Before leaping in and changing HAL the way I am about to describe, make sure that you have reviewed the document at: http://aecnu.us/presents/GettingtherightHAL

and if this did not help you - short of reprogramming your computer then it is time to follow these - what we believe are simple instructions and - manually change your computer system HAL to the Multi Processor that it should be.

In addition, to verify if your computer is identifying and using Dual Core or more processors, hold down the Control and Alt keys and hit the Delete key once, this will bring up the Windows Task Manager. In the Windows Task Manager select the tab that is labeled Performance. You should now see under CPU Usage History two or more boxes indicating recognized and usable CPU's.

If not and you are sure that you have a Dual Core or more computer, follow the below instructions to set your Windows XP Operating System to correctly recognize your multi core processor system.

Launch your computer into safe mode - then go to Windows Explorer and the system 32 files - now copy and then paste the following files into the same folder so that if you have a melt down you can set your computer back the way it was:

Copy and then paste into the same folder the following files which should make a copy of the originals

Hal.dll - ntoskrnl.exe - ntkrnlpa.exe - halmacpi.dll - ntkrnlmp.exe - and ntkrpamp.exe

Once you have visible copies of these six files now delete the original three files:

Hal.dll - ntoskrnl.exe - ntkrnlpa.exe

now rename the COPIES of halmacpi.dll - ntkrnlmp.exe - and ntkrpamp.exe as indicated below:

halmacpi.dll rename to –>HAL.DLL

ntkrnlmp.exe rename to –>ntoskrnl.exe

ntkrpamp.exe rename to –>ntkrnlpa.exe

IF you do not have these files here are copies already renamed for you

Now reboot your computer and it should go into Windows XP normally. During the reboot into Windows XP.

On my computer it suddenly indicated that a Multi Core Processor was found and proceeded to boot up and I was able to verify that both CPU's were active and being used. To verify this follow the above instructions on verifying your recognized CPU's.

Hopefully this will work out for you too

DISKEEPER Helps Customers Get Virtual

with Windows Server 2008 HYPER-V

BURBANK, Calif.–Aug. 13, 2008 – Diskeeper Corporation today announced that its flagship Diskeeper^© 2008 automatic defragmenter achieved Certified for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V status from Microsoft.  Diskeeper 2008 is one of the first three applications, out of 175 applications currently certified for Windows Server 2008, to earn the Hyper V designation.

“Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V is an excellent option for corporations looking to save power and space, ease provisioning efforts and achieve full hardware utilization through virtualization. We’ve been an innovative early adopter, worked closely with Microsoft’s developers since the advent of Windows NT and were pleased to do so as well with Hyper-V,” said Michael Materie, Diskeeper product manager at Diskeeper Corp.

All systems suffer from file fragmentation. Servers suffer even more so due to their heavy multi-user traffic. And virtual servers yet further since fragmentation takes place on three separate levels—the virtual, the physical disk and the mapping in between them. Without a professional grade defragmenter designed to address the virtual issues, server performance is going to crawl to a slow.

Thanks to recent developments in transparent processing technology (known as InvisiTasking^®), defragmentation of such systems with Diskeeper 2008 has now become a fully automated process. This speeds up server response time, ensures the level of virtual disk performance is optimal and saves time by taking the guesswork out of defragmenting. With this new approach, Diskeeper has become an indispensable tool to the system administrator.

“After independent testing, we found that Diskeeper’s automatic defragmenter not only exploits Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V capabilities but also is designed to meet mission-critical expectations in a virtualized environment,” said Eric Jewett, Windows Server Marketing group product manager at Microsoft.

For more information about Diskeeper 2008 automatic disk defragmentation for Windows Server 2008 Click Here, or for other Diskeeper Product information click here.

Many folks and businesses alike buy their computers and run them thinking there is no maintenance to be done - and those that think that way are in for a big surprise as their computer gets slower and slower from lack of some simple maintenance.

In the cases where maintenance has not been performed on the computer in a long time or rarely - it can take an extended period of time to straighten it out if the computer has not gotten to the point of crashing due to the lack of maintenance.

Among many aspects of maintenance is updating anti-spyware, anti-virus, and firewall software - but that is to just keep out malicious attacks or identity theft risks.

One of the easiest and most commonly over looked and neglected maintenance operations that one can do is to defragment the hard disk drive and do it on regular basis.

Why do you need to defragment your hard disk drive?

The answer is that when a computer writes to a hard disk drive it does so placing your data, programs, etc. randomly in empty spots on the drive. The computer may literally spread one single program or even a photo over dozens of spots on the hard disk drive. Then when your computer goes to retrieve that data, program, or whatever - the computer must jump from spot to spot searching and retrieving each piece of that data, program, etc. to get the whole.

Disk fragmentation occurs when a file is broken up into pieces to fit on the disk. Because files are constantly being written, deleted and resized, fragmentation is a natural occurrence. When a file is spread out over several locations, it takes longer to read and write. But the effects of fragmentation are far more widespread: Slow performance, long boot-times, random crashes and freeze-ups — even a complete inability to boot up at all. Many users blame these problems on the operating systems, when disk fragmentation is often the real culprit.

All systems suffer from disk fragmentation. Diskeeper (see below) solves this problem and keeps PCs humming at their peak performance.

 

Not only does this process dramatically slow down the computer from the users perspective, it makes the computer work harder and cause more wear on the hard disk drive itself which can lead to premature end of life of the drive. Furthermore, each piece or fragment has a "link" to the next piece or fragment and when the drive accumulates millions of these links - the loss of one link can lead to total system failure.

To help with this problem all versions of Windows since Windows 3.1 and possibly before come with a defrag utility. This free utility will defrag the hard disk drive to some extent helping to keep performance but it does not compare to some of the commercial products available for doing this same task. This would be like comparing a Chevy Chevette to a BMW as far as performance and actual defragging itself is concerned.

To launch the free defrag utility on your computer, which should be done at least once a month or more - in Windows XP and the like go to Start–>Programs–>Accessories–>System Tools–>Defrag and this will start the defrag utility. If you have more then one hard disk drive it will be necessary to defrag each of them individually or one at a time. If it is the first time you perform this task, it may take hours to complete. The more often you defrag the less time it takes due to less fragmentations.

Myth No. 1: The 'built-in' defragmenter that comes with Windows is good enough.

This statement would be true if the built-in defragmenter was fast, automatic, and customizable. Unfortunately, the built-in defragmenter does not have any of these features.

Fast Defrag: The built-in defragmenter takes many minutes to hours to run. Diskeeper completes its work in seconds to a few minutes.

Automatic Defrag: The built-in defragmenter requires that you keep track of fragmentation levels, you determine when performance has gotten so bad you have to do something about it, and then you manually defragment each drive using the built-in defragmentation tool. Diskeeper does all of this for you automatically. That's why millions of very happy customers call it "the Set It and Forget It" defragmenter. You have better things to do with your time than defragmenting disk drives.

Customizable: With the built-in defragmenter, you take what you are given. (Hey, it's free. Stop complaining.) With Diskeeper, you get a defragmenter that will do everything for you automatically (and we do mean everything) or you can tailor its operation to suit your precise needs. And at Diskeeper Corporation, customer service is our number one priority. When you talk, we listen.

What's happening to your computer when you fall behind on defragmenting?

Many people don't realize how much of their computer's power is lost to fragmentation and how soon it happens. The graph below is the result of a two week experiment we did using only Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word. We performed the test using an ordinary desktop computer, not a file server.

Note that each test starts with zero excess file fragments. That means that each line represents the fragments generated from the RECENTLY created or modified files; in other words, these are files that were used and fragmented THAT DAY. These recent files are the ones you least want to be slow to access. These are the ones you want to get at fast!

You don't wait until you car is spewing blue smoke and the engine is rattling before you change your oil. Don't wait for your computer to slow down or grind to a halt before defragmenting. Install Diskeeper and keep your computer performing at peak all the time.

If you are like us whom do not want to go through the trouble to manually defrag and want top performance or prefer to have this done automatically and thoroughly, we recommend Diskeeper for defragmenting maintenance:

A few days ago we found that suddenly some of our computers could no longer access the Internet though others on our network could. What the heck was going on?

This loss of Internet Access was a major blow for our company.

Then we found on the computers that were unable to connect to the internet that if we disabled Zone Alarm we could access the Internet. HHHHHMMMMMMMM …….. what happened?

Microsoft Windows XP update KB951748 is what happened and here is the low down on this show down:

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/pressReleases/2008/LossOfInternetAccessIssue.html

Follow the procedures in the Press Release from Zone Alarm and get your computer(s) back online right away

We have done a lot of testing of the so called indexing service of hard drives in Windows XP and found that it actually drastically slows down the computer - though Microsoft says that by indexing it "allows for faster file searching".

This may be true but it is at the expense of all other hard drive access and performance being dog slow.

We would rather have the performance during both searchs and regular access - therefore one tip that we think is an absolute is to disable this "indexing service" and return your computers speed back to what it should be.

This tip can be reversed if you do not like the added performance that it gives - to disable this service simply go to Windows Explorer and select the drive letter that you want to un-index so to speak and right mouse click on the drive letter.

Next choose "properties" from the pop up menu by left mouse clicking on "properties"

From the tabbed window that comes up locate at the bottom of the window the selection "Allow indexing service to index this disk for fast file searching" - and if it has a check mark to the left of it remove the check mark by simply clicking on it. Then choose the apply and then OK or just click the OK button.

It may take some time to "un-index" the drive depending upon the amount of files on the drive - but make note of the speed gained after it is complete

You can reverse the procedure if you so desire by simply going back to the drive and re-checking the Indexing Service.