DennisD

I'll pass that on to her, or maybe not. I like a peacefull life.

This is what makes cats so lovable. An adorable bundle of fun. Video:

The power of the imagination. Some very clever creations here. Video:

I think we all agree that the basic idea would be good in a perfect world, but as rridgely has mentioned, we don't live in a perfect world. It wouldn't take too bright, or devious a mind to realise that it would be ever so simple to set up a bogus "child depository" in a big city. For that reason alone, a strong re-think on the basic concept is needed. Sooner rather than later.

I'm pleased I keep the Installation Packages of just about everything decent I've downloaded on disc. You never know when you might want to change your mind about something you binned. I've recently had a trawl through the add-ons site, and can't remember seeing anything connected with screen capture. I use Faststone Capture a lot, and used to have it configured to load with windows straight into the sysytem tray, but now I just have it pinned to the start menu.

An entertaining read that Humpty. I like the way Sunbelt offered to aid PCTools in any ensuing legal action. The last paragraph was also tasty.

All of my daughters mates (allegedly), have this imaging software called Coral Snapfire, which they use before uploading their pics to Ringo. There's a stripped down free version, and a commercially available full version. The magic of this programme is it's ability to "make over" a face. You can make teeth whiter, make your holiday tan more golden. Vain stuff like that. Of course this is not something I would dream of using myself. Trouble is, I've tried the free version, which obviously doesn't include the makeover tools, but the programme itself is the slowest thing I've ever had on my pc. My hard drive was taking a fit trying to load any of the features, or even changing thumbnails. Luckily, I installed it under good old Power Shadow, and it's now an ex image editor. But that doesn't get my daughter off my back. Do any of you wonderful people know of a freeware (preferably), programme with similar makeover tools? Thanks

Nice find Capman. Thanks for the link.

The GOM player looks to be an effective player of just about anything, but I'm a bit concerned about the DRM question raised on the GOM player forum, which took 2 months to elicit an answer. Found here: The sentence I've underlined really is heavy handed. Maybe I'm over reacting, but I don't think this is something I want to voluntarily put on my system.

Absolutely amazing. That must have been scary. Did anyone read the comments underneath the article? One of them says : 41 ??

Well, I seem to be commandeering this thread with my own posts, but I thought it worth a mention that I've just converted a Divx movie to a DVD movie that will play on any home DVD player, using DVD Flick. The operation couldn't have been simpler, although it took quite some time. The converted movie is audibly and visually as good as the source Divx file, and the DVD Flick installation package comes with all the re-authoring, encoding, and burning software included, and it's free. Hope this is of some use.

Thanks Hazel, bookmarked that one.

Pretty amazing stuff. For someone so young, lets hope she's well managed and well looked after.

While searching around, came across this video help site with guides on converting just about anything. Also came across DVD Flick, another open source converter which will do Divx to DVD. (Allegedly) Video Help: DVD Flick: It's quite likely that, as usual, I'm the last person to find these sites. So if you already know about them, you don't need to tell me. And if you haven't, I hope you find them useful.

The rattle you've heard is probably your knees knocking together. Post us a pic of the Black Racer. If you can catch it. Here's something I do have in my yard, quite a few of them in fact. Click for a close up of that, what on earth does it have for fangs? Thank heavens they are only 1/8 inch long, otherwise they'd be scary.

Thanks JD. Google never came up with that one. Downloading that, and will give it a try.

Snakes. You have snakes in your yard. That's the one thing I like about my little part of the world on the English N.E. coast. We don't have anything particularly nasty. Apart from 11 to 16 year olds.

No matter how old you get lotse, you can learn something new. I've only ever once looked at the information on the "details" window popped up by the broadband icon in the sys tray. That "details" window gives a lot of info including Client IP address and server IP address. Not until today did I realise that my IP address listed there actually changes. I've just disconnected and reconnected, and it has changed. So thanks for the observation, I'm always happy to learn something new.

Been googling around quite a bit, trying to find a freeware Divx to DVD converter with no luck. I want a freeware one to try, because by nature of what the process does, there must be quite a loss in quality, but I would like to see for myself how much is lost without wasting money. The other alternative of course is a standalone DVD player that plays Divx movies, and there are quite a few on the market for as little as ?30. I've seen some very capable little DVD players at that price these days. Thanks.

Thanks 1200, and thanks JD for the link. Dynamic IP addresses of course. I have heard this term, but must confess I didn't know exactly what it meant. I do now.

The trouble with cats is that a lot of people let them out to wander during the night. At least that's the case here in the UK, and once a cat decides that the corner of your garden is a good place to take a piss ('scuse my french), it's a problem trying to deter that cat from using the same spot every night. And they do leave a strong smell, as well as not doing the plants any good. We've had to buy all sorts of concoctions to deter said cat powdering it's nose in our garden, without doing the cat any harm of course. It really is a problem once they find a nice spot. Anyway, going ever so slightly off topic here, I once knew a guy whose next door neighbour bought a dog that barked everynight in the backyard, keeping him awake. After weeks of this torment, he came up with the ideal solution to get his revenge. He pursuaded his neighbour to sell him the dog, and now he lets it bark in his backyard, to keep his neighbour awake.

Just curious, but when using the services of Gibson Research or suchlike, for firewall tests, why do they come up with different IP addresses for me, and never actually the right one? Is this something to do with my service provider maybe?

With a full size Lara Croft in his room, maybe they thought he had a gun in his pocket.

Nice to hear a mention for Windows Firewall, which I've stayed with after trying a few different ones, including another try of PCtools Firewall plus. My pc just seems to run better with windows firewall. Although it's an inbound protection only, it's flagged up a few warnings over the last few days of programs attempting to download something from the web. As I've been trying out some new stuff that downloads extra software, it hasn't failed once in blocking the download until I've given the go-ahead. It also passes every test at places like Gibson Research and Hackerwatch with 100% stealth, and although I've seen various debates about exactly what 100% stealth is, or isn't, it still gives you a feeling of confidence. I run it with Avast Home Edition, and I think I'm fortunate in that I seem to have hit a sweet spot with this particular combination. But of course not all combinations work for everyone. Just thought I'd put my two penneth in for Windows Firewall.

Wish I could have seen this: Full article: