Using your Flash memory as RAM in XP

People have been fascinated by Microsofts idea of using a flash memory as a RAM in its Vista OS. Id say Im not surprised at all! Thats because Ive been doing the same thing with XP for about 2 years now!!! Yes, Ive been using my pen drive as RAM ! I would suggest backing up your XP installation before trying this out. Create a restore point if you can.

Heres how its done:

1. Insert your flash memory, and wait until you can see the icon for it in My Computer.

2. Right Click on My Computer, goto properties.


3. Goto Advanced.

4. Click the first settings button.

5. Select the advanced tab.

6. Click the change button

7. select the flash memory and type in the new size for the paging file (Yes, the amount of RAM you want added), take care this must not exceed the size of the drive.

8. Click the set Button, then the OK button. When asked to restart, do so...and VOILA, your XP got much MUCH faster...you wont find a difference in the amount of RAM displayed, but you'll find a performance gain for sure!

CAUTION: You will have to disable the paging file on the flash memory, before removing the flash memory, failing which, your Windows installation will fail to startup and you'll get the dreaded BSOD!!

Open Source alternatives to MS OFFICE?? Are you kidding me?

	Writer	A word processor similar in look and feel to Microsoft Word and offering a comparable range of functions and tools. It also includes the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can also function as a WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing web pages.
	Calc	A spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel with a roughly equivalent range of features. Calc provides a number of features not present in Excel, including a system which automatically defines series for graphing, based on the layout of the user’s data. Calc is also capable of writing spreadsheets directly as a PDF file.
	Impress	A presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. It can export presentations to Adobe Flash (SWF) files allowing them to be played on any computer with the Flash player installed. It also includes the ability to create PDF files, and the ability to read Microsoft PowerPoint's .ppt format. Impress suffers from a lack of ready-made presentation designs. However, templates are readily available on the Internet.[12][13][14]
	Base	A database program similar to Microsoft Access. Base allows the creation and manipulation of databases, and the building of forms and reports to provide easy access to data for end-users. As with Access, Base may be used as a front-end to a number of different database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC data sources and MySQL/PostgreSQL. Base became part of the suite starting with version 2.0. Native to the OpenOffice.org suite is an adaptation of HSQL. While ooBase can be a front-end for any of the databases listed, there is no need for any of them to be installed.
	Draw	A vector graphics editor comparable in features to early versions of CorelDRAW. It features versatile "connectors" between shapes, which are available in a range of line styles and facilitate building drawings such as flowcharts. It has similar features to Desktop publishing software such as Scribus and Microsoft Publisher.
	Math	A tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor. Formulae can be embedded inside other OpenOffice.org documents, such as those created by Writer. It supports multiple fonts and can exp