Joined on 04/16/06
Great value!
Pros: 5 licenses in one package & you can decide which ESET product you put on which computer. I bought this two months ao, but waited until my current ESET AV expired, before uninstalling it & installing this new one. I only had NOD32 before, this deal includes that & the security product, which I installed on my laptop. So far, it's been working good. I like EST because it's a low overhead AV program, unlike some AV's that dog the computer down. I like when I insert a USB drive, it gives me the option to scan it or not. The best thing is that this being version 5, is that when I installed it, it downloaded & installed version 6! I wasn't expecting that, the product page shows that now. My last EST product NOD32 v4, didn't auto-upgrade to v5. So this is a real nice deal. I still need to install it on my Android smartphone, rom what I understand, I have to download it from the EST page, not Google Play (marketplace).
Cons: None.
Great cooler - onwed for 8 months.
Pros: Lightweight, USB powered, adjustable fan speed, switch to turn on\off, LED power light on right side, USB port on right & left sides (near rear) - one used by USB cable between laptop & cooler. Has rubber strips along bottom front & two short pieces (one on left & right) to keep laptop from sliding forward on the sloped surface. Black color. I have a Dell XPS M1530, 15.4" laptop that fits it well. Laptop has a 256 MB video card & the cooler helps keep it cool. Like other reviewers, I wish I bought one of these years ago. This is my first cooler. I checked various brands, models & reviews & decided on spending more for a better product, plus a sale helped! Lightweight - fits in my laptop bag with my laptop, doesn't add much weight to carry. Though I can't zip the top of the case shut, but that's okay, better than carrying separate. They give a short USB cable to go between cooler & laptop. Works fine for me. Without measuring it, I'd guess it's a foot long. Nose level - I find it quiet, even if fan on highest setting (thumb wheel). I've used it at day job (office) & at home. A little more noticeable at home, but if I play music, etc. while doing stuff, I can't hear it. I got used to it, no biggie. It's not loud. If you have one that's loud, I'd say you have a bad unit & should exchange it. Then only review the exchanged one. People shouldn't review a product that's DOA (Dead On Arrival) either. I work in computer tech. support & have been in IT for about 20 years professionally & self-taught for an add'l 10 yrs. before that.
Cons: None.
Overall Review: Overall, I'm very pleased with it. I have a new Dell Latitude 17 (17"), 7000 series, high end laptop that fits it as well. My XPs seems to run hotter, maybe with age, though they had a known heating problem with units. The new laptop doesn't run nearly as hot, so not sure if I'll keep the cooler with old or new laptop. It will be used.
Nice kit!
Pros: Nice selections of tools, good number of attachment bits for the driver. I like how how this company approaches how the bit is secured to the racket driver (magnetic) vs a mtal ball holding it in. My last kit was like that & it finally popped out & got lost, hence why I bought a new kit. Parts box is nice, even gives you a few parts to get started, plus empty compartments for other parts. Wire cutter & pliers are a nice touch, my last large kit, I had to add those. The racket driver allows reversing the direction, so you can set it to tighen or loosen (like a socket wrench) or a middle position that locks it, so you have to turn the handle like a normal screwdriver. The dual-ended screwdriver with pcket clip is a nice touch. Handy when you just need a screwdriver, don't need to pull out the whole kit at the client site.
Cons: none
Overall Review: I wanted a kit without the soldering iron, since I never used it for working on PC's. As a rule, I don't use the anti-static strap, I just ground myself by first touching metal on the computer case. I never understand why they give you Allen wenches, when torque wrenches (hollow middle) would be much more helpful. I'm a computer tech., been in IT for 20+ years in different positions. I use this kit for opening computer cases, replacing hard-drives, optical drives, power supplies, fans, etc.. If you're going to work on different makes & models of computers, a tool kit like this is handy, as the cases vary. A lot of newer cases are screwless, but I still run into some that have screws, or older equipment. Plus, even with screwless, if you had to remove the motherboard, there maybe some screws involved. Then if you work on laptops or netbooks, etc., there are plenty of small screws & connectors.
Good card
Pros: Overall, it's a pretty good card. Though, I ran Team Fortress 2 (TF2) & a couple of other games (Left 4 Dead 2, Alan Wake, Minecraft) & was disappointed not to see them run faster. TF2 I know what it was like on the old ATI 256MB card on Vista 32-bit, so I though a 1GB card on Win 7 32-bit would rock! Alan Wake is a new game I bought & with all the fog, the game crawls. Minecraft was sluggish at first, worst than the old card, but then it improved & has been running great. I put this in an old box, a Dell OptiPlex E521, CPU, AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+, 2.60 GHz. I've upgraded the RAM to 4 GB, Win 7 Pro 32-bit only sees 3 GB & added a 1TB drive (HGST Deskstar 7K1000.C 0F10383 1TB 7200 SATA 3.0Gb/s). RAM upgrade: Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT12864AA667 (bought 2 kits). I'm assuming my CPU is holding it back. Granted this isn't some fancy $300 video card, but it's better than I had. I'm holding off buying Bioshock Infinite, as I'm wondering if my system will run it in a playable state. Upgraded this old PC, I couldn't afford buying a new one.
Cons: Gave a 4 rating due to not running my games faster. I'm not sure if it's the video card or my CPU or something else. I do have a Samsung 24" SyncMaster T240HD monitor\HDTV, but I would think if mt old ATI 256MB card could drive that monitor, a 1GB card shouldn't have an issue.
Overall Review: For the sale price, it was a good deal. Got it for $54.99 in Nov. 2012.
Good cable
Pros: Works good. Bought in Nov. 2012. I bought this, because I also bought a new video card (EVGA 01G-P3-1526-KR GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card) that has HDMI & wanted to hook it to my monitor (Samsung 24" SyncMaster T240HD (monitor\HD TV)). What I found was that sometimes, like when booting the computer (Dell OptiPlex E521) the screen was blank until I think the Win 7 splash screen. (I'm writing this review a couple of months later.) A couple of annoying things, so I went back to a DVI cable. But I still have this cable hooked up, for future video use, if I buy a BluRay drive, etc..
Cons: None. The cable worked provided a great picture.
Good upgrade for Dell OptiPlex E521
Pros: Upgraded a Dell OptiPlex E521 tower to 4 GB. Memory worked fine, trouble is the old RAM & new didn't work together, so I had to remove the old & buy 2GB more of this to get 4GB. (This is not uncommon when upgrading RAM.) However, with 32bit Win 7, it can only see 3-3.5GB, still better than just 2GB. (Bought the RAM in Nov\Dec. 2012.) Between this RAM, a new 1TB hard-drive & a 1GB video card, I'll get more time on an old box until I can afford to buy a new system. For reference, for others upgrading the same or similar Dell OptiPlex, I used: 1.) HGST Deskstar 7K1000.C 0F10383 1TB 7200 SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.) EVGA 01G-P3-1526-KR GeForce GT 520 (Fermi) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card Got the video card cheap on sale, nice thing about upgrading around Christmas time! :) If you're upgrading an old computer, be sure to look up the system specs on the manufacture site, as it will help you match up equipment (i.e. type of video slot, SATA, etc.). SATA is backward compatible.
Cons: None.
Overall Review: The fact I had to remove the old RAM isn't because this RAM had the issue. I tried to find RAM that would match, so I could keep old & new (4 slots total), but RAM can be hard to match up. Even if you got both old & new to work, if the new RAM is faster than the old, the computer slows down to the speed of the slowest RAM. So keep that in mind when upgrading, you could pay more for faster RAM & then find it's being slowed down, unless you replace all of the RAM or match the speed.