tt3

If you downloaded it off a site other than Microsofts (ie, you weren't invited to the beta) then you will not be able to sign in.

I wonder if there are children willing enough to register on a forum, that they would persuade their parents to send off a letter to the administrators allowing access? It's used on phpbb and vBulletin boards, I've used it in the past, but the part where it's flawed, is that kids can just reregister again on the forum and lie about their age. Still, it is a good idea, and any inititive to help protect children online, is welcome in my opinion.

I've got a problem! My address bar still has some history of typed addresses, even after I've cleared my history and Autocomplete. I believe I probably typed these into from A "My Documents" window or something. Does anyone know how to clear it?

I rarely back-up my computer! I know I should, but it takes me ages and I don't have the cd's or dvd's spare to perform backups. Also, I've had a very bad experience with backing up in the past. Once, I used the Windows 98 backup program, to back up my entire harddisk to a file. It was going well untill - 'Please insert another disk to continue backup'. Whoops! Should have remembered the FAT32 maximum filesize limit! Didn't bother again, untill QVC did a Last Clicks on Norton Ghost, selling it for ?23 (around 40 US Dollars) and I decided to buy it, and did a backup of my D: drive (I have a system, where Windows and Program files are on C:, and My Documents, music, downloaded program install files etc are on D:)So when I got another computer, with 2 harddrives, I thought "it'll be easy putting all the files back on!" Unfortunately, Norton Ghost had errors reading my disks, so I had to network my 2 computers together and transfer the files that way. 20 disks wasted on a faulty backup set! Like the poster above, I have all of my documents, on a seperate drive, so if my Windows crashes, I can format and reinstall without losing any documents. If you don't have 2 harddrives, you can still create 2 partitions (which is where you split one hard disk into 2 drives) using FDISK which is an application which can be run from a dos boot disk. That will wipe everything off your harddrive though, so make sure you backup! You can partition without losing all your data, I believe Symantec's Partition Manager will do that.

Partly true, but it cannot be denied that Internet Explorer has had shockingly bad security. IE still has more holes than Mozilla, and as the latter is open-source, wouldn't it be easier to find vulnurabilities in it? Having said that, I've never had my system 'hacked' due to hackers exploiting a hole in Internet Explorer and I don't like the idea of people trying to get other people to ditch IE! To me, it's like being told how to think. Right now, Internet Explorer is a lot safer, and with tabbed browsing coming in (which wasn't a feature invented by Mozilla), I can see Internet Explorer gaining popularity. Sorry, that it is what I meant to say - I was suggesting that a campaign be started to get Microsoft to fix the problems you're all having with IE. As it has something like majority market share, it should at least be very near perfect!

Firefox preinstalled in Vista? Keep dreaming! I know that Vista is not going to be any faster on my 1.3Ghz pc! As well as my original post, I'd also like to see some new fun games in Vista.

For me, it's a two way firewall, monitoring inbound/outbound traffic, (I think I read that Vista will have this) and an updated OOBE (that's the thing which runs right after Windows is installed), with a security tutorial, teaching you what viruses and spyware are, and how to protect yourself. This should be in the home line of products. Just think how many people wouldn't have had virus/spyware infections had Microsoft included this in the XP OOBE! (and enabled the firewall by default...)

It's one thing not to like Internet Explorer. I don't use it at home myself, but to start a campaign against it? Wouldn't it be a better idea to start a campaign to improve Internet Explorer further?

Oh, come on! Are you really that passionate about browsers? As soon as Internet Explorer 7 is released, I'm dumping Firefox and switching back to IE! There is nothing wrong with using Internet Explorer! It's still a pretty decent browser, though lacking in features. In fact I think I'll register my support on spreadinternetexplorer.com just for the sake of it!

My Browser of choice is firefox. Not because it's supposedly safer, or because there are loads of extensions to improve the functionality of it. The ONE reason I'm using firefox is because of Tabbed Browsing. If Internet Explorer had tabbed browsing, (which I know it will in the next version) I would be using it right now. I don't understand why some people seem to get so passionate over Firefox! I often hear that firefox is a lot safer than Internet Explorer because it doesn't support ActiveX and because there are less vulnerabilities in it. Before I came across Firefox, I used Internet Explorer and never had any viruses. My computer was never hacked. My PC was never exploited because of ActiveX. I had the sense to click Cancel whenever an ActiveX installation dialog box appeared. And yes, Firefox may have less holes in it, but I've never been a victim of the holes in Internet Explorer which Microsoft have subsequently fixed. A hacker has never "got" me through any of the holes in IE. But hackers have got many others. There are still many people running their computers without any firewalls or windows updates and when you're one of those people and you're using IE, you'll probably run into a lot more trouble than if you were running Firefox. The other browser, Opera has a lot of trouble rendering sites correctly, so I gave up on it quite quickly. I'm not sure if this is browser which claims to the "fastest on earth," but if it is, I think that's a rather pointless claim to make. Most users wont notice a difference in rendering speed between IE, Mozilla's renderer and Opera's. It also gives out the impression that by using Opera your browsing speed will be sooo much faster, when it wont be.

I like the look of it! All I can say to heed the advice given in the other thread you started. Good luck with it!

I use Limewire and I think it's the best P2P program available, but it isn't perfect, and there are parts of it that I hate - one of them being that it is soooo slow and memory hogging. (no doubt due to the fact that it's made in java)

I wouldn't. If Microsoft ever released a version of Windows Media Player that supported Real formats, people would drop Real Player in a second. IMHO, it's terrible, terrible software, and I wouldn't trust RealNetworks an inch...

No problem with the temperature of your CPU. Mine at the moment is running at around 53C. Most computers automatically shut down when they get too hot, to avoid damage to the chips.

I don't like Real Player either. I wouldn't use it at all, but some sites I use often depend on it for their audio and video streaming services. Real alternative isn't much of an alternative for me (doesn't seem to like my pc much) so I'm stuck with realplayer untill these websites decide to start using windows media formats for streaming.

Question's in the title!

As said before, you'll find that a lot of people will look at your forum, but wont bother signing up, because it looks empty. I can only reinforce the suggestions made earlier. Make it look interesting Ask friends to join it Add fake members if you really have to. Add a lot of content yourself. Maybe you could put walkthroughs to games on your forum, and when interest starts to build up, add a special section with special features that requires people to sign up to view it. Remember, that there are a lot of gaming forums on the internet, and for yours to be sucessful, you're going to have to have original thinking. I also think that it would be a good idea to have a website as well. A lot of forums complement a website, so that may be something you might want to consider in the future. As for right now, you need to get people posting on your site, so ask people you know to start posting! Then Advertise like crazy (not so crazy that people call you a spammer, mind!)

If you want an older version of realplayer, here's the link to find them.

I'm using McAfee Virusscan, and have been since version 7. I'm very happy with it and would recommend it.

I have an orite 512mb mp3 player (ordered it from the internet) and love it, dont know how I lived without one! I don't like iPods very much, the 512mb Shuffle is vastly overpriced at ?70 (around $121)

In the latest build which was only released to testers managed by Microsoft, the hover over the contact list has gone. Unfortunately, on various forums where the new build been mentioned, they don't seem to like the new User Interface at all, not because Microsoft removed the hover feature, they just think it looks ugly in general!

As I'm in the uk, I find myself often visiting adslguide.org.uk, for the information on UK ADSL services. I also often find myself visiting neowin.net for the latest computer news, and digitalspy.co.uk, for the lastest entertainment news. When I'm bored, I might visit miniclip.com or arcadetown.com to play a couple of games.

I'm part of the Windows Live Messenger beta. It looks very different, when compared with 7.5. Features new to MSN 8.0 include Offline Instant messaging, where you can send someone a message even if they're offline. They then recieve the message when they next sign in. Also new in Windows Live Messenger, is My Sharing Folders, which works similar to having a shared folder over a network, except this virtual folder is shared with your contacts over the internet. I haven't used that feature much, as it doesn't seem to work right on my computer.The look of Windows Live Messenger is improved, but the icon in the notification area is ugly though! Microsoft will have to change that before the final release.

I absolutely agree. By building it, or having someone build it for you, you can make sure it's absolutely perfect for you. Also, As you buld and upgrade computers, you end up with a lot of spare parts, meaning if you build a computer in the future, you can reuse parts, thus saving money.

I would look funny if my eyes were any other colour, so I guess i'd keep my brown coloured eyes.