Sbrideau

Asking that advice on a biased tech and computers forum is not such a good idea, you should find somewhere better. Still, in the end it comes to choice, but I'm going to say what I think. Don't go with mac, it costs more for the same thing you have with other operating systems, plus the recording software that would come with the capture card might only have been made for Windows, while in Linux there will probably be a program to catch your recording hardware. I would find easier for you to have a Windows based computer, since that's probably what you're used to, with Windows 7 and a core 3 quad, and an Nvidia 9600GT, that card is strong enough for what you seem to want to do. Most computers you buy nowadays have 4GB RAM, so you should be good enough with it too.

And for moving tabs between browsers, saying that chrome is better browser for multiple screen is false in the sense that it's as easy with Firefox, but I have never tried it in IE or Opera. It's just the placement, you like it right at the top of the screen, which is best for you as I take, but doesn't mean Google Chrome is better just for having the tabs somewhere else.

Taking to a store would be a mistake, it's much better bringing it to a specialized computer shop if something goes wrong. I don't know of any uk shops, so I'm going to wait until someone posts one for the suggested parts to suggest some myself.

Choose another brand for the graphics card, I've seen a few video cards that were fried in the last few months, and they were all XFX cards.

Try removing McAfee and using a free one like Microsoft Security Essentials or Avira for a while and see if it still crashes. I remember a lot of programs crashing on me when I was forced to use McAfee.

Your processor and video card might not be strong enough. I checked the requirements for Cod4, and the processor needs to be at least an athlon x64, so I couldn't find anything to tell the difference between that and the sempron but anyway. I know the video card, even if the minimum requirements says 6600, is not strong enough. I had a 7600GS in the past and CoD4 wouldn't play on it.

I've used Opera for a long while, quite a very good browser and I do keep it up to date even if I use Firefox, just, I sometimes, while rarely, use Opera since it's a pretty good browser too :).

I don't know what you mean by the better browser for people with multiple screens, but for blocking ads thing, I have yet to find an extensions that actually blocks the ad instead of just hiding it. Anyway, I don't use Chrome anymore so I don't care anymore.

Actually, I'm back to Firefox. Performs better than Chrome for me and even if the page loads slower, who cares about a few milliseconds. Going to try Firefox 3.6 though to see if it's more stable.

Also, having used NOD32 for almost a year, it's not as good as people say it is, it just sits there not doing anything unless you scan for viruses.

I haven't had it crash once, maybe it's just your computer? Can't be my computer, I just built it a few weeks ago, so the drivers are pretty much to date. And it's happened on both my computers, not only the desktop. Maybe I'm just unlucky or I could have an outdated version, I'll look into that tomorrow. I do keep my browsers open for quite a long time, so it could be the effects of having it open as long as that, as what Firefox, after being opened so long, was losing a lot of performance and using a hell of a lot of ram util I restarted it.

I don't think the hype for chrome is justified though, it's still quite full of bugs and often crashes, may it be only one tab crashing or the full browser crashing because of one tab.

I agree with what laura said. Good thing you're getting off Norton, and also, never ever go for McAfee.

Currently trying Google Chrome and have been for a few weeks now, but Firefox is still my favorite despite being unstable and having a memory leak.

I also found that I get crashes when I play with Google Chrome but not the other browsers.

Now that's just fanboism about what's not a mac, the Firefox or Camino option is better.

Even though I've been using it for a while now, relying on the fact that MSE doesn't detect anything to say there are no viruses is the wrong way to go, istolethepie. At least use an online scan before you come and say something like that, just to be sure. I agree that MSE is very good though.

Update your graphics drivers and Java.

Are your cpu settings set to low?

I think it's pretty effitient, having HD movies through HDMI for example, etc.

By chance, do you have an AMD processor and have Windows XP? If it's the case, then I know what the cause would most likely be.

Nowadays most computers have HDMI, at least laptops, you whould just need to buy a HDMI cable, if your tv has the plugs too. That would do the trick. That or any other wire that can connect between both computer and TV.

For hard drives, Western Digital is the best brand.

I would download the K-lite codec pack, it has been very reliable for all the time I've been using it.

Actually, to crop, you just have to use the snipping tool that's provided with Vista and 7. Might post a pic soon.