Hilary, Fred, MM

You guys might be interested in learning about 'Wardriving'

But do I remember how MM might already be an afficionado?

More on it at Tapping into wireless

Fred,

It's really not that complicated.

I've been doing some more digging today regarding the costs in Spain. I don't know how much a Spanish Vodafone SIM card is to buy, but I wouldn't have thought it's much more than around 5.

The basic prepaid 3G package costs 20 and that gives a download max of 25MB. It is split into 100 sessions each of either 0.25MB or 10 minutes, whichever is reached first. The package must be used within 3 months.

Compared to the 8/MB that Orange charge for 3G roaming, I think that 20 is peanuts and should suffice for my fortnight in Spain. I'll probably not even bother with it while I'm in France.

There are other packages - 40 buys 200MB and 60 buys 1GB.

More here

Hope that helps

Hilary, I am still thinking. Trouble is I am tight fisted.

When I was in France and Portugal I was lucky to have a permanent addresses in those countries and purchase a "data" Sims card I could use and with the Nokia. I am thinking of buying the datacard for the Sony and then fighting for the connection in France and Portugal again.

The other sensible approach for me is to go into cash or more defensive stock. But I am told by my family I rarely make sense or act sensibly.

I will continue to think.

Looking for good prices for DDR333 266 memory trying to upgrade MSI KT3 motherboard

or

Better still and new motherboard cpu and memory combo, any recomendations ;-)

I keep getting "Internet Explorer Script Error" messages - one or two a day. Anyone with a clue as to why and what it means, please? I'm on Broadband with XP Pro.

Check out

How to Troubleshoot Script Errors in Internet Explorer

How to disable script and runtime errors

Wow Doc, my mind is boggled. Many thanks for the links. I'll plough through pages and see if I can make any sense of them. Despite the error messages, as far as I can see, the web pages download OK. Curious.

TOK, in Internet Options, Advanced tab, check "Display a notification about every script error" is not ticked.

Kayak - Box is not ticked. Disable script debugging (IE and Other) are ticked.

Hilary

Have you seen http://www.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm ? This site might be of some use if you want to take your laptop with you on your hols.

Thanks for the link, Doc. I notice there's a hotspot at a hotel near to where I'm staying on Plage Richelieu. The Vodafone Dashboard software also includes a feature which gives an updated list of known hotspots in any town.

Trouble is though, I'm only just figuring out how I'm going to use the 3G/GPRS thingey wotsit. I really wouldn't have a clue what I'd have to do to connect up to a WiFi Hotspot.

I've suffered a crash over the weekend and on re-booting I got a processor running hot message.
I've took the main heatsink and fan out (how in heaven's name can so much muck & dust get in there?), cleaned it all up and put back together and everything seems fine up to now.
My question is about the 'stuff' between the heat sink and the cpu. I tried not to disturb it but probably did a little bit. I have some sort of silver coating to a couple of finger ends! I assume it's a heat conductive paste of some sort to make sure of a good contact maybe ????? There was still the vast majority of it left undisturbed. Should I take it apart again clean it off and re-apply this 'stuff' whatever it is? How important is it? If I had to, I assume I could buy some from Dabs, PC World or similar.

Would you normally get a warning message if the cpu is running too hot? ie before the crash!

Thanks in advance chaps.

Don't know about the questions, but when i worked in the photocopier industry the machines ahd a huge problem with dust getting in the optical system due to airflow from the fan. The fan was to keep the optice cool so the lenses and mirrors did not deform.
This continued for years and engineers up and down the country had to clean and polish the optics with distressing frequency, till some bright spark decided to stick an old, fine stocking, belonging to his missus over the intake vent. Airflow was not impaired and dust was mainly kept out. Eventually the manufacturers got around to designing filters, but the theory worked well. i see no reason why computers could not be kept cleaner in the same way.
Anyone tried, or want to tell me why it isn't feasible?
Alan

Bolshi, you're totally correct but no, providing you didn't wipe the paste off it will be fine just to stick everything back together. Whether you get a message depends on whether you are running the motherboard's manufacturer's program to do so. If you got it once then I would guess the answer is yes!

Kayak. Thanks for putting my mind at rest (a little :-)). The message only came up during the re-boot phase, which to my mind was a little bit late. I guess that answers my own question. Cheers again.

Hil: Tell me, my little hotspot, does your laptop (make??) have built-in Wi-Fi (eg, Intel Centrino)?

MM,

It's a long time since somebody called me a hotspot. And I thought that a Centrino was one of those cars with a fat bottom made by Fiat.

:o)

My laptop's a Dell Inspiron. Does it need built-in WiFi to access a hotspot then? I just assumed that it was something within the Datacard that allowed it to access hotspots.

Hil,

The datacard only accesses the cellular systems. It's a quad band 850/900/1800/1900 GPRS and W-CDMA (3G) device.

You need either the built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 b or g or, if the laptop doesn't have that, another plug-in card for Wi-Fi.

Fiat Centrino does have a nice ring to it. Acer do a Ferrari-branded laptop, but they tend to overheat, just like the real thing.

Oh, I see. Thanks MM.

So if I had a WiFi plug-in didgeredoo, would I then be able to access the hotspot in the hotel down the road? Is it free, or would I have to pay for it? And if it's paid for, who would I have to pay and what else would I need?

edit: I think I've probably sussed out how it works now, MM. How strong are the signals on the WiFi hotspots? Would I have to be in the hotel grounds to receive it, or do they reach a few hundred yards? Also the local hotspot in France seems to be operated by Orange. Do Vodafone charge extra (roaming) to hook onto it?

Hil, Now you've got your didgeridoo sussed, you'll find the Wi-Fi software, either as supplied with the aforesaid digeridoo or as supplied for the built-in Wi-Fi, will tell you when you're within range of a hotspot. As you'll be sur le continent, you'll find that Wi-Fi ranges are like wavelengths and are in metres, not yards ;-) Either way, about 30 yards/metres is a likely reliable range, depending on obstructions. Wi-Fi operates at 2.4GHz or about 13cm wavelength, so solid things bigger than 13cm reflect, attenuate or partially obstruct the radio waves (it's how Radar works, innit).

If you're within range of a a Wi-Fi hotspot and you try to browse to a site, chances are you will get a home page from the hotspot provider instead of the page you tried to access. Normally, this will invite you to perform a credit card transaction to pay for the time (don't know about France, but T-mobile in the US charge about $6/hour, unlimited data).

You'll find that the Voda software will just tell you about Voda hotspots, not other networks. My version doesnt give me any Spanish or French hotspots.