Hello,

DMR -- Glad it is working for you! I had a nightmare of Gateway stuff a couple years ago. Another story for another time.

Helot -- Re-imaging implies software errors, not hardware ones. If the proper drivers are installed, and the BIOS up to date, the hardware should be solid. Now, if they are continually swapping motherboards due to ethernet problems, or fans dying regularly, that is something else.

Me personally, I prefer a colorful computer.

Enjoy.

Christian

Dell makes great hardware, especially for the price. As kc0arf mentioned, those are software issues, not hardware-- every major brand PC these days is running Windows these days, which means they are all prone to the exact same problems.

...I don't like to bad mouth other companies, but I would not go for an eMachine. They're cheap, sure, but that's about all they've got going for them. Don't expect for it to be too expandable, or last that long...

Mmm, yeah- I haven't had to deal with too many eMachine boxes, but that's the take I got on them as well- cheap, but not that great for the long haul. I can't say that I'd recommend one as a new purchase from what I've seen and heard.

buy dell it is a cheap pc but if you are the kind of person who likes to surf on the net and have no experience on managing a pc don't use windows xp. unless you are very cautious with what you do and what you surf but i recommend 98 and a good av system you can also find av online visit google.com and search for online antivirus systems and you'll find many but good luck with your new computer

Thanks again for all this input!

Trying to upgrade what we have wouldn't do us a whole lot of good. Our home computer is an IBM Aptiva, purchased back in 1996. VERY slow processor, unable to upgrade to more memory since we have done all we can already. Only 6 GB for storage.....

Emachines was inexpensive, and plenty good enough for sonnyboy.

Point well taken about the software/ghosting stuff. My only drawback with Dell is that I know a few people with them who are quite unhappy with the customer support department. I suppose that can happen with any company from time to time though, huh?

Dude - I think I'll get a Dell. MOO-HA-HA!!!!! (Providing I can get a great bargain sometime soon.)

And then I will most likely be hounding you guys for moral support with setting up a router for our home. Our internet is through Insight cable, and I've purchased a wireless router. My son says it's a piece of cake to do, but we will see....

Have a great day, everyone!

InsightBB huh? I'm with them in Seymour, IN.

I have an eMachine that I purchased in '98; I never had any trouble with it until I got a virus (Nimda) in '02. Rather then try to clean it up, at the time, I purchased a Dell. The hard drive in the Dell failed 5 days after the one year warranty expired. Since I replaced the hard drive, I haven't had any trouble with it.

I have since reformatted the eMachine and use it as a loaner when working on other peoples computers... right now it needs to be formatted again -- I had Win98 & Win2K on it and someone tried to install XP; this computer doesn't have enough RAM or available hard drive space for XP!

Dell's customer service is great when you're purchasing a computer, but severely lacking in support thereafter (in my opinion). I also used Dell Financial to finance the purchase, and I can honestly say that it was literally the worst financial institution I've dealt with in my entire life!

I'll probably purchase another computer this year and it will be either an eMachine or a Dell. But I won't be using Dell Financial!

Goodness, dlh! What on Earth are you doing resurrecting an old topic? Was the post misplaced?

Anyway, seeing that it's been resurrected I'd like to add comment related to the original question. There is really only one way to ensure beyond doubt that another person does not use your PC. Install a removable drive cradle to your PC, mount the hard drive in it, and then whenever you shut the system down remove the hard drive from it! If there's no system drive in there the PC cannot be used!

http://www.addonics.com/products/ext..._removable.asp
http://www.addonics.com/products/mob...nrhdsa35-r.asp

Password protection is not adequate protection against knowledgeable computer users. Password cracking tools are freely available for download if you know how to look for them

Lol, sorry about that!! I was searching for something else and found this so I thought I'd put in my two cents -- I didn't even notice the year!

but it is very easy to release the BIOS password.
and also many methods to reset the windows password.
may be the best method is to hide your computer..
o(∩_∩)o...just kidding