• How important is screen size?
• What are the trade-offs in price, size, and weight ?
• How mobile should it be ?
• Do you need to network? What about wireless?

When you've settled on what you need, you're ready to browse the product pages for used and refurbished notebooks. Be sure to consider these criteria before you break out your wallet:.

1. Expandability - Expandability allows flexibility. At a minimum, your refurbished notebook should have one serial, parallel, and one or more USB ports. A few used notebook PCs come with a built-in FireWire port. Extra PCMCIA slots will let you upgrade later.

2. Power - Instead of a faster processor, buy a reconditioned notebook with more memory. Increasing the RAM will give a real performance boost - more than getting the next faster processor.

3. Notebook Displays - The display is the most important component, so give it priority. Screens on 'generic' models can be dimmer and less crisp, so choose a major brand. The 12" screens on some ultra-small inexpensive laptops are ok only for travel or special uses, but not for long sessions on the computer.

4. Memory - Minimum RAM should be 512 MB. If you work with graphics, get more. An access panel will make memory upgrades easier.

5. Storage - 30 GB drives are common in cheap laptops, especially the budget notebook and tablet PCs. But 40 GB is best. If your laptop will substitute for a desktop system and be loaded with applications, 80 GB is a minimum.

6. Networking - Reconditioned laptop computers should have one or more Ethernet ports for networking or connecting to the Internet. Wireless is growing quickly, and a few refurbished laptops have wireless capability. Or consider adding a wireless card.

7. Size and Weight - Consider trade-offs. Ultra-Light refurbished notebooks are easy to carry, but sacrifice drive capacity and features. Larger laptops give you more, but lose the easy mobility.

8. Battery Specs - Ignore them. Battery life for a used notebook is not warranted, so get a spare. Good sources for laptop batteries are everywhere.

9. Warranty – Pre-owned computers come with a 90-day or 1-year warranty. Since laptops are more easily damaged than desktops, consider buying an extended warranty. The peace of mind is worth it.

10. Security – Laptops are easy to steal and resell. Avoid the financial loss and the loss of personal or business data by using passwords, a locking cable, and a solid computer bag.

Check out the computer shops in the local area - or even check online sites like Amazon.com that may showcase a good refurbished notebook computer on sale

You may be interested in reading  Windows XP USB Drivers - Autorun an Application from a USB Flash Drive

Setting up a program to automatically run directly from a flash drive in Windows XP is a little more complicated. A third-party program will need to be installed that will give the user the option to run the program when the flash drive is inserted. The inability to auto run a program from a USB drive is a security feature in XP to prevent malevolent programs from compromising the operating system's integrity.

In contrast, Windows Vista does allow this feature. A program on the root directory of the flash drive is run by creating a text file (with a text editing program like Notepad) named autorun.inf. The autorun.inf file should include the line "[autorun] open=XXX.exe" (without the quotes) where XXX is the name of the program you want to run. Save this file to the flash drive, making sure the extension is 'inf', not 'txt'. Once the drive is inserted again, choose 'Always Do This For Software and Games', then 'Run This Program'. Whenever the drive is inserted again, the program will run automatically.

Some computers are also capable of booting directly from the flash drive by changing CMOS options. With the proper CMOS settings, the computer will first attempt to boot from a flash drive inserted in a USB port. If bootable files are not located on the flash drive, the operating system will automatically boot from your hard drive as normal. A handy feature should your computer crash and modifications to your unbootable operating system need to be performed.

Flash drives are able to do everything CD-ROMs and DVDs can do, usually with greater ease. The fact that new computers all have USB ports, but vary in DVD or CD-ROM availability, is an argument for the USB drive's indispensability over any other storage medium.

Read the following quick guide on how to autorun application programs from your USB flash drive.

• Open Notepad
• Type in:

[autorun]
open=ProStart.exe
action=Run ProStart Program
icon=ProStart.exe
label=Autostart Program PC

• Save the file as autorun.inf
• Put the file in the root of your USB flash drive
• The next time you insert your removable drive into your PC, the specified program will autorun from the USB drive

Important notes on what the autorun.inf file contains:

open=Prostart.exe
The open option specifies the program that should autorun. You must use relative paths here. Do not specify the drive letter since it may vary from PC to PC.

action=Run ProStart Program
This describes the action that will be performed. This parameter is used by Windows Explorer in the autoplay dialog.

icon=ProStart.exe
Specifies the icon to be used for the USB drive. The icon can be fetched from an .EXE file or it can be in the normal .ICO format. (more on changing icons here)

label=Autostart Program PC
The label parameter can be used to specify the name of the drive.

Special offers available on Zoom ZFX C5.1t Modeling Software with USB Interface

You may be interested in reading: USB Share and How to Choose PC Cases

Now let's take a look at how we can go about selecting a good PC case.

External Space

The first factor to consider is how much space your PC case is going to take up. Are you placing it on a tight, crammed desk? Or on a large desk? If you have the space, tower PC cases are a good choice. If you're short of space, you may wish to consider smaller mini PC cases which are getting more popular these days.

Internal Space

Another factor to consider is how many components you wish to fit in your PC case. If you're a computer nut like me, you'll want to fit in a good motherboard, CPU, a couple of hard drives, video card, LAN card, cooling fans, a CD-ROM drive and a DVD writer. That's a lot of components to be cramming into a PC case! Again, a good choice would be a tower PC case. However, with so many components, you have to watch out for overheating problems - make sure you deck out the system with a couple of good fans.

Motherboard Support

One thing you must absolutely remember - check that your motherboard can fit into the case! Some cases are flexible enough to support AT, ATX and Baby-AT boards, but others only support one of these sizes. Even then, you need to be careful - some cheaper 'ATX' cases don't really fit ATX motherboards. I remember buying a wonderful ATX motherboard and it couldn't fit into my PC case! Imagine my frustration!

Power Supply

Most PC cases come with power supplies. With more and more components being fitted into a PC, you will certainly need enough juice to power them. My advice is to go for at least a 400W power supply. Also make sure the unit is ATX 2.01 compliant to avoid motherboard compatibility issues.

Cooling

If you're a overclocker or have many system components, you'll need to ensure you've got enough fans in that case to cool the system. Good PC cases allow multiple (4 or more) cooling fans to be installed, ensuring good ventilation.

Looks

Just a few years back, PC cases were boring white boxes. These days, you can find a plethora of colorful PC cases - if you're concerned about your PC's 'look'. Many PC enthusiasts I know go for good looking PC cases that come in a variety of colors - red, black, green, blue and what not.

Conclusion

In summary, always remember to consider the above factors when selecting PC cases. For the average home or business user, a good, simple case is recommended. If you're a hardcore computer enthusiast, you'll want to pay more attention to factors like internal space, motherboard support and cooling. Just consider your budget and your needs carefully - then go grab that case! Here for tricks on assembling a PC.

You may be interested in reading: USB Share and Windows XP USB Drivers

To resolve this problem, install Windows XP SP2, and then update the drivers for the USB devices that are connected to your computer. To update these drivers, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type devmgmt.msc, and then click OK.
2. Double-click the type of device that you want to update.
3. Double-click the specific device that you want to update.
4. Click the Driver tab, and then click Update Driver.
5. Follow the instructions in the Hardware Update Wizard.
6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 for each USB device.


And here's a simple way tutorial that will show you an easy way to install the USB 2.0 drivers for Windows XP.

Please make sure you are connected to the internet.

1. Open Control pannel, and open up “system”.
2. Click on the hardware tab, and click on device manager.
3. Look in Other Devices section for something that looks similar to USB controller
4. Right click on USB controller and click on update driver.
5. A window will pop up and ask “Can windows connect to windows update to search for software?” Click yes, this time only
6. Windows will download the necessary drivers and install them.Finished!

Note: You can also install Windows XP SP2, and then disconnect and reconnect the USB devices that are connected to your computer. By doing this, you start the Plug and Play utility. The Plug and Play utility updates the version numbers for the drivers.

You may continue reading: USB 2.0 Manual Share Switch Hub