Conflow

Xaver and Jean-Pierre, Xaver,your explaination of Jean-Pierre's 'Technique' is really excellent and although I completely agree with what Jean-Pierre is trying to achieve we still have the problem where each and every 'New Utility' placed within the PTE Program is alienating and confusing the 'New Novice User' and the 'New Purchases' and the existing 'Basic User'....sure, we all become experts in time should we so choose to be....and that's the problem !!!....which I am trying to explain to Jean-Pierre and others. One only has to read the Forum Posts to see that these problems are a reality, and with the greatest respects to Jean-Pierre, I also like to use Advanced Utilities when and if needed. However these should not be 'Parked' within the basic Program. (This is no reflection on Jean-Pierre's 'Technique' but it is an 'Advanced Feature' which needs 'beta testing' within the Program before becomming a standard feature of it.) Surely a system of 'Plug-Ins' or 2 Button Set-Up would be more User Friendly to the New User and Basic User and Expert alike ? Now Guys, don't shoot the Messenger, I am purely reflecting what other Users are saying and feeling about Pte.5.5+++plus,plus Brian.Conflow.

Jean-Pierre, I understand what you are saying, and I also appreciate what you are trying to achieve with your new 'Technique'.... However I think there are other major fundamental problems which are effecting the 'User Friendly' usage of Pte.5xx as it is now ~ and which is impacting upon the new 'Novice-User' and new Purchaser's and existing Basic User's. By using a 2.Button 'Set-Up' for the Program (proposed above) now your Technique could be modified or incorporated into the 'Advanced Options' Button shown above in Post #33. I do hope Igor and the Team give some thought to the 2.Button 'Set-Up' option ~ this is not a new idea ~ as hundreds of other Programs use the same set-up system, viz:- ** Basic Set-Up ** Basic ++ ** Advanced/Custom Hopefully both our suggestions will be considered ~and more important~ it will give Igor & Team more time and space to test and develop other options without effecting the 'Basic Program' and its (previous) User friendliness. Regards, Brian.Conflow.

Igor and all In my previous Post #14 I had written... "For some time now I had concern's that PTE was becoming "All-things to All men" ~ and was starting to loose its operational effectiveness and usage simplicity which are the bedrock of all good software Programs"... It appears that I am not the only 'User' with these concerns ~ and it seems that Igor and his Team are also aware that PTE is fast becoming a victim of the vast explosion in "New-Media Presentation Formats" which are giving the Team major headaches, this despite the additional demands of a select minority of User's who want more functions embedded in the Pte 5xxx Program. This fragmentation of interests is NOT good for this excellent Program because to the Novice (potential-purchaser) the Program is too complex in its current operational format. May I suggest an 'old' Microsoft ploy which WILL serve the interests of the 'Novice User' and the 'Pro User'alike. There may be other variations of this idea which use's 2 Buttons to set-up choice of Program Applications and that process alone will not frighten the Novice nor the Semi-Pro user's. I hope some consideration is given to this idea without it becoming a subject of procrastination... Regards, Brian.Conflow. See Attachment for proposal details:-

Igor I completely agree with your 'new approach' concerning Slide Size Compatibility to suit most new Media Formats in that the user can choose 'Pixel Sizing' to give the best compromise with his/her chosen reproduction Media. For some time now I had concern's that PTE was becomming "All-things to All men" ~ and was starting to loose its operational effectiveness and usage simplicity which are the bedrock of all good software Programs. There are those who will disagree with your decision because they want you to accomodate their Camera Image Size (no International Standards) as others want you to accomodate their Projector Image Size and others want to use U-Tube and iPod Format and various DVD Formats (inc) Blue-Ray and normal, not to mention Standard Pal/Ntsc TV and where do you draw the line with HD-TV Standards (in a total mess) and the oncoming Regional Digital TV Systems and other devices? Where does it all end ??? and I have not scraped the end of the Barrel...yet! The use of 'black-borders' and 'png-masks' is a user choice it is not a PTE specification because this is a production issue in the final making of the A/V Show and the final "user-choice" as to what Media Presentation Format he/she wishes to use. Giving the user the choice of 'Image Pixel Sizing' is the only logical way of putting PTE back on course. Kind regards, Brian.Conflow. P.S I note Yachtsman got here before me...he has made the point !

Hi Guys, The following Links may be of interest to you all ~ Copyright Link General:- (Although aimed at the 'Digital Image Creator' it also covers how to 'Copyright' any work of Art) http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/copyright..._on_the_Web.htm Copyright Link "Specific All About":- (How to copyright virtually anything) http://inventors.about.com/od/copyrights10.../copyrights.htm Brian. Conflow.

Caperucita and Jean-Pierre, I have followed this thread with interest because it effects myself and other Professionals who rely on 'Imagery Files' in pursuit of their business activities. As Jean-Pierre has rightly pointed out, the last thing we want is someone stealing those (origional) Images for their own personal gain. In comparison... Unlike the Music Industry where the Artists and Musicians and Record CD Companies have been well paid for their efforts. But the average AV Club Member earn's nothing for their creative efforts and what Professional AV user's earn is a 'pittance' compared to these Music Mogul's who go to despot extremes to extract excess Royalities from all Radio & TV Stations Worldwide to which the Public also pay a Licence Fee. Within that Licence Fee is your contribution to their royalities ~ And yet they want the last drop of 'blood' from A/V Societies who are effectively promoting their Products for 'free' to a non-commercial captive audience, ie:- A/V Club Members. We know that 'Origional Image' Piracy is a fragrent breach of common Copyright Law, but I doubt that any A/V Club Member would have the resources to prosecute an action for 'Image Theft' ~not withstand that~ there are a few ways of protecting your interests and preventing (origional) Image Theft,viz:- There are simple Programs available which write an invisible 'Meta-Tag' into each Image which when 'scanned' by any external EXE will place the word 'Copyright' across the scanned Image. This can't be removed without destroying the Image meta-data. Some Programs also generate a 'User Password' as the Meta-Tag, this for the benefit of the origional Image-Author who can 'unlock' the Image for personal Demonstration or Sales purposes.... (That might be an idea for Igor and the WnSoft team). The following 'Link' will provide some utilities regarding general Image protection:- http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/copyright..._on_the_Web.htm Hope this is of some use to those concerned... Brian.Conflow. P.S For the 'Professional' look up www.digimarc.com it writes 'meta-tags' into Images.

Gary, I understand your perplexity ~ No Essential 'Copy' Codecs in the PTE Folder ~ they don't have to be in there. Consider a Codec as a 'Virtual Mini-Processor' somewhat like a Desktop Shortcut associated with a Folder on your HD. Click the 'shortcut' and your Folder opens up. Programs and Codecs have a similar association once the Program knows where the Codec is, it will find it just as the Desktop shortcut finds its Folder. Had you (in-depth) examined the Essential Codec List you would have found the 'Win Classic Player 3-2-1' (V6.9x) within that List. The Codecs within that List do not migrate to other parts of the PC ~ unless you had used them at some time or another. By default the Win Player Classsic also uses those Codecs and I wonder had you inadvertently activated the Win Player and it was running in the background ~ that would also have created your problem, but there is more... If memory serves me correctly, you had an AVI problem some weeks ago and I suggested you download the Essential Codec Pak. Since then I have absolutely no idea how you used those devices, where and when ?......but somehow or other you definitely had an 'active-system' running in the background which couldn't run without a Codec and when you deleted the Pak you also stopped the 'running-process' so your problem was resolved. Anyhow I'm glad you sorted it ~ I hope the above simple explaination helps. Regards, Brian.

Gary, I said in my Post..."You can't use 2 Codecs to do the same job simultaneously, that was your problem"...thats the bare bones of it. In effect you created a ~conflict of interest~ between 2 Codecs. One can not blame one Codec or the other. I suspect that Igor had created an API Application (for video) which best suits PTE5.5 and has probably chosen a Codec, generic to that job.... But you had a different Codec trying to do that same job...so problems, therefore one had to be removed. Most users who are familiar with Codecs always create a Folder unique to that Codec Family. Now if a Program is giving trouble one simply chooses a suitable Codec 'copies' it into the Program (having isolated the origional resident) then tries out the Program again. If it doesn't work properly, you delete the 'copy codec' and tries another. Example: Audacity Sound Editor, won't work until you load the Lame 3.9 Codec ~ it will also work with the Fraundorfer Codec, but you can't use both at the same time. Then 'Nero Sound Editor' is quite different, it allows you to switch between a standard Mp3 Codec and their Mp3-Pro Codec which costs a bundle. Another Program is 'QCD Player' and thats truly Universal, because it can use up to 50 different Codecs for different jobs and you can download these if and when you need them. When one is exerimenting with 'Quality Factors' it is not unusual for a person to try out 3 or 4 Codecs to get the best result. Hope this explains more. Brian.

AVI CHUNK VIEWER Gary, The 'Essential Codec Pak' is designed for use where some Codecs are missing from a Program or from a PCs' Codec Set or even in the case where a Codec may be corrupted (not working). The Essential Codec Pak is a generic Universal Pak. The 'AVI Chunk Viewer' (codec) does exactly what it says, plays chunks of Video. In your case you had downloaded the 'Codec Pak' and had tried it in some Program (probably PTE) and now you are using PTE 5.5 which has its own generic Codec....You cant use 2 Codecs to do the same job simultaneously, that was your problem, for the reason that particular Codecs associate themselves with particular Programs, and in this case both were trying to associate with PTE simultaneously. Hope this explains it. Brian.Conflow.

Lin, Many thanks for your personal reply, its appreciated. I do understand that dilema posed by U-Tube and in particular its 'over-compression' of large Files which essentially are needed to do things like your Rainfall Test. If I come across anything which may help you, I shall let you know immediately. In the meanwhile I will be 'ferreting' around as U-Tube holds a fasination for me because there are people out there whose Video Cameras seem to have been made for U-Tube, of course you know that ~ but I don't know why ~ and I'm trying to find out ?? Regards, Brian.Conflow.

Re:Rainfall Hi Lin, You put in monumental work on that one ~and I hope thats appreciated ~ I know I do, it's a great job. Cloud movement would add more realism but thats another days' work, I've no idea how you can do that !! Here are some 'stats' which may be of help to you:- Size: Your Zip File 13.1 Mb. Size: Your Exe File 13.9 Mb. Size: U-Tube File 1.18 Mb (downloaded) From 'Uploading' back to 'Downloading' and resolving the Re-Play Video to an FLV File: Compression Ratio is:- 12 to 1. To me thats seems to be on the hi-side of things - its pushing the limits of the Codecs but most of that seems to be happening on the U-Tube side of things. From experience I have found U-Tube tends to 'over-compress' large Images with the resultant loss of resolution. Just a thought.... PC Detail: Hewlett-Packard Laptop. 5500 Series. XP-Home. Intel 945 Bridge-Chipset with HP-UX Management Suite. 2.Gb Ram - 2.Gb.Page File Memory - 2.Gb Virtual Memory - CentrinoDuo 2x1.3 Gb Processors - Fujitsu Sata HD 80 Gb. No problems what so ever with your Exe nor with U-Tube. ~ All work perfectly. Keep up the good work,regards... Brian.Conflow.

Ian, I'm pleased that someone contributed to this 'thread' in a positive way ~ and yes, I like U-Tube also. I does however give some problems to those who are unfamiliar about the 'correct set-up' ~ but then so does PTE and any other Program which demands careful human interface. Like everything else it has a 'Learning Curve' and that curve is nothing like as difficult as the PTE5.5 curve particularily when one becomes engaged with the PZR Effects. When I first started using U-Tube the resolution was 200x150 pix, now its up to 400x300 pix and before long it will probably be up to 800x600 pix this due to the proliferation of Hi-Speed Broadband and advance Video-Graphics in new Server Systems and of course better Encoders & Decoders. In that respect Apples Quicktime Player is certainly up in the top 3, but personally I prefer the 'nFLV Player' simply because it uses the (generic) Macromedia Flash-9 Engine so I don't need to download Flash-X controls for it and I simply want it to play Videos with it, thats all. As a player, Quicktime is excellent, and of course it does an awful lot more than simply play Videos (for Readers information). As regards chosen formats, yes again you are quite correct, I personally use Images no larger than 800x600 pix for the reason that the Codecs are not stressed beyond 4:1 compression ratio and that brings the Images down to 400x300 U-Tube Format without disernable loss of quality. I see that you use 480 x320 pix - well that says it all, just about bang on the target Format. The problem with very small Images is that one can't replace the missing pixels (no data) so the decoder end up multiplying blank spaces on Replay to fill the U-Tube Format, looks awful. Lets hope U-Tube get's up to 800x600 pix within the next year ~ they might have to drop the Bandwidth to 50.Mb to do that ~ but thats more than adequate for a 10 minute Hi-Quality Presentation put together properly. Ian, as you know I didn't start this 'thread', but like you, I wish others would try out U-Tube and the advice given so far should be more than adequate to help them on their way. I nearly forgot, its nice to hear that Igor intends to implant a U-Tube utility in PTE5x ~ thanks for that info. Best Regards, Brian.Conflow.

Lin and John, Not to worry, Barry is practicing to be an 'Aussie' seeing that he's already Poomie bashing and he's preparing for free-fall all the way down to Australia...Wow, unreal !! Brian.

Lin, Well, I've seen it all now ~ its true what they say about Abstract Mathematician's ~ they can prove anything provided its abstract ~ in other words self delusionary. I have never seen such a load of old 'codswallop' and ther're getting paid for it. Their whole concept of Rainfall shows that they know absolutely nothing about the science of Fluid Dynamics and liquids in free-fall state. Why they can't simply use a Hi-Speed Camera and digitise its output and create a Digital Rainfall Model is beyond my simple understanding...How right you are!! Microsoft is definitely going Micro-Soft... Brian.Conflow.

Peter, Firstly, I am in no way disparaging towards 'U-Tube', I use it myself, and I would like to see more people giving it a "try-out" precisely for the reasons you stated above, otherwise I would not have made the effort putting that 'Suite of Programs' together with the appropriate Notes...that takes considerable time to do. But so far, with 132 viewings of the 'thread' and only 10 downloads of the Programs, I feel that we might be knocking our heads against a stone wall ~ I did say there is a lot of negativity towards U-Tube ~ perhaps because people don't know enough about it, or it doesn't live up to their expectations, who knows why ?? Well at least I gave it a shot, and I do hope some of the Notes can be of use to you in your New U-Tube Project. Best regards, Brian.Conflow.

Peter, To be honest I was a bit hesitant in contributing a reply to your query for the reason that this has been discussed many,many times before, and the general concencus of opinions seemed to be that You-Tube is a 'no-go' for PTE due to its reproduction qualities ~ or lack of same ! Most of this negativity is due to a fundamental lack of knowledge about U-Tube (You-Tube) and what it is, and how to 'construct' a compatible Program for uploading to U-Tube. For the benefit of others let me explain:- 1)What is You-Tube? U-Tube is a 'low-resolution' Video-Presentation with composite Stereo Sound reduced to Coded/Mono and reconverted back into a suitable format for viewing on PC,Laptops,iPhones etc,etc. The Sound-File is also reconverted backwards. 2)Downloading a U-Tube Presentation This is frought will all types of difficulties which impact the reproduction quality.Better by far to use a Downloader Program such as "You-Tube Grabber" which recognises the You-Tube URL and downloads the File properly into a newly created Folder called 'Downloaded Videos' on your Hard-Drive, within which you will find the proper Macromedia Flash-Video Files (intact). Screenshot and links below. 3)Replaying U-Tube This uses a 'Flash Active-X Plug-In' for Replay on your PC depending on what Media-Player is Installed. However for the very best reproduction I would advise to download a special 'bespoke' Flash Player such as the "nFLV Player" which uses the genuine 'Macromedia Flash-Engine' together with the Flash9-ActiveX Control. This Player will automaticallyrecognise the 'Download Video Folder' and the contained Flash-Files created by the "You-Tube Grabber" above...so no problems there! Screenshot and links below. 4)Making a You-Tube Presntation Concerning PTE Users, this is the 'Achilles Heel' of all prospective U-Tube Uploaders ~ for the simple reason they are expecting too much and are going about the job the wrong way ! Error-1 U-Tube is a Lo-Resolution System. It simply can't handle your 'Large-Image' AVI Files nor can it handle your 'Large-Sound' Files. Correct Images should be 'No-Larger' than 800x600 pixels as U-Tube's native resolution is 400x300 pixels ~ So make a special Show for it but dont worry, the Flash-Encoders (below) will do a proper job on 800x600 pixel Images which can be expanded on the U-Tube Player. Sound Files should be Mp3 (FM.Radio Quality) Composite Stereo at 'Sample Rate' of 22.Khz and Bitrate of 96.Kbps. Error-2 Try and avoid PZR Effects unless you have mastered this technique and can actually make a proper Test DVD-Video with PZR Effects. Error-3 Do NOT UPLOAD your new U-Tube AVI Presentation directly to the 'You-Tube Website' ~ it will look awful and will be very jerky ! Correct Use a properly designed 'You-Tube Encoder Program' such as 'Riva-Flash Encoder' or 'Easy-Flash Encoder' to convert your AVI-File into the proper 'You-Tube Format' complete with the Flash-Meta-Tags which will ensure proper running of your new You-Tube Show. Screenshot and links below Finally if you are in doubt about 'UpLoading' your presentation, use a proper Uploader If not already available) use 'DVDVideoSoft'. Screenshot and links below. NOTE: Files must be less than 100mB, (typically 16-20mB) and no more than 10 minutes lenght. Hope this helps the Novice to get started and others to give it a Re-Try had it not been successful before.... Brian.Conflow. Disclaimer: The Sites below were safe as of this morning 11-7-08 Scanned with Norton-Executive. ________________________________________________________________________ You-Tube Downloader: http://www.bulletproofsoft.com/v-grabber.html NFLV Player: http://www.zeraha.org/dload.php?sid=3b7b7a...e70b80e42b6ffde Riva Flash Encoder: (AVI~FLV) http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/Riva_FLV_...er/rivaflv.html EasyFlash Encoder: (AVI~FLV)simple. http://www.snapfiles.com/reviews/easyflv-f...er/easyflv.html YouTube Uploader: http://www.snapfiles.com/screenshots/youtubeuploader.htm

Hi All, I had already Posted this in another 'thread' and though it was worthwhile re-posting it here,viz:- Each and every time you go 'On-Line' your Computer is automatically broadcasting your unique 'IPS-Number' assigned to you by your IPS-Provider. Their Server and the Interconnects issue 64,000 Copies of that Number each and every time you go on Line. Unfortunately there is no other way of letting the World know you are 'On-Line'. For a determined Hacker or Spammer or Auto-Keylogger ~ thats all they need ~ Your IPS Number, and if you have a Line-Router it will be that number they get, not your genuine IPS Number. There is little you can do about that. Perhaps you are wise enough to use a 'Proxy-Server, makes no difference, they get its number also and because its connected to you (one way or another) their "junk" will get through ~ Unless you use an 'Anti-Spam Utility' which removes the junk from your EMail In-Box on your PC or you use a very special 'EMail Server Program' which removes the rubbish from your IPS Server before it even gets to you and even that can cause problems with the Web Spamhaus Organisation. (More Later) Concerning the 'Invision-Board' Forum Utility ~ Invision Board Worldwide have excellent Anti-Spam utilities and interconnect scanning for known IPS abusers. But they can't police all the worldwide connections and from time to time we have had some 'spammers' and a number of 'auto-keyloggers' hanging on our wires....unfortunately, thats the way Life is !! America leads the World in abuse of the Internet for the reason by 'Congress Law' which places a limit of 40.Bit maximum Security encryption on General Web Traffic (To accomodate the FBI & CIA) Reference:- the 'Patriot-Law' ~ whereas the rest of the World uses at least 128 Bit.Security. Banking Institutions in Europe (inc Paypal & Visa) use 256.Bit Security. Russia and China follow next. However in Europe the E.U are implimenting extremely strict 'Legal-Obligations' on National Governments and their ISP Providers in a determined effort to clean up Rogue ISP Providers who allow these International Gangs access to their Servers. Fines in excess of Euro 2,000,000 are now commonplace and that type penalty is having effect. The other measure now in force is 'Spamhaus' whereby ISP Providers become Members of this Organisation whose mandate is to Police (rogue) IPS Numbers assumed guilty or not. This has its own problems because the vast majority of 'banned' IPS Numbers are innocent of any transgressions ~ they are ordinary people who are unfortunate to have been attacked with 'AutoKey Loggers' using their IPS Number to proxy-spread the Spam. Below are some "Attachments" from Spamhaus showing the worse offending Countries and ISP Providers,etc. It is an ISP Provider issue and one should report it to your "National Communications Regulator" not the ISP Provider itself where it will get swept under the carpet. It may be that your Regulator will insist that you be given a New IPS Number ~ you can be certain sure the ISP Provider won't do that for you on its own volition ~ they will 'hide' behind Spamhaus. Here is a Link to Spamhaus to find out all:- http://www.spamhaus.org/ Hope this has been helpful to those plagued with Spam and those worried about it. Brian.Conflow. Lumenux:- Those 'Return-Mails' are automatic-phishing devices using reverse-psychology in an effort to make you respond with an EMail giving your true identity thus allowing them access across your Firewall and your Router Firewall thus giving them your true IPS Number not that used by your Router. Never respond ~ just delete them. The same applies to ISP Notices and 'bogus' Bank Documents and Credit Card updates ~ DELETE ALL.

Pepperpod, I would not advise that, as her choices will be Vista and only Vista and it means at least 2.Gb of Memory and Vista is still in the 'Commercial Acceptance' stages...lets see how it goes ?? (Like Henry Ford said, you can have any colour once its Black ~ thats Microsofts Policy also) Memory for her Sony should cost somewhere about £50 and fitting about £50 ~ well worth it, its a good PC. The "Attachment" below shows what her PC will be ~ once that extra Memory is fitted. Brian.Conflow.

Hi Pepperpod, It is as I thought ~ she has minimum User memory (Ram Memory) available on her Sony PC, consequently the PC is fighting to maintain current 'Running Processes' that apart from the additional burden of trying to run the PTE Slideshow. Available Ram Memory is only 58.Mb. The installed 512.Mb of RAM Memory is way too small for any XP-PC to do any worthwhile work. This XP-PC needs 1.Gigabyte of Memory to run XP-Home + AntiVirus + Running Processes and a heavily laden Hard Drive and anything else you care to run, such as a PTE slideshow or PTE.5.1. She needs to contact her Computer Technicians and get a quote for an additional 512.Mb Sony Memory Card and then have someone to install it -and- while they are at it, give this PC a good clean-out. (Don't be tempted to install a 256.Mb Card ~ it doesn't work well with the existing 512.Mb Card) Apart from the above it looks like this PCs 'Hard-Drive' has never been 'Defragged' in 4 years...tut,tut ! Best of luck in advising her of same. See "Attachment" Brian.Conflow.

Hi Guys & Gals, I had just read the continuations of this thread and I do appreciate your concerns about EMail Address's. But consider this:- Each and every time you go 'On-Line' your Computer is automatically broadcasting your unique 'IPS-Number' assigned to you by your IPS-Provider. Their Server and the Interconnects issue 64,000 Copies of that Number each and every time you go on Line. Unfortunately there is no other way of letting the World know you are 'On-Line'. For a determined Hacker or Spammer or Auto-Keylogger ~ thats all they need ~ Your IPS Number. There is very little you can do about that, even if you are using a Line-Router, they get its number first. Perhaps you are wise enough to use a 'Proxy-Server, makes no difference, they get its number also and because its connected to you (one way or another) their "junk" will get through ~ Unless you use an 'Anti-Spam Utility' which removes the junk from your EMail In-Box on your PC or you use a very special 'EMail Server Program' which removes the rubbish from your IPS Server before it even gets to you. Concerning the 'Invision-Board' Forum Utility ~ Invision Board Worldwide have excellent Anti-Spam utilities and interconnect scanning for known IPS abusers. But they can't police all the worldwide connections and from time to time we have had some 'spammers' and a number of 'auto-keyloggers' hanging on our wires....unfortunately, thats the way Life is !! America leads the World in abuse of the Internet for the reason by 'Congress Law' which places a limit of 40.Bit maximum Security encryption on General Web Traffic (To accomodate the FBI & CIA) Reference:- the 'Patriot-Law' ~ whereas the rest of the World uses at least 128 Bit.Security. Banking Institutions in Europe (inc Paypal & Visa) use 256.Bit Security. This Post is made in good faith so as to let you know the facts of 'whats going on' in the World-Wide Web (www) and its also an attempt to clear out the 'conjectures' about this Topic and to restore confidence in the Forum Board. Other things which happen outside the control of the Invision-Board are really a personal matter...at least now you know the facts. Hope this has been helpful to those plagued with Spam and those worried about it. Brian.Conflow.

Pepperpod, As I said..."You need to know the current 'Tech-Specs' of that particular PC before you can assess its performance integrity" Whilst I do appreciate the Specs supplied by Lin, thats are all very well and fine for a 'New PC Spec' ~ but lets get back to the core issue here ~ you have a Client/Friend who has a PC which 'falters' when running the basic PTE Program and you wished to help out with their problem, per se. The simple expediency of installing extra Memory or a new Graphics Card is like playing "Poker" with the PC when one does not know the PCs' current operational status ~ I wish it were that simple ! A simile comes to mind:- Would you buy a 4 year old Car, with 120,000 Miles on it then give it a New Re-Spray, fit new Tyres and Exhaust, Seat Covers etc,etc without first checking the Engine,Gearbox and Transmission ???....I don't think so. The same argument applies to this PC ~ I have seen more friendships break up because the PC Owner goes out and spends money on a 'friends recommendations' and then blames their friend when the thing doesn't work to their expectations. Pepperpod, don't go down that road unless you have the current 'Tech-Specs' of that particular PC...that's friendly advice. Hope to hear from you soon, Brian.Conflow.

Pepperpod, You need to know the current 'Tech-Specs' of the PC before you can assess its performance integrity. Over time many things change on a PC particularily Memory availibility, and other factors, which will gradually slow down its origional performance to a near virtual stand-still ~ particularily on older PCs. The "Attachments" F-1 and F-2 below will show you how to get the most recent 'Tech-Data' from that PC. If you could get a Screen-Shot of the 'System-Information Window' (example in F-2 below) and Post it here then we can get an assessment about whats going. In case she doesn't know how to do a 'Screen-Shot' ask her for the information shown in Item:1 and Item:2 shown in the XP-Example (F-2) ~ you may need to send the 2 Images to her ~ then we may be able to help. Brian.Conflow.

Hi Ralph, Yes, I knew that about Sp2 and Sp3. The Sp3 Upgrade came pre-installed on Jims New PC and there is little he could do about that. The PC is a 'Quad-Core Processor Machine' with lots of Memory and is extremely powerful. The problem (sorted by Igor) was really one of 'Program Conflict' between two versions of PTE where Jim had inadvertently imported some settings from V5.1 where in fact he should have made a 'New Install' with V5.5...it happens! From my point of view I needed to establish the 'integrity' of the PCs on Jims Network prior to looking for other issues such as that above. In this situation with this PC, the Sp3 upgrade would not have bothered him but could have impacted on the small PC running in parallel on his Live Network ~ but that was not the case. Hope this explains all... Brian.

Jim & Igor, Jim, So far so good, you have XP-Pro with the Sp2 Upgrade ~ thats perfect, so no Sp3 upgrades ! Jim you said that you have only 58 x SP2 Files ~ surely thats 258 Files, is that a typo error? I had a look at the 'Data Sheets' for all 3 Machines and I note that the 2 Upstairs machines are 'identical Twins' each with some 1.3.Gb of Available Physical Memory (RAM) and 1.9.Gb of Available Virtual Memory. (Your own New Personal PC has much more Memory availability) and all 3 PC's have fast Processors. These 'Specs' are more than enough to run PTE 5.1 but that availability will drop-off when you are working your PC-Network ~ this all depending how many Processes are running concurrently. I note that Igor has returned from Holidays and has suggested a possible 'Fix' for this problem. Thats well worth a try before we do anything else ~ there may be a Configuration conflict here as everything else seems to be O.K so far... Concerning your New Computer, I would like to contact you 'Off-Forum' about this. Don't worry there is nothing wrong with it, but I would like to suggest a major performance improvement for it which your Tech people have overlooked. I will follow through with this as soon as you have time to try out Igor's suggestions... Please keep in contact. Brian.Conflow.

Hi Jim, Yes, things are starting to come together here with the 'Screen-Shots Data' supplied. I am coming to a conclusion as to "whats wrong" with the PC's you are Network running. (Looks to me as if Sp2 is on them,but with 'auto-update' ON, one wonders about that) I really need to know if XP-Sp3 Upgrades are actually installed on those Machines,then I can give you a definitive analysis as to what wrong with them and how we can go about some remedial actions. See "Attachment Instructions" below. A Few other Questions:- 1) Are you running Adobe Photoshop ? 2) Are you running Norton Anti-Virus ? 3) Is your Network 'Live-On' always ? 4) Is your Broadband 'Live-On' always ? 5) Is your Lab-Account System 'Live-On' always ? Just give a 'Yes/No' after the questions in return reply ~ dont forget the XP-Sp3 Check ! Brian.Conflow.