I have decided to add this page to keep the best of the soapbox articles I have written. I feel I'm writing these articles, and some of them are good, but I'm not getting noticed. So someone out there notice me, because surely I've got a future in writing newspaper columns. Or maybe I'm dreaming.

As I've said on the main soapbox page, all the items on this page are my own personal points of view, and do not represent anyone else.

Best of Soapbox 2004
Best of Soapbox 2005 (Jan-Jun)
Best of Soapbox 2005 (Jul-Dec)
Best of Soapbox 2006 (Jan-May)
November 2006 - NHS Cutbacks
October 2006 - Parking
September 2006 - Oh no, not yobs again
August 2006 - Terrorism rears it's ugly head again
July 2006 - Public telephones vs mobile phones
July 2006 - Asteroid passes near Earth
June 2006 - People aren't saving for retirement.
June 2006 - Bill Gates to leave his day-to-day role at Microsoft
June 2006 - Rebuilding your PC

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November 2006

It's been a while since I've written a soapbox. However, I'm going to try a write a few over the next few weeks. The thing is, I get fed up of writing about the same things that wind me up. I could write a soapbox about yobs every day. In fact this soapbox is returning to a subject that's appeared a number of times here. Yes I'm back on the NHS.

Today (1st November 2006), hundred of health workers and campaigners rallied outside Parliament to protest against the "reforms" being made to the NHS. They called the govemment's handling of the NHS a disgrace.

According to the unions, up to 20,000 posts are to be cut, although the government says only 900 people will be made redundant with the other cuts being made through "natural wastage" (I do love the terms they come up with so things don't sound so bad).

The fact is the population is increasing. Surely, as the population increases, so does the counties health needs. In fact, a few weeks back there was stories in the media about soldiers injured in Iraq getting treated in NHS hospitals. So the health needs are even more than usual when we're not at war (sorry, keeping the peace). So how can any cuts be justified? How does cutting back on frontline staff improve the NHS which is having it's 'best year ever'? It doesn't make sense does it?

Can this philosophy be applied to anything else?

If we cut back on the number of trains at rush hour, then more people should be able to travel!!

If we cut back on the number of libraries then more people will be able to use them.

If we cut back (sorry reform through natural wastage) on our teachers, more children will get a better education.

If we cut back on our police, the crime rates will improve.

If we cut back on our MP's, the government will run better. In fact, if taxes are cut back the government will run better. Can see them liking either of these suggestions!!

Our NHS used to be the pride of the world. In fact, I can't fault the response they seem to be giving to some people I know.

However, how can they continue to provide this service with less indians and more chiefs. We don't want a private health service. We want our NHS back. Let's hope the bean counters can find a way to give it back to us (although I believe I've more chance of winning the lottery).

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October 2006

I'm a bit slow spotting this one. It's comes from the Manchester Evening News.

Basically, Stockport councillors (well according to the story, ten Liberal Democrat councillors) are proposing to charge residents £60 for parking on the streets outside there houses (and they wonder why they are the third party in UK politics!!). However, these same councillors (in fact all councillors. This is the good bit!!) are to be exempt from the charge. The reason for this, so they can go travel about on council business (when was the last time your local councillor visited your street outside the run up to the local elections?). Mind you even if they did pay it,. they'd just claim it back on expenses (i.e. we'd pay it).

So let's have a look at what money buying and running a card brings into the government/local council coffers.

You buy a car. You pay VAT. You pay tax on the insurance. To put it on the roads, you pay road tax. To drive it around, you pay fuel duty (and VAT as well I think), road tolls (in some areas) and when you get to your destination you pay car park charges to the local authority (or an independent company - VAT again). Now they are proposing to make you pay to park it outside your house. Brilliant. Why haven't they thought of that before? A popular vote winning move!! I mean, good ideas like these don't come every day.

Right. Let's take another hypothetical situation. This ones never likely to happen. But let's assume for a minute that the public have had enough. We all dump our cars and switch to our wonderful public transport (don't get me started on public transport again!!) system. Traffic problems are solved over night. Buses arrive on time because no other traffic is on the roads. Trains become more frequent as they now have the passenger numbers to justify an increased service. The nation gets healthy. They have to walk to the public transport. Got to be good hasn't it?

Or is it? Overnight the government loses a major part of its income. Okay, they still get VAT on the ticket prices and road tax/fuel duty from the buses. But that's it. Nothing else. Can you imagine the panic at the House of Commons. Without this money the MP's wont have as much to spend on themselves, sorry, on the services it provides us with (like sending our troops to Iraq to fight a major enemy of ours). So what do they do to make up the shortfall? They tax something else. I've already mentioned pavement tax (they charge us for walking on the pavement we walk upon). I wonder what other taxes they could come up with. I'm sure they find something ridiculous to make us pay for.

So we wouldn't be any better off. No matter what we do, this wont stop governments and local councils continuing to come up with absurd taxes to pay for red tape, artistic sculptures and their own pay rises while cutting back on the things that we might actually use.

Normally I come up with a witty ending to a soapbox like this. However, this time I'm going to be different (i.e. I couldn't think of one at the time of writing).

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September 2006

Yobs. Yes the soapbox is back on yobs. I've been resisting writing about them for a while now, but it's time for them to make a return to the soapbox.

So what first prompted me to write about them again. Well, a story in one of the local newspapers on our holiday.

Friday 25 August, Inverurie Advertiser, headline 'Store Shuts out the Yobs'.

Basically the 24-hour Tesco store in Inverurie has been forced to shut on Friday and Saturday nights between midnight and 4am. The reason. Drunken louts, who after a night on the beer go to Tesco's to get some food.

Now local residents are glad. They had to endure the noise and disturbance these louts make along with the urinating, vomiting and dropping of litter. I'm sure you would be glad too if you lived there.

But hold on. Let's take a few moments to think about this. Hmm........

Is it just me, but do you really think that by shutting the Tesco's these yobs are going to stop drinking on a Saturday night.

'Are you coming out for a drink tonight Stewart?'. 'No. We can't. Tescos is shut at midnight'.

Who are you kidding? As usual, the law-abiding majority have to be inconvenienced because a small number of louts who can't handle their drink are causing trouble. Okay, you might not go shopping in the middle of the night, but the point I'm trying to make is that if they can't get food in Tesco's, they'll just go somewhere where they can get food. A local 24-hour garage, take-away, whatever. Tesco's closure may make it safer for their staff that have to serve these yobs, but it doesn't solve the problem. Residents are still going to get the same yobs doing the same anti-social activities associated with drink. Surely a better idea would be to actual arrest and punish these louts. It's not the Tesco's staff/customers or local residents who are at fault. Why should they be punished?

Did you here that load of guff Tony Blair was spouting the other week? Once again he was promising to tackle anti-social behaviour by detecting the people who may take the yob route in life at an earlier age, possible when they are babies. What? Over many years, successive governments have promised to tackle anti-social behaviour. What have they done? ASBO's. Scary!! You do wrong, you get an ASBO telling you not to do wrong again. I wonder if they actually work? I wonder if these yobs take any notice of the ASBO's.

Back here in North Wales, a local parish council has told residents to tackle the problem of yobs vandalising lampposts or face a council tax rise. Er, just a minute. It's our job to tackle anti-social behaviour. Right. We go out and tell them to stop, get a mouthful of abuse plus a brick through our windows. We so much as throw the brick back, and we get arrested. Sounds about right that. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking it's the polices/courts job to deal with vandalism, threatening behaviour, and general anti-social behaviour.

You really have to wonder which planet our local councilors are on sometimes. Tackle the yobs, get abused then arrested when you fight back, or pay more for your council tax. Nice choice.

Finally, kids will be kids. Boys like to play football. No problem with that. However, one resident got that fed up of having the football come in his garden that when it came in for the umpteenth time he decided to keep it. The boys involved then had a tantrum. Next the boys father allegedly came around and threatened him. Time to get the police involved. What do they do? They arrest him for theft. He's taken away handcuffed and in his pyjamas. All this person wanted was an apology, and then he'd have given the ball back. But as usual (or how it seems), the victim get arrested and the people who started it all off get off scot free.

So once again I ask, why do I want to move to a remote part of Scotland?

Update: An 61-year old woman on holiday on the Isle of Wight is allegedly pushed off a sea wall by a 17-year lad.

In Yorkshire, a woman allegedly being taunted by yobs who have vandalised her property and taunted her finally snaps and tells them 'Why don't you f**k off?'. Shortly after she is arrested for the use of the bad language. No sign of the police when when she's reported the yobs.

I'm sure I could update this every day. Enough is enough. It's time the authorities had the balls to deal with these yobs. No more political talk, action, that's what's needed. A teenager knows right from wrong. No more of this namby-pamby let's understand why they do what they do. You do wrong, you get punished. Every one understands that. And the sooner the do-gooders and authorities get this concept into their heads, the better.

August 2006

Well once again the terrorists have caused chaos at our airports because of an alleged plot to blow up several transatlantic flights.

Well lets start with the alleged bit. Our security services imposed all the restrictions and security checks at the airports because they believed an attack was imminent. Was this the same security services who said there was Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq? Obviously if an attack was about to occur then the measures put in place were obviously to protect our citizens (they dont seem to protect them on the streets of the UK every day when people are getting abused, mugged or murdered). Or was it a political measure to allow the government to push through some more freedom restricting laws in the name of combating terrorism in the coming months? Or Im I just very cynical?

Even with all these additional 'security' measures, a 12 year old lad still managed to stowaway on a airplane and was only discovered during a head count on the plane. No passport, ticket, boarding card, etc. and he still got onto the plane. No wonder the terrorists aren't worried about security at our airports.

Another couple of stories also caught my eye. First was a man from Wrexham who had an Iraqi name. He was flying out that day, and was hauled off the aircraft and questioned because of his name. Needless to say he missed his flight. Is a name a good way of identifying a terrorist? In fact, does a persons race make them a terrorist? Surely suspicious luggage or chemicals in bottles give a better idea of who a terrorist might be. Singling out people by their name or race only helps to divide the multi-racial society that we live in instead of uniting it.

It's no better in the States. Another man who was on his way to Disneyland with his family was stopped at US customs and questioned for 4 hours allegedly because of his ethnic origins. He was (allegedly) even asked if he knew any of the arrested suspects in this country. During this questioning he said he never received a drink or food. After this he was deported. The rest of his family are now in the States by themselves.

Headlines in some of the newspapers like all the arrested people were Muslim dont help either. Surely headlines like this make us believe all Muslims are terrorists. Would it be right to say all germans were Nazi's?.

Using a different analogy, are all people who live on council estates anti-social yobs or work-shy layabouts? No, of course not. In all areas, no matter which race, sex or age the people are, there will always be one or two families or people who are responsible for giving the area a bad name. The same goes for race. A few extremists are giving the other members of that race/religion a bad name.

Surely terrorists who are clever enough to smuggle the ingredients for a bomb onto a plane are also clever enough to recruit or force people of different ethnic origins to carry out the attacks. The fact is you cant distinguish a terrorist by their name or race. If you use ethnic origin as a basis for identifying potential terrorists, surely your guilty of a form of racism.

Also, who says its just our planes that are at risk? Last years terrorist attack in London proved that.

So it comes back to Why cant we all just live together and get on with what is really important?. Were supposed to be an intelligent race. This planet needs saving from itself. People are starving in numerous counties. Why cant the terrorists and governments put their effects into helping there own people? Even in the UK people are suffering, whether its the elderly being mistreated in a minority of hospitals/old peoples homes to NHS patients who cant get the treatment they need to people getting abused or mugged on our streets everyday.

Obviously this will never happen though. Lets hope the children of today who are upset because their teddies are being taken off them when they fly because they could be a security risk will become the enlightened future generation that sees this is a stupid way to live.

July 2006

Somethings happening to our land. The landscape is changing. There was a time when you'd be able to find something on nearly every street corner (not a woman of the night before your mind starts wandering). But no more. They are an endangered species. They'll be extinct soon. To what do I refer? The public telephone.

I had reason to have to use a public telephone the other day. But could I find one. What do you think? And when I did find one, it had been vandalised. Arghh!!

We live in a ultra modern world. You'd think that as I work in computers I must have all the latest technology. But do I have a mobile phone. No. And I'm proud of it. I may run one website that is aimed at mobile phone users, but I don't have one myself.

People may ask how do I live without a mobile phone. Well, firstly I don't have the call and line rental charges that the mobile phone giants charge. Money in my pocket every month. I could go on a pay as you go contract, but I believe even then you only have a month to use what you've paid for. What would the world be like if everything was like that. "Here's your CD sir. Remember, you only have a month to use it, then you'll have to buy it again". Actually music is going that way with digital downloads isn't it?

Anyway it's enough that I pay for my landline phone never mind a mobile phone.

Secondly, I think I can go around a supermarket without having conduct my social life for all to hear or consult with my partner on whether she wants Ariel or Persil tablets for the washing machine. I think I can make decisions like that myself.

Thirdly, I don't want to run anyone over while chatting on a mobile phone whilst driving. Why won't people use hands free kits. They'll pay for expensive calls on the phones, but not for a hands free kit which is probably a lot less than the monthly bill on the phone. As you will know if you read these soapboxes regularly I have nearly been run over twice at a pelican crossing in Mold which was on green for pedestrians at the time by people who, because they were on there mobile phones, didn't see that the lights were against them. And they have the cheek to give me the dirty look. One these times they'll hit me, and I'll sue the bloody pants (and underpants/knickers) off them. But where are the police when you need them. Are they catching all these people who are illegally using there mobile phones while driving? No!! All there interested in are the speeders!! (I know I've mentioned that one before, but I'm like the TV. Full of repeats. Particularly when I've had raw onions. Too much information I think!!).

Fourthly, do I want to go around looking like someone who's about to mutate into a cyberman. I mean, have you seen them. The new mobile phones that click on top of your ear. Salesmen walk around with them as if they are a fashion statement saying "look at me, I'm a prick with a bit of metal stuck on my ear that could fry my brain (OK, I know, there's no evidence to suggest that mobile phone could affect your brain as yet. But how would you know with a salesman?)". Do they realise how stupid they look when they walk around and it looks like they're talking to themselves.

Finally. Text messaging. "Gr8". Teenagers with there thumbs constantly glued to the keypad. They get depressed if they don't receive a text message for more than 10 seconds. They're opening up clinics for teenagers to help them with there addiction. What happened to going around to your mates and having a conversation. You know what I mean. Using your mouth and moving it to form words using your throat to make the sounds required. And they only live next door.

But most importantly, mobile phones are killing off the public telephones. Somewhere there is a red phone box mountain, where retired phone boxes go to spend there final days. No more will we be able to go into the urine smelling vandalised graffiti ridden boxes to make that call to our partners to say we're running late, or just tell them we love them.

Actually, thinking about it, anyone know a good deal on a mobile phone?

A potentially

Why do they only tell us that when the asteroid has already passed by? Is this me just being cynical?

Okay. Let's take a hypothetical situation. An asteroid is going to collide with the Earth. Scientists spot this many years before the asteriod is due to arrive. Governments all talk about what they are going to do about it. However, unlike the Hollywood movies of a similar vein, do you really think they are going to tell us, the public about it? No. Why? Because it would cause worldwide panic. The whole structure of society would collapse. I mean, if you were told that all life on Earth would be extinguished because of a disaster like this, would continue working? No, of course you wouldn't. You'd pack up work, and enjoy what's left of your life. And if you can't pay the bills, what the hell. They'll be no one to chase you for the money soon. It wont matter.

So what would the governments do? They'd cover it up. There is no way there going to tell us we are all going to die until the last possible moment (i.e. When there's a dirty great rock in the sky).

While we're on cover ups, I think I'll just go off topic here for a moment. Last month, under the 30 year rule I believe, the Ministry of Defence made public a top secret report on UFOs. Basically they concluded that there was no conclusive proof of extraterrestrials. Did this satisfy the believers? Not a chance. They said that the governments probably had even more secret reports that they are covering up.

Whether or not this is true, I for one don't believe that we are the only planet in the whole solar system that has life. Space is a big place. Only last week, a beetle believed to be extinct in the UK was found in Wales. If we can't even be sure of the animals on Earth, how can we say that there isn't a single lifeform on another planet? Others say that if there is life, why haven't they made themselves known to us? Well, if you came to this planet and looked at the supposedly intelligent life on it, would you want to know us? More importantly, would you want to risk your advanced technology falling into the hands of anyone, not just the loony governments on Earth.

So if the government were aware of UFO's and aliens, they wouldn't let us know. And if an asteroid is on it's way to finish us all off, once again they wouldn't let us know. They'd make sure that they and their families were all in places where they'd be safe if there was such a place. Got to have the building blocks of government in place haven't we? Anyone that does survive needs to be governed. What a thought. You survive the disaster of  this magnitude, only to be governed by the same barnpots as before. What a future!!

So once again I say why tell us after we've avoided a disaster? If they (the scientists) were so sure it wouldn't hit the Earth, why didn't they tell us when the Asteroid was approaching? Maybe they weren't so sure, or maybe people are too stupid to comprehend information like this.

I'll leave you with that thought. I've probably depressed you enough now.

June 2006

A survey has indicated that fewer people are saving for old age, despite the warnings about the state of the pension and the fact that its unlikely to provide for people in the future.

Because of this, the government is proposing new legislation to tackle the shortfall. Ive already mentioned that the retirement age will probably be going up to allow more money to be put into the pension.

However its not this side of the topic I want to look at initially. Its the lack of savings area Ill tackle first.

There is one main point I want to make. Has it crossed the governments mind, or their advisors that the reason that people are saving less is because the cost of everything is rising at a rate which is substantially more than wages.

Gas, electricity and fuel have all increased at such a rate that fewer people have any money left over in their pockets. Reports also suggest that the government is looking at compulsory water meters for all households to tackle the drought crisis. Wonderful idea. It has been said in some media outlets that the water bill for the average household increase by £200 if this is brought in. Even less money in our pockets. Still, as long as the water companies make big profits thats okay. Its doesnt matter that a fair proportion of the water leaks away through broken pipes. In fact one water company washed its offices 2 days after imposing a hosepipe ban.

Fortunately, my council tax bill and phone bill are the only ones that didnt really increase by an extortionate amount this year, although they were still more than my salary increase.

It makes you wonder why you bother though. Why work all day, just to earn enough to cover the bills? Why dont we all quit and go on benefits (I hate that phrase)?

I dont want to grow old. By the time I retire Im not going to be able to enjoy it (or afford it). Using this argument, why should I save any money for a pension that Im never likely to be able to enjoy (okay, I know theres a contradiction here).

So whats the answer. I want to retire while Im still able to enjoy it. Im sure the majority of people are the same. I mean, any money we spend enjoying our retirement only gets put back into the system anyway (through taxes, etc). Lets hope that the governments review doesnt make it impossible for us to achieve this dream (Im sure that the MPs will make sure that they dont struggle when they retire). Ill not hold my breath though.

As you are aware, Im a pro-Microsoft IT person. Some people tolerate them as they have no real choice in when working IT. Others like me are geeks who like to see what new ideas they are coming up with. Whether you love them or hate them, you cant help but admire a man like Bill Gates and what he has done for Microsoft. Would Microsoft be where it is today without Bill Gates? I think not.

My first involvement with Microsoft, like a lot of people was MS-DOS. This then moved on to Windows 3.11, Windows 95 and upwards through the various versions of Windows (except for Windows ME which in my opinion was not the greatest OS ever. Other people might disagree). Its nice to have seen it evolve over the years. Im sure a fair proportion of this was down to Mr Gates.

Working in IT Im more than aware that Windows and other MS software isnt perfect. Issues with stability and security have occurred frequently. However, and Im not defending them here, when youre a hacker, a big corporation like Microsoft must seem like fair game. All software is only as good as the people who write it, and other people are going to break that software if there is prestige (or these days money) involved in doing that.

Also, the people writing the software are human (I presume). Humans arent perfect. You only have to look at todays world and the mistakes we make to see that. Other people are bound to find the mistakes you make. In all fairness, Microsoft do try to resolve security/other issues through Windows Updates.

The business practices of Microsoft have also made the news from time to time. They have been accused of having a monopoly within the PC market numerous times. In fact it would be fair to say that because of the number of PCs using Windows this may be true. Some firms may accuse them of bullying their way to the top. Whether or not this is true, the fact is that Microsoft have given us a uniform platform to work on. We know that when we write software its going to work of the major proportion of PCs in use. We dont have to re-write it for numerous platforms. (Actually, being a software developer, maybe thats not a benefit because its less work for us).

One area where I think Microsoft could improve is the cost of Windows and Office. I would like to see that reduced, possibly by half. I think Windows should be priced at around £50, and Office at around £150.  Thats just my opinion though.

Bill Gates is probably one of the richest (in not the richest) people in the world. Hes worked to get there. It wasnt really handed to him on a plate. He is the person wed all like to be. And while he isnt actually retiring, why shouldnt he take it easy now? Hes earned it.

So I would like to wish him all the best. And I hope that Microsoft will still allow him to give his input into future projects even though this will only be on a part time basis. I would hate for them to lose that vision that Mr Gates has given them.

Rather than reinstall the virus/firewall software, I opted for a rebuild (not a choice for the fainthearted!!). So the first job was backup. Fortunately it was only my internet/e-mail access that had a problem.  So the for the first time (probably ever on this machine), I backed up all the files I could possibly need to CD and the secondary hard disk.

This brings me to my first question. Why is it I.T. people never back up their computers? Now dont get me wrong. At work were brilliant. Servers get backed up. If a user stores files on his/her local machine, and doesnt copy them up to the server than we tell them theyre stupid when their machine goes down. And they blame us for it. The number of times I taken calls from customers whove lost data and not taken any backups. And they blame us for that. Yes. Every evening, I travel around the country in my personal helicopter visiting all the customers to do a backup!!

Mind you, when we get home we dont care about backups. We download games or movies from the internet, photos from our cameras onto our home PCs. Do we think to back them off in case our home PC crashes. What do you think? And who do we blame when it does go down? Microsoft. I.T. people always blame Microsoft. We all know that its not there fault. But we blame them anyway. Our internet crashes. Microsoft, not the ISP. Our downloaded game crashes. Microsoft, not the software company. Our marriage on the rocks. Microsoft, not the fact that we spend far too much time on our computer ignoring our wives.

Were hypocrites. When it comes to loading an operating system, who do we choose. Microsoft. Why? Because even though we like to look like we dont like them (try saying that after a few pints), the truth is that we love them. Bill Gates is our god. Everything they do is wonderful.

Just to go off subject here (you never catch me doing that on this soapbox do you), I attended a MSDN roadshow event in Manchester the other day. While two of the five sessions didnt really interest me, the sections on Vista and Office along with the Windows Presentation Foundation were very interesting. It was also nice to see one of the presenters having problems getting his videos to work on his demonstrations. Welcome to our world one member of the audience shouted out making us all laugh. (Well you had to be there!!).

However, a couple of things did bug me.

Firstly, in the era of technological advances in all areas of business, why is it still impossible for someone to make a chair that doesnt make your backside numb? Every conference I attend, I end up with numb bum.

Secondly. Non-technical people seem to think that the MS roadshow is a jolly for I.T. people. For some it is. This is proved by a small proportion of them not staying for the last session of the day. This bugs me. Yes, okay it was a lovely hot day weather wise which make it a little uncomfortable in the presentation room. Yes, you have lives outside work. But as Microsoft have made the effort to come round the country and show you where they are going with their software, the least you can do is stay until the end. Its not just a free lunch.

Back to my computer with the virus/firewall software problem. Having backed everything up, my next problem is finding all the cds and license keys for my software. Operating System, OS SP1, OS SP2, Virus Checker/Firewall, printer drivers, ASDL modem drivers, web development software, etc.. However the only cd I cant find is probably one of the most important. My motherboard CD. Dont ever lose your motherboard cd!! Since I couldnt find it, I figured Id take a screen shot of the devices installed from Device Manager. No joy. Whatevers corrupted has stopped me getting into device manager. I did manage to retrieve the details for the sound card and display driver from other options, but for the majority of the devices Im hoping Windows will install them okay using plug and play.

So its now time for me to kiss goodbye to everything I had on the primary hard disk.

Windows XP gets installed first, then SP1 and SP2. The virus checker & firewall are next. Thats two evenings of my life gone. The third evening is spent loading the modem driver then getting all the windows and virus/firewall updates.

And so it continues over several more evenings. Loading the web editor allows me to start updating the websites again at least.

However, I have a problem (you should see a doctor about that). My soundcard wont work. The default windows driver isnt the right one. So I go on to the motherboard manufacturers website, and download the audio driver (all 30mb of it. Good job Im not still on dial-up). I run it. No joy. It wont decompress to c:\. Wonderful. Now Im not being funny, but who writes a decompression program that for one, doesnt prompt where you want to decompress to, and two, decompresses to c:, the root folder of your primary drive. Its defies me why a developer would do this? Have they not thought that maybe this isnt the best place to uncompress to?

The fun starts. Three hours trawling the internet, registering with websites Ill probably never use again (thank god for hotmail e-mail addresses. Spam on the way). This brings me onto another point. Why do you have to register with a website just to be given a link to another website? Why promise that you have a lot of device drivers, when really all youve got is links to other sites that have device drivers? I could do that. And I wouldnt ask visitors to register to get this information. Even worse, to get this information you have to trawl through around 6 pages of adverts before youre allowed to get the link to the other website. Youll never find an ad on this website.

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Its late. Im getting nowhere. My new clean machine is once again littered with files (all sound device files) that are of no use to me. I go in and remove all the audio device drivers that can be removed from Add/Remove Programs. I try the driver I downloaded off the motherboard website one last time expecting the decompress to c: error again.

It decompresses and installs okay. And I now have sound again. Why couldnt it do that 3 hours ago? Why give an error one time, than not another? Whos to blame? You already know the answer to that one dont you.