I also agree with Mike about critique and have found it very useful myself.
OK, so I didn't mean first two

What I was trying to say was not a critique on the composition, but rather on the content...if that makes sense. Let me try to explain, I 'll stick to image 1.

The bright colours in the foreground seem to scream Summer Holidays! Buckets and spades, nets etc. Childhood memories from trips to the seaside. All of these memories were blissful summer days, blue skies, cotton wool clouds. Then there is the sign for Ice Cream. Again, reminding us that this should be summer.
All of that juxtopposed with the wet concrete showing us it has just rained. The shop owner stood in the background, underneath leaden skies, with his hands firmly in his pockets and a rather glum expression on his face. That seems to sum up British summers of late.

D'you know? I just have to go and get a banana now

This brand snobbery does seem limited to photography, in my experience. I shoot archery and whilst people will show an interest in equipment, no-one is ever criticised for their choice of bow, or brand of arrows etc.

Yet I've been asked why Pentax in work.
My answer was simple...it was the only camera which came up on ebay, that I could afford. That's how I got my MESuper. I got the istDL for a similar reason, but in this case I was already watching out for Pentax. However, if a Canon had come up for the right price, I would probably have made a big mistake

I wouldn't replace the HDD.
Just make sure your current AV software is fully up to date and do a full scan. If it is decent AV software it should pick up any virus you have. When you are sure ( and only then ) that your main HDD is clean, plug in your external disk and re-run the AV software.

At least, that's how I sorted my last problem out.

I agree, the first two sum up nicely what the British summer seaside is.

I think "Becalmed" could lose most of the sky IMHO and work in "Landscape" orientation. However, this could be bias, as I always prefer landscape..for some reason.

Well, I got home and couldn't resist taking a look at this again, on my CRT monitor. The clouds are much better on this monitor.

"Set up"? That would suggest my input. This is in work and is "off the shelf"!

However, that is bad news as most of my photos look worse in work than they do at home

I love the composition of the first one. The guy stood at the bottom really shows the scale. But, the clouds look a little burnt out (on my monitor)

I agree with Tim. I like number one, but a tighter crop might make it stronger.
I love number 2, that light.....

Well, we had a very enjoyable weekend in Derbyshire over the Bank Holiday.
It was a family affair, so not much time to spend on photography, but I got a few.
Here is my first "set"
[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/Father_Ted/PHOTOS/Derbyshirever2upload.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/Father_Ted/PHOTOS/Derbyshirever1upload.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/Father_Ted/PHOTOS/5bargateupload.jpg[/IMG]

And I couldn't resist this one, an old couple watching cricket on the village green.
[IMG]http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i296/Father_Ted/PHOTOS/watchingcricketupload.jpg[/IMG]

Erm...pass it to me, I'll look after it for you