jimmy89

you could always try to use a ethernet controller MAC address. i used that for a program once and it worked ok, till someone wants to take out their lan card. but topday most lan cards are part of the motherboard so that isn't as much of an issue - till they take out the motherbaord!

I have also found a windows service that controls updates for the computer. its name is 'wuauserv' and its friendly name is Windows Update. Below is the Description of what the services does:Enables the detection, download, and installation of updates for Windows and other programs. If this service is disabled, users of this computer will not be able to use Windows Update or its automatic updating feature, and programs will not be able to use the Windows Update Agent (WUA) API.the executable path is:C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcsand on my computer it is set on Autopmatic (Delayed Start).as far as i can tell the program always seems to be running. Im am not totally sure whether this program/service runs on all windows version (this information was taken from vista rc1) so it may not be available on all computers, but its still worth a try!

This could become a very useful program. I have been looking for something that works like this for ages! but does this also mean that it will be able to capture other video streams, like ones off utube or google videos? if so, it could be very useful indeed.i think im going to download this program and get started right away, thanks!

going back to nightfox's post about using older OS's. most places (companies, schools etc etc) do not want to be upgrading to brand new operating system as soon as they come out. most places are going to be using older operating systems until it is not possible for them to run it anymore (i.e due to software upgrades etc etc). my school is still running of windows 2k. almost all the computers are running 2k with a few running xp. it is a huge ask to make a company upgrade their system to a new OS. imagine the costs!! still it is only a matter of time before we are going to ahve to upgrade to new OS's.

i think the idea of the 'best post of the week' is good. the referral idea is also good, but has a few flaws. as people before have said, people can come along register with heaps of different addresses and earn heaps of points, really quickly and really easily.maybe a solution though! tell me if im wrong, but would it be possible to give the 'referrer' 5 points ONCE the 'referred' user gets a total of 10 or so points. this would mean that the new user would have to get 10 points before the original user gets their 5 points. this may stop the abuse that the 'referral system' may get. but like i said, tell me if im wrong.they are all good ideas, but they just all need to the refined to make sure that no one can 'cheat' their way to hosting credits!

I installed RC1 on a test computer at home a few months ago and so far it seems to be running reasonably well. Specs below..Processor: AMD Sempron 2800+Memory: 1gbHD: 80gbGraphics: 256mb ATI Radeon 9250the computer seems to run well but does lag now and again when trying to open a few programs at once (maybe 5 or 6 at a time). when i load the computer and have just my background tasks running, im normally using around 256mb of ram. so, for everyone out there that wanted to run vista on 512mb i would recommend them to upgrade - its not going to be goodon 512, even 1gb runs slow now and again!the 80gb hard drive is heaps to install vista (from memory it only needs 15gb to install (thats vista ultimate!)). so it leaves heaps of room for everything else. if your planning to do some serious video editing or audio recording i would suggest a bigger hard drive (or even better, an upgrade to mac! much better choice )then comes aero. as much as i would like to see it run on my computer it is just not going to be possible (without having to upgrade). Vista will not run on the ATI Radeon 9250!! apparently, according to ATI vista needs pixel shader 2.0 to run aero effects. This graphics card only support 1.3 (from memory i think) which is a real shame! i have read articles where people have tried to 'hack' vista to get aero to work, and even if you have enough graphics memory you will not get it to go without the hardware!my advice, if you wanted vista just for the 'aero' effect, just use xp and download window blinds (great program) and get an aero/vista skin for xp, much easier and you dont have to worry about buying a new pc (or the new parts for your old one)!hardware and driver support so far is excellent. my pc installed without a hitch and none of my hardware had problems installing. other devices (like my phone, printer etc etc) installed perfectly, vista actually had drivers for them whereas xp did not. the actual OS install is quick (quicker then the betas!) and is very simple for anyone to understand. Setting up new feature like the account control is done behind the scenes and does not require input from the user at anytime!in the coming months new pcs are going to start coming out with vista pre-installed, if you want windows you may aswell just get one of those pcs, they will be equipped with everything ready for vista and you wont have to upgrade anything! (yet anyway)my advice again, bide your time, wait for a while. wait untill vista has emerged into the market and everyone has gotten used to it (and maybe the price may have fallen a bit ) still, vista is a stable system and so far from what ive seen it should be good! (for those who use windows anyway)

i havent been able to find which ports the updater actually uses to access microsofts servers but you might be able to work them out!if you sert your firewall program to block everything and ask for permission before allowing then attempt an update you should get windows asking for access to the internet - this should show you the program or even the ports that it is using to access the internet.using this information you should be able to formulate your own firewall rule to stop the updater accessing the internet and thus stopping it from downloading! hopefully this works for you, good luck!

It sould like a very interesting concept from Microsoft. Is creating slideshows all that it does, or is there more to the program(s)?? strange that they would create a program that does just a simple task like that, you can make powerpoint do the exact same thing. or even windows movie maker - that comes with xp and its free!!microsoft is not saying anything else about max at the moment (or that i can find at all on the net) so more information would be really good! why are they making max and what is the use of it?

i have heard of that happening on a friends computer a long while ago! i have never personally seen it, but it would be an interesting thing to see!!

i think the express editions of visual studio 2005 is a great idea! for us people on a small budget that cannot afford thousands of dollars for development programs, this is great!yes, they do have a few reduced features but basically for most amateur programmers what they have is all you need. Its great that microsoft has finally decided to release this version to the public for free!it is most defiantly worth the download, give it a go right away!

well i think that someone (or some people) have way to much time on their hands! what a great waste of time!and then they're probably going to get a great suprise when googles lawyers come knocking at their door!!

i found this about the science behind mentos and diet coke from the makers website! quoted from http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ its pretty amazing how it works! but its a very simple explanation

At the moment i have no operating system on the hard drive and when i put in the mac install cd all i get is the grey screen with the apple logo (as i described earlier). so how can i get to the installer/disk utilities menu? thanks

Hey, thanks for all the help! I've taken it back to the apple store down the road! they're having a look at it for me and i should be getting it back in a few days! thanks for your suggestions though!but, when you say its the disk does that mean its the install cd that im using or the hard disk? also, how to i run the disk utilities to check the disk?

I have been using adobe Premiere Pro fore a while now and its pretty good! Very expensive, much more then you would want to spend on something just for a bit of fun!! still it is a good solid program!downside is that it can be a bit heavy with the memory requirements and needs about 1GB (running on windows XP Pro) to run reasonably smoothly (i would suggest more to make it run better). you may also find that some file extensions it wont like and you may have to do some external conversions before you open them in premiere pro!still, it is a good program, heaps of features and a rock solid program for anyone that is seriously into the video editing business!

Hi all,I was hoping that someone here would be able to help since I havent been able to find help elsewhere! When i try to install mac os onto my macbook i keep getting the same error message. If i start the installation normally, i get to the grey 'apple' screen and the progress symbol (the spinning symbol) just keeps spinning!when i try in verbose mode (-v at the prompt) everything seems to be going well, then... i get a messagedisk1s2: I/O errorsam multimedia: read or write failed, asc = 0×11, ascq = 0×00sam multimedia: read or write failed, asc = 0×11, ascq = 0×00sam multimedia: read or write failed, asc = 0×11, ascq = 0×00sam multimedia: read or write failed, asc = 0×11, ascq = 0×00this keeps repeating over and over again! i have tried everything i know and its just not going! i really need this fixed as soon as possible. If anyone knows what happening and why im getting this message, please share!Thanks in adavance!

i had a look the game slave hack, and it looks pretty good! congratulations on your ood work. I havent played it enough yet to say anything specific about it, but its looking pretty good!

i was one of the very lucky ones to manage to download vista beta rc1. and from what i have to say its pretty good! im using it right now in fact! its a very stable release, but the only problem is that not much software runs properly on it! some due to microsoft blocking it and the other cause its just not compatible! (bugger!!)From what ive seen, its a vast improvement from XP and microsoft has to be congratulated!! it is a little memory hungry and can take it out on your computer, but 512mb of memory will just run it, 1gb wil run it nicely wityh a few slow hiccups and 2gb will run it like a charm (ive tried them all) even a 128mb graphics card will run the 'aero effects' but just be carefull which one you pick (it must have pixel shader 2.0 support oherwise it wont work!)still if you can get your hand on a copy its worth the wait! but i suggest install it on a spare pc (if you have one) or a virtual pc just to see whats its like first. its a real pain when you have to backup all your files just in case something happens!! (i could never imagine what id do without all my stuff) Good Luck!

Thanks for the tip! i have never trusted the built in password managers - as a matter of fact, i've never really trusted any type of password managers. You can never trust computers with confidential information like passwords and card numbers!

my computer - nice and simpleAMD Sempron 2800+ (2.8 GHZ)1GB RAM (2 x 256MB)80GB Hard Drive256MB Radeon 9250DVD/RW Dual Layer Burner17" Polyview MonitorWindows Vista RTM (Brand New!!)

ive been using sketchup for a few months now and i think thats its not bad for a FREE modeling tool! its great for beginners and it has some pretty good features. Its a good start to anyone thats doing 3d modeling. There is also a pro version (as said before) which has many many more features and is very much for the pros (i dont think someone with minimal 3d modeling knowledge wants to buy a program that expensive and powerful)also as said before me, it works hand in hand with google earth - allowing the user to make their own buildings and place them on google earth for all to see! also, there is a 3d warehouse where you can download other peoples creations. Its great to see what other people are doing! you can also add your own creations and show them off to the world.Overall, its a great basic introduction to 3d modeling and i have to give google sketchup the thumbs up!!

I got the game on PC of a friend, as yes i have to say i'm not to happy with it either! to start with the game graphics wouldn't work properly on my computer and that took all the fun out of it!After that once I got it going the game was pretty ordinary - i've played many of these types of games and this is just not one of the good ones!

I purchased the k570i a few months ago and so far, I'm pretty impressed! its a great, versatile phone that doesn't ever seem to give up! the 2.0 Mega Pixel camera is worth its weight in gold and takes great quality and massive resolution images! The sound quality is great in phone mode (talking using the phone), the mp3 player and the built in FM radio.It uses a Memory Stick Duo Pro, which is a let down in a way because of the price! but otherwise the memory is pretty good. The pack i got came with a 64mb card and the phone has built in, i think from memory its about 30 something mb (don't quote me on that though! :PThe battery does seem to run down rather quickly and can seem to jump from a high percentage to a low percentage rather quickly. Then sometimes for no reason at all, it seems to gain battery power again?! There is a quite handy feature that allows you to check the actual percentage value of the battery (press up or down on the volume rocker button)Only other problem that i have found is that it only allows a limited amount of phone book entries. I think you can have only 5 numbers per person. OK for most people, but i can become a problem if you have many numbers for one friend! Also, the buttons are a bit smaller then most and it can take a bit of getting used to. The phone also has T9 dictionary support.This phone does not come with 3G though! The next model up, the k800i does have this feature, but was rather expensive (about another AU$500). The k800i is exactly the same except for a 3.0 Mega Pixel camera and has the 3G video calling support.Overall a great phone and I would recommend it to anyone.

I was expecting to see a huge excitement when these things came out! i know that when the 360 was released almost all of my friends had one on the day. I'm now starting to wonder wether this is going to be the same for the ps3. as for me, i'm just sticking to my pc for now! much more customizable and can do almost everything a ps3 or 360 can do! i spose, only time will tell what happens!

Ive never played maple story but from you guys have said it sounds good, going to check it out after i finish this! anyway, runescape is a pretty good game! well as good as a no download, in browser java game is going to get. Its pretty quick, runs on virtually any computer and heaps of things to do.its f2p (free to play) features are vast and you could spend ages going through the quests (minigames). and once your bored with that, pay a few dollars a month and open yourself up to hundreds of other games and things to do! a good choice!