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Sunday, September 19, 2004

Show #76

Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day. arrrrrrrr.

 toc | toc 

Today’s news items

How’s your spam these days? Some say the Florida hurricanes have slowed down spammers in the Sunshine State. Business Week says it ain’t so. I can’t tell myself since I hardly get any spam any more since I started using MailRoute - a consumer version is due any day now.

My new book is out! Check out Leo Laporte’s 2005 Gadget Guide at better bookstores today. Wish I could find a better word than “gadget.”

Trevor Evans says: Other suggestions for Gadget: apparatus, appliance, business, concern, contraption, contrivance, dohickey, doodad, gimmick, gizmo, invention, novelty, object, thing, thingamajig, tool, utensil, whatchamacallit, widget - I like widget

TechGirl says: More suggestions for Gadgets : “Techtronics, electrockets, techeries, gadgitech, electrotoys, toytronics, gadgeitronics, toyerators, gadgeables, gadgeatoys.”

Noon-1p

Ezri in North Hollywood - firewalls are buggin’ him

This is a common complaint. Software firewalls like Zone Alarm often configure themselves by asking you whenever an unknown application tries to get onto the net. For novice users this can be confusing and intimidating. I recommend Sygate Personal Edition - it’s free and less annoying.

You may be better off on a broadband connection by using a router. They work as well as a firewall without all the sound and fury. For even better security look for a router with a “stateful inspection” firewall.

Reagan in Pasadena - updating Microsoft Office

She’s trying to update Microsoft Office to protect herself from the JPEG bug - but it’s asking for a master disc she doesn’t have. Try using your existing master disc. If that doesn’t work, uninstall Office and reinstall with your actual master.

Brian in Fullerton - upgrading to Panther

Upgraded his parents Mac to Panther, but it crashes when he reboots. Check MacFixit for bug reports. I would make sure to disconnect all external devices (sometimes a bad USB device can halt booting) and make sure you have good install discs (a corrupt file on the disc may keep you from getting a good install).

Read Apple’s suggestions (thanks to John Horvatic for the link).

James in San Diego - is looking for a retailer that doesn’t charge for returns

Costco

Jimmy777 adds: Sam’s club and Walmart has no re-stocking fees. I’ve returned many things to Walmart after buying the wrong thing or changed my mind about needing it.

SpoonThief said: I Have Not Had Any Problems At Best Buy In Dubuque, Iowa. I Can’t Speak For The Other Stores, But I Haven’t Had A Restocking Fee Here.

Michael said: I have had no problem with Best Buy here in New York.

Gary in Greece suggests: Try Office Depot. I bought a Wi-Fi router and returned it for a full refund. Their selection of computer items is pretty good.

Westminster Dave said: Try PC Club they have locations all over the West Coast. I have returned a number of things and have never had a problem. I’ve been to both the Long Beach and Costa Mesa stores. They are very helpful.

Debbie in Santa Barbara - Adaware 6 Quarantine

She wants to know if quarantined spyware is safe. You bet. Antivirus and antispyware programs often “quarantine” bad files so that you can 1) reverse the installation and 2) recover any data attached to the spy files. Quarantines files are not infectious or dangerous. Once you’re sure you don’t need them right-click on the file and delete it permanently.

Incidentally AdAware SE is out - you should upgrade your version 6.

1–2p

Mike in New Jersey - which Linux?

Mr. Wintel has an old Pentium II laptop. Which Linux should he put on it? I like SuSE the best. I think Novell is committed to Linux on the desktop and SuSE has the best end-user experience.
According to vince - the most important choice is your desktop environment/window manager. KDE and Gnome have much the same CPU speed and memory requirements as Windows XP. For older systems, look at using icewm, fluxbox, fvmw2, blackbox, twm or xfce for a window manager, instead of KDE or Gnome. My choice is icewm, but YMMV.

Denise in Laguna Hills - can’t see the text from some of her email pals

It’s probably because they’re sending HTML mail and you’re reading it as plain text. You can ask them to send their mail as plain text (it’s an option in almost all mailers) or, and this is less desirable, turn on HTML mail in your reader. I would also make sure they’re not using some non-standard email program, like Incredimail.

Kim in Clairmont - Iconus giganticus

Her Windows 98SE machine has spontaneously set the screen resolution so low that she can’t open the control panel to fix it. Reboot into Safe Mode. That should set it to 640×480 and you should be able to reset the resolution.

Trevor Evans says: Speaking about her computer problems Kim mentioned computer problems being associated with Mercury in retrograde, so here is Wired’s article from last year, Uh-Oh, Mercury’s in Retrograde, also to prepare yourself for the next retrograde check this out. Cosmic rays, Mercury in Retrograde, what is next!

Fabian in Mission Viejo - Script error in Internet Explorer

He’s getting that annoying script debugger in IE. Turn it off by click Tools→Internet Options, selecting the Advanced Tab, and checking the “Disable Script Debugging” box and unchecking the “Display a notification about every script error” box.

2–3p

Bob in Tarzana - Downloading pictures from a Samsung phone

Bob has a Samsung 610/650/670 phone from Verizon. He’s looking for software to download images from the phone - the Verizon software won’t do it. Any suggestions for a third party solution? He already has the cable.

A listener writes: Try bitpim.

Ted in Del Mar - extending Wi-Fi with WDS

His Wi-Fi doesn’t reach far enough. There are two ways to extend Wi-Fi - with a passive external antenna from places like NetNimble or with an active repeater using WDS. Read this article for more information on how WDS works

Loretta in Woodcrest - Can’t get online due to RAS error

In Windows RAS, also known as Dial-up Networking, is necessary for dialing out to an ISP. If your dial-up networking is not working you can reinstall it by opening the Add/Remove Programs control panel, click the Windows Components entry, then uncheck Dial-up Networking to uninstall it. Click OK, then repeat the process and check the DUN box to reinstall. XP Users can use the free Fix Winsock XP program.

Celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day with Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket at 2:30 today.

Scott in South Dakota - buying a new digital camera

He’s looking at the compact Sony DSC-V1. I happen to like the Canon Powershot S500 a little better. But read the reviews - and check the sample images - before you buy at DPReview.

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