felix

Three ways. 1) Go to a cheap variety store and look in their software bargain bins and you might find it (got mine for $AU20). Then install HL, then download and install Steam using your HL serial no. then do the import process to bring you new HL install into the Steam environment to save the full download. 2) Still buy the game and just install Steam and let it automatically install your allowed games. 3) Install Steam and purchase the game online and it will do the rest. Most newer machines will play HL fine with no major install/config problems. All updates for the game after 1.1.0.0 (i think) are issued through Steam so if you try and update a pirate copy, Steam will spin up your cd-drive and spit out the CD to chop your legs off.

you could try copying the lot into a single Excel cell, say cell A2, then use one of the following in cell A3: =UPPER(A2) Changes text to all UPPERCASE (NANCY DAVOLIO) =LOWER(A2) Changes text to all lowercase (nancy davolio) =PROPER(A2) Changes text to Title Case (Nancy Davolio)

XP Home (or any "workstation" OS) has a hard coded limitation of 10 concurrent connections. Your only option is 2000/03 server or a Linux solution.

From reading the above, it seems you start your backup from inside windows. Have you tried making the Ghost boot disks/CD and starting in PC-Dos from scratch. It sounds like more trouble that it's worthtrying to go from windows back to dos.

I can't be bothered spending the $10,457 required to upgrade my machine enough to run the OS and any game within it. My machine already struggles with AoE3 on minimal settings. I downloaded the RC1 ISO from MS for a couple of mates who's computers resemble Mini Coopers and cause I have 30gb free off-peak downloads every month I have a urge to burn through. Sadly, the IT overlord here at work (I'm only a standard lord) says I can't, he called it a "distraction" or similar.

I don't quite follow what you're asking, aside from the naughty request. You can't get the update for Norton and then put it back onto an ME installation - the whole reason you're told that it will only work on 2k or XP is exactly that, it will only work on 2k or XP. So you have a choice: a) live with the unupgraded Norton and ME switch to XP or 2kSP3 and upgrade Norton You can't have Norton 2006 on XP, and nobody here will help you source a naughty copy of anything. Seriously though, ditch ME before you're machine dies in a flaming heap. If you use your machine for work purposes or work for the gov't or education, your employer might be able to swing you a legal copy under a Volume License agreement.

Best and most successful/problem free solution and the least labour intensive in the long term is to back up your data, format the system drive and install Windows2000 from scratch. WindowsME is such a steaming pile of cellulose byproduct consumed by a equine variant that it's not worth installing it in the first place, let alone upgrading to Win2k from it.

Hopefully they get 6 months in federal PMITA prison, though I doubt it. If you have a spyware authour as your biach in prison, do they continually popup and remind you that you could have virii or infections, or that you could be running faster?

Just out of interest, have you implemented the feature whereby any thread with no fresh post in the last 6 months will be automatically locked?

Haha, apparently I'm an addict and DosFreak has carpel tunnel. Structure looks good but I'm wondering where I can change the colours? Also, Philip, are you able to tell us what new features you've implemented in this release? I like the bookmark icon too. Has anyone posted notification to slashdot or such that these forums have merged, seems to be a little more activity. Ta, F

I think it would certainly spark interest in Linux from Windows people who've never considered it, plus they'd be in a familiar environment to ask questions if they took the plunge. You might get the occasional "Windows is teh ghey" or "Lunix suxors" from the fanboys (think the Halo vs Half-Life2 thread) but overall it could be a good experiment. Things have become a little stagnant here and I guess will do until Vista beta gets a good following. Bring it!

Hi Phillip, Just wondering if you've ever considered setting up www.maccompatible.org just to complete the set? I'm sure there are some people with fingers in both pies who'd be keen on it. Especially since you can run it off the same server as NT and Linux. F.

If you have some proof of purchase, call the distributors and see if you can fax them a photocopy of the receipt and the CDs and they may be able to issue you with a new CD key. Don't like your chances though - i had a similar problem with my Age of Empires 2 Expansion where i lost the CD but had the keys, manuals, recepits etc. Long story short they said I could buy the media again at $40 so i politely explained that this was not an option and downloaded a CD image which I installed using my legally purchased key.

You do what every other eBay store owner does and whack a hefty postage cost on it. Who cares what bids you get as long as the postage covers your reserve.

I think Sims2 should change the computer requirements on the pack to the following: Requires a computer that came with WindowsXp installed Requires that you bought it in the last 12 months Requires that the ad/product spec has either of the words "nVidia" or "ATi" in the same line as "video" Requires that you don't think the computer is magic Requires that your nextdoor neighbour works in some area of the computing industry

Right click your desktop. Properties >> appearance >> advanced >> (dropdown item box) >> icon then change size in the size drop down box to what ever you like. You can also adjust the icon spacing here too.

I am having a space crisis. My games are installed in c:\games however my C:\ drive is filling up too fast. Thus I created a directory c:\games2 and also a d:\games2 (d:\drive has loads of space). Now in a similar way to the "my documents" folder on the desktop which can be linked to any folder on any drive, can I create a virtual link so c:\games2 actually points to d:\games2. I do know how to mount an existing folder as another drive through disk management and I also know how to set up virtual drives through IIS however my problem doesn't fall under either of those categories (just added that so hopefully people don't waste their time answering those). I've also done a google search and had 12+ pages of IIS or shortcut related articles. I figure it has to be do-able as MS does it with the my docs. As for why I want to, I'm a bit anal and want my games to all be on the c:\drive etc etc Ta, F.

Received a possible answer on another forum: download the program "junction". It creates a symbolic link, same as linux, which behaves better than a windows shortcut. http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Junction.html Quote: Win2K's version of NTFS supports directory symbolic links, where a directory serves as a symbolic link to another directory on the computer. For example, if the directory D:\SYMLINK specified C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32 as its target, then an application accessing D:\SYMLINK\DRIVERS would in reality be accessing C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS. Directory symbolic links are known as NTFS junctions in Win2K. Unfortunately, Win2K comes with no tools for creating junctions - you have to purchase the Win2K Resource Kit, which comes the linkd program for creating junctions. I therefore decided to write my own junction-creating tool: Junction. Junction not only allows you to create NTFS junctions, it allows you to see if files or directories are actually reparse points. Reparse points are the mechanism on which NTFS junctions are based, and they are used by Win2K's Remote Storage Service (RSS), as well as volume mount points. Note that Windows does not support junctions to directories on remote shares.

Never really looked any further. They do have smaller single site units and if you ask them they can add other stuff to their basic ones. If you're looking for gear for just one site, why not get three separate units: a KVM switch, an audio switch and a USB sharing dowhatzit. Might be cheaper than trying to combine the lot, though BlackBox do appear to make such a combined beast.

http://www.blackbox.com/Search.aspx?cid=537&q=kvm If they don't have what you want, they will build it for you. I've bought and used their stuff and it works great. Not an employee.

not sure about your Sims problem, but ditch the huge pic in your sig. I don't pay ISP fees to download pix of brats from TV shows.

Phillip I have a request for you to consider please. Firstly you're doing a great job maintaining the forum however we've all noticed the increase of spamming occuring, especially in resurrecting zombie threads. Would it be possible to investigate running a weekly script that locks/archives any thread that has had no action for 1 or 2 months? A second idea would be the possibility to rate a member, or flag them for being naughty. I think there was a feature like this here some years ago, or maybe i'm thinking of somewhere else. Maybe even tie in their rating to the number of posts they can make each day could help with the spamming. That would be cool. Ta, F. <edit>I can't beleive I just made an untitled thread. Idiot!! Can someone please put a subject of "forum ideas" on it? Ta. </edit>

tschrock, Perhaps if you ask Phillip nicely he will set up the DB to automatially put a post in every thread which automatically extracts the subject of the thread and offers the OP a free tutorial on how to solve their problem from your website. Obviously maintaining your website must be arduous work and taking the time to spam our forum (and probably many others) must be time consuming for you. In fact if you really want to advertise your website, there's this thing called a "commercial advertising transaction" whereby you can pay to have an advertisement placed on every page of the forum in similar to the existing advertisements. In closing I'd just like to say STOP SPAMMING THIS FORUM PARASITE. I was going to point you to a tutorial on your website about how to stop yourself from spamming, but I couldn't find it. Perhaps you could research it and report back. Oh and if you don't like my tone, wait till Relic reads your post, then you see some tone.

If you've installed HL using steam (and therefore a legit CD key) you don't need the CD in the drive. Are you attempting to launch HL from the start menu or through steam? The start menu one would be from an CD installation. If you're using a legit steam install, launch from "my games" in steam. You'll know the difference between the interfaces.

I'm a PC gamer for all, however I have seen the light in terms of using an "improved" xBox as a media centre (it has Xbox media player installed). By connecting it to my home network, I can access all my media files in a different part of the house and watch on my big screen without having to have my computer desk in the lounge room. I can also play golf etc with mates on the same unit whilst knocking back a case of brews before we head out, which makes it a social investment too. The best part is, seeing that I waited, I picked it up for $AU100 with 12 games, 2 controllers and the DVD do-wa, then a mate "improved" it for me. That's the best part of the XbOX, the media capabilities.