Eneukman

My return ticket from Edinburgh to Bangkok (via Heathrow) shows taxes totalling £84.80. Part of this will be the UK's tax for 2 internal flights. On top of this there is the 500 baht departure tax payable on departure from Bangkok. (I assume that this hasn't increased since I was there last November). Alan

On a tv programme about the 80's the other night, they had Tina Charles on who reached number 1 with "I love to love" in February 1976. - A remix re-entered the charts reaching the dizzy heights of no 67 in 1986 hence the reason she was on the 80's show Also, Art Garfunkel's "I only have eyes for you". Alan

You haven't eaten this as well, Monkeyman, have you? Alan

Not yet, but heading that way soon. Alan

Just a follow up - Continental's inaugural flight from Edinburgh was today (to Newark) rather than New York. The flight was 15 minutes late departing due to "equipment problems". I'm not sure what planes they're using - probably a 777(?) as I don't think that the runway at Edinburgh is long enough for 747's. easyJet have good deals to Luton and Stansted though the downside is that you will probably still have to get over to Heathrow or Gatwick for the flight to New York. It could work out cheaper (certainly more convenient) flying down to Heathrow or Gatwick with BA as many of their internal flights to London are only £15 one way (plus taxes). Alan

Hub, as far as I'm aware the only airline that fly to Edinburgh from New York is Continental Airlines. I did a quick search on Expedia - www.expedia.co.uk - and depending on dates the lowest cost seemed to be around £392 but this was flying via Amsterdam! I dare say that cheaper options will be available - particularly via London. It may also be cheaper to fly from Glasgow rather than Edinburgh. Alan

Accessed it now. It seems that when I copies and pasted the address the www. from the previous web-site I had visited wasn't over written hence the error! Alan

Dave, Tried to access the web-site but it seems that the address you posted may be wrong. Can you re-post the address, please? Thanks. Alan

I thought that there had been a limit for some time on the maximum weight for any particular case. What concerns me more as a passenger though is the weight of the bags taken into the cabin. I am sure that there is meant to be a limit of around 7 kilos for them but many bags are obviously well in excess of that. Someone could easily be killed if one of these heavier bags were to fall onto their head. Also, many of the bags are considerably bigger than the maximum dimensions that are supposed to be allowed. It would seem that some people are trying to avoid paying excess baggage by taking as much stuff as possible into the cabin. Alan

So I take it from some of the comments here that the Hammers didn't live up to their name? Ah well, tomorrow will doubtless see Scotland's next footballing disaster as they beat Trinidad & Tobago 1 - 0 thanks to an own goal in extra time. Alan

I didn't have any problems with the safe during my stay at the RG but I DID have a problem with the door to my room. I had paid my bill at Reception and had gone back up to my room to bring my cases etc down and I couldn't open the door. So back down to Reception where they re-set the mechanism on the door. Back up again but still no joy. It ended up with the receptionist coming up to the room with a device they must use in emergencies or power cuts, Now that WOULD have been a novel excuse for missing the plane home and for being a day late back to work Alan

Gus, A couple of possibilities. I seem to recall that the last time I had to log on, there was a box which said something along the lines "Remember me in future". Have you tried checking this box? Also, for the site to know who you are in future you have to allow cookies to be stored on your PC. I occasionally delete all cookies stored on my PC and when I do this I then have to log back on to this site. I try now to check out what cookies have been stored on my PC on a regular basis and delete those I don't want. Alan

I've never had a problem with hotel safes though be warned that many of the electronic ones require a battery for part of their operation. A fellow guest at the RG experienced battery failure one night and it was 2 hours before some one came down from Bangkok to fix it! Still. he had his tg with him at the time so unlikely that the wait was totally wasted Alan

Pieman's right, Jack. One advantage of getting the 60 day visa in the UK is that it can then be extended for, I think, a further 30 days. The cost of the visa in the UK is, I think £30 for a single entry visa. Check out the Thai Visa site for more information http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/ I think the visa can be obtained from any of the Thai consulates in the UK but those in Hull, Birmingham and I believe, Cardiff are apparently particularly helpful. Alan

Triplegee, you're a genius! I ran Hijack This again and deleted the files you suggested and then restarted my PC. That seems to have done the trick as the Systems32 folder did not open up automatically. In fact neither did my calendar but I know how to fix that. I haven't so fat tried deleting some of the other files you suggested but I'll look at these later. Thanks for all your help. Alan

Triplegee. Thanks for that. I use AOL and AIM but I'll have a go at deleting the others. I'll let you know how I get on. Alan

Expensive repair, yes - but look on the bright side - at least this didn't happen when the plane was landing. Alan

Babepecker, I seem to have got rid of the verisign.com web-site trying to start up AOL. I've had a few problems with this in the past but deleting all unwanted cookies has usually resolved the problem. Triplegee, I've now download and run Hijack This. The attached is what it produced - Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7 Scan saved at 21:46:36, on 27/05/2004 Platform: Windows XP (WinNT 5.01.2600) MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 (6.00.2600.0000) Running processes: C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe C:\Program Files\Adaptec\Easy CD Creator 5\DirectCD\DirectCD.exe C:\WINDOWS\DELLMMKB.EXE C:\Program Files\Microsoft Hardware\Mouse\point32.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\WkUFind.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLDial.exe C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe C:\Program Files\Microsoft Money\System\reminder.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\MsnMsgr.Exe C:\WINDOWS\Nhksrv.exe C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\AOL\ACS\AOLacsd.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\EPSON\EBAPI\SAgent2.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\mdm.exe C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe C:\WINDOWS\wanmpsvc.exe C:\Program Files\Netropa\OSD.exe C:\Program Files\AOL 9.0\aoltray.exe C:\Program Files\MSWorks\Calendar\MSWKSCAL.EXE C:\Program Files\Nikon\NkView6\NkvMon.exe C:\Program Files\WinZip\WZQKPICK.EXE C:\Program Files\MSWorks\Calendar\WKCALREM.EXE C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe C:\Program Files\AOL Companion\companion.exe C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\rnathchk.exe C:\Documents and Settings\Alan\My Documents\Hijack this\HijackThis.exe R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://www.euro.dell.com/countries/uk/enu/gen/default.htm R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.euro.dell.com/countries/uk/enu/gen/default.htm R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = http://localhost R3 - Default URLSearchHook is missing O1 - Hosts: 217.116.231.7 aimtoday.aol.com12.129.205.209 search.netscape.com12.129.205.209 sitefinder.verisign.com O2 - BHO: (no name) - {0A28355C-1F91-A40D-886D-A91CDB01166D} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\hdfvtmpt.dll O2 - BHO: (no name) - {3F31857E-22F1-4752-4E10-3EC6EC99E3CC} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\urmxxuoo.dll O2 - BHO: (no name) - {59368E5A-D57B-F080-C413-CD0BA540D7A1} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\kvvsjifz.dll O2 - BHO: (no name) - {79C7E745-0D1D-EC1A-1B91-C624F6D6A4D4} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\othbuecv.dll O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE NvQTwk,NvCplDaemon initialize O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AdaptecDirectCD] "C:\Program Files\Adaptec\Easy CD Creator 5\DirectCD\DirectCD.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [DellTouch] C:\WINDOWS\DELLMMKB.EXE O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [POINTER] point32.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccRegVfy] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccRegVfy.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [spool ml710e] "C:\Program Files\spool\spool.exe" O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [updater] C:\Program Files\Common files\updater\wupdater.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Microsoft Works Update Detection] C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\WkUFind.exe O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ Error] c:\WINDOWS\System32\ Error O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [] c:\WINDOWS\System32\

I ususally tip taxi drivers 100 baht. One guy wanted more but I wasn't having it particularly as his ability to navigate form Sukhumwit Road to the Residence Gardens was virtually non-existant. I had to tell him at one point to do a U turn on Sukhumwit Road as he had gone way past the right turn off. Alan

OK guys, I tried Housecall but it found nothing untoward on my pc. Also, I updated my Ad-aware programme, which removed a few items that had previously been undetected. None of these have solved the problems I've been having. I don't think there is anything major wrong with my PC as I'm sure something else would have manifested itself by now. It's just a pain in the arse having to close down the system 32 folder every time I switch the PC on. I have hidden the contents of the folder so I can't inadvertently delete anything that is vital to the PC's operation. Any other suggestions? Alan

Thanks for the suggestions, triplegee. I'll try these when I get some free time. I did download Ad-Aware not too long ago and run it on a fairly regular basis. The first time it removed a lot of crap but the last time I ran it there was nothing to clear. However, the refernce file may well need updating so I'll do that as well. Alan

Just a further thought, would there be any advantage in re-installing Windows? Alan

Babepecker, thanks for the suggestions. I'm running Windows XP and use Norton ANti-Virus. Norton prompts me to update the anti-virus definitions on a regular basis and I always do them as soon as possible after that. Also, I do tend to download any patches provided by Microsoft though I'm not totally convinced as to how useful many of these really are. I do a full anti-virus scan once a week and it has been some time since a virus was last detected on my pc. It was successfully removed from my pc 2 weeks after it was detected (it had been placed into quarantine in the intervening period). I think therefore that it is unlikely (though doubtless not impossible) that I have a virus on my pc. I visited Symantec's web-site tonight and ran their security check and it gave my pc a clean bill of health. Good point about doing a back up of important files etc on my pc - something we all should do on a regular basis. It's some time since I last did a back up and I have to say that this is now long overdue. Alan

OK guys, a question for the expert PC users amongst you. Every time I start up my PC, the Systems 32 folder insists that I want it to open. Now as this folder contains some bloody important files, it is one of the last folders I want to open automatically. I have tried the obvious and checked what programmes I have specifically asked to be opened when I start up the PC and as far as I can tell, everything that is there is there for a reason. Any suggestions as to where else I can check would be much appreciated. Also, on a fairly regular basis my PC tries to open AOL claiming that either I or a programme (usually versign.com - whoever they are) have requested access to the internet. I have no idea what this web-site relates to and it is becoming a bit of a pain in the arse having to cancel the request. I check the cookies set on my PC on a regular basis and delete any that I don't want. Again, any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Alan