Nemo

Ok, I've done some semi-extensive browser testing - IE, Firefox and Opera. All using the latest stable release, so no IE7 Beta2, no Deer Park (Firefox 1.5) and no Merlin (Opera 9). In summary: Firefox. Just. Literally just because it's slightly better for what I want. IE: it sucks, accept it, move on. ActiveX is unsafe, it renders pages wrong, no tabs. To those of you talking about coloured scroll bars - that's IE propietary code. Bad bad bad. To those of you who say other browsers "break" the pages you visit - that's because they were coded with IE in mind, using the wrong box model and stupid CSS. Just...ditch IE6. IE7 Beta has fixed most of the problems, so next year will be interesting as far as browser wars are concerned. Best thing is, now they're all reading off the same sheet as to how to render HTML elements, so now the winner will be the one with the best functionality. But for now, ditch IE. Opera: Awesomeness. Now it's free, it's amazing. Downside is that all of the more powerful tweaks that users such as the clever lot on Bellazon like are hidden away. First thing you'll hate is the way ctrl+t is "Add Bookmark" rather than "New Tab". This can easily be changed. Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Shortcuts. Go to the Keyboard Setup section, and either edit Opera Standard, or duplicate it, rename it, then edit it. I changed ctrl+T to be a new tab, ctrl+B to be a new Bookmark, and ctrl+N to be a new page. Also, in Preferences > Advanced, go to History and change Check Documents to always. It means Opera always loads the latest version of a page - it's default setting loads from the cache, so for frequently update pages, it misses things. Customise your toolbar setup as well - I suggest that you make Page bar show "Only When Needed". Experiment with sessions and panels as well. Opera, on the whole, is actually a tad faster that Firefox, and on average I've found uses less RAM - your mileage may vary depending on your setup. Opera also feels more polished than Firefox, maybe because it was originally intended to be sold. Firefox: Just wins out due to extensions. Go over to the Firefox thread to see some of the best tips and tweaks, but basically the fact that Opera used to be expensive rather than free gave FF an advantage. Hopefully Firefox 1.5 and 2 will build on what they've done so far. Extensions are the only noticeable advantage Firefox has - overall, there's not much to choose between Firefox and Opera in terms of out-of-the-box, but once you start customising...I know I've hyped Opera just now, but that's because it's underrated and a great program. You all know how great Firefox is, I just wanted a more objective look. It wins, just, so hopefully the competition will make it better than ever. Mozilla: Firefox is better. Uses the same rendering engine (Gecko), so pages will look the same. Firefox is smaller, prettier, easier and more customisable. The Mozilla Suite is all bloat - better to get Firefox and Thunderbird and a few choice extensions. I didn't spend time with it like I did the others because I've used it before, and know it's not as goot. Look, here's how it went. Netscape gave out its source code for free. Mozilla was built. It was good. Then they made a new build of it called Firefox (originally called Phoenix, then Firebird), and it was, and still is, better. Avant, Maxthon, Netscape etc - sorry, I have these but haven't really had time (or the inclination) to test them much.

Two killer extensions. Greasemonkey. This applies user scripts to a page - just adds functionality. I don't really use many of the User Scripts though. But combine it with the following extension, and it's awesome. Platypus. Lets you edit a page (no HTML knowledge required), and save those edits as a Greasemonkey script - meaning your changes are applied every time you visit. Automatically! For example, you visit a page with a lot of ads. Sure, you could use adblock, but this only blanks over them, still disturbing the flow of the page. Right click on the page, and click "Platypus" in the menu bar so it's active. Hover over the ad. It will be highlighted in red. Move your mouse about to find the best bit to remove (e.g why remove one ad at a time when you can remove the whole ad bar?). Right click, select remove. The element will be completely removed from the page - not just blanked out. Then, save the script. You can use it for anything, not just ads. And you can do more than just remove - you can even edit the HTML itself if you want. You can totally clean up a page of all the cruft and fluff and stuff you never use.

Widgets are basically cool gubbins that sit on your desktop, giving you info. You can get news headlines, posts from sites - anything with an XML feed, basically.

If none of that works, you could try Tweak UI from the Microsoft Powertoys range (it's free). Don't know if anything in there will help your specific problem, but there are a whole bunch of icon options (as well as other goodies).

I can't stand a cluttered desktop, or even start menu - I clean my stuff up so often. You know there's a GTA for PSP coming soon, right?

Love it Thanks Avenger

That Gisele....she's so hot right now

Xfiler, do you have your sig image as a fuller image? If not, where was it from? *Crosses fingers and hopes for HQ, hi-res pic* I'm growing real sick of scan tags. I appreciate why, but meh. I use HQ pics for walls because I hate having all the writing on them, and the best HQs are scans.

GTA: SA and Burnout 3 on XBOX Half-Life 1, Commandos 2 on PC. I lost my damn CD key for HL though. A right pain.

Heh, those crazy Swedes...

I believe currently the only way to download movies is illegally...so you're looking at P2P networks and BitTorrent, basically.

Thanks mangolia! I've got that yellow one with her autograph

They look freakishly small in the first pic. Side-on, they look fine. Can anyone else say airbrush? Not that they need to.

Personally, I think a graphics-whizz of a member needs to knock up a custom skin. I use the default, but it's so commonplace, and most of the others are all dark and techy. Also, half the skins need a header image made - they say "domain.com". Need to find that file and modify it. Of course, someone may have already said that, I'm just too lazy to go back and look.

Google have got a new IM program out called talk. It's kind of like iChat for OSX, and is pretty good - and great integration with Gmail. Go to http://talk.google.com

I haven't found any problems. Of course, I've got Spybot, Adaware, MS Anti Spyware and CCleaner, so I'm pretty covered in the spy/malware department :-D

Now with Vista icons. vistaicons.zip vistaicons.zip

I do a bit of freelance web design. Not so hot on the graphics though. Nine - Flash 99% Bad

What program are you using to download torrents? Most just sort everything out so you're left with a .exe or .zip or whatever. Never heard of the .mdf file extension. The small 1KB files are probably needed to unpack the .mfds, I'd imagine.

Yes, you just need to sign up for a .NET Passport. Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

Windows Blinds is a program for easily adding themes. It's really simple to use, and also doesn't screw around with your system.

Is it out on XBOX yet?

Well, I'm now using Windows Blinds, and there are about 3500 skins available from WinCustomize. Windows Blinds is available free, but there is a splash screen when you startup :-/

I remember those screens from waaay back. Looks like a good game - now just to find a PC that'll run it... I'm guessing my laptop won't hack it. Also, for fans of Diablo II, Blizzard North just relocated some of its' staff to work on an as-yet-unrevealed project. Which everyone knows is Diablo III.

Actually, haven't tried them under XP yet. Good point - haven't really tried any of my old games on XP.