My DOS database which I depend on has no vendor support, what can I do?

In the case of an out dated application, It would have to be replaced.  Most database products can export or be read by other databases with convertion utilities.   A customized database could be developed for your business and your data maybe imported to it.  This would provide very little if any data loss

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Performance Monitor

To find out how your system stands up under strain, try Performance Monitor's log feature. Go to Start/Programs/Administrative Tools/Performance Monitor. Select View/Log, then Edit/Add To Log. Select the Memory, Paging File, Process and Processor objects. Next, select Options/Log and type a name for the log file. Change the Interval time to 200 seconds, click on Start Log and let it run for at least 24 hours. To stop Performance Monitor, select Options/Log/Stop Log.

To view the results, select Options/Data From... and Log File.  Select the radio button beside the PERFMON.LOG field and locate your log file. Open the log file and add the objects that you've monitored. The statistics should indicate if you need more memory, need a processor upgrade or if other system components aren't up to the task. For more information on how to interpret the log, refer to any NT manual or Microsft Knowledge base.

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How do I enable drag and drop printing?

To enable drag and drop printing, all you have to do is create a shortcut to the printer on your desktop

1.      Double click on My Computer

2.      Double click Printers

3.      Right click on the printer, and drag to the desktop. Release and select "create shortcut here"

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While Microsoft Office products are standrad in many businesses, it may not be your standard. If it isn't than an alternative product may suite you more.  In this case I highly recommend OpenOffice.  OpenOffice is very similar to Microsoft Office suite, in most cases just as powerful and feature rich and best of all IT'S FREE!  Yes completely free.
It has similar products, Excel, Word, Powerpoint, Access database and it can even work with native Microsoft application documents.

You can download it here ---> http://www.openoffice.org

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A working old computer can still have many uses.  Here are some to keep in mind.

• Remove any un-needed software and set it aside as a game machine for the kids
• If you have multiple computers already it could be used as a File & Printer server for the household
      It must have adequate disk space for storing files and processing print jobs
• How about a practice computer for the family?  You could use it for software that you download to see if it's something that you will keep using, before installing the software on your dedicated & more important computers
• If none of the above is what you want to do, how about trying out different operating systems.  Microsoft isn't the only game in town.  Linux operating systems have been around for a very long time and they offer a unique prospective at an affordable price, FREE.  In most cases Linux will install on a machine that is 5 to 6 years old.
• For business, it can be used as a domain controller for centralized management
• For business, it can be a file & print server for providing central documentation handling
• For business, it can be a Network Storage Device (NAS).  A NAS provided disk space to network devices.  It can offer many possibilities of how it can be leveraged in the office such as, additional disk space for each computer, additional disk space to the server, or a complete backup solution for the office.

These are just some of the great ways to recycle that old computer into still being useful. It's already paid for so what have you got to lose!

If you do not want to use it for any such things you could donate it to a worthwhile charity, a friend, or even a neighbor.

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Revised: September 03, 2010.