HP Card Reader

Roy G wrote:
> Hi all.
>
> As you may have noticed from the post "Newbie Question", these are only USB1
> in spite of the fact that they are fitted into fairly "Fast" recent
> machines.
>
> Mine is a Presario SR 1839 with Dual Core 3000mhz processsor, 1 Gb DDR2 Ram,
> and Serial ATA 300 GB HDD, 7 USB 2 & 2 Firewire Ports.
>
> It took 13 minutes to download 640Mb of files from a 1 Gb Card.
>
> It strikes me as being totally stupid to have to connect a USB 2 Card Reader
> to a machine which has a built in reader. Especially since one of the High
> Speed Ports is on the fascia of that useless reader.
>
> On the HP Support Site there is an opportunity to Email the CEO, and I just
> done that. I don't suppose he will read it, but at least it should get to
> someone other than a customer advisor.
>
> I have asked what he proposes to do about my dissapointment, and for an
> explanation as to why such a stupid decision was made.
>
> Roy G
>
>
I also expressed my displeasure at the inclusion of a virtually
worthless card reader in a machine near the top of the performance list.
Pure bungling, and will cause me to be much more likely to buy
something else when I buy another computer! This is BAD THINKING on
HP's part. Putting such a slow reader into a budget-priced machine
might make sense, but in a 64 bit 3800+ speed machine, it borders on
deceptive practices.
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

ASAAR wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:56:29 GMT, Roy G wrote:
>
>> As you may have noticed from the post "Newbie Question", these are only USB1
>> in spite of the fact that they are fitted into fairly "Fast" recent
>> machines.
>>
>> Mine is a Presario SR 1839 with Dual Core 3000mhz processsor, 1 Gb DDR2 Ram,
>> and Serial ATA 300 GB HDD, 7 USB 2 & 2 Firewire Ports.
>>
>> It took 13 minutes to download 640Mb of files from a 1 Gb Card.
>
> Ah, so yours is Intel based. According to tech. support mine is
> HP's most recent, a Pavilion m7470n with AMD64X2 4200+, 2 GB DDR
> RAM, same HD, same ports, and the same slow card readers.
>
>
>> On the HP Support Site there is an opportunity to Email the CEO, and I just
>> done that. I don't suppose he will read it, but at least it should get to
>> someone other than a customer advisor.
>>
>> I have asked what he proposes to do about my dissapointment, and for an
>> explanation as to why such a stupid decision was made.
>
> I might do the same, and complain about one more thing. The way
> HP preconfigures the "free" software. Although I intentionally
> didn't install most of it, most especially the Norton AV 2 month
> trial software, soon after ZoneAlarm was installed it caught Norton
> trying to communicate with its home base. I'm sure that in the few
> days before ZA was installed, Norton had no problems getting by MS's
> own firewall. Of course the way it was preconfigured may well have
> been out of HP's hands.
>
> Another minor annoyance is that the "free" CD/DVD burner software
> is limited to operating only with the burner originally installed in
> the computer. One of the first things I tried was to "drag" files
> to the CD drive only to see it appear to work up to the point that I
> initiated writing to the CD, then it would fail, accompanied by
> terrible error recovery. I later discovered that the default
> setting for writing to CDRs is "disabled".

What I found was really challenging was getting RID of Norton's 'free'
software. I have had Norton AV on all three of my machines for some
time, and it hasn't caught a single virus in the past year on any of
them! So, when the free trial ran out, I decided to eliminate it. THAT
was a total pain in the backside, but now that it is gone, my machine is
MUCH faster! Years ago I stopped using Zonealarm because of the heavy
overhead it imposed on my machine, cutting my download speed in half,
but I never expected an AV program to impose any such load. When my
current subscription runs out, I will delete it from my laptop, which
should really help as it is only 1.4ghz.
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 02:19:42 -0500, Ron Hunter wrote:

>
> What I found was really challenging was getting RID of Norton's 'free'
> software. I have had Norton AV on all three of my machines for some
> time, and it hasn't caught a single virus in the past year on any of
> them! So, when the free trial ran out, I decided to eliminate it. THAT
> was a total pain in the backside, but now that it is gone, my machine is
> MUCH faster! Years ago I stopped using Zonealarm because of the heavy
> overhead it imposed on my machine, cutting my download speed in half,
> but I never expected an AV program to impose any such load. When my
> current subscription runs out, I will delete it from my laptop, which
> should really help as it is only 1.4ghz.

ZoneAlarm did its job on my old Vectra without imposing any
download penalty, and this with a 200Mhz PentiumPro. I kept close
track to not just the connect speed but the throughput as well, and
in nearly all cases (depending on the actual connect speed) usually
got at least 20MB/hour for long downloads. That was with a plug-in
Zoom modem. The Agere Systems modem supplied with the new HP
doesn't do nearly as well, connecting at rates varying from 28.8 to
50.6Kbps. Even when the connect speed is reported to be 48Kbps or
higher, throughput can vary from 10MB/hour to 20MB/hour. I'll
probably refrain from switching modems, since if I ever have to
reinstall the OS I don't want to go hunting for the original modem.
I'd really prefer using an external modem, but this new beast lacks
serial ports.

From the fact that ZoneAlarm slows your computer down I take it
that you have a high speed internet connection? ZA now offers their
own AV software, but the ZAPro that I'm using only includes their
anti-spyware software. It's detected a small number so far. I've
also installed the free version of Grisoft's AVG, and so far it
hasn't noticed anything to be amiss. I've avoided the integrated
suites such as Norton's and McAfee's based only on reviews finding
that their various modules were bloated, poorly integrated, and if
you didn't limit yourself to a small subset of the suite software,
it tended to destabilize the computer, as I found out in the Win3.1
days.
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

On 7/27/06 12:14 AM, Ron Hunter wrote:
>>
> I also expressed my displeasure at the inclusion of a virtually
> worthless card reader in a machine near the top of the performance list.
> Pure bungling, and will cause me to be much more likely to buy
> something else when I buy another computer! This is BAD THINKING on
> HP's part. Putting such a slow reader into a budget-priced machine
> might make sense, but in a 64 bit 3800+ speed machine, it borders on
> deceptive practices.

I tole youse guys to get one of them thar Mac-in-toshes a kuple of yirs
ago, but, nooooooo, youse hadda defend winders.

Have a nice day!!

<s>

--
John McWilliams
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

"ASAAR" <caught.TakeThisOut@22.com> wrote in message
news:toigc2da1nj25rpnm9o1t6quakncpbg650@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:56:29 GMT, Roy G wrote:
>
>> As you may have noticed from the post "Newbie Question", these are only
>> USB1
>> in spite of the fact that they are fitted into fairly "Fast" recent
>> machines.
>>
>> Mine is a Presario SR 1839 with Dual Core 3000mhz processsor, 1 Gb DDR2
>> Ram,
>> and Serial ATA 300 GB HDD, 7 USB 2 & 2 Firewire Ports.
>>
>> It took 13 minutes to download 640Mb of files from a 1 Gb Card.
>
> Ah, so yours is Intel based. According to tech. support mine is
> HP's most recent, a Pavilion m7470n with AMD64X2 4200+, 2 GB DDR
> RAM, same HD, same ports, and the same slow card readers.
>
>
>> On the HP Support Site there is an opportunity to Email the CEO, and I
>> just
>> done that. I don't suppose he will read it, but at least it should get
>> to
>> someone other than a customer advisor.
>>
>> I have asked what he proposes to do about my dissapointment, and for an
>> explanation as to why such a stupid decision was made.
>
> I might do the same, and complain about one more thing. The way
> HP preconfigures the "free" software. Although I intentionally
> didn't install most of it, most especially the Norton AV 2 month
> trial software, soon after ZoneAlarm was installed it caught Norton
> trying to communicate with its home base. I'm sure that in the few
> days before ZA was installed, Norton had no problems getting by MS's
> own firewall. Of course the way it was preconfigured may well have
> been out of HP's hands.
>
> Another minor annoyance is that the "free" CD/DVD burner software
> is limited to operating only with the burner originally installed in
> the computer. One of the first things I tried was to "drag" files
> to the CD drive only to see it appear to work up to the point that I
> initiated writing to the CD, then it would fail, accompanied by
> terrible error recovery. I later discovered that the default
> setting for writing to CDRs is "disabled".

Hi.

The Free CD/DVD software supplied on mine is Sonic's Digital Media Home,
which seem Ok. I have not yet fitted another DVD drive, but if I do fit one
and have a problem, I would install my free version of Roxio, which seems to
work with any machine.

Unlike you I had to wait until after Setup was completed and then uninstall
Norton Anti Virus as my very first action. They can stick their 6 months
"Free" subscription where the monkey keeps its nuts.

I use the Free editions of Zone Alarm for Firewall, AVG for Anti Virus and
Ad Aware for Malware. They all seem to work very well.

My AVG does catch and isolate infected mail on a regular basis. My
Guesthouse business means that I am advertising an Email Address, and
sending to and receiving mails from people I don't know personally, and that
is a very real risk.

I will let you all know If and When I get any kind of reply from HP.

Meantime I have my SanDisc Reader plugged into the USB port on the useless
Reader's Fascia, and boy does that look really stupid.

Roy G
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

ASAAR wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 02:19:42 -0500, Ron Hunter wrote:
>
>> What I found was really challenging was getting RID of Norton's 'free'
>> software. I have had Norton AV on all three of my machines for some
>> time, and it hasn't caught a single virus in the past year on any of
>> them! So, when the free trial ran out, I decided to eliminate it. THAT
>> was a total pain in the backside, but now that it is gone, my machine is
>> MUCH faster! Years ago I stopped using Zonealarm because of the heavy
>> overhead it imposed on my machine, cutting my download speed in half,
>> but I never expected an AV program to impose any such load. When my
>> current subscription runs out, I will delete it from my laptop, which
>> should really help as it is only 1.4ghz.
>
> ZoneAlarm did its job on my old Vectra without imposing any
> download penalty, and this with a 200Mhz PentiumPro. I kept close
> track to not just the connect speed but the throughput as well, and
> in nearly all cases (depending on the actual connect speed) usually
> got at least 20MB/hour for long downloads. That was with a plug-in
> Zoom modem. The Agere Systems modem supplied with the new HP
> doesn't do nearly as well, connecting at rates varying from 28.8 to
> 50.6Kbps. Even when the connect speed is reported to be 48Kbps or
> higher, throughput can vary from 10MB/hour to 20MB/hour. I'll
> probably refrain from switching modems, since if I ever have to
> reinstall the OS I don't want to go hunting for the original modem.
> I'd really prefer using an external modem, but this new beast lacks
> serial ports.
>
> From the fact that ZoneAlarm slows your computer down I take it
> that you have a high speed internet connection? ZA now offers their
> own AV software, but the ZAPro that I'm using only includes their
> anti-spyware software. It's detected a small number so far. I've
> also installed the free version of Grisoft's AVG, and so far it
> hasn't noticed anything to be amiss. I've avoided the integrated
> suites such as Norton's and McAfee's based only on reviews finding
> that their various modules were bloated, poorly integrated, and if
> you didn't limit yourself to a small subset of the suite software,
> it tended to destabilize the computer, as I found out in the Win3.1
> days.
>
>
>
Well, I was using Charter @Home cable connection which maxed out around
829k bytes/second. With ZA, the speeds were below 400k bytes/second.
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

Roy G wrote:
> "ASAAR" <caught.RemoveThis@22.com> wrote in message
> news:toigc2da1nj25rpnm9o1t6quakncpbg650@4ax.com...
>> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:56:29 GMT, Roy G wrote:
>>
>>> As you may have noticed from the post "Newbie Question", these are only
>>> USB1
>>> in spite of the fact that they are fitted into fairly "Fast" recent
>>> machines.
>>>
>>> Mine is a Presario SR 1839 with Dual Core 3000mhz processsor, 1 Gb DDR2
>>> Ram,
>>> and Serial ATA 300 GB HDD, 7 USB 2 & 2 Firewire Ports.
>>>
>>> It took 13 minutes to download 640Mb of files from a 1 Gb Card.
>> Ah, so yours is Intel based. According to tech. support mine is
>> HP's most recent, a Pavilion m7470n with AMD64X2 4200+, 2 GB DDR
>> RAM, same HD, same ports, and the same slow card readers.
>>
>>
>>> On the HP Support Site there is an opportunity to Email the CEO, and I
>>> just
>>> done that. I don't suppose he will read it, but at least it should get
>>> to
>>> someone other than a customer advisor.
>>>
>>> I have asked what he proposes to do about my dissapointment, and for an
>>> explanation as to why such a stupid decision was made.
>> I might do the same, and complain about one more thing. The way
>> HP preconfigures the "free" software. Although I intentionally
>> didn't install most of it, most especially the Norton AV 2 month
>> trial software, soon after ZoneAlarm was installed it caught Norton
>> trying to communicate with its home base. I'm sure that in the few
>> days before ZA was installed, Norton had no problems getting by MS's
>> own firewall. Of course the way it was preconfigured may well have
>> been out of HP's hands.
>>
>> Another minor annoyance is that the "free" CD/DVD burner software
>> is limited to operating only with the burner originally installed in
>> the computer. One of the first things I tried was to "drag" files
>> to the CD drive only to see it appear to work up to the point that I
>> initiated writing to the CD, then it would fail, accompanied by
>> terrible error recovery. I later discovered that the default
>> setting for writing to CDRs is "disabled".
>
> Hi.
>
> The Free CD/DVD software supplied on mine is Sonic's Digital Media Home,
> which seem Ok. I have not yet fitted another DVD drive, but if I do fit one
> and have a problem, I would install my free version of Roxio, which seems to
> work with any machine.
>
> Unlike you I had to wait until after Setup was completed and then uninstall
> Norton Anti Virus as my very first action. They can stick their 6 months
> "Free" subscription where the monkey keeps its nuts.
>
> I use the Free editions of Zone Alarm for Firewall, AVG for Anti Virus and
> Ad Aware for Malware. They all seem to work very well.
>
> My AVG does catch and isolate infected mail on a regular basis. My
> Guesthouse business means that I am advertising an Email Address, and
> sending to and receiving mails from people I don't know personally, and that
> is a very real risk.
>
> I will let you all know If and When I get any kind of reply from HP.
>
> Meantime I have my SanDisc Reader plugged into the USB port on the useless
> Reader's Fascia, and boy does that look really stupid.
>
> Roy G
>
>
Right now I use only the Outpost Firewall, which also stops virus,
trojan, and many other types of nasties, as well as spyware intrusions.
It does all this and still imposes only a 3% load on my current
system. After Norton AV didn't catch a single virus in over a year, I
stopped subscribing.
It seems the firewall program wasn't letting them get to Norton AV. The
computer sure runs faster without the Norton software on it.
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

John McWilliams wrote:
> On 7/27/06 12:14 AM, Ron Hunter wrote:
>> I also expressed my displeasure at the inclusion of a virtually
>> worthless card reader in a machine near the top of the performance list.
>> Pure bungling, and will cause me to be much more likely to buy
>> something else when I buy another computer! This is BAD THINKING on
>> HP's part. Putting such a slow reader into a budget-priced machine
>> might make sense, but in a 64 bit 3800+ speed machine, it borders on
>> deceptive practices.
>
> I tole youse guys to get one of them thar Mac-in-toshes a kuple of yirs
> ago, but, nooooooo, youse hadda defend winders.
>
> Have a nice day!!
>
> <s>
>
And that applies to the current discussion how?
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:57:50 GMT, Roy G wrote:

> The Free CD/DVD software supplied on mine is Sonic's Digital Media Home,
> which seem Ok. I have not yet fitted another DVD drive, but if I do fit one
> and have a problem, I would install my free version of Roxio, which seems to
> work with any machine.

I already installed Roxio's Easy Media Creator 8 and it's working
very nicely, including with an external CD writer. Unlike my last
version (Adaptec's Easy CD Creator, v3 or v4) it doesn't seem to
have the ability to import older sessions, just the most recent one.
I haven't played around with it very much though, just with the
module for copying data, called Creator Classic.


> Unlike you I had to wait until after Setup was completed and then uninstall
> Norton Anti Virus as my very first action. They can stick their 6 months
> "Free" subscription where the monkey keeps its nuts.

Hmm. I might have tried it if it was a 6 free subscription, but
on this computer Norton's software only offered a 2 month trial.


> I use the Free editions of Zone Alarm for Firewall, AVG for Anti Virus and
> Ad Aware for Malware. They all seem to work very well.

I'll be downloading Ad Aware soon. I've read that that's one of
the software categories where running several different ones is
recommended, and usually Ad Aware is one and (IIRC) SpyBot is
another.


> I will let you all know If and When I get any kind of reply from HP.

Thanks. I'll be surprised if the reply is any better than a
noncommittal form letter.


> Meantime I have my SanDisc Reader plugged into the USB port on the useless
> Reader's Fascia, and boy does that look really stupid.

<g> If you have the time, put up a pic, and maybe forward a copy
to HP's CEO!
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

Roy G wrote:
> "ASAAR" <caught.DeleteThis@22.com> wrote in message
> news:toigc2da1nj25rpnm9o1t6quakncpbg650@4ax.com...
>> On Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:56:29 GMT, Roy G wrote:
>>
>>> As you may have noticed from the post "Newbie Question", these are only
>>> USB1
>>> in spite of the fact that they are fitted into fairly "Fast" recent
>>> machines.
>>>
>>> Mine is a Presario SR 1839 with Dual Core 3000mhz processsor, 1 Gb DDR2
>>> Ram,
>>> and Serial ATA 300 GB HDD, 7 USB 2 & 2 Firewire Ports.
>>>
>>> It took 13 minutes to download 640Mb of files from a 1 Gb Card.
>> Ah, so yours is Intel based. According to tech. support mine is
>> HP's most recent, a Pavilion m7470n with AMD64X2 4200+, 2 GB DDR
>> RAM, same HD, same ports, and the same slow card readers.
>>
>>
>>> On the HP Support Site there is an opportunity to Email the CEO, and I
>>> just
>>> done that. I don't suppose he will read it, but at least it should get
>>> to
>>> someone other than a customer advisor.
>>>
>>> I have asked what he proposes to do about my dissapointment, and for an
>>> explanation as to why such a stupid decision was made.
>> I might do the same, and complain about one more thing. The way
>> HP preconfigures the "free" software. Although I intentionally
>> didn't install most of it, most especially the Norton AV 2 month
>> trial software, soon after ZoneAlarm was installed it caught Norton
>> trying to communicate with its home base. I'm sure that in the few
>> days before ZA was installed, Norton had no problems getting by MS's
>> own firewall. Of course the way it was preconfigured may well have
>> been out of HP's hands.
>>
>> Another minor annoyance is that the "free" CD/DVD burner software
>> is limited to operating only with the burner originally installed in
>> the computer. One of the first things I tried was to "drag" files
>> to the CD drive only to see it appear to work up to the point that I
>> initiated writing to the CD, then it would fail, accompanied by
>> terrible error recovery. I later discovered that the default
>> setting for writing to CDRs is "disabled".
>
> Hi.
>
> The Free CD/DVD software supplied on mine is Sonic's Digital Media Home,
> which seem Ok. I have not yet fitted another DVD drive, but if I do fit one
> and have a problem, I would install my free version of Roxio, which seems to
> work with any machine.
>
> Unlike you I had to wait until after Setup was completed and then uninstall
> Norton Anti Virus as my very first action. They can stick their 6 months
> "Free" subscription where the monkey keeps its nuts.
>
> I use the Free editions of Zone Alarm for Firewall, AVG for Anti Virus and
> Ad Aware for Malware. They all seem to work very well.
>
> My AVG does catch and isolate infected mail on a regular basis. My
> Guesthouse business means that I am advertising an Email Address, and
> sending to and receiving mails from people I don't know personally, and that
> is a very real risk.
>
> I will let you all know If and When I get any kind of reply from HP.
>
> Meantime I have my SanDisc Reader plugged into the USB port on the useless
> Reader's Fascia, and boy does that look really stupid.
>
> Roy G
>
>
My machine came without any cd software. I got an external dvd/cd burner
with bundled Sonic Record Now. While it requires the purchased burner to
be installed during setup, it has no problem with the original burner,
even if I pull the usb connection to the LiteOn. By the way, I'm very
happy with Record Now and DLA packet writing. I believe Sonic has
changed hands since my version however.
Dave Cohen
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

"John McWilliams" <jpmcw DeleteThis @comcast.net> wrote in message
news:-ZWdnZRV7dg0S1XZnZ2dnUVZ_oqdnZ2d@comcast.com...
> On 7/27/06 12:14 AM, Ron Hunter wrote:
>>>
>> I also expressed my displeasure at the inclusion of a virtually
>> worthless card reader in a machine near the top of the performance list.
>> Pure bungling, and will cause me to be much more likely to buy
>> something else when I buy another computer! This is BAD THINKING on
>> HP's part. Putting such a slow reader into a budget-priced machine
>> might make sense, but in a 64 bit 3800+ speed machine, it borders on
>> deceptive practices.
>
> I tole youse guys to get one of them thar Mac-in-toshes a kuple of yirs
> ago, but, nooooooo, youse hadda defend winders.
>
> Have a nice day!!
>
> <s>
>
> --
> John McWilliams

What does a Rain Coat have to do with Computers, my roof don't leak.

Roy G
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

Ron Hunter wrote:
[]
> Well, I was using Charter @Home cable connection which maxed out
> around 829k bytes/second. With ZA, the speeds were below 400k
> bytes/second.

Sounds to be something wrong there - I run Zone Alarm here with a 10Mb/s
connection and get full speed (about 1.2MB/s).

David
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader 

David J Taylor wrote:
> Ron Hunter wrote:
> []
>> Well, I was using Charter @Home cable connection which maxed out
>> around 829k bytes/second. With ZA, the speeds were below 400k
>> bytes/second.
>
> Sounds to be something wrong there - I run Zone Alarm here with a 10Mb/s
> connection and get full speed (about 1.2MB/s).
>
> David
>
>
I am sure I would be able to do the same thing now with my current (AMD
Athlon 64 3800+) machine, but the old AMD K6-2 at 266mhz didn't have the
power to spare. Result, slow download speed. Not that it would matter
now anyway since @Home died and I have Charter Pipeline at
3mbps/256kbps. sigh.
 >> Stay informed about: HP Card Reader