Dennis Faas

Last week, Ben M. from Australia wrote about a problem he was having with his 40x CD burner not being able to write at maximum speed under Windows XP. Ben's main problem: both Roxio Easy CD Creator and Nero Burning ROM (CD burning software) only ... allow the burner to write at 16x instead of 40x write speed. Ben's computer is running Windows XP with 256 meg RAM on a 1.7 GHz machine and a 40 gig [7200 RPM] hard drive. In short, here's what Ben has already tried: Replaced the burner with another (same model / brand); Changed the buffer size for CDFS (CD File System) under Windows XP; Updated both ... (view more)

Ben M. from The Land Down Under (Australia) recently told me about a problem he's been having with his 40x CD burner. In a nutshell, Ben can't get the writer to record at maximum speed and asked me for some troubleshooting suggestions. Ben writes: " ... Dennis, I religiously read Infopackets 3 times a week! Thank you. As a computer technician, I find your newsletter a valuable troubleshooting resource. Unfortunately, I'm having a problem that has got me stumped and was wondering if you had any suggestions? I recently purchased a new computer (Celeron 1.7GHz) with 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive, ... (view more)

Yesterday, I wrote about a new spam problem associated with Windows Messenger. Recall: Messenger pop-ups are a new form of spam that exploit a feature of the Microsoft Windows operating system intended for use by network administrators. These ... pop-ups can appear even if you aren't surfing the web (ie: a web browser), and are not related to MSN Messenger. The remedy: Yesterday I detailed instructions I used when searched Google for a solution. Unfortunately, the instructions for Windows XP were not complete and I received a few emails from folks who were not able to complete the "fix ... (view more)

Not long ago, I received an email from 'Rezzy46', who has been plagued by a new form of spam: Windows Messenger popup advertisements (note: these are not MSN Messenger chat pop-up messages). He writes: " Is there a simple way to stop those messenger ... service advertisements? Is it possible to disable the popups without disabling any core Windows components? Speak of the devil -- two just popped up while I was typing this message! " After searching Google, I found that Messenger popups are a new form of spam that exploit a feature of the Microsoft Windows operating system intended for ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Walt H. asks: " Is it possible to create an image [backup] of your hard drive to an external USB hard drive? If so, what limits are there in creating the image and restoring it? I can't add another hard drive to my laptop, plus I ... thought a portable USB drive could allow me to image more than one computer. " Side note: USB is short from for Universal Serial Bus. It's a small port usually located at the back of your computer and is pretty much the standard connection used for external computer peripherals today (such scanner, mouse, keyboard, printer, etc). My ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Reza M. asks, " Can you tell me, how I can update my computer's main board BIOS? " My Response: Flashing a BIOS simply means to update the BIOS. A BIOS is a computer chip which contains simple instructions required for operation ... particular to a device. Since not all main boards are the same, the steps taken for flashing a motherboard BIOS can only be generalized. I will attempt to explain the procedure, but must first advise: do not flash your BIOS unless you absolutely need to (IE: an update is required to have the device function properly). The reasoning for ... (view more)

A few days ago, Ramnik S. asked how to alphabetically sort favorites (web page bookmarks) using Internet Explorer: " Hi Dennis! I thoroughly enjoy your newsletter. I find it informative and, even more importantly, fun to read! I have one question ... regarding the Favorites in Internet Explorer. Over time, as I keep on adding new favorites, the list of favorites no longer remains in alphabetical order. Under 'Organize Favorites', other than manually moving each address, there does not seem to be a way of automatically getting the list in alphabetical order. Is there a simple way to do this ... (view more)

Today's Feature Article about Sorting Favorites in Internet Explorer spurred some further thoughts about organization. I decided to write a separate "how to" article in this section of the newsletter because the two topics -- although slightly ... related -- deserve separate space. Cleaning up items: using Explorer instead of the Organize Favorites option I mentioned earlier that there is an option in the Favorites Menu which allows for the manual manipulation of bookmarks. The Organize Favorites option houses 4 basic operations: Create Folder, Rename, Delete, and Move to Folder. ... (view more)

Last week, Dee N. had a question concerning the Internet Explorer download-dialogue box: " On the download Window, there is an option for 'Always ask before opening this type of file'. Well, I accidentally Unchecked this option -- and now, all my ... .ZIP files open automatically after each download completes! How can I turn this option back on? " My Response: I didn't know the answer to this question, so I asked Infopackets Readers for help. Mike K. [and about 40 other readers] informed me that the 'Always ask before opening ... ' option for .ZIP files can be resolved through modifying ... (view more)

Over the weekend, Lanny B. indirectly asked me a question about how to span an archive using WinBackup : " Hi Dennis! As always, love your newsletter! Keep up the good work. I'm writing today about WinBackup . It seems that the program currently ... does not support my CD-R/W burner (LITE-ON LTR-24102B). Whenever I try to run a backup and record to the burner, all I get is an error message which states that my 'CD-R/W drive is not supported.' There is no mention if / or when WinBackup will support the writer in the future. What can I do? " Recall -- WinBackup is a simple-to-use backup ... (view more)