Douglas Godbey

Infopackets Reader Francoise D. writes: " Dear Infopackets Team, Many thanks for your great web site! I recently read an article that said that Outlook Express (OE) does not reclaim empty space after an email permanently removed from the Deleted ... Items folder. The article went on to say that only compresses its folders when it reaches a certain point (whenever that is). This bothers me because I get a lot of mail, and I hate to think that although the emails are deleted, the space is still being wasted. Do you know of other email programs that handle their folders in a more practical and ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Leslie D. writes: “ Dear Infopackets Team, How do you choose the software your review? Do you find new products or do people bring them to your attention? I am curious because I see there are many programs reviewed through i ...nfopackets.com. ” Doug's answer: Great question! ;-) While I can't speak for everyone on the Team, most of us find things by looking over download sites, seeing what is available through search engines, and by listening to others who have found software gems in their computing travels. For example: Dennis finds software through Snapfiles , ...ref="/news/1042/how-does-infopackets-select-software-review" class="more-link">view more)

Infopackets Reader Jeff R. writes: "I recently bought a 512MB USB 'TravelDrive' made by Memorex. Everything works great, except I can't figure out why the drive is only showing 480MB of usable, available space. In correspondence with a Memorex tech, ... I asked why this was so, and his answer was rather vauge and confusing. Does it really take 32 MB of overhead to format a USB drive? If this is the case, it's probably a good thing I didn't buy a 128MB drive!" Doug's Response: It's questions like these that make me feel glad I've been involved in the computer industry for as long as I have. ;-) In ... (view more)

In the business world there is a 'thing' known as the Total Cost of Operation (TCO). In short, TCO is the sum of the initial cost for software, cost of the system required to run it, user training, and in-house support services when things go wrong. ... It can be expensive for a business to bring in a new release of software. For example: to purchase, install, operate, and support one copy of Microsoft Windows is expensive. But now that Microsoft seems bent on selling "software as service," the annual licensing fees are a more serious consideration than the old one-time fees used to be. In fact, ... (view more)

It's been reported on a number of blog sites that Microsoft will release Windows Vista with -- get this -- 8 different versions. Hint: Windows XP only has 2 versions (Home and Pro edition). Unfortunately, they have yet to describe what the ... differences are between each version. It's also speculated that Microsoft Vista will require (at minimum) 512 MB of memory and a Pentium 4 class microprocessor to operate efficiently. The 'Vista list' is as follows: Windows Starter 2007 Windows Vista Home Basic Windows Vista Home Basic N Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Business Windows Vista ... (view more)

Earlier, I reflected upon Microsoft's "software bloat" which has been driving the computer industry to develop improved hardware at a rapid pace (see: Part 1 | Part 2 ). And the trend has no end in sight. So what about the computer systems of ... yester-year? Will they continue to suffice when Microsoft Windows Vista is released the second-half of 2006? Perhaps; perhaps not. So the question becomes: is it worth upgrading the current system or buy new? Should you decide the latter, what will you do with the computer that's sitting on your desk? To help put things into perspective, ... (view more)

Continued from Part 1 . As I stated previously, one could argue (to a degree) that Microsoft has created a marketplace for new computer hardware. And it's not necessarily a bad thing. However, one must also consider the scope of Downward ... Compatibility as a result of upgrading. And it's not just isolated to just MS Windows: it encompasses nearly every operation related to upgrading a computer -- including Third Party software. Case in point: most software written for windows use Microsoft libraries to provide functionality that the software developer would otherwise have to build from scratch ... (view more)

I've been in the computer business for quite some time and have read countless publications related to both the computing industry and its users. Since I continue to read a number of publications on an ongoing basis, I see developing trends and the ... direction the industry is going. I find new hardware especially intriguing, as well as software that is constantly being developed for the consumer market. But, there has been some rather disturbing news along with all the 'hype', including some recent unsavoury news concerning Microsoft. Before I get into that, let's review a bit of history: Back ... (view more)

Every once in a while, things pop up in the news -- you know, techie things -- that makes the old crystal ball start glowing. Recently, I came across an article in which Samsung announced the development of 16 GB (GigaByte) Flash Chips. Flash chips ... are persistent memory devices that can take the place of hard drive components. The only limitation, up to now, is that the capacity has been 2 GB or less per chip. The Apple Nano iPod uses 16 of the 2 GB chips to store the songs and such instead of a mini hard drive like the older and bulkier iPods of the past. You can read the article here . So, ... (view more)

In the world of computing, especially home computing, one of the things we enjoy most is gathering new and interesting programs to make a difference in our lives. Generally, we go to a download site (you all know my favorites by now) and browse the ... lists looking for the one thing that will make the entire day. We find it and click the file we want. We get connected to the server that is storing the file and the file is transferred to our system. From there, well we know what goes on. It's really easy. The entire transaction usually involves two computer systems. The server and the client ( ... (view more)