Micro Mart Forum / Magazine/Website Feedback & Suggestions / Micro Mart Forums

Windows : Touch of Death

Mitch — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:17:31 GMT

I couldn't agree more with Mark Pick on this. I wonder if the people at Microsoft have heard the well known phrase "its so easy, you could do it with one hand tied behind your back?" Do they not realise that Windows brought the PC to the masses because the GUI is EASY to use.

Honestly, if this bloat-ware is what they have in mind for Windows 7, then they are more out of touch than this government. I am sure you, like me, have seen all sorts of wacky mouse inventions etc etc over the years, flop like a wet sponge because somebody has tried to re-invent the wheel. Try to figure out why my Windows Vista installation is using 2034mb of 4094mb of RAM while idle please, or why the Photo Screensaver, Import Photo and Picture Wizard, "remaining time" predictor and the many various other problems with Vista don't work, before creating more temperamental garbage for your next OS!!!

UPDATE, on my once in a lifetime edition of MM, issue 1009!!!

Fixtheleek? — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:51:37 GMT

Most local newsagents had to take them off the shelves, they where all the same.:w00t:
Does this mean we will get a double edition next week?:Whistling:

E-mail sent.:)

Issue 1009.. System Builder

MartenReed — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:05:26 GMT

£30 Rebuild? I think not!

£5 + £0.5 + £22 + £12.50 = £40.

Oopsie :P

Forget Charlie’s golden ticket!!

Fixtheleek? — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:43:06 GMT

What goes from page 1 to 26 then repeats 4 to 26. Jumps to page 51 then runs nicely to number 90, jumps to page 115 to 138 then repeats page 115 to the end.
My once in a lifetime edition of MM, issue 1009
Now do I keep it and make it into a family heirloom, like an un-franked Penny Black?
Or take it back to Asda tomorrow and swap it for one I can finish reading? :D

MicroMart Typo thread

chappers — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:10:46 GMT

#1: Front Page Issue 1008
Willl Firefox

#2: Page 91 Issue 1007
Google and Kontera images/text mixed up. The Kontera has the Google text and vice-versa.

:w00t:

Hanging on the telephone

Sarah of the Dead — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:26:35 GMT

I'm planning a feature on customer service and wondered which companies you guys generally have the worst experience with? Virgin Media is pretty much a no-brainer, but what about other broadband providers? Or online shops?

Also, if anyone's had any really really good experiences with any company, I'd like to know about those, too.

Cheers!

RE: Faceparty Article

stacykidd — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:50:28 GMT

Funnily enough I have been thinking about the recent acts of Faceparty in the exact same way. Last week I attempted to log on, only to discover they had deleted my account without telling me beforehand, which was generous of them. I obviously fit the paedophile stereotype. In all honesty though it was probably for the best, I find FP to be full people requesting obscene photos, people wanting sex and just....weirdos in general (and not the good kind). And then there is, of course, Grim Rita...the height of sophistication. Not.

Laptops Under a £500

Robbo44 — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:52:29 GMT

Laptops Under a £500

Hi Everyone read the article and just thought I should the share the following 2 laptops.............

1. Dell 15" Evalue Code N0615108 http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b&c=uk&cid=5213&cs=ukbsd1&dgc=AF&l=en&lid=122757&oc=N0615108&s=bsd&sbc=rf_spider&fb=1

2. Dell 17" Evalue Code N0617110 http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?b&c=uk&cid=5213&cs=ukbsd1&dgc=AF&l=en&lid=122757&oc=N0617110&s=bsd&sbc=rf_spider&fb=1

I phoned and purchased one using the E-Value code asking for Vista Home Premium instead of Business and they took another £27 off..WOW

Robert

problem logging on/signing on to the forum

mattyspurs — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:50:52 GMT

So i come into the forum then i log in, all ok until i come to post something as it asks me to log back in again, when i do i then get taken to the home page so i have to g back to the forum i want to post in and eventually i get to post a message like i am now.

What could the problem be? im using Firefox, could it be some setting in there?

'Stick it in the Fridge'

Bruce R — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:30:21 GMT

Some great 'back to basics' tips, in the 'PC Emergency' article, but I really enjoyed the bit about cooling down hot, failing hard drives by sticking them in the fridge. ;)
(Sounds like a useful tip learned from very early Seagate server drives, that used to run so hot you could almost fry on them :))

Training American kids to use guns.

Red_Breast — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:34:57 GMT

I've been buying MM for about 9 years now but I've rarely posted.

I really enjoy Mark Pickavance's articles and loved "The Long and Winding Road" in the 1000th issue but I had to re-read the part where he mentions he was once employed to train kids in America how to use guns "and other craziness".

If you're reading Mark care to elaborate a bit.

64bit Meh. . .

Swordfish — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:23:09 GMT

Hello my first mag suggestion, born out of frustration at paying alot of money for error messages, as my 32bit friends walk past me using any piece of software that they wish to choose.

But first my story which made me come here,

Iv just formatted and re installed windows xp professional 64bit which i bought at great expense over a year ago for over a hundred pounds. As i was installing some of my programs back on or at least the latest versions of them, on more then one occasion i was still getting the"this software doesn't support windows server 2003 or x64 based operating systems" message. If i goto the microsoft web site to see what software updates i have for my operating system and let it auto detect what OS i am running it still thinks iv got some form of windows server a small but annoying problem. I know there are a few features that aren't supported in windows xp 64bit like the new msn wont work and if you minimise media player you cant make the buttons appear for track forward play etc in the start menu. Again small but annoying.

Any how...

In the need to get DirectX 10 and to install all my software first time i thought i had found a reason to upgrade!!! So i hunted down a copy of Vista ultimate 64bit to make my life easier but its around the £150 mark still and i don't really want to pay that much for a load of software errors and incompatibility issues, again!

So i was wondering...

Is it worth getting a 64bit operating system? It doesn't cost any more, but with vista are there still compatibility issues 64bit wise, is there a true performance gain? The fact is really that there are a lot of 64bit processors in peoples homes now, and are software vender's making the full use out of 64bit hardware if they are not just 32bit ports anyway. Being a bit of a gamer i know that valve made a massive fuss about the 64bit patch for half life 2 so are all games running on 64bit pieces of software i expect so but what of photo shop too win rar. I was wondering if you thought that the industry had embraced the 64bit revolution or just moved on to the next one as all we seen to hear about these days is intel and AMD adding another 2 cores on here and there :). Maybe a test of load times on 64bit and 32bit operating systems maybe with 2 cores and 4 cores as well.

Perhaps some of these questions could be answered in an topic of some kind! I'm not sure if there are any ideas that you may want. All i do know is that when i am trying to find out this kind of stuff Micromart normally hits me with the article just as i needed it.

Thanks

stu

35 years Old this week!

BigRon — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 18:21:26 GMT

What's 35 this week? The mobile phone. Before I'd drowned out by a roar of protests... I'm not for a moment suggesting that ALL mobiles should be covered. But in those 35 years, mobiles have come a long way. For instance: "what's got a TFT screen, a QWERTY Keyboard and runs Windows on an Intel processor?" A computer, surely? Not necessarily; a Smartphone does too. It seems illogical to me to cover the Sinclair Spectrum, but to exclude smartphones; to cover Linux, but to bar Symbian. To welcome the Asus EEE, but eschew the Nokia E61. A computer is "a machine for running programs" - and for which a selection of different programs can be loaded. Why the Apartheid?

Places of interest for Geeks!

theBishopp — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:30:17 GMT

I am currently at Future World @ Goonhilly, in Cornwall. Not quite geek central, but definately a place of interest. How about a series of articles sending people to visit different places that would be of interest to geeks? I would be happy to write this trip up and submit it (hint hint) ;)

Back next week...

nice to see 11

jody! — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:58:23 GMT

[url]http://tinyurl.com/4afz7a[/url]

nice little picture in the corner there .... lol
makes me want 1

how about...

steveori — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 22:03:08 GMT

a tv section for the forum?

just a thought! :D

Cheap Petrol

Whiskey — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 16:48:34 GMT

Just like to say I thought the website featured in this weeks MM was one of the funniest I've seen in a long time. The Petrol Direct website really is a great spoof.

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet the link is here:

http://www.petroldirect.com/index.htm

Cheers,

Whiskey.

Is Opera being a bit of a div?

Just Jon — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:47:08 GMT

I am an Opera (9.25) user. I have had a few weird probs since you have updated the forum software. This is the weirdest though...

If I would like to edit my own reply (not post - old software allowed the change of title and sub too but...), I cannot do so unless I click "Edit" on the reply below mine! The same goes for a quote, if I would like to quote a reply, I have to click the post below that too.

And no, I will not use FF, I just do not like it.

Edit: For spelling like a Neanderthal.

ooo i am a Pentium yey

alex3410 — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:45:56 GMT

i have noticed the numbers and now processor names next to peoples names and pictures etc and i have not really thought much of it but i am apparently a Pentium :P which is all well and good but what do they mean, i am sorry if there is a thread explaining it but i could not see 1

IT Career Profiles series

Gaye Birch — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:00:32 GMT

Hi Micro Marters,

I'd like to invite you to participate in an upcoming series looking at various [b]IT Careers[/b] from the inside, the experiences of people currently working in the industry. You can volunteer to participate yourself, or nominate a friend, family member, workmate or associate, with their permission, of course.

Involvement will require contact by e-mail and answering a set of questions related to course work and/or degrees and qualifications and self-taught practical skills learned in preparation for employment, general details of the job itself, and a chance to share your views with MM readers and offer advice to others looking to enter that week's featured field, or a similar career.

Please send names, together with a confirmed current e-mail address, [b]by PM only[/b] to Gaye Birch, and include your name, if you're not the participant.

I hope to see a wide range of career choices to profile over the coming weeks, and, as always, many thanks in advance for your help and support.

Gaye Birch

Thank you

alex3410 — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 12:53:53 GMT

during my current bit of uni work it has come to my attention that most of the stuff i know of and know how to do has mainly come from the mag and from reading posts on the forum :D

i have learnt more from reading the mag and threads on this forum then most of my uni tutors so thank you :)
they should give out subscriptions to MM to computer science students lol it would bump up all of their grades :hehe:

It's not arrived...

MartenReed — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:37:00 GMT

Has everyone else's MM arrived today?
Mine didn't... Which is weird, it always arrives on a wednesday.
:)

Forum borked?

theBishopp — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:50:03 GMT

...or is the forum playing up? half the links don't work (to log in i had to hit new post), the link near top right for recent posts etc is missing...

anyone else got a problem?

Den of the Geek

jamied — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:51:54 GMT

I opened up this weeks issue of MM yesterday to find two adverts for Den of the Geek within about 2 pages of each other. Simon and Sarah doing some pretty heavy advertising for their own website eh?! :P

This week's Logging Off - check your mental maths, Mark :)

spunkymonkey — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:59:48 GMT

Good points in the Logging Off about mobile / casual data costs. Just one bit that I couldn't help but pick you up on with your maths - the SMS.

a 160 character SMS with, let's say (I don't know the format so trying to be generous) a 500% data overhead, will be 960 bytes of actual transfer for 10p. Scale that up and you get 1092 texts for a Mb. At 10p per text that represents a £109.20 per Mb data cost - slightly more than the 62.5p you arrived at! Given 1/60p for the home connection means a text is not 2000 times, but around 655000 times more expensive. All for the "convenience" of a format that you can send maybe 30 words in!

And The Winners Are.. what a load of tosh!!

andydods — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:45:47 GMT

Well I suppose it was inevitable that ignorance and assumption should rule the day. Worst software? Vista? And that vote comes from Vista users? Thought not, probably the same people that voted Ubuntu the Winner. Not that I have anything against Ubuntu as it is the first Linux distro that I've successfully managed to install; and I'm not making excuses for Vista, as it is not perfect. But by no stretch of the imagination is it the worst software, only in the minds of bigots.

And best game? CoD4 is average at best, MP is reasonable, though it seems to generally be rated highly, so fair enough. But yet again, Bioshock and Crysis worst games? What idiots took part in this survey? Yeah, some people had problems with Bioshock, but a worse game than Deal or No Deal, Kane and Lynch, or Lair? Get real. Thank goodness it was an informal, fun survey, perhaps that's why the idiots took part :rolleyes:

Integrated Graphics the daddy Intel GMA950

Uncle Bungle — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:38:45 GMT

According to the benchmarks in issue 991 this integrated chipset can push 94FPS in Quake 4 @ 1024 x 768 all the rest struggle to hit 10;)

Tesco has is stopped selling MM???

Kumagoro — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:05:02 GMT

Since the issue from the 22nd of November it seems to me that Tesco has had a bit
of a remerch on mags and no longer sells MM, well at least in the two stores I go to.

anyone have the same problem?

solar power

zerocool7010 — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:10:13 GMT

what magazine number was the article on solar power when he turns his shed in to a power station to power a gaming rig

Virtualisation Article

Bruce R — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:16:58 GMT

I don't know about other folk, but I am having difficulty getting my head around the new hot topic of Virtualisation. Emulation seems to mean creating an interface that will run software designed to run on another machine and operating system.

But is Virtualisation offering the Holy Grail of just one very powerful PC being able to run a choice of operating systems and ALL their software, so that you can, for example, then effectively sit down at a Mac, Windows or Linux machine, merely by session choice ?

Issue 989 Game review by

Teafie — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:43:07 GMT

well Ryan? what can you say? except, when you get paid for the article perhaps you will have enough money to buy a physical copy of the game and play it for your self !!!!!:laugh:

Idea for website/magazine regular feature

graphicartist — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:42:43 GMT

This cannot be original, but here goes.

How about a periodic builders feature (same format, not very long, say two pages with pics) that gives details of the 3 best bets for system builders? A top spec machine; a budget machine, and a middle of the road machine? The staff will probably build them. About once a month these are reviewed in the mag and updated, and the details stored on the website permanently for builders to access. Include costs using internet sales sites.

Pros: Usefully highlights technical changes when they happen; gives builders an easy access point of reference; will no doubt result in debate; gives a good idea of performance against cost.

Cons: Potentially somewhat repetitive (the 43 specials linger forever, but hey, I use one); will probably be one person's opinion and thus disputed/ridiculed...etc.; perhaps there's enough of this already???

Louis Turfrey.... How unlucky?

Phitore — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:43:17 GMT

Is Louis the the most unlucky person in the world? (well, MM writer then)
Every week in his System Builder column he has problem after problem after problem as far back as i can remember.
I'm always tinkering with my systems but hardly every get a problem, certainly not the amount he has.
This week once again he's taken out his RAM and gfx card with an oral fired projectile.
If it's not his PC's it's his E mail or ISP (which i would have got shot of long ago).
Can't we all do some sort of lucky chanting for him? Poor Louis.

Ok its bound to have been mention before but seeing as i cant find it.

Theshavenape — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:05:54 GMT

I buy my copy of micro mart every week from were ever i can find it i do a lot of traverling and so if one shop hasnt got it friday someone else will. Subscription is on my things to do list like learn to spell etc lol

Anyway.

When ever i need advice on pcs like everyone here its micro mart magazine or forum pages. But i for one would be more than happy to part with a fare price for a decent how to guide. Every man and there dog produce em how to do anything with a pc. even the guys that do the car manuals are at it. I belive PC world has there own one...........Thats not gonna end well.

So hows about it?

Building and maintaining PCs a guide by micro mart.

Case Modding, Fault finding, And if ya feeling brave over clocking.

I know the magazine covers these topics but i like books reference is my friend and i cant be the only one. God i hope not anyway!!!!!!!!!!:w00t:

I will even buy a subscription if ya consider it promise!

This weeks mag the 8900x2 jobie.

Teafie — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:35:32 GMT

Well what a fruit cake you will have to be to buy this bit of junk.

2x gpu's! What does this mean? well not alot if the games you run are not optiomised for dual GPU. Scalling up? I dont think so!

A fool and his money soon part.

It completley eludes me how the likes of NV can take the proverbial out of us with this junk and they will, why? because the do it time and time again. All it needs is one good review.

KDE 4 Feature

darrelljon — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:02:25 GMT

KDE 4 was released today. How about an in-depth feature on it in the next issue?

The Colclusion in the Power Miser Article

Spedley — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:38:29 GMT

I have often thought that PSU's are specified far above what a PC actually uses and this article seems to prove it although it doesn't mention it in it's conclusion.

The quad core machine with an 800W PSU doesn't seem to every use more than 210W. I also believe that the 800W is what the PSU can output whereas the 210W is what it draws and assuming 85% effiency (I'll come back to that) the components are really only using a maximum of 179W or 25% of the PSU.

No, the PSU is rated at 85% effieicny but that is at it's optimal power drain. It could well be running at 70% efficiency with such a low load.

I am aware that you need consider different power requirements at differrent voltagees on different rails but still, a modern PSU should be able to supply a minimum of what it quotes and peaks above that and should have it's outputs evenly balanced for a modern PC.

Perhaps there is another article in there about the PSU's being fashionable and not being matched for purrpose but looking at the table, the Miser PC would do fine with a 100W output PSU and it would run at it's quoted efficency. Can you buy a 100W PSU ... I think not!

Scaremongering.

steve2306 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:54:59 GMT

I have finally got around to reading the other parts of the mag today and whilst I enjoy most of what is written occasionally something tends to get my back up but I usually let it go but after this weekend my dander is still bolt upright,it concerns the article on page 79 concerning the tie-up with Warner Music and Amazon MP3 downloads,in the article you state-

"the RIAA ......has begun legal action against a man from Arizona because he copied his CDs onto his computer.Apparently the fact that he didn't share the files or even make them available for sharing,and that he had legitimately bought the CD's in the first place,and that even Bill Gates has said that that's the best way to handle music if you don't want to deal with DRM-infested MP3 downloads".

Now my problem here is with,who is this man? why was he targeted?how did the RIAA know what he had on his computer?why were the RIAA interested?on what grounds did law enforcement seek to enter his property and inspect his computer?,I could go on but you get the idea,this is the sort of scaremongering that goes on in the media a lot and there are people out there that will take this as a warning that you are being watched and so put them off using there computers for anything.Now I know you have to fill your pages with something but I have always believed you were above this sort of thing and would/have reported only stories relevant and substantiated with facts,please take on board my points and do not assume I am aiming at anyone in particular,thank you.

PS,To the person who stated that my persoanl opinion, relevant only to me, about certain products I would not use was-

"If that's not a blanket,illogical,lets-all-jump-in-the-air-raid-shelter comment,then I do not know what is"

read the above quote for your answer.

Latest issue not arrived?

MartenReed — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 11:46:08 GMT

This week's issue hasn't come yet (I subscribe). It normally comes on wednesdays, and it's never late.
Anyone else not recieved it?

Price rise?

MartenReed — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:10:33 GMT

Has the price risen permanently?
I noticed it went up by 1p this week (nothing massive I know), but does this make subscriptions more expensive now or do they stay the same price?
Thanks :D