Hardware

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)

Infopackets Reader Lynn H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I read your article on CD Mastering Software. I do not know that much about computers, so I am a bit confused as to what I need. Here is my problem: I have 2 Hewlett-Packard (HP) computers. The CD-RW ... drive died on one of them, and was replaced with a DVD Burner, which came bundled with Nero Burning ROM CD Recording Software. The other still uses DirectCD to record CDs. The problem is that discs I create using DirectCD cannot be read in the DVD Burner drive on the other computer. Is there a program out there that will allow both DirectCD ... (view more)

In the last 36 hours, I've received a slew of emails from Readers concerning a program used to move installed application from one hard drive letter to another. Recall -- Infopackets Reader John T. wrote: " ... I've recently partitioned [split] my ... hard drive into two drive letters (C and D drives) so that I can keep my operating system [Windows] separate from my user files ... My question: is there a program that will transfer programs and shortcuts from one hard drive partition to another, and also change the system registry to reflect the move? " In my response to John, I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John T. 'oldbiker' writes: " Dear Dennis, First of all I think your newsletter -- it's great. I recently partitioned [split] my hard drive into two drive letters (C and D drives), so that I could move my installed programs over to ... D drive and leave C for Windows only. This way, if Windows crashes on me, I can format C drive and not worry about losing any my improtant data (on D drive). [Side note: This is also a great strategy for keeping disk image backups small, and to reduce the time it takes to create an image file]. My question: is there a program that will ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Alfredo "Mexican55" writes: " Dear Dennis, I just finished reading yesterday's newsletter regarding DVD-R and DVD+R media. My question is related and pertains to file backup. In your opinion, what approach should I use to backing ... up my files, programs, etc? And do you recommend saving to CD or DVD media? My hard drive is less than 10 gigabytes in size. " My response: Deciding which media type is suitable for backup depends on how much information you want to archive, and the type of backup solution you choose. Having said that, I'd like to provide a ... (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)

Recall -- A few days ago, Infopackets Reader Ted B. asked if there was a way to connect 2 wireless PCs [one using Win98, the other WinXP] together without using a router as a Wireless Access Pointer (WAP). He wrote: " ... An elderly lady recently ... came into the shop and needed help with wireless networking (802.11) between her older Hewlett Packard computer (running Windows 98SE) and her XP notebook. Unfortunately, we could not get the connections working. She had opted for a wireless network because she did not want to run a long cord from her bedroom to her living room to connect the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Don K. writes: " Dear Dennis, My computer has 1000 megabytes of primary system memory (RAM). I recently partitioned (split) one of my hard drives into a separate drive letter (Drive Z, for example) and set it as a dedicated unit ... handle all my virtual (secondary) memory. After it was all said and done, a friend of mine commented that having 1 gigabyte of RAM in my machine is plenty of primary memory, and I've wasted my time trying to optimize my system by setting up a separate drive letter for virtual memory. Do you agree with my friend's comments? " My response: ... (view more)