Info and forum posts by 'HD462'

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Joined on: Sunday, 30th December 2001, 20:09, Last used: Friday, 29th July 2011, 16:17

Access Level: Elite

About this user: A bit of a gadget freak. Like computers, DVDs, and any new gadgets. Also into Traction Kiting, kayaking, hiking, photography, anything outdoors.

Job: PCV Engineer (bus engineer)

This user has posted a total of 1730 messages. On average, since joining, this user has posted 0.21 messages a day, or 1.49 messages a week. In the last 30 days, this user has posted 0 messages, which is on average 0 messages a day.

Recent Messages Posted:

RE: iPhone/MSN...?

Have you tried eMessenger, now called eBuddy, that lets you chat on various networks. I used to use it before and it worked well. As well as the browser version, it says they also do an app version for iPhone, Andriod now too.

[url="http://www.ebuddy.com/mobile.php"][/url]

Dunno what`s up with the site, but the link doesn`t seem to show, but here`s the address to copy and paste.

http://www.ebuddy.com/mobile.php






This item was edited on Sunday, 24th October 2010, 22:05

RE: Help finding a program to re-size lots of photo`s in one go

I`ve been using PIX Resizer for a while now. Very easy to use, just tell it where the photos are, and where you want to save them (I usually make a new folder first). Pick what size you want them to be and it`s away.

http://pixresizer.en.softonic.com/






RE: Acer Aspire Revo mini desktop PC, price drop

Looks like a good product for the price, but I wouldn`t buy from Ebuyer if you value your bank account. They emptied mine of £800 last time I used them. Someone bent working there processing payments. They use your payment details, with mine they made two transactions to a gambling site about 10 mins apart totalling around £800. A search on Google found lots of similar incidents.

I`ve never used them since (got the money bank eventually through bank fraud dep`t). AVOID.




This item was edited on Saturday, 26th September 2009, 19:37

RE: SVP. What happened?

Quote:
now i think they are in Edinburgh...


Another firm very similar to SVP that I sometimes use is www.ukdvdr.co.uk, they`re based in Edinburgh. I wonder if they`ve taken SVP over?




This item was edited on Sunday, 28th June 2009, 00:07

RE: So, these mini laptops then...

Quote:
Netto`s are selling a Hercules (?) ecafe netbook from Monday 20th April.
Costs £239.99

It has a Intel Atom 1.6 GHz N270, 8.9 lcd, 1gb memory, Wi Fi, 60gb H/D, 30gb online storage (free for one year), 1.3mp webcam, quotes upto 7 hours battery, weights 1.2kgs, 2 years warranty.
Comes loaded with Windows XP & Open Office Version 3

More details & pics on the Netto website


I got one of those last week, Netto did them again, price now down to £199.99, I`m very impressed with it. I`ve been looking at them since last year, and hedging towards the Samsung NC10 or Toshiba NB100. I`d been waiting to see if the prices came down when the NC110 came out as i think £300 is too much for a netbook really. They`re getting into laptop prices, when the whole idea of netbooks is a cheap portable computer.

I already have a 17" laptop which I really like, but is a bit bulky to take out and about. So I settled on the 8.9" screen size as a happy medium as I didnt want to make the mistake of going too big. I saw this eCafe advertised in Netto and it fitted the bill. Really good price and spec not too dis-similar to £300+ netbooks. It`s actually £300 on Amazon.

Spec is usual netbook spec, Atom 270 1.6Ghz, 1gb ram (upgradable to 2gb), 60gb HD, Windows XP SP3 Home Edition, wireless b/g/n, ethernet, 3x USB 2.0, built in SDHC compatible card reader, VGA out, 6 cell 6000mah battery,shows just over 7hrs available with wifi off and screen brightness turned down (still very usable at lowest brightness).Battery lasts 5 to 6 hrs with wifi on. Built in microphone and 1.3Mp webcam. No bluetooth but I already had a dongle than I can use (dont use bluetooth that often on a pc to be honest).

Absolute bargain for £200. I think mine is great, and take it to work it`s so small. Not much bigger than an folded sheet of A4. I use it with a VirginMobile Broadband dongle, 1GB for £5 a month.




This item was edited on Monday, 15th June 2009, 21:58

RE: Free online game.

Yeah me too, got my beta code yesterday. I had a bit of a go of it last night, seems ok up to now




RE: twin problems, Firefox and Mouse!

Quote:

Two issues raised their heads recently.
Firefox: I`m getting "document contains no data" regularly when hitting a website.
"OK" I thought "Site is down"
Tried IE and same result, 404 error (or whatever number it is)
Open AOL, use internal AOL browser, site loads fine Cool

Not even just one or two sites, it`s happening varying degrees of regularity on varying sites.

Problem 2, my mouse.
I had my wired USB mouse on as my newish Asus MoBo doesn`t support two PS2 ports.
Everything worked ok until the mouse left click became erratic, sometimes not clicking, sometimes double clicking without the second click.
It`s an old mouse and it always had a slightly erratic left button so no worries, it`s life is over, switch back to my wireless Laser mouse (was not being used because the keyboard for it had gone icky, bad connections in the plastic membranes that can`t be soldered and I`m still trying to come up with a way to make the connections!)

This mouse I know to be absolutely fine.
Single clicks every time, no missing clicks.
The double click issue is still there Sad

To clarify, I can select a file, usually 3 or 4 as normal, then suddenly the mouse will act as if I`ve double clicked the next one, so if it`s a picture and I click it once to select it`ll automatically open windows Pic n Fax viewer to preview as that`s my associated program.

If anyone has ideas I`d be grateful. Just ran CCleaner and AdAware in progress too.


I`ve had the same problem with My Logitech MX700 wireless rechargeable optical mouse too. It`s about 5yrs old now, but wasn`t a cheap mouse. I`ve tried allsorts, I did think it may have been a Windows update that`s messes it up. I`ve installed the latest software for it, searched the net (and found others with similar problem with no fix). Best I could find was that the micro switches under the buttons can wear out eventually causing it to double click when you don`t want it to. It`s really annoying, if you have more than one window open maximised, and you click to close, and it closes the one behind too.

I bought a cheap £6 Tesco mouse to try and that`s been ok, but it doesn`t have the comfy feel of the Logitech one. Just got a Microsoft Wireless Optical Notebook Mouse 4000 from Tesco for £5.61 in clearance aisle (seems to be about £30 everywhere else). I got it for my laptop really, but I liked it so much I went back and got another for my PC. It`s not rechargeable, but supposed to have a six month battery lifespan.

When I installed the Intellipoint software for it, it says there`s conflicting software (the Logitech Mouseware) and asks to be allowed to remove it, so I did. This mouse has been working fine, so still not sure if the mouse button was worn out, or some Windows update has been messing with the Logitech software. But happy with the new mouse working ok. Don`t know how Tesco are doing them at that price, looks like they found a shelf full of stock somewhere, but it`s still a current model.

Sorry I couldn`t be of more help.




RE: Homersapien... anyone got one?

If it is the Robosapien I`ve found the manufacturers site which has a contact us page, where you could ask about spares.

http://www.wowwee.com/en/support/robosapien

See the bottom of the FAQ page for ordering spares.




This item was edited on Friday, 13th March 2009, 00:00

RE: Homersapien... anyone got one?

Is it the same as the Robosapien, my lad had one of those. I found this one which says it`s for Homosapien:

http://everything2.com/title/homoSAPIEN%2520Operation%2520Manual

don`t know if it`s the same thing as yours. Also found this one for the Robosapien:

http://www.therobosapien.com/images/Robosapien-manual.pdf

PS: Dunno why I can`t get links to post properly on this site anymore. They disappear when I use the URL button.




This item was edited on Thursday, 12th March 2009, 22:55

RE: photo software

Picasa is a free photo organising and editing program from Google, it`s quite good, and has a montage feature like you require. You can download it for free from here:

http://picasa.google.co.uk/

The Gimp mentioned above is a very in depth program with lots of features and can be a bit overwhelming at first if you`re not used to photo editing programs.




This item was edited on Saturday, 28th February 2009, 23:37

RE: Ive REALLY got the hump, is it just me.....

Hi Dusty, I hate to say it mate, but I think maybe you are being a bit touchy. If memory serves me right you started as a driver at the place I work didn`t you last year?

If what he said was said in a tongue in cheek manner with a wry smile, ie: a jokey hint to wear you Hi-Vis in future, then it`s not that wrong is it?

Knowing the firm that sort of mickey taking, sarcastic manner is right through the job, you get used to it and give as good as you get after a while. They do take Hi-Vis and safety very seriously. The uniform doesn`t help being dark coloured, we often have drivers walking round the yard in the dark without Hi-Vis and they are hard to see when headlights are on, as they blend into the shadows.

I`d just shrug it off if I were you and don`t let it get to you. :)




RE: task bar network icon showing x but still works???

Strange I read you post the other day, had no answer then, then last night I got the same problem on my Vista laptop. Made me wonder whether it was caused by some Windows update of something. Anyhow I found a solution on Google, tried it on mine and all back to normal now, might work for you too. See here:

[url="http://forums.techguy.org/5098925-post11.html"][/url]

http://forums.techguy.org/5098925-post11.html




This item was edited on Friday, 27th February 2009, 21:28

RE: What is the past tense of the word. . . . . . .

Quote:
So when talking in an accounting sense and the client says

"we will contra what we owe them with what they owe us and pay them a cheque for the balance"

If I was to ask him a week later he should use a different past tense term to describe the transaction ie "we offset what we owed them . . . . . . "


I would think "contra" would stay the same but the words around it would change tense, such as this, if talking a week later:

"we would contra what we owed them with what they owed us and pay them a cheque for the balance"




RE: What happened to Jetman and his English channel crossing ?

Quote:
I just saw it on the news for two minutes, I hope they do a one hour documentary on it.

Check out National Geographic Channel, there`s been an hour long programme about it repeated a few times over the last few days, shows the full flight. It`s bound to be on again.




RE: Virgin Media tactics

We`re ex-NTL too, but our bills were merged well over a year ago now. I think they`ve been working their way round the country merging them as this Harmony systems come online in each area. Maybe they`re now having one last push to get eveyone onto it.

We haven`t had a letter, and don`t expect to as we`re already on one bill for everything, so hopefully our retention deal won`t be affected.

Mark.




Currys Discount Codes

Just received this email with discount codes. Might be useful for someone.

Quote:
Save up to £100, when you buy online using the discount codes below

Discount codes:

* CUR75OFF £7.50 off when you spend over £149
* CUR15OFF £15 off when you spend over £299
* CUR30OFF £30 off when you spend over £449
* CUR40OFF £40 off when you spend over £549
* CUR50OFF £50 off when you spend over £749
* CUR100OFF £100 off when you spend over £1000


Offer page




This item was edited on Wednesday, 27th February 2008, 20:56

RE: GPS Handheld...

I have the Garmin Etrex (the yellow one), except mine is the Etrex Camo, a couple of additional features that you don`t really need. For just out hiking and general use it`s great. You should always have a map and compass with you anyway, but it can be set to show you your Ordnance Survey grid reference. At it;s most basic is can be used as a speedo, measure distance walked, time walking, height gained, and lots of other things.

I use mine for allsorts, as a speedo for kite-buggying, checking speedos at work when reported as being inaccurate (to decide if it really is inaccurate, and needs to go for calibration), plus all the things mentioned earlier.

We went hiking in Snowdonia at the beginning of last month, and used it all the time, even made it to the top of Snowdon.

It`s different to a SatNav in that you can use it outdoors away from roads where a normal SatNav cross references your location against it`s maps. I have both types, and both have their uses, for different things. As an entry level outdoors GPS they`re really good, small too with a good battery life (20hrs quoted).




RE: DAB+ ???

Actually, just did a bit more digging after posting that last reply, seems the guys on Working Lunch wasn`t telling the whole truth. See here.

Personally, I haven`t made the jump to DAB yet anyway, I can`t really see what people get so excited by with it, I mainly listen to radio at work, or in the car, and find nothing wrong with FM myself, clear sound, station name comes up etc with RDS.

From what I`ve read people say you still lose the signal, it just goes off completely, rather than crackly like FM does, same as the snowy picture versus broken up / lost picture with digital terrestrial tv really. Plus what about all those cars still with analogue radios in them (most)? Are they expecting people to all go out and buy new radios just because they turn the signal off. It should have had a lot more forward planning re the motor industry, they should have been fitting them as standard a number of years ago ready for the big switch off.




RE: DAB+ ???

There was a guy on Working Lunch the other week from the body responsible for DAB in the UK. They were asking this question, would all these DAB radios be useless once DAB+ comes out.

His answer was no, and not to worry. He said DAB+ is a globally agreed standard, but is not being implemented in the UK, ie: we`re sticking with DAB as it is now, so no compatability problems.




RE: GPX Navigator (Speed Camera Detector) - Free at Staples !!

Cheers Moods, bit far away from me, I doubt they`d want the hassle for the price of it. Just put that one down to a miss I think. Thanks again.




RE: GPX Navigator (Speed Camera Detector) - Free at Staples !!

Hi Moods,
Where did you get yours if y ou don`t mind me asking? I`ve tried all the stores in our area (Teesside), but seems they`re long gone (staff didn`t even seem to know what it was, thought it was an Autoroute type program for the pc). Thanks.




RE: Ogster.. (or anyone on NTL etc...behind proxy servers..) help...

I`m on ntl too, just tried that file and it`s downloading ok for me too at between 250 and 320kB/s on 4mb broadband. I don`t use file sharing sites either, and just did it out of curiosity. I`m in the TS26 area. Took about 5 minutes.




RE: xbox games 99p - Virgin Megastore - Instore Only - Nationwide

No games at all at the new Teesside Retail Park store. Thought there might have been some there with it being a new store. Did get a few last week for £1.99, £2.50, and £4.99 from Comet though, might be worth checking your local Comet out too.




RE: Bluetooth car stereo

You`re descibing two different radios there. The bluetooth one they did in September (I got one), but stores still seem to have stock of it. Which is surprising really, as it`s such a good bit of kit I`d have thought they`d have sold out straight away.

The £39.99 one they`re doing now has usb, memory card slots, and aux in, but no bluetooth. They`re pretty much the same two radios as Maplin do. If they ever bring one out with the usb, card reader, and bluetooth all on the same unit, they`d be onto a real winner.

I can recommend the bluetooth one though, connects to your phone, and the radio acts as mike and headset, sending the phonecall through the car speakers, and picking your voice up with its built in mike. If you need to plug an mp3 player in you have the aux socket for that. Although I just put my mp3s onto a cd (the radio supports folders), so you can just flick through which album (folder) you want to play. I have 15 albums on one cd, so just like having a 15 disk multi changer....you never need to change the disk. Sound quality is good too, and if you press the bass boost button it blasts out enough bass to suit even the most ardent boy racer...lol :)




This item was edited on Saturday, 16th December 2006, 23:52

RE: Digifusion FVRT200 Twin Tuner Freeview box+ 80GB HD Recorder - £70

Bought the Aldi one for my son for Xmas. They`d had a lot taken back but thought I`d chance it as I heard an over iar update was happening on the 8th. Update didn`t happen, faults with ours were noisy hard drive, and lost channels every time it was put into standby. You had to rescan the box each time you turned it on.

The guy said they`d had loads back, seems to be always the case with the last few they`ve done. Why can`t they get them right before selling them. It was a nice looking box, and with good features if it had worked right.

We have a Liteon 5055GDL+ with 250gb HDD and dual layer dvd writer on our main tv downstairs. Had it about 6 months now, and can thoroughly recommend it.




RE: Cheap xbox games.

Not sure, but the steering wheel works with any driving game, just like any other wheel.




RE: Cheap xbox games.

Thanks for that, just ordered the DVD remote too. Was wishing I`d seen the extender cables too, as I just bought two from Darkplanet.co.uk yesterday for a tenner delivered. But on adding them to the Filron basket is doubles the postage too, so wouldn`t have been any cheaper for them.

I`ve found a few things I thought were bargains too.

I also got a Williams F1 steering wheel and pedals from Joytech direct for £20 delivered, price is up to £55 on some sites (£28 at Play). When I saw it it was so good (flashing lights and built in timer and LED display...lol) that I bought another. My son and I have had it set up like an arcade side by side playing PGR2 online. You can even play split screen and still both play on xbox live at the same time together, never knew you could do that.

Xbox-WilliamsF1-Team-Racing-Wheel

I bought Xbox live for a month for now, but been looking for a starter kit which has the headset and a years subscription (mainly for the cheaper subscription. Found HMV doing the starter kit with various choices of game, the headset, and a years subscription for £35 delivered. I`ve chosen it with Rallysport Challenge 2, as we have the other ones from the Argos offer. (Live subscription is £40 a year on it`s own to buy)

Xbox Live starter kit

Only problem I can see is the steering wheel doesn`t have anywhere to connect the headset, anyone know if you could connect it to a second controller to talk through, or would you need to log that second controller into xbox live to be able to talk through it?

Also got a wireless controller from Play for other games (the extension cables were for the steering wheels) for £15 delivered.

Joytech Wireless Neo S Controller




This item was edited on Thursday, 7th December 2006, 20:29

RE: X Box with four games for under £50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers for the links. Found out how much it was now, signed up for a month for now for a fiver, to see what it`s like first.




RE: X Box with four games for under £50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote:
Same here, just been looking myself. Can`t even order for home delivery. Yet I checked some North Wales stores, and some have it in stock, and others offer the option to order for store pick up later in the week. But it doesn`t give that option in our area. Shame, good deal too.


Managed to get one now. I happened to click the "tell me when you get more stock" link the other day. Not expecting them to, as I thought it would be once all stock`s gone, it`s gone. But got an email yesterday saying they had stock in again. Went to stock checker on website and sure enough, our store had some, so reserved it.

Just set it up earlier. Anyone know how much Xbox Live is, can`t seem to find out on the website anywhere. I`ve got it connected to the net, does it`s checks ok. Just need to sort an account now, I thought there might have been a trial in with one of the games, but there isn`t. Anyone seen any cheapy worthwhile games anywhere?




RE: 250Gb hard drive DVD recorder

Quote:
FFS why should they refund simply because after buying you decide you do not want it


They shouldn`t, if they do it`s as a good will gesture, not because they have to. But the other part of his post, and what mine referred to, also pointed out the other thing that it`s not just if you decide you don`t like it. They adopt this attitude with faulty goods too, which you do have a right to return and expect to be refunded (or exchanged, which was no good in my case as out of stock).