Dracion1

-1 ;)

Banned because I have nothing else better to do.

11/10.

Just got C&C Red Alert 3 and Left 4 Dead in the past week. Both are excellent games imo, should keep me occupied over the Christmas break :

They've been under development for a while, but it should speed up now that Chrome for Windows is out of the beta stage. The same has been said for many other pieces of software. It's just one of the reasons I'd rather stick with Firefox, if not for the customisability and the fact I don't need to install google's annoying update software.

And a non windows version of chrome is...where exactly?

Not necessarily, it depends what he wants to use it for. Should do fine for general web browsing, and you could run sd on that. Anyway, I'd reccomend removing Norton Internet Security in favour of another AV. It's resource intensive, and the latest version will do more bad than good.

All problems solved. Using the XP disk did the trick (though for some reason IE has been downgraded from 7 to 6 :lol: ).

The only difference between custom and express is that you get to choose what you install, and in my case, SP3 was the only option. Also, surely you mean software updates? I've upgraded my hardware on several different machines (all prebuilt) and had no problems what so ever. Said machine I've been having problems with a customized dell, so any warnings are unlikely to apply to it. Anyway, I did some research about the error and it's apparently due to a corrupted file with windows genuine [dis]advantage. I've sent off for another Windows XP CD which I should hopefully be able to use to fix the problem. Cheers anyway though :).

Finally got this, though I can't install it until I get windows working again though :wall: Anyway, I'll join the relevant TIF group when I do, it looks great.

I agree, there isn't that much stuff around. Some companies sell stuff ,and Valve I know have a store, they sell headcrab hats and such :P I can see more video game based stuff coming in the future though, however expensive/tacky it is.

Some good news, I found my Kubuntu 7.10 Live CD so I'm able to use that instead of interupting my brother on his laptop. Anyway, I'm currently doing some google searches and I've contacted my local computer guy, who should be coming round to take a look at it soon. Any help would still be much appreciated though.

Sure my files are safe, but they aren't much use if I can't work/edit them. Unfortunately, the only xp disk I have is the one that came with my dad's dell. Will this work or not?

Sod's law has apparently come in to effect. I had to install an update for windows genuine advantage when installing it and now my computer is broken. Whenever I try and start it normally it gives me an error 0x80004005. (A problem is preventing windows from accurately checking the license for this computer.) I try booting into safe mode but I can't even get onto the internet because some service isn't running. Help please, this is kind of urgent as I need this computer for work and stuff. Thanks.

Uh...google images?

See if there's a company near you that will allow you to select the components and put them together for you. You should be able to save money that way, and it won't come with all the unnecessary startup software that major companies like Dell or HP put on their machines.

Cheers guys :D Couple of other questions, would I need to backup my stuff before I upgrade? I don't have anything hugely important on here (most important things are on external storage), and my dads computer was fine when going from SP1 to 2. Also, my computer had XP home originally, but for some reason now thinks it is running XP pro. According to windows genuine disadvantage it's fine, but could this cause problems? Thanks again :thumbup:

Well, the windows update has been moaning at me recently to upgrade to SP3. Is it worth it though? I mean, I haven't had any problems with SP2 yet, and support for both will cease at the same time. I've also heard that SP3 causes some problems with older programs/games, is this true? Many thanks :)

I don't see the need. GTalk isn't exactly the most popular form of IM and as was said, you could just leave it as your email adress or even put it in your signature.

+1 to that. Also the squads in the original HL2 who follow you even after you tell them to stay in the same place -.-

Something a bit more complicated ;) http://FantasticContraption.com/?designId=4500011

This really belongs in T&C. Sennheiser are very good, but they are quite costly.

RuneScape. I have probably clocked over 1000 hours on that, and my account wasn't that amazing :/ You need it to save the game. It was a common problem with several silver cartridges that the battery died after so long.

Half Life 2: Episode 1. Just felt like replaying the campaign again, haven't done so since I upgraded my graphics card and everything looks so much nicer now with the settings turned up :

Avira antivir outstrips both avast and avg.