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I'm having serious computer woes.
After having problems playing MystOnline someone suggested (among other things) making sure I had the latest Service Pack installed.  So I checked and I didn't, even though I usually update quite regularly.  So I went about installing SP" (Vista), and all seemed well, until I upon the next restart of my comupter, apparently the process hadn't finished... it was on stage 3 out of 3 at 69%, and stayed there for a very long time.

Perhaps this was normal, so after well over 2 hours of waiting for any change I decided to go to bed and leave it running.  Sure enough, when I awoke at about 5am this it seemed to have finished.  It was on the Vista welcome screen, asking me for my password.  It accepted my password, and then the screen went black, and a window came up asking  me to 'Activate Windows now' or 'Activate later'.. I clicked 'now'... and an error message came up telling me to reinstall Windows... something I'd rather not do if I can avoid it.

Then it crashed anyway, when I brought up the 'How do I reinstall Windows' help link.

So I restarted my computer, and guess what?  it went straight back to the installation screen saying it was on stage 3 out of 3, but this time it got stuck at 65%... I decided to leave it running, go back to bed and deal with it in the morning.

Morning came, sure enough, there it was again asking for my passwords, which it accepted, and sure enough the black screen came up asking me to 'Activate' Windows...  this time I clicked 'Later', which is why I'm able to use my computer...

The thing is, everything is working, an my computer even now has SP2 installed on it according to the System Information.  But the worrying thing is a) I clearly can't wait 2 or more hours every time I want to use my computer, and b) my wallpaper has disappeared, leaving a black background, with a little message in the corner saying "this copy of Windows is not genuine"... Well I assure you it IS genuine.  It's the very Windows that came bunged with my computer in the first place.

What do I do?
(Clearly the first thing you are thining is 'Reinstall Windows' but I'm woried about the consequences...  Will I lose everything?  I mean I have a lot of stuff backed up, and the means to back up anything that's not, but I'd really rather avoid the faffing about if there is a simpler solution I'm not aware of.)

Cheers.

Sounds rubbish...

I asked about this on page 8, so sorry if I'm repeating things, but the problem was never resolved and now I really need to get my iPod working.

So yeh, basically my laptop doesn't recognise my iPod.
I have iTunes, my iPod is formatted for Windows and I've tried everything the Apple support site has to offer.
It must be a problem with my computer (backed up by the fact that my mobile phone doesn't talk to my computer either).

Any ideas from a Windows point of view? As I'm pretty sure everything Apple-related has been tried andseems to be in order...

Rather than trying to work out the physics of whether or not the cubicle would break... why not just get the character to take a chainsaw to it!

I'm not sure which bits are done on a keyboard and which aren't, but according to Wikipedia at least some of the synthesised parts are played on Moog Taurus Bass Pedals, using his hands...

Maybe not quite the info you're after, but interesting anyway

It's an international pun

My friend told me yesterday about a program he uses called Blender.
It's freeware and he says he prefers it to Maya, which is used in Hollywood and costs thousands of Dollars.

I love how in Japan they automatically pull a V-sign whenever a camera is pointed at them... especially the girls. The Koreans do too. However, having the palm facing the signer or the recipient seems to be largely interchangeable (correct me if I'm wrong).

I have many photos of my lovely Korean friend, who wouldn't hurt a fly, seemingly giving me the two-fingered salute.  Or maybe she just hates me:-(

I've got iTunes... always have... just never had an iPod to go with it... I'm pretty sure its something to do with drivers... most of my problems arenormally to do with drivers.

Hey guys... wonder if anyone can help me.
I bought my mates iPod off him a few weeks ago and have only just got round to trying to play with it.
Trouble is... when I plug it into the USB port, my laptop doesn't seem to want to recognize it.
It will acknowledge that I have put the device in there, and then it tells me it needs to install a device driver... which it says is a success... but after that it doesn't seem to register on my Computer, so I can't do anything with it.

I've tried it in all the USB ports, coz I know my webcam wont work in all of them, but to no avail...

Any ideas?

Cheers.

P.S. My computer refers to it as an 'Unidentified Device'... How to I get it 'identified'?

Is anyone else not able to get Facebook today or is it just me?

Sorry if you've seen this before, but it's HILARIOUS!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CKjNcSUNt8

Cheers guys!
Oops I missed yours Bici -  Happy belated birthday.

Hehe.. I got a text from my Chinese friend yesterday.  She said 'Happy beearlied birthday'  which I thought was just about the cutest thing ever.

I've got a big feeling it might have been 'another.com'.

These days they are a regular domain-buying site that offers hosting etc like easily and godaddy.
But I'm certain that they (or whoever I'm thinking of) used to hoard the domain names for themselves but just dish out email addresses using the domain names they owned.

This is me in my Pulling Jacket (Primark - £20) and fake cigarette (Magic Box - 30p).

Yes ladies I am single and looking...

happy bday Matt 

How about a model or sculpture contest.  The host sets some guidelines of his choice (say design a creature, or a 3d model of a room), and the contestants have to make this thing using any means from plasticine to toilet-roll tubes, and a lick of paint... whatever.

It might not be directly tied to AGS or games, but it will get people doing creative stuff with their hands and keep them away from the computer for a few minutes at least.

What does everyone think?

Hey Cat.
Not sure about everyone else, but I'm pretty sure I used to refer to it as the 'shooting range'.  I'm in UK if that's relevant.

Did you find your answer Babs?
Any more clues or details you can think of?

I've got one... can anyone remember the name of the talking robot from Hollyoaks a number of years ago?
No-one seems to know what I'm talking about, but I know I'm not making it up.

The only Western miniseries that springs to my mind is 'Into the West' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409572/), but I haven't seen it so I wouldn't know if this matches what you're talking about.

When did you see it, and is it an old thing or relatively recent?