Hardware & Technical Computer Build to run Elite Dangerous

[Sparticus]

I have installed 30 free AntiVirus Programs, every Registry and PC Optimizer I could find, as well as all the Spyware Programs that are around, and my PC is still running slow...

hopefully not at the same time.

Yeah - does that not give me the maximun protection ????


Joking - but I have seen this far too often.

My PC is Fine - currently 1 week old, SSD, Win 8.1 64 Bit, 16 Gig RAM Fast CPU and GPU Water cooled . No games yet - just waiting patiently for E.D.

 

[KING5TON]

What features does WinZip have that you needed to pay money for?

7-zip does everything I could ever hope for, and it's utterly free.

I personally prefer WinRAR, to each his own though

 

[Commander Mick]

If You Can't Trust Professional Retailers.......

Agreed. Hate shop salesmen who tell you outright lies ("you need an antivirus to go online").

As mentioned, go for Microsoft Security Essentials. It's unobtrusive and does the job, and is free.

Well, I actually requested Anti-Virus-Software while I was choosing which accessories to purchase with my new machine and the salesman merely agreed saying that a wise decision.

You don't need an AV to go online at all: what an AV will do for you is scan for potential nasties in things you download. If you're downloading something from a trusted website (e.g. microsoft.com for their AV) you'll be safe enough.

I had hoped when I said I needed reliable anti-virus-software for when I download the game ALPHA from what ever link Frontier Developments might send me at the appointed time. That you all didn't think I was implying that the their code would contain anything malicious in itself. The way I see it is that your computer is sort of like some Elite styled space-craft opening up a Witch/Hyper Space when ever it connects to a foreign website to download information. Now, there may not be any virus's on the site you are downloading from, but there may be virus's on the path along the way. Somewhere along that connection that has been made between the computer and the foreign website. In this way, I see the foreign website as another planetary system you have targeted with your Witch/Hyper Space drive engine and as you make your jump. Those nasty virus's (Or Mal-Ware or Spy-Ware) might be hovering somewhere along that connection without having anything to do with foreign website/planetary system. They are sort of like Thargoids hovering Witch-/Hyper Space. Instead of attacking you though, they merely piggyback ride on what ever you are downloading.

Hope you understand that analogy. I thought it very apt at the time. Anyway, that the way I see how virus's work. They could come from any part of the web and not just from where you are downloading. Hence my concern. It's better to be safe than sorry. I would never accuse a respectable software company of trying to do that.

As for the USB ports, even if you don't have more than four, you should be able to buy a cheap USB hub. A 4-port hub will effectively add 3 ports (as it will take one of your existing ones to give you 4 more).

USB Hub I remembered that today while I went back to Harvey Norman this afternoon to look at their anti-virus software again. They only have Norton 360 and some to her brand I haven't heard of it anywhere. I only had 28.00 AUD to spare and their cheapest Norton software was about 79.00 AUD So I was out of luck there. I still think Norton are worthy despite it's over intrusiveness. Though, I do have plan which I will share later in this post. About the USB Hubs....I mentio9ned them to the salesman and he agreed they are handy. I also mention that thing about the shared latency and he said spends on how much money I would like to spend. Not that I think I may need one now, as it does turn out I my new machine does have eight USB ports.

I would suggest asking here if there's anything you aren't sure about. Don't go back to the shop for advice, as they'll tell you anything to get you to part with your money (and in most cases don't know what they're talking about anyway).

Well, I already have. Anyway, It's not like you can sell me a brand new computer and I think both the salesman and I can agree that I've already spend enough money on this.

If I understood correctly, they tried to charge you $70 to overclock your graphics card? That's something you should be able to do yourself with any number of free utilities.

Yea, I was a bit concerned about it at first, but the salesman said that this was professional factory standard overclocking with all the right bits n pieces. The number was about 1000 or 2000 and I thought it was done as it should be it might be safe and thought this was cool

I was disappointed when he said I couldn't afford the $70.00 AUD to have this done after the budget was taken into account and that was the first time I heard it cost that much. The salesman said I wouldn't really notice much of a difference without it anyway.

I still use NIS, and it ain't that bad - you just have to control it.
Having said that, I'll probably be switching to Microsoft Security Essentials in the new year.

Maybe, I never really bothered with trying to control it. All I noticed were all the annoying pop-ups which would temporarily freeze whatever you were doing and the other times it would ask you to shut down and restart your computer so it could install something else it downloaded. I supposed I shouldn't complain about latter as that proves it's doing part of it's job at least. However, I always thought my computers (Both the Desktop and the Laptop) were slow due to how many games and other stuff I had installed on
both of them. I never factored in Norton as a contributor to this problem. As far as I am concerned, it's there to help and nothing else.

OH, LOOK WHAT I DID HERE....

The following errors occurred with your submission:
The text that you have entered is too long (18028 characters). Please shorten it to 15000 characters long.

I have exceeded the word count and the rest will be continued in the next post....

 

[Commander Mick]

Continued From The Previous Post....

If it's a modern high spec card, and a modern high spec CPU, you really have NO need to overclock anything unless you're doing something extreme?

I guess I'm just obsessed with more and more power to my machine.

All you'll be doing is generating more heat (& noise) for no gain and unnecessarily stressing stuff.

Well, they did say that the overclocking came with all the right bits n pieces to reduce heat and noise.

I suspect overclocking can wait for years ahead when you really need to.

When the computer is about to pack it in anyway.

It's been replaced by built-in AV for Win 8, I believe - but it's still downloadable for Win 7.

I just told dad that I would check and see if there is website and a place where I can download the free version of Microsoft Security Essentials. Now my dad had said that they had become obsolete a few years ago. He said he used to use it back then and has since stopped using it as it was no longer available. Since then, we both have been using Norton 360. I see there are a few links for it and what appears to be a official website for it. I go there and dad urges me to download it and transfer the files over to the new computer when it's set up. Then he asks me if there is separate download for Windows 8 version. There doesn't appear to be one and I forget what he said next. I think he meant for me to not transfer it over if it's not compatible with the latest operating system and that we may still use Norton or this Windows Defender when he found out more about it....

What features does WinZip have that you needed to pay money for?

Nothing special except that it's the more well known software for unzipping compressed files. I really wanted it for these and these. Especially unzipping those OXP's for Oolite. I plan to be using all those emulations on my new computer providing they can be safely downloaded.

My reason for paying for a physical boxed version of WinZip is because I had tried to purchase a years access to it online and it then told me within matter of months that I needed purchase it again and could no longer use what I thought I had rightly owned.

That's when, I stumbled onto.....

7-zip does everything I could ever hope for, and it's utterly free.

I think I a stumbled across this when it was automatically downloaded as I tried ti unzip some OXP's from Oolite. I have since gravitated to using this free version. Though, it has since always bothered me why I couldn't access the WinZip I had purchased.

Incidently, when you purchase a boxed version of WinZip. Is it permanent access until it needs upgrading or just for year or a few months?

I paid $59.00 AUD for mine. JUst a sec, I will go get the box and have a look.....

Norton is still pretty good tbh gets a lot of stick from people that remember how slow and how much of a resource hog it used to be if you look at the independent lab tests it always dose pretty well normally in the top 3 or 4.

My dad still swears by it. You see, I not only use to protect my computer from virus's and Mal-Ware. I also need it to protect my computer from spy-ware. Partically those things that find out credit card details on line and steal them. I do most of my banking online and also use Ebay, and [Sage-Pay when ever I submit a order to the 2000AD Online Store. I know Pay-Pal is very secure and has a good reputation when ordering things on Ebay. Though, it's better to be safe than sorry and it was earlier this week that I got suspicious looking email that appeared to have been sent to me from Pay-Pal. Requesting that I re-enter my credit card details. This was after I had gone as far as logging into my account from that email and then going no further as I began to smell a rat. So, I got into contact with the actual Pay-Pal website and told them about this e-mail. I had been sent and they requested that I forward it to them at spoof@PayPal.com.au and that address didn't even turn out to be valid. So, I then, contacted them again for their main website and told them I couldn't forward the e-mail to the address they wanted it forwarded to. I'm still waiting for their reply now.

You can never be too careful when handling your most personal information over the World-Wide-Web.

Don't use AVG it maybe free but it is crud, had to sort a few friends and family members PC's out over the years who use AVG there is just so much stuff it fails to spot.

Now, I'm not sure what free Anti-Virus software I can trust. I have been receiving a lot of conflicting opinions from everyone. Though, there is a pattern forming.

The problem with Norton is that it's tentacles spread all over and into your operating system. All sorts of weird little things that the average user would never spot. Even if you uninstall it, the crap stays, and nothing sort of a complete reformat will properly fix it.

On old joke was that Norton is a virus that you pay for It's still true.

Like I said, up above, I think it's good for protecting your personal details from being stolen despite otherwise acting like huge resource using virus itself.

When I bought my macbook air a few months back the store gave me a free boxed copy of some antivirus thing. I threw it in the bin outside the store, never even opened the package. I still get emails asking me to activate it and enter my credit card details for a subscription lol. BestBuy have some "interesting" business practices.

Oh, Should have sent it to me

Any reason you need WinZip? Windows now handles .zip files natively, and for anything else (within reason) you could use the free 7-Zip, which will unzip just about any archive format you throw at it, including .zip. I'm surprised WinZip is still around, to be honest!

Yeah, I've have ben using that one since I had the problems with WinZip I mentioned above.

Eight USB ports should be plenty. As I mentioned before, if you need more than that you can get USB expansion hubs -- these just plug into one of the USB ports and magically converts that one port into four. There are some limitations to the number of devices you can plug in but you shouldn't have to worry about that.

Yeah, I don't like the side effects of using one under my current budget. I think I will stick with the eight USB ports that have been found.

STILL TOO LONG TO FIT IN TWO POSTS.....

Continued in the next post.....

 

[Richo]

I`m hoping my old Dell xps17 still can rock it with:
I7- 2820QM
16GB Ram
550 GTX 3D 3GB Vid output to 32" monitor
128GB SSD Win7 & ED only

 

[Commander Mick]

This Should Be It Here....

USB hubs are great, very useful things. Remember that any devices connected to them will have added latency and only have the bandwidth of a single USB port at any given time.

I prefer to have latency sensitive devices plugged directly into the motherboard ports (keyboard, mouse, joystick etc), things I occasionally use into a hub (card reader, DVD drive etc).

If you have any USB3 ports (the blue ones) don't use them for things like keyboards etc. They are more suited to things like hard drives, backups etc will go much faster that way.

Yes, the salesman actually said something along similar lines when I returned to the store this afternoon. So, everyone is agreed on that.

We're going off topic here

Should let the MODS know and have this thread split and moved to the Hardware forum :S

- But as a final word, I use AVG across 4 machine from XP to Windows 7... Never a single problem.

So many conflicting opinions on this one and yet so many agree. On some other things.

I suspect if people are doing stupid things - downloading/running stuff without thinking - nothing would help!

Trust me, I will be very careful handling my new hardware

Will admit it can be a pain in the but to uninstall lol, but the Norton uninstaller tool dose an ok job these days as long as you use something like CCleaner to clear up the registry after seems to get rid of all of it, there used to be a third party program made for uninstalling Norton that did a really good job of getting rid of it but I cant remember the name.

I just asked my dad what he does when uninstalling Norton so he can upgrade it with the next version for the next twelve months. I should recall this myself, but only remember uninstalling the previous version before adding the new software. He said he goes to the Control-Panel and clicks on the link for uninstalling a program and from there. Once Norton 360 has been clicked on. This opens the Norton Uninstaller of which he says, does the job without using any other special cleaner program. He said, he always sticks with the more well know versions of software (Like Norton!) of great repute. He also said that you could very easily get away with installing the newer version right on top of it's predecessor, but prefers to uninstall it first. Just to be on the safe side.

I guess you can never to sure you have completely gotten rid of software you don't want on your machine anymore.

I think a complete uninstall and reinstall of the operation system is the only other option.

well maybe they all are did do something wrong, just my personal experience of AVG has not been good.

Well, it is one of the free ones. I guess that can be expected. Though, my father suggested I try that myself if I couldn't afford a proper one like Norton in the meantime. He did say that you get what you pay for.
I just wish Norton didn't come with all it's side effects.

Microsoft Security Essentials is up to date and will do the job. You definitely do not want Norton, although someone said use Norton Uninstaller they also said they then need to run CCleaner, which means Norton Uninstaller is not doing a complete job.

Both my father, I and perhaps a few of you believe that Microsoft Security Essentials is not meant for Windows 8 and has been replaced. Perhaps it has been replaced by Windows Defender.

I've had five machines all running different anti-virus programs one was AVG free and another AVAST free version, both of which did excellent jobs. As a home user, you really do not need to pay for anti-virus any more.

Somebody, I asked today about anti-virus software today uses Avast and swears by it. I still reckon you get what you pay for.

I'm not sure why you want to pay for Win-Zip either. As others have said, Windows has had good built in (native) zip support dating back to XP

Then why does it always request that I pay for it's access every time I try to use it.

Almost everyone connects to the internet via a router these days, almost all of which have fire-walls built in. This plus the firewall in MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) is enough for most people's needs, just make sure you never, ever, ever store banking / shopping passwords on your computer and type them in every time and, as others have said, only download s/w from reputable sites such as Adobe etc.

But I do, I just never do this on a public computer and I always delete my cookies on those sites.

I have installed 30 free AntiVirus Programs, every Registry and PC Optimizer I could find, as well as all the Spyware Programs that are around, and my PC is still running slow...

I do know that not a good idea. As I once had Norton 360 and one of the free McAfee versions and my father said that this will only cause a conflict with each other. Possibly having one stopping the other from working properly or both. I can't imagine what thirty Anti-Virus Programs, every Registry and every PC Optimiser would be doing to your system while trying to find room to work around each other and the memory that's been wasted holding them all.

hopefully not at the same time.

if it's slow, check the usage of you paging file and how much RAM is in use. too much of either will slow the machine - soln: get more RAM

you can also look in task manager to see if there's anything running a lot.

in XP, Task manager used to report max amount RAM used since the computer started whcih was a good indicator to see if you needed more RAM. They removed this really useful feature since XP unfortunately.

Although, I didn't notice much of difference when I removed McAfee in favour of Norton. I guess it's all the other software I use.

Yeah - does that not give me the maximun protection ????


Joking - but I have seen this far too often.

My PC is Fine - currently 1 week old, SSD, Win 8.1 64 Bit, 16 Gig RAM Fast CPU and GPU Water cooled . No games yet - just waiting patiently for E.D.

Didn't think it would, but you were only kidding.... right

Regarding Windows Defender my dad came to the conclusion that it's not real anti-virus software and when it adopted to run with Windows 8 he never bothered with it. While he does admit that he might be missing something important here. He just had a look at what Microsoft has to say about the current version of Windows Defender that it uses and it read that it only takes care of Mal-Ware and Spy-Ware. Which is good for something but not for actual virus's.

My plan is to ring Harvey Norman tomorrow morning and ask them if I can could exchange the copy of Win-Zip (Which I don't really need right now.) for the difference in money ($59.00 AUD) combined with the money I still have left to spend ($28.00 AUD) to buy one of their Norton 360's for use on two different computers and make that exchange before next Monday. Problem is I thought I hadn't actually opened the WinZip box yet. When I think I had ripped off the plastic shrink wrapping. I didn't open the box or even break the seal on the lid.

Do you think ripping off the plastic shrink wrap depreciates it's worth or my chances of exchanging it for something I really need?

That's my plan, otherwise I could wait until Monday morning. When I get paid again. I don't think I can wait that long.

 

[Majere]

Apples and Oranges are not the only fruit

I´m f***ed.
I own a great Imac - with 27 inch screen
with 2,8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Prozessor (8 MB L3-Cache)
I played Portal 2 and Bioshock with it. It worked perfectly.

The grafik-card is a
ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB GDDR3 Memory

If I had the same set-Up in the PC-World, I could easily and for not much money upgrade the system.

But as it is policy of apple: There is no way I can upgrade my grafik-card on an imac.

So if I want to play Elite properly, I have to by a new computer,
for witch I do not have the cash.

That´s why apple will always be second choice for gamers
and that is why I will not be able to play ED with Boot Camp on my Mac.

It´s interesting that currently only the top of the line models of imac and macbook pro support a 2Gig Grafik-Card and they are very expensive.

Makes me think that the mac support of the game will only be usefull for very, very few exclusive customers.

I am sad. :-(

Ok, first off I would wait to see what the specs would be on the Mac version when it comes out as
a) it will be after gamma testing and so optimisation would have taken place.
b) OSX does interesting things with memory management that gives you more bang for your buck - whether this holds for GPU memory I am not sure.
Of course this does not help if you were going to use BootCamp and run Windows. <shudders/>
c) You can replace the graphics card in an iMac if you know what you are doing, are very very careful and have no warranty left to worry about.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3029120?start=0&tstart=0

I am in a similar situation although have 1GB graphics memory. I have no intention of sacrificing the stability of my Mac by taking it apart or installing windows so I wait and see what the Mac specification will be.

 

[KING5TON]

Regards security choose whatever anti virus you want but only have one installed and running at once (although you can supplement this with some anti malware software, E.g. I personally use Avast anti virus (free version) and Spybot search and destroy anti malware).

Norton doesn't have the best rep and as an informal tech support person to all my friends and family I've personally seem it cause more problems that it solves.

When you've got your preferred anti virus installed there's several other things you can do that help you stay free and clear that I've learned from many years of computer use.

First one is update your damn virus scanner regulary. The amount of PC's I've been asked to fix where when you look they haven't updated their antivirus since installing it is depressing. Set it to auto update and maybe check that it is up to date manually every so often.

Another is to ditch Internet Explorer for a better browser, I personally like firefox but you use what you like.
I like firefox due to the addons such as adblock and the like but the most important one I've found regards security is NoScript. What this does is stop any scripts from websites running unless you give express permission. It does cause a little effort to use as every time you view a new website you have to determine which things you let it run and which you don't. Once you've done it once though it's remembers so you don't have to do it everytime, just on new sites.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript/

Since I've started using it I can't remember the last time I was infected by a virus.

Another tip is that if you download something from a site that may not be 100% legit is to scan the files before running/opening them.

Finally create some restore points. If you do get infected it's often possible to roll back to a restore point prior to the infection which saves your PC and means you don't have to format your drives and reinstall everything if it all goes **** up

 

[jabokai]

Regarding Windows Defender my dad came to the conclusion that it's not real anti-virus software and when it adopted to run with Windows 8 he never bothered with it. While he does admit that he might be missing something important here. He just had a look at what Microsoft has to say about the current version of Windows Defender that it uses and it read that it only takes care of Mal-Ware and Spy-Ware. Which is good for something but not for actual virus's.

Your dad is wrong - http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/pc-security/windows8.aspx#antivirus

I've skimmed your posts on this PC build (not read them ALL as they're too damn long ) and I have to say you've made quite a few bad decisions in your rush to get this done. People have given a lot of well meaning advice but you seem to be crashing from one misunderstanding to the next. You really should have gotten someone you know, and trust, locally to help you with this seeing as you're fairly new (it seems) to high end PC intricacies, and even general PC stuff (e.g. buying Winzip!)

Still, I hope it all works out for you in the end.

 

[Commander Mick]

These Videos Are Taking Longer Than Expected.....

hey... i love the unboxing videos..!!

please post a link asap you done it.

I just have to unbox my computer and set it up. Until then, I'm sitting at my old computer (Copying and Pasting from a Online Keyboard because the physical keyboard is busted. The l key completely missing and the other keys don't work without a lot of effort. I had no idea how much I need to type l until I lost it.) doing this right now while the battery to my Handy-Cam recharges at the power-point in my other room. Before I can film it the unboxing and setting up.

Yeah mick post a link to your video!

Dad reckons I should unbox and try out the speakers first. See if they work properly.

I have only just up-loaded the first video later this morning since earlier in the morning. The other four videos are still uploading. The next one is only about 70% done.

Funny thing is they aren't really long videos

 

[HaiderGill]

I´m f***ed.
I own a great Imac - with 27 inch screen
with 2,8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Prozessor (8 MB L3-Cache)
I played Portal 2 and Bioshock with it. It worked perfectly.

The grafik-card is a
ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB GDDR3 Memory

If I had the same set-Up in the PC-World, I could easily and for not much money upgrade the system.

But as it is policy of apple: There is no way I can upgrade my grafik-card on an imac.

So if I want to play Elite properly, I have to by a new computer,
for witch I do not have the cash.

That´s why apple will always be second choice for gamers
and that is why I will not be able to play ED with Boot Camp on my Mac.

It´s interesting that currently only the top of the line models of imac and macbook pro support a 2Gig Grafik-Card and they are very expensive.

Makes me think that the mac support of the game will only be usefull for very, very few exclusive customers.

I am sad. :-(

Just open it up and change the grahics card. Look on the web/yoou-tube and somebody has probably already done it. You need make sure the grahics card you buy has a Mac driver for it; which really is not an issue.

 

[Abysinth]

1) Both me and my father and perhaps a few of you believe that Microsoft Security Essentials is not meant for Windows 8 and has been replaced. Perhaps it has been replaced by Windows Defender.

2) Somebody, I asked today about anti-virus software today uses Avast and swears by it. I still reckon you get what you pay for.

3) Then why does it always request that I pay for it's access every time I try to use it.

1) as someone else said, your Dad is wrong. Google stuff, it helps.

2) that's why I used to run five different computers (one for each member of the family and a server) with five different anti-virus solutions. Free AVAST was as effective as paid-for AVAST in the (admittedly) limited situation I had. Also, of all of the people I recommended free AVAST to, none of them ever had a virus problem that I had to go and fix for them. In ten years I had just one virus which was traced back directly to Lime Wire which my son installed without checking with me first. He and I had 'words'!

3) Win-Zip keeps asking you to pay for it because it's installed. Uninstall it and you will still be able to access all of the zip files you need. I've not had WinZip installed since Windows-98SE and I use Zip files every day. It's just a con on the part of Win-Zip.

 

[kilvenny]

I switched to Avast several years ago, we have multiple machines and have had one virus since and that was down to someone loading something they shouldn't and ignoring all the warnings.

 

[Oss133]

I recently switched back to Avast as well. AVG was getting a bit naggy.

 

[kilvenny]

Anyone ever bought from Vibox or had any experience of their builds before I part with my money

 

[Rog]

I find Avast works pretty well to be honest, although like most AV software, it's not for everyone.

For a lot of people, I'd probably recommend the MS solution:
Microsoft Security Essentials for everything BEFORE Windows 8
Microsoft Defender for Windows 8 and above.

(It's all essentially the same thing, just rebranded).

If you have McAfee, get rid of it as soon as possible:

• Uninstall it via the control panel. (Programs and Features in Win 8)
• Download their removal software HERE and run it.
• Then run CCleaner to clean up the registry.
• Then install Avast, AVG or the MS effort asap.

McAfee is the absolute pits.

 

[MadMerlin]

FX 8350
R9 280x
16GB ram
H80I
CrossHair V formula-Z
750 evga power supply
6TB of memory.
running on 32 inch tv

 

[Abysinth]

The way I figure it, anything that you have to download other utilities to clean up afterwards should be replaced with another product...

Oh, that'll include windows then ...

Whilst surfing the web, be careful you don't become infected by this virus.

 

[Commander Mick]

I'm Now Using My Computer.....

Minus the new Keyboard and Mouse which both need to be installed before they can be connected which makes things difficult. Right now I'm using a older keyboard and mouse from another computer already set up. The new computer looks really cool with a giant red light on the front of the tower gaming case and it doesn't make much of a noise despite the hardware installed inside it.

After some initial difficulties with getting the monitor to work correctly. Which was fixed when we connected both HDMI cables. The ones supplied with the Monitor and the one my father had been keeping spare and then dad thought speakers weren't working, but after I got onto You-Tube and clicked on video the speakers responded to what was playing very smoothly. Just some heavy-metal music. There was a bit of static coming form the Sub-Woofer. So I just lowered the volume down to half. Then when I logged on to this site, I decided to watch the capital ship video and for the first time. I could hear the radio chatter from the ship's com. I not sure about the graphical imagery. I was expecting something better, there. But just one thing at a time. I then clicked on one of the developer videos and had to turn the sound up to full again just so I could hear David Braben's voice properly. I guess I will need to read up on speakers and how they work exactly a little later.

The main problem though is that I am not correctly logged onto Microsoft Window 8.1 yet and I'm just working round it. It's being very difficult to work with and has stopped me in my tracks at every opportunity. I did have a Microsoft account made through my X-Box 360, but the forgotten password and user name were being kept on my Acer Laptop which has just about died (Over a week and half ago.) and only just works. It's very slow to start up and but won't respond to anything. It just takes forever to open anything and then tells me there is a error stopping it from completing this task. It's practically garbage at the moment and also holder of my most recent passwords. One of which is my Microsoft X-Box 360 account. In the mean time my father is letting me use his newer lap top. So I hopped back on that machine to see if I could find any of my Microsoft account details in my e-mail archives. Though it's not the easiest machine to use right now without it's keyboard and mouse which we have temporarily connected to the new computer. The computer has this difficult to use touch pad mouse. Anyway, I could locate any of account details had to create a new one. So, I started making a new Microsoft and it requested me to sign in with with a e-mail account. IT wouldn't except either of my Yahoo and Gmail accounts I had to create a completely new e-mail else where. So I hopped back on my father's Lap-Top and decided to try to create one with Outlook. It turns out it wouldn't accept Outlook. It said that this had something to do with the domain it was a part of. I'm not sure what that means exactly though. It also told me that it won't except any thing through Hotmail and MSN as well. So I try AOL and after false starts at completing my registration there. I submitted my new AOL e-mail address so I could make another Microsoft account and after a few more false starts there. I was apparently sent out a secret validation code to my new e-mail address that I must submit to complete my registration and when I got onto my AOL it merely has a verification e-mail with a link I must click on. I click on this and it takes me to the Microsoft page to type in my new email details. I have done this a number of times now and it's keeps telling me that I've entered in the wrong details, but I have double checked this a few times and don't know what I have done wrong, but I cannot complete my Microsoft registration without completing this part.

Except now, I have suddenly realised that maybe it's the details of my new Microsoft account not my AOL. I will try this one last time and then start head butting the monitor if this doesn't work.

Tomorrow morning, we are going to connect the new keyboard and mouse if I can get this registration done. After installing their software and perhaps later in the day we will move the new computer into the backroom. Originally I was going to put this into my bedroom. But I haven't cleaned the table yet and looks like there would not be enough room for the speakers. LIke ther eis in the back room.

In the mean time I'm just sitting here enjoying the speed and efficiency that can be enjoyed so far. I won't do much on the net yet,. Because of the lack of anti-virus software. I have decided to go head and buy Norton 360 again. I will take the boxed WinZip back and see if I can get my money back and then I will save money on buying the other software I really need.
I may not do this until Monday morning.

Thanks for all your helpful advice, Though there are a few conflicting opinions and I left a little confused by this. I also have to weigh some of your opinions against my fathers. You see I do have hard time disagreeing with him and following yours. It's not like I know you as well, despite all of your various experiences with computers and their innards. Unlike my father who has just been buying software and pre-built-computers for over last thirty years. Sorry if this offend you al, but thanks for your help anyway.

I think it will stick with Norton 360.

Most of the videos have been uploaded now and I just have to enter in some finishing touches before I will share them here. I will also have to upload the new video of my dad and I setting up the computer in the kitchen/dining room. That's going to take awhile, they're both two long videos.

 

[Asp Explorer]

Unlike my father who has just been buying software and pre-built-computers for over last thirty years. Sorry if this offend you al, but thanks for your help anyway.

I think it will stick with Norton 360.

No offense taken, I wish you the best of luck with it. I've been writing software and building (etching and drilling and populating PCB's) computers for over 30 years.

However, I do have to ask - what on earth do you have going on there? You seem to be running into one problem after the other, and it simply just shouldn't be anything like that. Computers are meant to make life easier, not make life worse.

A keyboard and mouse will simply work when it's plugged in regardless of wether it has drivers installed or not, unless you have some exotic Bluetooth thing.

Your monitor will only need one HDMI cable unless you have an extremely expensive ultra-high-res display. I don't have one, I don't think you do either. You may simply need to set it to pick up HDMI input first, and ignore VGA and DVI.

Speaker static is usually down to the inputs either not all being connected properly, poor cables, or your getting interference from something.

Windows 8.1 Metro sucks donkeys in my opinion - installing something like Start Menu 8 makes the experience a little less awful. You don't need to log on to Windows 8 with a Microsoft/xbox/whatever account unless you want to - it's handy for skydrive and a couple of other things but it's your choice. If you have account problems, it's fairly simple to get your password reset. Making accounts on non-Microsoft domains (aol/gmail etc) won't help you - it needs to be an Xbox or MSN or Hotmail Microsoft account.

Don't bother buying Norton. It is a waste of money. Really.

The place you bought the PC from should have tested everything before it was sent out to you. I really have my doubts as to this build, what it's supposed to be, and how it's been configured. I think you are way out of your depth, but a little googling and learning and you'll figure it out

but AOL? Urgh - that's the only virus worse than Norton!