?

Why isn't the cost of a full version of an operating system included in standard off-the-shelf computers these days?

What I would love is something simple to use and won't chew up the RAM doing... whatever Windows likes to do.

It should be compatible with similarly easy-to-use software of the MS or free variety:

- MS Office or Open Office; something that will generate documents in .doc, .pdf etc formats or be as easy to convert as .jpeg and .png/.bmp formats are (for sharing/using on other Windows computers)

- media player that is fine with .mp3 and .avi formats (and other common audio/video files)

- basic photo viewer and editer (crop/red eye/compress)

- internet (of course); support a browser such as Firefox and not chuck a fit at browser-related things like Java and Flash

- some sort of way to check if a new program is compatible with the OS without suffering serious BSOD-like symptoms

- easy methods to provide feedback, requests, ask questions and even give money to developers/maintainers if I'm enjoying the OS

I'd absolutely love if there was a "try before you buy" sort of preview page available too, to see if I will like the layout etc before I download and install/ask for the CD.

So, could this be a reality, or will I have to continue being a slave to Microsoft - either by buying their products or forever closing and ignoring all the "this is not activated, please activate your product!" windows?

I tried to find some sort of value estimation tool online (like the ones that estimate car value with average wear and tear), but I couldn't find one so I'll try good ol' Y!A.

"Gulliver's Travels" by Dean Swift.

Most certainly not a First Edition, but old enough to have been gifted to someone in 1942 (if the pencil dedication is to be believed).

It is in really good condition, and seems to fit the description of the editions printed in the late 1930s/early 1940s.

Frontispiece by Frances Blaikie

Line Drawings by George Morrow

Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd

Printed in Great Britain

Says "Oak Classics" on the hard cover spine (no dust jacket though, if books had dust jackets at that time).

I just wanted to know whether it's something worth keeping due to its rarity/value, or if it's just worth keeping to have a good copy of the book (which was cheaper than buying a brand new copy in the book shop).

Help?

I tried looking through abebooks, but there's almost as many editions and prints of this book as any Shakespeare novel!

They seem to be synthetic except for the straps and the lining (the part you would slip an insole/insert over in a closed shoe).

Due to frequent use, and because they are an open shoe (so can get dirt etc in them easier than a closed variety), they are starting to get fairly dirty, and there are dark marks where parts of my feet usually are, which is gross.

Is there any way to gently scrub the dirt etc off them and maybe prevent future dirt from building up? I've heard a quick wipe of tea tree oil, but that's sort of something I should do after I've cleaned them up a bit I think.

I have a little Mazda 121 (the "Bubble" car).

It seems promising.

It has a bit of space under the hood, so I could possibly squeeze it in.

The... okay, what is the section where the controls for the fan are located called? That panel seems to be a standard model, and as such there appears to be a hole covered by a plastic plug in about the same place as one would find the AC controls in other cars.

But I don't know how complicated installation is. Could I do it myself, with a little guidance from the internet and such? Would it only be as technical as air horns, or would I actually need to do some kind of course to do it?

Where do I find out if the AC wiring was put in anyway as part of the whole standard Japanese thing, and if it's located in an easy-to-access place? The manual in between the general owner's manual and the factory book, which would have the circuit diagrams in it, does not appear to have been made for my car after the first few years of DB models.

I could get the whole AC system for under $200 at this one wrecker's yard, which is really cheap because you have to go out there with your tools and strip the parts you want yourself.

What do you think, is it worth taking on as a project, shelling out for professional installation, or should I leave it be and just drive with the windows down all through summer?

I found some eggs sitting between a stone paver and the dirt (currently has the consistency of mud/clay) in my backyard (Australia).

It's a clump of clear, smooth, spherical, tapioca-sized eggs that seem to resemble what frog eggs are meant to look like, BUT

- there is not little black/white dot in the middle; can frogs even lay unfertilised eggs like that?

- we have recently had some major rain and minor flooding (enough to close roads, but not enough to cause major property damage), but still... the nearest creek is a couple of hundred metres away

I tried searching the web, but it's not really helping.

So, are they really frog eggs? Either way, do you think something will actually hatch from them if I put the cover back on?

Thanks for your help

I saw this wooden box shown on one of those antique valuation TV shows.

Inside the box there were tiny compartments filled with various little trinkets, most likely bits of rock, wood, maybe even feathers and other kinds of things. It was an old, official collection with numbers and descriptions.

It was possibly from the 1950s, and the person who does the valuation couldn't really give it a price because it was such a unique box of curios. The wooden chest/box may have been blue on the outside, and the index cards had a typewriter-esque font.

I'm sorry that is vague, but hopefully it triggers somebody else's memory enough to point me in the right direction. I just want to remember what was inside, so I can decide whether I want to invest in buying/making a similar one or not. Thank you for your help.

My kitten is 4-5 months old, and is just starting to lose his milk teeth (I checked, apparently it is a thing in cats too).

On the corner of his lip, I think he may have been nipped by our 1.5 year old cat (he annoys her, she strikes back). It was a tiny pink dot and slightly swollen for a little while, and now it has some crusty yellowish patches similar to those you might get if you graze your knee and it gets a little infected.

Do I need to take him to a vet? Or can I help minimise the infection/increase treatment by cleaning the area with something?

Thank you for your assistance.

I am using Mozilla Firefox version 9.0.1. My anti-virus system is Panda Internet Security 2011, and my OS is Windows 7. HP Compaq Presario C700, so it's a few years old now.

A few weeks ago my computer had a bit of a spastic attack - including seemingly heating up a little then turning off, but that might have been due to me not updating all the things Windows Update tells me to update. Updating it etc seemed to solve that problem.

My browser seems to be running a little slow and Not Responding fairly often, but not actually crashing. I don't think Panda is automatically updating itself properly, but I made it do a thorough scan yesterday and it didn't find anything.

My computer was a part of a network, but the network was saying my computer didn't have an anti-virus program running, so the network owner decided to remove me from the network.

...The Windows Action Centre (which I just checked to see if there was a conflict in firewall/anti-virus programming) just said that Windows Defender needs to scan my computer?

I've looked through the processes of all users (so me, System, etc), and nothing looks suspicious. Except that there are multiple svchost.exe processes (which is normal, right?), and when you go to Open File Location, it gives the same location for all the svchost processes (is that normal?).

The firefox.exe process is pretty big/using a fairly large whatever (250,000ish) for not doing much?

So, do these things indicate an issue like that, and if so what should I do? I'm going to update Firefox to 10 and see if that makes a difference.

I bought a Rocky Road flavoured ice cream from the shops, but I'm not particularly thrilled with it and I'm not going to waste the majority of a 1L tub.

It's basically chocolate ice-cream with some marshmallows (which are good), and some chocolate-coated peanuts (which could have been chopped a little to make it better). Should I add something to make it feel like a 'better' rocky road, or does anybody know a recipe I could use it in (the way that one of the food magazines used Hokey Pokey surrounded by slices of sponge roll to make... something)?

Half-eaten ice-cream isn't exactly something I could donate to the masses, and I'm not sure it's worth trying to get a refund for such a vague flavour.

Suggestions? Thanks.

The spray stuff that is meant to kill/prevent insects and spiders for a few months.

I am starting to see both cobwebs and spiders around parts of my car, and wish to clear them then spray some kind of preventative/repellant after doing so. Is there anything available that is safe and works?

Wanting to spray things like around the side mirrors, door edges, around the headlights. I know spiders are good for keeping away bugs, but I'm in Australia so there's plenty of dangerous spiders that might be in there; plus, I would be dangerous on the road if a spider makes its appearance whilst I'm driving.

What can I do?

Thanks.

I don't usually use Facebook applications, but my family want to play with me and don't take kindly to my suggestions to actually play the Scrabble-like board game we own.

I have tried all the steps listed on the Zynga website; it has worked for me on a different computer so it's maybe a setting on mine?

When I load the page, I have everything on there except anything in the left column under the "Start A Game" button, and obviously no played pieces on the blank playing board.

During the loading I get a blank pop-up window come up, it disappears before I can copy the URL but it's https and appears to just be one of those weird loading windows like you occasionally get for things like pdf downloads.

I have disabled my AdBlock add-on for Facebook applications now, made sure Adobe Flash and Firefox were updated, and done the usual install/uninstall/reinstall/restart stuff.

...Why on Earth is it not working for me?

I was thinking I might have hidden the application in the past (I tend to do so as soon as the news feed says a friend has started using an application), but if that were interfering with the game it would also interfere when I play my account on other computers.

It might be related to the whole flash/whatever thing it's using for that, but I updated all the ones Firefox said I had as add-ons (which was one).

I eventually found out how to contact Zynga for support, but I haven't heard back from them.

Anybody else had this problem?

I know that the trip time indicator on Google Maps is only a rough estimate and can't really take into account traffic etc, but what else is out there for those of us who don't want to use a sat-nav?

I'm in Australia, and just wanted to estimate the extra time a route would take when limited to a special condition speed limit (e.g. learner and provisional drivers).

I bought myself a second hand car a little over a month ago, so I have no idea how old the tyres are. It's been going fine for a while, but this afternoon I noticed some of the rubber appears to be peeling from the left rear tyre.

It's not peeling in a flaking off way. It's just that some of the tread near the edge of the part that makes contact with the road has kind of come unstuck from the 'hub cap face' of the tyre.

Should I be concerned about my tyre disintegrating any time soon? I have a spare and haven't had the time to drive long distances, and I was going to check the air pressure but the air was out of order at the service station.

Also... my car doesn't get that hot, but I think that the temperature gauge is "sticky", since a relative drove my car for a while and reckoned it only went above cold after they drove it over a bump. Is there anything I can do to help gauges like that be more accurate?

Thank you for your help. I had my car serviced about a month ago, and I want to be able to check/fix as much as possible before having to rely on the mechanic.

I have a HP Compaq Presario C700 laptop that has your standard low-quality webcam and microphone built-in to the top of the screen.

It came pre-installed with Cyberlink Youcam, but a relative re-formatted my computer to install Windows 7, and this is one of the programs that were not re-installed.

I just want basic features like being able to record a video, take a still picture, something to make sure it's compatible with Skype when I eventually re-install that.

So, what can I use? I'd just purchase the Youcam program, but it's really not worth it for such a low-end, rarely used webcam.

Thanks for your help.

Just asking for your opinion because it's a Sunday morning in a regional centre, so I can't see a doctor until tomorrow.

I have tonsillitis. At the moment my throat doesn't hurt that much, but I wake up with a really dry mouth and it's hard to talk until I get a lot of soothing liquid in there.

I was on antibiotics, but stopped taking them because they were making me feel worse and vomit (doctor's fault for prescribing them to me again after the last two times).

I did have a minor ear ache in my left ear (on an "oops, I put this cotton tip in the wrong spot" scale). But now, after stopping my antibiotics, it's moved to the right ear. And my right ear is throbbing.

I usually have troubles with my ear canals due to tinnitus/sinusitis anyway.

So... which is it?

What is the best way to relieve the pain, that doesn't involve sticking cooked onion juice or whatever down there (some organic home remedy page)? I was going to get some sort of ear drop from the chemist, but they were too busy and I was on a time restriction.

Thankyou for your help.

Say you're a Learner driver on a busy stretch of highway in Australia, well NSW anyway (and have done enough practice to not be freaking out in such a circumstance).

If everybody else has a speed limit of 100 or 110km/h, which would be the lower penalty: speeding over your special condition speed limit of 80km/h, or sticking to the 80km/h and impeding traffic?

Just out of interest, trying to learn early on which is the greater risk so I'm a better driver when I'm unsupervised (in the future), and to hopefully make the right decision in road choices without a clear answer (e.g. someone just crashed in front of me. Should I slam my brakes and crash into them, swerve into oncoming traffic, or try to miss this roadside tree?).

And how heavy would the traffic need to be to make the higher speed the less dangerous option? Can you be amongst five cars on a regional highway, or would you have to be attempting peak hour on the M4 (or whatever the main Sydney thoroughfares are)?

Well I mean, the spare space under the stereo that could fit a stereo unit into it...

The owner's manual for my car shows exactly the kind of cup holder I've been thinking about for ages, but of course the picture demonstrating how you pull out the cup holders (think that old joke about using the computer's CD tray as a cup holder) has an asterix on it denoting this feature is only in "some models".

Is it possible to buy such a unit brand new, or fit one from a car that already has one into the space? I don't really want, or have space for, the holders that are mounted to the air vents or doors.

I bought a 12 cell extended-life battery for my HP Compaq Presario C700 laptop about a month or so ago.

It holds charge fairly well when I'm using it normally on battery. I haven't really "conditioned" it, but will do so from now on if recharging to 100% then using on battery until it goes pretty much flat means it lasts longer...

But if I close the lid on battery (which is set to send the laptop to sleep), it seems quite often that if the battery is anything under 60%, then I won't be able to open up the laptop and continue using it unless I plug it back in, since the battery has mysteriously reached 1%.

This happens whether I'm trying to wake it up after half an hour, or in the morning after a night of 'sleeping'.

Any ideas what it might be?

Could there be an issue with % calculation of this new battery? Or is it a problem with me using the 'sleep' function rather than hibernation? Or not using the battery properly because I prefer to have it plugged in?

Or, is it maybe a dodgy battery? I think we bought it from a reputable website, but I know it wasn't the official HP website so maybe that's it?

Thanks for your help. I have to go figure out why my laptop sometimes decides to BSOD during its overnight sleep times now.

I don't mean the type your grandmother wears, but still... full briefs?

Somebody must think they're alright because they're making them in fancy matching sets. At least, for the big girls...

Besides being comfy, they could potentially hold that stomach in a little more.

Would you think your partner looks nice in such a garment, or would you just laugh and hand them their bikini briefs/g-string/less-comfy-but-less-embarrassing undies?

All I can remember is that in the opening and/or ending song, there are two live action women in black (gothic/slightly loli) dress singing the song and acting like really close/yuri twins; they don't kiss or anything but end up curled up on a bed holding hands at the end. The end of the opening song might have them getting close to kissing, but a light sort of blocks out their mouth area before they touch?

It's the type of yuri where the two main characters are really close friends; they aren't in an explicit lesbian sexual relationship, but they are close and may kiss or something like that.

The women who sing the song are meant to be semi-famous. I know I've watched a sort of "behind-the-scenes" video on Youtube for the music video.

Does anybody have a clue what anime that is, and/or the song? The website I most likely watched it from has been sold, so I can't try and work it out from titles/pictures/synopses.

Thank you very much for your help.