The data backing this up is purely from reading on the web and just following a "gut" feeling. Just from following people on Twitter you can see how much hype this thing is getting. Check it out. This is how I see 2009 panning out for our browser market:  

Notes:I'm not trying to offend anyone by calling them turtlenecks or francois or booger eaters. It is, what it is. We're dorks! Thats the way we roll. :) 

It never fails... I'll boot up, start a program, walk away, log back into my PC and all of a sudden the disk light on my laptop or desktop is lit up like a Christmas tree for the next 10 minutes. The computer is rendered useless until its done "working". I can't do anything at this point but wait. A WASTE OF MY FLIPPING TIME.

The Problem With Task Manager

The problem is: I can't do anything while the disk is tripping on a couple of tabs of electric ecstasy ... opening task manager shows me... WELL... nothing. Task Manager says not a single process is utilizing CPU, and not a single process is over utilizing memory. Then I look at Disk I/O (which is presented in Read/Write/Other fashion) and It provides no valuable information at quick glance.

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WTF!?!

What I Want

When I look at task manager I want to see what tasks are my computer doing and what affects do each of these issues present. Right now I can only determine if something is a memory hog, or a CPU hog. I may see that SVCHOST.exe is running at 79% CPU utilization, but what the hell is running under the svchost context?!?!! Since svchost is a general host process name for services that from DLL's, I can't determine WHO is causing my pain.

So please tell me... Mr. Task Manager. WHO THE @#%! is spinning my disk. THAT IS WHAT I WANT TO KNOW.

You would think that after hmm.... 13 or so years of Windows OS's, Microsoft would have implemented this functionality. Its fairly rudimentary and actually VERY helpful in troubleshooting.

What I Did About  It

Fortunately this exact problem is something that other companies have recognized and have since developed an application I use regularly. Since I recently set up my PC I forgot to load this tool and I decided to write about it.

<Disclaimer>No, I'm not getting paid to write this about this product.</Disclaimer>

When I want to see what is going on in my PC I use Anvir's Task Manager Free Portable App (download link on the bottom). I bring it with me on my portable drive and flash sticks. Being a consultant who works on many machines, servers, or VPC's its nice to see what's going on.

Anvir has many features, but the one feature that I use it for the most is the "Disk Load". It shows exactly what is utilizing your disk and at what rate. You can sort on this column, therefore when your disk is playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Staryou can see what is causing it.

Here's a screen shot of what I'm talking about: (Click for larger)

I can now look at what is causing my disk to spin (as long as I can get AnVir open)! Anvir also allows me to see the processes under the svchost as well as look at startup items, processes, services, etc. It has a much more interactive and feature rich set of tools that you can use to help diagnose your troubles.

I've written about portable apps before - and I'll say it again - the nice part about this being a portable application is that I can use it on anyone's machine without having to install a thing. That's a thing of beauty. I can log into my mothers machine via SharedView and utilize it on her machine to see what her issues may be. Or even have her run it and tell me what she sees. Instead of seeing "svchost" I can now navigate to the service that svchost is working with. FINALLY.

I realize this may not be the BEST tool for this type of use, and if you have one that you feel is better, please leave a comment.

Last night I needed to wipe a machine of mine clean - back to factory settings. On the 6400 series there is a D partition that has all of the factory settings. It even has a little utility called "PCRestore.exe" that looks VERY promising.

However, if you double click it it will ask if you would like to reformat. Of course, you say "yes" and then it starts and then you get a brilliant dialog error.

I don't have a screen shot of it, but basically, its an error box that has the error icon (big red circle with an X in it) and an OK button. No error text. Click "OK" and the thing shuts down.

*Smacks forehead on table*

Crap. Great. What do I do now? This is not the most intuitive process in the world.

So how do you restore it back to factory defaults?

(This is mainly here for my own personal notes, but hopefully someone else finds this through the magic of the "internets").

If you look on the web you will find a ton of info instructing you to:

1. Reboot
2. When the "Dell" logo shows up on reboot while the BIOS is being read hit CTRL + F11 over and over and over.

Yeah. Sure. Didn't work. I tried it, literally 20 times. Maybe I'm an idiot, who knows ... but take it from me... on my PC it did not work.

The real way is to do the following (I could be a little off on this exact location of the settings, but you get the idea):

1. Start > Programs > Accessories
2. System Restore
3. Restore back to factory settings

Run that and like magic, it will reboot into the restore image and in about 10 minutes your computer will be back to factory default. Schweet.