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Just got a new laptop, some questions.
ApexMirage
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
First of all:
I'm probably going to use this laptop at home like alot, and I heard that leaving it plugged in/having it on like you would a desktop will end up killing the battery to the point where you get like 30 min of power out of it if its not plugged in. Any truth to this? If i take out the battery while using it at home as a pseudo-desktop, I'll be fine right?
Second:
I'm trying to transfer over my music library from my old computer to my laptop. What's the best way of going about it assuming i have no flash memory/external HD/DVD-RW type stuff, and i obviously cant mount my old HD into my laptop as a slave.
My friend moved a handful of files over to my laptop from his desktop by directly connecting them via ethernet and sharing folders from the desktop. It worked and i figured it would be the least amount of trouble to simply do that, but when i tried it both computers simply said the cable was unplugged as if they coudnt see eachother. Am I missing something? is there an easier way of going about this?
I've got a router to which the desktop is connected and the laptop is connected to wirelessly. I can connect both through ethernet if need be.
Third:
I'm starting to put stuff onto the laptop, like your basic spybot and VLC and whatnot, but what other progs would be a good idea to have, that are useful or nifty and the like?
3.5:
Also, what's a good firewall?
Fourth:
I bought the laptop with Vista already installed. I dont mind giving it a whirl but i'd like to have access to XP as well. I was planning to format the thing and set up a dual boot, but apparently i didnt get a Vista CD, even though there's a sticker on the bottom with a valid Vista key. What can i do?
4.5:
How do i go about setting up a dual boot? A link to a simple guide would be great.
Edit: Desktop is XP, Laptop is Vista.
I'm probably going to use this laptop at home like alot, and I heard that leaving it plugged in/having it on like you would a desktop will end up killing the battery to the point where you get like 30 min of power out of it if its not plugged in. Any truth to this? If i take out the battery while using it at home as a pseudo-desktop, I'll be fine right?
Second:
I'm trying to transfer over my music library from my old computer to my laptop. What's the best way of going about it assuming i have no flash memory/external HD/DVD-RW type stuff, and i obviously cant mount my old HD into my laptop as a slave.
My friend moved a handful of files over to my laptop from his desktop by directly connecting them via ethernet and sharing folders from the desktop. It worked and i figured it would be the least amount of trouble to simply do that, but when i tried it both computers simply said the cable was unplugged as if they coudnt see eachother. Am I missing something? is there an easier way of going about this?
I've got a router to which the desktop is connected and the laptop is connected to wirelessly. I can connect both through ethernet if need be.
Third:
I'm starting to put stuff onto the laptop, like your basic spybot and VLC and whatnot, but what other progs would be a good idea to have, that are useful or nifty and the like?
3.5:
Also, what's a good firewall?
Fourth:
I bought the laptop with Vista already installed. I dont mind giving it a whirl but i'd like to have access to XP as well. I was planning to format the thing and set up a dual boot, but apparently i didnt get a Vista CD, even though there's a sticker on the bottom with a valid Vista key. What can i do?
4.5:
How do i go about setting up a dual boot? A link to a simple guide would be great.
Edit: Desktop is XP, Laptop is Vista.
I'd love to be the one disappoint you when I don't fall down
ApexMirage on
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You can do this if you like, but I haven't found that it makes much of a difference. There was a thread somewhere in either G&T or D&D that addressed this more specifically - I think it was recommend that all you need to do is completely discharge and recharge it every month or so.
Ethernet might be the easiest way for this. I know that you can transfer files wirelessly between XP and Vista with laptops, but I'm not entirely sure between a desktop and a laptop.
This thread would be helpful in this respect. Personally, I'd recommend Sophos (if you're a student or a staffer at a uni/college, there might be a free subscription you can use for this) for anti-virus and a combination of Media Player Classic Home Cinema and ffdshow for a media player, but a lot of people prefer VLC.
Other things I'd recommend would be Pidgin for IM, Firefox (of course), 7-Zip for archiving, Sumatra for PDFs and Bullzip PDF Printer for making PDFs.
I'm not sure, but I think you can get an OEM CD from most manufacturers. You have to pay for it with some manufacturers. Others may be different, I'm not sure (my own lappy came with the CD, thankfully).
Courtesy of APC: if XP's installed first or if Vista's installed first.
How much data do you plan on moving? If it's only a few Gb, you could burn it onto a few DVDRW's, or a dual layer DVD.
If it's more, you could do it via ethernet. A slight tangent, but it's worth investing in an external mass-storage device. I have an external 80Gb hard drive which I use to backup all of my music, and a few videos and important files. It's a laptop one, so it doesn't need its own power supply - USB connection is enough to power it. External HDD's are pretty darn cheap. Just chucking my crucial stuff on it every week or two really gives me peace of mind.
You need a crossover cable. They're not too expensive, and connect two devices directly, instead of through a router. They also make little dongles that'd plug on the end of your ethernet cord to do this.
However, you don't need to, since you mentioned a router. Just have them both connected and online, and you'll be able to see and copy over the shared files. Wired would be better for speed, but if it's just a few things, you'll be fine.
As for the networking, after some fiddling around i got it to work after making sure they're both on the same workgroup and turning off the desktop's firewall.
I'm still looking for a good one for Vista though, as zonealarm was like "lol vista im not installing here"
If you don't mind dishing out a bit of dough every year, there's Windows Live OneCare - anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall. Also has some kind of centralised 'PC tune-up' thing (defrag, back-up, updates). Vista already comes with Defender for anti-spyware, and defrag and updates have been part of Windows since 98, but I assume it's a convenience thing for these ones.
I've seen OneCare recommended a couple of times in these parts, but I've never used it and so can't really comment on its effectiveness. However, you can grab a 90-day trial off the OneCare site.
As for cputemp... try speedfan.