DD_Brando

I hate doing house-calls! An old Warbirds buddy rings me up and asks if I can go round and help him to get on-line. Off I go to Torquay and, feckin' hell, he's got an account with TalkTalk The only way to start the connection is by using a CD, and the fun starts. At lightning speed I watch a legalised browser-hijack take place, as the connection is diverted straight to www....aol/talktalk.com. Jeepers isn't quite the expression I used, but I don't want to say it, and I should correct what I said about going directly to AOL. In fact I watched horrified as the bottom bar revealed the various sites it was linking to on the way - Ad-click is the only one I can name atm but there were about a dozen. Cursing, I went to Firefox options to replace the opening page but I hadn't allowed for the stupidity of my client. While I went to have a pee he started clicking on links to set up e-mail and stuff. Oh nooooo! To cut a painful story short, it took me an hour and a half to get the machine to a state of safety - free of AOL and a host of spyware that had appeared. My mate phoned me up this morning and apologised for being such a dick-head - I just wished him good luck with TalkTalk. One to avoid lads, unless you feel like wasting a nice evening. B

Hopefully the guns will be as hard to aim & fire as the planes are. It'll be crap if they're not.

Joy control can affect throttle settings. The first column (left) must be at 0 and the last column must be at 100. What you do in between is your choice. I use the "Curved" setting myself. Also calibrate as BG suggests, either in the stick software or in Windows Game Controller window. B

Hey Beebop ...never mind the skinning rig and the telephone hotline, where did you find those cool threads? B

Not me pal - I was just having a dig at Tonar for his use of the old "arm and a leg" joke , that makes us amputees squirm so much. None of it is intended to be a joke at your expense, I'm sure. Sorry to trespass on your thread - I hope you have fun with your new rig, it sounds great.

As the saying goes, "so long as you laugh with me - not at me" I don't mind at all. It was meant to be funny B

One arm, and part of his left leg. That's way too much. I got the rig pictured and it only cost me an arm

Hi Sweper ~S~ Many of them are folders of missions written by a Hyperlobby/FB regular named MadJek. They are mostly co-ops but you can, of course, use them as off-line missions by opening the Multiplay option and selecting a plane, arming up & hitting Fly! Read the brief even..... B

It's always been my understanding that the changes one makes to the BIOS (when setting up the mobo functions) are written to the CMOS chip. So, when you power up the mobo, these instructions are the parameters that the mobo will execute. That is, the time and date followed by cpu speed, fsb, memory timings and so on. In other words, everything that needs to be functioning before the operating system kicks in. Clearing CMOS removes all the instructions that you have written onto the chip and restores it to the last-installed (flashed) BIOS version, including the time & date settings. Restoring to default settings does almost as much - except that you have to be able to access BIOS to be able to default it. If your changes to the BIOS have made it unstable to the point of not being bootable, then clearing CMOS is your point of last resort. B

http://ask-leo.com/how_often_should_i_replace_my_cmos_battery_and_what_does_it_do_anyway.html B

You're right, that's a hell of a post - so straight, so shiny! You could hang a huge gate on that! Actually though, I think I like the wimmin best, no? B

Agreed. You need at least 512Mb graphics memory - more would be better. B

Godwin's Law doesn't come into it. I'm not calling Enforcer or anyone else a Nazi, or calling Nelson an adulterous git without having my tongue firmly thrust into my cheek - and I'm sorry if anyone doesn't understand a Londoner's humour - but I'm reminding anyone who suggests that we all need a "brush with destruction to restore our national character" that this attitude is fundamentally wrong. War has a nasty habit of killing all the wrong people along with those who maybe deserve to die and it should really be seen as humanity's last resort.

I can't believe I'm reading some of this stuff WTF??? This is pretty much what Hitler was preaching after WW1, restoring German pride and national character, and look where that got us! It's not that I don't think Dowding and Park don't deserve to be commemorated - but I also don't think that their memory should be used as a platform to spout nationalistic bullshit from. The world has turned and maybe it's time to sling a few of those old Victorian generals off their plinths and replace them with a new crop of heroes. I vote for tossing Nelson, well-known admiral and adulterer, off his column and sticking some other git up there. B

Hey Toad Avira doesn't tend to throw up many false-positives so it's my assumption that the Scriptwriter uses some code that has been used (probably elsewhere) as a method of introducing malware. This is often seen if you are using "naughty" software such as key generators which enable substitution of passwords and so on. These are rightly picked up as viruses of the "dropper" type. This is probably the explanation for the detection. What to do about it? Well, now you know it's there you can either delete it, or just make Avira "allow" it to remain by placing it on the "white-list". You could research its threat status through the Avira website to decide whether it's a keeper or a chucker. B

So does Freetrack give 6DOF? My guess is that it does but I'm keen to hear? I'm currently running a TIR 3Pro with Vector and 6DOF works better now than it did when the first mods arrived. I guess that a lot of the new cockpits are being designed to support this feature. I'm going to treat myself to TIR 5 when they get their supply renewed. The specs look too good to ignore B

I'm in agreement with Roger's direction of thought here. I've used Overclockers for years now (even have an account with them) and I've been 99% happy with their offerings. I had an RMA quibble once, but a politely-worded complaint coupled with a reminder of my status as a client did the trick. The build that Rog linked to looks good, except that the case looks a tad small to me. I've always been a fan of larger cases as offering better airflow. But this offering may be too good to resist? I took a quick gaze around at the monitors they are selling currently, and this one jumped out at me - a 24" Iiyama I would happily recommend this as being a very good monitor, made by a company with an utterly 1st class reputation. As BG reminded me, I will happily construct you a rig and get it running right. For the moment I would stick with XP pro 32 bit for an OS. Windows 7 will take a while for the bugs to be ironed out. I wouldn't want to get into recommending particular mobos or chipsets, etc. My experience is not currently with the 'bleeding edge' stuff, but I can assemble anything you care to throw at me. B

Been flying a new co-op in the XIV. Home safe

First off, have you tried another mike? If it's a headset type, are you hearing sounds through the headphones? Second, can you set the audio manager to synch with with the Windows audio controller? You should then be able to open up the Audio Properties using the little speaker icon in the systray. Try those things out first, let's know how you get on

School Children Writing About The Sea * This is a picture of an octopus. It has eight testicles. (Kelly age 6) * Oysters' balls are called pearls. (James age 6) * If you are surrounded by sea you are an Island. If you don't have sea all round you, you are incontinent. (Wayne age 7) * Sharks are ugly and mean, and have big teeth, just like Emily Richardson. She's not my friend no more. (Kylie age 6) * A dolphin breathes through an arsehole on the top of its head. (Billy Age * My dad goes out in his boat, and comes back with crabs. (Emily Burniston age 5) * When ships had sails, they used to use the trade winds to cross the ocean. Sometimes, when the wind didn't blow, the sailors would whistle to make the wind come. My brother said they would be better off eating beans. (William age 7) * I like mermaids. They are beautiful, and I like their shiny tails.how do mermaids get pregnant? (Helen age 6) * I'm not going to write about the sea. My baby brother is always screaming and being sick, my Dad keeps shouting at my Mum, and my big sister has just got pregnant, so I can't think what to write. (Amy age 6) * Some fish are dangerous. Jellyfish can sting. Electric eels can give you a shock. They have to live in caves under the sea where I think they have to plug themselves into chargers. (Christopher age 7) * When you go swimming in the sea, it is very cold, and it makes my willy small. (Kevin age 6) * Divers have to be safe when they go under the water. Two divers can't go down alone, so they have to go down on each other. (Becky Age * On holiday my Mum went water skiing. She fell off when she was going very fast. She says she won't do it again because water shot up her fanny (Julie age 7) B

Cool m8, glad it helped

Here's a guide to configuring AlacrityPC by my pal Mark Fletcher - the guy who makes the left-handed conversions for CH flightgear. http://snomhf.exofire.net/alacrityPC.html B

I've been using Avira AntiVir for more than 12 years now. It's excellent imo. B