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I'm not an instant messenger user, but I'm willing to try out the IM at Google. The other products made by this company have been top-notch, innovative and highly reliable. I've been at Gmail for ten months or so, and though it's in Beta, the server has only been down twice. I had worse results with hotmail, which has been up for years. They were constantly slow and sometimes down. Not to mention the space and new concepts for web based. Based on their previous services, I'm excited to see what this one will do.

Dhanesh,Your internet situation is enraging. Freedom of information is the right of every man and woman on this earth. Only through education can we learn lessons from the atrocities humans commit. China and the Middle East are among the most inhibited users. The US has maintained state restrictions in Iraq, which I agree is strategic for the duration of the transition, but afterward is a human rights violation. Stand strong. Technology makes the world smaller; injustice has a shorter duration these days than it use to.

I have RR in Austin, and I'm getting 3.4 Mbps tonight, with rates up to 5 Megs. My question is, what the ****'s going on in Ohio? Do me a favor. go to speedtests and test your rate. Or if you are on fiber or something else, let me know.

"Well, if you don't think you need to open those .doc's, .xml and wmp files, maybe Linux is your answer."- Sorry, not .xml, excel. And you can open wmp in Linux. It's late. Where's that tequila?

I don't understand why this is such an issue. As mentioned earlier, Microsoft has done this since XP's release, keeping a running list of cracked serials. Also, any copy you have without an expressed agreement to allow your use of the software is illegal. The copy from you're daughter's school is illegal if you ever load it. She is allowed to load it three times, and is never supposed to use it for-profit. Microsoft isn't forgetting about 'the little guy' student; every student in the world can get a heavily discounted copy. MS likes students; if you learn on a system, you want to stay on that system, so eventually, you will pay to keep using MS products for your business needs.Patches are a fact of life for any software product. If you want to push a product to market, you can't prepare for every security breach. I agree more needs to be done to prevent these problems before release; too often it seems these holes are easy to find. Perhaps patches are a good way to keep everyone checking in? Any way you do it, they're necessary for the health of a networked machine. If you are going to rip off software, don't network it, for multiple reasons. The best answer is don't rip off software. This all brings the MS hate speech around again. Ahh, the fury a monopoly brings upon itself. Well, if you don't think you need to open those .doc's, .xml and wmp files, maybe Linux is your answer. If you need to network with machines at school and work that run XP, then you probably need it. Maybe every message board is right. Maybe MS makes inferior products and if it weren't for Bill Gates holding businesses hostage with flashy advertising and proprietary infestation, no one would use them. Or maybe they're building good product. Really, really good product, that continues to best competitors (An independent top database researcher gave a laundry list of reasons in Nevada last month why SQLServer has surpassed Oracle in security and user friendliness). Maybe we all complain profusely because, in the end, we all end up paying those high price tags, which means they might be worth it.

I have a question (or a series of them). I know spyware embeds itself in my registry and follows file usage and website visitation to collect data. But what does it do? Does it collect a list of URL's? Can it exit my http session? If it does, what possibly relevant data can it find in my file system? A technical breakdown of what happens when spyware loads on my computer and what data it returns, along with analytical uses for the data, would be appreciated. P.S. -Adaware is great, but Spybot's startup search gives it a chance to find programs running in your initial configuration that adaware may miss, so it's a good idea to use both. The best prevention is cellabacy; don't dowload silly stuff onto your machine.

Cheers! Gmail's great. You can also download a plugin to make an account a drive (Gmail drive) but I don't think the designers like it, so they try to deter use. But if you have data you don't mind forfeiting, it can have its uses.One more thing: not that the above info was inaccurate, but maybe misleading to anyone not familiar with the term 'beta'; here's the definition off GuruNet:betaUsed in software publishing, "beta" is the name given to a pre-release version of a software product. This beta version is used for testing purposes, is often problematic and thus only available to specific users who are encouraged to provide feedback for improvement. Beta versions are commonly found on company websites and can be downloaded. Many include expiration dates to eliminate proliferation of flawed software.

This came up as an issue on an IPOD discussion, and I thought it deserved attention. (I searched previous topics, and no related conversations turned up. If they exist, sorry.)Any e-bay technology order nightmares? Any positive experiences? How do you feel about buying tech from e-bay?My first puchase was a wireless phone with a car charger and hands-free included for sixty dollars. The phone worked fine for about three days. After that, it consistently had problems until a friend gave me her retired to use. Namely, it stopped answering calls about half the time. I'd hear them, try to answer, and a black screen would emerge. Key entry made no difference. The seller was a San Diego resident who I rated before the phone malfunctioned.My next tech purchase was a wireless card from a dealer with a small business setup. The card works great, and was guaranteed or cash back. Upon visiting the outside site for the dealer, though, I found I paid $1 more after shipping than the price of the unit after shipping from the site. I don't care about the buck. But did the dealer have an account that intentionally pushed the bid to a profitable margin?Any opinions?

The e-bay issue:My first tech purchase there: a cell phone. It only answered calls half the time.I have a friend who bought a piece of music hardware that was never delivered. I bought a Netgear wireless card for $50 under retail. It works wonderfully.Answer: Stay away from sellers without small business setups and return guarantees (as far as tech items).The IPOD:Are you married to Apple? If you don't mind jumping ship, CREATIV makes a player with a 40 G HD that can be used as an external HD on top of an MP3 player for the same price as the 4 G IPOD. Dell OEM's it, I believe, if you'd rather purchase through them. Further, the non-IPOD players are compatible with Napster and Real services for monthly music membership, the direction I'm looking at going.I'm a regretful IPOD owner, to give you my perspective.

Boring...2 laptops running XP1 wireless router/switchOne is a Dell with a 1.6 Gig Pentium Mobile and 368 MB of RAM.The other is my girlfriend's old Toshiba. I don't know the specs off hand.The router is the same Linksys your mom probably has.

Anyone interested in stat tracking on other platforms should check out statcounter . A nice service at a nice price (free for under 250,000 hits a month).

Wanted to express a similar experience, and say the easiest solution with Home, in my experience, is to remap each time, or setup an alternative method for file transfer. I'm about to upgrade to Professional. This, of course, is one of the key differences in the two O.S.'s. Suggestion: What are you trying to share? If it is large, why not burn? If it is small, why not set up a g-mail account to drop it in and pull it out? If it surpasses these necessities, it sounds business oriented and would justify investment in an upgrade.

To the original query,Only run a CAT5 network if you're sure there's no other solution. The wiring will be a nightmare otherwise. No one wants to drill, and being exposed is terrible. If your home is small, start with a $60 Linksys model. If it is large, that netgear product suggested is intriguing. Don't blow that extra $80 dollars unless necessary, though, since you'll need that cash to put the printer on the network.A suggestion: purchase from a local large vendor, who carries both the Linksys and Netgear; nobody sets up these nets properly, and opened products are returned all the time. Buy the cheap one first, and spend a week testing it. If it works great; if not, go trade in yours for that sport model. Just be nice to the orig. packaging. Good luck.