not to...

I have connected my HTPC to my HDTV through HDMI cable. My HTPC is loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. My HDTV is 40" LED Samsung full HD. Everything seems to be working fine except at times, it shows "no signal" HDMI4 and after a while it again starts working. "Screen saver" is set to...

I have had a new Studio Laptop for 3 weeks now. I am starting to not like Win 7. Has anybody tried to install XP? I have been looking for drivers with out any luck. Any comments welcome. Thanks Tim

What is the big idea behind raising the front of the Studio XPS 8100 a half-inch or so off the horizontal? If the idea was to improve access for folks who place the case on the floor, a measly half-inch (or so) is not going to make a difference. Meanwhile, all manner of shmutz ("dirt" in...

Hi, I pulled out an old Dell Dimension 8200 w/ 512mb ram and Win Xp Pro and updated w/ sp3, Windows Essentials and all the other updates. What kind of memory does it use? I want to upgrade to 2gb if I ncan. I'm thinking I can probably pick up memory on eBay for it. The PC freezes up...

A power hit last night shut down a Vostro 1500's power adapter, which apparently has a "something's wrong" mode that leaves it off even after power returns. Then the laptop runs the battery to exhaustion and shuts off, even though the house is awash with mains power. If the power had gone off for...