Phyridean

<claws eyes out>

I should point out two things: A) a litre is smaller than a gallon, hence the sub $2.00 prices for a liter of gas are probably comparable to our just under $3.00. Either way it sucks for us all... B) driving slower *reduces* your mileage. The faster you drive, the more ground your car covers for the same amount of gasoline/petrol. That's why highway mileage is always higher than city mileage. (that and you have stop-and-go in the city). Soooo.... -I drive fast -I have a small, fuel efficient car with an I-4 -I have it tuned regularly so that the gas mileage stays high -I keep my tires inflated to just under the maximum (I should also mention that quick acceleration also kills your gas mileage)

I'm really fond of Simon's icon It looks like you could just reach out and grab it. If you were Zeus, you could throw it at someone....

Try UltraVNC, or use windows remote desktop, available by typing "mstsc" at the run prompt.

It'll all depend on if there's a similarly priced piece of hardware out there that I want more...I mean....the $300 USD that Ultimate edition will probably cost is more than enough for a mid-high-end video card, say, or....3 GB of ram.... I'll run XP until something really mouth-watering gets into Vista.

@techniquefreak Yes, we're using IPSec to secure servers and server communications. It functions as well as any other rule-based software firewall, and runs as a driver, filtering at OSI Layer 3 (which I believe is where most normal firewalls do their packet matching).

I purchased an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ retail, and it came with instructions and heatsink/fan. Everyone above is correct that it won't keep you going with overclocking for long periods of time, I've gotten my 3000+ up to a 3800+ with the standard cooling...I turned it back down because I don't want to end its life prematurely and I don't need the extra speed, but the heatsink/fan combo is certainly high quality for a bundled solution.

Don't get me wrong...I like some microsoft products, but if this happened, where would google, the "moral" computer information business be? Microsoft isn't necessarily bad, but it's far worse, business-wise, than Google. The more independent of the ugly corporate business practices that Google stays, the better, IMHO

I'd like to know if anyone has tried IPSec, and if so, how they think it stands up to other software firewalls. Also, I'm now running the windows OneCare Live firewall, and have found that it's essentially the XPSP2 firewall, but with both incoming and outgoing capability. It seems to work well, but I haven't had a chance to try to compromise it and test its robustness. Just another one to check out for all of you experimenters out there.

@Zxian IPSec Configuration is a pretty good resource, though IPSec configuration can be fairly complex to the firewall rule uninitiated. However, if you feel up to it, it's one of the best ways to learn about firewalling.

If you're looking for an additional free line of defense (assuming you have XPSP2 installed, of course) look to IPSec. It's a b***h to configure, but you can make it either stateful or non-stateful (only incoming, or incoming and outgoing) with the additional benefit of being able to encrypt network traffic. All at little cost to system resources (except for the encryption, of course). With winxp pro, start->run->gpedit.msc->computer settings->windows settings->security->ip security policies. With xp home, start->run->mmc->file->add snap in->ip security policy management Keeps the most powerful active hacking tools out when properly configured.

I'll add my two cents: I used to run XP exclusively on a PIII (slot 1!) 500 MHz with 128 of ram and a 5400RPM HD. It ran just fine. My primary recommendation (after nLite-ing and disabling nonessential services, of course) is to defragment often. That way if you ever have to page, it will be a nice clean section of hard drive that windows will be working with. Best of luck,

@GeneralMandible: ROFLMFAO!!! I use my laptop for most everything since it's perfectly sufficient for most tasks. I don't do much video/photo editing or gaming *sigh* but when I do, I use my vastly more powerful desktop. Unfortunately, it stays turned off much of the time, though when winter comes, I'll be using it for supplemental heat

I wonder if there's anyone on this site who would put buy... Always build, if not to get the exact components you want, then just for the satisfaction of the first time it turns on.

We use CA Etrust because there's no difference between a server and a client license. Thus, if we have ten licenses, we can use it on any combination of servers and clients without additional charges. It's also an excellent solution, having kept us free of viruses for many years.

Sounds like a decent laptop for the price, and if you know you like IBM, then it's probably an excellent choice.

Hrm... Laptop 1: 80 GB Laptop 2: 20 GB Desktop 1: 1x80, 1x120 Desktop 2: 1x200, 1x20, 1x250(firewire) Spares: 1x9, 2x6, 1x3 Family comp: 1x30, 1x60 Total... 884 GB!!! (I'm ashamed it's so low )

I've used both, but I've gotten attached to the Athlon line recently, and though my old P3 500MHz (Slot 1! ) was a venerable old beast working with one small fan, I have to vote AMD this time around.

I've had success with both...I used to have an Nvidia TNT2 32 MB in the old days, and I've since been through a radeon 9600se and now an X800 Pro. All have been great cards with reasonable performance. (Even the 9600se if I didn't compare it to anything )

Thanks soulin, that's what I've been doing...I was just wondering if there's a better way...I guess not Anyone else?

Has anyone successfully used GPOs to redirect the favorites folder to a userprofile location on the network? I can't use roaming profiles because of my environment, but I do use the default redirections (My Documents, AppData...etc)

Run the following file, named something like "restore recycle bin.reg" Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\NewStartPanel] "{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\HideDesktopIcons\ClassicStartMenu] "{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}"=dword:00000000 Happy recycling ,

Ugh...ME <shudders>

What he means is he wants a script that runs if he logs in with remote desktop, but which does not run if he logs on locally. You might try (assuming you have XP) expanding the options in the connection dialog, and there's a program tab where you could put your batch/VBS file.

I think I'll have to get just to see how my video card takes it...seeing as how it's optimized for ati....