Quickset is a Dell download. From this screen, you can click downloads and it should be there once you select Windows XP.

support site has been having problems all morning.  Keep clicking the links  usually takes 5 or 6 tries to get the pages to load.  THere's also a walkthrough to intsall your operating system and drivers if you need it in the solutions link under reinstall guides link.  Just make sure the collumn on the left shows your correct system and service tag info.  If it doesn't click on the "select a system" link and enter your service tag in the box.  Ignore the select a model box, your service tag will do that for you.

If you got the Dell Resource CD with your laptop when you purchased it, it will have the Quickset utility on it if you can't access the download page at Dell's site.

Ah, good.  Thanks.

Out of curiosity, without Quickset and the power management stuff, what speed would your processor run at anyway and would you be able to change it?

Could someone please explain to me exactly what quickset is, what it does, and how to know if I have it or not?

Thanks,

Bicyclebill,

I don't know the exact use, but I do know that it enables the special function keys on my 8500. For example, if I don't have them installed, I can't use FN+F10 to eject my cd tray. Only after installing it, will it work.

There may be other uses for it, but I'm not too sure about it. I currently don't have it installed though and don't plan on doing so.

Grumpychick,

Without the software, it'll still have speedstep which is in the BIOS. You don't necessarily need the software for the changing speeds of the cpu. It will still work either way.

Btw, just to add that you might want to look at a program called Speedswitch XP. It allows you to manually control your cpu speed. Either you want the cpu to lower its speed, run at full speed, or use Dynamic Switching which allows the computer to decide what speed to run at by itself.

Ah so the only thing that Speenswitch has that QuickSet doesnt is the dynamic Switching? Still that would be worth it just for that.

Can quick set be installed on any Inspiron 8500 running Windows XP or does it depend on how old the machine is and what BIOS it is running?

Quickset is a Laptop management tool for the current line of Dell Laptops - The previous Dell models like my 8200 use Quicksets ancestor, "Dell AccessDirect" which has a lot less functionallity.

To get it you can either download it from: http://support.dell.com -or- directly from their FTP site:  ftp.dell.com/app/R75074.exe

Release Title: Application: Dell QuickSet, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Multi Language, Multi System, v.1.7.0, A11

FileName:

R75074.EXE [4 MB]

Release Date:

4/15/2004

Format:

Hard-Drive

Description:

The Dell QuickSet application provides quick access to configuration settings for: - Power management schemes - Battery resource information - Desktop font scaling - Volume status - Display brightness - Easy method to configure and connect to wireless networks (Available on select systems). - Radio/Wireless activity - Internal network card (LAN) activity - Presentation mode

It is supported on the following Dell Laptops (as listed in the Setup.lst included in the download): It also supports the new XPS laptop...
;******************************************************************
;Setup.lst
;
;Date Modified 09/25/03
;
;
;Systems Supported by QuickSet:
;
; -- LATITUDE --
; D600
; D800
; D400
; D500
; X300
; D515
;
; -- INSPIRON --
; 600m
; 500m
; 8500
; 300m
; 510m
; I9100
;
; -- PRECISION --
; M60
; M70
;
;******************************************************************