Now these are fresh--very expensive, but fresh: Cubit small-form-factor computers. This is the kind of thing I'd have in my expensive-crap fantasyland (as a router, with a 2-Ethernet-port Via motherboard, because, y'know, I love my Shuttle), along with a Kinesis ergonomic keyboard (maybe a Gyration, too, for, y'know, when I'm lying in bed), an X-Arcade joystick, an iMon PC remote (ugh, that capitalization. Thanks, Apple. And, by the way, your BMW integration sucks--no in-dash display? A cable in the glove compartment? I thought you were supposed to be the design company.) and a pair of Eizo LCD monitors.

Of course, to paraphrase those stupid Walgreen's commercials, I don't live anywhere near expensive-crap fantasyland (good segue to a parenthetical mention of that ALA/Walgreen's deal), and so, instead, I try to make the stuff I have work as well as possible.

That's why I'm such a big fan of sites like Annoyances.org and blackviper.com (I don't agree with everything BV writes, but his guide to Windows services is a wonderful resource), which detail ways to make Windows work better, and programs like AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy and HijackThis, which can help keep things from getting worse (because the PC part most prone to failure is usually the nut. The nut? The nut in front of the keyboard. Hey-o.). I'm also a very big fan of tweak programs like TweakAll, X-Setup (6.x is the free version) and Microsoft's own TweakUI. After hours of tedious checkbox-checking and option-setting, Windows, by which I mean 2000/XP, becomes a fast, stable operating system. I'd probably be better off with Linux, but I've got a lot of sunk costs, y'know?

Also, which OS are you? Which Linux distribution are you? And check out this great section of Neal Stephenson's wonderful 'In the beginning was the command line.'

Update: I plugged a bunch of those programs a week ago. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I think we're approaching some kind of tipping point, with Mozilla/Firefox adoption or IE security problems or maybe both, because the two are certainly linked.  ¶ 9:28 AM