Sarah81

Thanks for the heads-up, m^e. I keep copies of my files both on my hard drive and on a USB flash drive already. But man I would hate to have to re-create all my junk just because some punks thought that trashing Web sites was fun.I'd like to add one more piece of advice on passwords: don't use the same password for all of your sites. Even just using a variation from one site to the next is better than having the exact same thing everywhere you go on the Internet.

I'm a dedicated Windows user at this point, but I don't like where Gates and co. are going with Vista. If XP is a resource hog, then Vista is setting itself up as the Godzilla of resource wasters.That and the screen shots I've seen of the 3D desktop interface don't impress me much, if at all. Anyway...if I ever get off my lazy butt and give Linux a shot - which I've been meaning to do for years but never quite actually do - it'll most likely be because Windows finally enrages me enough to make me go to Linux. i.e. I'd rather install and learn Linux than have to upgrade my computer (or buy a new one altogether) just to run a newer Windows OS.

I love Wikipedia and Google. They're pretty much the only sites that I need for most research. I'll sometimes use specialized sites - WebMD comes to mind - but only for the minority of the stuff I need to find out more about.But why didn't you put Xisto on your list? *grins* Maybe because we all obviously already know about it? Hehe.

I love old-school games for a lot of different reasons. The main one being that the later-generation consoles (i.e. from Dreamcast and N64 up) make me dizzy. It has something to do with the graphics. The XBox isn't too bad, but I still have to take a break about ever 15-30 minutes. (Very frustrating when you're in the middle of a Grand Theft Auto mission, or when you're trying to pass a stage in Blood Omen 2).Some of my favorite older games include:Tetris (both the first NES version and the Tetris 2 sequel).Pretty much every Mario Bros. game made before N64 - although Mario 64 was a pretty neat title too. I could never quite get the hang of that though *grins* I'm such a bad gamer. Oh, well.The first Zelda game was pretty sweet, as was "A Link to the Past" for SNES.Oh, and Klax. Can't forget that one. The three Ninja Turtles games made for the NES were sweet. My brothers and I would play together to try and beat the games, but we never managed to get *quite* that far. Oh, well - we still had fun playing together. When we weren't yelling at each other for losing lives, anyway *snickers*I still play most of these titles via emulators.

Oh, yeah - that happens to me quite often. I don't play the Zelda game that you're talking about, but I get stuck on pretty much every video game ever made except the Tetris series and the Mario Bros. games *grins* Anyway...I Google strategy guides/walkthroughs when I get stuck. I usually try to work things out myself for a while, but if I'm seriously jammed up and am really not seeing any way to get past a certain part, then I'll cave and go find the walkthrough to help me at least get past the frustrating part. Or, if I really don't care (like with Grand Theft Auto) I just put in cheat codes and go blast everything while enjoying infinite life/ammo/etc. *grins*

I hadn't even heard of this one until I read your post. This sounds great - I'm still a huge fan of the earlier Tetris games. I think I'll have to check this one out.Did you ever play Klax? That was a fun game. The concept is very similar to Tetris, but not quite. All of the blocks are the same shape and you only get one at a time, but you have to organize them in different ways according to each level. In one you have to get three of the same color in a row. In another you have to get three of the same color in a diagonal line. It's highly addictive - I'm still playing this one via emulator *grins*

I hate popup and popunder ads. Xisto provides ad-free space, which I don't feel like cluttering with popups and other nuisances.Advertising to make a little money on a Web site is great. I don't think that we should forego ads. But I prefer embedded banners/graphics and text links, though.And not those seizure-inducing "You're the 1,000th visitor! click here!" lime-green, blue, red and yellow flashing things that make my eyeballs bleed, either.I guess that my big question is about ad-blocking software. Does this company make a serious effort to bypass the surfer's block? Or are the ads just going to be blocked by the majority of surfers because the ads aren't designed to get around the popup blockers?

My biggest complaint about iTunes is that some of the most popular tracks are only available if you purchase the full album. Why is this so? Who made this decision - the record label or Apple? I don't know, but I DO know this: if Google's venture doesn't include that annoyance, then they'll have a one-up on iTunes right out of the gates as far as I'm concerned.That and Google would probably offer free download codes...and the price per download might even be a little cheaper than Apple's .99 per track.

I really enjoyed Mario 3. When Nintendo re-released the original series for SNES, I was thrilled because I could actually save game progress - and the graphics were a little better.I'm not a big fan of portable gaming systems, but I'm glad that Nintendo hasn't forgotten all about some of their best games.

I don't keep up with many Web comics, but a couple of my favorites (past and present) are: http://www.queenofwands.net/ - Arie (the artist) ended the series quite some time ago but is re-running each one in order with commentary. http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ - I haven't kept track of this one in a few months, but it used to be pretty good. Davan (the main character) is irreverent, antisocial and completely rude at times...in other words, what many of us would love to be (if we aren't already, hehe). I'll check out a few others on occasion, but not really *grins*

I can see why IE fans would like this "light" browser. The actual IE is becoming just as bloated as the rest of Microsoft's products, so finding an alternative with at least a few of the GOOD things in common (i.e. appearance) seems like a good bet for a lot of people.And turning off images with one click sounds really really nice. I'll have to see if there's a Firefox extension that'll do that.

You know...until I got to the part about this guy leasing the hacked systems to mass spammers, I actually felt the tiniest bit sorry for the creep. But then I read that part and wondered if five years is really a long enough sentence for anybody who helps make massive amounts of spam possible.

The only PC games I play that require any mouse input are basic games that work just fine without any special device. Pretty Good Solitaire, Scrabble, TextTwist, etc. - games like that, basically. Other types of games almost *require* you to be able to adjust sensitivity, ALT+Tab, etc., but hey - these are just card games *grins*So I use my Targus Pocket Mouse. It's a tiny thing designed for laptop users. It has a retractable cord and the mouse body itself is about 1/3 the size of a regular optical mouse. But it performs well - and has a scroll wheel, which is always nice *grins*

*laughs* That's a good one. I would post screenshots of some of my software errors, but none of them are funny. Windows programmers apparently have no sense of humor when they're creating error messages *sighs* But I do have to say that when I used an older Mac a couple of years ago at work (I think it was running OS 5 or 6 - some earlier one like that) I was infinitely amused by the tiny bomb icon on the error-message popups. I don't know why that was so funny seeing as I had to get work done. Maybe I just have a warped sense of humor? *grins*

I used WinAmp years ago and loved the software. But I've been using iTunes lately because that program sorts my library and does all sorts of other neat things. The new WinAmp (the full free version) has some great additions, though. I'm glad that I can still use the classic interface and the extended library options are also really sweet. However: the "Syncing With Devices" doesn't apply to my iRiver. I'm very, very sad about that. I was hoping that WinAmp would be compatible with my MP3 player because I'm not the biggest fan of the software that came with the device. Oh, well. Other than that, WinAmp's pretty cool. I'll keep playing with it for the next few weeks or so to regain the feel of the thing. *grins*

Well...since xboxrulz says they're already out, I suppose this is beyond the "rumor" stage *grins*If anybody on this forum wants a non-Intel Mac laptop, I bet they can get a really sweet deal on them if they go shopping pretty soon. That or just wait until the new Intel version hits the shelves and look on eBay for the older type *smiles*

Discharging a battery = unplugging the AC adaptor and using the battery power sometimes. However, you shouldn't drain a Li-ion battery completely. Wikipedia says that this reduces the battery's capacity. As did several other sites that I checked (mainly because your post made me curious about my own laptop, hehe).

I'm trying to think of a situation in which I would use this, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a scenario that would call for an online word processor.Typically if I need to work on something and I'm not on my own computer, I just compose an e-mail to myself. Since I use Yahoo! Mail, I can access the file/info/whatever from any Internet-ready computer.Besides: I have a laptop, CD burner and flash drives. I can transport, backup and copy data pretty quickly from all sorts of places.The idea isn't bad, though. I can think of all sorts of other people who can make good use of this software. Especially if Google continues to battle the feds and stand up for user privacy like they did with the search records thing not too long ago. *grins*

That sounds like a fun game. I play a classical guitar, but I'm not very good at it even though I've been practicing on and off for over a decade. Hehe, maybe this game would help me improve a little. Ah, even if that didn't happen, it would still be fun.Do you use the standard PS2 controller, or is there another input device that you can use?

Well, that's *one* way to get people to show up and read the blog - wait for them to accidentally enter too man Os in their address bar *snickers* I wonder when Google will buy out the knockoff search engine that comes up when you use four Os? Man, now I wish I'd thought to register a site with extra Os. I bet Google would give me a ton of cash for it! *grins*

I stand corrected - and fascinated by this new knowledge. Thanks. *smiles*

You will find that most of the people who buy video-game systems are not super-hardcore gamers. We typically buy one, maybe two, of the three big systems. (Not counting our computers of course.) The video-game industry is a highly-competitive market, so every manufacturer has to make good choices every step of the way. Including naming the system. But that's not the only thing that turns me off where Nintendo's new system is concerned. The intended name is just the so-called last straw. I'll give you this: Nintendo's technology *is* different and new. That's wonderful. The problem is that I don't care about motion-sensitive controllers and all that fun jazz. I'd rather have a PS3 because they have a nice, long list of really good titles (such as the GTA series, which is my favorite). Whereas the Nintendo titles that I actually like (Tony Hawk for example) are available on other consoles anyway. There's no incentive for me to buy the Nintendo: not liking their intended name just seals the deal for me, that's all. **Edited to Add** Besides: I earn my own money. If I want to be a "shallow" consumer and choose not to buy something because I think the name sucks, then that's well within my rights. What do you care? Unless or until I take your money or ask you to buy me things (not bloody likely) then I can be just as nit-picky as I want about my capitalist consumption. *smiles*

2. If you're going *that* fast headlights are the least of your problems.3. Thin ice is clear, but thicker ice is not. The middle of an ice cube is white. A hockey rink isn't clear. 5. Very carefully.

Well, what do you all expect? Where Web browsers are concerned, Microsoft sits at the very bottom of the pile. They have to do *something* to make people use their sorry product, even if it's by force. *smiles*Really though, if they spent half the time developing and bug-fixing that they waste on dumb tricks like this, they would probably have a product that many people wouldn't mind using.

I've used Easy Message for a few hours now - downloaded and installed the program after I read your post, m^e - and I really like what I've seen so far.I use MSN Messenger, AIM and Yahoo! Messenger to keep up with my friends and family. None of them of course have any one chat program in common.Easy Message didn't take long to download and installation was super-simple. This program takes up minimal resources and definitely helps clear up some of the system-tray clutter that I had when all three of my messenger programs were running at the same time.Other things I like:-Easy Message has an option to display the service's icon beside each friend's entry. Since some of them have accounts with different services, I can just look at the Yahoo! logo, or AIM log or whatever, to figure out which one they're on.-The Yahoo! Mail alerts come up, but the Easy Message version actually tells me who sent the messages. I don't have to log into my Yahoo! Mail account just to see who e-mailed me.-One of my friends is insane about using emoticons for EVERYTHING. She has the latest version of MSN, so every other word that she types is a little animated emoticon. Not just a simple smiley, of course. Some of hers are downright obscene and I get sort of tired of looking at them all the time. But ... I just get the text and basic graphic smileys with Easy Message, which is so much better than looking at what amounts to porno while I'm talking with one of my buddies. *grins*So:Thanks, m^e. I'm probably going to be using this one for a long time.