I hate advertisments.  Sorry if you hate them too, but I need to use every income stream available to me at the moment.  I’ve tried to make them subtle; no flashing graphics, no lurid colours.  I’m hoping they’ll generate a little income for me as I get the the visitor numbers up.

I only get a few pennies when an ad is clicked, so I’m not expecting to get rich.  But please take a look at the ads from time to time, and if there’s anything that genuinely interests you, please go ahead and visit the advertiser’s site.

Thanks,

Colin.

PS. Please don’t click multiple times in the hope of sending me cash.  Google is wise to that and will cancel my account if such ‘abuse’ takes place. Ta very much.

I had to re-install Windows XP on my 18 month old Dell notebook to solve a problem I was having. Unfortunately, the problem still remains. But, that’s not what I need help on.

See my earlier posts about my T-Mobile mobile broadband on my phone? Well ignore those. The following has nothing to do with the broadband connection on my phone, it is about the mobile broadband USB dongle I have, and the cable broadband (via a WiFi router) I have at home.

I was a bit surprised about how my set-up worked before the reinstall, but since it did work (and it suited me), I didn’t look into how it worked. Now it has changed though, and I want it back the way it was. Here goes!

At home I was connected to the net via WiFi to my cable broadband provider, Virgin (lovely 10 meg trial period ends next week). However, my smtp email server settings were set to use the USB mobile broadband dongle from T-Mobile.

What would happen was that Outlook 2000 (I know) would send and receive emails via USB mobile broadband, while simultaneously my surfing on IE (I know) would use my WiFi-based cable broadband provider (at much higher speeds).

I verified this was happening by sending emails (which would fail if sent using my cable provider), whilst running a broadband speed test (showing over 8mbps) at www.speedtest.net. That proved that emails were going via mobile broadband and IE was using the cable broadband, at the same time.

Since the reinstall, I can either use mobile broadband exclusively, or cable broadband exclusively. I’ve checked a few settings, but can’t see anything obvious I can do to get it back to the previous settings.

Can you help please?

If so, please leave a comment or twitter me www.twitter.com/ColinBowen. I’ll post any answers here in the comments anyway. Thanks very much.

PS. I know the fonts sizes are different, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to change font sizes in WordPress. I know, RTFM, but life’s to short.

This thing looks glued to the road (at the front, at least). I’ll have to get round to watching the programme on TV.

I’m sure The Stig is my Cousin Les.

With the British Grand Prix on this weekend, I thought you might like to read my post from my trip to the 2005 GP. Click here to see it.

The FIA has announced that the fees F1 drivers pay for their racing licenses will increase by up to 1000%. My wife said “Well someone’s got to pay for all Max Mosley’s prostitutes”!

Read about the licence fees here at the BBC Motorsport website.

I can’t see this happening for a few years, and I think there would be a subscription model that’s fairly expensive. But there’s the potential to play an F1 racing game against real F1 drivers, live, real-time, as the race is run, as if you were really there on track. Read about it here on the BBC motorsport website.

Now that’s what I call a racing simulator!

This BBC report says that Hamilton thinks the 10 grid-place penalty is harsh, and the rule is ‘silly’. He’s currently my favourite driver, but his attitude is beginning to wind me up.

You don’t crash in the pit lane, period. It’s the most dangerous part of the circuit, and you need to have respect for all the people who work there. On the track you’re only likely hurt yourself or another driver; and that’s the risk you accept when you go racing. On the track, you respect yellow flags for the safety of yourself and the marshalls. The pit lane is a permanent danger zone, and rules are in place to protect people there. There is no excuse for not observing pit-lane rules.

I accept that the red light was on at the end of the pit lane to stop cars exiting the pit into the train of cars following the safety car, but it’s still a pit lane rule. If you don’t adhere to that rule, the people in the pit lane are at risk.

Hamilton’s attitude is bordering on Michael Shumacher’s attitude; I’m number one and I’ll do what I want. As F1 uncensored said on Twitter, Hamilton lacks humility. I don’t agree with much of what F1 uncendored says (grin), but I agree on this point.

Come on Lewis, you’re losing the respect of the fans (and those who work in F1 I assume). Far better to say “I made a mistake, I’m sorry, and I’ve learned from it”.

Sad news. He had a head-on crash as he rounded a corner.

Read the BBC Motorsport report here.