My moms computer is on the frits. I'm hopeing a reinstall of windows will fix the problem. She has about 8 gigs of ituns that she doesn't want to rerip. My question is if i reinstall windows will she lose her music. Should i take the time and move everything to a disk before reinstalling? (I just moved 450MB of pics to disk already and that took 22 min. 7 year old computer.)

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Reality has become a commodity.

If its XP you can try a repair install, which should leave the program files, and documents intact. Although in my experience it just f**ks up the OS more.

What I usually do is hook up another drive and transfer all the files I need or want to keep to an external drive and then do a fresh install. A fresh install formats the drive, erasing everything,

It is Xp. sorry i forgot to mention that. Thanks rs6.
Ya, i wish i had a external.

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Reality has become a commodity.

If you don't reformat when you uninstall than all your files should be nice other than the ones in c:\windows.

When it asks select "Leave the Current file system intact"......

I'll walk you through it just in case.

1) Change the boot priority and make your cdrom drive number one priority so it..... inspects your cdrom drive before anything else of course it finds a compatible startup cd. You have to do this in bios, before your computer is booted up. There mabye a button that you have to press like [del] or [f1]. Than Restart

2) Press any key to boot from the cd, it will say. What do you do?

3) Wait for the bloody thing to load, it takes ages.

4) Now as you continue through the setup it will tell you there is another os already installed, we want to install over it so select the appropriate option and DONT reformat as mentioned before.

5) 1 hour later your pc will be refreshed and you still have your old files, but that doesnt mean that itunes will work. Its probably complicated like steam. Itunes could of put files into c:\windows and this is the file where the xp os is. But anyway I have anw'ed your question. Time to do a spell check.

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Aaron's Stuff

Or you could do a refresh install. Which replenishes all system files to a "clean" state. The bad news is, if you have an XP disc that has no Service Packs and you previously had them installed ... you have to re-install them.

This is by far the least hassling and no-nonsense method that requires the least amount of work and, should, work the best. I've never personally had it screw things up even worse than previously.

The downside is, you're sort of taking the "lets hope it's this" approach to the issue. There's a very real possibility that this will NOT fix whatever is wrong with the machine, since the problem may not be with the Windows system files.

I think, it'd be more prudent to roll the machine to previous back-ups (if you have any) before doing this. Hell, even if it's a problem with the registry that can be refreshed in less than 10 minutes to a previous state.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

well... the problem popped up about a month ago. I try the roll back(why didn't that option cross my mind :/ ). I just hoping it not a hardware issue. she keeps losing her net connection. she will restart the modem and router and comp. and have internet acese for about 10 second before she stop receiving any signals. ???
Thanks guys!

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Reality has become a commodity.

A longshot, but could there possibly be a problem with the modem or router? I'd try hooking up another computer to the modem and router just to see.

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What the Snarkpitters listen to!

That was my first thought but, my computer is running off the same router and modem so thats not it. and ya, i tried switching the wires in the back of the router.

I tried rolling back the system and it said "can not be restored" for two different dates. soo, im left with a reinstall. I'll let you know how that goes.

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Reality has become a commodity.

Ok, i finally found the disk... 80 years ago when this computer was built their was a problem with installing the windows that we got with the computer so we (not me) installed a bootleg copy of xp office. I'll google how to reformat a hard drive on my own but i don't know how I'm going to reinstall xp using a disk like this.

This is what i found on the disk...

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Reality has become a commodity.

Run the file (it's a zip archive) and it will either unpack an installed copy of Office or the actual installation files which can then be installed with "Setup" or something like that.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Get Open Office, open and and format any existing MS office files without any problems and say goodbye to obscure MS-specific unusability issues.

I never regretted switching to OO. Never missed a feature, not even a super-complicate one. And it's free + updated more often.

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Why snark works.

I concur 100%

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Uhh, I not sure if I'm not understanding u or your not understanding me. Xp Office is the name of the os running on the computer. come to think of it, that doesn't sound right. Microsoft Office Xp professional is the name of one of the installers i unpacked for the zip file... if that tels you anything.

If i think i'm going to have to buy a new copy of xp and if i do i'm just going to build her a new computer. shouldn't cost more than $300.

I bookmarked the open office. I'll install that when i have my new computer. :smile:

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Reality has become a commodity.

Well, I wouldn't buy a new copy of XP anymore. Then you'd be better off with getting Vista to save you "new features require the ingenuity of "Windows Vista ?" errors.

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Why snark works.

Well, I wouldn't buy a new copy of XP anymore. Then you'd be better off with getting Vista to save you "new features require the ingenuity of "Windows Vista ?" errors.

Never give advice again.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

It is inevitable crono

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Aaron's Stuff

I would sooner drive to the most bombed out, depleted slum of Iraq to meat a man siting in a burnt hay hut, missing both legs and his right arm. So he can hand me a fist full of floppy disks with Linux spelled across them... in crayon.
(nothing against Linux)
I will never, ever, ever have vista running on anything i own. DX10 isn't worth it.

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Reality has become a commodity.

It is inevitable crono

I've heard enough of your Microsoft c**k sucking for a lifetime, please don't comment on the company anymore.

I was being sarcastic earlier, in any case.

At this point in time, in any case, there isn't a reason to use Windows outside of playing games (or development on a MS platform ... which only happens when your boss doesn't know anything ... this happens at Intel a lot "We wont use Linux machines because they aren't 'professional', but you need to use all these Unix and Linux tools through Cygwin". That conversation really happened.). If people still purchase it, it's because they are ignorant of (better) alternatives, which are, in almost all cases, easier to use and provide more power (as well as software efficiency).

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Are you serious? I hate Vista. Microsoft took a step in the wrong direction with vista.

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Aaron's Stuff

It's a matter of balancing s**t. Would you seriously recommend buying a copy of Windows XP now?

The PC being for RedWood's mom changes things a bit (I don't expect her to become an avid "Crysis" player - but who knows!). Linux can provide all the programs ever needed for basic internet/office/leisure use.

But I could imagine your mom complaining that the program her friend recommended "doesn't work on the new PC". You'd make her a Linux rainbow-warrior without her having a clue what's going on (at least I don't expect your mom being very passionate about the ongoing OS war - but who knows!). What not even Crono can deny is that Linux does have less support from hard- and software firms which is a major issue. I, for example would terribly miss my Photoshop. Gimp, as impressive as it is, is not a replacement for it and running PS in a buggy program loader just isn't the same. And it's not yourself who has to deal with it, it's your mom.

The thought alone of going to a store and asking for a copy of Vista feels weird to me, too. I can't make that decision for you, pal :sad: I don't have any intention doing so either. I can only give advice.

It's a dilemma.

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Why snark works.

I would never recommend anyone buy a copy of anything made by Microsoft ... I'm not sure where this "Well you need to suggest XP or Vista" logic is coming from? :razz:

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I'll be installing Xp again. Whether i pay for it or not.

... about 2 weeks ago she got a cd from a friend that had some pics on it or something like that. She had to ask me how to get them form the cd onto her computer ... I wouldn't dare giver her Linux.

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Reality has become a commodity.

xp pro is good. home edition is crap. the zhlt compiling stuff did not work for me when i had home. i got a illegal copy of media centre from a freind and that solved all my problems :smile: .

aaron is right, the snarkpit is to quiet. either you guys be more active or i will have to start makeing "dumb topics" again. you dont want that do you.

(longest post ever, by me =O)

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i like drinking coke with my pizza

Seriously, if you think the pit's boards are too quiet then go to somewhere theres a new post every 2 seconds. Im speaking of coarse:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/

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Posting And You

I'll be installing Xp again. Whether i pay for it or not.

... about 2 weeks ago she got a cd from a friend that had some pics on it or something like that. She had to ask me how to get them form the cd onto her computer ... I wouldn't dare giver her Linux.

Taking that the distribution I'm talking about works (functionally to the user) exactly like Windows ... I don't see the issue.

I'll let it go and everything, but until someone around here besides ForceFlow and some other person whom I forgot uses a distro like Ubuntu I won't stop mentioning it as a viable alternative for users who don't want to use Windows but want an interface that's just as easy to use.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I've used Ubuntu for a bit, I'm personally more of a fan of SuSE myself, but Ubuntu is great for someone completely new to linux.

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Dark_Kilauea
DVS Administration
http://www.dvstudio-production.com/

I plan on installing Ubuntu one of these weekends, as part of a hard drive upgrade. I need XP for certain programs (more than just games), but doing computer science assignments under windows is something I just dont bother doing anymore (particularly since starting systems programming courses which require some sort of unix).

But if you still use windows and reject Linux for word processing and email checking, you forfeit any rights you may have had to bash MS and windows.

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

? quote:I'll be installing Xp again. Whether i pay for it or not.

... about 2 weeks ago she got a cd from a friend that had some pics on it or something like that. She had to ask me how to get them form the cd onto her computer ... I wouldn't dare giver her Linux.

Taking that the distribution I'm talking about works (functionally to the user) exactly like Windows ... I don't see the issue.

I'll let it go and everything, but until someone around here besides ForceFlow and some other person whom I forgot uses a distro like Ubuntu I won't stop mentioning it as a viable alternative for users who don't want to use Windows but want an interface that's just as easy to use.

Would u tell me that between a printer, digital camera running Kodak software and like a thousand other little plug ins, that everything will work flawlessly? With no complications at all. because with her there is no figuring it out, no working around it. If it doesn't work then she'll never get it to work. She is in able to solve the simplest of problems when it comes to computers. Would she be able to use Linux?

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Reality has become a commodity.

When I had Ubuntu running on my laptop I only had to install a driver for Broadcom wireless and 911 driver for Intel video cards and everything else worked without my meddling. Samba is built in and automatically configured to view Windows networks (if needed) and so is printing to Windows based Printers.

The other thing is, installing things under Ubuntu (at least) is much more simple than Windows because you don't even need to go out and find the thing, there's a package manager built in with every available Debian package (through a database and Ubuntu is built on top of Debian)

You can plug in various devices and they will pop up a shortcut on the desktop to use the device (I tried it with some random MP3 player with no troubles)

To note, on my laptop ... I could get none of these things working under Windows even WITH the drivers.

I'm not saying there wouldn't be any sort of setup or anything like that, but if she isn't the one doing that part I don't see the issue.

In any case, you can grab a copy of Ubuntu and burn the install disc, it's a live cd as well.

(To Note, I like Gnome a bit more than KDE. And I seriously don't like setting up things like samba or wireless or anything like that, it's to the point that it shouldn't be required anymore)

You can also make it so she doesn't actually notice it isn't Windows she's using
Here's one for KDE (As opposed to Gnome, Ubuntu's default interface)

You can also make it look like Vista,More Vista, OSX, More OSX, or the unthinkable: both.

Of course, I'm not suggesting you only check out themes that look like other OS interfaces (because most of Gnome's themes are actually much better), but if you're trying to get someone to "migrate" you might as well fool them into doing it.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Well if i'm ever guna try it, now would be the time. The first os i install on the new computer will be Ubuntu. I'll see how it works out.

NewEgg is grate but their not always the cheapest anymore. Anybody know of any good, reliable online stores? so i compare prices.

EDIT: I forgot, she has a i pod. Will i tunes work on Ubuntu?

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Reality has become a commodity.

I don't think so. Mac software doesn't have a Linux flavor sadly. (Which is really odd, to be honest) but, you should go look at the Ubuntu forums. I could never personally get Quicktime to work, so I doubt iTunes would work. BUT, I know you can use an iPod with the OS. The problem is if someone uses all this proprietary software that has no alternative (even if there are easier ways to use the product).

[edit] After looking around, you can either use Win32 iTunes under Wine (I don't recommend this as Wine is not easy to get working). Or you can use Rythembox (A superior, yet similar, library editor and player/ripper) which has experimental iPod functionality. But, as far as I know you should be able to hook the thing up and have it act as an external drive. I don't have an iPod, specifically, to check with so, let us know if it works!

You can also make the machine dual boot for those specific applications that are just too difficult to get working properly (games, proprietary software, etc)
[/edit]

Also, if you plan on EVER installing Windows on the same machine you MUST install it BEFORE Ubuntu. Windows will not knowingly allow the Linux partition to exist on the machine. If you set it up for dual boot, you can make it so the boot loader (in this case Grub) automatically loads one OS or the other with an escape character to allow the user to choose while booting if they wish (this is just to "hide" grub)

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I personally had some serious wireless card driver issues with Ubuntu on one of my boxes. That sounds like a small issue, except it meant no internet or network connection for that computer. After trying to fix the problem for several days, the answer I got from Ubuntu gurus was basically "your card won't work, write your own drivers or buy another card" - not an acceptable solution.

Similarly, a guy who lived next door to me in college tried to put Ubuntu on his laptop, but ran into all kinds of unsolvable driver problems almost immediately.

Although it is pretty good, I would not yet classify Ubuntu as something that "just works".

I personally had some serious wireless card driver issues with Ubuntu on one of my boxes. That sounds like a small issue, except it meant no internet or network connection for that computer. After trying to fix the problem for several days, the answer I got from Ubuntu gurus was basically "your card won't work, write your own drivers or buy another card" - not an acceptable solution.

Similarly, a guy who lived next door to me in college tried to put Ubuntu on his laptop, but ran into all kinds of unsolvable driver problems almost immediately.

Although it is pretty good, I would not yet classify Ubuntu as something that "just works".

There are a couple different types of wireless chipsets roaming about right now. The ones that have no Linux support from the chipset manufacturer ... well ... are s**t out of luck. This is why you need to check if the chipset is supported. I know for a fact that Broadcom stuff works.

Outside of wireless you should be able to use a wired card, at the least, with no issues.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to find out a lot of this information before hand just to be sure.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Theirs no reason to give her dual boot. I'm just forced to stick with windows. (F@#kin monopoly).

I'm reading through the Ubuntu faq now. I'm going to install it in the old machine, just to test it out, before i strip it to see if I'm going to reuse the case. :smile:

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Reality has become a commodity.

I just bought a new mobo. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138082
Have i made some huge error yet .

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Reality has become a commodity.

Oh-noes! The BIOSTAR! You're screwed

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Why snark works.

Turns out i did make a mistake. The board has no port for the monitor. So i had to spend 25 on a crappy gfx card. ( ati x600se) :rolleyes: live and learn i guess.

I'm havening huge problums. More than i was expecting. First time i go to start up the new comp, absolutely nothing came up on screen. It wouldn't even come out of standby. The board has 2 LED diagnostic lights and neither of them are on witch according to the manual means "abnormal: CPU / Chipset error". But what i think the problem is the hard drive. when i turn the comp on i hear it making some sound like it's spinning up and i hear some other clicking but it's so dead quite if i put the case cover back on i wouldn't be able to hear it, and on my computer the loudest part out of the whole comp is the hard drive. Though mine is an ata and this is a sata. when i turn the comp on the power light on the front of the case will not light up but the hard drive light is on solid full time. and no, they are not reversed.

also the cd drive will not open or close (don't ask if the power is connected).

Anyone have any ideas on what the hell is wrong with my build.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138082
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103776
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211064
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106054
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103149
and a WD SATA 300 160GB from Microcenter.

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Reality has become a commodity.

There's tons of reasons why it could be.

My first question would be ... are you hooking up the extra power connector to the mother board for the CPU? Those are easy to overlook and ... well ... your diagnostic (if there's nothing wrong with it) is pointing to that area.

I doubt it has anything what so ever to do with the harddrive. If there was something (only) wrong with the HDD, the machine would boot and tell you so.

The only other thing I can think of is that your board has an nVidia system chipset and you bought an ATI graphics card. They'll likely not play nice together.

I can't look at the actual computer to see if there's anything mis-connected (or damage), so good luck finding out the issue.

If everything fails, try looking at all the connections again. It could be many things causing the problem.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Well... Thank you. Not what i was hoping to hear but u have saved me the headache of returning my hdd. I'm going to try and replace the gfx card.

Thanks for all the help guys/Crono. I'd be lost with out you. (well, more than i am now.)

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Reality has become a commodity.

For the SATA HDD, are you hooking up both the SATA power connector AND the molex (4 pin) PSU connector? If so, that may be a reason why nothing will power up, because you are only supposed to have one or the other hooked up to the HDD, never both. It doesn't matter which one, as long as one connection is left open.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

As far as I know current SATA drives only have SATA power connectors.

In either case, plugging in too many power connectors (if that's possible) to a HDD shouldn't make the computer un-responsive.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

My Toshibas have both, and I learned the hard way. The only time it happened, the computer powered on, but I got blackness after the bios. After reading, that's what I learned.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

My Toshibas have both, and I learned the hard way. The only time it happened, the computer powered on, but I got blackness after the bios. After reading, that's what I learned.

1st: that's bizarre

2nd: Why would you buy a HDD from Toshiba?

3rd: He isn't seeing ANYTHING on the screen, no BIOS or anything else.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Um, if you think the hard drive is the problem, disconnect it entirely and see if you get anything on the screen. But like Crono said, the hard drive wouldnt cause a problem like that.

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

You could have some bad RAM. I ordered some off of newegg and it didn't work in my system, it wouldn't even boot up. So I tried some friends RAM and my computer booted up just fine. I guess it was the buffered/unbuffered type of thing...I really don't remember right now.

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Posting And You

I swapped out the power supply with my own and that wasn't the problem. So I'm hoping it was just the gfx card. Odd though, this board has a 24 pin power and a 8 pin power connector. (+ dedicated gfx power) I've never seen that plug before. i don't even have it on the power supply in my computer.

If this doesn't fix the problem I'll try the ram thing. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127273

EDIT: I'm moving, I'm probably going to go off line Sunday and i don't know when I'll have internet back. Plus I'm probably switching providers.

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Reality has become a commodity.

Look in the manual for "Reset CMOS" or "Clear CMOS", it requires you to put a small jumper on two tiny pins (usually labeled 'JP1') and basically forces the BIOS to reset to it's default state. Its somewhat of a long shot, but it's worth a try.

Failing that, try connecting only the bare minimum components required to boot the computer (ie CPU, GFX, 1 stick of RAM(try each one separately)) remove or disconnect everything else, don't even plug in a keyboard at this point. If it still doesn't work you've narrowed the problem to the motherboard, CPU, graphics card, RAM, or power supply, and you're certain it isn't any of the drives or PCI cards making the motherboard refuse to boot.

It sounds to me like your motherboard might have been DOA. It would be worth it IMHO to return the Biostar and get something from a reputable brand like Gigabyte or ASUS.

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o

Gigabyte and Asus? Reputable brands!? Whatever.

Not connecting the external power for the graphics card will only become an issue when you try to do 3D acceleration stuff within whatever OS you're using (it'll also pop up a message that the card doesn't have adequate power).

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Thanks BVS. If the gfx card fails i try the one stick of ram thing or the cmos reset.

I didn't want to start a new topic for this but... Does any know anything about the response time that wow cable internet has compared to what Comcast provides. Not the download or upload speed. Just the response time between connections. I know theirs a lot of variables (like distance for a node) but is their a more general rule. I dsl faster than cable?

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Reality has become a commodity.

DSL is not faster than Cable ... in general. Comcast specifically? Well ... I can only tell you my personal experience with them which was, to be nice, horrible. They claimed all sorts of speeds and such that we never got because EVERYONE had the same deal (Speeds are partially determined by response times from the server ... and this is a real world example). It was also, just about, the most unreliable connection I've ever had. It would regularly cut off every day and the modem would have to be turned off and back on. I know people who've never had that problem (with the same model and make on the modem even), but, obviously, it's possible.

Comcast also costs a lot and WILL raise the fees any time they feel like it.

I know nothing about the other provider you listed, however.

As far as I remember, in general, DSL depends on how far away you are, and cable depends on how many people share the line.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.