Small pieces of advice with software / hardware trouble shooting.

[Earl]

1) If one thing needs to run in admin mode for whatever reason make sure everything else is too as they might not talk to each other if there is a mix.

2) Document your changes, now i know this is a pain and slows things down, but the paper trail will be far more reliable than your memory and what's changed and could hint at why your system is not working.

3) When you get a working setup again document it, take screen shots of the settings and save it all in a folder and make sure its all dated so you know when.

Its very very easy to get lost at what you have changed and it call all quickly become a blur and you end up going over old ground and getting more and more frustrated and go off looking for the hammer!

[PhotoGav]

Ouch, there speaks the blood and tears of brutal experience! I hope you are making good progress with your ace set-up. At least you now have about 10 weeks to get it running really smoothly before the dark nights return. Good luck.

[Earl]

Ouch, there speaks the blood and tears of brutal experience! I hope you are making good progress with your ace set-up. At least you now have about 10 weeks to get it running really smoothly before the dark nights return. Good luck.

If I had hair, id have none LOL

getting back into miniature painting has really helped me relax and be much calmer with these sort of things, glad i did it

[Pompey Monkey]

1) If one thing needs to run in admin mode for whatever reason make sure everything else is too as they might not talk to each other if there is a mix.

2) Document your changes, now i know this is a pain and slows things down, but the paper trail will be far more reliable than your memory and what's changed and could hint at why your system is not working.

3) When you get a working setup again document it, take screen shots of the settings and save it all in a folder and make sure its all dated so you know when.

Its very very easy to get lost at what you have changed and it call all quickly become a blur and you end up going over old ground and getting more and more frustrated and go off looking for the hammer!

Use a system image back-up utility if you can, as soon as you have a working set-up (Acronis or something similar). Then, if you mess up, it is a doddle to go back to where you were.