Personal Tech

The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro was online Thursday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss recent reviews and answer your personal tech questions.

This week, Rob launches his new blog and writes about browsing the web on your mobile device in Missing the Little Picture.

The transcript follows.

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Rob Pegoraro: Hello, all, and welcome to the personal-tech chat. What should we talk about today?

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Washington, D.C.: Any plans to write a review of Windows Live OneCare and its viability as a security suite? (Sorry if you've already done so and I missed it...)

Rob Pegoraro: I did, last year: The Price Is Right, Security Imperfect

I think the case for OneCare is even weaker if you've got Vista, since that includes most of OneCare's features--a backup utility, phishing screening, parental controls and a "two-way" firewall that can block outgoing traffic.

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Falls Church, Va.: I have a CD-ROM stuck in its drive. The power supply on my computer failed recently, and I turned the whole tower on its side at one point in the course of replacing it. The CD-ROM was in there during this jostling and has apparently slipped out of place just enough that the computer can still recognize the CD-ROM, but the door won't open up, either for the eject button or the paper-clip hole. The computer is self-built, so I have no problem removing the drive, but do I have any way of saving the drive, or do I have to pry it open brutally and then replace it with a new DVD drive?

Rob Pegoraro: Ouch. I... don't know. Does anybody have any ideas for how to save FC's CD-ROM drive?

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Vienna, Va.: Another product that is useful in phone web browsing is Opera Mini. It combines a better browser than most phones' built-in browser with fetching content through its proxy and reformatting it for the small screen. And I couldn't agree more with your point on the small screens forcing web designers to focus on the core utility of the site instead of making it look pretty.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the suggestion! (Opera Mini is at mini.opera.com)

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Washington, D.C.: I am not able to install Service Pack 2 on my machine (XP home). Also I can't install other downloadable programs such as Firefox, sometimes updates don't install, and I get numerous script errors. What do you think is wrong? Disk check doesn't find any errors.

Rob Pegoraro: I think your copy of Windows is toast. If you can't even install Firefox--one of the simplest, least intrusive installs you'll find in all of Windows-dom--there's something deeply rotten with your system. At worst, your computer is overrun by spyware and viruses and has been spreading malware to other machines for some time now.

You'll hate me for this advice, but: Back up your data, then use the computer's system-recovery partition or CD (whichever it has) to wipe out the existing setup and install everything from scratch.

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Washington, D.C.: hi Rob - love your work - what do you think about the comcast digital voice product - they have some aggressive bundles and pricing - what do you know about it and about the quality. I am iffy about letting comcast have my phone service? thoughts? thanks, AG

Rob Pegoraro: I haven't tried it myself; I haven't been a Comcast customer for about three years now, since we switched to satellite TV at home (lowering our TV budget substantially as a result).

he thing to watch out for with Comcast pricing is that the company only lists the promotional cost--not what you'll pay after that term expires. I have probably received 30 pounds' worth of Comcast flyers in the mail over the last three years, and not one has ever listed the real, non-promotional price.

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D.C. desk jockey: Rob-Guru, my guru, what's the best (cheapest) way to get MS Word for a new iMac? The Apple store seems too pricey. Note: All I need is word. I don't want Quicken or anything else.

Rob Pegoraro: You can get the Student and Teacher Edition of Office for $100 and change on Amazon (name aside, anybody can buy it, and the license terms permit just about any home user to run it... that's why Microsoft renamed this the "Home and Student Edition" in Office 2007).

You could spend less than that if you only need a word processor that can read/write Word files. Look at Nisus Writer, $45 at nisus.com. If even that is too much, you could try the Mac version of the open-source, Word-compatible AbiWord: abisource.com.

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Rockville, Md.: CD drive? If I am not missing something - take the drive out of the computer and use the tiny hole (paper clip) to eject. Then put it back so it fits.

Rob Pegoraro: Nope, the poster already tried that. The disc is physically stuck inside the drive.

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St. Petersburg, Fla.: Rob - now that the Windows Vista release is out of the way, let's talk about something really important - OS X Leopard. Any firmer release date yet? I'm running an older iMac, a 1 GHz PowerPC G4 with the original OS X 10.2.8 software. Will I be able to upgrade to Leopard? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Without a release date more specific than "spring" or system requirements for OS X 10.5, I can't answer either question for sure. But I would guess "no sooner than March" and "yes, provided you add more memory."

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Potomac, Md.: I've never used a bluetooth device but I am looking for a bluetooth headset for a Razr cell phone. What features should I pay attention to? Any models testing better than others? Thanks for taking my questions.

Rob Pegoraro: Battery life has to be the most important feature. Otherwise--well, if you must know, I've never bought a Bluetooth headset. I'm just that much of a stick-in-the-mud, I guess.

Bluetooth types, can you suggest what Potomac should look for?

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digetal local tv: Rob, when you talk about the local channel going digital you keep saying there will be three channels for each station. How do you know? is this a technical limitation or an FCC one. Also will each station 4, 5, 7, 9, 20 actually have three stations?

Rob Pegoraro: Don't know where you're getting this three-channels idea--I've never said that. Digital stations *can* send out multiple channels if they want, but there's no obligation for them to do that. Around here, some only offer one digital channel (Fox, I think), some offer two (NBC, CBS), some three (ABC) and some four (WETA).

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Fairfax, Va.: Rob, Can you confirm something for me? It's my understanding that, in spite of using the word "synching," that iPod and computer (PC or Mac) are a one way street- your iPod gets what is in iTunes on your computer and the computer gets nothing back from the iPod in terms of songs or anything else.

Rob Pegoraro: It's more like a 1.5-way street in the current version of iTunes: It will sync iTunes Store purchases both ways, but all other stuff can only be sent from the computer to the iPod.

But: Check in Sunday's paper (and online) for a Help File item that explains how you can extract everything off an iPod if you really need to.

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CD help: This happened to me w/ my 5-disk changer when I had to move it. Take the drive out of the pc, and then jostle and joggle and thwack and bounce it around until the CD shifts around enough to do a manual paper-clip eject. Start gently, and then get more violent until problem is solved.

Rob Pegoraro: There's many times when I've felt like getting more violent with malfunctioning hardware--though I've never actually taken a hammer or an axe to any of it. (Yet.)

Thanks for the tip!

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Bowie, Md.: I'm being forced to give up my Win98 machine because Turbo Tax is not offering a CD version of their tax software for 2006 returns, although I can do my taxes online on their site with Win98, which I do not want to do. Therefore, I must buy a Vista machine before the taxes are due, but I've heard that we should buy a Vista machine only after the first update has been released. Suggestions?

Rob Pegoraro: If you're going to stick with Windows, you could buy a refurbished XP machine at closeout or you can take your chances with Vista. (I don't recommend trying to put XP on your Win 98 box... you won't be happy with the result.)

You could also get a Mac; there's a Mac version of TurboTax that seems pretty much equivalent with the Windows version.

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Washington, D.C.: Can a bluetooth device automatically utilize Wi-fi?. I have an older Palm Pilot which can accept a bluetooth card. I am wondering if this will allow me to access public Wi-Fi hot spots

Rob Pegoraro: Nope. Bluetooth and WiFi use some of the same frequencies but have nothing else in common.

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Chicago, Ill.: Just picked up the new Airport Extreme to replace a very old 802.11(b) Linksys router. I use a PC wired into a LAN port and an ibook connected wirelessly with the Airport Extreme. Since I switched routers, Zone Alarm will occasionally block my internet access on the PC. Zone Alarm is clearly the issue, because if I turn it off and turn on Microsoft's firewall, the problem goes away. Is there any explanation for this, or should I just use Microsoft's firewall?

Rob Pegoraro: How do you like the new AirPort? I'm looking forward to trying it out, once Apple can get me an Apple TV to review. (If any PR types from Cupertino are reading this: Well? How's that coming along?)

Sounds like a good reason to dump Zone Alarm to me. I've grown to like that program less and less--it seems way too high-maintenance. (As in, my brother's had to call me for help with his copy twice.)

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My 2 Cents, DC: I know PC's. Not Rob knowledge but way above average. I have become a whiz at fixing or stabilizing my Windows OS. But 5 months ago I bought a MacBook and haven't looked back. I still have a PC notebook and I use a PC at work, but given my choice, I always opt for my Mac. I hate to be a cliche, but the thing just works. My HP printer doesn't need extra software (which slows my system), my digital camera doesn't uninstall drivers for no reason and I have not had the thing crash on me once. Plus I can watch a 3 hour DVD without having to plug in. These days when friends from work ask me whether they should get a Dell or IBM, I answer "Mac".

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the $.02.

FWIW, here's my most recent "how to buy a computer" column, in which I addressed some of these issues:

Mac vs. PC: How to Decide

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Hyattsville, Md.: Hi, Rob, I'm new to your chat - so apologize if this is a really dumb question. Hubby just bought a new laptop with Vista. Unbeknownst to him, I bought hubby an iPod for Valentine's Day. My iPod-savy friends say I should wait to load iTunes on the Vista system until some more kinks are worked out. I think he'll want to get the iPod up and running right away. What do you think - is it worth waiting or does iTunes work okay on Vista right now? Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: I installed iTunes on a Vista system and didn't have any problem ripping and burning CDs and syncing it with my iPod--but Apple is now warning that users may have problems. It's issued one "repair" utility and says the next update to iTunes will have these problems fixed.

I would go ahead with iTunes; you can't hurt the iPod if the sync goes badly.

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Jack, Arlington, Va.: Your earlier question about Microsoft One. i have had it running since it came out. Now i want to throw it out. Vista and One are incompatible even when you update it to Vista. Firewalls are incompatible. When both are one, you cannot go to the internet and do anything. just a note.

Rob Pegoraro: So you're saying that in Vista, OneCare is more like... NoneCare?

Sorry. Couldn't resist that.

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Oakton, Va.: Hi Rob, We recently sent my wife's HP notebook to a Hewlett-Packard repair facility. With the paperwork, we asked that if the hard disk was replaced, that they send the old one back so we could hire a data-recovery firm. I came back very quickly with a new disk but no old one, only a tiny note saying "parts no release" (sic). We contacted HP, who told us that once the disk is removed it becomes their property and is destroyed. It certainly didn't say that one the form we filled out, or we would never have sent it.

My question is -- why did they do this? We feel violated -- a company we trusted essentially stole my wife's computer and its data. Yes, I backed it up, but that drive was our property because we paid for it, and now I have a lot of work restoring everything. Why wouldn't they have sent it back? I think I know why -- hardware is cheap, people are expensive. I wonder if they're just pulling all disks, good and bad, just to keep costs down. Wham, bam, and the customer be da---d.

I may be wrong, and I hope I am, but I can't think of any other reason they would refuse to return my old disk. Can you? Many thanks for your help.

Rob Pegoraro: Pretty much every repair under warranty involves instructions that say "back up your data, because we can't guarantee it will still be there." Companies don't want to take responsibility for it.

It seems like in your case, bureaucracy triumphed over, y'know, taking care of the customer. HP saved a few bucks by not having to return the drive, and in return has apparently lost your business forever. Sounds like a great customer-service strategy to me!

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South Riding, Va.: Rob - I am trying to figure out which video card to upgrade to in order to run the Vista Aero effects. I have a fairly old PC, Dell 4600 but it has a 3ghz processor and 3gb of RAM so I figure it should be able to handle the load of Vista. The only issue is my video card, AGP GeForceFX 128mb won't cut it. I can't find a lot of good info on the net regarding Vista Aero compatible AGP cards, any suggestions where to look or any cards that you know of that meet the specs?

Rob Pegoraro: Unless you develop graphics-card drivers for a living, you probably won't be able to figure this out on your own. Just run Microsoft's free Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor instead.

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Washington, D.C.: Me again, who couldn't install Service Pack 2. I had gotten a virus about two months ago and reinstalled windows at that time. But can't download and install service pack 2. Does this change your answer? Or are you saying that the reinstall didn't go right? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: It must not have. Are you sure the computer doesn't have any viruses or spyware on board?

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Washington, D.C.: I am using only about 11GB of my 80GB hard drive. I am thinking about buying an external drive to store a backup of my PC. I have seen some units which operate through the USB connection. Do I need an 80GB external unit to match my hard drive or will a 20GB hold my backup files. In case of a hard drive failure what steps would I take to reboot and use my backup files? Many thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: If you're only backing up your files, you need a hard drive no larger than your Documents and Settings folder is likely to get. To find this out, open My Computer, then double-click, in turn, the C:\ drive and the Documents and Settings folder. Here, you'll see at least two sub-folders, with one bearing your name or the generic term "administrator." (If you see multiple "administrator" folders, park the cursor over each one until Windows pops up the little tooltip showing its size.)

When you've found your folder, right-click it, select Properties and note the size that Windows calculators for it. Multiply that figure by 2 and you've got the backup capacity you'll need.

Have I mentioned that I HATE how Windows makes it so freakin' hard to find where your own data lives on the machine?

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Arlington: ROB: I'm an apple user and I download music from a purely legal bittorrent site that provides concerts by a certain band. Recently (suddenly), bittorrent stopped uploading. I checked the firewall settings, and they're set to allow sharing in the port used by bittorrent. So I'm thinking for some reason the ports aren't being forwarded, but I'm losing my mind trying to figure out how to forward ports for Verizon Fios' wireless modem. Is there an easy how-to available? The general portforwarding sites don't include that modem.

Also, if I open the port for bittorrent, am I exposing my whole computer to folks on the outside? I don't want people to grab other files from me so I can be accused of illegal filesharing?

Rob Pegoraro: I can answer the second question easily enough--BitTorrent isn't like most "peer to peer" programs; it doesn't automatically share anything off your hard drive, only whatever file's in the torrent you're downloading. (That is, once you've gotten enough of the file on your hard drive, your copy of BitTorrent will start sharing it with other BitTorrent users. That's why it's so efficient for distributing large, popular files.)

I have no clue, alas, as to what you should do with the Fios modem. Anybody have ideas for Arlington?

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D.C.: Submitting early because I have a day job . . . I have a mac and was recently told that I need to get a good "maintenance" program to keep it running optimally. Someone said there's a good French freeware program, but he couldn't tell me what it was. Don't suppose you know? Or can advise about what needs to be done with macs by way of maintenance? Darn things don't come with any real manuals!

Rob Pegoraro: I don't think you need any extra maintenance programs--Mac OS X is set up to take care of itself pretty much automatically, including chores like defragging the hard drive. All you should have to do in normal use is click the "install" button when it finds new updates from Apple.

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Tallahassee, Fla.: For the person having trouble getting his/her XP up to SP2, is the SP2 upgrade the ABSOLUTE first thing you're doing? Before installing other programs, upgrades, etc? I just listened to a IT-repair podcast (one of Rob's competitors, I suppose), and the fella on there admitted that he was installing ZoneAlarm first, then attempting all his upgrades, which then failed. Just a thought...

Rob Pegoraro: Good tip, T.

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Chicago, Ill.: More technical follow-up to the Airport Extreme/Linksys question. I also have a network printer that is wired to a LAN port. With the Linksys router, I was always able to see the internal IP address of the printer in the list of DHCP clients. Zone Alarm would block printing from the PC if I didn't list that IP address as a safe zone.

Since the upgrade, the printer is NOT listed in the Airport's list of DHCP clients, Zone Alarm does NOT block printing, and the printer works fine. (I realize that makes this a low priority problem, which is why I put it in a separate question). I just don't understand why Airport apparently isn't assigning an IP address to the printer. Could it be that it's still on the old address and that's why Zone Alarm is letting it through? I could reconfigure the printer with the install CD and solve the mystery, but I hate to mess it up when it's still working ...

Rob Pegoraro: You could just plug the printer into the USB port on the AirPort, and then it should be shared automatically with the network.

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Reston, Va.: I have cox cable and Cox disabled the channel guide feature. They say it's only available for people who have the digital cable. What a pain. Their justification is that, everything cox transmits would be digital by the end of next year, so, they want everyone to subscribe to digital cable now. I hate this monopoly of cable companies. Can you imagine getting online just to check what program is going to come on ESPN next? I have a 32" Samsung LCD HDTV. Should I upgrade to digital cable now?

Rob Pegoraro: No. See what the two satellite companies would charge you for the same bundle of service, then see if/when Verizon Fios TV will be available.

(I hadn't heard that Cox was going all-digital before. I'll have to ask my contact there about this.)

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Alexandria, Va.: Hi Rob: I'm planning to upgrade my five-year-old cellphone to a smartphone. Which is your favorite? Do you like the newer Treos as much as you've liked the 650 that you've written about here? How about the T-Mobie Dash and the Samsung Blackjack? Alternatively, is there a particular Blackberry that you like?

I should say that I'm mainly interested in the phone and the PDA-like features, i.e., calender, contacts, lists. Being able to use email and the web is secondary. I would, though, like to be able to have complete info re my contacts, so I think that means I would, indeed, need a smartphone rather than a regular phone. Right?

Rob Pegoraro: If my Treo 650 died today, I'd probably get a 700p; that would be the easiest upgrade path. But I'd be less than thrilled about it, since the 700p is such a small upgrade over the 650. This company should have made a lot more progress over the last two years and change.

The Dash and the Blackjack are really neat--wish Palm could do something that stylish!--but I can't use them, since I take Metro.

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Washington, D.C.: Service pack 2 again: I have anti-virus software and have run it without it finding anything. This morning I got a "Windows was temporarily unable to read your hard disk drive" error and have also gotten a few other "Windows has recovered from a serious error" messages. It seems to me like a flaky disk drive but nothing wrong according to the disk scan. Any other ideas?

Rob Pegoraro: Ruh-roh. How old is this machine again? Have you run a disk-checkup utility on the computer lately to see if you've got an impending malfunction? This old Help File can help you do that.

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Seattle, Wash.: Following up to the iTunes/Vista question, I've actually had problems with iTunes on Vista Business. iTunes won't ever close cleanly, Windows always tells me it's not responding on close.

I don't use an iPod (Media Player 11 works just fine with my Sandisk Sansa), but for listening to and organizing music on the PC, I much prefer iTunes. It's not exactly broken on Vista, but it's not exactly perfect either.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the report, Seattle.

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From Daniel Greenberg: Bluetooth Headsets: The best headset depends on your needs. For normal calling environments, you can pick up a wireless headset about as cheap as a wired headset. The Jabra BT125 that I reviewed in the Post's Tech Gift Guide in December does a fine job and is reasonably comfortable. But if you often talk in noisy environments, look at a higher end model like the Plantronics Discovery 655. It has noise-reduction that actually works. I tried it on the very noisy CES show floor and was surprised to be able to hear every word of the conversation without straining. It was much better than than the headset I had been using.

Stuck CD: I would not suggest this to just anyone, but if you can build your own PC, you might just have a dremel tool. Carefully cut away the top of the CD door- about a fourth of an inch. Gently slide the CD out. The drive will still function with the top of the door missing.

Rob Pegoraro: This is the first time anybody's suggested the use of a Dremel in this chat--but I like it! Just might be crazy enough to work. Thanks, Daniel!

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Rockville, Md.: Rob: I upgraded to Vista Ultimate and after fixing a Quicken file path problem have been OK. My machine (three year old Dell Dimension) has a rating of 4.1 and that seems OK. The graphics grade was 5.1 which is pretty good for a Radeon 9700. However, the mouse seems slow on the new Microsoft Hearts and Free cell. And when I some typing the computer lags behind and often I will get a few words ahead that it looses. I am not that fast, either - 50 to 70 words per minute. It was not that way with XP.

I have avast to scan for bugs and also use Microsoft Windows Defender - so I do have reason to think the system is clean. Would a keystroke reader slow the system down? I have looked at the task manager, but if there is something there I have not identified it yet. Is there a keystroke buffer to check? One strange thing, is that when the Microsoft Hearts is doing stuff, even when I am not moving cards, it is slow just to do its part. Did they slow everything down to get us to buy the latest hardware? That was my thought when the first Windows came out. At that time, my Quattro spreadsheet was much slower in Windows. Why is my new Vista system so slow with data entry and basic operations?

Rob Pegoraro: In my experience, you can count on Vista to make any XP system run slower, sometimes much slower. But for a machine with your performance rating (this is a number that Vista computes automatically based on your hardware; you can inspect it in the Control Panel), you shouldn't be seeing any sluggishness at all. How much memory do you have?

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Hudson, Mass.: Rob - I think you blew "Washington, D.C.: hi Rob - love your work - what do you think about the comcast digital voice product . . ." Vonage offers about the same for $16 (500 min) or $25 unlimited. I have three years of good experience. Plus they are straightforward.

Rob Pegoraro: There's also Verizon's VoIP service. (Disclosure: I haven't tried that one.)

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Chantilly, VA - SoundTaxi? Itunes software Q: A friend of mine says he uses this shareware (think he said it was $15 for the full version) product to convert his Itunes Store-bought MP4s to unlocked MP3s. Have you ever heard of this program and if so, doesn't this debunk the myth that ITunes Store songs lock you into only using an Ipod?

Rob Pegoraro: I hadn't heard of the program until now (it's at soundtaxi.info, and boy is the bottom half of that page a mess). In any case, nothing stops you from burning an iTunes download to a CD, then re-ripping that in the format of your choice. You'll lose a little quality in the process, but then you're free and clear.

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NY: Firefox taking up 99 percent of CPU...??? The only thing out of the ordinary I'm doing is maybe 12 tabs. I still don't see why it should be a CPU hog - memory, maybe. I'm not running any crazy extensions. It's getting to the point where the laptop couldn't return from hibernation this morning and had to be ungracefully shutdown. Save me, please.

Rob Pegoraro: See if any of the sites you're viewing have particularly overactive multimedia embedded in their pages. I've seen this happen occasionally with my copies of Firefox, even (ahem...) at this site.

With ordinary sites, I've found that Firefox's memory use barely fluctuates. It's only stuff like Flash animations that can send it into this loop (which means there's a bug either in the Flash plug-in or in the Firefox code that talks to this plug-in).

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Rockville, Md.: A mish mosh of security questons: What's the safest way to leave the PC on, while minimizing re-start time? I try to log out when I step away from the computer. But sometimes I don't, and eventually the PC goes to sleep. Upon my return the icon for that account says I'm still "Logged In," but Windows requires me the re-enter using my password. So am I logged in, or not? And how safe a situaton is that? If I use Standby without first logging out, am I technically logged out? Would you describe the pros an cons -- from a security standpoint -- of using Standby, Hibernate, and plain old Sleep?

All of this applies to a PC running XP home edition. Thanks. Good luck with the blog. Confused about security in Rockville, (David)

Rob Pegoraro:1) Use the standby mode. Hibernate mode is meant only for when you'll be away from the computer for a long time; it writes the contents of the machine to the hard drive and then shuts the machine down. (In Vista, these two modes have finally been consolidated; the computer goes into standby first, then shifts to hibernate if left alone for long enough.)

2) You're still logged in and your programs are active, but nobody can change what they're doing without logging in. That prompt's meant to stop passerby from jumping on. Your best defense against break-in attempts--whether you're in front of the machine or it's left alone--is the firewall built into XP.

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Rockville, Md.:"The CD-ROM was in there during this jostling and has apparently slipped out of place just enough that the computer can still recognize the CD-ROM, but the door won't open up, either for the eject button or the paper-clip hole. "

If jostling caused it to slip out, remove the drive and re-jostle until the CD slips back so the door can open.

Rob Pegoraro: No, I like the Dremel idea better :)

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Seattle (avoiding Vista): How long can I keep using my WinXP laptop before I have to buy a Linux or MacOS one? I don't want to pay the Vista price of $2000 to buy a new one and don't care about the "new improvements" - and with a Wii have all the games I need. Seriously, do I have a year or five?

Rob Pegoraro: I don't know--how old is this machine? A well-made laptop can last for years and years; I have a ThinkPad that's probably five years old and is still chugging along, while a three-year-old Dell is about ready to bite the bucket (its screen flops over if you tap it too hard).

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Alexandria, Va.: The utility of web/cell software is only part of the story. I could see myself using web-centric features on a phone only if I data plans weren't so darn expensive. I hate hate hate being nickel and dimed by the phone company.

Rob Pegoraro: Yup, me too. At the moment, T-Mobile has the best data plan (and the weakest network), followed by Sprint. Last I checked, Cingular and Verizon were the most expensive.

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Alexandria, Va.: Is there a way to rip the audio from a DVD-A or an SACD to one's computer for use on an iPod? Crazy, I know, but the iPod is very convenient for the office such that I don't want to buy another disc player and all the other associated stuff, and I'd rather not buy the same music over again on LP or CD just to be able to rip it if there's a way to do so from the high-rez media. Thanks in advance.

Rob Pegoraro: Only if you use some software that violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act--both these stillborn super-hi-fi disc formats incorporate copy-prevention technology. I don't know if the right cracking software exists; I don't know if either format ever got popular enough for anybody to bother writing same.

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Vienna, Va.: I've posted a comment on this on your blog, but I'm going to keep bugging you about it anyway. I enjoy a lot of the content the Post has started putting out on its blog section, including your own Faster Forward and others. But it loses a lot of its utility when the RSS feeds only show excerpts of the content, forcing me to click through to the Post's website if I want to read the rest of the blog post. This is especially annoying with Dan Steinberg's "Bog," since he tends not to get to the point of the post until a paragraph or two in. Worse still is that some (The Checkout) have full feeds while others (yours, Post I.T.) have excerpts. More maddening are those which used to have full feeds (Bench Conference, Get There) which are now excerpted. Embed ads in the feeds if you must, just give me the full content in the feed please!

Rob Pegoraro: You can bug me about it all you want--but I can't do anything about it. I only make the donuts; I don't drive the truck.

(Hopefully, however, somebody at our site is reading these comments.)

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Bowie, Md.: Any experience with TiVO? My 3 year old unit recently froze for good with the "powering up" window? Many subscribers have posted the same problem on net chats. Isn't this a reason for a recall, or at least a discount?

Rob Pegoraro: Not only am I so technologically backwards that I don't own a Bluetooth headset, I also have never bought a TiVo. It was too expensive compared to the model that Dish Network hands out for free.

At three years, I'm pretty sure that you're well out of warranty. You'd probably have better luck getting a third-party to fix your TiVo--if the hard drive has died, see what a new one would cost you: www.weaknees.com

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Scranton, Pa.: Hi, Rob. I have a great 2 1/2-year-old PowerBook. My daughter is in college and has a brand-new MacBook Pro with a build-in webcam. I'm eager to chat with her via Mac's iChat, but lack the camera. Apple used to sell an iSight camera, but no more. What are my options?

Rob Pegoraro: You should be able to plug in any USB-connected Webcam, or at least any with Mac OS X drivers.

But I think iChat will also let you do a one-way video chat: You can see your daughter, but she can't see you.

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Rob Pegoraro: That's going to do it for today, folks! Thanks... see you here in two weeks.

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