Dennis Faas

I recently received a question from a fellow Infopackets Reader, R. Barnes. He writes: " Great newsletter as always. I was wondering if you could explain the new AMD processor speed ratings. I've seen them in mail order catalog and TV, but haven't ... heard an explanation of their '2200+' statements. I would assume that it is indeed the speed of their processor but how are they in relationship with say a 1.2 GHz Athlon processor, or even a Pentium 4 1.3GHz? " That's a good question. The speed rating that AMD is using for its new line of XP processors represents their new " ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Barb J. asks, " My Outlook 97 isn't compatible with my ISP. I'd like to use my Outlook to send/receive messages using Hotmail. Please help! " My answer: I'm not sure if Outlook 97 supports Hotmail -- but I can tell you that if you ... update your Internet Explorer, your Outlook Express will also update... and I know Outlook Express supports Hotmail. And hey, it's all free! You can download my video on Outlook Express and also grab my free report on how to set up a Hotmail account here. (view more)

I recently received a question from a fellow Infopackets Reader, R. Barnes. He writes: " Great newsletter as always. I was wondering if you could explain the new AMD processor speed ratings. I've seen them in mail order catalog and TV, but haven't ... heard an explanation of their '2200+' statements. I would assume that it is indeed the speed of their processor but how are they in relationship with say a 1.2 GHz Athlon processor, or even a Pentium 4 1.3GHz? " That's a good question. The speed rating that AMD is using for its new line of XP processors represents their new " ... (view more)

Last week, I received a question pertaining to a free Windows backup program. I took this opportunity to ask the readers of the Infopackets Gazette newsletter, and received MANY suggestions. So, without further adieu, here are some top picks: ... Karen's Power Tools: Replicator : Replicator copies from any source to any destination; it works with ZIP, CD-R, and HD. It can be set to freshen files that are updated/deleted and can be set for unattended operation. Required: Visual Basic 6.0 . My Own Backup (MOB) : A flexible piece of software that allows for Disk Spanning (CD-R backups). Some ... (view more)

Have you ever flashed your BIOS? The BIOS is a chip built onto a circuit board that contains a set of instructions. The instructions are responsible for controlling the device and how it interacts with other peripherals. For example: a main board ... (motherboard) contains a BIOS (CMOS) which stores information about your computer, such as the size of your hard drive, COM ports, buffers, and the like. Flashing a BIOS simply means to update the code of the BIOS instruction. This is done with two separate pieces of software: the BIOS flashing program, and the BIOS update itself. The BIOS flashing ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'PJ.' asks, " Where can I find information for making background sounds in emails? " My response: Any email containing sound is a HTML email which uses the Embed command. HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is the standard format ... used on the Internet when viewing a web page. You can make a HTML document using an HTML editor; here are some good resources: http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/8795/howto.webtv.html http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors/embed.html And for a free HTML editor, try Arachnophilia: http://www.arachnoid.com/arachnophilia (view more)

Windows 2000 users have a reason to jump for joy -- Microsoft has recently released Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3). What is a Service Pack (SP)? If you're new to Windows or have never heard of a Windows Service Pack -- it's a major software ... release which makes Windows more stable. Software fixes generally include: resolved security breaches, compatibility issues, bug fixes, and the like. Generally speaking, a HotFix is a downloadable program that resolves a recently discovered exploit in the Windows Operating system. A HotFix is also referred to as a "software patch", and can ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ken H. asks, " Can I download films directly to my burner from the Internet? " My response: You can't download files to your CD burner on the fly unless you have DirectCD installed. Even so, I don't recommend downloading and ... directly burning to CD, mostly because you need a complete file to burn to CD. Since files don't always download 100%, the process of "downloading and burning on the fly" would have problems from the get-go and may end up in a waste of media. Usually files have to be downloaded to your hard disk, then burned to CD. Once the files ... (view more)

Have you ever "burned on the fly?" No -- I'm not talking about burning an insect with a magnifying glass like some of us did when we were younger (kids can be so cruel!) Burning on the fly is a technical term that essentially means writing directly ... to a CD recorder from another source other than your hard drive. Usually when a CD is burned, it is read from the hard drive and then written to the CD burner. The important thing to note here is that a hard drive can retrieve information must faster than any other source-medium of information. An example of burning on the fly might be ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Linda S. write s: " Dear Dennis, With regards to the last newsletter , is it possible that you are assuming that Christine R. accidentally stated that Windows Explorer was trying to access the internet and that she actually meant ... that Internet Explorer was trying to get access? My firewall also will not allow me to have access to the internet unless I give both Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer access. Her question may have been a typo but I think maybe she is having the same problem as I am. Can you offer any suggestions to remedy this? " My Response: I'm ... (view more)