LilBeaver

This is absolutely 100% NOT true as you already own a valid license key... All you need is the updated image that is BASED on the same license type as what you currently own a key to (e.g. OEM/COA SLP, OEM System builder, retail or Volume) With a single very simple adjustments to whatever image you have, provided the license type is correct, you can install ANY of the 'flavors' of windows (starter, home, premium, professional, ultimate). So, what would save you the MOST time is starting with a W7 image that already contains service pack 1.

I will try to provide a more objective viewpoint here but first require more information from you. Your setup sounds rather straight forward. The generic 'you need to update your systems' comment from your IT guy may be legit or it maybe a lazy IT guy looking to spend someone else's money to make his life easier. Bottom line, questions that we need answers to in order to provide you with a better overall assessment of what options you have are questions such as (Yes, some of these are going to be repeated): (1) What OS are you running on the Poweredge server? (2) What do you use the server for? (For example: File server only? File server and user authentication? Heavy calculations of something like risk assessment models for your insurance shenanigans? Running a 'out of box' software package that is designed for a particular operating system to make YOUR life easier? etc (3) Hardware specs of the machines is really required to know whether they will run W7 (and the appropriate OS for the server related functions -- believe it or not, ANY computer with nearly any operating system can be a 'server', it all depends on what you intend on serving up from it) (4) This "IT guy" of yours -- what is his background and function at your place of business? Obviously choosing a setup that he does not know will require that either you (a) learn the system yourself (b) make appropriate arrangements for support from an 'IT guy' that understands (or is willing to learn) a particular system © etc. Okay, I think that covers the basics. Really though, since YOU know the needs of YOUR office (that is, what you will be doing with these computers and such), in order for anyone to give a quality recommendation one would need to know your desires and expectations out of the system. From there and only there can a good recommendation of software and hardware can be provided by any external source. For instance, if all you use the server for is redundantly storing files and providing access to the other machines in your office, then whatever you are running now may be just fine or maybe making an OS switch will provide you with all of the functionality that you currently have and want without having to update the server hardware. ^^^ In general, I mostly agree with these comments with the caveat of security weak points that exist due to the services that require holes in the firewall for proper function of said services have no protection from a firewall (especially one that is improperly configured). Granted, I also agree with the slim chance that someone is going to intentionally target 10+ year old machines. I say this and yet, a few years ago someone hacked on of our research group's back-up servers -- it is a 15 year old box that does nothing but run a website that provides an access portal for some of our archived data and a small library of saved papers and documents. They obviously could not do anything since ALL access to anything was managed with authentication through another box, but they managed to get in, change a few passwords for some expired accounts and then presumably realize they were wasting their time. Admittedly, the hack could have been easily avoided if one of the sys admins would have double checked one of their changes before walking away. The short of this is any holes in the Windows XP system or software therein will not be officially patched by Microsoft (I know many of us know and realize this, I am writing this for more of a general FYI comment) which is where the security threats remain. It is all a calculated risk; rather low probability but potential for high impact depending on what an unwanted visitor may or may not have (or want) access to. ^^ Had you started with the most recent release of a W 7 installation you could have saved yourself PLENTY of time And yes, this is 100% legitimate and legal. I actually just rebuilt a W 7 system (with a few year old hardware) in a matter of a few hours and only 2 or 3 update related reboots. First and foremost, I would say if one wants to save time, money and overall cost do not buy a Dell. Period. But that will be for another discussion. Definitely agreed with not updating the monitors, unless desired -- since old ones work just fine. Also agreed with the principle that the hardware is CHEAP as compared to the 'expense' of having an unreliable system, etc etc. I am curious as to why you think linux is not a 'viable alternative if one is hiring consultants to maintain one's network'?

Sorry to hear about your friend's condition. I hope that, under the circumstances, you have an enjoyable visit and that he remains as comfortable as possible. I work in some unconventional places, a few actually require that you provide proof of insurance coverage before stepping on site. Before I started this kind of work, I would not have not bothered either -- as it turns out (I just verified with one of our lovely secretaries, as I am actually setting up to be gone soon) rather extensive coverage (from treatment for papercuts to amputations, long term hospitalization and even death) for myself works out to less than a dollar per day with nearly no deductible or co-pay. One of these very very low probability of needing the care, but high impact if one does. In the future, for personal travel, I will probably look into the additional coverage since it is quite affordable, rather complete and while I am reasonably healthy, I do not mind paying a little for the 'just in case' scenario. Cheers

I could send you the information for the company I use (I frequently travel internationally but have never actually needed to use the services so I have NO experience other than signing up for a plan every time I head out), however, I would suggest having a sit down with your local insurance agent and let them do what they do.

Ahoy: Well I am disappointed to see that Avon still has not fixed this. Here is ONE of the times that mine decided to crack on one side. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35029 Everyone I talked to started with the same pitch of 'oh, some sidewall cracking is normal, blah blah blah' and then when they saw the pictures (or the tires in person) they went "oh. wow, that is bad". ALL of the several pair of tires I had that cracked did so much worse on one side than the other. The first time I went through all of this the rep from Avon that contacted me gave me a whole list of nonsense that could have 'caused' this tire cracking (blaming me for it). Anyway, I hope that Avon and your retailer take good care of you. The folks I dealt with, after they saw the pictures and inspected the tires in person, did replace several sets of Avons for me. The last time I went in for a change out, the tire rep took one look at me and said something along the lines of "oh no, not again!" -- this was like 2 weeks after they had been replaced. That time he said that he would send out another set of Avons, or any other tire I wanted -- which is when I went with a set of E-3s. and do NOT take no for an answer. Your pictures look like the 'good side' of one of my tires before it decided to get much worse. I know everyone here will have an opinion about replacing or not replacing but what it comes down to is that it is YOUR hide trusting those tires.

Short answer: No, but I would give the battery a fully charge and try again before worrying about anything else. For what it is worth, within the last couple of weeks I have had temps in the teens when I started my bike and sometimes it fires on the first shot and sometimes it turns over a few times before firing up. It does crank a little slower after sitting out in the cold (the parking lot I use when riding to work is fully exposed to the elements and the slow cranks were when it was ~10-15 degrees out and had been sitting there for 10+ hours). Yes, when it is this cold I have trouble starting it if I forget to pull the choke or turn the fuel on but I do not usually have to use the choke (or give ANY throttle) when temps are above ~35 or so, unless it is really humid out (say 30% or higher). As for warm up time, I usually get geared up, throw my leg over, start the bike and within the 5-15 seconds it may take for me to get positioned and what not, it is good to go. The exception to that time frame is when it is below about 25 -- I usually let the bike at a high idle for quite a bit longer to let everything warm up a bit more before puttering off. Now my truck on the other hand, sits in my driveway except for once every couple of weeks I start it up and go for a little drive just to keep the juices flowing -- or drive it to the airport where it sits even more -- and that puppy cranks really slow sometimes...

Ha, whoops. So I think I changed my mind as to what I was writing about 3 times in that statement -- obviously it did not register when I re-read it before submitting. I fixed the original statement... I think...

[skip to the end for the conclusion if you prefer] For what it is worth, within the last several months -- maybe longer -- I have noticed intermittent but very large variations in time to load certain aspects of this forum -- just as you have described [time to load 'post reply page', load a thread, open a PM, etc etc -- from 'time of click' to the time that the page is completely loaded]. I know for certain that it is NOT just my machine or local connection as I have noticed the same behavior [that is 'behaviour' for you folks that use that fake English ] from my 1GB/s connection at my office -- from a variety of computers (at least two different windows desktop with ie, firefox, chrome or opera), 3 different Scientific Linux boxes (one of which is a reasonably high powered server) and my personal laptop. The connection at my office is a direct 4GB/s pipe out. I observe the same odd load times from my home connection (notably slower than my office connection) and from two national labs that I have been worked from in the last 6 months. So, I concluded it had to do with the actual host of this forum -- be it related to the software package that manages ads, the individual pages, or whatever. Conclusion: Smart @$$ comments aside, I do not believe that it is just you. Cheers

They are a good time! My department bought one a few months back and I have had a chance to mess with it some

I knew I was forgetting something! Here I am sitting in Walled Lake,

I am contemplating checking it out, I will stay tuned to ya'll's schedule

Sounds pretty nice to me! If I only had beam time now so I could go to Canada to be warm...

News to me too. Interesting. Although I will say that I saw a number of roll overs today while out... The low tomorrow night is 4 (Yes, that is F not C). I think I need to go find my long pants...

If I was 'notified' I could have been out the door and to my bike in less than 2 minutes, plenty of time to have seen someone lift their bike up and leave... That being said, this could have happened anywhere and to any bike. Just happened to be my bike this time. I suspect if the venture was any lighter or had I parked even slightly differently it would have gone over and I would have a lot more damage to deal with... I suppose this is a risk I take parking my bike where I do... Likewise for any one of us for anywhere we park...

Right on with the parking lot. And agreed with how it feels -- I do not know exactly why but yeah, if someone were to come up and just say "sorry man, I lost my footing and it went over" or whatever happened it would be a lot easier to deal with even if I am still out the cash. Oh well. Turns out there ARE video cameras that overlook a few of these lots, so there is a chance that, at a minimum, I can confirm my suspicion as to what actually happened. Wow -- hard to explain that one, eh?

Wow -- Classy... +1 to being a good thing he is not around anymore.

It does not LOOK too bad, but I know it will be an expensive fix no matter what I do... I do not know of any cameras that record and observe this particular parking lot area, however, I am going to ask around tomorrow [when 'normal' people are at work because one never knows. I hope that one of the cameras pointed that direction has a recorder attached to it. The dedicated motorcycle parking is situated in a space that is completely surrounded by barricades where a car COULD get to it but it would involve driving up on some grass [to get around the barricades] and then down the curb into the bike area -- hence my near certainty on it not being a car. As far as the insurance rates go, I have never filed a claim on any of my vehicles in all my years of driving; have been with my current insurance company for what... uh... 8+ years? Anyway -- I have some thinkin' to do... Joy. I will be doing some 'window' shopping at least. Since it is not all that bad, I will most definitely be heading over to see a certain duet Wednesday night... Or maybe I'll dust off the '78 hmmmm Thanks for the input

Well, I headed out to the parking lot from my office today (after a very very VERY long and hard day at work) and saw my mirror was tweaked a little funny. As I put my bag in the trunk, put on my helmet I thought no big deal, it may have vibrated a little loose or something -- well, turns out that was not the case at all. After closer inspection I found that the mirror was forced, quite hard I might add, into the position that it is in and also left a large-hand sized dent along with a 2.5" (long) and very deep scratch in the left side of my fuel tank. It felt like the handlebars might be slightly tweaked but I do not know for sure. Other than the mirror, damage to the tank and possible handlebar tweakage I did not see any other damage [nothing on the fairing, seat, side of the engine or saddlebags]. I did not see any note anywhere on my bike and my hours are long enough during the day that lots of people came and left in the time my bike was parked [in the bike-only parking] so I have no idea who dropped their bike into mine. My workplace does have its own [legitimate] police force, so I will be filing a report with them first thing in the morning and I suppose I will be calling my insurance company as well. Don't know why, I just felt like sharing... Hope everyone had a better day than I did. That being said, I do fully realize that it could have been a lot worse -- from what I can tell (1) no one was injured [i assume the deuce that didn't keep their bike upright or leave a note was not there nor was their bike] (2) the damage could have been far worse (3) etc etc... I just find it harder and harder to not be more bitter towards people when the 'classy' individuals, like this one, wander among us.... %%% P.S.: I am fully insured so I am just out the deductible and whatever this will do to my premium, unless I can find the individual responsible

Haha Good for these guys! Hard copy text book delivery to one's smart phone... Now are they going to have a 'repo bot' for the time to recollect on the rentals that are not returned?

You and your shipping containers... :stickpoke: %%%% Actually, I was surprised to find out, a while back, that they had started SAME DAY delivery in a few select markets. Provided the customer demand (and willingness to pay for it) is present, I see no reason that this air delivery service couldn't become a mainstream reality relatively soon in some areas.

Here you go: With trunk: http://powersports.honda.com/2014/gold-wing.aspx Without trunk: http://powersports.honda.com/touring/2014/gold-wing-f6b.aspx

+1 to being completely hammered at work (not in the fun way) and therefore the time I have to allocate to reading and writing posts has been greatly diminished in the last several months.

I notice some additional lag during the late morning and early afternoon HOWEVER I have long suspected that to be due to the peak bandwidth usage on my work network... [This is consistent across winderz and linux machines] ---- I recently setup W8 on a machine and found that it runs much faster than W 7 did. I don't know what kind of hardware you have but I suspect that something is either not up to an appropriate spec or something is not configured properly... but that is a whole different issue...

For what it is worth, the energy efficiency claim (with respect to drag) for the use of He in the drives is a gimmick (and I have seen it plenty of places and did work out the math at one point -- yeah, I am a dork... I admit it... but it is okay since that is my job). The use of He is likely as simple as an exchange gas to help with heat transfer away from the platters, read heads, spindle and other internal components. Also, purified He can be quite clean and hence if put in a sealed drive, can help maintain a contaminate free environment. Drives now are vented to the atmosphere which present their own problems...

Fair enough. I should have been more careful with my statement to include a time frame on when I thought the segates were alright. haha. What I have noticed in the last several years is that segates will be good while WD was bad, and then when segates took a dive WD came back... You couldn't pay me to take a seagate...