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 There really is no point in getting them, they get outdated from their own company super quick plus the price is just ridiculus.I own a creative zen (being a person that hates ipods, theres so much hype about nothing i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

I agree with the hidden files and file extensions. There have been lots of times when you get a file that has 2 extensions, if you have extensions disabled it might be very easy to overlook the extension that shows, because if they're disabled you expect none to show. It stands out more when you have extensions enabled where there's 2 sets of extensions, you can also see what the file really is by looking at the real extension.As always keep your antivirus running and up to date at all times.-HellFire

You could also try uninstalling, and reinstalling the program. It can help, if you do it make sure you remove registry traces and files. Just remeber your registration key, if it IS a geniuine key and it isn't working after a reinstall then you will probably have to contact support and sort it out with them. If it ISN'T a geniune key then you need to buy the software if you want to use it.I've heard of sometimes when you install a demo version of a program then register it, the way it handles the registration can cause conflicts with the demo version and produce an error.Anyways hope it helps-HellFire

Yep, you won't find any decent free dedicated servers anyway.If you do find one i can almost guarantee that it will have constant downtime and it would be very unstable.Best answer to this is to simply host it yourself. If you have the upload bandwidth and speed you can do it. I think that for any low/medium populated servers you'd need to have about 512/1mbps upload speed. I don't know what internet plans are like in your country but here in australia adsl2+ is making its way to be the standard, including 1mbps upload speed. Enough to host a server with a decent amount of people.Anyways, that's if you have the money for a new connection or you have a connection like that in the first place. Otherwise, you're pretty much going to have to pay for a game server. -HellFire

Cool site, should help alot and it will save me from downloading heaps of seperate and small programs just to convert one thing. Plus this converter seems to be able to convert most file formats that exist, will be a very handy tool for people that do stuff especially involving music and movies but also for general stuff.Only thing letting me down here is my upload speed -HellFire

Same here i'll wait till the pictures are put up, but the final result should be interesting and a nice mod to show the personality of some guys. Should be a nice unique addition to any setup (Though i prefer my gaming keyboards ).Good luck and have fun making it -HellFire

The way i see it is that it provides a published uneditable version of something, useful for documentations and whatnot.I usually don't read PDF's anyway, only the occasional stuff but otherwise all the info i need is on forums there's no need for me to download them.If i need a copy of what i'm reading i'll just copy/paste into notepad or something, easy and done.-HellFire

The speeds don't matter. It *should* slow down to match the lowest clock speed. The next main thing to check is if it's actually in properly. I remember the first time i installed ram i pushed it in and found the clips wouldn't close, i tried starting up my pc but it still showed my old amount of ram. So i took out BOTH sticks and compared them, they were exactly the same. I was suprised at the amount of force you actually need to get it in. Now i've learnt that you need to give it a good push in till you can feel the scrape of the connectors in the socket, at which point you can close the clips.I was too gentle with them before, also check to see if it's the right type of memory. Your motherboard could support 2 types, 1 bay of 2 slots can be 1 type and another bay can be another type. So check to see if your inserting the ram into the right slot or if it is the right type of ram anyway.Hope it helps.-Hellfire

So looks like we are looking at about 5gb/s connection there. USB 2 is about 480mb/s i think so 10x that is 5gb/s.Pretty nice speeds for new generation devices such as new video recorders that can spit out huge files, also nice for huge size flash drives that can function like hard drives. You could have like a personal computer right in your pocket, just find a pc that has been released recently and load up your stuff.Should be cool to see when it's released-HellFire

I think when i used to play this game (ages ago, i'm talking about probably 4 years ago) if i remember correctly the way i leveled up was doing quests until i ran out of all of the 'free' quests to finish. I can't remember the other ways i leveled up but i did farm mining as well.Hope it helps a bit-HellFire

I don't really mind about the updates, i have automatic updates enabled and i just let them run. The only time when i don't like it is if it's downloading large updates and it begins to lag the internet. I think it doesn't have any sort of throttling on it so you can use your net normally.Another thing that's annoying is when you HAVE to restart your computer after installing your updates sometimes, i like to do it just before i go to sleep.My current auto update settings are download when they are avaliable but manually install them, so i can control the above ^ problem.-HellFire