Fix IT Newsletter Alert May 2008 Issue 0006 News New Pages since last newsletter... BIOS. What is it? What does it do? Basic Input Output System, have you looked at yours lately? Virtual Computers (see article below) IIS -Configuring a Internet Information Service For those that want to host a web site. Disaster Recovery Are you prepared? Articles VPN - The Fastest Way to Get Hacked! Hello Did you ever have one of those programs that you wanted to evaluate and then after you looked it over tried to remove it from you computer but the install program put little bits and pieces of the demo everywhere? Or are you like me download different games and install them just to find out that the hype on the web site doesn't match the actual product? Ah but there is a solution to the problem and I have it! it is called Virtual Box by Sun Micro systems and it is Free! Yup Free, well for now anyway, that may change in the future but it is free today! Or you could download a 30 day trial of the VM Ware Virtual Machine. This is a small review of the two programs, the full review is here: Virtual Computers So what would you do with the emulation program? Load any demo or suspect programs into the Virtual computer. If the software crashes the emulation, no big deal, restart it and test it to see why it crashed. Don't like the program? And it will not uninstall? Delete the files for the emulation, no problem. The VirtualBox emulation or Virtual Computer: I have tested this program with my main computer, it is a Core 2 Duo with 2 gig of ram and I am not impressed. The hardware interface lacks the correct driver emulation and after an hour of changing around parameters I could not get the network nor the usb interface to work, you may have better luck because my computer has three network cards embedded on the motherboard and I did not disable them to make this work. Also my keyboard and mouse are usb, when I started the emulation I lost both. The only way around this was to plug in a PS/2 old style keyboard. This may not be an option on a laptop that only has usb. VM Ware emulation or Virtual Machine (VM) I have used VM Ware of and on for a long time, the last company I worked for was just starting to use it to test programs. One of the reasons I say of and on is that pre Core 2 and Duo or Quad processors for Desktops and Laptops the program would use all the processor and as much memory you would give it to run the Virtual Machine (as VM Ware calls it). So even with a P4 running at 3 GHz the software would cause the computer to drag, that is if you went outside the emulation and opened a program it would take some time to open where as if it was not running the program would snap open no problem. If you opened an email it may take a couple of seconds. So with the Core 2 Duo or Quad you could change the Affinity (see  article) to the second cpu or even the forth cpu (for a Quad) and we all are happy. The program response the same as if you were running a real computer at say 2.4 GHz (the clock speed of my processor) and when I come out of the VM and open another program it snaps open as if the VM wasn't running. So now I have it running and am doing experiments in the VM vs trashing my computer. Moral of the story? If you have a Core 2 processor then the VM Ware is the better of the two, I ran both at the same time and saw a small decrease in my performance with all the regular programs I run during a normal day at the office (I work from home by the way). If you don't have a Core 2 processor but have a Pentium 4 D that supports Hyperthreading I would be interested to know how it responds. If you have anything less expect your system to turn in to a dog while you experiment. You can download  trail of the latest VM Ware workstation or Server here: http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/ You can download the VirtualBox  FREE software here: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VirtualBox Other news: A scam came to light today where I live: High Definition TV is in the old Analog is out so decreed by the US Gov and the Manufactures. Ok, but what do you do with the billions and billons of new Analog TV's? Why sell them at cut rate prices. Ah but beware of the 'Great Deal!' Here in Arizona they caught some BIG Super Stores selling the Analog TV's at ridiculously low prices and stamping the boxes as High Def Ready! Not  - NOT High Def Ready. No kidding, so if it sounds like a good deal it probably isn't. Buyer beware! Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this newsletter and tell me what you think! Yes, you may forward this email to anyone you want! If you don't have a subscription, and would like one, just go to the Fix It! newsletter signup (and get free eBook pages at the same time) Here are some web sites that may be of interest to you: Need help with basic system functions: Computer help - Learn how to use your computer Ebook Guides to Quickly Overcome Your Internet Beginner's Blues. http://www.my-ebook-guides.com All the best, Monte Russell Webmaster www.diy-computer-repair.com Return to top