Tasgandy

From the old bloke "down under" here in Aus. (Tasmania actually) if you MUST and NEED a laptop, spend as much as you can afford, on the fastest, max RAM, biggest HD, best Video card, biggest 16:9 screen, etc. something with "local" service & back-up available, where you can (if you have to) go and have a "face to face" discussion with a service Tech to discuss the problem you are having, and lastly try like hell to only buy a laptop that comes with a real, physical, can hold in your hand OEM Windows 7 XXX whatever DVD. NOT an OS image sitting on the hard drive. You could also pay particular attention to exactly what standard warranty is provided, what type of extended warranty is available and how much extra, a list of what is NOT covered by the warranty (I don't trust em) and what 64 bit software are they prepared to bundle with the deal. A good time to purchase is always towards the end of the month. Why's that I hear you ask? as one who has worked for Multi National Sales orientated Companies for many years, they all work on monthly and 3 monthly sales targets and their stock is normally priced accordingly.........they get real keen towards the last 2 to 3 days of the month, especially if their sales are down, give it some consideration, ask and ye shall recieve, don't ask and *^*&%^*%&^$ you know the answer. Good luck, let us all know how you go. PS: my next purchase (not a PC, just a bigger LCD TV) will be made during the last 3 days in January 2011, when all the public's Christmas money has been spent and the stores are screaming out for customers, happens every year.

Hi there Fluffy from your Speccy's description your new & improved computer I am sure will give you many happy moons of computing, sounds and looks great. It is a good idea to get some assistance with drive partitioning if you are not sure what to do, great idea to have the System OS & apps on 1 partition and Data / back-up on another (2 partitions as a minimum, 3 if you can so you can put games on the 3rd partition) but I am sure your Wizz Nephew will steer you in the right direction. Re installing 2 events of anti-virus software on your PC, Hazelnut is correct, it is NOT recommended practice to do so on a home PC, generally this approach is only performed on e-mail servers and the like to take into consideration the different SW update times and schedules and for the paranoid IT nut like me that thinks he knows what he is doing. So happy computing and I take it your Monitor is now performing OK?

Yes Squire.............very interesting

Yes Hazelnut I think you are right, MSE does indeed ask one to uninstall all other AV SW BUT, when did you ever do what MS asks you to do without trying something different first..........well I do. If the wheels fall of I always have Macrium Reflect to fall back on. Prior to joining the Piriform forum and finding out about "AVAST" (and many other things might I add) I was using McAfee Enterprise 8.X and MSE (the original MSE release many moons ago). When installing then and now I simply turn off "other anti-virus SW" (including Spybot & Tea timer) whilst I carry out the MSE initial installation, and I have had no issue since. All AV software updates automatically (I sometimes manually check just to make sure it all happens) and it is not unusual for MSE to catch some virus that Avast has not and likewise the same with Avast catching where MSE has not. On my Wife's PC I run MSE, AVG & Spybot, with the same result/story. You'll "never know" till you "give it a go" is an old saying my Dad taught me.

Hey there Fluffy, great news that you are back in the swing of things albeit you had to shell out some $$$, what motherboard did you end up with? a new one? different CPU? and more RAM? Re MS Security Essentials and Avast, as far as I am concerned they are both very good and on my business PC (where this post is coming from) I use both together, they have always seemed to co-habit-ate very well. I agree with Negal it won't take long to fill up your 500GB. PS: new system, new bits, now back to square one, DON'T FORGET TO IT BACK-UP & regularly. (Macrium Reflect forever)

Whilst I was ferreting around the Web looking for a "Free" download for OS 2 Warp 4 (Yeah I'm an past member of an OS users group down here in Aus.) I came across the following site that could interest some of you folk out there. What did that OLD OS look like? It took me back to the time I used (also forgotten about) IMB DOS 3.0, Dr DOS 5.1, GeoWorks 1.0, GeoWorks Ensemble 2.0, RS6000, Mac system 1 & 3, Windows 3, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98 & SE, Windows ME, Windows NT 3.5.1 & 4.0, Windows 2000 etc. By the way are there any OS 2 users out there?

Linux or Mac?.......if you have never tried any other OS in 18 years, stick with what you've got or upgrade to Windows 7. What don't you particularly like about your current OS? From one who uses Windows XP Pro for business, Windows 7 (32 bit) & Ubuntu 10.10 on a test PC (Dual boot), I own and use an old iMac running OS X Tiger and enjoy all four OS's I would love to buy a top-end Desktop Mac if I had heaps of $$$$$$ as I could then run Mac & Windows on the same box, BUT I do not have the amount of cash required for both hardware & software, I would choose Windows 7 if I had to pick my most favored OS If you have a "spare" PC and you have some time on your hands "to play" give Ubuntu a go as it and accompanying software is free. Let us know how you get on when you make your decision and should you experience any issues with you new OS I am sure you will get all the assistance you require from the many members of this forum.

Hey there Icedrake.............finally found some "unbelievable" wallpapers: Wallpapers of ALL SIZES Mate I kid you not, 3 Dimensional,3D Landscape,Abstract,Adult,Aircraft / Planes,Animals,Boats,Buildings & City,Cars,Computer,Dark Art,Development,Digital art,Drawing & Painting,Fantasy,Female Celebrities,Games,Known places,Male Celebrities,Miscellaneous,Motor,Movies,Music,Nature,Space AND sport. What's more sunshine they have resolution sizes from 320 x 480 iPhone to 4800 x 1200 Triple screen, and everything in between. 320x480 iPhone 1024x768 1024x1024 iPad 1152x864 widescreen 1280x720 720p HD 1280x768 widescreen 1280x800 widescreen 1280x960 1280x1024 1366x768 widescreen 1440x900 widescreen 1440x1080 1080i HD 1600x900 1600x1200 1680x1050 widescreen 1920x1080 1080p HD 1920x1200 widescreen 1920x1440 widescreen 2048x1152 2048x1536 2560x1024 dual screen 2560x1600 widescreen 2560x2048 3200x1200 dual screen 3360x2100 3840x1024 3840x1200 triple screen 3840x2400 4800x1200 triple screen So Icedrake, knock yourself out and "go get'um" I've just finished downloading a HEAP.

Ishi thanks a million for your detailed reply, and I shall certainly try "Wine" and thanks for the offer of your assistance should I run into any issues re working with Peppermint / Linux Mint 9 not that I will install them just yet as I have several other pressing matters on my plate at this stage. Once again Ishi many thanks PS: thanks for the head's up Login123 re Mint10

A very interesting (but true) video. Those results were similar to the results that we came up with (4 years ago when I was working as a internal network consultant within the world wide Corporate Giant). Open office was mostly used by us NC's and employees on their home PC's where they mostly created basic word processing, spreadsheet & presentation documents. I also found it was also excellent as a starting point (introduction/learning) for my son & daughter with their home/school PC's and much cheaper to. These days both my son & daughter are mid twenties and employed in the IT industry. For me these days I am still using Office Pro 2003 on my business PC, but Open Office on my personal and testing PC. It will be interesting to see just what transpires with Oracle now in the box seat.

Ishi well done for 3 months ago, always best when you do not have to do a re-build. Is there much of a difference (that matter's) between Ubuntu & Linux Mint 9? I have just recently installed Ubuntu 10.10 (as a dual boot) to my existing Win7 home premium (32 bit) test box, I suppose I did this to kinda keep my hand in. Re "Wine" installed on Linux, by the sound of it all your Windows apps are working well? exactly which Windows apps have you installed? Are you running 32 or 64 bit OS?

Folks, thought I would relay the results of Macrium Reflect Rescue CD test I have just performed on my newly built "Dual boot" Windows 7 Home Premium and Ubuntu 10.10 test PC. I did the usual, installed Ubuntu 10.10 on a existing installed Windows 7 box (Win 7 sits on a physical hard drive "0" primary master and Ubuntu also sits on a separate physical hard drive "1" primary slave - both SATA II drives). Installed Macrium Reflect 32 bit, Free edition, SW Ver. 4.2 Build No. 2952 (downloaded @ 6.00pm Aus time today) created a new "rescue disk" as Macrium notes that previous rescue disk's will not work with latest update for Windows 7. When I tested the Rescue disk (cold boot) and once the first screen is reached with the mouse pointer showing and asking me to "please wait" the PC simply "reboots"...............I can not get any further. Not that this is a "biggie" for me as I simply disconnected the primary slave HD "1" (Ubuntu) complete the Macrium Reflect procedure for "restore" and then re connect the No. "1" HD. I simply wish to pass on my findings. re Dual boot Win 7 & Ubuntu. PS: no issues with my "update" of Macrium Reflect on the XP Pro box, the new rescue disk (just to make sure) and the "OLD" rescue disk both worked. REMEMBER folks, create and test all new rescue disks created. I still love Macrium Reflect.

Likewise, a little Firefox box informs me that I only have 3 hours & 5 minutes of downloading to go for a Desktop ISO, thought I would go for a fresh install rather than an upgrade...........ah well, they say good things come to those that wait, all 698MB

For those interested, the following link describes step by step a "NEW" installer procedure / instruction which has been well scripted.Ubuntu 10.10 Worth a look for those considering / wish to "play / learn" another OS. Enjoy. EDIT: details of NEW stuff included with 10.10 and details of "off line" installation. Ubuntu 10.10 includes

I normally install Go2PDF (freeware) on PC's that I build for clients that do not have the funds for Adobe. Go to Go2PDF anyhow (anyhoo) have a look.

My motto is: "spend it whilst you got it", you can not take it with you and unless you have "HEAPS" once married and you have children, all your money (correctly so) you will want to spend on them (in moderation)..........so not married at present & no children yet.........spend up BIG.

Normally you would set the type of media you are using/burning (CD / DVD etc.) in the "setting" tab, I think if you check in "settings" you may find that you have set in on CD and not DVD. By the way version 10.0.4 is now available for download Version 10.0.4

Microsoft & Adobe????? The big just keep getting bigger (not necessarily better)

No problems Icedrake, I got the "Ships" wallpapers from: wallpapers, icons etc Re other resolutions - not sure I just simply went "berserk" and downloaded heaps, however if you go to: Rocketdock you will see that there are plenty to choose from.......enjoy

This I think is why the saying "Best laid plans of mice & men" was invented for, and we all hope the next day for them will be better.

For my re built Win 7 box I found a series of "Old Ships" wallpapers, so here is a replacement for the Win 7 October desktop I posted several hours ago. This is the 1st of 3 "Old Ships" - are there any lovers of "Old Ships" out there? if so, I do hope you enjoy.

Finally got the "broken" Win 7 box working again.....thanks to Macrium Reflect and another HD So here is my October Desktop

I also wish to log a "+2 for RocketDock", am running it on my Win7 & XP Pro boxes

U3 was a company producing a proprietary method of launching Windows applications from special USB flash drives. Flash drives adhering to the U3 specification are termed "U3 smart drives". U3 smart drives come preinstalled with the U3 Launchpad, which looks similar to the Windows OS start menu and controls program installation. Applications that comply with U3 specifications are allowed to write files or registry information to the host computer, but they must remove this information when the flash drive is ejected. Customizations and settings are instead stored with the application on the flash drive. Microsoft and SanDisk created a successor called StartKey.

Found this one on my old backup PC.........hope someone other than me likes it.