Starrylizard

I have basic questions.

What does one look for in a laptop/notebook these days? Does something along these lines sound like a reasonable deal?

If possible I would like something powerful enough to vid on, but it wouldn't have to be super fast at it. I mostly just want it for travel, so light would be good. Also, money IS an object. I need something reasonably priced in Australian dollars.

Does anyone buy netbooks any more? My understanding is they can't do much, so a cheaper laptop would probably be a better deal... though that might mean bigger and heavier.

General advice from anyone in the know would be most appreciated. I'd like to have something set up and running by early March, so I can take it to my conference late in March.

Thank you! xxx
(Feel free to jump in whether you know me or not.)

So, I haven't had a gaming console of any sort for quite a few years now. I do like the odd platform game, but these days I'm not that in to gaming. That said, I'm being tempted by the Wii and all the various dance and exercise games out there. I'd like to get fitter and they look like something you could play for ten or twenty minutes when you've got no other avenue for exercise (i.e. it's raingin or you get home late from work, etc.).

So my question, have any of you played the Wii games, such as the Zumba, dancing, exercise ones and if so:
Are they fun?
Do they get you moving?
Do you recommend them or are they quickly tossed aside as boring?
If they're good, which ones are best, most addictive that you've played?

Also, is there some other (possibly a SONY) equivalent now to a Wii? I've been seeing a system around, but haven't heard anyone mention it. Maybe it didn't take off? Is the Wii a good system or is there something else everyone is buying now for the type of games I'm interested in?

I'm also tempted to just get a treadmill and set it up in front of my TV, but I'm thinking... Wii's do seem reasonably priced these days.

Cheers
♥

I updated Firefox to 4.0.1 because it was very insistent about it, but now Firefox keeps crashing. Anyone else having issues?

Um, Firefox updated sometime before Christmas and ever since it tries to install the update and fails and has a hissy fit every time I open the program.

Anyone else having the same issues?

I'm not sure whether I should try to reinstall the program or something. It seems whatever the update is, it's not installing.

Okay, I have an external hard drive (500GB) that works fine on my old computer, but when I plug it into the new computer it doesn't like it.

To be more precise it says "Unknown device" and in the device function summary it tells me "windows has stopped the device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)

Anyone have any idea what that's about? It's the HD I usually do my vidding from and it's still working when I plug it into the old computer.

Edit: I've tried switching the cable with the one from a HD that does read fine, but it didn't help, so not a cable problem.


(I feel like such a geek with two computers whirring away side by side right now.)

Okay, so I'm looking at ordering a new PC. *squee - about time* The one I'm customising has different video and sound card options and I'm a bit of a dunce in this area. I don't know what is good at all.

Video editing and watching movies would probably be the two main things I use these for. I wouldn't mind playing the odd computer game too, but I'm not a gamer or anything.

The ones in the pictures that are clicked are the default ones that come with the computer, so I'd go with that option or better. Can anyone help me out with what is the difference in performance between them and which one might be good for me? I can send you a link to the computer so you can see the whole setup if it helps.

( screen cap of options under the cut )

Can anyone tell me if there is an easy way to get your computer to display all your system details?

So what version of Windows you're running and which service packs are installed...that kind of thing.

I just went through this mammoth process of installing all these extra microsoft bibs and bobs in order to get my MP3 player software to work. The software now opens, but crashes every time I try to do anything. And apparently this is my fault now, because I'm obviously running it on an incompatible system. But I gave them all my system details at the beginning of all this...back in Nov last year! How dare they? *steams*

SO I need something I can screen cap and send back in an angry-ish post proving that I do indeed have the system I said I have.

Can I move my "My Videos" and "My Music" folders etc to another hard drive and still get WMP etc. to recognise where the files are?

I assume I just need to change a default setting somewhere, but sometimes Windows isn't so simple. Anyone know?

I recently reinstalled Zone Alarm Firewall and it's slowing down my internet like mad and it really seems to dislike click-able links. I was just using Windows Firewall until recently, but I don't really trust it to do a good enough job.

I've used COMODO in the past, so I may try that one again, but does anyone have any other free Firewall software recommendations?

Thanks

Keyboard smash of joy!

VEGAS IS WORKING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Let's just hope I haven't jinxed it now.