How Do I Back Up My Drivers?

First, you should know that there are no guarantees. I've yet to find a technique that always gets every file needed by every driver. But I can recommend two approaches, either of which will get the vast majority and quite likely all of them. As an extra precaution, you might use both.

The first is driverback.bat, a batch file I wrote when I last answered this question in 2005 (if that link brings you to a web page of text rather than a file download dialog box, copy and paste that text into Notepad and save it as driverback.bat). This makes for an extremely easy backup and a reasonably easy restore, although it backs up far more files than you're likely to need. Another problem: It doesn't work in Vista--one more reason why I'm giving an alternative solution.

Running my batch file copies a great many files to a folder inside My Documents called driverback. Copy this folder to an external drive or burn it to CD for safe keeping.

To restore your drivers to a fresh XP installation, connect or insert the media containing your driverback backup. Select Start, Run, type sysdm.cpl, and press ENTER. Click the Hardware tab, then the Device Manager button.

Repeat the following steps for each item listed that displays a yellow question mark:

1. Right-click the item and select Update Driver.

2. In the resulting Hardware Update Wizard, select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and click Next.

3. Check Include this location in the search and point it to your driverback folder. Click Next.

4. If the installation pauses because it can't find a file, point it to your driverback folder.

If you're using Vista, don't trust my admittedly crude batch file, or just want two backups, consider Innovative Solution's free DriverMax (http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/). (Free, yes, but you still must register it if you wish to keep using it.)

Once installed and registered, it backs up and restores drivers with almost no fuss.

Micro Express MicroFlex 450B Power Desktop PC

Built around the same Gigabyte X48-DS4 motherboard as the top-performing Polywell Poly X4800-Extreme, the MicroFlex 450B steps down a notch or two on other primary components. A 2.83-GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor, a single 500GB Seagate ST3500320NS hard drive, and a 512MB ATI 4870 graphics card lurk inside. Though this combo is pared back compared with some other high-end PCs, it still managed a more-than-acceptable WorldBench 6 score of 119 and gaming rates around 200 frames per second.

As inexpensive as the MicroFlex 450B is for a power system ($1599 as of August 8, 2008), you don't get the feeling that Micro Express has been stingy. Open the black midtower case, and you'll find plenty of room for even large hands to work, with five external bays open--four 5.25-inchers and one 3.5-incher--as well as two 3.5-inch internal bays for additional hard drives. It also has two 1x PCIe slots and two PCI slots unblocked, plus another CrossFire-enabled 16x PCIe slot if you want to up your high-resolution gaming capabilities with a second graphics card.

Although Micro Express made trade-offs to achieve its low price, they are relatively wise ones. The bundled 19-inch LG W1942TQ wide-screen display is smaller than what we see with most power systems, but it does produce a very crisp picture. The basic Microsoft keyboard and optical mouse are both wired, and the LG GH22LP20 optical drive offers LightScribe but no Blu-Ray or HD DVD reading.

Put succinctly, the MicroFlex 450B provides 85 percent of the Poly X4800-Extreme's performance at 33 percent of the price. I could yap more about the relative lack of big-vendor style, but those numbers are the real story.

--Jon L. Jacobi

Asus Eee PC 1000H 80G XP Mini-Notebook

Ever since the Eee PC 4G opened up the mini-notebook market last year, Asus has been pumping out different flavors of the Eee, including versions of the original with XP and models sporting slightly larger screens and a multitouch pad. With the $460 Eee 1000H 80G XP, though, Asus addresses many of the previous problems we've had with earlier mini-notebook models--and it creates a solid second-gen machine in the process.

The newest member of the Eee family offers the same Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, and 80GB hard disk as MSI's Wind NB U100. It has a 10-inch display and measures 10.5 by 7.5 by 1.5 inches (about the size of a hardcover book, and only slightly larger than the MSI Wind). The Eee 1000H is also fairly heavy for a mini-notebook, weighing about 3.6 pounds including the six-cell battery packed underneath. (On the plus side, the battery lasted about 4 hours, 32 minutes in our tests.) With the Eee 1000H's design the way it is, you might as well call it an ultraportable--in heft, if not performance.

The Atom processor may be passable for last-gen apps and small devices, but it's downright mopey if you're hoping to run Vista. And it isn't exactly a speed demon in XP, either: On our WorldBench 6 tests, the Eee 1000H received a score of 37, a point higher than MSI's Wind got. For the most part, though, this model's performance is consistent for what we're finding with XP-based mini-notebooks running an Atom processor and 1GB of RAM.

One thing that sets the Eee 1000H apart from the other mini-notebooks we've seen is its spacious, comfortable keyboard. I'd probably put it on a par with what you'd expect to find on a full-featured ultraportable laptop. The keyboard, coupled with an array of useful shortcut keys, makes this mini-notebook very easy to use. One key turns off the monitor, another switches the resolutions, the third changes the performance settings, and the last is user configurable. And the keys aren't the only things that work well: The touchpad offers a sensual feel and is fluidly responsive, and the mouse buttons are firm, metallic, and well mounted.

The display's native 1024 by 600 resolution looks reasonably sharp on the 10-inch screen. With a quick toggle of the shortcut key, you can pop through a number of "optimized" resolutions. The only real use I've found for the resolution gear-shifter is that it's helpful for trying to fit some oddly formatted Web pages to the screen; otherwise, you can always output video through the VGA port. A firm, flush bezel surrounding the screen and the 1.3-megapixel camera securely locks everything in place. The case has a smooth yet slightly textured feel.

Suprisingly, the Eee 1000H's audio sounded crisp, and richer than I had expected. Maybe that's the result of Dolby Sound Room technology (which Dolby says extends the speakers' bass response up an octave, and widens the sound space that the speakers project). Elvis's "Suspicious Minds" rang clear; Run DMC's "Walk This Way" sounded a little tinny, but good enough that I was able to forgo plugging in headphones. I'd even say that the Eee 1000H can fill up a small room (or office cubicle) with tunes.

One other unexpected twist: Asus preinstalls some handy software, including Microsoft Works, StarOffice, and Skype.

In other respects, the Eee 1000H provides exactly what you might expect from a mini-notebook in expandability and layout. It includes three USB ports, an SD Card slot, VGA-out, headphone/microphone jacks, and an ethernet jack.

I liked the thorough manual, too. It's funny, really: Many makers of high-end notebooks don't even bother--simply tossing a PDF in the box--and yet this well-laid-out book covers all the bases.

Asus' Eee 1000H is among the leaders in the mini-notebook market. This model offers a sizable keyboard, a solid screen, and a clean and comfortable layout, just beating out the MSI Wind. Buyers beware, however: It's a device that's roughly the size of an ultraportable yet has half an ultraportable's power (albeit at more than half an ultraportable's price).

Lenovo’s bright ,slight IdeaPad U110

LENOVO’S super svelte Ideapad U110 is about as fleshy as ultra portable laptops get. Between the fire-engine-red lid and the rugged rubbery base, the Idea Pad U110 is a bona fide Macbook Air rival.

It weights 2.9 pounds with its seven-cell battery in place, and measures 10.8 inches by 7.7 inches by 0.72inch. It’s powerful for an ultraportable, with a 1.6 GHz Intel L7500 Core 2 Duo CPU and 2 GB of RAM, but in worldBench 6 tests it earned a so-so 65.

The 120 GB hard drive spins at a poky 4200 rpm, but the U110’s battery life was decent :4 hours,38 minutes. It offers three USB 2.0ports and one FireWire port,PC express and SD Card slots, an Ethernet jack, and VGA out. On a laptop with an 11.1 inch screen at 1366 by 768 resolution, you might expect a small keyboard with tiny buttons. But for an ultraportable, the U110 has huge keys. Though the wide, flat keys took some getting used to, I had no trouble tapping out this review.

Alas, it’s a fingerprint magnet and glossy coating creates an annoying glare.

Despite its flaws, the IdeaPad U110 deserves praise as an intriguing, stylish laptop, But considering how hard the screen is to see in some conditions, the price $1900 is hard to justify.

Microsoft’s New Offer: Subscribe to Office

Microsoft has chosen the name Equipt” for a package of products that includes it’s office suite ,Internet security software and other services which it will sell for a $70 annual subscription fee.

Equipt components include Office Home and student 2007 Windows live on care, Office live workspaces, Windows live mail, Live messenger and live Photo.

Bryson Gordon , a group product Manager for Microsoft Office ,Plays down suggestions that equipt is an effort to rival Google Docs and other free office suites ,such as IBM Symphony .Equipt, he says , targets people who are looking for a PC security suite-such as Windows live on care and who might forgo buying Office as well in favor of using and older copy that they might already have or might pirate. Microsoft is selling Equipt first through circuit City stores.

In determining the $70 subscription rate, Gordon says ,Microsoft took into account the pricing for bothWindows live on care($50 per year) and office home student 2007 ($150 for a one time license)

Customers can load Equipt on up to three PCs for the yearly subscription fee.

Instinct Won’t slay the iPhone

From its slim design to its finger tip –friendly interface, the Samsung Instinct pays homeage to the iPhone. It’s worth a look if you dislike AT & T , but the Instinct is no iPhone killer.

Though the Instinct’s touch screen is fairly responsive, it lacks the effortless smoothness of the iPhone’s multi touch display. Battery life was about 5.5 hours in our tests, just shy of the iPhone’s.

The Instinct is loaded with GPS features, and Sprint’s zippy EvDO network makes Web browsing fast. But the browser –like the Instinct itself- -lacks the elegance of the Apple competition.

The Instinct Sports a simple design and a Big Touch screen.

Google lively takes on second life

GOOGLE’S NEW TOOL, Lively, creates 3D social spaces on web sites. The platform lets users create and personalize avatars and their own virtual rooms.

That’s nothing new: second life does as much. But lively users can embed rooms in their website, Blogs or Facebook or My space pages.

Users can show You tube videos on Virtual TVs and display images in picture frames too. To run the lively Beta(www.lively.com), your computer must run Windows and either Internet Explorer or Firefox. You must be 13 years of age or older.

Immediately after the launch, some users complained because the platform supports only Windows.

Some says that the interface is clunky, or crashes Firefox.

But some give the cartoon style graphics thumbs –up.”If anyone can make money [on this], it’s Google,” says Gartner’s Steve Prentice.

Understanding Windows Reporting

One of the new features of Windows XP Professional is Windows error reporting. If a program
error occurs (such as Internet Explorer crashing, but non-Microsoft programs will also do it),
a window will pop up asking if you want to report the problem to Microsoft. It only works
if you have an active Internet connection. If you choose to report the problem, then technical
information about the problem is gathered and sent to Microsoft. If others have reported the
same problem, then additional technical information will be available to you, to help you solve
the problem.
According to Microsoft, the information gathered is only used by programming groups to
help solve technical problems. Your individual information is not stored or tracked in any way.
To configure (or disable) Windows reporting, open your System properties by rightclicking
on My Computer and selecting Properties. On the Advanced tab, click on the Error
Reporting button at the bottom of the screen to open a window similar to the one shown in
Your two major choices are to disable or enable error reporting. If you choose to disable
it, you can still be notified when errors occur. After choosing to enable error reporting, you
can make the selection of reporting Windows operating system and/or program errors. By
clicking on the Programs button, you can configure which programs you want to report errors
on. By default, all program errors from all programs get reported, but you can configure the
reporting of errors on an app-by-app basis.

Creating Boot Disks or an Emergency Repair Disk

Most of the time, you won’t bump into serious problems running any of the Windows versions
we have been discussing. However, someday you might find yourself in a situation where the
system won’t boot up anymore or where you are experiencing some other type of critical error.
It is extremely important to be prepared for these types of scenarios. One thing you can do
when the system is running smoothly is to create startup disks or emergency repair disks
(depending on your OS). (You might also find these disks referred to as boot disks.) These
disks typically enable you to at least boot the machine and access drives (and thus data) and
also to troubleshoot the problem. we’ll look at the different types of disks you
can create in Windows.

Boot Disks and ERD in Windows 2000
To prepare for a Windows 2000 emergency, you need four OS boot disks, as well as an Emergency
Repair Disk (ERD). To create the set of four boot disks, you need the Windows 2000
Operating System CD. To create an ERD, you need to use the Emergency Repair Disk utility
in the Windows Backup utility (see Figure 6.1). Let’s look at this process in more detail.
FIGURE 6 . 1 The Emergency Repair Disk utility in Windows 2000
To create the four Windows 2000 boot disks, insert the Windows 2000 Operating
System CD into the CD-ROM drive. On the CD, browse to the Bootdisk directory and run
MAKEBOOT.EXE. The program walks you through the process of creating the boot disks. Make
sure you have four blank floppy disks ready. Once you have created the boot disks, you need
to create an ERD.
Make sure you store these disks in a safe place. If you have an emergency, you can use the
boot disks to start the Windows 2000 Setup program. At some point, you’ll be asked if you
want to install or repair Windows 2000. Choose Repair. Windows 2000 Setup will continue
and at a later point ask you for the ERD.

Automated System Recovery in Windows XP
In Windows XP, things are different. Windows XP introduces Automated System Recovery
(ASR). As in Windows 2000, this feature is integrated into the Backup utility. It first creates
a backup of your system partition and then creates a recovery disk. Using these two components,
you can recover from a system crash and restore the system back to a functional state.
Exercise 6.2 demonstrates how to use ASR to restore the system in Windows XP.
Using ASR in Windows XP
To restore the system using ASR in Windows XP, follow these steps:
1. Click Start  All Programs  Accessories  System Tools  Backup. If Backup starts in
Wizard mode, deselect Always Start In Wizard Mode and click Cancel. Then start Backup
again. You’re taken directly to the Backup interface.
2. Click the Automated System Recovery Wizard button. In the Welcome dialog box, click Next.
3. You’re prompted for the Backup Destination. By default, this is A:\BACKUP.BKF. You need
to change this location, because a backup of your system partition won’t fit onto a floppy
disk. Use a drive other than the C: drive, because this drive will be formatted as part of
the recovery process. Click Next, and then click Finish.
4. The backup procedure starts. When it’s finished, you’re prompted to insert a floppy disk.
Do so and click OK.
5. When the disk-creation process has completed, click OK. Keep the ASR disk in a safe place.
To use ASR to recover from a system failure, run Setup from the Windows XP CD. During
the text portion of the Setup program, you’ll see a message to press F2; do so, and you’ll be
prompted to insert the ASR disk. The system then guides you through the rest of the process.
To obtain setup boot disks for Windows XP, you have to go to Microsoft’s download website
at www.microsoft.com/downloads and download them. These disks can be used to
install XP if you can’t boot from CD-ROM. You’ll need six floppy disks during the download;
they should be formatted and blank.

How can a new, improved iPhone be so cheap?

Wondering why the new iPhones are priced so much lower then the original versions were? The latest(“next generation”) Iphones, which come equiped with 3G and GPS capability as wel as better battery life, sell for $199(for models with 8GB of memory) and $299(for models of 16 GB memory)

That’s a $200 discount from the most recent prices of previous-generation iPhones:$499 for the 8GB version and $499 for the 16GB version. And of course Apple charged $599 for its top of the line 8GB iPhone at launch more than a yewar ago---three times what the new 8GB model cost.

Price drops on technology products aren’t unusual, but they are less frequent when new performance-improving features are added to the mix, however, experts say several factors are making the new low prices possible.

Price and Quality

Tina Teng, an analyst specializing in wireless communications for market research firm iSuppli, belives that the 3G and GPS radios included in the new models probably did add cost to the new iPhone, but she points out that prices for other components are declining.

According to Gartner Vice president Ken Dulaney, even the iPhone’s 3G radio technology likely costs considerably less now than it might have a year ago, since most companies that make chips for cell phones are converting to the faster technology anyway .Increased supply means lower prices.

Another factor that may be contributing to the lower costs of the new iPhones is Apple’s willingness to introduce some cost cutting design changes, including its decision to use plastic instead of metal on the phone’s case. Will that decision significantly degrade the product’s quality? At this writing, it’s too soon to tell.”For users’ what matters [are] the durability and functionality ”Teng says ”I am sure [Apple] did a lot of stress tests to make sure the materials they are using now are still going to be durable.

Dell PC Gets in the Game

DELL’s XPS 630 is a stylish and competitively priced mainstream gaming PC. Our 43229 test system included Intel’s 3-GHz QX6850 CPU, 3GB of RAM, 320gb storage and 22-inch Monitor.

Running Windows Vista Premium, It earned a score of 123 in our World Bench 6 test suite- on a par with competing PCs using the same CPU.

One drawback: the Motherboard’s in Vidia 650i SLI Chip set limits the System’s two PCI express x16 Slots

(Used by the dual 512MB GeForce 8800 GT Graphics cards) to x8 speed in SLI mode, raising the possibility of a bandwidth bottleneck.

Samsung to Ship Fast SSD Drive

SAMSUNG Electronics plans to launch a flash-memory based solid-state disk(SSD) drive this year that has a 257 GB capacity and high speed SATAll interface.

The drive’s dimensions match those of a standard 2.5 inch hard disk drive; it’s designed to be a drop in replacement for a laptop hard drive.

Samsung’s is the second recently announced 256 GB SSD drive. The other , from U.S based Super Talent, is thicker than Samsung’s at 12.5 millimeters. That drive has a SATAl

Interface with read speeds of 65 megabits per second and write speeds of 50mbps.Samsung’s SSD drive has a read speed of 200 mbps and a sequential write speed of 160 mbps,

according to the company Solid state disk drives use flash memory chips in place of the spinning magnetic disks that hard-disk drives use. The chips make the drives sturdier and

(typically) faster, but the per-gigabyte cost is much higher, too. The Samsung drive should appear by the end of the year.

----Martyn Williams

Managing Temporary Files

A temporary file (temp file) is just that—temporary. It is designed to store information for a short
period of time and then be deleted. Almost every program of any size today uses temp files. There
is one problem, however: Often, the temp files become more permanent. Eventually, they begin
taking up considerable disk space.
One thing you can do to improve system performance is to delete any temporary files that
exist on your system. Temp files can be found in a variety of locations, including the following:
C:\Temp
C:\Tmp
C:\Windows\Temp
C:\Windows\Tmp
The way to know for sure where they’re located is to determine what values the TEMP and
TMP environment variables are set to. An environment variable is a setting that stays permanent
throughout a Windows or DOS session. It is set by an entry in an .INI file, the Registry,
or one of the MS-DOS configuration files (CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT).
To find out where the temporary files are stored in your machine, start a command-line session
(choose Start  Run and type in either CMD or COMMAND). At the command prompt, type
SET. This command returns all the environment variables for your system. Look for TEMP= or
TMP= (or both). These variables point to directories on your hard disk; in these locations, you
will find the temporary files.
In Windows XP, you can find where your temp files are going by opening the System control
panel, clicking the Advanced tab, and then the Environment Variables button. The temp location
will be shown in the User Variables box at the top as well as the System Variables at the bottom.
After you have found the temporary files, use Windows Explorer to delete them. You may
need to reboot, and then try to delete the temp files. Otherwise, some of them may be in use,
and you won’t be able to delete them.