A couple of likely things:

– does the cable have all 8 wires connected? You can do 10 or 100Mb half-duplex with 4, but full-duplex (which gigabit needs) takes all 8.
– link speed hard-set in the configuration somewhere. Let it autodetect.
– switch port hard-set (but less likely on home/small-office stuff).
– drivers not right or knackered somehow. Download latest, uninstall the device in device manager, reboot and give it the new drivers.

Have you made payments totalling more than half of the finance agreement?

I was quite amused by this:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1516&Itemid=26

I did my town bike by stripping with nitromors and using Wickes “direct to metal” paint (same as Hammerite really but a bit cheaper). Not sure if you can get it in pink though!

If the owner registered it (it prompts you to when you first plug it in), Apple will be able to tie up the serial number with a name and address. I don’t think that iTunes bothers to cross check against any kind of missing ipod register though.

A new Superdrive will set you back $150 + shipping from ifixit. Opening the case isn’t too taxing if you take your time and make sure you separate out the different sized screws as you remove them.

Or if you don’t need to use the drive when mobile, just pick up a cheap external one.

Not.. although since they offered DRM-free tracks you can upgrade to those for a small sum. It knows what was on your account, you pay, you download them again but DRM-free this time.

It’s no different from any other platform really. The likes of First Direct are happy to support internet banking from the iPhone.

Yep, I’ve got one of the union/x-tools ones and it’s very good.

Although since I got one of these:

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…it’s hardly been used, as I can just do any maintenance with the bikes sitting on that, as the wheels/cranks are free to turn.

And had quite an effect on Sheffield NHS networks:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/20/sheffield_conficker/

It exploits lots of really poor practice on people’s networks to spread:

– not bothering with updates
– not bothering with MS security bulletins (or not taking “out of band security update” seriously)
– weak passwords, especially for local admin accounts
– people having domain admin accounts for everyday use
– allowing USB storage including autorun

Anyone who’s a home user who’s been running auto updates (this was patched back in October) should be just fine. Still worth having decent passwords though.

It’s more down to the ratio of screen size to viewing distance, and you’d have to be sat really close to a 32″ 1080p screen to notice the difference.

Add to that the only proper content available now in 1080p is blu-ray movies, so are you really going to spend the extra to get more vertical lines?

Personally, I’d stick the difference in the bank to be used on a new TV in 5 years or so by which time blu-ray movies will be at sensible prices and we might have decent HD provision across the broadcast channels.

I used to rent a flat where the landlord refused to get a water meter installed – it was quite a nice place but it cost a fortune for water bills. We paid nearly 3 times as much for that 2-bed place as we used to on a metered 4-bed one with twice as many people living in it.

Not sure it’s directly based on council tax band, but both are linked to the value of the property.

Yep, 5k is OK for running some mainstream diesel saloon/hatch. I get a little over that then 20p a mile – as I’m based from home that works out quite well. Generally car allowance works out better for people like me, if you commute to a fixed place of work and just do the odd bit of business mileage a company car can work out better. More so if you don’t mind choosing around CO2 emissions and P11D price, and even more so if your insurance is pricey (in my case, moving further into London and parking the street has added a hefty chunk to the cost).

Remember though that 5k car allowance is more like 3k once you’ve been taxed on it if you’re a higher rate taxpayer.

http://www.cashorcar.co.uk/ can do the sums for you, and they hook into various lease/finance price databases so you can do direct comparisons for if you ran a new car over the same term. If you’re happy to go nearly-new you can usually run a nicer car for the same budget or make a decent saving each month.

Mudguards plus RainLegs. The latter are like waterproof trousers but they only cover the tops of your legs (which is the only bit that gets wet if you’ve got mudguards). So none of the flapping or claminess of full waterproof trousers.

You can get a statutory credit report for £2 (the maximum they can charge) showing the state of your finances according to them.

For Experian you have to do it by post: http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/

Equifax let you do it online: http://www.equifax.co.uk/Products/credit/statutory-report.html

Callcredit don’t have details of the statutory report on their site, but there’s a template letter for getting one here: http://mutterings.moneysavingexpert.com/Callcredit.doc

They’ll all prefer you to sign up for all sorts of services that give you enhanced and ongoing access to your credit file, but there’s really no need. If you do find inaccuracies in your credit report, you can report them to the credit checking companies for correction.

Not an excuse for crap service, but there was a big triathlon show last weekend that they were probably very busy setting up for (and will be recovering from for at least today).

They’ve usually been pretty quick for me though.

They’re generally pretty flexible as long as you’re not offering really silly money for it.

You can get the Glass’ Guide price for the car here:

http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vaux/pages/financeAndServices/valueYourCar/index.jsp

Offer the lowest of the p/x figures it comes up with. Be prepared to go up to one of the higher ones if they counter-offer and you really want the car.

Bear in mind that if you hand it back, they’ll have to transport it to an auction somewhere, and the flood of 3-year-old cars that people are handing back (PCP agreements with final values higher than they’re actually worth) means lots of stuff is going very cheaply indeed. They’ll be incurring costs all along the way so should be quite receptive to an offer that saves them all that.