Dennis Faas

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)

Infopackets Reader Jeff S. writes: " Dear Dennis, This is not so much a question, but a comment. Several weeks ago I picked up a 120GB Maxtor Hard Drive at Best Buy. I decided to use this drive for backing up my digital pics, MP3's, downloads, etc. ... I also wanted to use the new drive to backup my operating system, but totally sure which one was right for me. I borrowed a copy of Norton Ghost from a friend, installed it on my system, but wasn't too impressed with the interface (I found it difficult to understand); I also thought the price was a little too high (at $69.99 retail). It was at ... (view more)

Synopsis: Discover the most realistic game of Cribbage available! Sit down and have fun with the adventurous Wes, the perky Starla, the dastardly Chuckles, and others as they challenge you on five skill levels. Whether you are an expert or beginner, ... their knowledge of the game and never-ending charms will keep you entertained for years to come! With Championship Cribbage, you can learn basic play and strategy or improve your skills using unlimited hint, undo and replay. Popular variations including Lowball, Speedo, and many others are just a click away. Tweak scoring, deck size, number of ... (view more)

Data recovery is the process of recovering data from primary storage media when it cannot be accessed normally. This can be due to physical damage to the storage device or logical damage to the file system that prevents it from being mounted by the ... host operating system. Data Recovery: Physical damage A wide variety of failures can cause physical damage to storage media. CD-ROMs can have their metallic substrate or dye layer scratched off; hard disks can suffer any of several mechanical failures, such as head crashes and failed motors; and tapes can simply break. Physical damage always causes ... (view more)

Synopsis: Wouldn't it be cool if you could type in a word and have your computer perform a series of functions? With SureType, it's a reality! No matter what you are doing on your computer -- and regardless of which application you're using -- you ... could just type in word\ (for example), and immediately have Microsoft Word load. Similarly, you could type excel\ and Microsoft Excel will open -- or, you could type in address\ and have your full email address typed onto the screen! With SureType, the possibilities are endless. And don't forget: only when you type the special expansion key after a ... (view more)

I've just received wind that Acronis has released Disk Director Suite version 10 -- the perfect companion to the extremely popular Acronis True Image (disk imaging backup software)! Who is Acronis, you ask? Acronis is a leading software company that ... specializes in storage management solutions for mission-critical situations. Acronis provides technically advanced (but simple to use) applications for: disaster recovery, backup and restoration, hard drive partitioning, boot management, data migration and other storage management products. Acronis' line of disk management software has won many ... (view more)

Blogosphere (alternate: BlogSphere or BloggingSphere) is the collective term encompassing all weblogs or blogs as a community or social network. Many weblogs are densely interconnected; bloggers read others' blogs, link to them, reference them in ... their own writing, and post comments on each others' blogs. Because of this, the interconnected blogs have grown their own culture. The term blogosphere was coined on September 10, 1999 by Brad L. Graham, as a joke. It was re-coined in 2002 by William Quick (quite seriously) and was quickly adopted and promulgated by the warblog community. Many ... (view more)