The problems seems to be related to a conflict with the Microsoft Universal Audio Architecture (UUA) Bus Driver for High Definition Audio. Fortunately, the solutions is a simple one.

I experienced this problem on a system running Windows XP Professional SP3

In order to solve this problem the UUA driver needs to be disabled and uninstalled and then just re-installed the Intel/Realtek provided driver.

Solution

First you need to open the Device Manager go to Start > Run and type devmgmt.msc

With the Device Manager open search for and click to expand System devices > Now search for Microsoft UUA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio.

Right click on Microsoft UUA Bus Driver for High Definition Audio, click on Disable to disable the driver.

With the driver disabled right click on the same to Uninstall the driver all together.

Now reboot the system and install again the drivers provided by the board manufacturer. It may be necessary to reboot the system again once the drivers are installed.

Previous releases as the name suggest could only play virtual machines made on other VMware products, the only significant setting the user could change was the memory allocation. With release 3.0 VMware Player gains (features I consider important) the capability to create virtual machines, install VMware Tools, edit existing virtual machine configurations and support for Windows 7/ Server 2008 R2. Clearly VMware is placing Player 3.0 as the first step towards a logical upgrade to the paid VMware Workstation.

New Features

• Virtual Machine with Easy Install
• Windows 7
• Windows XP Mode Compatible (you can import a XP mode vm)
• 3D Graphics Improvements for Windows XP guests
• Multiple-Monitor Display
• Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA)
• Drag and Drop Enhancements
• On-Demand VMware Tools Download
• Virtual Printing
• VIX API for VMware Player

What’s not included among many things in VMware Player 3.0 are the capabilities to create snapshots, teams and record/replay just to name a few. It would not be wrong to assume that Player 3.0 is a mini-version of VMware Workstation. With the number of new features in Player 3.0 the only question remaining is when are you planning to upgrade?.

Download VMware Player
VMware Player 3.0 release note

I had to re-install the operating system(Windows XP) on a Dell Vostro 1500, all drivers installed without a problem except for the nVidia driver needed for the on-board nVidia GeForce 8600M. The driver 175.97 xp WHQL, A08 failed to install and all attempts resulted in this error:

Set up couldn’t find any drivers to match your hardware

Remember this is the recommended driver by Dell and I could not afford to ignore the error since the missing driver made the laptop seem slow.

The only solution at the moment is to download the previous version of the recommended driver from the Dell site. Just visit the Dell Driver and Download page click on the recommended driver and then search for and click on Other Versions. This will open a new window where you will be presented with all previous drivers.

The driver that work for my Dell Vostro 1500 was 179.24 XP, A10.

Phoronix Test Suite is one of the best system testing and hardware benchmarking solutions available. To use PTS you would have to install it on system such Linux, OpenSolaris, Mac OS X, & BSD in order to use it, this is an inconvenience if you run Windows. Not anymore, now you can use PTS in the form of a live cd called Phoronix Test Suite Desktop Live. This means the suite is now a portable benchmarking and system testing solution that can boot on any system that can boot from either CD/DVD or USB drive.

PTS Desktop Live is a Linux distribution designed to provide a free software platform for carrying out system tests and hardware benchmarks in an automated, reproducible, and effective manner. PTS Desktop Live is designed around the Phoronix Test Suite with the operating system itself consisting of a stripped down Linux environment, then built upon that is the Phoronix Test Suite with its test profiles and suites. This distribution is not a standard Linux desktop with the normal throng of packages. Testing with PTS Desktop Live is intended to be via a Live DVD or Live USB (i.e. flash drive or memory card) environment. PTS Desktop Live makes it very easy to deploy the Phoronix Test Suite across an array of systems, isolates any software differences when seeking to perform hardware comparisons, and is designed to be very easy to carry out these Linux benchmarks even for a first-time Linux user.

Features:

- Test Your Computer For Stability Problems, Measure Your System’s Performance
- Phoronix Test Suite 2.0 Integration
- 50+ Test Profiles / 10+ Test Suites Available On Disc
- GTK GUI For Managing The Benchmarking Process
- Share Results With Others Via Phoronix Global
- Simplified Linux Desktop
- All Benchmarking Done In A Live Environment, No Need To Install To Hard Drive

Links

• Phoronix home page

Here are your options:

The Ultimate Steal

Meant to promote Microsoft software to students The Ultimate Steal offers cheap upgrades and complete versions of Microsoft products. Visit The Ultimate Steal.

Software available:

• Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
• Microsoft Vista Ultimate upgrade
• Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007
• Microsoft Office Language Pack 2007

DreamSpark

DreamSpark provides a wide variety of Micrososft software(server and design tools) to both high school and higher education students. Asides from having to be a student you will need a Windows Live ID. Visit DreamSpark.

Software avaiable:
Just to name a few.

• Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2008 R2
• SQLServer 2008 Developer
• Express Studio 3

MSDNAA

Is a Microsoft program available to academic organizations, mainly colleges and universities, although there is also a high school version. The participating schools pay an annual fee for the MSDNAA service, in exchange for which, applicable departments (computer science, computer engineering, information technology, and related fields of that organization) as well as students and faculty can acquire licensed copies of Microsoft software such as Microsoft Windows, Visual Studio and other products.

Consult with your school to see if they participate in the program. Visit MSDNAA.

Win741

For a limited time Microsoft is offering an upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for only $30 USD. The offer will only be valid till January 3, 2010. Visit Win741.com.

Chegg

Perhaps the next best thing since Netflix, Chegg offer text book rentals at a fair price. Shipping is is never more that a few dollars(returning books is free) and you have the option of buying the text books you rented. This is my preferred way of getting text books on the cheap since it means I don’t have to hunt for the deals. Always allow some time for processing.

Post on the college board

Or whatever you call it. You will be surprised to find other students posting flyers selling text books from previous classes. I bet you will find a cheaper price than buying used from the book store.

Craiglist

Craiglist is the equivalent is the online equivalent of a board. Asides from all the call services and illegal substance distribution services you can find other students selling the books from previous semesters. Always exercise precaution when dealing with strangers, try to make the transaction on campus.

Online stores

Doesn’t always offer the best prices, but if you check on Amazon.com you may be able to find good deals on new and used text books.

So far this is what I’ve figured out:

Complex: You can never have too much knowledge. There is always a better way of doing things. Automation can;t solve every problem, nor can you rely on auto-configuration. Be ready to spend a considerable part of your time reading to save your self.

Confusing: You will come across two types of people. 1: those who trust certifications to be a basic indicator and 2: those who deny they hold any value or even exist, no matter what you do their mindset can’t be changed.

Dynamic and Static: For good or for bad different technologies may come your way and some stay longer than their useful lifespan. What I mean is that some technologies can be either helpful or disruptive. Whether you like it or not you may have to go back to the classroom in order to keep your self relevant.

Looking back all I can say is ‘I am doing the right thing’.

If this is your problem then you should give 7-Zip a try. 7-Zip is a file archiver licensed under GNU. Some of it’s features are: cross platform, support for multiple CPUs, capability to encrypt files, can extract a number of other formats, and is efficient at compressing large files to a reduced size. 7-Zip can be used from both command line or GUI. The front-end for 7-Zip in Linux is File Roller.

What makes 7-Zip special:

• High compression ratio in new 7z format with LZMA compression

Supported formats:
o Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
o Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS, RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.

• For ZIP and GZIP formats, 7-Zip provides a compression ratio that is 2-10 % better than the ratio provided by PKZip and WinZip
• Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats
• Self-extracting capability for 7z format
• Integration with Windows Shell
• Powerful File Manager
• Powerful command line version
• Plugin for FAR Manager
• Localizations for 74 languages

7-Zip can be resource intensive, specially heavy on the CPU. However, smaller files mean more space available and less time transferring them.

Links

• 7-Zip home page
• 7-Zip on Wikipedia