philp

Thanks for the reply, CA3LE. That's exactly what I want to do. Thanks for the welcome, too, but I have been a registered member for many years. I've just been on a very long hiatus for personal reasons.

Thanks for the replies. I really don't care whether Windows 8 lives or dies, I just want Windows 7 on the machine. I've read articles like this and wonder if that's all there is to it: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417361,00.asp

This has probably been asked before, but my search turns up nothing. I want to buy a new HP computer that comes preloaded with Windows 8. I want to install Windows 7 over it. Does anyone know what exactly need to be done? I have found conflicting info on Google searches so I thought I would ask the experts. Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately that's not an option due to limited space.

Who is your internet provider and what are your advertised speeds? If you have a DSL connection, you may not be able to do any better than that but if it's cable, you truly do need help. BTW, welcome to the TMN forum!

At work I use 3 different catalogs to look up parts and an ADP program for billing and ordering so I have at least 4 programs open all day and it's not uncommon to have as many as 9 at any given time. The problem comes when I am using a catalog and then go back to ADP by clicking on it in the taskbar. Sometimes I can start typing but usually I have to click on the page first otherwise the keystrokes do not appear. If I have copied info from one page I can restore another from the taskbar and right click/paste and the info appears. But then I have to click on the page to enter a quantity. If I use the cumbersome Alt + Tab option to get back to ADP, it's not an issue. ADP is a web-based program, if that matters. It is also a Unix system but I don't think that has anything to do with it. Is there anything that can be done so I don't have to click on the page before I can use it?

FYI, the best exchange site I know of is www.xe.com They have the most current rates. And yeah, that set up is a pretty good deal.

Looks like Dell is the winner for a few reasons: 1) Apparently the trackpad wasn't designed for guys with large fingers. He couldn't get it to cooperate and said "this must have been designed by a woman". 2) Twice the standard warranty. Two years vs Mac's one. Even making it a 3 year warranty was only an additional $100 vs Mac's $349. 3) Having 2 video cards is really a waste of time, money and space. Why not just install the better of the 2 and be done with it? 4) Could not justify the price. The Macbook is very pretty, though.

Your spelling and grammar skills are astonishing for an 8 year old, Darrick. Better than most of the adults here.

Well, we are going this weekend to the Apple store to see where all that extra money goes.

You can upgrade the Dell to a "Full Hi Definition, glossy widescreen 15.4 inch LCD (1920x1200)" for $200 over the base sticker price. Still $900 less than the Mac.

Hell of an idea!! Take it for a test drive! Thanks, mudmanc4! I'll let you know what he decides.

For an extra $100 you can upgrade the Dell to the same processor and upgrade the display to 1440x900. And as far as RAM goes, Apple states "More memory (RAM) increases overall performance and enables your computer to run more applications at the same time. All MacBook Pro models support up to 4 gigabytes of RAM." Bus speed is not that big a deal. But they also charge an extra $150 to upgrade to 4 gigs. And if you wanted the same 320 GB harddrive, it brings the total to $2249 which is $1100 more than the Dell. That's twice the price. I can't argue the OS debate because we have no experience with Mac, but we have both used Vista. So I will concede there. Is there anything else? I mean, we really can't justify $1100 for a backlit keyboard, an extra video card and an aluminum case. Kinda reminds me of the Kia vs Land Rover commercial a couple of years back where all the Land Rover could offer was more cupholders.

My brother-in-law is looking for a laptop and doesn't mind spending the money, he just doesn't like to piss it away. Considering it costs $900 more, has a smaller hard drive, 1/2 the memory and a slightly smaller display, where is the advantage in buying the Mac over the Dell? We would really appreciate educated opinions on this. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_pro?mco=MTI4MDI http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dydohu5&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=features~laptops_great_deals

Dell laptop w/built-in wireless card and Linksys WRT54g2 wireless router. :::.. testmy.net test results ..::: Download Connection is:: 13795 Kbps about 13.8 Mbps (tested with 12288 kB) Download Speed is:: 1684 kB/s Upload Connection is:: 1231 Kbps about 1.2 Mbps (tested with 5983 kB) Upload Speed is:: 150 kB/s Tested From:: https://testmy.net (Main) Test Time:: 2008/11/23 - 8:15am D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-7E9LNWI1R U-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-KZU15GENC User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.30; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; NET_mmhpset) [!]

And what is wrong with Dell anyway? I've been using a Dell laptop as my primary computer since July 2006 and all I've ever done was increase the RAM from 1 gig to 2. It came with a Western Digital HDD, a Sony DVD player (I had no use for a burner at the time), an ASUS mobo and of course an Intel Pentium 4 processor. Still going strong after 28 trouble free months.

I've had really good luck with Linksys, but Netgear is supposed to be just as good. Read some reviews first, though. http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,2806,4234,00.asp

Time Offset: Number of hours to +/- to make displayed time equal to your local time. (auto detect) Current forum time: November 09, 2008, 10:03:43 AM Didn't seem to make a difference. Edit: Apparently it helps to save your changes. I'm on time now.

Is it just me or is everyone's off by an hour? When I check my profile, all looks well but my posts show a time of one hour in the future. Time Offset: Number of hours to +/- to make displayed time equal to your local time. (auto detect) Current forum time: November 09, 2008, 06:53:08 AM

Probably some sort of spyware. What was on the flash drive?

That would make sense. But then again, the companies wouldn't make as much money if the gamers let them know up front that the game needed work before it was released. And these days, it's all about the almighty dollar. Customer satisfaction doesn't even figure into the equation.

I've never gone through customs with a laptop, but I know they will pass it through the x-ray machine just for security purposes. I doubt they have the time to inspect every program on every laptop that comes through.

Welcome to the forum, Munch!! Hope your stay is long and enjoyable!!

And beyond that, how is it that a people can leave their "homeland" behind for whatever reason, move to a completely different country and then expect to be able, and allowed, to turn that country into the one they left?

Have you tried connecting directly to the router using an ethernet cable? Do you know the specs on your computer? Any other info you can post will help us diagnose this issue.