rvalkass

It certainly is a great idea, having a keyboard that can change depending on what program you are using. I often have trouble remembering the controls for certain games, and this would make it a lot easier! I have seen before that you can buy keyboards especially made for certain programs, like Photoshop, with special buttons, but of course these are set for only one program, and can make 'normal' computing harder. Can't wait til it hits Britain

Excellent script. I was going to write something like this myself for a website, but you've already done it, thanks

Any company that produces image editing software, digital camera manufacturers, scanner manufacturers and all other sorts of people are going to end up bankrupt if they are sued for using JPEG images in their systems. Virtually every person on the planet with a PC will need to aquire a licence simply to open their existing files, if they take this to it's full extent. Surely if something has become so integrated into public use and many hundreds of thousands of systems the patent can't really be enforced.

I seem to remember a few months ago one of my friend's PCs started to beep randomly (not really sticking to that 'code') and we couldn't figure out what was wrong, until we actually came to dismantle it. Somehow the fan casing had come loose and the fan was happily yanking wires out of sockets left right and centre. This caused it to beep continually and randomly, however I think it is unlikely that this is your problem :rolleyes:Make sure your PSU is up to the task of powering everything, becuase if it isn't the computer will just stop, either due to a fan stopping or a component not getting power so the POST doesn't clear. Try checking if some fans spin and some don't, especially the CPU fan.If you know what you are doing and what should be connected to what you can use a digital multimeter to check that all the circuitry is working, but don't try it if you don't know what you're doing.

As I said, I have loads of email accounts, including GMail, and I only use Hotmail for MSN and the odd email, however this is now impossible! GMail is a lot better that Hotmail, it's more reliable and faster to load. Oh, and Alfred, MSN Explorer is still around, but I think even Microsoft has abandoned it now.

My favourite is Opera, simple because I think the skins are better and I find the panels incredibly useful for all sorts of things. IE crashes too often and FF just didn't really suit me for some reason

I have a myriad of different email accounts from various providers, most of them free. Now I have firmly decided that MSN Hotmail is the worst of the lot. Not only is the layout awful and mindbogglingly unintuitive but it now actually fails to send emails! Now, is it just me or is the main purpose of an email account to send email??? What makes this even worse is that Microsoft has continually denied that there is a problem, even though thousands of people have told them. I presumed that, as MSN said nothing, it was only a temporary problem and that everything would be working again soon. Unfortunatly, this is Microsoft, so it never really worked right in the firts place. I have been supposedly sending emails for months, and I have got no messages to say they haven't been delivered. However, when I ask people if they received them, nothing got through. This has happened hundreds of times to me alone. Due to the fact that this email service can't actually deal with emails I have decided it is the worst I have ever dealt with. Anyone else had this problem or agree with me?

I keep getting a similar thing in my blog, some website trying to advertise itself by posting comments. I get a message that says something like this: Followed by a huge list of links to casinos and all that. My site is not exactly really popular, it's like yours, just a personal site about me and my life. I eventually managed to stop the comments by banning the IP. Also, I have now set it so that if any post contains more than 3 links, I have to approve it first. Depending on what software you use to run the guestbook, you might be able to do something similar.

I've seen something similar to this before, but quite often Google tries to block them being used. They are really useful as backups for important files, as you can't really accidently 'break' a GMail account like you can an HDD or CD.

Excellent choice to upgrade, the forums do seem to be running quicker and easier. Well done to the whole team for getting it online so quick.

I use Wordpress as it is simple, intuitive and easy to use, but you still get the flexibility of being able to edit various files to customise your site to make it more personal. Even themes and plugins are incredibly simple to use, but still have advanced functionality. It also runs quite fast, compared to other CMSs I have seen.

I think they are stored in a temporary directory, then run, and then deleted. This is meant to save space on your hard drive, especially for older computers. Unless you have set your system to never clear any temporary files then you won't be able to find them.

This can be done very simply in many different programming languages, except for HTML. For some reason there is nothing in HTML that seems to work correctly. However, in PHP, you can simply use the include() function. Where you have 'insert here' replace it with: <?php include('filename.htm'); ?> Then, make sure that you save the file with the extension of .php rather than .html If you have any more problems feel free to email or PM me.

As far as I am aware, the updates edit files and the registry, which makes things quite hard to back up. The easiest way is to simply have a mirror hard drive, so if one is damaged physically, it will not affect the data on the other. If you are worried about editing them or deleting them then set up a partition with a clean copy of Windows on it, but with the updates on it, then just don't touch it until you need it. There is a way to avoid downloading all the updates again but you need to install them manually. On the Windows Update screen click Personalise Windows Update. Check the box to display the catalog and save the settings. Open the catalog by clicking the new link. Click the link to find the updates for your OS (Windows XP). Put all the updates into your download basket. Select the download location you want and click download. You should then have a selection of executables you can run to install updates. These can be backed up to CDs, another hard drive, pen drive or anything. Notice from jlhaslip: Fixed bbcode on list

Are you looking to receive radio broadcasts from somewhere else, and then play them through your site, or are you wanting to broadcast your own radio station? Other stations are unlikely to let you send out their broadcasts as it removes visitors from their site and they get nothing for it. To broadcast your own station, try something called SHOUTcast. It allows you to set up a simple radio station using a microphone, Winamp and this software. Last time I checked it was completely free and there was a good support community. Still, a radio station uses bandwidth like there's no tomorrow.

I use microcontrollers quite a lot in my electronics work. I'm currently making a lottery number generator for my GCSE project. It's quite amazing what you can do with the things.Tutorials entirely depend on what system you use and what language it uses. The Chip Factory uses BASIC, PicAxe uses assembly code. Just run a search for tutorials or get a manual from Motorola. Often they have information in them on projects and ideas.

As most of these programs advise, along with Microsoft, always make a backup of your registry before attempting any editing etc.Try Googling "recovery software" or something similar. You might have to pay for it if you want one that works well. When you format the computer never removes the data, just ignores it.If you did a system recovery from a disk provided by the manufacturer then it will most likely have loaded a clean install of Windows from a partition, and formatted the hard drive. Try a recovery program or take the PC to a shop. They can generally recover data, but at a price.

I'm English and I currently learn German at school at GCSE level. I also used to do French until 2 years ago, but it was too difficult learning French and German at GCSE, and doing English GCSEs. Too many different languages, word orders, spellings and all that. Sometimes even the teachers get confused :)I've always thought it would be quite cool to learn Russian, but I don't know why. Maybe after my GCSEs I'll start learning Russian!

I have been using 7-Zip for a while and it's more reliable and faster than WinZip. It works with more file types than the other freeware extractors, which only seem to be able to do one or two.One feature I have found useful is the items it adds to the context menu, similar to those offered by WinZip. Right clicking files allows you to test them for errors, extract them and compress them. Quick and simple.You can also add favourite folders which can be accessed with one click, for example, your 'Downloads' folder or something. There is also the option of a two-panel view, to drag files from one folder to another.Excellent piece of software and I certainly recommend it

I am willing to do some work on the Gfxtrap.com site if you need me, although I am sure you have many other people in mind.Just letting you know that I'm here and happy to help

If we just bartered for things then no teenager would ever get off to a good start in life. Somehow I doubt the major car companies and electronics manufacturers would accept your stereo in exchange for a nice car or computer. Bill Gates, like it or not, is setting a good example by donating large sums of money to various charities to research medical problems etc. How many oil company executives do you see doing the same? Studies show that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. It's odd really that those who are rich often seem to want more money, yet those with little are normally quite content with what they've got. It makes no sense!People seem to base their entire life on other peoples' perceptions of them. I have seen people refuse to enter 'discount' stores or to pick up 'own-brand' products when other people are looking, just because it makes them look cheap. With most products they are manufactured in the same factory, but put into a different box, you simply pay for a name.My family do not own the house (rented from the council) or the car (leased via an employer), but this, I feel, is more logical. We are not at risk from house market changes, get repairs done for free, get a new car every 3 years, the tax is payed for, but people say you are cheapskates or immediately presume you are a very low earner.It's all down to first impressions, which are usually wrong.

These systems are springing up all over the Internet to achieve all sorts of things. Most are medical related, such as Folding@Home, but there are others working out pi, rendering images and all sorts of things.

A world without PCs would make life an awful lot more difficult, as you say, finding information would take ages and many busiesses would close. However, if we include all microchips under the term 'computers' (which essentially they are) then we have lost virtually all electronic devices like microwaves, TVs, radios, phones, even cars.

OK, my website is random, just like me. It has loads of things, all available from this page. I suppose it centres around my blog, which is basically documenting my life and is peppered with random facts and lists, and my (often very cynical) opinion. I also have galleries of some of my graphics work, made in Apophysis, Terragen and my sigs in CS2. I am also making some weird little flash movies and puzzles, but they're not online yet. Similarly, I have some PHP scripts and tutorials I need to put online. Finally, I have a puzzle I have developed. It is rather confusing and random, and you can find it here. I developed it mainly over one weekend when I was very bored, and I have been adding some levels in every spare moment I get. I trialled it loads of my friends, who are still trying to complete it Feel free to have a go at it. Plans for the future? Continue the blog, extend the galleries and add more to the puzzle. Oh, and upload the tutorials and movies. Much of the same really.

If they try and kill a tank with it, the tank will run it over. A person would probably hear it and be able to move, unless it can spin really fast. I suppose they could mutilate other cars with it, or you could use land mines or shoot the tyres. Unless the American Army knows of some weird uber-monster made of titanium or something that needs to be destroyed, it seems just a little bit over the top