A question from a reader:

Hi Tony, This is totally random, but I stumbled onto an article you wrote for a Microsoft blog like six years ago about how to run multiple monitors off of a laptop. Are you aware of any easier solutions available since that article came out? I bought this thing below, but it only allows for two monitors to display the same thing, rather than spreading the desktop across three screens (which is what I’d like to do.)

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3521446

And my reply:

(more…)

A reader dropped a comment onto another page with a question that I’ve asked myself many times…

I wonder if you can help with this perhaps related problem. Running Windows Vista, it reports the hard drive has only 58 MB of free space. Adding up the folder sizes as shown in the properties window for each folder in Windows Explorer (including hidden folders), indicates that there are hundreds of GB of unused space.
When the limit is reached and there is no space left, by Windows reporting, no files can be saved.
It seems obvious that Windows’ reporting is faulty, but as it stops the saving of files, it cannot be ignored.
Any solution / suggestions?

Unfortunately, it’s not likely that Windows is simply lieing to you. More likely is that your technique of evaluating the disk space used by each folder is flawed. However, just to make sure Windows isn’t lieing, you can run a checkdisk at an administrative command prompt by following these steps (after the jump):

(more…)

I bought a $700 64GB WiFi iPad, and it arrived a bit more than a week ago. Yet, I still feel like I’m waiting for my iPad to arrive.

I was promised an iPad that would revolutionize how I read magazines and books. It would bring the amazing Apple App Store experience to a bigger screen. It would serve my Web browsing needs at home and be my portable media player/game system on the road.

The iPad doesn’t do any of these things well, at least right now. Some examples:

(more…)

Today my friend Jeff hit me up with an interesting question. His quad-core HP DL585 is supposed to operate at 3.4 GHz, but Performance Monitor was showing it running at 82% of the maximum frequency–2.8 GHz.

My first thought was that the difference was the metric AMD uses to make it easier to compare their processors to Intels higher-frequency chips–and I was really wrong. When I investigated the Performance Monitor counters Jeff was looking at, I discovered a counter I hadn’t used before: Processor Performance\% of Maximum Frequency, as shown above.

(more…)

A question from a reader:

hello, i recently purchased windows 7 for my father because of all the problems he has had with vista, everything is fine with the package only windows media player now doesnt recognise that we have a cd/dvd burner drive built in to our laptop. it simply says connect a burner and restart, please could you offer some advice or help please

(more…)

Quick answer: Use 64-bit Windows if you have 2GB or more memory in your computer.

Some of the most common questions I get from readers involve the differences between 32-bit and 64-bit Windows Vista or Windows 7. Here are some articles I wrote in the past on this topic:

• Should I install 32-bit or 64-bit Windows Vista?

• Maximum Memory in 32-bit Windows Vista

• 32-Bit Vista Memory Limits

• Can I run 32-bit programs in 64-bit Windows Vista

In a nutshell, 32-bit Windows can only address 4GB (or less) memory. In the past, I recommended using 32-bit Windows even though 64-bit Windows 7 can address 8GB (in Home Basic), 16GB (in Home Premium), or 192GB (in Enterprise, Business, or Ultimate). The reason: you couldn’t always get drivers for 64-bit Windows.

Good news–in the years since Windows Vista was released, Microsoft has convinced hardware vendors to produce 64-bit drivers for everything. So, unless you have some really old hardware that you’re not willing to upgrade, you shouldn’t have a problem finding 64-bit drivers.

So, I now officially recommend using 64-bit Windows Vista or Windows 7 if you have 2GB or more RAM in your computer.

Unfortunately, you can’t just upgrade. You’ll need to backup all your files, install 64-bit Windows, and then restore all your files. Then, you’ll need to re-install all your applications.

im hoping you can help me. you seem to know a lil about this kinda stuff. heres what happened: I recently installed media player11 off of the web, well ever since then, i have not been able to use my cd/dvd player/burner. it dont recognize it. it thinks that it is unplugged, or that i dont have one. but i know i do. it was working fine before.do you know anything i can do to fix my prob??? any suggestions would be greatfully appreciated. thank you. -Sandy

Hi, Sandy. Does the CD drive appear in Explorer? For example, if you open My Computer from the Start menu, do you see it there?

Yes, it says : local disk c. You know, this is weird, but today it worked for long enough to burn one disk, then it did the same thing again. when i go to the media player, and set up a burn list, above my playlist where it should say “insert a blank disk”, it says “please plug in a burner, then restart the player to continue.” I have had many problems before, but i have never seen this.I tried going to the microsoft help sites, but they don’t seem to know what i am talking about.Thank you for your response.–sandy

(more…)