rridgely

Ok so I'm fixing a computer for a relative who I don't really know all that well.(they may not even be related to me and just didn't want me to charge them...?) The computer is a compaq something(vista, 2ghz single core, 1gig ram) Anyway, I booted it up and quickly realized it wasn't worth trying to sort out so I reformat it with the recovery partition and once its back up I'm greeted with some of the worst bloatware I've ever seen. HP is notoriously bad about having crappy software(look at their full printer software) but this is awful. From pressing the power button to having the thing fully booted was probably 5 minutes. Yikes. Besides norton , the thing had tons of junky hp branded stuff too, and it was all SLOW. It actually had a utility that sat in the taskbar and let you know if caps lock, number lock, ect was on... guess they don't put lights on their keyboards anymore? They had some sort of security center that probably took 2 minutes to open up loading at start up and then a bunch of photo junk. The computer is slow but at least it now runs reasonably slow. (it would probably run really nice with xp... vista )

I have been looking forward to the remastered Beatles catalog for a long time. And today is the day! I got my box set in the mail and despite already owning ALL of these songs before I have to say that it was worth the money. I haven't listened to all of it yet(obviously) but from what I've heard so far the quality is definitely better. You can literally pick out stuff you couldn't before(different instruments, ect.) Its kind of like going from a crappy cassette recording to a quality mastered cd. Amazing. Awesome day.

Says a lot that the only thing people seem to point out favorably is vista's search in the taskbar. Especially since they basically backported it to xp with desktop search 4.0(Its in windows update, I don't use it though). vista isn't bad now that its been out for a while, most of the issues came from a lack of drivers. I think its a little late to be getting into it now though since 7 is just around the corner...

Their site says its going to probably be released tomorrow. That version may or may not be the official build but RC2/3s don't usually change much before release and often they just change the name and they will in fact be the final version.

How did you format the drive? If you just right clicked in windows and clicked format then it shouldn't have done anything to your main drive. However if you used the windows disc then your probably overwrote it when you installed windows on it.

All you have to do is format the drive as ntfs so windows can see it and allow you to use it.

avg=grisoft

He wrote live and let die for a James Bond film. GNR covered it and got a hit out of it, if you listen to them back to back they didn't really change it all that much. I like his version better just cause I prefer his singing and the groove it has. I think you would be surprised by his back catalog if you really took a look at it. Hes got as many hits as anyone(not even counting the beatles stuff) Check out this vesion of it, its pretty awesome(better sound quality, awesome explosions. )

I had an awesome time, I took me a few days to recover. I've found videos that someone put up on youtube from the concert... lets me relive it. Live and let die Let it be(there were people crying during this one) Helter Skelter(old dudes can still rock. ) The whole thing was amazing. I would pay anything to get to go again. I just hope he comes back soon.

I don't use security software. I don't use P2P, IM, or do anything like that. I keep my computer updated and use firefox with adblock. Just because you have a windows computer connected to the internet doesnt mean you have to go through tons of effort to keep it secure.

I saw the best concert I've ever seen last night(and I've been to quite a few). I'm a HUGE McCartney fan and an even bigger Beatles fan. I have wanted to see him for years and last night I finally got the chance. Despite the weather(it rained a lot but only for about 3 songs), I had the best time I've probably had at any entertainment event. I was smiling from ear to ear the whole night. I've been such a huge fan of his for so long, and then I finally got to see these songs that I love performed in front of me. He played through about a 3 hour set that contained all the hits from wings, the beatles, and his recent solo stuff. His voice was spot on, he was energetic, and he didn't even take a break the whole time. I've seen new bands that couldn't manage to play for that long without stopping. You got the sense that he was enjoying himself while he was up there and just wanted to entertain this crowd the best he ever has any crowd. The crowed ranged from young kids to people who saw him when he first started out. There were 50,000 people and just being there felt like you were seeing something special. Its a night I will never forget. I just hope its not the only time I'll get to see him, if I could get away I would follow him over to his next show. Maybe next year!

Your better off reinstalling directx instead of mucking around in the registry trying to delete all its remnants(which will probably just make things worse) Reinstalling it should put everything back to default and thus make it work. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/179113

Keep windows updated and your fine. I don't bother with software firewalls anymore, they are too much of a pain. If you have a router then I would definitely not bother(they have hardware ones built in)

Openoffice is just slower... its because its java based.

I was looking forward to the mass hysteria. "NEW VERSION OF WINDOWS DOESN"T COME WITH THE INTERNET". A lot(probably most) people still think a browser is the internet, all this was going to do is piss people off. Yay EU I guess?

I have office 07 that I got from the student promotion a while back. You can customize the install, its an option right after you enter in your product key. I intalled the whole package though anyway. Just disable the dumb grove service and ignore the rest, its not like it takes up all the much space and you might be glad you have it later.

If you go to youtube you should get a banner that says "suppot for your browser is ending, please upgrade to a modern browser"(close to that) and it will have links to chrome, firefox, and IE8. IE6 works there for now but in the future it probably wont, and I bet you will find that on other sites as well.

IE6 is being phased out by a lot of major websites.(just go to youtube) Its because web developers have to do a lot of extra work to support it. IE7 and IE8 are about even. There interfaces are basically the same, but I find IE7 more responsive and just overall better. You NEED to upgrade to one of them if your going to use IE though because they are much more standards compliant(you will see the web the way you should) and they are also a lot more secure. I'm not sure why you don't like firefox(opera I know.. I don't like it either. ), but those aren't the only options. There is google chrome and also a lot of browsers that build off of IE (maxthon, avant, ect) You can find those here: http://www.filehippo.com/software/browsers/ (stay away from netscape, its discontinued)

Those come from using the windows live sign in assistant and a few other live programs. I have them on my laptop because I use the office live add on.(allows me to save my documents online).

funny. I really do bet he would get more users if he ditched the girly dog. Change it to a rottweiler and call the program malware destroyer or something cool/manly. No dogs with scarfs.

I use windows live mail. http://download.live.com/wlmail I use it with live mail(former hotmail) because it can do free pop3 checking. It syncs really well where if I'm at home I can use my client if I'm on another computer I can log in on the web and it would be the same. Really nice.

I wish Win Patrol would change its icons and stuff. I don't want little dogs that bark in my taskbar. Its a decent light weight program.

Right now I've been playing a lot of Street Fighter IV. I've been buying 360 games like crazy though and have about 10 that I haven't even played yet. Next one I'm going to get though is going to be Batman Arkham Asylum.

A-squared is pretty awful. I wouldn't use it if this gave me a free lifetime license.

Looks like IE7/8. At least with firefox your going to be able to put it the way you want.