Can't say for sure, as that Sidebar was the very first of Vista's
so-called "features" that I turned off immediately upon installing Vista. I
find it to be a horrible waste of display area. Of course, your needs and
tastes may vary. What particular "gadgets" do you have attached to your
Sudebar? Have you tried booting with them disabled? Does that make a
difference?
Check disk is in exactly the same place it was for WinNT, Win2K, and
WinXP. Double-click Computer, Right-click the target HDD icon > Properties
program called "Scandisk," as this was a Win9x/Me program. Instead, because
Vista is descended from the WinNT/2K OS family, it has a command line
utility called "Chkdsk," which performs much better.
Start > Run > Cmd > Chkdsk.exe /? for the correct syntax and available
options.
Assuming that you mean a 1.8Ghz processor, it will be a little slow, as
that's a rather slow CPU for Vista, regardless of Microsoft's minimum system
requirements. But it shouldn't take "ages." A lot depends upon the size
and type of files onthe hard drive, and how badly fragmented they are to
start with. The first time you defrag the drive will be the time it takes
the longest; after that, it should be a fairly short process, depending upon
your computer usage habits. The best thing to do is to allow Vista to do
it's default weekly defrag, scheduled for some time when you don't normally
use the computer, such 1:00 A.M. on Mondays.
Actually, that's the default setting, and I generally recommend that
people change it.
I really don't like to see people use the Automatic Updates, unless they
take precautions to ensure that no patches get installed without the user's
express permission, given only after he/she has researched each individual
patch to ensure that it applies and is necessary. Due to the nearly
infinite number of possible combinations of hardware, device drivers, and
applications on any given PC, it's impossible to guarantee that all patches
will be 100% harmless. In a very small number of cases, patches and
hotfixes can cause conflicts or other problems. So, as with all changes to
an OS, caution is advised.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, all "Critical" updates should be
installed. These address serious issues that can affect a large number of
computers. There will be only rare occasions when a Critical update will
not apply. Of special importance are those that address security
vulnerabilities. If people had installed the available critical updates in
July of 2003, the Blaster and Welchia worms would not have spread throughout
the Internet the following month. In the unlikely event that problems do
develop, you can always use the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet
or a System Restore Point to uninstall the troublesome hotfix.
For the "Recommended" updates, simply study the information provided to
see if these updates apply in your specific situation. If they don't apply,
or you're not experiencing the problem(s) addressed, you needn't install
them. For instance, I have no use for WinXP's MovieMaker, so I ignore any
updates to it. Again, in the unlikely event that problems do develop, you
can always use the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs applet or a System
Restore Point to uninstall the troublesome hotfix.
In general, though, I've found it best *not* to download the "Driver"
updates from Windows Update, unless they're for a hardware device originally
manufactured by Microsoft. Device drivers provided by each component's
manufacturer's web site are likely to perform better and offer more features
than will the watered-down, "generic" drivers that those manufacturers
provide to Microsoft for distribution via Windows Update.
These can take up to a maximum of 12% of the hard drive's capacity. In
WinXP, there was an easy way to prevent this huge waste of storage capacity,
but I haven't yet found how to do so in Vista.
Do you mean the pictures that are associated with each user account? I
haven't found them yet, but then, I haven't really looked, either.
Yes, it's normally possible, but rarely necessary. Should you need to
do so to correct a specific problem, always very carefully follow the
intructions provided by the computer and/or motherboard manufacturer. As
for how a CMOS chip stores the BIOS information:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bios.htm
User convenience. Lots of people keep their computers on the floor
beside or under their desks; it's not real easy to connect frequently
connected/disconnected USB devices (cameras, thumb drives, etc.) when you
have to reach/crawl under the desk, so many monitor and even keyboard
manufacturers build USB hubs into their products.
Check the Task Manager; there should be some McAfee processes running.
For more specific guidance, consult McAfee's technical support.
--
Bruce Chambers
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