scowlsandgrowls

A lady has given me her name and address following her attempting to reverse into my drive way (in order to turn around) and demolishing a pillar. Presumably I should make a claim against her car insurance for the cost of repair/reinstatement?

In the argos catalogue there are various extension leads with differing amps protection. Is 13500 sufficient for a pc systems and some peripherals?

I think the dealers gap insurance from memory was about

I found on the dell website that the chassis is 375W rated - the monitor was 65W so I make that 440W the ups offered by Dell for the system is Belkin 300W and an APC 650 which is 400W. In my mind both would appear to be insufficient unless I'm missing something? Dell do offer the APC 800 under power which is 540W rated and which would appear therefore to be the one to go for?

yes I am aware it is to bring down the system in the event of a power failure and that is what I want in for - ups will only back up a certain amount of wattage in total hence my question re how many watts the pc would use. I'll check out the apc site if I can get on it - it was down earlier today.

I'm thinking of getting a UPS in conjunction with a new pc - dual core and flat panel monitor (the monitor appears to have wattage of upto 65W) what would the pc draw? Dell provide the option for a Belkin 6-Socket 500VA Battery Back-Up which appear to provide cover of upto 300W or an APC Back-UPS CS 650VA 230V which I think is about 400W. Presumably as Dell are offering the Belkin with the system the Belkin would be adequate for the pc and monitor?

Which hard drive is better: 500 GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst

Thanks for your comments. I know at my work they managed to keep the toolbar for me on upgrade but I wondered what would happen when buying the new office 2003 from scratch. I guess I could try and play around with the windows toolbar at work on my own pc - however being familar with its use I found trying to set up windows toolbar on a colleagues pc (that didn't have any toolbars) quite time consuming and it just seemed to use up space on the bottom task bar whereas I have 2 full toolbars on the go on my own pc with one permanently there and able to switch between the2 quite easily (likewise at home) but then I suppose it what you get used to.. On the subject of toolbars in general I am fairly dismayed that most people where I work don't use them and still either revert to the desktop or use start button to access programs - I have loads of files/folders/progams open at work and would just be lost without shortcuts!

I believe that customer services is now based in India so I shall say no more! My current pc is a Dell albeit now 7 yrs old. When I first had it I had a few problems with numerous lengthy phone calls to Dell (in those days I think technical support was in Ireland). However once it was up and running it was mainly ok though now I have shut down / resource problems but then it is 7 yrs old) At work we have Dell desktops and I don't think the firm has had any problems per se with the hardware. I expect my next pc to be a Dell but I think I will pay the extra to have home installation and take the worry/hassle out of set up and hope that I won't need to call India.

I currently have msoffice 2000 which comes with office toolbar which I am quite used to using (as compared to thhe windows toolbar), office 2003 does come with the toolbar. If I get office 2003 (basic edition as I only use word/excel/outlook)on a new pc will I be able to install the office toolbar from my office 2000 cd into the 2003 office?

how does one know which headlights are being recalled?

Can you get the VAG proper stuff in anything bigger that a one litre bottle which is all my local dealer says they have available. I litre diluted with 4 litres of water may be ok in summer (I think my washer bottle capacity is about 5 litres as I have headlight wash) but won't go very far in winter time when I understand the dilution rate is 1litre and 2 litres of water. Is the Halfords pink advanced a definite no no - I've got 10L of the stuff that I got on offer for my old car (now scrapped) plus also some of the ordinary Halfords blue windscreen wash which was fine in the old car but it didn't have fan jets.

I don't leave the car outside - I garage it and its only 3 months old. I did contact skoda uk as the dealer said it was normal I wasn't convinced. Their reply was: With regards to condensation on xenon headlights, misted up headlights > (without visible condensed water drops caused by moisture ingression) > are natural and permissible from the viewpoint of the headlamp design. > > The vent holes in the headlight body provide natural ventilation during > operation. However, the speed and the time of demisting depends on the > current atmospheric pressure, the temperature and the relative humidity > of the environment.

I believe the TPM monitors a relative drop in tyre pressure rather than warning you what your tyre pressures are. So I guess it would be useful if you had a sudden loss of pressure as you are driving so you can take appropriae action there and then. Having TPM is not an alternative to not checking your tyre pressures periodically.

Is this a problem with skodas in general - I have never experienced this before in over 250k miles of driving other cars. Does it cause any damage to the brakes/wheels? Should I have it looked at my the dealer as the car is only 3m old?

I think it unlikely to be rust caused by rain as it only happened after travelling about 50 miles of driving OK and happened after driving in the countryside (nr cirencester) and stopping. I'm inclined to think maybe in was grit or something as it did clear itself after some further breaking and a couple of miles and then everything was OK for the next 150 miles - quite worrying at the time as we didn't really know where we were, the roads were single track and we were someway from the main road.

Is it normal for the windscreen to mist up when wet ( on my previous car I didn't notice this happening when wet - I always had the fan on and directed to windscreen) and what is the normal way to keep it clear?:confused: I have climatronic air con. When I choose the setting for windscreen (button with windscreen and person on) it doesn't seem to make much impression. Should all the air vents be closed to in fact direct the air to the windscreen rather than inside the car (didn't have to do this with my old car no air con). If I press the windscreen button above the one for rear windscreen then the windscreen clears very quickly but I thought this was for more abnormal conditions like deicing use rather than driving in the rain. In today's torrential rain it seemed the only way to keep the windscreen clear from misting up for to use this function periodically. :(

Whilst driving a short distance about 1-2miles or so from stationery there was a loud noice from my passengers side rear wheel every time I braked. It was a persistent sound but was intermittent like when you have a stone in the tyre but of course much more loud. I was driving around country roads (single carriage way type in the middle on nowhere) so I wasn't able to get out and have a look for a couple of miles by which time it seemed to stop. After that everything seemed OK (have driven about 150miles home). Any ideas what it could be and should I get it checked out by the dealer (the car has only done 2500 miles).

My warning light came on on saturday but didn't notice any ping. Its quite noticeable if you reguarly check your speedo. I my case it came on because after resetting the tyres (having checked them beforehand and adjusted them from fully laden (as per delivery) to the more normal lighter load of 2 people I had not reset the tyre pressure button. The warning light came on after about 12 miles at 70 mph on a dual carriage way so presumably trigger when hot rather than when cold. The tyres pressures were consistent all the way round so I reset and continued. Since resetting the monitor has not come on again.

I got a bit of a shock when I checked the tyre pressures last night. I hadn't thought to check them since taking delivery of the car 3 months ago as I had assumed they would have been set to what I considered to be the normal mode of driving (i.e without 5 people in the car and a full load) when I picked the car up but when I tested the pressures they nearly jumped of the scale of my tyre pressure checker! - they appear to have set to full load. Is this the norm? Anyway I have now reduced the tyres all round for 2 people and a light load. Will I get better mpg with reduced pressure? I expect the ride to be a bit less hard.

It appears that my car is set to fixed servicing. What time frame does this involve every year or every 2 years? I anticipate relatively low annual mileage so if every year then variable servicing would seem to be better value. I have been told that once you switch to variable servicing you can't then go back to fixed. Presumably fixed would be beneficial to very high mileage drivers?

When braking, noticeable more when coming to a halt at slow speeds there is like whooshing sound. When I took the technician out he thought the brakes pads might need resetting (i've done about 1000 miles so far). When I picked the car up I was told that what I was hearing was the booster vacuum release and that this was normal. What is the booster vacuum release and is it normal as I've not come across this before.

After rain there is a small amount of condensation at the bottom on the headlamps which after time disappears. My dealer says that this is normal but if it becomes excessive then it is not. Is what my dealer saying correct or is the dealer just trying to avoid a warranty claim? If Ok at what point does the condensation become abnormal?

tinted glass I thought that was standard on every model bar the basic. New for 2006 is sunset glass which I understand to be privacy glass behind the driver.

Time between ordering and receiving about 2-3 months I would think. I ordered mine just before xmas and it arrived in first week of march. Maxi dot much clearer display than the alternative so worth having. Xenons much brighter than halogens I've certainly noticed thedifference. Leather seats yes I mmed over whether they would be cold in winter, sticky in summer. So far have not found then cold in winter but having an L&K they are heated if I need to. Light assistant useful I suppose when driving in changeable weather conditions by switching the lights on for you. The safety features ESP, active head restraints, tpm are probably useful if safety is a concern. Also consider curtain air bags.