Dennis Faas

Seek time is one of the several delays associated with reading or writing data on a computer's disk drive. In order to read or write data in a particular place on the disk, the read/write head of the disk needs to be moved to the correct place (just ... as to play a particular song on a cassette of recorded music, the tape needs to be wound to the right place). This process is known as "seeking", and the time it takes for the head to move to the right place is the "seek time". Seek time for a given disk varies depending on how far the head's destination is from its origin at the time of each read ... (view more)

Synopsis: Turn your iPod into a portable media center! With as little as 2 simple clicks, PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter can convert movies and video (DVD, DiVX, AVI, MPEG, etc) directly to iPod Video format and then transfer them directly to your ... iPod! PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter not only features super fast conversion speed with high quality output, but also boasts advanced video editing features that allow you to control the video size of your movies (and thus allow you to store more movies on your iPod). PQ DVD to iPod Video Converter: Features Automatically choose best Resolution: The ... (view more)

Over the weekend I received a handful of interesting comments from Readers concerning the ' controversy ' over Ashampoo and Magic Defrag . Infopackets Reader Thomas W. begins with some findings cited by a well known computer magazine in Germany: " ... Here's some interesting news regarding the Magic Defrag 'controversy': the German computer magazine C't -- well known for its objective side-by-side tests -- tested Diskeeper 9 and Norton's Speed Disk versus the Defrag built into Windows XP. The consensus of the article was that Diskeeper does not provide much of an advantage over Windows ... (view more)

Flaming is the act of posting messages that are deliberately hostile and insulting, usually in the social context of a discussion board (usually on the Internet). Such messages are called flames, and are sometimes posted in response to flamebait. ... Flaming is one of a class of economic problems known as The Tragedy of the Commons, when a group holds a resource (in this case, communal attention), but each of the individual members has an incentive to overuse it. Although the trading of insults is as old as time itself, flaming on the Internet, like many other online 'actions', started in the ... (view more)

If I told you that I sat behind a computer and that my job was to pump out 15 articles per week to a quarter million users -- all the while receiving a relentless onslaught of joyful comments and questions from my subscribers, would you believe me? ... A wishful thought. Infopackets Reader 'Heriberto' remarks: " Hi, Dennis, no offense intended, but... are you receiving money to sponsor Ashampoo and all these second class utilities that you suggest [in] your newsletters? The reason I ask is that almost 90% of the software that you recommend [in] your newsletter are second hand software. Maybe ... (view more)

Synopsis: What do you get when you mix animation, funny quotes, and sound effects to pictures of friends and family? Answer: Incrediface! Developed by the same software company that brought you InAlbum , IncrediFace is the fun and incredibly easy to ... use tool for creating photo gifts, greeting cards, or even practical jokes! Start with over 200+ ready to use templates such as movie poster, celebrities, famous people, animal, objects, and more -- or, create your own photo template from any digital photo. With Incrediface, anything is possible! Incrediface: Screenshots Click to view: Page 1. ... (view more)

A crash in computing is a condition where a program (either an application or part of the operating system) stops performing its expected function and also stops responding to other parts of the system. Often the offending program may simply appear ... to freeze. If this program is a critical part of the operating system kernel the entire computer may crash (a system crash). Many crashes are the result of the execution of a single machine instruction, but the causes of this are manifold. Typical causes are when the program counter loses track of the correct execution path or a buffer overflow ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Holy Hal' writes: " Dear Dennis, I am at best an intermediate when it comes to computers -- and I certainly do appreciate all the effort you put into your newsletter! With that aside, my question for you today is in regard to ... backups. I have Windows 2000 Professional, and I would like to backup my entire Operating System (Windows). Would an external USB hard drive that has some backup software be appropriate for this type of application? Or would I still need to use a software program like Acronis True Image with my external unit? I feel that a software backup program ... (view more)

Synopsis: Discover the most realistic game of Euchre ever created! With five skill levels to choose from, Championship Euchre Pro will teach you basic play and strategy or improve your skills using unlimited hint, undo and replay. Popular variations ... including Partners, Cutthroat, Bid Euchre, British, Pass Best, Screw the Dealer, Railroad, Double Decks and many others are just a click away. Tweak scoring, passing deck size, number of players and more to create your own variation. Whether you are an expert or beginner, Championship Euchre Pro will keep you entertained and challenged for years ... (view more)

Disk Cloning or Disk Imaging is a category of software which copies the contents of one computer hard disk to another, or onto a secondary medium such as a DVD or CD Recordable. A disk cloning program is most commonly used by large companies to ... provision new computers to install the initial package of the operating system and applications for sale, or by home computer users who wish to backup their operating systems in a healthy state. An individual user may also use disk cloning to upgrade to a new hard disk or backup an existing operating system. To provision the hard disk of a computer ... (view more)