Maybe not - I get the same thing every now and then and I have an ATI x700 mobility card.  Haven't updated the drivers (cos I can't find an update for them and everywhere I look tells me I have the latest drivers).  I'm gonna look into the moar ram, I have a 2G celeron processor but only 1G ram.

I use Firefox cos I'm not computer savvy and I'm skeered of Microshaft anything!  I had no idea evilNorton was responsible for deleting cookies. I had Norton 2004 with never a problem, but since it's no longer supported I bought the 2006 version.  Since then I've had nothing but trouble with cookies being deleted willy nilly....I've had to retype my 16 digit loging for internet banking so often I now know it by heart    I've checked my Norton settings, and my browser settings and everything looks right.  So far, the longest I've been able to stay logged in anywhere is a week (this week....knock on wood) so maybe it's fixed itself......

I think if you go the lot catalog route, you'd need to move the houses to the bin first.  If you back up the lot catalog file and replace it after the hoods regenerate you'll still have the houses in the bin.  That definitely works, I've done it myself a few times.

I guess that only works if you have OFB  I don't have it and I'm not getting it 

I have both and they seem to live happily together (albeit jfade's is obviously less awesome  )

Sure was, I'm always looking for male hair 

Pegasys, I know Olly from SavageSims who made the beer bottles.  I don't know if he can do what you're looking for, but I'll certainly ask him if he can give it a go.

I totally gave up on trying to meet a vampire and teleported one onto a lot.  Patience is not my strong point 

Lmao...I've never seen ot either.  Now why don't the fugly maxis sims roll that one often? 

Doesn't look nearly so good in game  Got it when it was released, but have only just tried it out, game was being a bitch 

Idk, what are the specs on an XPS? For that money I'd be looking for a whole lotta machine!! I'm sure you could get a much better deal on a desktop, simply because laptops are much more expensive. Personally, I'm a Sony fan...I've never owed a desktop (got into computers kinda late  ) and I'm on my 3rd Sony laptop, I've found them extremely reliable. The only thing I don't like is they come loaded with a ton of programs I'll never use, so I delete em    And they're not so easy to upgrade as a desktop is, unless you really know what you're doing.  And since I live in the UK, I have no clue about laptop prices in the US. I paid £1400 for my last laptop, which I guess is around $2500, and I know I could have bought a desktop with nuch higher specs for that money.

But I just like laptops.....

jfade has hacks for no autonomous instrument playing at www.djssims.com (page 2 sims 2 hacks) if that might help

I've got a 2yr old laptop, in need of upgrading soon.  It has a Radeon/Mobility 9200 card (64mb  ) I only have Uni & NL but it runs the game just fine.  Shows bump maps & everything, though when I upgrade, I'll go for something with a better card.

The beer bottles at SavageSims are on page 1 of the free downloads.  They're part of the BBUK lounge set for TS2.