Q I have installed Windows XP Professional in my laptop Acer Extensa 5220 Intel Celeron P4. Despite having a RAM of 512MB my laptop is very slow, and it opens all the applications very slowly. I have installed Windows two to three times but this problem continues. After installing Windows, my laptop works properly but for only six to seven days. Please tell me that how can I solve my problem.

AIm guessing that your laptop comes with SATA drives. So if you are going to install XP, youll either need the original OS software that comes with the laptop or you should install XP Media Centre Edition because the other versions don`t have preinstalled SATA drivers. You can also try and search
ACERs online site for the proper drivers. I will also recommend that you upgrade your RAM to at least 1 GB.

QI am regular reader of your section, I admire your research, for this reason, I need your help. Just few days ago, I got an error message Microsoft .NET Framework Unhandled exception... (530) Not logged in.

My system is Pentium D 2.80, 512MB RAM, Win XP Service Pack 2 (pirated), Microsoft .NET Framework installed 1.1, 2.0 SP-1, 3.0 SP-1, 3.5 Microsoft installer 3.1, Comodo Internet Security (as you advised) AVG 8.0 Internet Security (as you advised free version is outdated now, then I have downloaded torrent with license) Prevx CSI 3.0 (as you advised)

Please tell me what I am missing or doing wrong. I am also searching the internet for a solution of this.

A I do wish youd written more about what you were doing or trying to do because otherwise its very difficult to answer this problem. This can stem from new drivers that you may have installed or if you were trying a web-application, then the 530 error code and the repeated requests for the username and password are coming directly from the remote FTP server. The remote FTP server is rejecting the username and password combination that is being submitted to it. The remote FTP server is indicating that one or more of the following three pieces of information is incorrect host address, username, password. See if either could be the cause.

Q My problem is that I am using PTCL broadband of 512KB and my brother in the same building and also using a computer. We connected through a converter of the internet. We use Yahoo to share files I want to know that is there any way that we connect permanently like in offices and share file using a general way instead of using Yahoo. I hope you understand my problem. Please help.

A What you want is a Home Network with which you can connect two PCs together. This is a relatively simple and straightforward process. For starters, both PCs need to have properly installed ethernet adapters (LAN cards) and you will require CAT 5 cabling to connect them. The LAN cards are available at every hardware store, whilst youll have to ask your local computer vendor to make you a Cat 5 LAN cross over cable. The crossover cable will be connected to the ethernet port of each PC.

Alternatively, you can buy a Switch/Router which will plug into the DSL modem. This will ensure you can use normal CAT 5 cabling available off the shelf and save you a lot of technical hassle, since youll be plugging both PCs into the router through the Cat5 cable and connecting the router to the DSL modem only. Just doing this will automatically start your file sharing between PCs and internet service.

If, however, you want to connect two PCs directly without a router in between, youll need to assign Static IP Addresses. Please ensure that when you do install them, that the device driver for the NIC is loaded and device manager reports it as enabled and working.

Pre-WinXP OS

Right click Network Neighbourhood. Next youll need to configure each adapter with a static IP address and a common subnet. For our example well assign the first PC an IP address of 192.168.0.1 and the second PC an address of 192.168.0.2. Both machines should be given the subnet 255.255.255.0. You can change the IP address in the Properties of TCP/IP.

Now you want to make sure that both machines have been configured as members of the same workgroup. Any name will work for the workgroup name as long as it doesnt exceed 15 characters (ex.WORKGROUP).

All thats left to do now is reboot the system. Upon reboot, go to a DOS prompt and try to Ping the other PC. To do this just type PING and the IP address of the system youre trying to reach (ex. C>PING 192.168.0.2). You should get 5 replies. Viola! Youre done!

WinXP
To set a static IP address
1. Open Windows Start menu.
2. Open Control Panel.
3. Classic view Open Network Connections
Category view Select Network and Internet Connections, and then Network Connections.
4. Double-click on your active LAN or Internet connection.
5. Click Properties. This opens the Local Area Connections Properties window.
6. In the General tab, highlight the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) item, and click Properties.
This opens the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties window.
7. In the General tab, click Use the following IP address, and enter
•  IP address. The static IP address you want to assign to this computer.
• Subnet mask. Subnet mask used by your router usually 255.255.255.0.
• Default gateway. IP address of your default gateway, in this case your PTCL cable modem. Thats usually 192.168.1.1 (check with PTCL)
8. In Use the following DNS server addresses, enter all the IP addresses for the DNS servers. Again 192.168.1.1 can work. (check with PTCL)
9. Click OK. Then
10. Click OK to close each window.
11. Restart your computer.
12. Then, check your IP address again, to make sure that the changes were applied.
After this, both file sharing and internet sharing would be enabled for both PCs. Personally though, I would recommend that you use Skype (www.skype.com) software for file sharing, if you dont want to transfer files via Yahoo! Not only is it faster, but its better than buying additional equipment just to enable file sharing. n

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