I managed to disable UAC, but I don't explicitly remember how. It wasn't hard, but it did require me to logout and log back in.
Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Turn User Access Control on or off
its vista...spectere, you had better tell me what is awesome about vista, because from what ive used of it, its a lot less user friendly than xp is. but i get the dx10, and whatever other features it has.
If you run into it expecting it to be just like XP you're going to think that it's less user-friendly. After you get used to it and have used it for a while, XP will seem like a major downgrade in the UI department.
Here's a few examples off the top of my head:
1) XP has a nasty habit of clearing out the address bar in Explorer windows even while you're typing. Nothing worse than typing in a network path and having the UI repeatedly reset it back to "My Computer" half-way through. Vista doesn't do this.
2) Breadcrumb paths are fairly nice and make a great substitute for the up button. You can go back to any level with a single click.
3) Explorer windows now only display the tree view. Additionally, they have a customizable list of favorite locations on the left side.
4) There is no longer a horizontal scroll bar on the Explorer folder tree. As you scroll up and down it automatically keeps the folders centered in the view.
5) Per-application volume controls. Insert featuregasm here.
6) YOU CAN STILL NAVIGATE WINDOWS USING NOTHING BUT A KEYBOARD. Kudos to Microsoft for not failing me in this department.
7) If you have Aero enabled you can get thumbnail previews of windows if you hover over them on the taskbar or do an ALT-TAB.
The start menu search feature is nothing short of AWESOME. I've gotten in the habit of starting programs by tapping the Windows key, typing in part of the application name, and either hitting ENTER or selecting the right one from the list. I have a hard time coping without this feature.
9) Native OS support for tilt wheels so you don't have to install your mouse manufacturer's horrible, buggy drivers (I'm looking at you, Logitech!).
And I dunno I'm tired. D:
If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.
Personally I'd use AMD if I were going to be gaming a ton on mine, other than that, it look pretty sexy.
I don't know how much the difference between an AMD and an intel would make on gaming, but as a general rule, I've decided to buy AMD.
Intel is destroying AMD when it comes to performance:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/cpu-charts-2008/benchmarks,16.html. Clock-for-clock, the Core 2 series is faster. Whether or not AMD has the price advantage is up in the air (AMD was quite a bit more expensive for a long time, not sure if they changed that since then).
