tt3

Internet Explorer isn't that bad, but I can understand why it is loathed! I reckon that all I really need is a web browser with pop-up blocker and tabbed browsing. I don't really care about anything else.

I prefer gmail over hotmail because of the pop3 support, which hotmail.co.uk address do not support. Also the interface looks cleaner, less cluttered and as someone said before NO FLASH ADS!!Unsurprisingly Gmail is popular but obviously as it is an invite service, it cannot really compete with hotmail and yahoo.

I used to use dot.tk, untill they started they started showing you information about their affiliates before they actually show your website. It's better to pay for these kind of services, and it isn't that expensive.

I remember seeing this featured on BBC's 'Click Online' program. A bit too small for my eyes I'm afraid!

When it comes to a free firewall, I would reccommend Zone Alarm. One gripe I have with this software, is that it does use up a lot of memory and system resources, and can take quite a while to startup. However, it is easy to use, it sets itself up, and doesnt keep on popping up to ask you questions. (The main reason I cannot tolerate kerio personal firewall) Sygate crashed my pc, but as my pc wasn't that stable in the first place, I cannot say for sure whether the firewall was at fault. The firewall in Windows XP alone, isn't enough to protect your computer. It will block attempts by remote computers trying to get into your one, however it doesn't control what programs access the internet. Therefore if you had a malicious program on your computer, with just the Windows XP firewall, it could access the internet. ( In SP2, it does ask if you want to block certain programs acting as a server specifically) I use McAfee's anti-virus to protect my computer and have used their firewall and would reccommend it as well.

Right now, I have 38 processes running. Dont think I've ever had more than 45, but i'd imagine that if I ever did have that many, my pc would crash!

I'm using Mozilla Firefox simply for the tabs feature. When IE7 final release comes out, I may be tempted to switch back! Never used Thunderbird as I have Outlook 2003 and am satisfied with it.

That's a new site to go into the favourites folder, thanks!

I would upgrade to SP2. There really isn't any reason why you shouldn't and I'd imagine that more and more Microsoft software or updates will require SP2. I believe the IE7 beta requires Service Pack 2, and no doubt the final release will too.