That looks really good. It's a shame the install requirements are so non-windows based.

I work all day and every day to music. It blanks out the background noises like servers whirring, ducks quacking and planes on the bombing run. Luckily I work from home and am self-employed.

I have a phone watch. Very handy when I'm out and about not carrying a bulky mobile phone in my pocket.

If you change a PAL XBOX to NTSC it can output 1080i or 720p using component leads. It runs XBMC nicely, but can't handle hi-def video playback. A Pentium 3 just hasn't got the oomph.

I moved all my "user data" to a network drive and it only took a few hours to upgrade a sluggish 1.6 celeron laptop with 2GB ram from Vista pro 32bit to Windows 7 ultimate 32bit.

Like some distorted Moore's law, I usually buy a hard drive twice as large every two years. Maybe I should delete stuff? I get some joy from running drives on bog-standard SATA controllers and letting the OS handle the mirroring. At least if the controller fails I can build a new machine and can still read my data.

I copied all of my CDs onto network storage. Not only is it a safer location, but easier to find and takes up less shelf space!

Are you too young to remember... or maybe too old to remember? *8-7 Back before floppy discs we used to buy blank cassettes and use a twin tape deck to copy mate's games for the BBC B and Spectrum. It was the same for music! Half the reason for buying originals was getting the documentation and printed packaging.

Ah, here in the UK I went from 2Mbps in Peterborough to 8Mbps in a small village 40 miles north, 2 minutes walk from a primary school.

Move to the sticks, by a school. You get much better speed than in a city with less contention. This is my experience anyway.

I have this book too. I even emailed the author about his excessive use of the word "bunch" and he answered in good humour. Good book though.

Vindaloo?

I work hardest with music playing, to cover the hum of the servers behind me in my office. I work most enjoyably from the summerhouse, cool breeze between my knees and ducks quacking before me. I work the most fanatically after several shots of bourbon on a laptop from the sofa.

*halts crystal ball production

I did a UK computing-related degree back in 1990-93 and was fully aware that anything I wrote on university machines was their property. I bought a PC and worked from my own place instead.