Padded Cell

I can't get any audio from my laptop.Tried the trick of going in to My Computer and then manage audio devices to no avail. Microsoft troubleshooter won't work: ''A problem is preventing the troubleshooter from starting''. Some windows updates were performed this afternoon. I'm not sure about doing a safe reboot. I went to a site to download the audio driver again but it wanted about £20 so no thanks. I have looked this up online already and it seems like a lot of faff to fix it. Warned that...

I know a lot of folks buy box sets and bigger ticket items from Amazon.  If you are in the UK, US or Canada (there other countries listed below) the following site will give you the price trends. Especially useful for items that have been...

At what point does one ditch a car?   The car in question is a 2007 Mercedes SL500 with 43K miles, owned for 8 months. I purposely bought near the end of the production cycle in the hope that the glitches of earlier models would have been ironed...

I'm toward the end of a major entrance door/hall/stairs refit. The stair fittings - casing, newels & hand rails are oak, but the builder has posed a question that needs to be answered over the weekend. What finish ??? oil, wax or varnish TBH & had not considered anything other than varnish, the 6 doors off the hall I finished in semi matt varnish & was assuming the same for the stairs . The builder suggested varnish on the "wear" items...

Can't believe there is no 2014 Cricket thread yet, unless I've missed it...   Anyway, what a magnificent, probably match saving, last wicket stand in The Test by Rooooooooot and Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Anderson.

Anybody know anything about this? My new laptop appears to have it loaded although I can find no sign of it anywhere. No services, processes, folders, or other objects, visible or hidden. Every now and again I get a message saying it has stopped...

i don't find the topic i've started a few days ago. Is it deleted? christoph

http://www.smh.com.au/environm...20141208-1212nb.html   I would see that as a fantastic outcome of this potential ant invasion. Lots of negative outcomes of course, but fewer JAFAs walking around in thongs is a positive, for sure.

I bought a mini-tower PC from Currys/PC World today, specifically to use with a satellite tuner PCI card.  When I got it home I discovered that the motherboard didn't have any PCI slots (even though the chassis was punched for them).  What...

Last Friday evening our central heating and hot water went off and by Saturday morning the boiler was condemned. We discovered all our pipework is substandard and needs replaced before the a new boiler can be installed - A £4.5k job min. So a less than jolly week has ensued - three kids, us and not even an electric shower. Get up yesterday at the usual 6:15 and boil kettle for a wash and shave and the bathroom light pops. Wash and shave in darkness and, as we are all in the lobby ready to...

Trying to do my daughter and SIL a favour we "subbed" them for new battery of SIL's car, a Renault Laguna and I thought I'd fit it for them.  Easy I thought a few nuts and Robert's your dads brother.   Not only does it require 3 different...

Is it just me or have you noticed that lately you often get a blank top-of-page when you click on a response? You then have to go to the previous page and scroll to the bottom to see the response you were after.   It's a bit annoying and...

Youngest daughter trying to set up broadband and n their new house. They arranged it via John Lewis, who supplied them with a Netgear N300 wireless router. JL organised BT Openrach who arrived today to instaal and connect a DSL modem and made an...

Do dealers have a choice?

I have just bought an antique illuminated globe (map). It still has the original tungsten bulb inside, but I can see with the long term use, the heat has caused a tiny bit of ageing of the map. I'm thinking of keeping this bulb in a box replacing it...

I am an enthusiast of everything efficient at what is supposed to do. A lighting lamp should make light and a heater should heat.   Of course an electric heater is 100 per cent efficient in the house as it converts all the energy metered to heat,...

SWMBO still insists on having prints of most of her photos (expensive, as she takes a lot!), and likes me to use Boots the Chemist for this purpose (Barclaycard points vouchers accepted etc)   Last batch of photos (approx 200)has been...

The Welsh have the Harp and the Scots have the Bagpipe.   Who wins?   I am three eighths Welsh, and one eighth English. The other half is Norwegian, so please be careful with your answers! The Norwegians have the Hardangger Fiddle, which...

Not too good a start with what had happened to Schumy.  There is also even sadder news with the announcement of engine builder Brian Harts passing. http://www.formula1.com/news/h...es/2014/1/15363.html 

Already looks better than the last three flicks...   https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be  

guys,   I was chatting to my dad last night (84 and still well on the case) and once again he was reiterating his long held view that I should trade the Naim for some valves (not going to happen).   But we did start to discuss the cost...

Who is paying for your pension ? I ask this of anybody with a UK public servant pension, which includes Gov Officers, Local Authority Officers, NHS staff, Teachers, Policemen, Firemen, etc etc It also includes quasi government organisations such as Network Rail, train drivers and other ex employees of British Rail, and similar “privatised” organisations where employees retained their pension rights under their Tuped transfers. For those in the private sector where final salary pension...

As Mick P [long of this Parish] has noted, there comes a time when most of us oldies have reached our sell-by date.    We repeat ourselves, and become predictable. People become accustomed to our views, and so suggest such things as changing the record in some instances. Quite rightly so, in so many cases.   I have found myself making long and without doubt sensible posts, which five minutes after posting I have deleted, or sometimes never even posted in the first place.

So, Top Gear (minus Clarkson) is now up and running in China.   The growth in ownership means 1.5 million cars per month being added to the traffic in China.   My first though was  that George, if he watch that part of the news, might...

"My dad would be so happy to see people understanding the healing power of the herb,"    Yeah, right - Kerching!   G