Probably a bit late for anyone to notice this...

Everyone is saying "Stupid customers, spending money that thye should know isn't yours!".

Unfortunately if you are running an automated trading system, the process goes something like:
- I want to place a trade
- Ask broker system how much money/margin etc I have available for the trade
- Size trade based on response from broker
- Place trade

usually these systems don't keep an entirely seperate portfolio system (especially retail systems) to ensure that the brokers response is actually correct.

Actually it's not too bad. I have set both mine and my wifes home machines up to use user accounts and it doesn't cause any issues except when a new app needs to be installed. To install an app I log in as the admin and run the install. I then log out of admin and into the normal user account and test it. If the app fails, the sure-fire fix (hasn't failed yet) is to reboot into safe mode (only way in XP Home); log into admin again and change the programs install directory security settings to allow full access by the user accounts. Reboot, and test as user again, voila! Sometimes older programs won't set up programs in All Users, so a copy of the folder so it shows up under the program menu is sometimes required. This is a little convoluted, agreed. But it happens once or twice a year. Malware can happen at any minute you are logged in and connected to the internet. Well worth the hassle. Updates are done as Admin and usually propogate across all users (Firefox seems to be finally fixed so this works, or maybe I have learnt to turn off the auto-update). But wait.... You say that I am now vunerable to attacks that modify the programs in that folder. Well the chances of hackers attacking these (generally older) obscure apps is pretty low. The whole small install base therefore not worth effort argument.

Actually North Africa was once the Roman Empires major wheat farming area. Most of that is now part of the Sahara. Funny thing is, we are still basically using the same stupid farming business models of ploughing & massive monocultures. Expect most of the current grain fields to end up more like the Saraha soon.

The use of GM crops to replace traditional crops that are failing to produce 50% of what they used to in the same fields is madness. You need to fix the root cause, not just look for a band aid to prop up a failing business model (just like the RIAA really). Modern farming practices have stripped the ground of its fertility through practices of ploughing and leaving fallow (completely stripped, not the traditional left to grow weeds). Farmers in the 19th and early 20th century were the richest people around. Now due to the massive inputs of fertiliser, herbicides and pesticides required to keep the drained land productive, they are amongst the poorest in our society. see http://www.naturalsequencefarming.com/ for the low down on what has to happen if Australia want to continue to be able to farm. At least it's real and tested by real farmers on real properties.

To add to your reading "Back from the Brink" by Peter Andrews. The guy is no scientist, but as a life long farmer, who has proved that he can rehabilitate land, his ideas must be seriously considered. And what's more, they are cheap, just let the weeds grow and stop leaving ground bare.

Serioulsy, I know some guys currently making 20% per month. Volatility is usable if you have good twitch reflexes :-)

But I find trading the markets as challenging as gaming (even more so) and I have been able to grow my capital, and use my knowledge to avoid the wipe outs of the last year (moved my retirement fund investments into cash last November).

There is a massive opportunity for good game players in the markets. It's all the same principles of looking for the best probabilities, and minimising risk. And what's more there are heaps of walkthroughs available, you just need to find one that suits your personailty as there are heaps of ways to play.

My reccomendation is look for books by Daryl Guppy (Aussie author), his Share Trading and Chart Trading books are essentials for beginners. After that go for it, read, read, read, then develop a plan and test it.

Try Incredible Charts for a resonable free charting program with data for a few exchanges. It's delayed so not usable for real trading unless you subscribe, but for testing it works fine.