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For the first time I'm dismayed at the actions of PCS. The thread at https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?44397-PCS-Unsafe-wiring-could-have-killed-me-Its-ok-tho-they-are-sorry/page2, if proven true, is extremely serious and I think it's unwise for a PCS employee to shut down the...

I thought it might be interesting to see people's experiences of installing Windows 10, so I've created this poll. If you wish to comment please add your PC/laptop type. I'm an Optimus IV (Clevo W35x_37xET). Windows 10 installed ok for me, none of the drivers that Windows update found would...

This might be normal behaviour but I wanted to check whether anyone else sees it. In Windows 10 (Pro) the mouse pointer becomes unresponsive when some system task is in progress. For example, if I empty a pretty full inbox the mouse pointer is completely unresponsive until the empty recycle bin...

This is Margaret Hamilton, lead software engineer on the Apollo project. This is the source code for the Automatic Guidance System which she wrote. My guess is that it's almost certainly assembler code - hence the huge size. I was having fun writing assembler in the early 1970's too. Respect to...

As always, apologies if this was already well known, I've only just found out how to do this myself. :) Getting into safe mode in Windows 8/8.1 can be a problem, pressing F8 on boot doesn't bring up the familiar text menu containing Safe Mode etc. However, you can restore this behaviour with a...

A fellow boat owner in the marina here managed to drop his laptop into 6m of water a few days ago. It was in the sea for only 10 minutes or so before another yachtie dived in and fetched it out. Stupidly he just dried it out and then tried to power on, not surprisingly nothing worked. He's just...

I thought some of you might be interested to see this? I was competing in the Cretan Union Cup regatta last week, not on my boat though but on a Gib'Sea 36 belonging to a friend. We didn't win anything but we had a lot of fun. We're the boat heading left to right in this picture (number 23) and...

I'm not really looking for help here, more to check that I didn't miss anything.... :) Some dear friends have been visiting Crete for the last 3 weeks, they have an olive grove here. They went home this morning. Last night (at 9:30pm) I got a frantic phone call that their laptop had died. When...

I got a rather nice email from PCS the other day reminding me that it was two years ago that my Optimus IV was delivered to me, so I thought it might help those browsing these fora looking for info on the reliability of PCS built laptops if I posted a brief 2-year review of mine. Here's the...

I've had disagreements with others on here before about using msconfig to permanently disable startup programs. Microsoft recommend that msconfig is not used to do so, it's only a temporary debugging tool, and that is the position I have always taken. Others on here (and elsewhere) have...

Like most folks on here I know that having two firewalls active at the same time can be troublesome, but until I accidentally managed to do it the other day I hadn't realised just how troublesome it can be. I thought my experience would be useful, especially to those searching these fora for...

For those who don't know, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn developed the protocols that became TCP/IP for the DARPA network (ARPANET) back in the 1970's and that led directly to the development of the Internet we know today. My tiny claim to fame is that I once attended a seminar given by Vint Cerf many...

It's all in the title! Google Earth Pro is now free, see http://www.intotheplanet.com/google-earth-pro-is-now-free/. You have to register to get an unlock key sent to you via email but otherwise you just download and install it. I have it running alongside Google Earth (basic). I haven't...

To me Vanthus was a giant on here, when I first joined the fora almost 2 years ago he was everywhere, and always with sound advice and good solutions. I'm two time zones ahead of the UK and yet, in the mornings when I opened new tech support posts, Vanthus had already posted the best solution or...

....is a fire in a crowded marina. It happened here in our winter marina on Crete last night, a 65ft motor cruiser burst into flames. It took the fire brigade well over an hour to get it under control. There were lots of very worried boat owners here last night! Fortunately nobody was hurt but...

Following from the height thread I thought it might be interesting to get a feel for ages. I've made it a poll, the answers are private so that nobody need worry about giving their age.....

Apologies if this is already well-known but I've just spent and hour or so scratching around to find this. Those of us that installed Windows 8 and then performed the online upgrade to Windows 8.1 cannot use our original Windows 8 install disks to do a system refresh because the installed...

MY 18-month old Optimus IV is idling a tad over 10 deg C hotter than it used to (50 deg C instead of around 35 deg C). I've just done a good clean of the fan and vanes etc. and that's not made much difference. Might the thermal paste be breaking down? I've never re-pasted a CPU so I'm looking...

Patch Tuesday (yesterday) released a number of critical patches for all supported versions of Windows to close a serious loophole that has existed in Windows for 19 years! See http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30019976 and https://technet.microsoft.com/library/security/ms14-nov. These patches...

I had a pop-up from Trusteer Rapport last night requiring me to accept new terms and conditions (a new EULA) to allow my continued use of the Rapport security product. I've been running Rapport for years, ever since my bank (NatWest) first offered it. I will confess that I didn't read the...