Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Diane M. writes: " Dear Dennis, When I go to Start -> Programs, the list is so big, I find it hard to navigate and find the application that I want to launch. Is there a way I can organize the information in my Start Menu? " My ... response: Yes. Click Start -> place mouse over top of Programs Folder, then right-click the mouse and choose 'Explore All Users'. An Explorer Window will appear; simply organize your list of programs into a hierarchy and delete the ones you don't need. Note that deleting the icons in your Start Menu will not remove the program from ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Joseph R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I'd like to upgrade my computer and was contemplating which main board I should choose. I noticed one particular solution which sported an integrated nVidia MX 4 64MB video chipset; another main ... board I was looking at did not have the integrated video built in, which meant that I would most likely opt to purchase an nVidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB video card separately. I've read that some integrated video cards actually 'steal' memory from the main board of the computer. So, for example: if your computer system has 512MB RAM of system ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Len M. writes: " Dear Dennis, Can you tell me what AMD mobile processor compares to the mobile Celeron 2.8, or where I can find a comparison chart? I am not used to working with Celerons and have just bought a used Toshiba ... Satellite Laptop-SA35-S1593 and it seems slow. It was new in January of 2004 from CompUSA. My online searches show AMD Athlon 3200 running at 2400, the Celeron runs at 2800? The Celeron laptop should be quite quick then?! " My response: First, note that some notebooks will run at 1/2 their speed (also called "speed stepping") if you ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Joel T. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thank you for the wonderfully helpful articles on VCR to DVD / CD transfers [ article 1 / article 2 ], but I am still left with one point of confusion. I had read so much about using a Firewire port ... to stream video to the PC, that I ordered a Firewire port with my new computer. I did not, however, specifically order a video capture card (I got a Dell with an Nvidia 6800 GTO card). Does this mean that the Firewire port on my new PC is not adequate for streaming video from a VCR or video camera? Am I still short a special capture card? ... (view more)

It's been one heck of an enduring battle, but after waging war with the new web server gremlins -- and after standing vigilantly for the last 5 days in hopes that the hosting company could resolve a number of outstanding issues -- I finally decided ... that "enough was enough" and had the system re-imaged [formatted] all over again. Of course, this meant that I had to reinstate all the dedicated web server software and web pages by remote command-line. Not fun. It was a royal pain in the neck, but it appears that the second walk-thru has cleared the path and things *seem* to be much ... (view more)

Continuing on from our previous discussions with regard to converting VHS video and archiving to DVD or CD, Infopackets Reader Jim L. wrote in with the proceeding follow-up question: " Dear Dennis, First, in reference to the program 'DVDSqueeze' ... that I spoke of previously: now that I think about it, I believe the program was linked from your newsletter through the Google ads. I didn't see the ad in January 20th's newsletter [regarding the conversion of 8MM film to DVD / CD ]; however, I did read the comments you recently made concerning Movie Shrink and Burn (MSaB). Although MSaB sounds ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Barbo214' writes: " Dear Dennis, I don't know how to explain the noise that comes from my computer speakers -- but it almost like wires are trying to connect. I've heard the same sound sometimes from my car radio speakers. Do you ... know what could be causing this and how I can resolve the issue? " My response: I'm not quite sure what sound you are referring to, but if it's a constant buzz (like feedback in a microphone), it's probably because your computer speakers aren't plugged in all the way in the back of your computer. If this is the case, make sure it's ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Han L. from Denmark writes: " Dear Dennis, First of all, thank you for an extremely informative newsletter. I just finished reading yesterday's issue of the Gazette and have a related question about converting VHS video to DVD or ... CD format. Could you possibly enlighten me on how to convert my old 8MM film productions into digital format (such as DVD or CD)? " My response: I get asked this question frequently. I don't own an 8MM film projector, so I can only speculate on how to go about doing this. Basically: in order to convert the 8MM film, you'll need a way to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently used Windows Movie Maker to create a video compilation. When I was finished editing the project, I clicked the 'send to CD' button, which then launched a Movie Maker Wizard. The wizard ... took me step by step and explained how to convert my project into a Windows Media Audio/Video file and ultimately burn it to CD. I chose to burn the file to CD-R so that I could play it in my DVD player; however, near the end of the burn, Windows Media Maker reported that the project "did not save successfully". After I clicked OK, I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim L. writes: " Dear Dennis, You have helped me in the past numerous times and for that I'm thankful. I read all issues and sometimes save those articles that I have a current or potential future need for. In a recent news ... article, I noticed an ad for 'DVDSqueeze', which copies and compresses VHS/DVD video to a CD. Even though they advertise in your newsletter, I haven't seen a review from you on their software. I have quite a few old VHS tapes of miscellaneous TV programs of yesteryear. They are not valuable enough to copy to DVD, but it would be nice if I could put ... (view more)