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Saturday, August 19, 2006

Tech News

Handel tease: Windows Genuine Disadvantage

Lots of people are reporting that Windows Genuine Advantage is falsely reporting that they have an illegitimate copy of Windows. Here is how to disable Windows Genuine Advantage.

You can get free windows patches and updates here.

11a-Noon

Q Rudy from San Diego - Is it time to switch from Windows 98 to XP or Visa

It is definitely time to switch from Windows 98 because Microsoft has stopped supporting it. Also, a gigantic security hole was discovered in the explorer. However, I’m worried about Windows Vista on your machine. It has such high hardware requirements. However, if you just recently upgraded your computer, you should be fine. The larger question is whether Vista will be more secure! Given that it’s going to be at least another four months till Windows Vista. I’d say to get Windows XP right now, and get Windows Vista a few months after it is released to let Microsoft get the kinks out.

Q Mark from Upland - iMac not being able to connect to the Internet

You need to turn off the Airport. Go to your network preferences. Select that you are connecting using built-in ethernet. Also, the router needs your DSL PPPoE login.

Q Phil from Torrance - Webcam with modem built-in

Eaglevision makes cameras similar to what you need. These cameras aren’t cheap at all though. I’d be stunned if nobody’s done this. Spend the money on building small weatherproof computers and then buy some cheap netcams.

Noon-1p

Q Marlena from Pulmona - Where to learn about Photoshop

I think that many universities have adult extension classes that don’t have the same prerequisites. A local usergroup would also would be a great place to learn. Another resource would be podcasts. Finally, I recommend the Pixel Corps. You can also learn from lynda.com.

Q Nathan from Santa Monica - 60″ HDTV recommendation

The Sony WEGA TVs are very nice. If you want to save money and get quite good quality, get a rear project DLP TV. I like the Samsung DLP TVs.

Q Jud from San Dimas - Homemade ringtone not loud enough/Optical mouse hesitation

In the program, you want to normalize the audio. If that doesn’t do it for you, you’ll want to compress the dynamic range. A program like Audacity will do this as well.

Q Bob - Computer malfunctioning after clicking unsubscribe in spam

Those links will usually get you a virus or open an attachment with a virus. There is really little to fix it. I think you will have to reinstall Windows, but back up your data first!

1–2p

Q Diana from Burbank - Backing up to CD

It’s great to back up to CD. To be very careful, get the CD offsite. CDs are alright for video backups, but I’d recommend DVDs.

Q Peter from Lake Forest - Crackling sound from speakers

It’s electronic interference in the area. It could be coming out of a variety of things in your studio. I’d look into shielded audio cables. You’ll get much less interference with digital audio.

Q Ron from Laguna Nagel - DSL slowing down

The amount of traffic at certain times can peak and the Internet will slow down. Shooby had this exact problem. It happened to be a problem with his router. He set his computer to manually set an IP address instead of getting it from DHCP on the router. It probably could be your phone line.

Q Richard from West LA - Sending email from a phone on T-Mobile

Your phone is actually sending SMS messages, not email. There are 3 types of mail your phone can send: SMS, MMS, and email. To do that, you have to set up an email account with T-Mobile.

Q Carl from Santa Fe Springs - Connecting Windows laptop to Airport Express

Q Morty from Hermosa Beach - Transferring MP3s from a CD to memory stick

What you got to do is find the files themselves. They’ll be in a directory, usually in your My Music folder. You just put the card in the card reader, navigate to the My Music folder to the memory card.

Q Sam from Lancaster - Ripping a CD

You rip the CD with software to convert the audio to bits. Apple’s iTunes and Music Match will do it. You’ll have to make a decision to what quality you want. 64kbps will be good enough for spoken word.

Q Odeo question - Multiple computers with one monitor

You need to use a switchbox called a KVM. They let you share one keyboard, video source, and mouse. I use an Iogear KVM switch. If you have a DVI monitor, use this Iogear KVM.

Q Odeo Question - iChat video not working correctly with PC

You can use iVisit to do videochatting because it is a cross-platform application. You may also need to forward some ports on your router. You need to know what ports the chat program uses.

Chat Logs and Show Audio

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