Hardware

What's the easiest, most cost-effective way to repair a scratched CD or DVD? That was the question Infopackets Reader Manny K. asked earlier this week. In Part 1 of our discussion, I provided instructions on how to properly clean a CD or DVD using a ... cotton swab; at the end of the article, I also asked Infopackets Readers to send me their best home-based remedies for repairing a scratched disc. In Part 2 , I provided a brief explanation of the comments I received, and then proceeded to quote the findings of our Readers. Part 3 is the final stage of our discussion and will continue where we ... (view more)

Since asking Infopackets Readers for their opinion on the best solution for Removing Scratches from CD or DVD compact disc, I have received a land-slide of great suggestions and insight. So far, the consensus has been that many users have ... successfully reported using ordinary house-hold cleaners, such as wood polishers (Pledge), Brasso (a metal polisher), and toothpaste (an abrasive tooth polisher) for small surface scratches. For deep scratches, by far the best recommendation I've received is to take the disc to a local DVD video or CD music rental store and have them repair it. These stores ... (view more)

After sending out three newsletters last week that dealt with watching downloading movies on a DVD player / entertainment system, I received two (somewhat related) questions from Infopackets Readers over the weekend. The first question comes from ... Reader Manny K., who writes: " Dear Dennis, Please forgive me if my question has already been answered in your newsletter; however, I'm a tad curious if you happen to know whether or not those do-it-yourself DVD/CD scratch repair schemes actually work? I'm not talking the those repair kits you buy at the electronic stores -- I'm talking about ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Don S. writes: " Thank you for your ongoing coverage of watching downloaded movies on a home entertainment system [see: article 1 | article 2 ]. After reading your first article, it prompted me to email you with my solution. I ... recently purchased a non-wireless, standalone DVD unit that is capable of playing back .AVI, .MPEG, and almost anything else that I can throw at it. And, it only cost me $89.95. You can search the web for similar players, as they're fairly new in the market. " My response: $89.95 is a very reasonable price to pay for a feature-packed DVD ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Chris B. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read with great interest your latest article, ' Watch downloaded movies on DVD player? '. I have one more suggestion for your Readers -- actually, it's more of a twist on a suggestion you already ... provided. For those who already own a video card with the 'TV out' feature: instead of running cables over a long distance (which may end up costing a fortune), I believe it would be equally feasible (or even cheaper) to purchase a wireless video transmitter and receiver combo package, and hook it up to the 'TV out' port of the video card. The ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Barbara B. writes: " Hi Dennis, Again, thanks for all of your hard work on your great newsletter, which is so much help for so many people. Now, my husband has a question regarding playback of downloaded DVD videos, movies, etc. ... He can download and burn these videos and can play them back on the computer. However, the problem is that we cannot play the movies on our DVD equipment (hooked up to your family television set). What is involved in this? Is there some kind of solution? Thanks so much for any assistance you might be able to give us. " My response: The ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read your comments regularly and find them very useful and informative. I have a question I hope you can advice me on. When working on my PC, I often receive a message stating that I am low on ... Virtual Memory, and that Windows is going to increase my Virtual Memory settings. I am not overworking the PC and I have an AMD 2700+ processor with 512 megabytes of RAM. Can you tell me what Virtual Memory is and why this might be happening? Many thanks for any information you can provide. " My response: The topic of Virtual Memory can be ... (view more)

Die-hard Infopackets Reader 'Avey' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have created an audio CD of all my favorite songs on 1 disc in MP3 format. I want to convert this MP3 CD to cassette for my car stereo, as my car does not have a CD player. I normally use ... my portable radio (which also has a CD player) to record my audio CDs directly to cassette, but for whatever reason, it will not play my MP3 CD that I made. I have used store-bought [regular] audio CDs and converted them with my radio without any problem in the past. I am desperately trying to find a way to transfer my MP3s on CD to cassette so ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Lee W. write s: " Dear Dennis, First of all, thanks for your newsletter; it is very helpful, so much so that I thought I would never have to ask a question! But alas, I have dilemma that I can't seem to get past. I'm running ... Windows XP on a custom-built PC. I've had the PC for almost a year now, but within the last five months, whenever I boot up, the machine spontaneously reboots on its own several times before all my programs actually load. Windows XP doesn't actually load until this happens several times, and this happens almost every time. I've kept the PC on all ... (view more)

Are brush-based CD Cleaning Kits saf e? That was the question posed last week by Infopackets Reader, John R. In my response , I suggested using a q-tip and alcohol as a way to clean the lens of an optical drive, as some brush-based kits tend to be ... abrasive and may scratch the lens of the optical drive. A few days after posting the article, Infopackets Reader Dawn M. wrote in with her experience using a brush-based CD Cleaning kit. She writes: " Dear Dennis, I am writing in response to John R.'s inquiry about cleaning his optical drive with a brush-based system. I personally use -- and ... (view more)