PC Alarm Clock
John, Calgary, AB

Q:For a long time i've wondered if there is a way to personalize my P.C to “wake me” in the morning. My computer is in close prximity to my bed-room…….and i've often wondered if it could be programed to come out of hibernation and wake me up with the audio file of my choice ???? That would certainly beat the HEAD SPLITTING sound of every alarm clock that was ever made !!!!! thank you for your time ….john

Amber has shown a great free program that can turn your PC into an alarm clock. College Alarm Clock. If it's simply sleeping this will be enough. If you also want to be able to turn your machine off but have it turn back on in the morning, you'll have to check the BIOS setup to see if such a feature is available. It is on many machines. If your machine can wake on schedule you can use the Windows Task Scheduler to get it to play music at a set time.

Trojan Horse Infection
Mike, Steinbach, MB

Q:I have found a file called Sysmswin.exe and it messes up my comp. system freezes on startup and other stuff. it lives in my sytem32 folder and if i delete it, it comes back. it is also in my startup for msconfig. if i uncheck it, it rechecks itself. i have tried spy software and virus checkers and they don't touch it. if i search on google for info on this file it comes up empty. what is this and how do i get rid of it?

You likely have a customized version of Trojan.Dumba. It runs from a file called mswin.exe. Follow the removal instructions for Trojan.Dumba and see if that works. Does you anti-virus detect it? If not, it maybe a custom designed trojan horse, made just for you!

SP-2 Internet Problems
Kellym, LaSalle, ON

Q:After I installed SP2 I was no longer able to access the internet without having to setup a lan connection. Since I only have one computer,what gives?

It sounds like you're a DSL user. If you are, SP-2 has replaced your ISP's dial-up networking program with its own. And that requires a LAN access program.

Check out the Microsoft problem in their support forum

Saving Windows Updates
Neil, Halifax, NS

Q:Quite frequently I reformat my harddrive to clean-up after all the installs and uninstalls I do. Because I'm on dial-up, and my system disk is two years old, after I re-install windows, it takes me 48 hours to download the windows critical updates. Is there a way to save those downloaded updates so I can burn them to disk and install more quickly?

Start by downloading Service Pack 2 - it's a 272 MB download but it includes all the updates to XP through August 2004. Download it from http://tinyurl.com/6ubys or order a free disc from Microsoft at http://tinyurl.com/6g675.

Then you can download subsequent critical updates. The normal update procedure won't save a copy, however. You must change your Windows Update settings.

You may also want to create a new Windows XP disc with the updates added. This is called a “slipstream” disc.

You can use nLite to easily create a Windows XP + SP2 slipstreamed bootable CD. Such a method is to integrate the original unpatched version of Windows XP with the lastest Service Pack 2 so that it would be much easier the next time you reinstall XP (saves a lot of time too). Make sure you have .NET Framework installed and patched (JPEG security issue) to run nLite. You would need to have with you:

1. Original installation CD of Windows XP Home or Professional.
2. The full 266MB Windows XP Service Pack 2. (Better if you have the SP2 CD)
3. and of course a CD burner.

See MSFN and MCSEworld for more information on sliptreaming.

Upgrading Dell Dimension 2400
Don, Toronto, ON

Q:Welcome to Canada Leo!I've got a Dell Dimension 2400 with a 2.4Ghz celeron CPU.I want to upgrade my CPU to the most powerful,and productive CPU.What would you recommend?Thanks for your help in advance!

I don't like the Celeron very much. But if you have less than 512MB of RAM upgrade that first. If it's still too slow you can replace the Celeron with a Pentium IV and you'll get some real improvement. That machine can go all the way to 3.2 GHZ but that fast a processor is wasted on a budget machine like yours. I wouldn't recommend going faster than 2.66 GHz.