Well, well.......time for me to throw in my .02 cents.....hehe

I have been an avid gamer since..........oh let's just say, since Loderunner was the coolest thing!    (not that there were all that many games to be "avidly playing" back then......but you get the point!)

Before anyone says "well it's easy for an IT-guy to have his shit working" let me say.....I'm not some IT genius......far from it actually, I've simply been around computational machines since before I knew what p0rn was......and believe in step-by-step procedures.

I have always used only legit software on my systems (have not pirated software) and only ever installed third-party software when I needed to do something the OS didn't inherently posses the ability to do (simply doing something in a different/better way.....has never been reason enough for me to install third-party software).  Pirated software bites you in the ass in more than one way.  One of those ways is, it may not function as expected/needed and would therefore make any kind of troubleshooting another third-party software's interaction with it a monumental task.

I guess one could say, I've always run my gaming machines as close (if not actually) to "vanilla" OS as possible (I consider running the latest SP-level including all OS patches still "vanilla").  If you can't run two seperate machines (one for gaming and one for work) consider dual-booting?

I don't bog my systems or my networks down with unecessary and unfounded security.  Keeping it simple is always best.  If one considers a network like a highway, how many toll-booths is enough/too many?  Informed security descisions should only be made by you, your neighborhood tech should never know your IT-structure better than you.

I've never just purchased a new piece of hardware or software without beforehand having planned out its purpose/role and position in the IT-structure of my home.  Don't impulse-buy (no pun intended... )

I have also never ever had any type of (unsolvable) issue whether hardware/software or connection-related (that is to say, those precious few times there even was a connection issue, like back in the Falcon 3.0 days trying to play MP via a 14.4 modem with my cousin who lived a few blocks away...hehe).

Let me remind you all again.  I'm just a guy who believes in always reading the manual first! (and yes.....last month when we had to buy a new microwave....... I DID read the ENTIRE manual first! )

The point of this rather long-winded and by now off-track post? 

Planning/preparing for one's IT-structure (even at home) is no different than planning to purchase a car or a home.  In my experience, people never regret having spent the time and effort educating themselves on proper implementation and regular maintenance procedures for anything/everything in life, they only ever regret NOT having done so.

Some of you might say ....

"yes but.......we shouldn't have to do all of that work........we shouldn't have to educate ourselves on this or that.......etc. etc."

my response would be.......

"why wouldn't you want to..?"

sigh..... I guess that was more than .02 cents worth huh?  

the Monk