JDoors

Well that actually clears things up then, doesn't it? A different point of view (mine) is that some people (not you of course) have come to expect non-essential amenities like computers (us old farts call them 'spoiled'), do not believe they should have to pay for them (us old farts call them 'irresponsible'), and do not accept the way the world works (us old farts call them 'immature'). Some people (not you of course) justify stealing, claiming "evil corporations" make "evil profits" by "taking advantage of us" and "charging exhorbitant prices," but in reality the way the world works

Come to think of it:"$14,500 for franchise and $430 monthly fee back to them for advertising and managment." Fourteen grand would be a pretty good sum to start your own business (though it wouldn't last long), and over four hundred bucks a month would be a good sum to start with doing your own local advertising (their advertising hasn't worked as far as I can see, have you heard of them before?). It's not clear exactly what help you get from them that you couldn't manage on your own ... I'm not saying it's not a wonderful franchise, just that I don't see what it is exactly that they have to

I didnt' read the article but from what you quoted, um, did they take into account the entire supply line and availabilty? Gas stations don't go directly to the well and fill their tanks with oil, oil goes through many steps between the well and your tank, each step adding to the cost. If you only take into account the price of a barrel of oil then yes, it would have to be $95 a barrel, but only if you could purchase all the barrels you wanted at that price and there were no other middlemen involved. If gas is only $65 a barrel but you can't buy as much of it refined into gasoline as you want,

You may only be addressing OS updates but the OP asked about software in general in addition to updates. I am thinkin' it's one of those legacies from the past; fewer and fewer programs recommend turning of AV, AV has gotten more intelligent, installation programs have gotten more intelligent, and XP, because of the way it 'compartmentallizes' programs, probably has less of a problem with the issue.

I don't know if he was out of line as far as company policy is concerned, I don't remember seeing any "can't talk about religion" statements in mine. Does sound like someone was about to try to save your soul (according to this person's doctrine) rather than an innocent conversation about faith. If they try again I'd figure out a polite way to stop that sort of conversation. Though in my experience those who pop that kind of question are also well trained or simply experienced enough to have answers for anything you say so they may perpetuate the conversation. In that case you just have to be

If a clean copy of the OS freezes it sure does indicate a hardware problem ... All I can say is to follow previous advice regarding temps and RAM. Perhaps I'd use the generic VGA driver to eliminate the video driver as a possible choke-point.

You might want to do this if you installed something that made a change to the registry or files running in the "background" that Windows would need to "re-read" so it works properly. If you could get Windows to read it without a reboot it would save some time. Windows might load a driver for example, and if you changed the driver files Windows will not see that 'cause it's already loaded and is running the original driver in memory. You'd want Windows to re-read what driver to use and you really should restart, but sometimes, for some types of files, just logging off then on again will force

Haven't heard of 'em, but then according to their company history they're not originally from "here" so that may explain it (though they've been 'here' for six years): "Milestones in Computer Troubleshooters History: January 2005: Now operating in 21countries with over 430 franchise locations! October 2004: Computer Troubleshooters has expanded to 17 countries and over 400 franchises worldwide. January 2003: "Now operating in 12 countries with around 200 franchisees. January, 2001: Australian based Computer Troubleshooters now operates over 70 locations in eight countries, making it the lar

What was that? Did you hear that? What's that funny noise coming from your PC? There it is again! What is that?!? Did you see something move in the vent? Look! There it is again! Pleasant dreams.

Nice try, but I'm not sure that's it. I can't quite wrap my mind around the thinking, but I think it's something like; having to tell you not to litter is as stupid as having children warn adults to be careful. It just shouldn't be necessary. I think. Man, different culture's brains must be wired differently, huh?

You're one of those 'never read the manual' type of persons, aren't you?

Not all software installations make changes that can trigger an AV program but some do. IF you get your installation programs from sources you have every reason to believe are safe (for instance; the original disks, sites you trust that scan their files), then disabling antivirus programs during the install can prevent certain kinds of installation problems. Once you re-enable the AV it will still be able to recognize the presence of any viruses (and for the better programs, activities that are suspiciously viral in nature). The best course of action would be to read the installation instruc

Just putting it in different words: Which is more likely?; That the MS servers would not only get hacked, and that the hackers would go unnoticed, and those hackers would write a Windows update to contain malicious code, and that that code would get installed on your machine without any problems, and then you'd have a problem? Or by not getting a critical update you leave your system open to known vulnerabilities?

And here is why you are in the wrong: We only have what you have stated so far to go by and from what you have stated your setup is illegal (this argument can go on and on with everyone getting p.o.'ed so let's just say you've justified what you've done and most of us disagree). Call MS, if your copy is pefectly legal, and you have repeatedly said it is, they will work with you to get your copy activated. FOR FREE. That is the standard, accepted procedure when the activation expires due to significant changes in the system.

From Japanese Be Polite When Smoking Site (in Japanese), I get this one: Can anyone explain what this one means?:

Nail gun.

The hard drive would be one of the last things I'd check, so it makes me wonder if you have ANY other reason to suspect the drive? Malware would be the first thing to check.

I hate that I have to let this go ...

OK, now I'm worried ...

If I remember correctly, logging out then back in does something close to this. I also remember that there's another "trick" to do this, but ... Nope, can't remember what it was.

There are more things going on than not enough water. The lake has been much lower, and much higher, and at the same time some of the other Great Lake levels are rising at dangerous rates. Our short-term observations tell us there's not enough water, in Lake Michigan, but it's not scientifically valid to draw conclusions based on those observations. BTW, I lived in Chicago when the lake levels were dangerously high, I remember seeing the Gold Coast inundated with water, Lake Shore Drive closed due to flooding. A three inch drop in level may be an enormous volume of water, but it's almost insi

I hadn't even thought of that ... hang on, something's tickling my toes ... ARRGGGHHH ... BTW, I didn't intend to imply this was my computer. If there were snakes in my computer I would simply burn my house down -- there'd be no pictures.

Looks great. As far as cutting out the Gateway, what graphics program do you use? Many have an automatic selection tool (in PaintShop Pro it's called a 'magic wand'). You just click on a portion of the picture that differs from what you want cut out and it automatically selects the part that differs. Say, in your case, the background is dark, the tool selects all the dark portions (or you click on the bright and it selects the bright). You can change the parameters for the selection, say "from THIS dark to THAT dark," or "from this hue to that," "this color to that," etc. Once the majority o

OK, if I win, where should I keep it? I'm guessin' I don't want to store a barrel of gas in the garage, next to the car (BOOM!). The backyard won't work, as soon as the neighbors know I have gasoline they'll be all like, "Hey, can we come over?" I'll never get rid of 'em. The basement? The attic? Where does one store a barrel of gasoline anyway?