The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro will be online Thursday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss recent reviews and answer your personal tech questions.

Read Rob's latest tech tips in his new blog, Faster Forward and today's column about the proposed satellite radio merger They Fuse, You Lose.

A transcript follows.

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Rob Pegoraro: Good afternoon! We've got questions about satellite radio, spyware, iPods, Windows Vista and more--and for once, I don't have anything else on my calendar for this afternoon. Let's see how many questions I can get through today...

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Washington, D.C.: I was about to subscribe to XM. If I have to buy a new radio in a year to receive the new XM/Sirius, will there be any sort of trade-in deal? Or is everyone in the world who buys or already has an XM or Sirius radio more or less screwed?

Rob Pegoraro: I hear ya - A friend of mine bought a portable XM receiver on my advice last week, and now I kinda feel bad for him. (Sorry, Scott :) The problem is, nobody knows how things will work post-merger! That's the "beauty" of this situation--XM and Sirius have probably nuked their sales for the next month or two, or however long it takes them to come out with some sort of roadmap for the merger (assuming, again, that it goes through).

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XM RADIO: Rob, Thanks for the articles on the xm/siruis merger but I think it's too soon to be raising the red flags on their proposed merger. But, as someone who was just about to buy an XM receiver, should I hold off or just buy the cheapest receiver? (I would imagine that this could go on for a year or so before a decision is made.) Also, isn't it better for these companies to merge instead of losing both, forcing us back to listen to the corporate owned and cookie cutter radio stations?

Rob Pegoraro: More on this topic... sat-radio receivers are pretty cheap at the low end, but if you can wait a little while you should have a clearer sense of what the upgrade path should be.

I am skeptical of the "we're all gonna die!" argument in favor of this merger. The more likely scenario: One or both companies file Chapter 11, much of their enormous capital costs get erased--i.e., the creditors eat that cost--and service continues the whole time. (That's pretty much what happened with the Iridium satellite-phone service, which was in far worse shape than either radio service.)

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Cap Hill, DC: Rob, After a month of exhaustive research, indecision, placing items into virtual shopping carts, taking them out, checking prices daily, reviewing message boards etc . . I finally purchased an LCD HDTV. Having no money left now, I was trying to recall correctly whether you had stated that any antenna will do to pick up OTA DTV/HDTV signals or whether I need some HDTV special antenna? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Try the same antenna you once used for analog reception. Most of the time, that should be all you need.

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Rockville, Md.: Rob: After I upgraded to Vista Ultimate, my Vista rating was 4.1 with 5.0 for the graphics card (9700 Pro). I have upgraded the ATI driver to one from January and am trying to find drivers for my multimedia Dell keyboard and mouse. (two button)

However, my typing is still slow and sometimes I type in a sentence and wait 30 seconds for it to show on the screen. Is this normal? I now have new computer fever - but as a retired person will have to save for it. What should I do while I save?

Rob Pegoraro: That's odd--you shouldn't need any special drivers to get basic utility out of the keyboard and mouse. (For instance, you can plug in the USB mouse from a Mac and Windows will recognize it right away.) I don't know why your keyboard would act so slow... but I will say that Windows Vista is, in general, one of the slowest pieces of software Microsoft has shipped in recent history.

Do you have another keyboard you can plug in to see if that works just as slow? Any other suggestions for Rockville?

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Stanardsville, Va.: Rob, I have Windows XP with latest security updates and IE7. I had problems with upgrade to Norton Antivirus 2007 (computer would not log off, restart or shutdown). I contacted Symantec and have since reinstalled and can log off, restart and shutdown. However, since then I have had problem with my security center. After I log off, restart or shutdown my PC, my security center is disabled and I have to restart it each time. Any ideas for help? Thanks so much.

Rob Pegoraro: The XP Security Center control panel or the Symantec one? (Most Windows security apps replace the Windows part with their own, although I don't always see the point of that.)

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Pennsburg, Pa.: Ever since Windows 'automatically' updated Media Player to Version 11, my CD-RW and DVD do not work. I went back to version 10. Still have not got the CD and DVD drives working. Ideas?

Rob Pegoraro: Have you tried the usual Device Mangler--I mean, Manager--runaround? Open Control Panel, click the Performance and Maintenance category, open the System window, click the Hardware tab, then click the Device Manager tab... and in that window, find the icons for your optical drives and delete each. Then restart the computer and, if all goes well, Windows will recognize the drives correctly.

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Louisville, Ky.: I recently saw mention of the Pioneer Inno, which caches 30 minutes of XM radio. Can you recommend an XM receiver that would enable the listener to "back up" (like TIVO) the audio a few seconds in order to sync up with the MLB TV Internet video? MLB TV is delayed several seconds from the live action. It would be nice to always listen to your home team announcers when watching MLB TV.

Rob Pegoraro: Good question... couldn't you just pause reception on the Inno long enough to get it in sync with the mlb.tv video?

I don't know of any XM receivers besides its portable models that include this time-shift feature, but there are an awful lot of them these days--somebody let me know if I'm overlooking anything here.

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Midway Indiana: Rob, What is your assessment of this years April Fools Virus threat? Perry

Rob Pegoraro: What 4/1 virus threat?

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Fredericksburg, Va.: Rob, Thanks for conducting these discussions...They are really helpful to those of us that are technically challenged! I have an HDTV question. I recently installed an HDTV and I am bringing the signal into the TV directly from my Cox Cable coax cable (e.g. no converter box). I do subscribe to Digital Service, and I am receiving digital channels, just without the menu information, no OnDemand capability or any Premium Tier channels. When I tune in to the digital channels (4.1, 7.1, etc, the TV does display settings as 1080i as opposed to 480i on standard definition channels). Am I missing out on any signal quality by not running the signal through a digital cable box? Thanks, JG

Rob Pegoraro: Depends entirely on the cables passing the video signal along. If you're using component (three video cables) or HDMI (one digital video/audio cable) the loss should be minimal to zero. Anything else, and you're losing the HD video entirely.

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Bowie, Md.: Back in the day when buying a computer from Dell or Gateway, you could probably negotiate a lower price via the phone towards the end of the month b/c they were trying to make sales and had monthly quotas. Are negotiations still effective today, as I will be buying a computer soon, but not too excited about haggling over the phone.

Rob Pegoraro: I've heard numerous times that this works with telecom service providers--cable, satellite, wireless-phone, etc.--but have heard nothing about on-phone haggling with computer vendors. Anybody pulled this off lately?

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Fairfax, Va.: When will Vista drivers start being made available for last year's computers which were touted as Vista Ready? Is it just a stalling tactic to sell the new models, and other upgrade components?

Rob Pegoraro: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence. The companies that should have had Vista drivers ready are just screwing up, period. We're not talking about updating something like an anti-virus or system-maintenance utility for a new operating system; this is basic code that should have shipped already.

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Washington, D.C.: Rob - Have you had any experience with products like Sony's Location Free TV? My house isn't wired for cable and I have plaster walls and don't want to run cable all over. I guess Sony's version is a short-haul wireless cable system, but I haven't heard much about this. Any thoughts?

Rob Pegoraro: I can assure you from personal experience that wireless networking signals pass through plaster walls (along with 20-degree air from outside :) But I haven't tried the Location Free TV as yet.

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Mac Newbie: Hi Rob, thanks for taking my question. I want to run Windows-based software on my iMac (AutoCAD, games). I was told to install Parallels first. But do I need to buy and install Windows XP/Vista also? I'm thinking cost here. And some of my old games ran on Windows 98. Can I install both Windows 98 and Windows XP/Vista on the iMac? P.S. I love the iMac!!

Rob Pegoraro: You need a copy of Windows, correct. And it has to be a full, non-upgrade copy--Parallels will only put the equivalent of a blank PC hard drive on your Mac.

Have you tried running the Win 98 games in XP's compatibility mode? That's going to be simpler and cheaper than setting up two separate Windows systems under Parallels.

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wiredog: The problem with the Iridium route is that the investors end up eating all of the debt. This may scare off future investors in satcoms. The other problem is, what if Sirius (or somebody) ends up buying the satellites, or just the orbital slots, and deciding there are better uses for them than XM? I could see XM (or conversely, Sirius) filing bankruptcy and shutting down.

Rob Pegoraro: Exactly--the investors get kicked in the teeth in this scenario. However, that's the sort of thing we allow to happen all the time (ask anybody who bought stock in any major airlines in the late 1990s).

I don't think XM or Sirius's satellites are good for anything but satellite radio. XM's orbital slots--up in geosynchronous orbit, so the birds stay parked over one spot on the ground full-time--are probably valuable, but Sirius's slots are in elliptical, lower-altitude orbits that I doubt anybody else is using.

Sorry, I'm a complete space nerd. Hope I didn't bore anybody with that digression.)

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I had problems with upgrade to Norton Antivirus 2007 (computer would not log off, restart or shutdown): Rob, The answer is 'dump the Norton' and get AVG. Norton is getting as bad as AOL at monopolizing your machine's resources.

Rob Pegoraro: I like the free-for-home-use AVG anti-virus program too (free.grisoft.com).

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Brookland - Washington, DC: Just a comment - curiosity got the best of me regarding OTA reception of HDTV, so I went down to Radio Shack, bought a $10 set-top antenna, and sure enough, I got most local channels in crystal clear HD reception (no PBS unfortunately)! It's nice knowing that if I ever get tired of forking $200 a month to RCN then there are other viable options!

Rob Pegoraro: Two hundred bucks a month?! Even with Internet access and phone service, that's a lot, Brookland. What exactly are you watching?

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Alexandria, Va.: Seriously, how many times am I going to have to install a Windows Genuine Advantage Validation tool? It seem like I have to do this every three months or so now.....it's a bigger nag than my ex-fiancee. And no, I DON'T CARE TO LEARN THE ADVANTAGES OF GENUINE WINDOWS SOFTWARE.....DANGIT, where is that Red Hat Linux software box!!!???!!?!

I'm SERIOUS here, Microsoft....you're getting on my LAST NERVE. Sorry, this whole DST problem combined with the Genuine nag has got me a little annoyed....and I'm trying to deal with it on platforms here and on the West Coast AND on Blackberries (with a bunch of people who can't successfully find the power button on their computer 10 times out of 10....deep breath....)

Rob Pegoraro: I totally emphathize with Alexandria's thoughts here. (Look for a blog post or a column on this at some point.) It's annoying to be forced to jump through the validation hoop every time you download something from Microsoft. You just get tired of being treated like a potential criminal all the time.

As for DST--I'm with my colleague Marc Fisher: Make DST year round, and we'll save some serious time by never again having to reset every clock radio, answering machine, microwave and watch in the house twice a year.

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Bethesda, Md.: I am a current Sirius subscriber and a former XM one too, and I'm happy about the merger. XM has great programming and a corporate-enough culture to keep things running smoothly....but they lost out on things like Howard that required out-of-the box thinking and risk.

Sirius has hip and entrepreneurial culture, but that shows in their products which lack corporate refinement (which can be good sometimes). The Sirius S50, while a great idea for a product, never lived up to its potential. It's worked as advertised about 40 percent of the time I've owned it (I'm far from alone in this experience), and now the ADD prone at Sirius pay no attention to it and all support is for the new product.

On the price side...well... they're at the upper end of most people's tolerance for a monthly fee anyway. In my car I have an iPod adapter, and aux input, and mp3 cd playback capability. If a sat radio subscription gets too high, I'll just click a few buttons and have my content delivered in a recorded media.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the input, Bethesda. (The S50 is a portable receiver for Sirius broadcasts.)

One thing I'd be interested in hearing: Has the arrival of extra digital-only FM channels from HD Radio stations (e.g., WAMU's bluegrass offering) made sat radio less attractive to anybody?

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Silver Spring, Md.: For the Vista user with the lagging keyboard -- have him open up the task manager and see if anything is spiking his CPU. What he described happens to me sometimes in XP if my system is busy. It frequently occurs during a virus scan, for instance. Maybe there's some runaway process on his machine that's interfering with basic usability? (I don't personally have Vista yet, but I'm assuming it still has a task manager...)

Rob Pegoraro: Yup, the task manager is still in Vista. (And is much better than the one in XP, since it--finally--lists real names for all the cryptic junk it lists, giving the user a faint chance of being able to identify what these processes are.)

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DC: I'm flummoxed about what kind of external hard drive to get. I have an iBook G4 and most of what I do is photography; I have about 3000 23 MB digital photos on my hard drive and while I back them up on an internet photo gallery that saves the high res versions, and I burn them to CDs, I'd really like to get an external hard drive and get these images off my computer. Suggestions? Price range? Is speed a factor, the way it is with memory cards? Help! Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Get a FireWire/USB 2.0 "bus-powered" drive--that is, one that gets its power from that connection alone, without a need for a separate power outlet. You'll be able to use this anywhere you go; the FireWire connection will leave your iBook's USB ports free for other use, while its USB 2.0 connection will also let you plug it into any PC.

Don't worry too much about speed; unless you want to edit video files off the drive, that's not likely to matter in daily use. Just make sure you get enough space... which is always more than you think you might need at first.

I bought this exact kind of drive last year for backup purposes--a little metal slab of a thing from LaCie--and have been pretty pleased with it. As I recall, I paid something like $150 for 125 GB.

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Washington, D.C.: Settle an argument for me. What is better for my PC: turning it off after each use, and then back on again OR leaving it on pretty much all the time and only powering off once every week or two? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Neither! Put it in sleep or standby mode when you're not using it. Only turn it off if you'll be away from it for a couple of days or longer.

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Bethesda, Md.: Some computer system vendors feature HDCP-compliant HDTV monitors and video cards, which I assume would be required to view Blu-ray or HD-DVD encrypted DVDs if such a drive were added later. To just view regular HDTV content that isn't HDCP-encrypted, say using an HDTV tuner card, is a 1280x720 or 1920x1080 LCD monitor and video card sufficient, or is an "HDTV" monitor and card required? I'd like to avoid having to buy a new monitor and video card later to view regular HDTV content. Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Bethesda, I saw your question the first time you posted it--no need to file in triplicate here :)

I am not sure about this, but I can't see why you'd need anything more than a monitor that can display an HD resolution. HDTV is still just video.

(BTW, "HDCP" means "high-bandwidth digital content protection," and I have no idea why the abbreviation doesn't match up with the full term.)

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Cincinnati, Ohio: I am a Sony Location free user, and I can recommend it. It works exactly like its supposed to, and the 12lcd looks great. Also, if you plug in internet to the base, you can use the lcd like a tablet pc and surf the net, very useful feature. And also, the newer versions have the software similar to what is used on slingbox, so you can access your home TV from anywhere. Hope this helps.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Cincy!

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West Palm Beach, Fla.: As a SIRIUS subscriber I worry Clear Channel will ruin their commercial free music aspect. What do you think, am I warranted? -Drew

Rob Pegoraro: No - XM doesn't have ads on its music channels, just like Sirius. (I believe it dropped the commercials when, or not long before, it raised its monthly fees to the same $12.95/month as Sirius.)

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Has the arrival of extra digital-only FM channels from HD Radio stations (e.g., WAMU's bluegrass offering) made sat radio less attractive to anybody?: Rob, To answer that question, "Heck yeah". No monthly fees. Just the cost of the receiver. I can live with it.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks!

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Brookland - Washington, D.C.: What $200 a month gets you from RCN: Digital Cable with HD/DVR/All movie channels/OnDemand (they tack on extra for HBO too); Internet; phone. I admit it's a lot, but seems about the going rate for the "works" once you get past the promotional period...

Rob Pegoraro: I could do without "all movie channels"--they really nail you if you start piling on the premium channels. See if you can live with just HBO--or, once the Sopranos conclude, Cinemax or Showtime or whatever.

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Reston, Va.: Rob, I'm about to turn my tax refund into a new HDTV. I know I want a 42 inch LCD HD and Im a big sports and movie person, but will also have a XBox 360 hooked up to it. My friend raves about his LG, but I'm not sure about it. What brand would you recommend, and should I look into some of the bargain brands that Costco offers? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: LG's a good brand--I wouldn't rule them out at all. Other LCD brands I like: Samsung, Sharp, Sony. (There are a lot of less-well-known brands, but I haven't checked their hardware out so far.)

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Silver Spring, Md.: Got an old Panasonic digital camcorder. A couple of weeks ago the computer stopped capturing video from it. I checked everything and reinstalled the drivers. No dice. We use a USB cable, and the computer recognizes that a device is connected when we hook up. We can pull stills off the thing. Just no video capture. What do I try next?

Rob Pegoraro: Try it with any other computer. Could be a case of Windows getting some hairball stuck in its throat.

This, BTW, is why I like camcorders with FireWire connectors--there are no drivers needed at all. But if a camcorder does use USB, it shouldn't need drivers anyway; the Sony model I used at CES simply presented itself to the computer as an external drive, so I only had to drag video files from camcorder to the laptop.

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Georgetown: Buyin a Dell: I've bought two in the past two years and have found that buying via phone is a mistake. Feel free to build a "draft" set-up via phone but then set it up yourself on the website and then go to:

www.notebookreview.com/dellCoupon.asp

You'll see that, for example, were you to build an E1505 that costs $1,499.00+, you can apply a code at time of purchase - only online -- that'll immediately chop off $300. I doubt you can beat that via phone.

Rob Pegoraro: True, Dell has been generous with the coupons--so much so that buying a machine from them takes serious homework if you don't want to feel like you got taken. But lately, the folks there have said they're trying to cut back on this, so that the price is the price is the price.

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Chantilly, Va.: Rob, What about the new dual side DVD burners? I see the prices are reasonable. Is there still the format issue that we had with regular DVDs?

Rob Pegoraro: Not really--most DVD recorders these days can accept all the formats (DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and DVD-RAM). So with a new model, there's no risk of buying the wrong kind of disc... but you can still find that the disc you choose won't play on other DVD drives. This is almost guaranteed to happen with DVD-RAM, for instance.

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OTA-HD, DC: I have an OTA receiver and no cable for my 32" LCD TV. I adore it and may never get cable. My question is can I get a TIVO with my setup?

Rob Pegoraro: If you're willing to become a major foreign-aid donor to TiVo. The Series 3 model that includes a digital tuner costs $800, plus $17 a month (less if you sign a multi-year deal or prepay). You'll do better to wait a month or two and then pick up a DVD recorder with its own ATSC tuner, which should cost only $300 or so with no monthly fees afterward.

Time for me to throw out another question: Has anybody actually bought a TiVo Series 3 and anted up for that subscription?

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Chantilly, Va.: Rob, I dumped all of the HBOs and the other movie channels a few months ago. Don't miss them. Also don't care about waiting for the Sopranos to resurrect themselves. I'm waiting for The Shield on FX.

Rob Pegoraro: You're obviously not from New Jersey :)

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for the Rockville retiree with the sluggish keyboard....: He mentioned he was putting off buying a new computer until he saved up for it, yet installed Vista Ultimate on his old computer. Despite Microsoft's assurances to him, isn't there a good chance the old computer is simply too underpowered to handle Vista?

Rob Pegoraro: Actually, there's a very good chance that the old machine can't hack it. And I feel dumb for missing the reference to Vista Ultimate--the everything-included version of Vista, which throws in tons of business-oriented things that nobody needs at home. (Think "ultimate profit.")

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Silver Spring, Md.: I live in the shadow (literally) of the beltway. We get hideous reception for regular and HD tv using good indoor antennas. What is the next step up the ladder of things to try?

Rob Pegoraro: Digital TV can work well when analog reception is only mediocre, but it can't work miracles. You'll need to try a rooftop antenna if an indoor model doesn't work.

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Gaithersburg, Md.: Rob, I have a basement room (really dark) for movies. Should I get LCD or Plasma, 42 or higher --- max budget is 2500.

Rob Pegoraro: Plasma's going to work better for you--you've got just about the optimum viewing environment for it, and since you said you're only going to watch movies, you don't have to worry about image-retention issues raised by connecting a computer.

Your budget, BTW, is way more than you'll need. You can get an excellent plasma 42-incher for $1,500 or less.

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Rockville, Md.:"Yup, the task manager is still in Vista. (And is much better than the one in XP, since it--finally--lists real names for all the cryptic junk it lists, giving the user a faint chance of being able to identify what these processes are.)"

That was just about the first thing that I did and it was maxing some of the time and yes, I did not have a clue about which applications were running it to max. But I am still with the MS keyboard and it is typing at a reasonable rate.

Rob Pegoraro: (Rockville earlier sent in a post saying that a regular Microsoft keyboard didn't suffer the typing lag of the Dell model.)

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Silver Spring (camcorder question): Thanks! The thing also has a Firewire port, so we'll try that. No other 'puter in the house.

Rob Pegoraro: Good luck!

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Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin (Go Badgers!): Warning: This is really a multi-part question - but connected. I have a Zire 71 which is beginning to have strange problems - power gets stuck on until the battery totally discharges, and hard resets don't work. Lotsa fun. Then it works fine for months. So . . .

If I were to buy a "packaged, new in sealed box" Zire 71 unit on eBay or from some liquidator, should I worry about a new battery which is now three(?) years old, and never charged?

I like Palm's new ones, but the lack of a pop-in battery remains a problem. Does the TX really work/surf on a wireless connection in a real coffee shop? I'm CHEAP, so it would probably be a free wi-fi connection at Panera's.

Thanks for your columns and blogging - I'll probably have to figure out RSS because of you - drat! I know you've got the links on how to do it, so I will get it done - soon? Charlie H.

washingtonpost.com: Faster Forward: RSS, Revisited

Rob Pegoraro: The Zire handheld, IIRC, uses a rechargeable battery that only goes bad after enough charge/discharge cycles; if it's spent three years trapped inside a blister-pack, the battery should be fine.

The TX and other WiFi-equipped Palm handhelds did work fine over the coffeeshop connections that I tested, so you should be fine there.

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Wantage, N.J.: Advice please? I'm getting subtle -- and not so subtle -- signs that my 2001 IBM desktop (40GB, 256MB) is nearing the end of its useful life. So, the time has come to visit the Apple store for my long-desired iMac. But what with the new OS coming out later this year, and with MS Office 2007 for Mac (which I need) also not available till later this year, I'd like your opinion: Do I go for it now anyway? Or try to ride it out? Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: Since Apple is still saying that Leopard--Mac OS X 10.5--will ship in the spring, I'd hold off for a month, maybe two, and then pull the trigger. It's not that upgrading a new version of OS X is hard--it's not, it's nothing at all like the Windows upgrade ordeal--but you would be looking at a non-trivial expense, $130.

Don't worry about Office 2007; that's not coming for a while yet, and Office 2004 works just fine on a new Mac, even though it has to run through the Rosetta emulation software Apple provides for older Mac programs.

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Reston, Va.: xmradio.com subscription online streaming without a device is $7.99 a month. Don't need a device. A Great Value and 300+ channels to choose from.

Rob Pegoraro: But if you're only going to listen online, you can have your pick of online radio stations for free.

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Brookland - Washington, DC (again): Ah, but the catch 22 with HDTV is that once you have it you don't want to watch Standard Def anymore - and without BlueRay/HD DVD, the best way to watch movies in HD is via the HD feeds of the movie channels and liberal use of the DVR.

On that note, it would be great if more HD content would become available soon especially now that so many people have upgraded sets. Having 20 channels of HD while paying for 500 does get tiresome.

Rob Pegoraro:500 channels and nothing on...

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Tivo vs. DVR: Rob, What advantage is it to buy a Tivo? For me, all I want to do is record some tv shows. I don't need all the other frills.

Rob Pegoraro: Then you obviously don't need a TiVo. TiVo has a nice interface, but its primary innovation--the ability to find and record new programming for you, based on your earlier thumbs-up/thumbs-down votes cast with the TiVo remote--is useless to somebody who isn't looking to increase their TV-viewing time.

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Prince William County: Rob -- thanks for all your discussions, as well as the FF column. (1) I subscribed to XM in 2003; dropped it within a year -- wasted the hardware money, but saw no reason to waste more subscription money. I subscribed to Sirius in 2006; dropped it in 2006 -- got the hardware free through rebate. Once WaPo Radio started carrying the Nats games, I realized I enjoyed the programming, but not significantly more than the over-the-air crud available. If they merge, I will yawn and program an iPod with podcasts of all the programming.

(2) I'm a Mac owner using Comcast cable TV/HD/Internet. I am intrigued by Slingbox technology, but still don't understand how it works -- and I've watched their detailed sales videos. Can you explain it to me? Thanks. yer pal, Scott

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the WTWP plug!

Think of Slingbox as a really long set of audio/video patch cables--it takes the TV you would have to watch in your living room and sends it to anywhere else with a broadband Internet connection. So, for instance, you could use a Slingbox to watch the Nats while you're on the road or on vacation. Or you could just sling the Nats game to a laptop in the backyard or the front porch on a summer night.

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Washington, D.C.: Can anything be done about the following: At the bottom of each of my outgoing AOL e-mails there appears an AOL ad: Check out free AOL. Most comprehensive set of free safety and security tools, millions of free high-quality videos from across the web, free AOL Mail and much more.

I have asked AOL to remove it. AOL responds: "The link is legitimate and has been enabled to all AOL users. At this time, it is not possible to remove the link from sent emails. It is one of the channels to reach out to our members to share the exciting offer for AOL Free Services Option we have right now."

I have responded: This claim is false. I use my e-mails to converse with health IT professionals in corporations. This ad is an unwanted and unwarranted intrusion into my personal communications. I get billed for this service. I do not expect my personal communications to be hijacked by AOL for their advertising. Tom

Rob Pegoraro: I sent in a query to AOL about this the other day (ahem... memo to AOL PR: when a reporter asks a question, you're supposed to answer it or at least mumble "no comment," not blow it off entirely). Thanks for the reminder to nag AOL again.

Bottom line, though, is that if you don't like it you should take your business elsewhere.

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NYC, N.Y.: I'm buying a notebook to watch Major League Baseball streaming and to play a few games. Would you recommend a Vista machine or one with Windows Media to avoid the aggravation? Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: You mean with Vista or XP? For just watching MLB online, I'd try to get one with XP--but good luck finding one now.

BTW, although it's 3 p.m. I see there's still plenty of questions left, and nobody's trying to drag me into a meeting. So let's keep going for a little bit longer...

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Tivo vs. DVR: Rob, Doesn't TIVO require a phone line also? another expense of running another phone jack.

Rob Pegoraro: Nope, the Series 2 and 3 models include an Ethernet port. You can also plug in a WiFi adapter to the USB connector on the back of each.

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Gilbert, Ariz.: Do HDMI switchers degrade the signal?

Rob Pegoraro: Nope. HDMI is an all-digital connection, so you can't lose any quality in transit. What can happen, however, is that an HDMI switcher--like, say, one in a home-theater receiver--can fail to "handshake" properly with the video source. When that happens, the source (cable box, satellite box, Blu-Ray player, whatever) will refuse to send the video signal over, thinking that there might be some illicit copying device at the other end of the cable.

This doesn't happen often, but it can--I've been corresponding with a reader who can't get his Comcast box to accept his A/V receiver.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Like the previous poster, I live in the shadow of the beltway. We have a great 1980s Radio Shack Archer antenna on the roof and we get everything (although we need to spin it around to get WETA). These things seem to be very local, so maybe ask a neighbor with an antenna and see how it works for them.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Silver Spring!

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Sunny and Warm Florida: Rob - I really have a thing about my personal privacy. Can you recommend good "anonymous surfing" software for iMac/Safari? Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: I can't--haven't tried any of it. Bottom line, though, is that if you're worried about your personal privacy surfing the Web should be the least of your concerns. (You'd be better off cutting up all your credit cards.)

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Washington, D.C.: Speaking of satellite radio alternatives, what is the best method for hooking up regular audio speakers to a PC? I bought an inexpensive amplifier and used a patch cord from the line out jack on my sound card as the inputs. The setup works fine with an iPod's headphone jack, but the sound quality is noticeably worse from the PC. Is it a question of a better sound card (than a SoundBlaster Live 24-bit), better amplifier, or am I just missing something?

Rob Pegoraro: Since things worked fine with an iPod as the music source, I'm going to blame your sound card. You might need to upgrade that.

Any thoughts on my off-the-cuff diagnosis?

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Sheridan, Wyo.: I'm a PR guy with Mac equipment that joined a firm that's totally PC-based. If I buy Microsoft's Office for Mac for my MacBook will others in the company be able to open up my (Mac-based) Office files using their (PC-based) Office software?

Rob Pegoraro: Yes.

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Columbia, Md.: I work on a Macintosh running 10.4.8 and lately I have noticed some strange servers showing up in my network. (When I open the hard drive window and click on Network.) I am networked to another computer here in my office but these have strange names. Last week I found a few strange ones also. When I click on them to connect I get a message saying the alias could not be found. Usually when I restart my computer they disappear, but I am starting to get concerned. Is someone trying gain access to my computer? I have firewall enabled but admit that I am a little confused about what boxes to check. Right now I have Personal File Sharing and Network Time checked which I think was the default settings. Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me about this.

Rob Pegoraro: Your Mac should be fine as you've set it up (good job turning on the firewall). But I am curious where these other machines are coming from... it could be that some co-workers are logging on and off from home via Virtual Private Networking (VPN), which could cause them to seem to jump on/off the network and show up under non-standard computer names.

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Can anything be done about the following: At the bottom of each of my outgoing AOL e-mails there appears an AOL ad: Check out free AOL: Rob, Just another reason why I wonder about people paying so much for dial up service, and having to put up with the mail thing. Tell the AOL user that there ARE cheaper ISPs in the area. What makes AOL worth $24/month anyway?

Rob Pegoraro: I think those are perfectly reasonable questions to ask.

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Washington, D.C.: I'm in the market for a new laptop and am being pushed quite strenuously by a techie friend to buy a MacBook. Given the fact that the cheapest MacBook is much more expensive than PC laptops, what besides cache' and protection against Windows exploits makes it worth it? Also, what besides the high cost, are the disadvantages? And is this a good time to buy a Mac? Ie. is some new model coming out soon? I should note that I am more or less a technical illiterate, so sorry if these are dead simple questions.

Rob Pegoraro: Notice all the questions I've fielded just today about weird Windows malfunctions? Notice all the questions I *haven't* fielded about weird Mac malfunctions? That's what you're paying for--ease of use and maintenance.

I wrote more about this in a November column: Mac vs. PC: How to Decide

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Winnipeg, Canada: For the Zire 71 user: I have a Palm TX and the WiFi works quite well, both on my home WiFi connection and at coffeeshops, airports, etc. Better, in fact, than my old Dell laptop, though not as good as my MacBook Pro.

Rob Pegoraro: We've got people logging in from all over today. Thanks, Winnipeg!

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PC novice in DC: Can I take the harddrive out of my now dead PC, put it in an enclosure and turn it into an external hard drive? I'd like to get access to all my old info somehow.

Rob Pegoraro: Yup, if the hard drive still works you can connect it to an enclosure and convert it into an external model. But you need to make sure the enclosure has a connector that matches the old hard drive.

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Gilbert, Ariz.: You have stated in the past that 1080P signal should be viewed on a larger screen to get its benefits. At what size would one start seeing the benefits? I am interested in an LCD TV. Thank you

Rob Pegoraro: Even people who market HDTVs for a living say you can't see a difference until you're in the 50-inch range. (If you view the TV from a closer-than-normal distance, that minimum size will drop... here, I'm assuming a typical living-room layout that doesn't attempt to replicate the first-row-of-the-movie-theater experience.)

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tivo vs dvr: I've done the math a few times on this - and even dropping the digital cable, the DVR is about the same prices as TIVO. It may be a dollar or so more, but what I like best about the DVR is that when it breaks or wears out, I simply just exchange it for a new one at the Comcast payment center. My friend with TIVO had to return her box to be fixed, was without the box for two months, and had to pay for the repairs. That struck me as insane. Just my 2 cents though.

Rob Pegoraro: Two months? That's a long time for repairs.

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Pennsburg, Pa.: Rob, Went to Device Mangler (heh-heh) and did as you prescribed. Same problem. Guess I'll go buy new ones from Best Buy or other. Thanks for trying. Ed

Rob Pegoraro: I wouldn't give up that soon--there's no way that WMP 11 would have outright killed the old drives. Have you tried getting new drivers for them from your computer vendor's site?

(Seriously: I HATE seeing responses like this. I feel like I'm watching a kidnapping victim's family pay ransom.)

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Nice choice to have, VA: Great chat. I have the option of getting an incentive prize of The Creative Labs Zen Vision W 60GB Digital Playerm with an integrated hard drive can store audio books, photos, video, create slideshows, has an 4.3" color LCD display.

That's nice, but here's my question: I have an ipod shuffle that I love. Should I take the CV incentive gift, or get something else and save for the IPOD shuffle w/ video download? Just getting the shuffle took me about 7 months of indecision (ultimately I listened to you).

Rob Pegoraro: If you've bought stuff off the iTunes Store or are set on using iTunes, don't bother with the Zen.

Or you could take the Zen, then flip it on eBay.

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Ijamsville, Md.: Rob, my itunes 7 skips mercilessly. Every corner of cyberspace gives the same fix (changing the settings in QuickTime). But I've made that correction and its no better. I have the latest install. Ironically, this seems about the longest Apple's gone without a "latest version" I can remember. Advice?

Rob Pegoraro: Skips when playing a CD or playing an MP3 file? Are you running XP, Vista or OS X?

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Atlanta: Hi Rob, my digital camera's been resetting the date whenever the batteries are changed, resulting in no data in the picture-taken field. Any idea how I can edit this field? I think it's called Exif data? Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: Yup, EXIF data is the term. You can usually edit this from within a photo-editing program like Picasa or Photoshop Elements; there are also standalone EXIF editors that can batch-process EXIF changes (like, for instance, fixing the time on a bunch of pictures you took overseas). If your current photo-album app can't rewrite EXIF tags, try searching for an EXIF editor on download.com.

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College Park: Rob, I seem to recall in an earlier article of yours, mention of MotiveSB.exe error appearing when you boot a PC using Win XP. It states that an entry point not found, Get Process Image File name W. I think its missing a dll PSAPI.dll. I hope I have that correct. I think it has appeared since I upgraded IE to IE7. I use Firefox 2 has my browser. Any cure for this? Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: I'm going to bill the developers of this pointless SmartBridge software for the tech-support I've been providing for them: - See this Help File column for a fix for this.

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Help, my PC died!: My home PC died and I'd like to get the info (photos, papers, etc) off of the hard drive and onto my new laptop. What's the easiest way to do this? I was thinking about buying an external housing for the PC hard drive and doing it that way? Suggestions...

Rob Pegoraro: That's exactly what you should do--take the part that still works, the drive, and put it in something that will connect it to another computer. (If you've got a new desktop PC, you may not even need an enclosure--odds are it will feature a spare drive connecor on the inside.)

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McLean, Va.: You forgot to mention another negative about them merging. Get ready for 20 minutes of commercials an hour on the music stations and more commercials than there are now on the talk stations. Mel Karmazin is supposed to be the CEO of the merged company. All he knows or cares about is selling advertising.

Rob Pegoraro: More on XM and Sirius...

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Alexandria, Va.: I need to get a Wii by 6/18/07. Will they become reliably and regularly available at some point between now and then, or am I left with the Wii trackers and eBays (and paying a premium) to deliver on my promise?

Rob Pegoraro: You should be fine. Now if you were looking to get a PS3 by then... maybe not

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Cleveland, OH - XM/Sirius hardware question: Rob, I guess I don't see what the big deal is right now for the XM/Sirius merger from a hardware standpoint. I don't see them just blowing up the satellites of the non-surviving company, so they will certainly be functional. Let's say XM is the surviving company. Can't they take the feeds from the Sirius satellites via some sort of "master Sirius receiver" at the XM studios and just rebroadcast those Sirius feeds out over the XM Satellites? On the other side of the page for the Sirius survivors, couldn't they still use their satellites to do the opposite - rebroadcast the XM feeds.

If I had to guess, I would think that's what would happen. They would come up with some massive new channel listing for the new combined company and it could easily be broadcast to both sets of receivers. In any merger I'm sure the FCC would insist on a stopgap measure like this for at least say 5 years. They would never agree to a monopoly takeover like this that on top of everything else would 7 million people to buy a new receiver. Plus think of all the cars out there with both radios. I just don't see this happening unless they can figure out a way to use both sets of hardware. JMT

Rob Pegoraro: I would expect that the merged company would broadcast the most popular channels from today. I would not expect it to maintain two sets of satellites--and in that case, you're looking at having fewer channels overall *whenever the post-merger transition ends.*

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Choice to have, VA: Thanks for responding. I figure you realize I meant ipod video NANO(I've learned enough to know that the shuffle doesn't have one........at least not my $79 variety).

Advice to AOL: just put lots of extra paragraph marks at the end of your message.

Rob Pegoraro: Or just don't put ads in the e-mail of people who pay for service.

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Fairfax, Va.: Any word on whether the compatibility issues between MLB.tv content and the new Intel Macs have been worked out? I'd love to resubscribe, but not, obviously, if I can't watch on my current computer.

Rob Pegoraro: From what I've heard, things do work now--but I haven't tested this myself. Any Mac-owning, baseball-loving users out there with reports to share?

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Vienna, Va.: I have followed your recommendation to set up administrator and limited user accounts in Windows XP. When I try to use QuickBooks in the limited user account I get a message that is will only run in an account with full privileges. Is there a way to grant the limited user account the rights to run QuickBooks?

Rob Pegoraro: Actually, I didn't make that recommendation. I think that's something Brian Krebs has suggested. I don't do it myself; it's too much effort, and in my own case I know enough to keep my computer safe otherwise.

You could try right-clicking the QuickBooks .exe file and selecting "Run As..." to run it with an admin's permissions--but that's going to get old doing that all the time.

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Vienna, Va.: I liked the column today, but I'm thinking the competition angle wasn't fully addressed. One example: I'm frequently frustrated with XM's music offerings because the formats are so narrow ("alternative music from 1991 to 1993!"), leaving them to dredge through some radio-unworthy tracks to fill out the playlists. Commercial radio has responded with wide-open formats. Whatever comes of this merger, the satellite folks will need to come up with something that can compete with 94.7, or why should I bother?

Rob Pegoraro: I never thought I'd see somebody write that commercial FM was much more interesting than satellite radio. Maybe FM has finally learned a thing or two...

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Simi Valley, Calif.: Hi Peter. Is there a utility somewhere to reassign COM ports in Windows XP? Most mobile devices have limited COM ports available to communicate with XP, and those COM ports 1-5 are mostly assigned already. I had to uninstall all my USB devises empty the Com name arbiter registry, install the device and reinstall ports (and have the luck that one of the COM1-5 became available).

Rob Pegoraro: Um, what? The whole point of using USB is to avoid having to think about COM-port assignments at all. Where are you even finding hardware that needs a serial port these days?

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Farragut Park, D.C.: Last year, I believe, you reviewed a disappointing new version of WordPerfect. Earlier versions, say those in use around 1998-2004, were quite handy in a number of ways, and I have files from that time that aren't read perfectly by Microsoft Word. How the heck does a person obtain an older version of WordPerfect, just to have handy? Or am I just delusional?

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

Rob Pegoraro: eBay? From your IT department's supply closet?

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Frederick, Md.: Rob, this question is probably rhetorical, but I need to hear it from someone who knows. My HP Pavilion I bought in May, 2005 completely died in late 2006. Completely. It's been confirmed dead by geeky experts who say the motherboard's shot. Of course I bought no extended warranties. HP wants a startling sum just to look at it. My question is this: Do I have absolutely no recourse with anyone for a product that is dead and gone after only 18 months?? Is this just an awful luck of the draw? Do mfrs. just KNOW when you don't buy the warranties??

Rob Pegoraro: They do know who's got a warranty and who doesn't. So I'm afraid you are SOL on this unless you can persuade HP to bend the rules--either by being enough of a pest or getting somebody else (lawyer? consumer affairs office?) to be a pest on your behalf.

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Hoya Saxa: Hi Rob. Is there a way to get video from my comcast or rcn

DVR onto my macintosh? Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: Yeah, how 'bout them Hoyas!

If you're willing to seriously geek out--and your DVR has a FireWire port--I'm told that you can install some developer software from Apple's site that will import the video right off the DVR's hard drive.

Or you can do things the slow way: attach an analog-to-digital video input box to the Mac, then make a real-time copy.

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Rob Pegoraro: Yikes, it's a quarter to 4 already and I've been typing almost non-stop for the past 1:45. (Would it be wrong for me to should "Hibachi!" at this point?)

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Rob Pegoraro: So I think I'll sign off and try to catch up with the rest of work. Thanks for keeping me busy! I'll see you all here in a couple of weeks.

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