VERY IMPORTANT 25 Questions, 25 Answers!

Is There a Downside to Using Free Security Programs?

How Can I Make Vista's UAC Less Annoying?

Why Can't My XP PC See My Vista PC on the Network?

Is TV Burn-In a Real Problem?

Yes, it is--especially for plasma and CRT sets. A static image that remains on screen too long can burn into the screen's phosphors and remain there, possibly permanently. And if a portion of the screen goes unused for extended periods of time--for instance, if you watch a lot of TV programs in "normal" (that is, 4:3 aspect ratio) mode--the outline of the black bars that your set uses to frame the image could become a permanent part of your television.

Can Failing to Drain Batteries Completely Before Recharging Them Still Cause Problems?

No. Only nickel cadmium batteries exhibited the notorious "memory effect." In fact, today's lithium ion batteries have the opposite problem: Draining the battery can shorten its life. So avoid letting the charge drop below 10 percent.

Heat affects lithium ion batteries, too. A laptop battery will last longer if you remove it before running the notebook for lengthy periods on AC power.

But anything you do merely delays the inevitable. These batteries start wearing out on the factory floor, and eventually they'll go bad even if they never see an electric current. Remember that before you buy a spare battery as protection against the day your current one dies.

What's the Easiest Way to Back Up Data?

Over the Internet--since that approach gives you both a constant, background backup and physical separation.

The easiest Internet backup service I know of is MozyHome. Once you set it up, it quietly backs up your files in the background as you work. The first, full backup can take days (you didn't ask me for the fastest way to back up data, did you?), but you'll barely notice it after that. Unlimited backup (for one PC) costs just $5 a month.

Should I Scan From a Print or From the Negative?

In theory, you should use the negative. It's the best version of the picture.

In reality, however, not all scanners support transparencies (negatives and slides). And some that do--my Epson 2480, for instance--don't produce a satisfactory image that way.

Also, if you're scanning only a few shots, rather than an entire roll, you'll find it easier to identify the ones you want from prints than from negatives.

If you do scan from negatives, use a resolution of 2000 dots per inch or greater. A negative contains more information than a print does, but packs the information into a much smaller space.

What Is the Best Way to Create Strong Passwords?

No encryption is secure if the password you use is easy to guess, and these days any word in the dictionary falls into that category--as do your kids' names.

So use a long string of seemingly random letters and numbers. Make up an easy-to-remember but impossible-to-figure-out formula using family names, birthdays, and memorable words. For instance, you might use your kids' name spelled backward, with every third letter capitalized, followed by your birthday squared--except that a formula printed in PC World might not be safe either. Come up with your own formula.

How Can I Get My Wi-Fi Signal to the Far End of My House?

Do I Need a 64-Bit PC--And If So, Why?

No, you don't. Not yet, anyway. And probably not for a long time.

A 64-bit CPU has two strengths: It can run 64-bit apps, and it can handle more than 4GB of RAM. Of course, a 64-bit system won't run unless you have a 64-bit operating system (like Vista 64-bit).

In the indefinite future 64-bit applications will probably run faster than their 32-bit counterparts, at least for CPU-heavy jobs like video editing. But as yet almost no 64-bit Windows apps exist. Luckily, the 64-bit versions of XP and Vista support 32-bit programs, too.

More RAM improves performance, but we're not yet at a point where we need more than 4GB. Undoubtedly, you will eventually need more, but you'll want a whole new computer by then.

Finally, Vista 64-bit has even more compatibility problems than Vista 32-bit has, starting with the fact that it won't run 16-bit Windows or DOS programs. And since it comes with a 64-bit version of Windows Explorer, standard Explorer extensions won't work.

Wait a few years. Eventually, 64-bit will become an intelligent choice.

Why Should I Buy a Desktop Instead of Laptop?

If you don't need a laptop's portability, a number of factors favor a desktop.

Better price-to-power ratio: You can buy a cheap laptop, and you can buy a cheap desktop, but a cheap desktop has the power of an expensive laptop.

Cheaper ownership costs: Because they are made from off-the-shelf components, desktops are cheaper to upgrade and to repair. They're less likely to need repairs, too. No one ever drove away after putting a desktop PC on the roof of their car and forgetting it was there.

Less likely to be stolen: Desktops don't disappear during a bathroom break in a café or a nap at the airport.

Ergonomically friendlier: You can't have good posture if your keyboard and your monitor are just inches apart, although you can get around this problem by plugging a full keyboard and a mouse into your laptop whenever practical.

On the other hand, laptops use less electricity, and you can take them places.

How Can I Get My PC to Boot at a Scheduled Time?

If you can arrange for your computer to boot at a scheduled time, you can shut it down at the end of the workday and then come back to a freshly booted PC the next morning--or even to a freshly booted PC that has just completed a virus scan.

What Features Are Most Important in a Digital Camera?

Assuming that you aren't a professional photographer, consider these essentials:

Resolution: More is better, but don't get hung up on it. A 4-megapixel picture makes great prints, though it doesn't leave much flexibility for producing outstanding prints after cropping.

Optical zoom: Digital zoom is essentially a fancy term for "no zoom."

Short lag time: You see the perfect shot and press the button; 2 seconds later, your subject has left the frame and your camera clicks. The shorter the lag time, the less often this will happen.

SD Card slot: Since they're the industry standard, SD Cards are inexpensive and widely available, and you won't have trouble finding readers for them.

Right size: Does it fit comfortably in your hand and in your pocket? Are the dials large enough that you can set them easily? Is the LCD large enough?

Why Is My E-Mail Landing in Friends' Spam Boxes?

Maybe because you misspelled Viagra.

Seriously, some spelling checkers get suspicious when they see "cute" spellings or unusual characters inserted into words, so it's best to avoid these.

When possible, use your domain's outgoing mail server. An outgoing server whose name doesn't match your domain name raises a red flag, unless it's a well-known one, like Gmail or Yahoo.

Also, avoid links to graphics on the Web. And visit Robtex to see if your IP address or host name is blacklisted. It happens, even to the innocent.

Is It Safe to Overclock My CPU?

Should I Turn Off My PC at Night?

Leaving your PC on permits your system to scan for viruses and to back up data while you sleep, and it lets you avoid the hassle of booting in the morning. But shutting down saves power. What's more, Windows tends to build up garbage and problems as it runs, and a fresh boot a day keeps the errors away.

You should be aware that compromises are possible. One option is to hibernate the PC, which won't get rid of the garbage but will save as much power as shutting down the PC. Alternatively, you can put the PC into sleep mode (also known as Standby), which saves some power (though not as much as hibernation does) and allows your PC to wake up very quickly.

Can I Boot From a USB Drive?

USB flash drives make good emergency and alternative boot devices--unlike CDs and DVDs, they're writable. Put Linux on a flash drive, and you don't have to fool with hard-drive dual-boot options.

And you can probably do it. Most modern PCs can boot from a USB device if you set them up to do so.

You'll need to go into your hardware setup screen to find out whether your system will let you boot from a USB device. When you boot up, watch for a message about entering the setup program. Once in Setup, look for a Boot menu and then for USB options on that menu. You may need to enable booting from a USB drive and place it ahead of the hard drive in the boot order.

What can you boot from a USB drive? Not Windows XP or Vista, which only work from an internal drive. But DOS, Windows PE, programs that are built around Windows PE, and many flavors of Linux will boot from USB devices.

What Are the Best Sites for DRM-Free Music?

I've taken the pledge! I will no longer buy music in any form that limits the devices I can play it on once it's mine. For that matter, I won't buy music from online stores that insist on installing software on my PC, either.

And upholding that pledge is easier than ever, thanks to sites like Amazon, Audio Lunchbox, and eClassical.

Amazon.com: The big retailer gets the big labels with the big artists. As I write this, Sony BMG is the lone music studio still fighting the DRM-free movement. Amazon offers plenty of artists, both well-known and obscure. Amazon wants you to install its download manager, but it doesn't insist that you do so. Annoyance: Each selection is handled as a separate purchase--so if you buy ten individual tracks, you have to plod through the purchasing forms ten times.

Audio Lunchbox: The selection leans heavily toward little-known independents, many of whom deserve a larger audience. The familiar names tend to be well-aged, including greats like Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and Jimi Hendrix. Prices for single tracks and albums are a bit higher here than at Amazon, but sub scri ption services can save you a bundle if you buy a lot. Annoyance: You can't get a single track without being told how much better off you'd be with a sub scri ption.

How Do I Automate Boilerplate Text in My E-Mail?

You can transform anything that you type regularly--such as multiple signatures or your street address--into boilerplate text so that you can insert it anywhere without retyping. Here's how to set up boilerplate text in Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, or any Web-based e-mail system.

Outlook, Outlook Express, and Windows Mail support multiple "signatures" that you can insert into any message at will. To set up one of these automated text blocks in Outlook 2003 or 2007, assuming that you aren't using Word for e-mail, select Tools, Options, Mail Format, and then click the Signatures button. (If you are using Word, you can enlist that program's AutoCorrect tool to perform boilerplate work.) In Outlook Express or Windows Mail, simply select Tools, Options, Signatures.

To insert boilerplate text into a message while using any of these programs, all you have to do is select Insert, Signature and then choose the right signature.

How Long Can a PC Go Unprotected, and Yet Uninfected?

In 2004, tests by the SANS Institute Internet Storm Center suggested that a Windows PC with no firewall, no security software, and no router would likely be infected within 20 minutes.

But security expert Ben Edelman calls the SANS 2004 data "too pessimistic." He says, "These days, infections tend to originate via Web exploits, rather than port-scanning worms. Plus, many glaring security gaps have been closed."

But how long can an unprotected user wander around online before visiting the wrong Web page? According to a McAfee SiteAdvisor study, "The average search engine user performs 43.1 searches per month and clicks on 2.3 results per search--yielding one dangerous site every 8 days, on average."

Just Wondering...

The occasion of our 25th-anniversary print issue put us in mind of some theoretical and historical questions in addition to the more practical ones we deal with all the time. Here are answers to some of those questions, which you may have been musing about, too.

When Will Moore's Law Run Out?

Transistors can get only so small. As Gordon Moore himself said in a 2005 Techworld interview, "It can't continue forever...We have another 10 to 20 years before We reach a fundamental limit."

But Ray Kurzweil, author of The Age of Intelligent Machines, is more optimistic. "Moore's Law is a law of human ingenuity, not of nature," he told me in an e-mail exchange. He agrees that, taken literally, Moore's Law (which asserts that the number of transistors packed into a given area increases exponentially) "will probably come to an end prior to 2020..." But he believes that, before that happens, researchers will find another paradigm for shrinking code and information.

How much longer can this go on? "Beyond four hundred years," Kurzweil says, "the laws of physics will have to be substantially altered for Moore's Law to continue."

That's a long way off. In the meantime, you can expect exponential improvements to continue "well into the 21st century," according to Kurzweil, "far past the point when computing technology can match and exceed the human brain."

Does Vista Have Any DOS 1.0 Code?

Tim Paterson wrote QDOS, the basis for MS-DOS 1.0, before it was sold to Microsoft. A Microsoft programmer told him in the mid-1990s that "we still have some of your code in there."

Today, a Microsoft spokesperson says DOS 1.0 content has gone the way of the giant ground sloth: "There hasn't been DOS code in Windows since before XP."

Then 'splain this: If you load Vista's Command Line environment and type the MEM command, the program reports "655360 bytes available to MS-DOS."

And it still runs such old DOS programs as the early spreadsheet Visicalc, a major application in pre-DOS days and one of the first ported to DOS. If you don't believe me, download the DOS version of Visicalc and see for yourself.

Why Is Internet Access Slower in the U.S. Than in Other Developed Nations?

Actually, that claim is a bit of an exaggeration. A 2007 study by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation rated the United States 16th out of 30 developed nations in throughput, with an average speed of 4.8 megabits per second (it finished 12th in an overall ranking that included penetration and price). Japan came in first at 61 mbps; the average speed for all 30 nations considered was 9 mbps.

Why the difference? According to ITIF president Robert D. Atkinson, "we've been going down in ranking since 2001...We've increased, but not as fast as other countries."

One disadvantage: The U.S. population isn't as concentrated as that of Japan or South Korea (number two in the rankings). "In Seoul," Atkinson says, "an awful lot of people live in multiunit high-rise buildings."

There are policy differences, too. "Other governments have had more-proactive broadband policies," Atkinson says. "Korea and Japan used fairly aggressive subsidies for fiber and broadband." And Canada (in 10th place) has made an effort to connect rural communities, experimenting with WiMAX and satellite.

What's Vista Doing With All That RAM?

Vista appears to use almost all of your RAM, even when no programs are running. But that's good, not bad.

I checked for free RAM on an XP machine carrying 1GB of memory, with no programs running. The result: 811MB of free RAM. On a Vista machine in the same situation, the figure for free RAM was a big goose egg.

So why is that good? Vista puts all of its unused RAM into a cache called SuperFetch. That's a better way to store the RAM than letting it sit idle, and should improve performance.

When a program needs more RAM, Vista takes it out of the cache and gives it to the program.

What's the Oldest Computer That Still Works?

There's no way to know for sure, but I've found two likely candidates, both of which were built in 1959.

I suspect that the FACOM 128B at the Ikeda Memorial Hall in Fujitsu's Numazu factory is the oldest. The 128B line was developed in 1958, and the surviving computer was built in 1959. The 128B occupies 700 square feet of floor space, was used to design Japan's first passenger airplane, and probably has less computing power than a good modern calculator. The company's goal is to keep it working until 2016, when it will have completed 60 years of operation.

The other candidate is the London Science Museum's Ferranti Pegasus computer. It went on line in 1960, so it probably ranks as second oldest. It has the equivalent of about 256 bytes of RAM (actually, nickel delay lines) and a 25KB hard drive (actually, a magnetic drum).