PC Astray

I am currently using avast! Home Edition on my desktop computer along with Sygate Personal Firewall Pro which I did not purchase but just got the serial somewhere They both work very well for me but avast! is like Symantec products, hogging much of your memory. Sygate, on the other hand, uses only 8MB and you can actually terminate some services on avast!'s control panel such as P2P Shield or whatsoever. You don't really need it anyway since I don't really see the point of using it when you already have real-time protection by its Standard Shield. As for antispyware, I am using Microsoft Antispyware Beta, Spybot - Search & Destroy, SpywareBlaster and Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition. I also have a hardware firewall in my 2Wire HomePortal modem.On my laptop, I use AntiVir Personal Edition, a reliable antivirus that doesn't take much of your memory away from you together with the Windows XP SP2 built-in firewall. The antispyware bundle is the same, excluding Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition. I do not run Warez P2P on this computer since it's only a laptop and I don't expect it to blow up in my face...heat is a problem since I think AMD processors heat up too fast in laptops.

If that's what you think, then go for it! If you're willing to sacrifice that few gigs for a difference of $50, iPod nano will certainly satisfy your needs but iPod video should also be nice despite its screen size. And it should be more cost efficient in the long term. Like you said, money isn't an issue.But the new Creative Zen Vision is worth checking out. My best friend just got it to replace his "old" first generation Creative Portable Media Centre. Looks like they learnt something about "fashion" icon from iPods. Just like the new Xbox 360.

How about a Sony PSP at $249.99 direct? It's cheaper but bigger but definitely worth buying. It may not have Apple's design but it sure looks appealing enough to me. Do reconsider.

The Sony PSP costs $249.99 direct from the manufacturer. And I believe Creative to be more "international" than iRiver because of its position in the sound card industry so they should be more of them than iRiver. The new iPod video is really something but I never really like such players since their screen is simply too small and maybe a little overpriced. The real portable media centre? A laptop. I will stick to the iPod shuffle if I were you. No screen, flash memory, cheapest iPod fashion icon. Will rather watch movies or photos on my budget desktop

Agreed. iPods don't have voice recording or FM radio as well. And Grafitti is right, just that I have never heard of any distributors or normal people buying parts and repairing their mp3 players. If something is spoilt, the distributor/supplier/manufacturer just replace the whole thing! So it'll depend on how good the company's range of mp3 players are selling in your country/region. And from my opinion, I think flash mp3 players will be better than hard drive ones because they have a longer lifespan compared to a hard drive when used as a mass storage device, etc. Other than that, they don't spoil easily when dropped. You may want to try out the Sony PSP. Rather cheap as a portable media centre when compared to Creative Zen Vision or others. It plays games as well!

Your idea sounds great! Will it be an open source like Mozilla? I chose Firefox over Opera since it's open source and has alot of interesting plugins such as third party software like AdBlock, etc. Maybe you should just release a basic copy of your internet suite and people can download the plugins such as an integrated music player like the FoxyTunes and Scrapbook. A search engine like the one on Firefox's will be nice as well but I think there ought to be more (although you can add on to it, I can't be bothered). Bookmarks? That, I'm not really sure of but Opera's preinstalled bookmarks means alot to me, but not to others. As for Webmail, as long as it has all the MSN's features or maybe something like a GMail notifier along with the instant messaging client, that will be good enough. Built-in internet connection optimizer will be welcomed, too. Offering the user to choose what they want to be installed onto their computers is most welcome or else people may whine that the software is too bloated or something. By looking into Mozilla's Popular Extensions, you can get alot of ideas out of it. What you're doing is really great but there are really alot of browsers out there but since yours is freeware and a one man show, it'll be a big hit from my opinion. Godspeed!

It's up to you to decide actually but actually, there's no such thing as a best mp3 player out there as it depends on how you see it. The iPods are now a fashion icon and the nano is an attention seeker with its killer looks. The Zen Micro and Zen Neeon is worth the mention as well

Well, it'll depend on where you are now or where you bought that iPod. From what I know, the Apple Customer Service in Singapore is very efficient compared to other companies like Creative that took 3 months to replace my cousin's Zen Micro. My other cousin Athena got an iPod nano from a distributor but somehow, they gave her a faulty battery and she was asked to refer to the Apple Customer Service and they got it replaced for her the next day right at her doorstep. Anyway, enough of my crap. Here's the link. Like I said earlier, go to your region/country's Apple site and ask for Customer Service.

Nice one for a freeware but it can't beat Paint Shop Pro 9 but I would say that Adobe Photoshop CS2 is the best I ever came across in my best friend's house although I use PSP9 since I couldn't find the crack for CS2. Photoshop CS was fine but PSP8 came to me first. I would recommend this to anyone looking for a freeware alternative to paid image editing tools although there are some softwares that you can cracked but it's up to you whether you want to get caught. For users looking for a much simpler tool, try Artweaver.

I was amazed by Bazooka's on-demand scanning speed when I first used it. Totally works like an antitank weapon but to play safe, it's best to get multiple antispywares and Bazooka's scan doesn't really seem to find alot of things. I use a combination of Microsoft Antispyware, Ad-Aware SE Personal Edition, Spybot - Search & Destroy and SpywareBlaster for the best protection & prevention by the way.

If you are looking into investments, I suggest keeping an iPod mini for another 50 years before selling it again. The resale value will be damn high, I'm sure. But as for now, I would recommend getting the iPod nano. Its features sure look nice to me and Creative is yet to come up with a colour screen and they're always one step behind Apple which makes me think everytime a new iPod comes out, Creative will back engineer their technology. Which may not be true. Their Zen Neeon certainly came out too late but it sure does look nice! I'll rank it second after the iPod nano though. And is it worth the looks? The iPod nano 4GB is indeed 4GB BUT US$50 will get you a standard iPod with an EXTRA 16GB. This is worth reconsidering

If Apple's iPods don't suit you, get Creative. The only thing I don't like about them is how they actually advertise their products. The Power of Zen...? Makes it sound like some nuclear powered mp3 player. Other than that, Creative makes good mp3 players but for now, I will recommend the iPod nano even with its earjack at the bottom and the easily scratchable screen. Well, it's like...is there any mp3 that is as sexy and thin as the nano? haha. This is 1 for the iPod nano and 0 for Zen Vision. And seriously, don't even think about getting the ROKR e1. A useless phone when you can get i398 by flashing the e398 which is alot more cheaper. Besides, who would want to listen to a radioactive mp3 player?

GMail will definitely win...if they come up with an instant messaging client but it'll take time for current users of MSN Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger without GMail accounts to switch over. Yahoo! is the winner for now since when you register for their Yahoo! Mail, they even come bundled with Geocities and a whole lot of other services such as LAUNCHcast (but sadly, they don't seem to work for me anymore since there are some legal issues about streaming music to countries outside the US). MSN Hotmail, however, ain't that bad either since their IM client is the best I've ever used so far. Besides, even if you use GMail or Yahoo! Mail, you can always use their MSN Messenger as long as you register for a .NET Passport. I am using all three mail services right now, with my own website and main mail account on Yahoo!, GMail as my online storage drive and a .NET Passport for it just to use MSN Messenger.Hope you guys who use MSN Hotmail may consider switching over to GMail/Yahoo! and yet use the MSN Messenger by registering your account with a .NET Passport! (If you are using Hotmail just because of their IM client) ciao

Yeah but a CRT tends to strain your eyes when you spend more than 30 minutes at it for me. I used a CRT for my budget computer and a hp f1523 LCD screen now since it camed bundled along with my a426d so I can tell the difference. If you're going for CRTs, you may want to try looking at something far like out of the window for 2 to 5 minutes to rest your eyes.

lol. This move is unexpected but since my streaming examinations are just round the corner (like less than two weeks? and I'm here slacking...), I'll stick to Mozilla for now. Afterall, given my past experiences with Opera, even with the ad banner which I really didn't mind at all is that it is simply too complicated for me like for example, the user interface. It still looks the same so it needs time getting used to. Haha, so much of giving away free registration codes when they're already giving out free version downloads in like the next month. Why not try Opera now if you're using Mozilla? You may like it and that's what I'll be doing.

There are many free image hosts out there and well, I have used alot but I would recommend: Imageshack: For instant uploads, registration free. Imagestation: For unlimited storage but registration is required to view images as well. Photobucket: Features are not exactly the best but they're good enough for me. There are more free image hosts listed here so if you have the time, do check it out.

Well, a desktop is always better than the laptop in terms of value and performance. Besides, I was always addicted to gaming but that has changed for now so if I really had the money, I would rather spend it on a laptop that can suit my needs but definitely not one with Integrated Graphics. Why did I choose a laptop over the desktop now? Well, when ever I upgrade my computer, there're always newer games that are more demanding in performance and I simply cannot keep up since I don't have the money. I'm more into chatting and browsing the net. I would prefer mobility over performance and money...if I were to have enough of it, that is.

I read about this just three days ago and yeah, it has accidentally shipped almost 4000 MP3 players with a Windows virus that doesn't really affect the performance of the mp3 player itself but well, although the virus may be a little old, I still find it quite hard to believe that Creative actually shipped 4000 virus equipped Zen Neeons right under its nose. This news is really disappointing to me since it just came right after Creative won its mp3 player patent.

I'm stuck to a hp pavilion a426d right now and the startup time is 1 minute and 16 seconds. Running a Intel P4 2.6GHz, PC2100 384MB RAM, 40GB Ultra DMA HD, Integrated Graphics. My startup programs will be AntiVir PE, Sygate Personal Firewall Pro, Cacheman XP and MSN Messenger. Other than using msconfig to tweak your startup, you can also run services.msc to disable services that you don't use such as Print Spooler if you have no printer, etc. Disabling USB ports through Device Manager you don't use may also help but I'm not too sure about that.

Runescape Classic was the best RPG game that I ever played and this game actually changed my life; average grades for my PSLE (Primary Six Leaving Examinations...it's an exam that will decide which secondary school do you go to but not students leaving their examinations ). I found the old version much nicer as it was easier to play and to earn money but I stopped playing after I found the new version somewhat...worse than the original. To me, the graphics seems worse since I have to strain my eyes just to see things.

Call me stupid if you want but I didn't know at first so I actually cleaned the interior of my old PC with a vacuum cleaner. It actually created enough static electricity to fry my mainboard...that's what the tech say so I never cleaned my PC from now on. Only do a few wipes on the exterior with tissue papers but I always try my best to make things best from the inside (software-oriented?). And for your information, the keyboard and mouse is the dirtest part of your home/office. I read that on the newspaper last week.

I'm not really surprised over this. Does the news media at your respective countries ever mentioned it but from time to time, they'll talk about internet addiction in China and how their goverment had to setup "special" rehab centres for these people (they're all teenagers from urban areas). Somehow, I think Asians are more hardcore gaming/internet addicts and I mean no offense to anyone out there. This is just an opinion.

Well...I guess they ran out of codes due to the overwhelming response since I haven't got mine even when I emailed them using three different mail accounts (GMail, Yahoo! Mail, MSN Hotmail) with subject heading and a short birthday message. Although Opera is still the fastest browser out there, I'll stick to Mozilla Firefox and Free Download Manager.

Your budget of $1500 is more than enough to build a decent gaming PC, depending on your currency but if it's US, then you're in luck. Extremetech came out with its approved products and I'm sure you can choose from the parts there. Also, $800 is enough for a gaming PC since they also have specs there as well. As for monitors, I would recommend that you get an LCD even though it may be more expensive, it will not strain your eyes, based on my experience. Other than that, don't be just hardwarewise. Consider getting some optimization tools like Cacheman XP and system utilities such as TuneUp Utilities 2004. Antivirus and firewall is also important as well and go for those that are resource light.

Brian, you're right about the screensaver being a saviour of the screen but that it'll only save early monochrome CRT monitors but sdvances in display technology and the advent of energy-saver monitors have virtually eliminated the need for screensavers and we now only use them for distributed computing, security or entertainment. (I don't see what they see in screensavers as entertainment though.)