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Sunday, April 18, 2004

Show 32

Sunday afternoon coming down. Join the party noon to 3p today on KFI.

Here are some of the things we talked about on the show today. Thanks to Michael Larson for taking notes this weekend. I’ll flesh these things out in the next couple of days.

Amazon’s new search engine that incorporates Google is A9 at www.a9.com.

Ed in Las Palma wants to know if Service Pack 2 will be available free for XP
users? It sure will when it’s available later this summer. SP-2 rolls up all the previous critical updates to Windows and makes some major changes in how XP handles security. All users should install it when it becomes available. In fact, I’ve been running the current pre-release version and it’s very stable. If you’re in a hurry you can download it now from Microsoft.

Candie in Nuevo, CA spilled liquid on her keyboard. I recommend unplugging the keyboard, drain the device, and let it dry or buy a new keyboard.

Mark from Orange has a Nokia 6800 cell phone without an automatic number lock and wants to know if Leo can pressure the cell phone carriers to include this feature.

Kathy from Encino wants to keep track of the websites her children are visiting.I recommend keeping the computer in a family space so you can look over their shoulders from time to time. If you must spy on them try the free Perfect Keylogger Lite. It’s probably all you’ll need although for $40 you can get the full version with additional features.

Scott in South Dakota wants to record streaming audio. If it’s Real Audio I recommend Streambox Ripper. Real Networks forced the company that created the program to kill it, but there are still copies on the net. To record my show and other Windows Media Streams, Dan, our chat room moderator recommends the free SDP. Total Recorder is also a good choice.

Mike from Desert Center is looking for a flat panel monitor for family use and casual gaming:
Leo recommends PCMag.com for hardware reviews.

Mike also is looking for freeware for MP3 editing. For most folks the free Audacity for Windows, Mac, and Linux will work fine. I use Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit Pro) for editing - it’s not cheap but it has many professional features.

Tina is receiving notices about e-mail she didn’t send. Someone is using your address

Leif in San Diego is having a problem with sticky Windows files remaining open
and taking up memory space. Leo recommends booting into DOS or using system repair console

Austraeus in Corona wants to know if CDRs play on all CD player. Try different brands if you are having trouble with a particular player

Jerry in Valencia wants to bring a laptop to his friend in Europe and wants to know if there is anything he should do?You can get an OS in your friend’s native language if necessary.

Jermie in LA wants to know if he has enough processing power to run the latest video games, his components include: AMD Athlon 3200+; ATI Radeon video card, two hard drives, and more
Leo says quit bragging

Ron from LA has a hijacked homepage and wants to know what to do:
Leo recommends using removal tools like Cool Web Search and www.Spywareinfo.com to learn about spyware hijacking.

Steve in San Diego wants to know if you can boot-up from the new high-speed hard drives:
Leo notes that it is the size of the drive not the speed that could limit a drive as a boot drive.

Joseph from Santa Clarita has a problem with SpyHunter, it was supposed to be free, and now they want $19.95, have they hijacked his system?
Leo thinks Joseph has gotten hit by scammers that have actually loaded spyware on the computer and recommends Safernetworking.org for learning how to remove this spyware.

Mario in Ranch Cucamonga needs software to help him start a website with a message board that people can also post photos to:
Leo suggests checking for a web-hosting service that provides customers with this capability.

Paulie in Rancho Palos Verdes is using XP and her computer keeps crashing:
Leo recommends backing up your data and re-installing Windows XP. If it crashes after a clean install, it is a hardware problem.