Gerard

Well I don't think it's "idiot proofing" These are "leftover" files from a previous installation of Windows? In that case, the permissions on those files will be set to the users on that installation (which obviously don't exist anymore). So you simply need to take ownership of the files. Select the files (or the folder they're in), go to properties, permissions, advanced, ownership. Set the owner as you (or "Administrators"), and make sure it applies to all the subfolders. Save and then you can delete them. It's simple permissions and security, no need to stress. Likewise if someone doesn't read the entire youtube page, no need to be a dick about it.

Me? No I'm a full-time employee at Microsoft, and I go to work at the UK HQ every day, in Reading.

I really don't mean to go further offtopic here... I love it when people yell at Microsoft for "stealing" ideas from macs. You seriously don't think thats how everything is made? Do you think it would be better if there was a world where only 1 company was allowed to make operating systems or use a feature? There would be no competition, no reason for further development Vista was not good enough. We all know that. It was still a good product, I mean it does amazing things compared to (say) Windows 98, but it wasn't anywhere near good enough for the current market, the price, and the advertising that went with it. In contrast, Windows 7 is absolutely superb. And Bill Gates left Microsoft a year ago, so I work for Steve Ballmer instead. And your story is not correct - Microsoft started by making BASIC interpreters, not DOS. They then bought 86-DOS from another company, and used that to make PC-DOS and MS-DOS. Even if someone else wrote the first version of the software, Microsoft did the hard work improving it, marketing it, selling it, supporting it etc, and it was the good products that made MS what it is today. </history>

Yeah as Chris says, I work for Microsoft. So you were laughing at me. Some sites have special features that only work in some browsers - especially Active X (which is always IE-only). So sites can easily detect which browser you are using (when you request a page), and then decide whether or not to show you the content of the site, or send you a simple version or reject you entirely.

Oi. I'm not saying IE is good or anything, I always use Firefox for many reasons, but don't laugh at us.

That's a common problem that has happened for years to loads of people (including me). Randomly their viewing mode changes to outline or whatever. I'm not sure if there's a keyboard shortcut they accidentally use, or if following a link to the forum from someone else will automatically do it, or whether its a lost cookie. Any ideas?

Legitimate bans are non-negotiable and irreversible. That means every single ban which isnt a complete mistake (such as accidentally banning the wrong member, or a non-staff member breaking into a staff account) will NOT be reversed. It has to be this way, because Nobody wants to get banned, so of course they all think it is unfair. Admin decisions are final, and thats final. You continue to swear in your post above ("i don't know about this Fucking Guy"). Also, if you dont know who he is, how would you know he "hacked" our site? But you are right about one thing - it is our decision (as staff) who is allowed on this site. There is no god-given right to use these forums, they are a free service provided by Chris, and you owe him a lot for doing that. There is no democracy or voting or council or anything like that. What Chris has given, Chris can also take away. He has taken it away from you, so deal with it.

It makes it predictable. The fact that he hates everything isn't funny anymore, so we have to rely on his jokes, which thankfully are funny. So its fine.

I like that idea, but the problem with having "forum" experts is that it would look like they were giving official advice on how to use the forum, what you should/shouldn't do, which is the job of the staff. Don't want to risk them looking like staff, or look like they are "in charge" of anything. If they were very visibly just helpers for new members (I remember Habbo doing something like that), then that could work.

Since a lot of you actively want to be recognised as an Expert, here's another suggestion. How about we make the appointment of Experts a public event? Like the awards, but smaller and more focused. Every Expert candidate runs a campaign to prove how helpful they are, and the community can vote yes/no on them? Just an idea, cos I think awards are a bit pointless (although fun), and this might be a way of doing something useful with them. This should still be based on helpfulness rather than coolness or popularity - but would members just gang together and vote for their unhelpful-but-cool friends? If so, they could run a public campaign, but the decision is made by a judging panel (like The Commission, but with Simon Cowell) rather than an all-member vote.

I'm with Chris all the way here. Shower in the morning so that you're fresh for the day, rather than fresh for the night. I'd rather wash my bedding more often than stink all day every day. If there's a day when you're really dirty, then do both.

If you just upgrade your installation (as opposed to reinstalling/formatting) then they will stay. If you want to copy all your XP settings, you can use the system settings transfer tool which is in Accessories somewhere.

The answer to all of your problems is in the Mod/Download Approval FAQ

At the moment I'm just gauging initial opinion. The staff will discuss it, and implement it when we think best - maybe in a few days, maybe in a few weeks, or maybe we need to think about it a bit more before we do it.

When we say "the staff" do something, it doesn't always mean that we have a vote. This isn't a democracy, the admins (usually Chris) always have the final decision, although they usually speak to staff and other members before making any decision.

Thanks all! Bear - I as scared as hell, but now its fine. Had a pleasant evening out with friends, so is all good.

Erm, you may or may not know I work for Microsoft. There's no such thing as the "Microsoft IT Team", and we certainly don't use hotmail accounts to spread unadvertised, unofficial and false rumours. Accounts are encrypted and it is completely against the terms and conditions for anyone to use your account (although the relevant people can obviously edit or suspend your account if required). Need more proof? He said "MSN users" - when in fact you're using Windows Live Messenger on the .NET Messenger Service - hasn't been called "MSN Messenger" for years. And the same people don't work on Windows 7 as work on Windows Live, and certainly developers wouldn't go customer-service or marketing things like this (we pay thousands of people to do that for us). And they wouldn't recommend a random game like that, certainly not whilst on official duties. If anyone fell for this, fail.

Cheers guys - you have fun too (I don't see why you shouldn't)

I think bisexuality is interesting, I don't know many people who are (actually) bi, which is a shame. I got sick of emos and fakers a long time ago. To me, my gay label is a bit of security. It's a definite platform I can base myself on, something I finally belong to, but that doesn't mean I have to go around shouting about it. I feel more normal by knowing I'm gay than if I'm unique on some infinite fluid scale.

There is an inherent flaw with the Elite system. It expects elites to form their own sub-community and talk in their own subforum, which doesn't happen because the existing community (and the gangs) are good enough, and thats where people spend their time. So apart from the badge, there's no point in being an elite. Elites are picked by Chris and are simply the people he thinks are awesome. It doesn't mean they are active, or friends with each other. It's not MEANT to be active people, just awesome people. So it's all kinda pointless. It wouldn't work if they were democratically picked or anything like that, and revising the list would only happen if Chris thought they really deserved to be elite, which may differ from what you think. Experts are completely different because they are embedded into THIS community, instead of forming their own. It's not a medal or a reward, and not a job, just recognition for the work they already do. We're not asking Experts to change, just to keep up the good work. Having Experts and a revised "active awesome members" group would be confusing and pointless. It just sounds like you want the elite badge of honour tbh.

That's not true. We're hosted by wikia, owned by the community (aka me).

Weird, must've clicked on the wrong link. Add GTW if you fancy, since we got 300k uniques last month .

"one of the go-to website for" - shame your English isn't quite as successful. Why don't all the images link to the sites? That would be logical. And ofp2dr just links to steves' homepage.

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Yes Chinatown wars is definitely GTA IV Era. It works on characters and the interleaving storylines rather than just release dates. See all. Howabout splitting GTA III Era into two then? One for the main games (III, VC, SA), and one for the portable games (Adv, LCS, VCS)?