Decided my old trusty i7 920 pc has had it's day, so, time for something new. Very new. Very... radical. A totally silent PC! That's right. Silent. 0db. No moving parts at all (save my 5Tb removable back-up drive). Here's the bits: Nofan CS-80 Fanless Computer Case Nofan P-500A Silent 500W Fanless 80+ GOLD PSU ASUS PRIME H370-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard Intel 8th Gen Core i7 8700 3.2GHz 65W UHD 630 12MB 6 Cores 12 Threads CPU Nofan CR-95C Black Pearl IcePipe 95W Fanless CPU Cooler Co...

Another ransomware attack is underway. Batten down the hatches! BBC - Global Ransomware Attack

A new version of the WannaCry ransomware is hitting organisations worldwide. It's already affecting some major organisations, such as the UK's NHS. Lock down your PCs now and update any anti-ransomeware programs you have. Better safe than sorry as they say.

So what's the fuss about. Windows 10 installed earlier today and, that's it... I can still do everything I need to with the minimum of effort. I still have my taskbar toolbar 'Programs', so I don't need that ugly start menu. Everything seems easy to find and nothing's broken. The only thing I need to fix is the fugly look but, isn't that what we skinners do best (WB10 - where are you?)

Currently I'm on W7 but will be going W10 shortly. For system backups I've used Acronis for years. The 2015 version is so seriously dumbed down it's unusable. You can't even select which backup versions to delete; you either use their automatic cleanup, or, delete the files manually and suffer the program not finding the versions you've deleted. I've gone back to 2012. At least there I can see the backup's timeline and delete which ever versions I want. Time ...

Somehow, don't know how, my PSP x2 disc managed to get seperated from its sleeve. You know, that flimsy little thing with the serial key on... However, It's now installed and working thanks to assistance from Corel support. After sending them proof of my purchase, and a photo of the box and disc, the sent me a new serial   So, all's well that ends well. But it would be nice if serial keys were put on something more substantial. Some do, but far too many go somewhere I can lose ...

Here's hoping my Windows 7 disc arrives soon, because I've had enough of Vista. Explorer window: Suddenly, for no reason, this will forget what size it was. It will open up about 640x480 and I will have to resize it. Start Menu: I've all sorts of problems with this, mainly due to permissions. It wouldn't allow programs to create shortcuts on installation, I couldn't move items to where I wanted etc. Worst, a few moments ago, the Games folder vanished. Poof! Just gone. After half an hour...

As everyone seems to be flexing their 3p33n, I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of a build which will start next week sometime.   Case: Antec 900 with all the fans PSU: Coolermaster 1000W (modular) Mobo: Asus P6T Deluxe X58 CPU: i7 920 @ 2.66, but eventually getting OC'd to 3.4 Fan: Coolermaster V8 Memory: 6Gb DDR3 1333 HD (System + games): Crucial 128Gb SSD HD (Data): 500Gb HD (Backups): 2 x 1.5Tb Video: 2 x ATI Radeon 1Gb DDR5 in Crossfire OS: Vista...

I've just had a brush with numerous viruses, the first I've had in years. I was browsing some free software sites (can't remember which, I was just following links), when I got a warning about a dodgy web page. Next thing I know AVG is popping up with all sorts of messages about trojans and viruses. At this point my pc is locked solid, so, rather than repair the damage, I decide to restore from backup... Shutdown Windows: seconds - I pressed the off button! Search for Drive Image 7 disc: 2...

Current system: Asus A8nSLi Athlon 4400+ dual core 2Gb PC2100 8800GT 1.5Tb S3 drives Coolermaster case with 750W PSU XP and Vista Ultimate 64 dual boot   I need more memory! I play a lot of Sins of a Solar Empire and modded the game file to have larger fleet sizes. The problem with that is when I have hundreds of ships roaming around, along with who knows how many trade ships, the whole thing starts to stutter. So, about 12Gb of memory would sort it... Forget XP, t...

For the last couple of days, Firefox 3.0.7 (on XP) has not been remembering any of my login details for any site. It was working ok before. Before I try an uninstall/reinstall does anyone have any ideas? Was it the last Windows update? Hmmm...

Some time ago I decided I'd had enough of Vista and would go back to XP. After 2 BSODS and explorer crashing when I tried to rename a file, I decided now was the time. Sounds easy... I disconected 3 of my four drives, partitioned and formatted my O/S drive, and started the XP install procedure. Hmmm, evertime I got to the part where I expected it to say 'Press any key to boot from disk...' it just went straight into setup again. Nothing I did to the drive with either formatting or partitionin...

I have an Asus A8n SLi, with two 7600GTs attached. I've been aware from the start that some older games just don't like SLi. Performance is reasonable on newer games like Unreal Tournament 3, but could be a lot better. I run it at 1024x768 and framerates are a bit on the low side. Its playable... So I was thinking of removing the two 7600s and replacing with a single 8800GTS. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Are there better options (not too costly)? Currently running nVidia ...

Everyone, at one time or another, has to deal with spyware. Well, three Dutch companies, along with their two directors, have been fined €1,000,000 by Dutch telecom regulator OPTA for illegal distribution of spyware. Some 450 million files were distributed to 22 million computers in both the Netherlands and worldwide. The infection led to over 7700 computers being hacked in less than 24 hours. For the full story from OPTA, follow the link below

Well, maybe not - but it felt like it. Friday morning I started my PC as usual, except I got an error message from SDtray.exe - that's the background scanner for Spybot. Having rebooted, it did it again. I searched the online forums which suggested solutions. After numerous attempts at clearing some files, then numerous attempts at clean installs - it wouldn't even install - I decided to give up. The log file was telling me the program was unable to access its own .tmp files. I tho...