Peggy Paperdoll

Sooooooooooooo....there are things that matter and things that don't matter. That's true. But I'm reading that you think ethics is one of those things that don't matter. Ethics is perhaps one of the things that matter most. In fact, I've read some of your posts relating to the importance of ethics.......Linden Lab and your thoughts on how they do business ring any bells (that relates heavily on ethics). If you cannot trust the surveyor (or researcher) you are, at the very least, dealing with an ethics issue. Maybe what you are objecting to with VR's post is that he is concerned with the students' ethics in relation to the course of study.......that probably does not apply to you directly (though it could if that surveyor is less than honest with you concerning privacy). But it does apply to the quality of the survey and, in turn, the quality of the educational value that the student is seeking. Just think of the surveyor asking for interviews here, today, moves on to medical research in the future......and the student failed to learn what an ethical survey is all about. I would imagine that research (based upon surveys) would be much less valid (and more likely to be inaccurate). What type of harm could that student inflict upon society? I just wanted to jump in because I see you objecting to VR's concern with the quality of the research. Though that's probably irrelevant to the topic, it is a very valid point. Obviously you think otherwise......but you are arguing non-sense. Ethics matter...........ethics matter all the time (not sometimes). What VR posted doesn't matter in relation to this topic but what he said does matter. And you are saying what he says doesn't matter (or maybe only sometimes) On the topic I believe you and VR are not so far apart (perhaps less far apart than you and I.....the survey requests don't bother me enough to want a separate section in the forums and, evidently they do for you).

Only one thing to add to Rolig's and Marigold's answers. If you do leave your account (not delete it but not log in with it either), do yourself a favor: Write down the username (make sure the spelling is correct), the password for that account, the security question and the answer you provided when you signed up, and the email address you associated with the account at the time you signed up. You'd be surprised at how many people forget little things like that after not using the account for a few months.........it's easy to do (I know, I did it once myself).

I'm not a survey fan.......in fact, I've been known to sort of come down on the "survey takers". But I can't quite go to the extreme of segregating them to there own forum or section. As long as they are contained in the "General Discussion" section I don't have much of a problem. It's pretty easy to spot them and even easier to scroll past them. And, occasionally I will open a thread that is obviously some "survey"........mostly because someone responded (I seldom miss a chance to throw my two lindens into the hat so if someone answered then I think maybe I can have some fun ). It's the occasional survey that finds it's way to "Answers" for something that irk me enough to get nasty with my response. Surveys? Just scroll past them..........people will get the hint if after a few hours their survey is near the bottom of the page and no responses (and, ideally, no views either.

Someone needs to get a grip. Brutal attacks at some locations? Attacks......yeah I'll concede that. Further I'll concede that more than just "many busy locations".......how about practically every location at one time or another has experienced some form of griefing over the years. But brutal is taking it a little far. Griefers can interrupt, irritate, cause stress for businesses but, in reality, it's an annoyance (SL, despite what you might think, is a virtual world........an imaginary world, it's not real life). Brutal is something akin to a gang of thugs beating someone bloody in the street......that cannot happen in SL. A griefing attack can crash a sim........but it does no damage to "equipment" (which begs the question "what equipment?") If your video player on your computer crashes does it damage your video card? I think not. Weapons are sold on Market Place as they are sold in-world. There are legitimate uses for such devices and you are implying that (or saying that) those legitimate reasons be damned because the weapons can be used for illegitimate purposes (you sound a lot like the gun control advocates here in the United States....bad stuff can be done with weapons, therefore get rid of them and the hell with the legitimate uses). I would love to hear some of those US Federal cybercrime laws that are being committed (remember SL is a make believe world, not real). Don't attempt to use the $L as an example of "extortion"........LL does not define the Linden Dollar as anything but a "token" with no monetary value. What is a "professional griefer" anyway? What degree or level of experience must one gain in order to become a "professional"? Long time, persistent, or repeat griefer......yeah, I can understand that. But professional is, again, taking it just little too far. I believe LL does care about griefing. It's a problem that has been around since Second Life launched in 2002. The Abuse Report system was created and put into place to help curb the problem.........it was impossible for LL to police the grid back in the days when there were only a handful of regions all contained on a single continent and it's even more impossible now that there are nearly 30,000 regions on many continents. They rely on the users to report violations of the ToS (griefing being one such violation) so that they can investigate and take the necessary actions. The problem is that the AR system is clogged with silly AR's, false AR's, and inaccurate AR's. Numerous AR's are filed daily about such things and "Johnny looked at me crossed-eyed and I don't like it"......someone has to look at it before it's deleted. Numerous AR's are filed that are just plain inaccurate.....nothing can be done if the Linden charged with investigating cannot know what the complaint is (delete?). And then the false AR......AR's filed with false information on them. AR's containing a bunch of imbellishments or exaggerations similar to your post....those will almost definitely wind up deleted too. A properly filed AR for a legitimate ToS or CS violation that is complete (without false or made up information) will be acted upon.........maybe not to your satisfaction or according to your time frame, but acted upon. I haven't filed an AR is quite some time but I have filed a few in the past......funny thing, the reasons causing me to file those AR's never happened again (I would say LL did do something to make that happen). I don't know how you can say that griefing is getting worse. When was the last time you experienced the entire SL grid being crashed (not a sim or two or three.....the whole shebang down, crashed, offline for hours)? That used to happen.........sometimes 4 or 5 times a week. Griefing is minor these days. Like I said at first........get a grip.

"... but the first question I asked is a question in need of answering." ----------------------------------------------------- I think I can answer your question even though I'm not a Linden (nor am I affiliated with Linden Lab). The answer is a very simple NO. I'm not sure what your intent was (is) for all that documentation you presented. Aside from the fact that you, yourself, blatantly violated several forum "Community Guidelines" with the names you posted (which is a bannable offense), the rest is basically nothing but a rant. There's a healthy dose of sarcasm there too.........you know very well that LL does not allow griefers. You're talking to residents here and not Linden Lab employees (note the lack of an "s" at the end of lab) but if you were speaking to a Linden Lab employee, how much enthusiasm do you suppose that employee would have about dealing with your question? Would you walk up to a police officer (or call the police department) and ask "Does the Hometown PD allow pick pockets to roam the city streets preying old ladies?" Think you might get a somewhat harsh response? You know darn good and well that LL does not allow griefing. Stupid question. File your Abuse Reports. Leave the attitude out. Give as much accurate information as possible......don't embellish thinking will get a faster or better response (it won't and will likely cause your AR to go straight to the trash heap). Remember, you catch more bees with honey than vinegar.

"In the event that they refuse to change to windows 7 for me, what can i do? I'm kinda technologically challenged. haha" ------------------------------------------------ There are several things you can do. Purchase a Windows 7 x64 license and install it yourself on the computer.....but, if you've never done that then it might be scary (though it's not really difficult). Or take to a reputable computer shop and have them do it for you (it will cost you a fee but shouldn't be that much). And finally, you can go online and find a comparable custom computer with exactly what you want.......and probably a few 100 dollars cheaper. HP is a big name.........but that does not make them the best.

The graphics card is a very good one. There are better on the market but they can be very expensive and the return on that investment would be minimal (if any return at all........there is only so much any card can do with SL and it's user created content displayed in real time 3D). I think the retailer is giving you a line of BS about Windows 8........but they also could be appeasing Microsoft in order to get a good deal on the OEM Windows 8 that they put on the computers. Voiding a warranty? That is BS too and they are parsing words about "original system" What happens to the warranty if you put Linux on it? Will HP void the warranty too? It sounds to me that you are dealing with Best Buy or something. But I'm not going to argue.......it's up to you. And I cannot say Windows 8 is "really bad". I don't have it so I have no first hand knowledge. I do read reviews though and Windows 8 does not get many good reviews. I understand that any new OS has it's problems when first released (XP had many such issues that continued until SP 1 was released........and, to a lessor degree, so did Vista) but it's more than issues or the interface.....it's mobile app design more suited for smart phones and tablets. A computer is a different animal and it appears Windows 8 does not address that. The best thing about Windows 8 is it's security features......but the hackers will catch up in time (they always do). Windows 8 does work with SL but there are driver issues that can be tricky. I, personally, would not opt for Win 8 right now. I'll keep my Windows 7 for a bit longer.

It's a good system and should run SL at high settings constantly and ultra for picture taking (there will be some lag at ultra but not so much that it would hinder any picture taking). The only potential problem I see is Windows 8. Sadly, Windows 8 appears to be another Vista (or even ME..........but maybe not that bad). I would ask the retailer or HP to replace the Windows 8 with Windows 7 x64 and wait for a while before jumping over to Windows 8 (at least until a service pack is released). Microsoft did their normal stuff with Win 8 and tried to make an "all in one" operating system so they could break into the smart phone/tablet market......it appears it's a flop (at least for now). Windows 7 is a solid and stable operating system (much like XP was in it's day).

... <p>Access control configuration prevents your request from being allowed at this time. Please contact your service provider if you feel this is incorrect.</p> ..----------------------------------------------------------- Might be a good place to start for a solution. It could be a network security setting too........contact the network administrator for that.

Yes you can unless you opt for the free Linden Home. You will need to buy a mainland parcel other than a Linden Home...a parcel on any mainland bought from either LL or a private resident. If you buy a parcel that is 512 sq meters or less you will not be charged a monthly fee (tier) for the land. You will, however, have only 117 prims total available for your house and any furnishings you might want to put in the house (plants and landscaping stuff counts against that 117 prim limit too). That's the main advantage of a Linden Home over another parcel of mainland.......the Linden Home house does not count against the prim limit so you have all 117 prims for furnishings. But LL puts some restrictions on what you can do with a Linden Home such as you cannot place any prim outside the house, you cannot put a sky box above the house (actually, you cannot put any prims outside the walls, floor or roof of the Linden Home).

If you did not specifically request your account to be deleted it won't be deleted. Though "forever" might be a stretch in reality, LL seems to keep any account for "forever" unless it's specifically deleted by the user. You would do that on your dashboard.

I'm not sure what you mean by "idling" but I think you are saying that when you click on the link or bookmark your browser never opens the page........just endlessly waiting and waiting for the page to open. That happens more often than you might expect and not just for Market Place. The cause can be almost anything but it is an indication that the site you are trying to access is down......not necessarily true but it is one cause. Many other reasons can cause a very long time to finally get to a site you want. The site is busy and you are waiting your turn for the servers to send back the request by your browser......the browser patiently waits and it seems nothing is happening. Maybe something along the path between you and the site (the route to the site) is slow or not responding. Sometimes a simple restarting of your browser will fix the problem. And then there's those mysterious times when a site becomes unavailable for unknown reasons (nothing's broken but nothing works either).........time cures that. Try restarting your browser. If that doesn't work then just try again later. There isn't anything reported on the status page for SL.......but it takes awhile for problems to be discovered and reported so there still is that possibility. http://status.secondlifegrid.net/

Contact the owner of the parcel or region that you were banned from and ask. Beyond that, there's nothing more to do.

Slowing or throttling log ins is probably one of the things LL wants the least. Think about it..........it's a for profit business. Maybe you would like for things to slow down at your real life work...........but I bet your bosses would be 180 degrees in the other direction. The SL grid is built on a very complicated software platform. Unexpected things happen that only crop up after the update is launched and installed (testing does not always find problems.......only full deployment discovers some problems). This is true for any software. The world is not perfect. Never will be, and you should understand that..........it will make life a lot easier on you (both your Second Life and your real life).

Did you try restarting your modem and your router (if one exists in your home network)? Did you try connecting using an Ethernet cable (Cat 5e) if you are using a wireless connection? Did you test your actual speed ( http://www.speedtest.net/ )? Routers and modems needing rebooting is a very common cause for disconnects. Wireless connection to the Internet causes disconnects randomly for most people using wireless. And if your real connection speed is low (less than 1000 kbps......though 700 works with some success for some people). The speed your Internet provider says you should get is seldom the actually speed you connect with (that's under ideal conditions and it's one of "up to" things...........not what you would normally get). Your tested speed should be, at least, 75% of the speed you ISP says you should get......if it's not then call them to find out why. Those are three of the most common causes for disconnects from the SL servers. System specs would help to figure out other potential issues. You can find those quite easily by launching your viewer (don't bother to log in since you will probably get disconnected anyway). Under the "Help" menu on the log in screen click "About Second Life". You'll see your basic computer specs.........copy and paste those back here. Please don't start a new thread....use the "Options" in the upper right corner of your post and then "Edit".

"uall need to go back to school ..." ----------------------------------------- Really? Perhaps you should go to school yourself. Not back to school (it's obvious that, if you did go to school, you missed so much that you effectively didn't go at all). It never ceases to amaze me that the people who don't know what they are talking about have the biggest mouths. One of those questions we will never find the answers to.

Whenever maintenance is performed on any operating system it is often necessary to restart the system for the changes or repairs can take effect. Think of all those Windows system updates (or your anti-virus program updates and even your browser updates) you need to restart for the update to take effect. That applies to both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. Instead of LL restarting the entire grid at the same time (shutting everything down for every region on the grid) they do sections of the grid spreading the "outage" out..........that's a lot less painful than everyone getting kicked off at once and then trying to log back in all at once. LL actually used to do just that once a week back in the old days. And, due to the users who were online when they restarted, the log in servers often crashed.......really raising heck with everything. There were days (not a few minutes or even hours......days) when no one (or a very few) could log in. Rolling restarts are 1000's time better than the old way.

What I see in the images is that it's very obvious that you sharpened the images.......in fact it looks like you used the "unsharp mask" filter instead of the "sharpen" filter. The sharpen filter, in my experience, is not a good filter to use to clean up an image (it really just intensifies any flaw or blurriness in an image). It may be that the images were saved in a lossy format somewhere along the line from taking the shot and your final uploaded image. When you take the picture in SL, save it to your hard drive (not inventory). You are given options for the format to save the image to......choose a lossless format such as BMP (for Windows machines), PNG, or TGA. Never save to JPEG. Then, as you, edit your image in GIMP never save to any format other than the format you want to upload to or GIMP's native format XCF (which is the best way to save incase you need to edit the image later). Do all your "clean-up" before you size the image for upload (especially if you are increasing the image size due to cropping) I always work at the original size and I only resize or crop at the final stage just before saving to my choice of upload format (TGA is my first choice and PNG is my second........never do I upload anything at JPEG). I found that using the "Hue/Saturation" and "Brightness/Contrast" filters do a good job of "cleaning up" an image. Just make the changes in very small increments. Sometimes selective sharpening will help but most of the time it does not (at least that's been my experience).

I'm going with the others to say the computer with that hardware will run SL very well. I would say you could run with ultra settings with a minimal lag hit (any computer will lag somewhat at ultra over high settings......this computer would one of the better for ultra). You might find it better to run high settings for everyday SL'ing and ultra for photo taking (that's what I would do anyway). I looked up the motherboard specifications to see how many expansion slots it has and how much memory it will support. It has 1 PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, 2 PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, and 1 PCI slot. That's pretty typical but I'm only a little disappointed that it only has 1 PCI slot (upgrades like and audio card and network interface card are usually PCI). However, the onboard audio and LAN (network interface) are pretty top notch so maybe only 1 PCI slot is enough....just me being picky icky. The motherboard supports up to 16 GB DDR3 memory..........that, again, is pretty typical. I would not count anything against the 16 GB limit. Just because I might want 32 GB doesn't mean 16 GB is not overkill in itself. Gigabyte has a reputation of being one of the very best manufacturers of motherboards.......and a well deserved reputation to boot. In my opinion, and excellent choice. If the CPU is the heart of a computer, then the motherboard is the soul. I had not heard of the manufacturer for the power supply so I did a Google search for reviews. The reviews I read gave the PS excellent grades. A typical review is found here: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/954 It will be a good, strong, and powerful machine. It's got room for upgrades. It will last you for years. And I don't think you will be disappointed at all. The price of some of the components seem a few dollars high to me but, then, I believe that is probably due to difference in the US dollar and your country's dollar. A similar system that I could put together at my favorite online custom computer shop might be a $100 less. I believe that is pretty darn good. If the price is something you can deal with then it's a good buy. If not then about the only thing I can think of to lower the cost would be to step back on the video card to the 500 series (such as a GTX 560 card) to save a few dollars without sacrificing performance significantly. Also, a terabyte of storage is, in my opinion, way more than you need unless you save a lot of music and video. Going to 500 GB (half a terabyte) will save a few dollars.......you can always add another drive later if you need it. Good machine. It will do what you said you wanted it to do. Good luck and have fun with your new toy.

I'm on the other side of that fence. I've had a computer overheat burning up both a couple of memory modules and a discrete audio card. It was all because of a lack of adequate case cooling. I also contribute that heat issue to a very early failure of my hard drive (about a month later). Call be gun shy but for $30 USD I ain't going that route again. I'd rather my system sound like a vacuum cleaner than burn up another computer unnecessarily. I'm recommending to the OP what I would do......not what I could get by with not doing. Leave your fans out.........that's fine. But to tell someone else to do that is just not something I would ever do. Done with my argument on that subject.

I know I never gave my phone number to LL but I think they have my street address. I say they might have my street address because years ago LL published a quarterly magazine in the snail mail (I forget the name but something like "Second Life") and I got the mags for about a year..........until they stopped publishing it.

I didn't know that you were not located in the US which is why to listed a "dream machine" (sort of anyway) customized by an online computer shop. I find it hard to believe that such shops don't exist in Europe or Australia (I say that because your English is very much "American" and not Asian or Slovak.....you posted very much like an American. I apologize if any offense was taken on your part. I also didn't know your budget. Had I known, I know I could find an equally powerful machine for the $1000 USD or less. My point was, and remains, that you can get a very good computer for a very good price.........but, that becomes extremely difficult if you start off with an "off the shelf" computer (HP, Acer, Gateway, Sony, Lenovo...........you name it). An off the shelf computer puts you in a box. You get what the manufacturer offers (yeah they give you a limited choice of "upgrades" but, again, it's their choice and not yours). Manufacturers will always put hardware in the computer that is cheapest for them yet charge you as if it's the best available. They also will put hardware in the computer that barely meets the minimum..........or parse words about specs. For instance, most higher end graphics cards require 400 to 450 watt power supplies.....they will install the bare minimum to keep the warranty valid. That puts it on you to also upgrade the power supply if you decide to put something else in the computer at a later date......and they never mention that in their sales pitch to you. As has been mentioned, if you can't do an online deal then the next best way is to do the local (probably small) shop thing. Make sure they are reputable (most are.........I'd argue more so than the major computer shops even). What you want is a video card at or above mid-range in performance (above mid-range is better, of course). I'm an NVidia fan so would say a card with the second number in the model number of 5 or better (the first number is the series and not nearly as important as the second number (a 3 generation, or series, old card is good). The current newest series for NVidia is 700........a 400 series card is very good and much cheaper. A GTX 450 is the minimum I would put in a computer for SL........and a480 is excellent (and very reasonable in price). You want as much system memory (RAM) as you can afford (even up the maximum your motherboard will handle) I agree that 8 GB of RAM is about as low as you want for SL (though 4 GB will work........there is no such thing as too much RAM). The CPU is not all that important if it's a recent series (not older than a Core2 Quad for Intel.........I'm not familiar with AMD so I don't know the equivalent series). A Core2 Quad is 4 series back for the Intel CPU's and can be had quite cheaply. However there is a caveat.........the motherboards that work for Core2 Quads probably don't have the later generation PCI express expansion slots that are necessary for the newer video cards that you would want for SL (the PCI express slots will work on those boards but your card will not perform anywhere near it's designed capacity) I say stick if the "I" series. Either the i3, i5 or i7......the clock speed is unimportant since even the slowest speed is many times more than SL needs (1.5 MHZ is plenty fast enough and any of the "I" series CPU's are over 2.5 MHZ). What I look for on a motherboard is the expansion slots (at least 1 PCI express x16 slot)..........at least 4 total (up to 8). The motherboard's RAM capacity (some have a capacity of 8 GB, some up to 32 GB). Look for a capacity of, at least, 16 GB for room to upgrade as necessary. I look for onboard LAN (Ethernet) and onboard audio........it's nice to have the onboard video too in case something happens to your discrete card and you need video to be able to use your computer while you get the card repaired or replaced. The only thing I caution about going with an off brand motherboard is support and warranty...........I always stick if the name brands (but which name brand is kind of unimportant.........I like Asus, MCI, Intel, and Gigabyte (but that's merely my personal preference). Fans. I'm going to dispute another poster who shrugged off fans by implying they are unimportant. Any computer generates heat (heat inside the case). The higher performing computers generate more heat than a low performance machine. Heat kills computer hardware components. The price of 2 120 mm fans is under $30 USD.......I would never put a computer together without, at least, 2 case fans (my thinking is that it's just plain stupid to do so). And speaking for fans. Your CPU needs a "CPU fan". It's a fan mounted directly on the CPU to keep it cool......you get one on any computer you buy. But the CPU fans manufacturers install are the bare minimum necessary for casual use........SL (and many other programs) put more stress on a CPU than just web surfing or emailing. Get a good one.......more than necessary but, again, it's cheap insurance (they, too are not expensive). I agree with whoever said stay away from liquid cooled.....it's a total rip off. Now for the final "must have". Get a good, high wattage power supply. I mentioned that most high end graphics cards require about 400 watts. Don't get a 400 watt PS. Get, at least, a 600 watt one. My rule of thumb is to calculate that your computer needs for all the hardware that is installed and add another 50% (that's the minimum). The video card will be the biggest single consumer of power but all the other stuff uses power too. You want enough for your power supply to easily supply all the needs and not be maxed out by doing so. Since the video card is wanting 400 watts (the card manufacturers will recommend a slightly higher PS than what the card really needs to take in account for other hardware in a typical computer), go 50% above that.....which is 600 watts. There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting more than you need (like RAM, there is no such thing as too much power in a power supply). Power supplies are relatively inexpensive and, if not running at or near max capacity, they will out last 4 to 6 computers. Transferring a PS from one computer to another is a very easy thing to do. The Antec 650 watt PS in the computer I'm using right now (to post this post) has been in 4 other computers........and there is not reason to believe it won't be in another before it finally gets retired. I hope this helps you a little more...........and what others have said too. There has been a wealth of information given by everyone in this thread. Good luck with your new computer.

You didn't say what the budget is and even mentioned "cream of the crop". Well, I'm not one to tell any body that a computer needs to be the cream of the crop for an excellent experience (you need a good system.......even a very good system.......but not the "best" system money can buy). I won't go into my thinking on that subject but I wanted to point it out so that you might understand a little better why the computer I customized as an example of what you seem to be wanting and the hardware necessary for such a system is what I put together. I did not include a monitor but you can get a very good 23 inch LCD monitor at almost any electronics store for under $200 USD........and online stores are really not any less expensive (Best Buy will have a good selection or, if want to shop online, Newegg.com or TigerDirect.com are good places to look). I selected Windows 7 x64 with Service Pack 1...fully installed (all you have to do is activate it just like any HP or Gateway computer you might buy from a retail shop (Windows 8 just appears to me to be another Windows Millennium or Vista....I stuck with an operating system that I have 100% confidence in) The site I've used in the past is Magic Micro. I've had very good service from them.........I've purchased a total of 3 custom computers over the last 5 or 6 years from them. http://www.magicmicro.com/?gclid=CK2qxrbe47ICFdGizAodRk0Amw ----------------------------------------------------------- Your price: $1378.00 High performance with the hottest technology for extreme gaming, digital video editing, and audio production. New Intel i7 Sandy Bridge-E Quad core CPU Dual head nVidia video card with 1GB memory 8GB Quad Channel DDR3 memory Providing users with ultra-customized, high performance tools Delivering required performance, features to connected environments without unneeded complexity Custom design case with side window and front lights Take advantage of our limited time offer. Order today and receive 3 years warranty service and unlimited free tech support ($99 value) absolutely free. CURRENT CONFIGURATION PARTS : CPU : Intel I7 Sandy Bridge-E CPUs Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) Quad Core Processor PARTS : Cooling Fans : Intel i7 LGA 2011 CPU Fans Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO, 4 Copper Heat Pipes, Dual Cooler CPU fan PARTS : Motherboards : Intel i7 X79 ATX Motherboards Intel DX79TO, SLI & X-Fire, SATA3, USB 3.0, GB LAN, IEEE, HD Audio PARTS : Memory : DDR3 Quad Channel memory 16GB (4x4GB) PC14900 DDR3 1866 Quad Channel (high performance memory) PARTS : Video & TV Cards : PCI-Express Video cards GeForce GTX 660 2GB PCI EXpress 16X Quad head, HDMI PARTS : Video & TV Cards : PCI-Express Video cards NONE SELECTED PARTS : Video & TV Cards : TV Tuner & Capture cards NONE SELECTED PARTS : Hard Drives 500.0 GB Western Digital Blue 7200RPM SATA3 6GB/s 16m cache PARTS : Cooling Fans : Hard Drive Fans NONE SELECTED PARTS : Hard Drives NONE SELECTED PARTS : Cooling Fans : Hard Drive Fans 2nd Hard drive Fan NONE SELECTED PARTS : CD/DVD/R/RW Drives : DVD Recorders LG 22x DVD Recorder Dual Layer +R/RW -R/RW PARTS : CD/DVD/R/RW Drives : DVD Recorders NONE SELECTED PARTS : Media Card Readers All-in-One Memory Card Reader Internal Black PARTS : Sound Cards Realtek HD digital audio (onboard) PARTS : Modems NONE SELECTED PARTS : Networking : Network Cards Ethernet network adapter (onboard) PARTS : Controller Cards NONE SELECTED PARTS : Cases / Power Supplies : Cases Cooler Master Elite 350 black , front USB PARTS : Cooling Fans : Case Fans Dual Case Fans 120 mm Extra Quiet DC fan (two fans) PARTS : Cooling Fans : Power Supply Thermaltake TR2 600W ultra quiet ATX Power Supply, SLI & X-fire ready PARTS : Keyboards Microsoft Wired Desktop 400 Keyboard & Optical mouse combo PARTS : Mice NONE SELECTED PARTS : Speakers Black Multimedia amplified stereo speakers SOFTWARE : Operating Systems Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit DVD w/SP1 SOFTWARE : Office Software NONE SELECTED PARTS : Monitors NONE SELECTED PARTS : Assembly and Test Standard assembly and test 3-5 business days

I didn't say it was disrespectful to wonder why. What I said (and this is entirely for myself) is that 16 did not offer a reason for her leaving. She didn't offer the reason(s) because she chose not to.........I accept that and I would never violate her privacy by asking. If she wants to tell anyone she will tell them. If she doesn't want to tell anyone she won't...........and I (I'm speaking for myself only) would never ask. I respect 16, I like 16, I enjoyed most of her posts (though I did not agree all the time and I'm sure we had discussions because of that). And for the third time (at least) I will miss her.

You just trashed a very well known (and reputable) company who has developed and manufactured video cards for years. A company that (along with ATI, now AMD) advanced the graphics technology to the point that it is today. You made a claim that it's entirely NVidia's fault that you cannot use SL any longer. Do you know that there are thousands of NVidia users using SL right at this moment? Thousands, not hundreds. How do you explain that? You, a single user, have issues yet thousands others do not. Perhaps you need to learn a little about what you are talking about before you speak such non-sense. Every graphics card manufacturer in business makes cards/adapters (the proper term is Graphics Processor Unit or GPU) for users to choose from for different tasks the user has a need for. You pick the lowest end GPU (which is also the cheapest) for a demanding task (such as SL), you'll have issues. That holds true for any GPU, regardless of who manufactured it (NVidia, AMD/ATI, Intel, Asus........you name it). So you've been in SL for 3 years. Hey that and my over 7 years will buy both of us a cup of coffee at Denny's......as long as be both fork over $1.69. You don't know that you are talking about and the years in SL make no difference either.