HellFire121

With new products constantly comming out reguarly it would be enough to make any buyer unhappy, say they couldv'e just bought the latest ipod and now the ipod touch comes out. There really is no point in getting them, they get outdated from their own company super quick plus the price is just ridiculus.I own a creative zen (being a person that hates ipods, theres so much hype about nothing i don't get it) and it does pretty much kick the ipods, it's cheaper, has every function an ipod has plus more and works great. In fact works better than an ipod.In my opinion apple have just found out a massive money sink - untill people realise that what their buying is crap and their getting ripped off.-HellFire

For the 3d side of things (forgetting price at the moment) i'd go for 3ds max which has a nice set of features for anything you are modeling as well as it is supported in quite a large range of game SDKs (which is a big plus, it's simply plug and play editing).The downside though - price. It costs loads, so if cost is the issue maya might be better, it's been a while since i've checked prices on 3d software but yeah. There should also be some free 3d programs around there somewhere. Actually you could see if you can grab a copy of gmax - made by the same company as 3ds max but they've dropped support for it, it has been made especially for game design so have a search and you could grab a copy, it's free too.-HellFire

Never tried OpenOffice here, always been a Microsoft Office user. Currently i'm using the 2007 version and i think it's great, first time i got it i thought what the hell - it's totally different to the previous versions but you quickly learn how to use all the new features and where they are all located on the new ribbon. The cosmetic change is welcome too, it's a step in the right direction. First impressions i thought that i wouldn't be able to find everything i needed but that does change when you get used to it. There is so much power behind all of the 2007 applications, i especially like the image features that give documents and slideshows a nice touch up.I'm thinking of downloading OpenOffice just to chuck on my usb (which i'm currently building a nice portable set of applications i can use anywhere) so i can use it when the host computer doesn't have any editing programs etc, and i can just load up and continue working. Probably won't be using OpenOffice for desktop use though at home since i've got the microsoft Suite-HellFire

When i first installed my copy it did default to blue (running windows xp here), after a look in the settings i could change it - guess it would default to black on vista to fit in with the whole theme of the os.-HellFire

Doesn't look too bad for a testing host or something like that i suppose, was just looking through their terms and conditions and they apparently DO force adverts on your pages. (One of the reasons i like Xisto so much, no forced ads )As i said could be worth checking out if you are just testing something or you aren't running any professional site-HellFire

I'm thinking about installing a portable antivirus program right onto my usb drive and configure it to do a quick scan when the drives inserted.Can't really be too sure of what to expect when you plug in your usb to another computer that you don't own, personally i wouldn't mind if a virus just got onto the usb because i know my home antivirus will pick it up but if it starts destroying files and sending data etc then i do mind, having the antivirus and portable firewall installed should get rid of this issue.-HellFire

I only have the command line version of 7-zip pretty much because i only use powerarchiver as my multi purpose program for handling archives. I find it a fast and useful utility for what i need it for though, i have a lot of small programs that reguarly need updating and the update utility needs the functionality of 7-zip to unzip specific archives.It's snuggled away somewhere in my program files so i can still carry away using powerarchiver like i have nothing else installed.For all purposes that i have used it though it's simple and fast.-HellFire

You could check your power settings, i don't have a laptop but i know it can play a part. Should be found in the control panel somewhere.Also check to see if you have any power saving settings enabled if you have any laptop software installed, check your video card drivers to see if it has an auto shutdown of the screen feature etc.It seems like a power saving feature you have turned on to me. Most likely bet will be the power options or laptop control program (if you have it installed).Hope it helps-HellFire

I'm a big fan of the battlefield series, i might go back to playing battlefield 2 soon. I'm currently playing battlefield 2142 competitivly but i think battlefield 2 is an overall better game to play, one reason is all the modifications dice has done to the engine really does slow it down a lot, bf2 runs much smoother.As for CS:S, i have it, rarely play it though. I find it's hard to get used to and i enjoyed call of duty 2 multiplayer more. Also the hackers in that game is just unbeleiveable, i don't really like playing CS:S unless i'm totally bored with nothing else to do.As for the expansions and booster backs for battlefield 2 i can safely say here in australia they are dead, don't spend your money on it because you are getting nothing. No one plays them anymore.Next game i'm wating out for will be call of duty 4 and also battlefield 3. I can definately see something huge is going to happen when battlefield 3 comes out-HellFire

On my old computer i used to use free protection programs but i use payed ones now on this computer The programs i used to use were: Firewall - Zonealarm - http://www.zonealarm.com/ Antivirus - AVG - free.grisoft.com Antispyware - AdAware - http://www.lavasoft.com/ Not sure if they are still all free but they should be, they provided my old computer with a pretty tight protection system and working together i didn't notice many slowdowns, other programs like norton would take about 5 minutes to start up (had a 1ghz processor back then). Right now i use norton internet security and i'm really going to change to the zonealarm security suite when my years subscription finishes, norton isn't the best - i've actually found a trojan running and took the steps to remove it myself. Also it does cause some major slowdowns, i liked it when even my old computer boots up fast and you can get online fast. Also i'm a fan of the new game mode zone labs have implemeted, so just another reason why i'm going to get it. Hope it helps -HellFire

Yeah sounds good, can also be done in opera with it's inbuilt mode simply by adding a switch to the end of the shortcut's path.Has most of the features plus more listed above but it's pretty good for those users that prefer to use firefox, anything beats IE!-HellFire

I would get it but i already have half life 2 that i play rarely, usually play counter strike more and half life when my internet is down.Don't really care much about the other episodes but might have a look at team fortress 2 later on. Really waiting for Cod4/BF3 now.-HellFire

Whoa damn awesome stuff there, that would've taken you ages. Nice addition to your site too, runs fine here on my side and i have to say it does look nice and have some great functionality!With further customisation i'd say you could get it looking and working just like the actual windows explorer (there would be some limitations of course but it's looking good so far)Great work -HellFire

Yeah i don't have vista but i think no parental control system will be perfect. There are too many changing factors to keep up to date with, if one does come out i'm guessing it will need quite a few guys constantly working on the next update. It probably will need updates every few days if not every day.Building it in to the operating system is a good idea but it will need alot of maintanence to be effective, at least have a wide range of controls for it so you can whitelist/blacklist etc and pick what types of sites and stuff like that.If it only works in IE then you can almost say that over half of the users have no option to turn this on anyways since i'm guessing about half or so don't use IE. Best way to control this type of stuff is to just watch the kids on the computer or check the history/firewall logs etc, just simply being in the room is more than effective in my opinion.-HellFire

I have never used powerleveling services and probably never will. I leveled my world of warcraft character from 1 to 70 by myself, obviously you are taking away half of the fun and it doesn't take anywhere near as long as what it took me. This service looks like it will get you to 70 in a month, i did it in 8 months but i didn't play 24/7.I guess the only time i will ever use these services is if something happens to my account and i really can't be bothered going through all that time, nearly a year of playing just for a game. Probably not worth it anyway but for guys that find it no fun to level it's a good way. Another thing that comes to mind is account security, i never give out my password to anyone and you never know what can happen to your account.Anyways.. I won't be using one of these but it could be good for some guys-HellFire