apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm really hoping someone here can give me a bit of advice - (for Windows Vista users)

I just got a new laptop that has Windows Vista. It is CONSTANTLY refreshing/reloading itself. I'll be typing something and it'll refresh and stop me from typing and move the cursor. A little blue revolving circle appears. How do I stop this? I've gone into the control panel and can't find anything that will stop this.

Wende! This isn't home tech but I thought of you when I saw these over at Brocade Home, how fabulous for your little friends!

Oh my! That is so Brocade Home! I may have to learn to like that store.

My CD player is broken and I have an old outdated VCR. I am looking for some advice on what to buy to listen to music and to play DVD's. I am considering a home theatre system or switching to an I-pod and getting rid of my CD's and then getting a separate DVD player. I looking to spend less then 800.00 and for something that is fairly compact.

Lynne, I listen to cds and watch dvds on my computers (and I listen, mainly to audible.com books on my various iPods). I have Harmon-Kardon isticks and subwoofer hooked to my 17" aluBook, 4 imac speakers hooked to my iMac flat panel, and yamaha speakers and sub hooked to my 24" intel duo iMac. The sound is fine. Your decision to load all your music on an iPod and push your music through that is a good one. I believe Maxwell and Sara have done this. You might check out today's Circuits in the nytimes http://tinyurl.com/2f4578

Thanks for the tips ebrown, I had not thought of using my laptop and getting some speakers.