Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Fran K. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have used some of my DVD-R disks to copy some of my old family movies, a couple I messed up on and won't let me copy anything else to them. Is there any kind of program that will let you recover or ... reuse the DVDs? " My response: Good question. The simple answer is that it is not possible to reclaim space on DVD-R or DVD+R media. However, providing that the disc you made is multi-session (IE: you specified that you can write more than once to the disc the first time you wrote to it) *and* you have a considerable amount of space ... (view more)

Last week, I wrote about a free anti-spam solution called 0Spam.com. Recall -- " I recently stumbled across a web site that offers a free, seamless anti-spam solution: all without the need to install special, third-party software or to configure ... complex mail filter rules ... The free 0Spam.com service can be used for 1 email account and is compatible with any computer (Linux, Mac, or Windows) ... works with POP3 email, Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail accounts ... 0Spam operates silently and works by standing in-between your email server(s) and the Internet, and scans your incoming email for ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Merlin A. writes: " Dear Dennis, With all the great holiday (and post-holiday) offers, I decided to upgrade my old 10.5GB hard drive to a much larger 160GB unit. From what I understand, I need to transfer ALL data to large drive ... and make it my primary ("c") drive but don't know to go about doing this. Can you please advise me on what I need to do? " My response: If you want to transfer the *entire* contents of your old hard drive and "clone" it to the newer drive, you will need a disk imaging program. After the "clone" has been ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader James M. writes: " I have a Compaq Presario 7360 and would like to replace my on-board (integrated) sound card with a third-party, PCI sound board (such as a SoundBlaster). How do I go about disabling the on-board sound so that ... the computer will recognize and use the new sound card? " My response: Typically, this is done by disabling the on-board sound card within the CMOS (also referred to as the BIOS). The CMOS is instantiated by pressing the DEL or F2 key (or some other combination) as soon as you turn your computer. Once you are inside the CMOS menu, you may ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim W. writes: " Dear Dennis, As a computer professional, I enjoy your newsletter a lot because I learn so much from it, and the information is usually relevant to me and a lot of my clients. Now, I'd like to ask you this. I find ... myself frequently formatting / reinstalling Windows for many of my clients (because their copy of Windows is too messed up to attempt any type of quick-fix). When I do a reinstall, there is often a ton of Windows updates I need to download, regardless of which Windows Operating System I'm working with. Is there any way I can consolidate steps ... (view more)

Recall -- Last week , Infopackets Reader Paul H. had problems accessing his Kodak camera after upgrading to the latest revision of Kodak Easy Share camera software. Paul wrote: " I have a Kodak DX3600 camera equipped with a 'docking' unit. I ... upgraded the camera software (from version 1.2 to latest revision), but can no longer transfer pictures from my camera to the computer (I am using Windows 2000, by the way) ... Are you aware of any fixes, or should I just use this thing for a fishing weight? " In my response, I suggested that Paul upgrade his USB driver in hopes of resolving the ... (view more)

I'm swamped this time of year, and so is my inbox -- full of spam (unsolicited email) offers, that is. RE: the ultimate free anti-spam solution? I recently stumbled across a web site that offers a free, seamless anti-spam solution: all without the ... need to install special, third-party software or to configure complex mail filter rules. Because there the client computer does not require a software integration, this makes 0Spam platform independent and perfect for home or corporate use, whether it's for a Linux, Mac, or Windows machine. From the 0Spam.com web site: " 0Spam works with POP3 ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Richard G. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thank you for your newsletter, as it helps a 'silver surfer' like me to get by with the day-to-day computing tasks. My problem is that Bargain Buddy has somehow managed to find its way onto my ... computer and now I've got advertising PopUps coming out the wahoo. Worse yet, I can't seem to remove / uninstall it successfully from my system. I have tried all sorts of downloads that say they can remove the bugger, but when I do another Spyware scan, the darn thing is still there! Any help will be greatly appreciated and I am pretty sure I'm ... (view more)

Recall -- Yesterday , Infopackets Reader Bill 'Mr Full Service' asked if there was a way to search for text inside of multiple documents (stored in multiple areas) on his computer: " I have a question for you about bookmark managers, or similar ... software. Do you know of any program that can search MS Word documents on your computer for web links (URLs) [or any text, for that matter]? Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated! " In my response , I suggested Bill use the built-in Search function in Windows XP, which has the capability to locate certain text in document files. I ... (view more)