Personal Tech

The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro was online for a discussion to answer your personal tech questions and discuss recent product reviews .

Want to know what upcoming topics are being covered? Sign up for the Fast Forward e-letter -- get updated information on personal technology news and product demos.

Past editions of Rob's e-letter are online here .

A transcript follows .

____________________

Rob Pegoraro: Greetings to all--ecstatic Steelers fans, dismayed Seahawks fans and people who only watched for the ads are all welcome to this chat. We've got plenty to chat about today, between my last three columns (Apple's Intel-powered iMac, the Palm Treo 700w and Corel WordPerfect Office X3) and all the other things percolating in the technology universe.

I'll start things off with a question of my own: If you watched the Super Bowl in high-definition, what source did you use (cable, satellite or over-the-air) and how did it work out for you?

_______________________

Washington DC: How long before you think it's safe to buy one of the new "hybrid" Macs?

My older iMac is showing all the signs of about-to-die, but I'm uncomfortable buying the first version of anything new.

Rob Pegoraro: One thing that I'm waiting for is the release of the first post-Intel bug fix to Mac OS X. I hear that this 10.4.5 release is already in testing, so that may not take long. Another would be the emergence of more programs in "universal" form, designed to run on both Intel and PowerPC chips. That could take longer, depending on what you're waiting for; Adobe and Microsoft, for example, have suggested that universal versions of programs like Photoshop and Microsoft Office may not arrive until next year. A third could be the first revision of the iMac Core Duo, presumably incorporating both faster hardware and fixes to any hardware problems that were discovered in the "revision A" model. I'd expect that to arrive in six months or so.

Waiting for the OS X update seems reasonable, but if you spend all your time in a processor-intensive app like Photoshop that isn't available as a universal release, then you might have to postpone your next Mac purchase until next year.

_______________________

Bethesda, MD: Your review of Corel's office suite was pretty depressing. I was a WordPerfect fan until it really became impossible to continue using it. And I've never really gotten the hang of using MS Word-- Word continues to be difficult and unintuitive for me. And, no, I -don't- want a word processing program that works sort of like Word, but not as well. Ack. Aargh.

Rob Pegoraro: I had high hopes for this update as well; Corel said they paid particular attention to Microsoft file-format compatibility, so I was puzzled to see this version do as badly as earlier releases.

_______________________

Itunes: Has anyone out there noticed that Itunes is incredibly unstable? I get crashes while drag-and-drop adding songs about once every two months, and it corrupts my library file.

Rob Pegoraro: That's not how iTunes has acted on any of the--let's see, five computers I have it active on. I would try uninstalling iTunes, then deleting all of its preference and library files (both in the My Music folder and in the normally-hidden folder C:\Documents and Settings\[your user name]\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes.

_______________________

Nashville, Tenn.n: Are you REQUIRED to have the data plan for the Treo 700 from Verizon?

Rob Pegoraro: No, but if you don't sign up for that $40-ish data plan you don't get any discount on the phone--you'd have to pay the full $619 price.

_______________________

Arlington, VA: Rob,

I watched the Super Bowl in HD via Comcast Arlington, and it was excellent, as is my service normally. And while it pains me to praise Comcast (their customer service is another thing altogether), the picture was great, and so is my HD DVR. I'd read some negative comments about the unit, but I've found it to be very simple to use, and has performed really well.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Arlington

_______________________

West Milford, NJ: I watched on a new Sony 50 inch SXRD set via cable and it was outstanding--I didn't even mind the weak ads this year because they looked great. Still disappointed the Seattle lost though.

Rob Pegoraro: Good to hear, NJ...

_______________________

Another Itunes question: Can Itunes convert .wma or real player tunes into MP3s so I can hear it on my ipod? (I use an apple computer, not a pc).

Rob Pegoraro: Yes on WMA files--assuming they're not locked up with any copy-protection, iTunes will offer to convert them all when you first run it. No on the RealPlayer files.

_______________________

Laurel, Md.: Other than conformity, what reasons would you give any home user to prefer either Corel Suite or MS Office over OpenOffice.org?

Rob Pegoraro: If you've done all your work in Corel's software and therefore have a large accumulation of WP, QP and Presentations files, then Corel's an obvious choice--but I can't see why anybody else would want to use the Corel suite over Microsoft Office, and especially not over the free OpenOffice.

I like OpenOffice a lot, but OTOH I have to recommend Microsoft Office if a) you need an integrated calendar/addressbook/mail program like Outlook, b) you need to exchange files often with PowerPoint users (OO is great at reading and writing Word files and pretty good with Excel files, but I found it was just too unreliable at generating .ppt files that looked the same in both PowerPoint and OpenOffice's own Impress).

_______________________

Manassas, VA: Just a comment. Why is it the "best" technology" doesn't come with complete accessories. Examples include, Satellite radio, where you can pay 50 bucks or less for the radio, but if you need speakers, well that has to be purchased separately.

Apple Ipods don't come with a simple dock so you can charge your ipod away from the computer. They also need better headphones because the ones that come with it could be detrimental to your hearing. Not to mention no FM tuner. Its bad enough you have to pay over $300 for the item itself, but to have to add another $100 or so just to find a dock to charge up the unit, $40 for an FM tuner, $100 for headphones that block out background noise is ridiculous! You're spending almost or even possible $1000 investment on something that's going to be "improved upon" in 6 months or less (just guessing) and whose battery will probably wear out in 2 years depending how long its been sitting in the stock room!

Thanks for letting me Vent!

Rob Pegoraro: Glad to let you vent. Unfortunately, this isn't a new thing at all--printers come without USB cables, digital camcorders come without FireWire cables and most PCs don't even ship with current versions of their bundled software.

_______________________

20906: Not really a question but a comment: Why do companies treat their current customers like dirt while offering the moon and the stars to new customers? Specifically, cell phones. I would like to switch phones (made a mistake when I signed on and got one where the display doesn't light up) but they expect me to pay the full overpriced price. Why can't loyal customers get a break? Same goes for satellite and cable companies - start new and get free DVR.

Rob Pegoraro: I think you're asking the right questions, 20906.

_______________________

State of slo-mo, VA: (submitting early as I may not be available) Hi Rob. I am running XP (2.7 GHz Celeron) and like to put the system into standby mode rather than shutting down every morning before going off to work. But I find that after a couple days it slows to a crawl on restart, so I wind up rebooting anyway. Is this common? Is there something I can or should be doing to prevent this?

Rob Pegoraro: No, that's how Windows can get. You can try to see if one program in particular is gumming up the works, though; when the PC starts to slow down, hit Ctrl-Shift-Esc, click the "Processes" heading in the Task Manager, and then sort that list by memory. You may find that it's only your Web browser or e-mail program that's eating memory, and quitting and restarting it solves the problem.

_______________________

Arlington, VA: I used to have DSL via airport express (plugged directly into the basestation) and had no problems. Since then, I'm piggy-backing off the DSL that comes into the house via a linksys (i.e., non-Apple) router. Ever since I did that, whenever my computer goes to sleep I lose my internet connection and have to re-select it. Not a huge problem, but a bit of a hassle. Is there any solution? Apple's help people tell me the computer is supposed to log off when it goes to sleep, but it never did that when I had the DSL line going directly into the base-station, i.e., not through the router.

Rob Pegoraro: Sounds like an issue you should be asking Linksys about--the only change to your configuration is the addition of that router, so that has to be the product at fault.

_______________________

20036: Thanks for taking my question, I have a meeting later so I will submit early.

I am in the market for a new 37"-42" tv. I want to know if the cost were the same would you buy a HD LCD flat panel or an HD Plasma. I have seen comparably priced models so the cost isn't really a big deal, I just want to know which you think is a better product. Which provides a better picture. Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: The cost isn't the same--yet. For now, plasma is cheaper, and more so as you get into the larger sizes. LCD prices are coming down fast, though; I wouldn't be surprised to see 42" sets cost the same in either technology by the middle of the year.

Assuming two sets would cost the same, though, I'd have to base my decision by looking at the picture quality on each at a good store. In general, plasmas deliver deeper blacks and have faster refresh rates, but individual models can vary pretty widely in their quality.

_______________________

Decatur, Ga.: What happened to the big bad worms and things that were supposed to hit so many of us so hard on Feb. 3? I haven't heard a word about that threat since that date.Thanks! I always read your stuff. Chad

washingtonpost.com: Experts: 'Hype' May Have Mitigated Worm

Rob Pegoraro: Traditionally, expecting the worst from a looming virus attack has turned out to be an accurate prediction. Does this mean that people are finally wising up about securing their PCs? I'd sure like to think so, but I'll need more proof than this one incident.

_______________________

Bethesda, MD: Watched the Super Bowl on Comcast HD on a Sony Wega. There were audio problems, but these were clearly broadcast/mixing issues. No pixellation or other dropout problems often seen on HD. Great technology that made my brother-in-law jealous--that was a nice bonus!

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Bethesda. Any over-the-air or satellite viewers?

_______________________

Fairfax, VA: Rob: A recent article in the Post discussed a software/hardware package for converting old music tapes to a format for saving to (and playing from)CDs. My daughter read it and does not remember the date nor the specifics. Any chance that you might be able to steer us to that article or to the web pages where we can find information. I have done a Google search and came up empty handed. Lots of conversion services, but not much for doing it yourself. Thanks very much and will look for you on line on Monday. Thanks much. Jon

Rob Pegoraro: Apparently, this one how-to piece we ran last year has become one of the most sought-after stories in our tech coverage: Digital Transformation Revives Old Records (washingtonpost.com)

_______________________

Springfield, VA: WinXP has a firewall and otherwise has security features that are good for me. Google filters my e-mail for viruses. Do I need a package like Norton Internet Security on top of all this? What is that package (or McAfee or others) giving me for $50+/year that I get for free or already paid for with XP?

Rob Pegoraro: The XP firewall is good enough, if you take due caution about loading strange software on your machine. (The XP firewall won't stop bad programs from sending data up to some random site, but if you have a strange program doing that, you've already lost.)

I would be hesitant about relying solely on Gmail's virus scanning. What about files you download from the Web yourself? What about those transferred via IM? And are you the only person using the computer?

I would install a separate anti-virus utility--use the free AVG or Avast programs if paying for one bugs you. And I'd install Microsoft's Anti-Spyware as well, which is also free.

_______________________

Fairfax, VA: Great comment on the W-2 forms in your e-mail newsletter today. I just type all the values into TaxAct. I've given up on trying to interpret all the fields. Ugh.

Speaking of TaxAct, the review of Tax software didn't go far into the on line services, but I used TaxAct this year (after two years on FreeTaxUSA) and I'm very happy with it. $15 for Federal and state taxes, and they've organized the information very well.

washingtonpost.com: You can sign up for Rob's weekly e-letter here .

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for sharing your experience, Fairfax

_______________________

North Carolina: Rob,

I have a question about laptops and international travel/usage. I will be going to India in a few months, and I wonder what I can do now to make my laptops as accessible and friendly as possible. I will need to email text and photos on a regular basis, as well as maintain a basic blog/web site. This is work related, and I have an option of refurbishing an older but still decent Powerbook, or taking a brand new PC. I'm not sure which to bring, compatibility-wise, or what voltage/recharge batteries are needed, and whether a USB is as universal as I hope it is. Any insight you could provide would be immeasurably helpful. Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: Answered this one in Help File a few weeks ago--you probably only need some plug adapters, as every laptop that I've heard of handles the full range of voltages and frequencies you're likely to see overseas. But check the fine print on your power adapter to be sure.

_______________________

Chantilly, VA: Regarding your WPOX3 review, you omitted Paradox (WPO's database) from the mix in your review. This is understandable given the utter lack of attention Corel has afforded this tool in the last 4 years.

This is a big deal to thousands of users and business worldwide. There is no way to translate Paradox business applications to another tool the way that documents and spreadsheets can be read with MSO or OOo, so Paradox users left out in the cold are left to rewrite their apps more or less from scratch and at significant cost.

What's your opinion on companies that acquire and kill vital applications with no clear upgrade path?

washingtonpost.com: Fast Forward: WordPerfect's Unlucky 13th Edition Is Full of Pitfalls

Rob Pegoraro: I think that it's no way to win over customers or ensure the loyalty of your existing ones, that's for sure.

Paradox... I spent one summer entering data into a Paradox database. For DOS, no less.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: How reliable are thumb/jump drives? What are some of the disadvantages of these new, convenient, tools?

Rob Pegoraro: In general, exceedingly reliable. Yesterday's Help File column, however, outlines one exception to that rule: HELP FILE

_______________________

Boulder, CO: A number of things have happened recently:

1. Your review of Wordperfect showed its flaws,

2. I just got a new home computer and decided not to spend the money on a copy of Office and got Open Office,

3. I had problems with a corrupt Powerpoint file that were solved by opening it in Open Office when Powerpoint choked on it.

4. I discovered that Open Office graphs have some features that Excel maddenly doesn't have that are useful for science geeks like myself (the ability to label data points in XY graphs).

All things in my life are pointing to Openoffice as the way to go, keeping an old copy of Office around to handle the occasional translation issues associated with Word and Excel documents.

Rob Pegoraro: And you're saving a lot of money in the bargain.

_______________________

Arlington: I just bought the new Intel-based iMac. I tried to set it up so that my wife can use Citrix to get into her work network. When I do this, I connect, but get an error that says "Browser not supported". As it turns out, I think she might be limited to Internet Explorer. I looked into Virtual PC so that I could load Internet Explorer, but that is not supported for Intel-based iMacs. Any other options for me, or is working from home on the iMac a lost cause?

Rob Pegoraro: One of the applications that I tested on the Intel iMac was the Citrix ICA client we use here to log into our editing system remotely--and it worked perfectly, just as on a PowerPC Mac. Previous versions had occasionally coughed up that "browser not supported" nonsense, but that just meant I had to find the little .ica file in my downloads folder and double-click that in the Finder--but the latest version seems to fix that problem too.

_______________________

Arlington, VA: Rob - What do you think of the idea of buying a plasma or lcd tv on ebay, provided I bought it from someone with a lot of transactions and a 99 percent or better approval rating? It looks like I could save several hundred dollars compared to a big box retail store.

Rob Pegoraro: You could, indeed. But you have to be able to trust the eBayer selling the TV, and you also need to make sure your purchase will still be covered by the manufacturers' warranty.

_______________________

Kingstowne, VA: I use a UHF antenna to pull in over-the-air HD signals because DirecTV doesn't carry the local channels in HD. Fiddled for a while before the game but just couldn't get the antenna oriented just so last night (it's an indoor antenna....I know, an outdoor one would be better), so I said screw it and just watched the 480i picture over the satellite.

Rob Pegoraro: Here's one "it didn't work" report about off-air HD reception. FWIW, Kingstowne probably is too far to allow reliable digital reception with just an indoor antenna, no matter where you position it.

_______________________

Rockkford, MI: Rob, since you opened up the door to HDTV comments... I'm planning to buy an LCD TV 26 or 27" for a bedroom wall mount. Should I get an HDTV ready one or one that has an HDTV tuner in it?

Rob Pegoraro: Get one with a digital/ATSC tuner built in--unless, that is, you like spending more later on external components, then fussing with connecting plugs and multiple remote controls.

_______________________

Cell phones for in-laws?: Any advice on which cell phones are the best for infrequent use? We'd like to get a phone for my in-laws for emergency use (more than 911, but probably just a call or two per week).

We're Verizon Wireless customers, and we though about adding them to our plan, but that's still pretty expensive.

We thought about pay-as-you-go, but the fees seem to suck out your money. Any advice?

Rob Pegoraro: No, for that scenario I'd recommend a pre-paid plan. You'll definitely save money that way, assuming they really will only make a call or two a week.

_______________________

Vienna, VA: What do you know about "gaim"? A friend recommended it as a way to have IM without all the ads and other garbage; but I went to the website and it seems a little more "techy" than I'm comfortable with. Is gaim suitable for the mainstream home user? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: It is--it's the default IM program on my desktop at work. If you start customizing it or trying to use features like file transfer, you probably will find it a little too geek-oriented, but for basic text IM it's fine. My only real gripe with it is the annoying way it "steals focus"--when somebody starts chatting with you, the chat window vaults to the front of every other window, regardless of what you were doing. One of these days, I'm going to IM somebody a password by mistake as a result.

_______________________

Portland OR: Rob: Keep up the good work. If you're ready for a break from the flood of "post- computer show" questions, I see lots of digital cameras on sale after holidays. Are big improvement, or just new models with more pixels, + other bells/whistles? Put another way, is there reasons to postpone a purchase to wait for some notable improvement in the spring?

In the 5-meg camera range, what are your current guidelines to direct a person who does not have other digital devices? Across that 5-meg size, is Cannon slightly better than the others? It appears that size drives price, which I understand, but is there another important element to consider?

Thnx!

Rob Pegoraro: I saw quite a few new and upcoming digital cameras at both CES and Macworld, but many of them only offer incremental improvements--like, the LCD goes from 2.5 inches to 3 inches across. There are, however, two features that seem likely to get wide adoption over the next year: in-camera editing software to do things like fix red-eyes before you even transfer the photos to a computer, and digital or optical image stabilization to steady your shots.

The first feature doesn't do much for me, but I'm the kind of person who spends way too much time in photo-album software already. The second, however, is something that I'd wait for before replacing my own digicam (which will be three years old this June).

_______________________

Charlottesville, VA: Watched the game on a friend's 61" Sony (?), watched HD over the air from Richmond, when the wind blew we watched the analog feed from the local ABC affiliate since they don't broadcast in HD yet.

Rob Pegoraro: That's an impressive feat of reception. But why is your ABC affiliate so benighted as to not offer HD? That's really lame...

_______________________

Spring. Texas: Which new digital cameras will have a viewfinder? The move to eliminate the viewfinder is shortsighted in my opinion. Sole dependence on tiny screens will chew up batteries much too fast.

Orin

Rob Pegoraro: Sorry, that's another trend that seems to be growing in popularity among digital cameras.

_______________________

Alexandria, VA: I'm curious about the Treo 700W's RAM spec. I know that some Dell X50 users upgraded to Windows Mobile 5 and found that even with the generous (by WM2003 standards)system hardware, the WM5 enhancements were offset enough by its requirements that they chose to back down to the older OS and get the speed and flexibility back. I think the Treo's a neat device, but I can't help wondering if the thing just needs more RAM to run to its potential. I'm a Windows Mobile convert, btw...my X30 offered so much more for the money than anything Palm had, and lately I'm using the thing for GPS navigation as well.

Rob Pegoraro: The memory-settings screen on the Treo 700, with just ActiveSync running, shows that I've got just under 10 MB of program memory free, of the 25 total available for my use. That's why I did have to use the "stop program" shortcut reasonably often.

As for program/data storage, the 700w lists 63 MB total, of which 33 and change is free after I'd installed a handful of third-party programs.

_______________________

Monvovia: I have a question about sizing a TV display. Our 27" is, in fact, too small for the room we're using. We're viewing from about 12-14 feet, depending on where we're sitting. Crutchfield suggests 55" or more for that distance: are they just trying to sell a bigger display? A 42" Plasma in the store seems to look pretty good when I back up 12 feet or so.

What do you recommend?

Rob Pegoraro: There are actual formulas to measure this, and the ones I've seen would agree with Crutchfield's recommendation. 12 to 14 feet is a long ways off for TV viewing--I'm amazed you found a 27-inch analog set acceptable at all over that kind of distance.

_______________________

Washington, DC: I have a PowerBook G4 (3 years old) and I am very good about downloading security updates from Apple. What else should I be doing to maximize the security of the computer, especially when using a wireless connection in a public place (e.g. Starbucks, Tryst, etc.). I've been told that an Apple is very secure, but I'm not sure whether I'm using all available security features.

Rob Pegoraro: Make sure the OS X firewall is on (by default it's not). Go to System Preferences, then click the Sharing icon.

_______________________

Alexandria, VA: Hi. I recently purchased an HDTV and had a cable card installed. I had an HD card installed by Comcast and the picture looks great. However, I've noticed some problems despite the new equipment:

1. The voices and the pictures on the HD channels do not always match up. It is like watching a poorly dubbed movie. Comcast replaced the HD card, but ultimately said that is a problem with current HDTV broadcast technology. Is this true? (there is no problem w/the regular channels or when I play a DVD).

2. The picture on my old CRT TV seems to be better for the analog networks (the HDTV is a little fuzzier and not as crisp).

What gives??

Rob Pegoraro: The first issue is a problem with some HD sets, but not with HDTV in general. (I've seen complaints along this line at the AVSforum.com site and in e-mail from readers, but in numbers small enough to suggest that it's a problem that a lot of vendors have either avoided or fixed in newer models.)

The second one is the case with a lot of flat-panel--that is, non-CRT--displays. There's not much you can do about that except watch less analog TV...

_______________________

Washington, DC: I'm considering buying an Apple Ibook (the base model in their three model lineup). I am not a power user with huge memory/processor needs, just your regular internet/music/photos-type user. Is it better to get the current model (with the G4 Power PC) for which all the bugs have been worked out, or wait for Apple to release it w/the new intel chip, which holds the promise of future software options and potentially less heat/more battery life?

Rob Pegoraro: Like George Clooney's character kept saying in "Syriana": It's complicated. An existing iBook should be fast enough for the uses you mentioned, so it's not like you'd see a huge benefit from an Intel-based model. But: The basic iBook design has been around for quite a few years now, so I wouldn't be surprised if Apple rolled out something new to go with the new processor. It could be thinner, it could be lighter, it could have a bigger or wider screen, it would probably have a built-in iSight webcam. Oh, and it might cost less too--unless it doesn't.

I have no idea what battery life would be on this hypothetical machine, or when it would arrive. The smart money seems to have its schedule tied to the release of Intel's Core Solo laptop chip--the single-core version of the processor used in the iMac and the MacBook Pro. That's supposedly happening next month.

Your safest course of action might be to hold onto your wallet for another month.

_______________________

Troy, NY: Rob -- your review of WordPerfect X3 seemed brutal, to say the least. But it was also nasty and somewhat nonspecific. C'mon, what do you have against WordPerfect? I think the market leader needs some competition, don't you?

Rob Pegoraro: Me too, and it's getting much more effective competition from OpenOffice. That said, I'm not going to give somebody a pass just because they are trying to compete with the dominant product in the market.

I thought my writeup was more than specific enough--to the point where I even critiques the file dialog boxes in the thing. Yes, I did express some exasperation with Corel towards the end. But you've gotta remember, as I was doing this review I kept running into problems that I critized when I reviewed WordPerfect 11, three years ago.

_______________________

NW DC: Re: Kingstown viewup who is upset at Direct TV for not carrying locals in locals on HD. Direct TV has started MPEG-4 broadcasts of local in local. But you need a new 5 LMB Dish which weighs 32 pounds and a new H-20 receiver. Local HD via satellite has also proven buggy--in fact I am waiting for a Direct TV technician for the 13th time in 2 months. Ask for it, but suffer the wrath of unreliable installers.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the update, NW. I've been wondering how DirecTV's local-HDTV-channels rollout was proceeding--I know they offer the service here, but I hadn't heard much about it beyond that. Could you e-mail me afterwards with your details? (rob at twp . com)

_______________________

Washington, DC: Hi, Rob. I always enjoy your chats and newsletters. Have you checked out the Humax? It combines Tivo with a DVR. It sounds like an ideal all-in-one system but I'm wondering how well it works. Do you or any of the chatters kwow?

Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: I think you meant to say "DVD recorder," not "DVR." I haven't used it myself, but I haven't heard anything bad about it either. If I were going to get TiVo, I would get the Humax model over all the others: I don't like having my recording stranded on a DVR's hard drive.

_______________________

Los Angeles, CA: In your article, "WordPerfect's Unlucky 13th Edition Is Full of Pitfalls," you wrote:

quote:

WordPerfect also stumbled badly at the unavoidable task of reading and writing in Microsoft Word formats. It couldn't even open some Word documents, incorrectly saying they were in an "unknown file format," then couldn't preserve moderately busy page layouts when saving files in Word format.

end

Are you aware that unless a Word user has upgraded to Word2003, that he or she might not be able to open a Word2003 DOC file using their copy of Word97 or Word2000 due to Microsoft having effected changes to its proprietary DOC file format with each successive release, including Word2000, Word2002 and Word2003 so that Word users must use Wordpad to open Word2003 files, and then copy and paste text from the Word2003 document to Word97 or Word2000?

What "moderately busy page layouts" in documents created using WPX3 did you attempt in using Word to save in WP format? Assuming that you did perform such tests, what were the results when the Word document saved in WP format was opened using WPX3? For the sake of clarity, by "moderately busy page layouts," would you please explain/exactly/what you meant?

Rob Pegoraro: Sorry, but the "It's all Microsoft's fault" doesn't convince me--OpenOffice didn't have any problem opening these files.

As for the moderately busy layouts, one was a resume that used text boxes to position headings for each job title. The others involved text over watermarked images (the watermark somehow became a comment link in Word format, even though the Word format allows watermarks and background graphics).

_______________________

Annapolis, MD: I watched the Super Bowl in HD using an over the air tuner and a cheap radio shack antenna mounted in my attic.

We tuned to WJLA in D.C., which for some reason was a stronger signal than the nearer ABC affiliate in Baltimore. In any event, the reception was pretty good, until halftime, when the picture would intermittently freeze up. We watched the rest of the game using standard cable.

Rob Pegoraro: Eh, the halftime show was nothing special anyway :)

_______________________

Rockville, Md.: Rob -- thanks for all your great advice on HDTVs. I finally got a plasma last week and love it! I've been using an older progressive scan DVD player, and the picture quality seems fine. Should I bother shelling out for an upconverting DVD player, wait until the "DVD HD vs. Blu-Ray" war ends, or neither?

Rob Pegoraro: No, don't spend a cent on either of those formats until one of them has died.

As an interim step, you might want to look at getting an "upconverting" DVD player that will electronically enhance the DVD's picture to HDTV resolution. It's not the same thing as starting with an HD source, but it just might be good enough. And it doesn't require you to play venture capitalist when deciding which of two incompatible formats to bank on.

_______________________

Arlington, VA: Rob,

I plan to get an Ipod or something similar and am having trouble sorting out all of the differences - esp. battery issues, formats and ease of use. Basically, I want something to primarily play music, that will last a while (both durability and format compatability), and is easy to use. Currently I only have around 300 mp3 files. Any advice? What other models should I look at?

thanks

Rob Pegoraro: Get an iPod nano--the 2 GB model should be all you need.

_______________________

Washington, DC: I own a Dell laptop that will be 5 years-old this August. I loaded it up when I bought it, to the point that it can keep up ok now (256mg of ram, 20 gig hard drive). It works great, though I'm worried about the monitor giving out. How do I know when it's time to upgrade to a newer laptop versus continuing to load my current laptop with cards, usb-enabled devices, and external hard drives?

Rob Pegoraro: Well, you don't have enough memory to run Windows 2000 or XP with any acceptable speed. Upgrading that would help a lot. The hard drive is also too small, and I don't think an external drive is a great solution for a laptop.

If you can keep the laptop limping around until Windows Vista ships--Microsoft says it's still on track to ship for the holiday season--then you can consider getting a new machine with the new operating system preinstalled.

_______________________

Alexandria, VA: WordPerfect X3? I mean hey, I took 5 years of Latin, but outside of, say, the Super Bowl (which I think about 50% thought was just "extra large" this year), does anyone use roman numerals? And why mix them with arabic numerals?

Also, a long-suffering WP'er myself, at what point can we file a false advertising complaint against a company that, despite 13 tries, still is nowhere near "perfect?"

Bob

Rob Pegoraro: The next version will use binary math to indicate the version number--it'll be WordPerfect 1110.

_______________________

Washington, DC: Do I wait for the reported new Treos to come out or just bite the bullet and buy a 650?

Rob Pegoraro: If you assume a new Palm OS Treo will include the same data services as the 700--Verizon's BroadbandAccess, or a comparable thing from Sprint or whoever--you also have to assume it will come with the same "buy the full data plan or get no discount" provision. I, myself, am not willing to do that--I just don't spend that much time online, and I find the slower access on the Tro 650 is fine for my own limited use.

_______________________

Wilmette IL: I am going on an extended trip and have purchased various DVD videos. Is there a recommended and legal method for copying those DVDs onto my notebook so I do not have carry disks?

Rob Pegoraro: "Legal"? IANAL, but the Digital Millennium Copyright Act would prohibit you from using software to break the encryption on DVDs to make those copies. However, I think the DMCA may be the worst piece of technology law to ever emerge from Congress. I also fail to see how it should ever be a crime to use things that you own. So: On the PC, try DVD Shrink (www.dvdshrink.org). On a Mac, try HandBrake (handbrake.m0k.org)

_______________________

Cleveland Park: Linksys Router Question.

Had the network working for awhile with our ibook and dell laptop but now the dell does not even see the router, though it does see others in our apartment building. I was filtering mac addresses, but turned that off and that didn't help. Linksys router is Version 4. Router is hooked to our RCN dsl modem.

Any ideas of where to look next? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: I would start by simplifying the software on the Dell laptop. If it's like most, yours probably has an extra layer of software to control the WiFi adapter. Turn that off by opening the Network Connections window (go through the Control Panel's Network and Internet Connections heading to get there), right-clicking your wireless connection's icon, and then checking the box that has Windows controlling your wireless settings. Then try using that software to get the network reset.

_______________________

Arlington, VA: Rob,

I'm surprised that more commercials weren't broadcat in HD. Especially with the cash they're shelling out, you'd think that advertisers would be aware of the added impact and push for it. Do you know how much more expensive it is to produce HD content?

Rob Pegoraro: HD production hardware isn't cheap, I'll tell you that much. For advertisers--who, unlike broadcasters, don't get to claim any sort of mantle of technology leadership by airing stuff in HD--it's a profit-or-loss issue. I suspect that ads for high-dollar products and high-tech items in general are more likely to get the HD treatment.

_______________________

Savage MD: Rob, more a comment directed at your readers than anything else:

I tried two different kinds of those plug-into-the-cigarette-lighter FM transmitters to listen to MP3's in my car. They worked terrible.

So, I replaced my CD deck with one that plays MP3's, and I'm happy as a clam in mud.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Savage

_______________________

Arlington, VA: security question for you--

I have ZoneAlarm firewall and Norton AntiVirus, but I'm concerned about my Internet connection always showing traffic, both incoming and outgoing, even when I don't have a browser open. And judging by the blinking lights on my modem, data's still being swapped even when my PC is turned off.

Should I disable my Internet connection when I'm not online? Or am I being paranoid?

Rob Pegoraro: I'd put it this way: If your PC *is* infected, it won't make any difference whether you leave it online all the time or not. What you should do is run a full spyware scan with a program like Microsoft Anti-Spyware, Spybot Search & Destroy or the trial version of Webroot's Spy Sweeper. If you don't turn up any evidence of spyware, you're probably fine. Remember, an infection-free computer can still send data up and down even with no programs open--it will be looking for updates and syncing the computer's clock to "time servers," for instance.

_______________________

Ebay comment from Daniel Greenberg: There's another gotcha I almost got bitten by while trying to buy a pricey 24" PC monitor at a discount on Ebay.

If there is a warrantee, it often starts not when YOU buy it, but when the Ebay seller bought it. If they bought it some time ago, you could end up losing a substantial portion of your warrantee-- very important for relatively high-failure rate items like plasma TVs in this current climate of downsized warrantees.

In my case, the savings did not offset the severe warantee shrinkage. For pricey items I prefer stores with liberal return policies, like Costco.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks! An excellent tip from one of our regular contributors.

_______________________

Los Angeles, Ca: Hey Rob,

So, when Firefox first announced the upgrade to version 1.5 I waited a few days and didn't see any major problems mentioned, so I upgraded.

I immediately had a problem with images attached to emails I opened in 'gmail' via Firefox. None of the images 'appeared' when I would open an email - the logo from the Washington Post, say.

So I reverted to using Firefox 1.0.x and everything was back to normal.

Over the weekend I tried the upgrade again, this time Firefox 1.5.1. Now I get some of the images in an email, but not all of them. For example accessing your newsletter everythings seems to come up fine from the Washington Post.

But another newsletter I get each morning from Publishers Weekly, I don't get the 'Publishers Weekly' image at the beginning of the email.

And my daily Morningstar email is missing some, but not all of the images.

Is this the originating sites problem? And it's better than is was the first time because I upgraded because these sites have made some effort to make their sites Firefox compatible?

I do have the pop-up blocker on, but that usually never was a problem with the name of a site before.

(OSX 4.4.3)

Thanks,

Tom

Rob Pegoraro: Hate saying this, but--well, I haven't seen any of those problems in any version of Firefox 1.5. Have you cleared your browser cache? Trashing your cookies might also be another fix.

_______________________

Palo Alto, CA: Hi Rob-i appreciate your column and your sound advice over the years. I have a question about how to enhance the wifi signal that a Mac Powerbook receives when one does not have control over the router/access point sending the signal. For example, Hawking Technology makes a handheld product that purportedly both (1) spots and measures the strength of signals, and (2) boosts the signal via a USB cable to the connected computer. Questions: Do gizmos like this work as advertised? Are there other ways to accomplish my objective. Many thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: I've heard of those things, but haven't tried any of them myself. You wouldn't be needing this hardware because you're taking a neighbor's signal without paying for it, would you?

_______________________

Baffled in Bowie: I use a Airport-enabled Powerbook via a D-Link wireless set up and have Comcast cable internet. When my brother came to visit, he used his PC laptop and discovered that there are four signals coming into my home. He recommended that I have a password on my wireless internet. I never felt I needed to do so, since I know my neighbors, or at least I thought I did. Needless to say, I have noticed slow downs in service (1.5mbps, as opposed to the usual 3 or so even during peak times).

I first tried to enable WEP 128-bit encryption, and increased several settings on the router, in the hope that I would gain more use of the available broadband signal, but noticed that my internet would work in spurts and some sites took forever to load, in addition to there being severe lag when on AOL. I went back to 64-bit and regained some speed but noticed that I would lose my wireless connection even though the modem says that I have the service.

After experiencing the above, I reset the modem to factory defaults, by pushing in the reset button with a pin and noticed probably a 90% gain, but not 100% or normalcy with my internet. I'm not sure what else to do since I thought I reverted back to my previous state.

My DLink model is RI-624 and it has the latest firmware (6-03). There is a beta update (12/05) but since it is beta, I am hesitant to use it.

Any ideas on how to fix my problem? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: I wouldn't run the beta firmware update either--firmware updates run amok can seriously damage hardware.

WEP encryption does impose a certain amount of overhead, but not on the order you're seeing. What are these other "several settings" you tweaked on the router?

_______________________

Fairfax, VA: Hi Rob, I have heard that we are going to have new Microsoft OS during this year. If I want to buy new compter, is it better to wait for new operating system or I can buy one with the current MS operating system? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Faifax is thinking of Windows Vista, mentioned earlier in this chat. Most relatively new Windows PCs should have enough disk space, memory and processor for Vista--but most of them won't have a robust enough graphics card. That will mean you'll get a slightly degraded version of Vista's interface, devoid of a lot of nifty-looking transparency and 3-D effects. (Take a look at a Mac if you want to get an idea of what this "Aero Glass" interface is trying to achieve :)

Microsoft still hasn't published official Vista hardware guidelines, but the unofficial advice I've seen basically calls for a non-integrated graphics card with at least 64 megabytes of memory.

_______________________

I watched in OTA HD: I have Comcast HD at home but watched the game at a friend's house who has Direct TV with the OTA antenna. Even with the antenna placed in an upstairs window there were still occasional stutters when the wind came up, etc...

One other thing I noticed, and maybe it's an issue with the DirecTV receiver, was that the picture quality didn't come close to my Comcast HD. On mine I can see individual blades of turf. Watching the OTA signal it almost looked like it was half-HD.

We have comprable tv's. Any other reasons for this other than the receivers?

Rob Pegoraro: The satellite broadcasters compress their HD signals, sometimes heavily. You were probably seeing that side effect.

_______________________

Hermosa Beach, CA: Greetings from the Left Coast Rob! Another sunny day out here...

Watched the Super Bowl on a high-end 52" Pioneer Plasma with the local cable. Great picture, but noticed an occasional transmission hiccup. Now, if only the game and commercials had been as good...

Rob Pegoraro: HD or analog, it's still all about the content

_______________________

Grayling, MI: Do you have any advice for problems with customer service? I have a 2.5 year old dell laptop that has alread had its motherboard replcaed for a charging issue. I am now having the same problem and Dell is insisting I pay for the new repair. I don't think a computer should need a new motherboard every year, and even if I get it fixed, what's keeping it from breaking again? I am very exasperated, I have made at least a dozen phone calls and many many emails but can't get any help.

Rob Pegoraro: So the new motherboard didn't have its own warranty--it's only covered by the first mb's warranty? Then it's up to your own ability to be a polite pest to Dell; you've gotta keep arguing your case and getting it kicked higher up the org chart.

_______________________

Bethesda, MD: Watched the Super Bowl with an over the air (OTA) signal via a rooftop antenna in Bethesda, MD. Crystal clear and no dropouts. Signal fed into a stand alone digital tuner and then to a front projector to a 90" screen. Lot's of "Wow!" remarks.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Bethesda.

_______________________

Fairfax, VA: I thought WordPerfect 5.1 (for DOS) was, in many ways, as close to "perfect" as any word processor has ever been. You could manipulate the document in just about every conceivable way and it just about NEVER crashed.

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, but it was for DOS and you couldn't do any real formatting of text as a result. And if I had to fire that up now, I'd have flashbacks to my long-ago days as an intern. I'm not sure I need that...

_______________________

Akihabara, Japan: Rob:

I am going to Tokyo in a few weeks - what should I be on the look out that will blow my mind in terms of consumer electronics?

Rob Pegoraro: I don't know--it's been too long since I've been to the Electric Town! Enjoy your trip...

_______________________

OTA HD via Sony KDXS955 36" CRT: Now, let me translate for the rest of the class:

I watched the game in HD on my 36" regular set (the Sony KDXS955 w/a built in HD tuner) via an over the air signal in Chantilly. Except for a few audio issues (where it sounded muffled) it was great.

Even better was that I was able to pause it (on my DirecTV Tivo) and catch up after putting the kids to bed before half-time. I was able to catch up within the first five or so minutes of the third quarter.

That said, why does the pixelation on large screens (via satellite) have to suck so much?!? It's very noticeable, even from 20' across the room!

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the detailed report--with translation, even! Rooftop antenna, attic or indoor?

_______________________

Silver Spring, MD: I decided to wait to upgrade to Firefox 1.5. However I don't ever remember Firefox letting me know a new version was out (ie via the update icon). Did I miss the reminder?

If there isn't one, a user wouldn't know there was a new version out unless they were up to speed.

Rob Pegoraro: That's why the new version has a new update system, one that finds and installs the update automatically. (It worked exactly as planned with all my copies of the browser; each looked for, downloaded and installed the new 1.5.0.1 update)

_______________________

Rockville, Maryland: Rob:

I am really upset with the latest rebate I tried to get from Dell. When they got my form they "mis directed" it and then generated a second form. Then they said tha they could not pay since I had two request in the sytem. Well, of course I did - because they generated one. Is in Dell in enough trouble to want to skin its customers?

Rob Pegoraro: There's a saying about not attributing to evil what can more easily be explained by incompetence. I think that may be applicable in your case, which looks like the usual "right hand, meet left hand" sort of organizational malfunction.

_______________________

Charlottesville, VA: The local ABC affiliate here (along with CBS and Fox, all working from the same facility) launched about 18 months ago. We're something like the 186th-largest media market, and we have 4 network affiliates (5 with PBS). Only NBC and PBS currently broadcast in HD here.

Rob Pegoraro: More about HDTV in C-ville. Thanks...

_______________________

Los Angeles, CA: Can we discuss whether you conducted any tests as to the ability of WPX3 to open documents created using previous versions of WP as far back as, say, WPWin 6.1? If so, what were your findings?

Rob Pegoraro: I did not. One, I didn't have any WP documents of that vintage. Two, most home users will spend far more time opening and editing Microsoft Office documents--that's just how the world is. (I tested OpenOffice according to the same standard; like it or not, we live in a Microsoft Office world.)

_______________________

Grayling, MI: The motherboard did come with a year waranty, it just expired about 2 weeks before the problem came back. I guess I'll just keep trying to get through,

Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: Convenient, that timing...

_______________________

Lovell, Maine: If you ask for the City and State, why do you publish text from persons who refuse to follow the rules?

I do not see any information as to how long this "on line discussion" is supposed to last. Is it one hour, two hours, or what?

I submitted a specific question earlier about the envelop feature in WordPerfect and saw no consideration. Why?

Rob-Clearly you have not run into the problem of being totally unable to find out why WORD is having format problems because it does not have the "View Code" option like WordPerfect. It is hard enough to fix certain things in WordPerfect when you can view the code in a box at the bottom of the screen. I have finally had to copy all the WORD text of a document into a WP document so I could repair some problem or other. I will never rely completely on WORD. Comment?

AND, do any of the PDF conversion programs work and allow one to convert a PDF file, make additions or enter responses to questions, and then convert it back to PDF or does one have to purchase Acrobat by Adobe (at $600 or so) to do that? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Cranky, aren't we, Lovell?

Yes, being able to open and edit PDFs is convenient. But how often does anybody actually need to do that--and how often can you get the job done just by copying the text you need out of the PDF?

I didn't mention Reveal Codes because I didn't run into any occasion where I needed it. The menu commands and toolbar items were good enough to dress up text as I wanted--as it should be. Reveal Codes made a lot more sense in the days of WP for DOS, when you couldn't display any formatting onscreen at all.

_______________________

Arlington: Rob,

What's YOUR TV setup? You must have very specific likes and dislikes, so what do you shell out your money for?

Rob Pegoraro: Ha! I am still soldiering along with my pathetic old, non-flat-front Zenith. This set dates to the first Clinton administration. It's small and it looks pretty bad, but it still works, which means I can continue to hold off on an HDTV purchase and watch prices come down. (We're not big TV watchers at home anyway, and as a Nats and Hoyas fan I often have to turn to the radio to "watch" a lot of games :)

_______________________

Grayling, MI: Clarification on the HD audio/video sync. Is that problem you saw in the television sets themselves or in the receiver? I have an HDTV without the internal receiver and get my signal from Cable.

Rob Pegoraro: It can be in either one, AFAIK.

BTW, for those wondering when this chat is finally going to end, the answer is "in five minutes." I did miss a week, so I'm trying to catch up on things.

_______________________

Washington DC: For Arlington:

Citrix will work. You just have to experiment some. Try launching from Firefox - 99 times out of 100, if Safari can't do something, Firefox can. The other is, find the launch.ica file; do a 'get info' on it, and change the default 'open with' application to Citrix.

It's all a bit of a headache, and proper support is hard to come by, but you should be able to sort all of this out.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the tip, WDC

_______________________

Mclean VA: Rob,

Is there a total portable music solution yet? Something with Bluetooth-like capability, so I could listen my portable music player on my earphone, then when I walk into home or my car, it will play over the speakers?

Rob Pegoraro: Nope, not yet--well, not that I know of.

_______________________

Bethesda, Maryland: Could you remind us of the date when all television signals will be in HD? When that happens, will we be able to drop the extra premium we pay to (for example) Comcast for the HD channels? For those of us who have HD TVs, what will change and what will stay the same? Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: Around D.C., all the local channels have HD feeds, but the WB and UPN signals are really underpowered--I couldn't pull them in at all with either the RCA set or the Dish Network DVR's digital-TV tuners. But you should be able to get all the others now.

_______________________

Los Angeles, CA: You mentioned in your response to Troy, NY, in connection with his comments about your review of WPX3 in the article, WordPerfect's Unlucky 13th Edition Is Full of Pitfalls," that as you were doing the review, you "kept running into problems that -you had criticized] when -you] reviewed WordPerfect 11, three years ago." Were you reviewing WP11 using one of the "light" versions of WP, such as one of the OEM versions sold by Dell that do not include various third-party components for which royalties must be paid so that it might be sold for a reduced price, such as a copy of WP11 that excludes QuickFinder or the Inso (Stellent) Outside In Viewer Technology, component/only/only in/retail/copies of WP11, as is the case in WP12 and WPX3? Exactly what were the problems that you encountered when reviewing WP11 that you found when you reviewed WPX3?

Rob Pegoraro: Each time I've looked at WP, I've tested the non-OEM version--what people would buy if they picked it up in a store.

Here are just two problems I saw in WP 11 that are still around: the text-selection problems in Presentation, and the lack of UI consistency between Quattro Pro and WordPerfect.

_______________________

Los Angeles, CA: In response to my previous question re a comment you made in your article, "WordPerfect's Unlucky 13th Edition Is Full of Pitfalls," about your finding that --

quote:

WordPerfect ... stumbled badly at the unavoidable task of reading and writing in Microsoft Word formats. It couldn't even open some Word documents, incorrectly saying they were in an "unknown file format," then couldn't preserve moderately busy page layouts when saving files in Word format. end

-- you responded that:

quote:

"It's all Microsoft's fault" doesn't convince me--OpenOffice didn't have any problem opening these files. end

I don't blame Microsoft for anything and I am not a Corel apologist. I understood that you were reviewing WPX3 against Microsoft Office and by extension OpenOffice, but the questions I asked you had to do with how the Word97, Word2000, Word2002 user must use Wordpad (or even OpenOffice!) to open a Word2003 DOC file that he or she cannot open using their copy of Word due to the DOC format being an "unknown file format" to their copy of Word, whereas someone that uses WPWin 6.1, WP7, WP8, WP9, WP10, WP11 or WP12 experiences no difficulty whatsoever in opening documents created using WPX3. While it is apparent that Word is your word processor of choice, is it not unfair to make such comments about WPX3 as if they do not apply equally to Word or to imply something about Word's DOC file format that isn't true when such documents are open in other versions of Word which no one ever experiences using/any/version of WP from WPWin 6.1 through WPX3? I admit not understanding what your response --

quote:

"It's all Microsoft's fault" doesn't convince me--OpenOffice didn't have any problem opening these files. end

-- meant or how you intended it be applied in response to this question in particular. Would you care to elaborate please on what you meant by this response?

Rob Pegoraro: This is a long post, so I'll try to keep my reply short.

1) Word is not my word processor choice. On the Mac, I don't have a real choice. On Windows, I use OpenOffice half the time.

2) The ability to read files created with a new version of a program in an older version is nice and a point in Corel's favor, but--in case you missed this before--*it's not about the moral virtues of Corel relative to those of Microsoft.* It's about whether Corel's product holds it own as a replacement for Microsoft's.

_______________________

RE: OTA HD via Sony KDXS955 36" CRT antenna: That was captured via an in-attic antenna. I get pretty much all HD signals in the area except for 20 and 22 (but I'm not sure about 32 or 50).

The only downfall of not having it (HD feed) via satellite is that I can't Tivo the signal w/o shelling out some cash.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks!

_______________________

Rob Pegoraro: That's all, folks! Thanks for all the questions--I should be back here in a couple of weeks.

_______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.