Dennis Faas

Infopackets Reader Louise S. writes: " I recently bought a DVD disc through eBay from a gentleman in Britain. When I tried to play it on the DVD player attached to my TV, a screen popped up saying I was in the wrong region. I then tried it in the ... CD-DVD player (Samsung) in my computer and it said the same thing. My computer, however, did allow me to change over to region 2, which is Europe, but will only allow me to switch back and forth between Regions 1 and 2 a total of 4 times, and then it becomes permanent. I don't want that to happen as only the one DVD is a region 2. Is there ... (view more)

Today's visitor feedback is based on the fact that I received two similar emails from Readers on the same day. Infopackets Reader Ric J. writes: " Can you please tell me a good DVD Decoder program to download, because the two I've tried didn't work. ... I'd like to find one that does so I can watch DVD's on my system. Thanks! " And, Felicitaz C. writes: " I have WinDVD 3.1 DVD player and cannot play DVD's anymore. Nothing happens when I try to play a DVD. I tried Help -> Troubleshoot and WinDVD suggested that I install a decoder or upgrade. When I did a little more searching I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Pam S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletter and it has helped me very much! One problem I've been having with my computer is the inability to run Java Scripts over the web. When my computer tries to initiate Java, a ... Window appears and tells me that it is missing shortcuts and cannot continue to run. I was told by a friend that I will have to reformat and possibly change operating systems ... I found that Windows 2000 was too difficult to use, so at this point, I reformatted and installed Windows XP Pro. Will I have to reformat again? " My response: As I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Steve S. from Kentville, Nova Scotia writes: " Dear Dennis, Why is it desirable to backup windows driver files when I can use Windows System Restore to go back to a previous state of my computer's configuration in which everything ... was working fine? Is it because System Restore does not always restore all the necessary drivers? " My Response: As far as I understand, the Windows System Restore feature focuses primarily on restoring a working copy of the Windows Registry. As programs, operating system updates, and drivers are installed to a system, the Windows ... (view more)

Have you ever turned your computer speakers loud enough to hear some of your favorite .MP3s in another room -- only to come rushing back to your computer to turn the volume down because the next song playing is just too loud? That's what happened to ... me today. And with that in mind, I pondered whether or not there existed a freeware program that could normalize the volume of all my MP3s. As usual, I headed over to Google for the answer. I searched for "freeware mp3 normalize" and managed to find a fantastic little program called MP3Gain. From the Webattack.com web site: " ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Fran X. writes: " There are a lot of $NtUninstall folders in my Windows directory. What purpose do they serve and can I delete them from my hard drive? " My response: I looked on my own hard drive for these directories, but didn't ... see any. Curious as to what would cause this to happen, I decided to search Google.com for "$ntuninstall in windows folder". After a few listings, I found a newsletter article from Lockergnome.com which held the answer to Fran's dilemma. From the Lockergnome web site: " Question: In the Windows folder, there are many ... (view more)

On October 2nd, 2003, I asked Infopackets Readers for some Freeware Picture viewers: Missing Picture Viewer for Windows 98? I am happy to say that I received many responses. In fact, a great deal of readers highly recommended a program called ... IrfanView. From the web site: " IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative freeware (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP. It is ... simple [enough] for beginners, and [yet] powerful [enough] for professionals ... Some IrfanView features: Many supported file formats, Multi language support, Thumbnail/ ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'BluzzOne' writes: " How do you remove Kazza? It seems impossible to uninstall. I have ad-aware 6 which removed the Spyware associated with Kazaa, and it no longer runs. I think Kazaa needs the adware in order to function. " My ... response: You are correct: Kazaa will not run without the Spyware (adware) attached, which is why so many users prefer to use Kazaa Lite -- it doesn't come bundled with parasite code. The Add / Remove Programs in Control Panel should remove Kazaa from your computer, although I'm not sure what happens to the uninstall program if you use a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Vicky F. writes: " Hello, and good day to you! I just want to know how can I connect to the Internet using a laptop with a built-in modem? Do I still need an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or can I just hook up my laptop to the ... cable outlet? I am a newbie on this stuff, and I will really appreciate it if you could give me some insight. " My response: The built-in modem you are referring to is for dial-up (I.E.: phone line) Internet access, which is very slow compared to a cable modem or DSL connection. Should you decide to use dial-up Internet, all that is ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'Pac' writes: " Dear Dennis, For some unknown reason, my Search function has stopped working with Windows XP (Home Edition) ... I read your recent article, 'Windows Search options are Blank?': Windows Search Options are Blank, ... Part 2 But, my circumstances are different. If I put the name of whatever I am searching for, hit search, the hourglass icon appears and then the Windows Search appears to do nothing. When I hit CTRL + ALT + DEL, the search program starts working. This one has me stumped! I would love to have the search program working normally. Any assistance is ... (view more)