I read an article on a security website not long back that tested about 30 or so AntiVirus packages and there was only 2 (if memory serves) that were in the top 5 for Virus and Adware protection and they were Panda and Kaspersky. I personally use Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 which does everything in one, AntiVirus, Adware, Firewall, Email spam filtereven net granny for if you have anyone in the house you don't to access certain websites. I've also had Panda in the past and can say that it is really solid too, either of these two will do you well.

I've noticed that Kaspersky has no impact on my gaming performance though, I did a 3D Mark with Kaspersky running and without and the score was within only a few points. Don't know about Panda though, I haven't used it in a while.

Incidentally, I seem to remember Norton being around 18th for AntiVirus and 16th for Adware and McAfee being about 16th for AntiVirus and 20th for Adware. Not sure if they are the exact placings but I remember them two being rather poor in the listing.

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Well I didn't like to suggest touching the components as this can be dangerous but it sounds quite definitive that it isn't heating. It certainly sounds like power then, if the components don't get enough power they can stop working. Graphics cards tend to only draw enough power for the task at hand so when you play a graphics intensive game, like Oblivion, it will draw more power and stalve other components.

If I was you, I'd get a new PSU, at least 500W to be sure that everything can get enough power. You can pick one up for around $80 that should be fine.

Have fun.

Yes there is.

http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-RP614-Web-Safe-Router/dp/B00007E6Z7/ref=sr_1_3/002-1664323-3668850?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1191974569&sr=8-3

This will let you plug an internet router in via RJ45 and connect up to 4 computers also via RJ45. It's also a hardware firewall and really easy to set up. I got one and it made life a lot easier for internet sharing. It's also very stable, I've never had a problem with it.

Have fun.

I agree, it's quite annoying that most developers idea of a good strategy is to make a console game primarily and then port it to PC, even with simultanious releases. I've got no issue with a console game being ported, just as long as it isn't a straight port. You get some PC games that just feel "console", the design ideas are so ingrained in the style and feel of the game it just feels wrong on a PC. Good examples are Tomb Raider Legends, Fable and Lost Planet. Each of these games just have something missing that primarily PC games have.

It is nice to see some developers going out of their way to make sure PC gamers are taken care of though, like Epic with Gears of War. I understand that they have been working quite hard to make sure the control system with mouse and keyboard feels natural, but I'd like to see for myself to be honest.

It would be nice if more developers took the PC platform more seriously and put more effort into PC versions but I don't think it will happen. We'll just have to be happy with the few that do and just avoid the pap.

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lol, I remember Typing of the Dead, that's ancient! I only ever played a demo of it, oh so many years ago now. I do believe that game was released before the PS2 was even announced? Could be wrong though.

No it's not a good deal, it's a poor game thats funny for about 2 minutes until you realise it wasn't a joke.

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I'd say I'm the polar opposite, I don't use quick save at all, ever. Even if I know that there is a really hard fight up ahead and I only have 12 health, I won't save, I'll just run in and give it a shot :).I tend to just use what weapon is at hand as well. Like in Medal of Honor Airborn, I usually only use the pistol because I run out of ammo for the machine gun quickly and just switch to pistol and keep it for the rest of the level. Ihave gone out of my way to get to a weapon that I can see has been dropped only to find I have max ammo for it before as well.

I'm like this in all FPS though.

I do have the bad habbit of using health kits when I'm on 99 health though, I did this no end in F.E.A.R. I'll also reload a weapon when I've fired 2 rounds as well. This is a major pain in Rainbow Six Vegas, I very quickly run out of ammo completely as you drop the clip and lose the ammo left in it when you reload.

Have fun.

As long as the GPU family is the same, you can SLI anything. Doesn't matter if they have different RAM or clock speeds. Not sure whether the bigger of the two would dumb down to the smallest but it would work. Just make sure you have the latest drivers.

Have fun.

I always say it's best to have plenty of power available for your system, trying to squeeze through often causes problems. It will make quite a difference to performance if you have a lot of drives and PCI cards if you don't have plenty of power. I believe the recommended 300W is basd on a system that has one hard drive and one DVD drive, but I'm not certain. So if you have more it will be starving your system a little.

I don't understand the need for waiting for an hour after it crashes though? It might be possible that it is overheating, one way of testing this is to open the side of the case up and having a desk fan blow into the case. If it works fine like this then you can safely say that heat is the main issue. If it behaves exactly the same I'd say it points more towards power issues.

Have fun.

If there was any damage done to the hardware from somone throwing it around, it would 9 times out of 10 be visible. The problem is probably really small and simple that you've overlooked. Mine that I do EVERY time is forget to flip the switch on the power supply, there is usually a toggle switch on the power supply with I and O on? I always forget to switch it and have a mild heart attack that it's broken.

It's certainly worth double checking with the motherboard manual that you have the case connectors in the right possitions, I know these can be quite fiddly sometimes.

Also check that all the power connectors that the motherboard require are connected firmly, there is sometimes a 4 pin 12V connector that lives close to the CPU away from the larger 24 pin connector. I've seen motherboards that have the 4 pin and 24 pin together though.

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While the Orange Box is good value, it's only good if you don't already have Half Life 2, which most FPS fans will already have anyway, so I think the Orange Box is a bit pointless. For the consoles, fair enough, it's great for them because they probablywon't already have any of the gamesbut I keep thinking that Valve keep saying that there will be an Episode 3. So will they release another package with HL2, Ep1, 2 and 3 in the future?

I already have Half Life 2 and Episode 1 so if you can't buy Episode 2 separate then I won't be buying this. On steam, Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2 are listed separate with prices but when you open them up there is no option to buy seperate. I'm hoping there will be an option once they are released though.

I'm only interested in Episode 2 and Portal, Portal mostly though.Ican't say I'm that interested in Team Fortress 2 at all, it looks interesting I'll admit, but I prefer the Battlefield scale of multiplayer games, with large environments and vehicles to play around with. I get the feeling that Team Fortress 2 will feel small in comparison.