Kieran Hillman

I passed my test last November, and am looking to get a new car. However, every single car from Ford Fiestas and Vauxhall Corsas to Renault Clios and Citroen Saxos have come back for somewhere between £2500-£3000, even some ridiculous quotes maxing £5000. I'd even settle for somewhere in the region of £1000-£1500, and before you tell me, I know how expensive car insurance is... believe me. I'm 20 years of age and passed my test first time back in November if it makes any difference.

I remember there being a video game for the Sega Mega Drive console (of which I'm 99% sure), but for the life of me I can't remember it. All I can remember about this game is that you're controlling what I can remember as a spin top sort of thing, and you're controlling this spin top through weird worlds but I can't remember anything beyond that... if anyone has absolutely any idea what I'm rambling on about then please help me out here, otherwise just disregard this because I've been pretty vague. Thanks in advance. :-)

It's something I've never quite understood... why does the letter "X" represent kisses when used online? Does anyone know about its origin, or have their own thoughts as to how this came to be? All answers will be appreciated! :-)

I know this is probably a pretty common question and, even more so, a question with a ridiculously simple answer, but if all web pages are part of the world wide web, how come some pages do not have a "www." before them in the URL? Thanks in advance.

YouTube (and, with research, other streaming videos) appear to be crashing my computer. Although it is hit and miss when it will actually happen, a YouTube video will completely freeze my computer before giving me a one-second glimpse at a BSOD before rebooting itself. Is there a way I can fix this please? It's become quite a pain in the backside. Any help will be appreciated; I haven't tried anything yet, as I have no idea what's causing it, nor do I know how to fix it. Thanks in advance.

I know this is my second question in quick succession, but I'm having troubles with my Netgear router in terms of actually setting it up with my DSL cable. The router is in my room, however I am currently connected wirelessly as I failed drastically attempting to set my internet up with cables. I have a cable running from the back of my PC into my router; a green light is confirming that the cable is working, however I want to be rid of wireless and back onto wired. I'd be very appreciative if someone can give me a quick run down on how to do this; there seems to be a few options for wired internet setup, but I'm too skeptical to believe that any of them will give me the results I want. I have a Netgear installation CD which claims that no router is attatched and/or the router is not working... which it blatantly is. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Okay, so basically I do quite a lot of online gaming, namely HL2 mods on Steam, and I used to get crippling lag spikes all the time, which made gameplay very frustrating and difficult. However, the past half a year or maybe more has been extremely smooth with relation to my internet; I haven't had a single lag-spike or problem, and yet all of a sudden about a week ago, my internet starts picking up these lag-spikes again. Every 2-3 minutes, my game will freeze for roughly 1-2 seconds before returning to play; as you can imagine, it results in a lot of humiliating deaths. What makes it even more peculiar is I only seem to get these lag spikes on EU servers, not US (I'm EU). Is there anything I can do to fix this problem? I desperately need to sort it out.

My internet information:

Router: NETGEAR (I believe the model is a G54 Wireless Router)

Adapter: D-Link Wireless Adapter (not sure of the model... it's only something simple).

I am the host here but I can't even seem to set up my wired network; yes, I have all the cables put in and ready, but if anyone can give me a run down on how to sort that out too, that would be just as appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I know I may be a little vague, but some of you may be familiar with those paintings where everyone is holding their faces and screaming; one thing I don't know is the artist who drew these. It's really bugging me, so if you know who the artist is I'd be highly appreciative. Thanks in advance.

My 360 decided to knacker itself out after relentless Fifa gaming, and I've heard you can buy just the core of an Xbox with no HDD. My HDD is fine, I've tried that out on other Xbox 360's and there is no problem with it whatsoever. Is there a website I can order an Xbox 360 core from? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Okay so long story short, I stopped at my girlfriend's on Saturday night and didn't get much sleep at all as her parents had to be out at 5:15am which woke me up and kept me up since that time. On Sunday night, I had to look after my cousin from 8pm until about 1am (five hours), however I opted in getting some Red Bull to make sure I was awake for it. I consumed five cans within the five hours, which I now have realized is too much; not just from reading online, but due to the sicky feeling I've been left with. Is there anything I can eat or drink to counter this illness? I'd rather feel well on my last day off before working :(

Thanks for any help in advance. And please, don't comment on how stupid I am for drinking so much, because as I said, I realize that now :P

This is fairly detailed, so make sure you have time on your hands before you read this. I went out with a few of my mates last night to the pub for a few pints, and I was with two mates who I'd known for years and years, both girls, and one of them had a boyfriend who came along and got on with me really well. We all then decided to go to a night club, and I'm going to hold my hands up and say I did get pretty drunk, not stupidly drunk, but just "having-a-good-time" drunk. One thing led to another, and I got physically started on by one of my mate's boyfriends because apparently I had tried to kiss said mate. Bear in mind that I have a girlfriend who I love to pieces, I've been out before and I would never go cheating, ESPECIALLY on one of my best mates. I honestly assure you I don't know where this accusation came from, she has no witnesses or evidence of it which is slightly ironic considering I apparently did it in front of all our other friends. Because my mate's boyfriend was an out-of-towner and I happen to know a few people, he got physically leathered for doing so, but he went off inside to go home and I went after him to make sure he was okay, however being stupidly drunk he was he wasn't interested. About ten minutes after my mate and her boyfriend stormed off, I went home myself, only to be confronted by her boyfriend right outside my house; he followed me through the back gate trying to hit me and all this. I took him round the front and tried to defuse the situation; I seriously didn't want to fight, because we were both drunk and it would have gotten out of hand. I was doing well to stop him from punching me when suddenly his girlfriend comes running from behind me, pushing me into him; he gave me a fairly good clack on the side of my head which didn't faze me, but it just annoyed me; it was all stupid and over nothing. To add insult to injury, the boyfriend then went off and the girlfriend relentlessly threw somewhere in the region of a dozen punches at my face, which left it a little bruised this morning. She went off crying and then came back trying to apologize and saying she loves me as a mate and all this, but my parents were involved by now so it wasn't happening. This is the very first time I've ever, ever been in a fight situation, and it's left me terrified and has stripped me of my self-confidence. I'm not scared of the boyfriend, he's half my size both ways, but I just hate getting myself into those situations, and I'm scared to walk out of my own front door just incase it all happens again. I haven't heard off either of them today, nor anyone else, but I honestly don't know what to do. I want my confidence back, and I'd like to think I was in the right here. Any advice you guys can pass on to me will be highly appreciated.

I'm pretty new to FL Studio, so do explain in Layman's terms please, but in the piano roll, how do you make notes slide from one to the other? I'm currently ending a song with some orchestral strings (It's not a classical piece, but still) and they just sound really bland going from one note to another. Is there any way I can make them slide to one another?

As a bonus question, how do I add reverb to these notes? Any help would be appreciated.

I've read up on it but I don't seem to fully understand it, so can someone explain to me in Layman's terms just what wind shear is? Thanks in advance.

Besides Amazon and eBay (at a push), what sites would you recommend/do you use to order computer parts from online? I'm looking at building a new computer, but I used to go out and buy the products manually until the shop closed down a year ago. Thanks in advance!

How old is the XFX Radeon HD 5770? If anyone can, how the bleedin' heck do you tell how old a graphics card is?! I used to know because I used to keep myself up-to-date with graphics card and processor releases, but now I've got no clue. Hopeless.

For any football fans, I was wondering if there's any news on Andy Carroll being fit for Liverpool v United. Thanks!

I believe a dust devil is a tornado that forms from the ground upwards (if not, correct me on that). How are tornadoes formed from the ground towards the clouds above them? I know how they form from the clouds downwards, but not the other way round.

I have always had a huge interest in computers, especially the maintenance side of them (building, fixing, upgrading etc.) and subsequently I have scoured the internet for something to help me out with this. I found a great online course (at least, it looks great) which covers all the aspects I wish to do with computers. The degree is: BTEC Award in Computer Engineering Level 2 I was wondering what job offers would be available to me when I successfully pass this course? Any help would be appreciated.

I know storms are broken down into four classifications, but I can't find a simplistic answer as to what a "supercell storm" is, and what causes it. I'm aware that they appear a bright orange colour, but what is it that causes this if the clouds are so dense? All help will be appreciated.

I've got a little hobby of learning about astronomy stuff, and lot of stuff (besides all the formulas, equations etc.) I know, but what's bugging me is what the Red Spot of Jupiter actually is. I know it's supposedly a sort of huge storm on Jupiter, but my three main questions are; just how big is it? Is it just gas? And how is it sustained?