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I wouldn't have thought so. By having OEMs that supply machines with Linux on, they are directly impacting on Microsofts sales. Surely MS should have some say on the types of organisations that sell it's products.

I'll have to agree with Alien there. When I first got on the net, IE was dog awful, and Navigator was a fairly decent browser. I didn't pay for Navigator, though IIRC you could pay for it (or there was a supped up version you could pay for - can't quite remember). That continued pretty much up until IE 4 which just leapt ahead of Netscapes offering. I did try and continue using Navigator, as it was the browser I was most familiar with, but in the end, IE was a superior product so I switched over to it. If there was a compelling reason to stay with Navigator, I would have done. Netscape are still churning out updates to Navigator, and there's Mozilla, Opera and probably a couple of others as well. That makes at least 4 different browsers to choose from. How many do you want? The WinAmp point is a good one. All my MP3s are played back through it, and the only thing I use Media Player for is watching movies that I've downloaded (which I don't do particularly often). Yes it would be nice if MS changed the installation options in Windows so you could have more choice about some of the stuff that gets installed. Some of it is just bloat that a lot of people don't use, but it does mean that your PC is ready to do most tasks that you could wish for as soon as it is setup. I for one would be quite happy to see MS keep adding extra bits to their Operating Systems. And lager_brains, do you really have to add your sig to the bottom of every post? The sig is generally several times longer than the posts you make.

You can't. That's one of the limitations of using Windows 2000 Pro. NT4 Workstation had a similar limitation in it. There was a hack that turned NT4W into NT4S as far as connections went, but I don't think there is one for 2K Pro. If there is, I'm sure someone will be along and tell you what it is and where to find it, but I suspect the best thing to do is upgrade to Windows 2000 Server.

With the wheel thing, I have found this once or twice as well. What tends to happen is that when you visit a web page, the focus moves from the page itself back to the Address Bar in IE. This can happen because the site has popped up an ad window for instance. Scrolling the wheel when the focus is in the Address Bar will cause the address bar to scroll through the sites you have visited, and will send IE to the page that you stop on. If you click on the web page before scrolling, you should find the wheel operates as it is meant to.

Ah right, I haven't managed to pick the game up yet (went into hospital over the weekend to have my appendix removed - but I'm alright now (more or less) thanks for asking) so I didn't know that info was on the CD. I'm sure a patch will be out fairly soon if this problem is plaguing a large number of users.

Unfortunately this debate is likely to rage from now until the end of time, in much the same way that the Intel v AMD wars rage on. There is no clear desicive outcome. Microsoft Operating Systems and applications are the cornerstone of most businesses throughout the world. These business are also trying to make money. If they could lose from the budget sheet the annual spend on software and hardware upgrades, they would. The fact that they keep buying MS products means that they are the best tools for the job. There are plenty of other office suites that run on various platforms, and they mostly offer compatibility with MS Office file versions, but are they in use in large organisations? No. There are various factors as to why this could be including the amount of time/money involved in retraining, but if it offered long term benefits, do you not think that companies would move over to these other prodcuts? The fact that they haven't speaks volumes. Yes, there are some jobs that I wouldn't trust to a Windows server (such as 24/7 web serving on a very active site), but there are plenty of others who do. At the end of the day you pick the tools that suit the job you are going to be doing. At the moment the best tools for the job (as far as Operating Systems on desktop and mid-range servers are concerned) are supplied MS. On the CPU side, we have AMD to fight Intel. Some of these fights they win, some they lose, but until an AMD of the software world appears (and can take on MS on the OS and application front), this battle will rage, and MS will continue to be seen as the bad boy by many. Linux may be OK for some, but it isn't ready for prime time. When you can walk into your local PC shop, pick up a PC with Linux installed, and be able to talk to someone on the end of a phone who can help you out, then maybe more than just the tech-heads will be prepared to look at it. But until then, the best bet for home and business users is Microsoft. The fact that 3D Studio Max (a major piece of software in use by companies with plenty of money) is in use on Windows platforms speaks volumes. If there was a viable market for a Linux version, do you not think that one would have been produced? Sorry if this sounds like an 'I love MS' rant, but at the moment, I don't see any viable alternatives.

Have you seen this? Quote: Those of us who are buying the PC version of the game ought to be aware that there are rumours of a possible problem with Windows XP that manifests itself as graphical problems both in the game menu and also during game play. Technically this problem is solved by the use of a newer version of d3d8.dll than is shipped on CD with Windows XP (the version on the Windows XP CD that has problems is 5.1.26000.0 – versions tested without error include 5.1.2600.15 and 5.1.2600.29). Currently the only (known) way to update this dll file is to install the Windows XP patch from here: http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Patch/Q306676/WXP/EN-US/Q306676_WXP_SP1_x86_ENU.exe This update may in the future be available as part of an official Windows XP Service Pack, a Windows XP Compatibility Update, or possibly a DirectX 8.1 update. Might be worth a shot

I take back what I said UniTuner. It does have a memory resident program that sets the refresh rates. Godamn it, it surely can't be that difficult. Nvidia must know this is happening, so why can't they release a set of certified drivers for those that want to play it safe, and a no-certified set that included the ability to override the refresh rates? Matrox did that with their G400 drivers.

I've just used UnitTuner from http://esprit.campus.luth.se/~humus/ After setting the refresh rates, I just delete the program again. No problems at all

Quote: Crazy though it seems it would appear that this option is not available. Two things make me think this: 1. Do a File>Import Export within Outlook XP Choose to import Internet Mail account settings The programs listed in the box are Outlook Expres, Eudora, Netscape and the like. 2. This knowledge base artical http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q278168 Both of these give the impression this is a no go. Yeah, that's what I figured, but I hoped someone had managed to do it and I had simply overlooked the options for it. Ah well, out with the pen and paper!

Quote: In Outlook Express, click on File, Export from the menu. You must not have read my first post properly. Where did I mention OE?

So you have the modem hooked up to the router, and then 2 PCs also hooked to the router? Is your router configured correctly? Are your TCP/IP settings correct? If you remove the router from the setup, does the laptop work with the modem plugged directly into it?

Quote: 4in1 drivers are included with windows XP, so if you run XP on a via chipset, you are using the 4in1 drivers, but they are not the most up to date version. Yup, I know that, but the fact they were included with the OS and that I haven't had any problems would indicate that they are working just fine, so upgrading them just for the sake of it seems a bit daft. I have also run HalfLife on that machine without problem, but only as a test. I use it for video editing rather than gaming.

Not strictly true. I haven't ever installed any 4 in 1 drivers on my XP machine (an Athlon 1.2) and everything runs fine. Try it without the 4 in 1 drivers first.

I occaisionally have this with HalfLife. When it dumps me back to the desktop my mouse is super sensitive. A reboot fixes it and sets my mouse back to normal. I take it this isn't happening for you?

It's one of the requirements in order to get past the city guards

Sounds good to me

Erm, how come you have the Netware client installed, and no network adapters then? What was the point of installing the client? Ah well, have a look at the properties of each of your dial up connections to see if it is in there.

Quote: The problem with Nvidia cards is that they support DVI only on their 128MB models (GF3&4), which pushes them out of my price range. That's odd. My 64MB Hercules GF2U has a DVI port, and I'm fairly sure my Leadtek GF3 (again 64MB) has one, but I'm not 100% certain on that.

Right click My Network Places and choose Properties. Right click Local Area Connection (assuming you haven't renamed it) and choose Properties. Highlight the Netware client and click Remove. After whirling around a bit, that should be done, so click OK. Click Start -> Programs -> Administrative Tools -> Services Have a look through the list, and for any servives that have the name Novell or Netware in them, double click them and set the Startup Type to be disabled. That's it, your done

The easiest way is just to remove it from the list of installed services in the Network settings for your NIC. You can then look in Services and make sure that it is set to Manual (or Disabled) to prevent it from starting when the machine boots up.

Could be a few things. Maybe you have a cheap modem that just doesn't work very well. Maybe it's the drivers you're using. Maybe there is some noise on the line. If you're sure the modem is fine (or if you have another modem you can test), ask your telco to check the line. It's possible that it might need tweaking in order to get the best out of it. But it's just as likely there is a problem with another section of the line that you have no control over. In this case, you're a bit stuck.

The bit about using the size of the smallest disk refers to RAID 1. RAID 0 will basically cause all of your disks to be added together into one big lump. So a 20GB and 30GB disk will give you a RAID 0 capacity of 50GB. You can still partition them with as many drive letters you like. If one drive in the array fails, you lose all of the data on all of the disks, so if it's important stuff, take backups RAID 1 is mirroring. This is where one disk is an exact copy of the other. That's why uf you use a 20GB disk and a 30GB disk, you'll only get 20GB of useable space. The other 10GB will be "lost". If one disk fails, you can break the mirror and use the other disk on its own until the faulty one is repaired.

So your heatsink isn't neccessarily flat then, it's just shiny. ;(

Depends on if you're classing computers as computers or PCs. If it's anything, then it's over 20 years, starting with ZX81s and Spectrums, moving through Commodore machines, upto PCs. If it's just PCs, then around 12 years or so. Man, I feel old now