Personal Tech

The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro will be online Thursday, March 6 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss his recent reviews and blog posts.

Read the transcripts of past Personal Tech discussions here.

Submit a question or comment now or during the discussion.

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Rob Pegoraro: Good afternoon. It feels like a slow news day--the most exciting thing happening is Apple's unveiling of the "software development kit" that will let programmers write applications for the iPhone. Arguably, it's a slow news week; my column, after all, doesn't review a new product or service but instead takes a look at a trend that's been brewing for a while, those "news aggregator" sites that let their users pick out the most important news tidbits of the day/hour/minute.

(Note that the column itself appears to have been ignored by the audiences of said site. Ouch!)

So let's make this a grab-bag chat. Bring whatever tech questions you have, and I'll tackle them in no particular order.

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Washington, D.C.: I am an XP user but am considering an Apple laptop. With both platforms available (Boot Camp or Parallels) on the laptop, how does it handle email, the web and documents between the two? If I open email in Apple, will I still see it in XP, and vice versa? If I try to connect to the internet in Apple, will it stay connected when I open XP? Not sure where to go with my questions. Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Technically, you've got four different ways to run Windows programs on a Mac with an Intel processor:

1: Boot Camp, an either/or proposition in which you only run one operating system at a time (you choose each time you boot up the Mac);

2 and 3: Parallels Desktop and VMWare Fusion, which run a complete copy of Windows inside OS X;

4: CodeWeavers' CrossOver, which lets you run some Windows applications inside OS X *without* a copy of Windows present--it makes these apps think they're still inside Windows.

With the 2nd, 3rd and 4th options, you get the same access to the Internet and your documents for your Windows and Mac programs. The first does not allow for that.

As for e-mail, that depends entirely on how your account runs. If, like most, it operates on something called Post Office Protocol, you're going to have some difficulty keeping track of which messages you've answered or forwarded in each OS. But if runs on IMAP--Internet Mail Access Protocol--you've got nothing to worry about.

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McLean, Va.: Quicken doesn't seem to please the Apple community, and Money is only available for PC's. What personal finance programs for Mac are highly regarded?

Rob Pegoraro: The one that I'm most interested in is called iBank, from IGG Software. The version that just ships seems to match all of Quicken's major features--it handles the same range of debts and assets, it can download account updates from banks and credit cards automatically, it offers the same sort of analytical tools.

But I haven't had a chance to try this $60 app yet. If anybody has, please report back here!

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Charlotte, N.C.: Socket Errors vex me trying to forward video files I receive from others.

"Socket Error:10060, Port:25,Protocol:SMTP.A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond"

I have never had problems like this until recently. The sad part is that the files were all sent to me! AT&T tech support has finally admitted to me that they do, in fact, limit upload size.

Does this fall under the heading of "lack of net-neutrality"?

Jack

Rob Pegoraro: No, unless AT&T waives those limits for some kinds of files. If a usage limit applies to everybody and everything--you can only download X gigabytes of data, you can only spend Y hours a day online--there's no net neutrality issue at work. You might have a bad deal, but that's another issue entirely...

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HElp: I want to upgrade. I have a 3-year-old emachine which is Okay and, in the living room, a 25 year old floor model TV with rabbit ears. I watch most TV in my bedroom on the computer. I want to get my viewing back to the living room and do some upgrading so i have opted for a computer in the living room with an LCD serving as a tv/monitor hooked up to the PC to get my internet TV show viewing.

I think i am going for the Olevia 242V LCD HDTV - 42". For the PC i have been looking at the HP Pavilion SlimLine S3330f because of the cnet reviews and blue ray drive. i'm wondering; would i do better just buying a PC with better specs and get the blue ray drive alone ($150ish) for the most flexibility?

Rob Pegoraro: As a general rule, if you can't tell yourself *what* a device's "better specs" will do to improve your experience of them, don't pay extra for the better specs. In this case, you didn't mention any intensive computing uses like video editing or game playing, so I'd think the HP would do fine.

I would, however, strongly suggest that you add Bluetooth capability to it, so you can use wireless keyboards and mice from the couch.

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New York, New York 10021: Hi Rob,

I found the perfect converter box:

Philco TB150HH9 DTV Digital-to-Analog Converter, adds digital audio output via coaxial audio and what Philips describes as smart antennae control to optimize reception.

However, I couldn't find it so I called the company. It won't be on the market until after June and my coupon will expire by then.

What box can you recommend?

Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: So far, I've tried two DTV converter boxes--the Magnavox unit I reviewed in this column, and the LG box I talked about in this blog post. Of those two, I liked the LG better. It pulled in a few more channels, it had a better onscreen interface and its remote was a little simpler to operate.

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Wash, DC: I live in DC, have Comcast Cable TV, Verizon DSL internet, Verizon phone service and a Prepay Verizon Wireless phone (over $300 credit balance).

I might move to Bethesda, MD by, say, May.

What's best? - a triple offering from one company? Why bother with a home phone when cell will do? The only drawback is I can't fax through my cellphone, or is there now a tool that enables that, too?

Rob Pegoraro: What's this "fax" thing of which you speak? :)

I would look at a bundle of services--if you can get Fios, you should be able to knock down your telecom bill considerably by getting landline phone service, TV and Internet on one bill. (You could add cell-phone service to a Vz bundle, but you'd have to go on a contract instead of prepaid.)

But you should also see what it might cost to get DSL and satellite TV, with maybe a cheap landline phone plan (you can cut that cost to just $20 or less a month if you sign up for "metered rate" service, where you pay 10 cents/call after the first 50 or so each month).

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Atlanta: Hi Rob -- thanks for taking questions. A friend has suggested that I use my old/spare MacBook as the dedicated back-up drive for photos from my MB Pro. Good idea; but I've no idea how to do it. I'm running Leopard on both machines, if that makes a difference. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: You could run the old computer in "FireWire target disk mode," which turns it into an external hard drive when it's connected via a FireWire cable to the main computer.

But I don't recommend this. Not because it won't work, but because hard drives are usually the first part on a computer to break--and especially when you're talking about a laptop's hard drive, which usually suffers more jostling and wear/tear than a desktop's drive.

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Eugene, Ore.: Re: minimum specs for next laptop: Frequently when I play a video in Firefox or Maxthon (an IE shell), it consumes most or all of the CPU usage so that anything else I try to do, like switching tabs, requires a long wait. I've got 1 GB memory, 150 ghz clock, XP Home, on-board video chip.

To avoid this problem in the next laptop, which would help more (if either): to get a dedicated video card or even more memory (over and above the basic 2 GB that Vista would require).

Thanks for excellent columns over the years!

Rob Pegoraro: What kind of video are we talking about--Flash, RealVideo, QuickTime, Windows Media? A lot of the plug-ins these formats require tend to grab more than their share of memory and processor cycles. You do have enough memory, though, and your processor should be fine too--assuming you meant 1.5 GHz.

Have you checked to make sure you've got the latest versions of all of these plug-ins?

For a future computer, I wouldn't get any sort of extra hardware to play Web videos. A graphics card will do *nothing* for that, nor should memory over 2 GB.

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Potomac, Md.: Rob, a question on spam filters. On my Windows machine, I just changed from Norton Internet/Antivirus to the free McAfee offered by Comcast. It doesn't have a spam filter. I also have a recently acquired MacBook pro, and I'm using Mac Mail. It does not have a spam filter either. They both have junk filters which do not seem to work quite as well as Norton's spam filter. Can you recommend spam filters for these machines? Thanx.

Rob Pegoraro: Uh, spam filters *are* junk filters. Differents words, same meaning. You should give the Mac filter some time--it gets better as you train it, making messages as "junk" or "not junk."

In Windows, I'm going to guess that you're using Outlook Express. My advice there is to get rid of that application. It's horribly out of date and defenseless against spam. Use Microsoft's free Windows Live Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird, both of which include spam filters (Tbird's is pretty comparable to Mail's). This approach will cost you less than a third-party filter and won't gunk up your machine with an extra layer of software.

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Severn, Md.: Dear Rob,

First love your column second have you tried this new device called magicjack? No, I haven't either but I went to their website after seeing the infomercial it is the poorest excuse for a website selling what is supposed to be a hot high tech device, I have ever seen and I am a website project manager. After trying my credit card for what seemed like thirty times it finally accepted my debit card only and when I checked my email confirmation and statement from my bank, I found they had indeed charged me twice maybe more so I tried to call them to correct the matter and there is no number and nothing available except a live tech chat and the person on that was dumber than a box of rocks. Please let me know what I can do and if you can find a number for this supposed Magic company. Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: Oh, Lord... so many warning flags should have gone up here. Cardinal rule: NEVER pay for something with a debit card if you don't know and trust both the product you're buying and the merchant selling it. It is much harder to get your money back if you pay via debit than if you pay via credit.

(Corollary to that: NEVER let a telecom service debit your bank account each month unless you're sure they will never make a mistake on your bill and will stop those withdrawals the moment you cancel service.)

The MagicJack, if Google has pointed me to the same thing you're talking about, seems to be a little VoIP phone adapter. To judge from skimming this discussion thread, it seems to function pretty much as advertised:

Anyone Use MagicJack? - dslreports.com

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob. Is the PDA market dead? Did Palm kill it by assuming dominance and then refusing to innovate in any way for years? Any chance Apple will save it? I was a Palm user for years, but eventually just switched back to paper. Phones with PDA functionality are generally better phones than PDAs (or they rely on the same tired old Palm OS that I've already rejected). Surely there are legions of people like me out there waiting for a new solution. Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: The PDA--aka, handheld organizer--market is almost dead. In almost every case, you're better off getting a smartphone that runs a handheld operating system (Palm OS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian, iPhone), since that will both put your complete address book behind the phone and give you good Web access.

The only quarter of the PDA market that still shows signs of life seems to be a small set of WiFi-enabled devices that also include some PDA functions. The iPod touch comes to mind, as do Nokia's 810 and Sony's new Mylo (I hope to review the latter two soon)

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Gaithersburg, Md.: Is there any way to rip songs off my Ipod and back onto my hard drive? I lost some albums when I moved to a new computer and the only copies I have now are on the Ipod. Do I have to buy them again if I want to burn them to CD (like I should have done in the first place)?

Rob Pegoraro: Boy, this question never goes away! Here's the Help File I wrote a year ago about copying songs from your iPod back to your computer--which itself was an update of a column I'd done on the same subject a year or two before that.

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Greenbelt, Md.: I got a Playstation 3. Mainly for watching Blu Ray movies. Spider-Man 3 looks great! No question, just wanted to share my good news.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Greenbelt!

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Woodley Park: So here's a different question concerning the switch to digital TV broadcasting. I have DirecTV converting their digital signal to analog for my analog sets already, so with my current set up, I will be unaffected by the change. However, my DirecTV boxes are the old style units with real Tivo and I don't want to give them up until I finally make the transition to HDTV. But what happens when my old TV's die and I replace them with TV's with digital tuners? The DirecTV boxes convert their digital signal to analog but my new televisions will be expecting a digital signal. Will I have to then get a converter box to re-translate the analog signal from My DirecTV box BACK into a digital format for my digital TV?

Rob Pegoraro: You've overthinking this, Woodley... digital TVs include both analog and digital inputs, usually two or three of both. So you'll be able to use your existing DirecTV box with any new HDTV--just as you could also use a new DirecTV box with your existing set.

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Washington, D.C.: Rob -

I saw a comment on a chat board that Apple's new Time Capsule wasn't compatible with AppleTV? That seems crazy. Have you heard anything about this? Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: Huh? Time Capsule is a networked backup device. Apple TV is a networked media receiver. The two don't have any functions in common, so they can't be compatible or incompatible. They're just two different things you can have networked to a Mac.

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Rockville, Md.: Seems you get many questions about PC-based mail programs and PC-based spam filters. I use Yahoo!, Hotmail, and GMail. I would NEVER use a PC-based program as I would be limited on getting mail when away from MY computer. Am I missing something? Are there any benefits to a PC-based mail program?

Rob Pegoraro: Absolutely, which is why I've always used a desktop-based mail program for my primary mail accounts.

1) You have final control over your messages, not a company providing a free, ad-supported service;

2) You can get to your old e-mail and write new messages even if you're offline;

3) It's easier and faster to share your own files when you can just drag them from, say, your photo program to your mail application;

4) Every Internet provider with a clue provides Web access to its mail servers, so you can still get to your mail when you travel.

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Wintersville, Ohio: Rob, when I fire up the Vista machine I get a balloon message that tells me some startup programs have been blocked. I have clicked on the more information link and read the explanation several times. Not being the brightest bulb in the chandelier it makes no sense to me.

Can you explain in terms other than Microsoft geek speak?

Sign me curious and puzzled.

Rob Pegoraro: Usually, that message means that a startup application is either incompatible with Vista in some way or violates some of its security restrictions. Either way, the fix is for the app's developer to update it so it plays nicely in Vista. There's little that you can do by yourself, short of complaining to the developer in question.

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G man: Rob,

I never use reddit or digg. I find that the stories that they recommend, like you say, really all feed into a certain web-2.0-centric world view, both politically and interest wise. I do however have a very stable set of just over 100 feeds that I read hourly in my RSS reader.

The funny thing is that the most useful feeds come directly from big name media outlets (wapo, wall st journal, wired.com, several left/progressive magazines, a few hard core tech sites, etc).

-social commentary ahead-

It has only been recently that I've realized how monolithic the Geek community online is, and how nuanced issues are lost. What I believe now (and this changes) is that the world is complex, and you're doing yourself a disservice if you accept the assumptions of the Geek community without any scrutiny.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the comments. It can be funny how one-sided the news aggregators can get; as of this morning, Reddit might as well be called Obama-it!

But I think that coverage does balance out somewhat over time. Not that you should stop reading them analytically... but you should do that with any source or story you read.

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From Daniel Greenberg - Technology Correspondent: Hi Rob,

A couple of suggestions for your readers.

Charlotte, N.C., who needs to send large video files: There are free sites for exactly this purpose. Try sites like www.sendthisfile.com.

Wash, DC, who wants to try a triple service: Tragically, some companies still insist on faxing. Fortunately, the cost of a few month's phone service for a fax machine will pay for an inexpensive scanner and a year's worth of a service like eFax.com. I got rid of my dedicated fax phone line but I still can give out a dedicated eFax phone number. Those who send me faxes don't need to know there is no actual phone line attached to a fax machine. And I can read my new faxes online while traveling.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks, Daniel!

Another option for sending large files--one that I used many times during CES and Macworld--is yousendit.com.

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Vienna, Va.: I know they have an announcement scheduled for tomorrow, but do you suspect that Pioneer is actually going to be leaving the plasma business, or are they just going to use another company to produce their panels? And if the latter, do you think this will affect the quality of their industry leading plasmas?

Rob Pegoraro: The story I heard was that Pioneer was going to stop making their own plasma TVs, not that they'd exit the biz entirely. But even that seems fishy to me; how can you outsource your manufacturing *after* launching an ad campaign about how your plasma TVs are so far superior to every other brand of TV on this particular planet?

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Arlington, Va.: For budget reasons, I am clinging to analog cable (Comcast in Arlington) for as long as possible. I plan to replace my 15-year-old TV with a new HDTV next winter, when I expect there will be all kinds of sales. In the meantime, Comcast continues to chip away at the channels I can watch by moving some to "digital only" every few months. I realized last night (now that they've taken away the TV Guide channel, of all things) that this means they are effectively increasing their prices for analog services when they do this, because I'm getting less and still paying the same amount. Anyway I know there's no question in this, I just needed to rant. They are such snakes!

Rob Pegoraro: Go ahead and rant! It's fun, isn't it?

But when you do get that HDTV, make sure it has a QAM tuner--that way, you'll be able to watch digital channels, so long as they're non-premium, without a cable box.

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Burke, Va.: I just bought a new laptop. Haven't you created a quick "security primer"? Set up as an administrator and a user, then use the user for most work . . . . something like that?

washingtonpost.com: Special Report: Protecting Your Identity

Rob Pegoraro: I write a "how to set up your new computer" column every December, which covers security and some other basic care-and-feeding issues. Here's the most recent version of it:

7 Steps to Get Your New Computer Running Right

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Denver: I just got a home theater in a box system. The receiver only has one set of speaker outputs. Is there any kind of "speaker hub" or something I can get so I can use a second set of speakers?

Rob Pegoraro: I don't think so--so if this thing was actually sold to you as a "home theater in a box," you should take it back to the store. Surround sound has been part of the definition of "home theater" for at least the last 15 years.

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob -

These chats are the best! Apple question for you. I am thinking of switching to a MAC, but I saw somewhere that Mac users running Apple OS can't view Windows media files online. Is that correct? Did I just read it wrong? Exactly what media content on a PC would I have trouble viewing on a Mac? Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: It's wrong. The only kind of Windows Media files that you can't view on a Mac--which, not to bring up an old rant, IS NOT AN ACRONYM--are those locked with Microsoft's "digital rights management" software. So you can't, for instance, watch Amazon Unbox movies in Mac OS X. (If you don't like that, direct your complaints to Redmond, Wash., not Cupertino, Calif.; Microsoft could port its DRM to the Mac but has declined to do so.)

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Stormville, N.Y.: Hi Rob!

Dell Dimension 4700, Windows XP home up to date, 2.5G of memory.

I ran out of USB connections on my machine. I am planning to use a 4 port hub to alleviate the problem. It appears to me that there are powered and non-powered hubs. Is there a distinct advantage to powered hubs?

Also, I often get a message of Windows error "Insufficient system resources to complete the API". This does not occur when I am using the machine but in connection with standby.

Applications running may be as few as Thunderbird and one window of Firefox.

I can see that API is Application Programming Interface, but what does this message mean for me? It causes no problems, I can start working with the PC without any problems.

Could you comment on this?

Rob Pegoraro: I can answer the first question but not the second.

A powered USB hub will let you run some more power-intensive peripherals, like some iPods, digital cameras and cell phones. An unpowered hub should be fine for plugging in a mouse and most (but not all) USB flash drives.

I have no idea what the system-resources error could mean--with 2.5 gigs of memory, you should have more than enough already. Any suggestions?

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Rockville, Md.: Why oh why does Western Digital do FAT32? I got a new external 320GB USB drive for video and music storage. The instructions say "plug and play" so I did. Moved about 50 GB of data and then removed most of that from my network drive. Then I couldn't move my 4GB+ files. Kept getting a "disk full" error. Come to find Western Digital drives come formatted FAT32. So, goodbye 2 1/2 hours 2 nights ago moving the files off the network drive. Goodbye 2 1/2 hours last night moving the files BACK onto the network drive. Goodbye 1 1/2 hours reformatting the drive to NTFS. 6 1/2 hours later and I'm back to square one. ARG!!!!

True, Win 95 won't recognize NTFS but it's been long enough that most people will have XP or Vista and since NTFS is faster than FAT32, why don't they pre-format in NTFS and make the backwards out-of-date people reformat to FAT32???

Rob Pegoraro: If the drive was labeled as "PC/Mac compatible," WD would have to format it in FAT32 out of the box--NTFS only works in read-only mode in OS X and in a lot of other non-Windows operating systems.

(FAT32 and NTFS are "filesystems" you choose when reformatting a hard drive.)

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KGDave: A suggestion for the next time someone asks about DTV reception: recommend tvfool.com instead of antennaweb for assessing potential reception. There's no more accurate way for predicting signal strengths than what that site uses.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the suggestion! I think I tried that site and found it was reasonably accurate for my home. It does throw a lot of technical detail at you, though.

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iPod Trava IL: Hi Rob,

I used to be able to play my iPod on any of my radios by simply connecting to the radio's Aux input. A couple of months ago this stopped working. I've tried it on two different radios, and I've tried connecting directly through the headphone jack as well as indirectly, using the dock.

The screen display looks as if it's playing, with the timer counting down, but no sound is coming out.

Any ideas? Have others reported this problem? I keep the software up to date.

Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: If your iPod's headphones work, I don't see how a patch cable going from the headphone jack to the line-in jack on a stereo would not. It's not as if the iPod can tell what's on the other end of that line. What kind of iPod is this?

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Bethesda, Md.: Rob, just bought an iMac and am transitioning from Windows. Need to run the occasional Windows program, and have decided to use Parallels. Do you suggest just using Parallels or setting up Boot Camp in addition?

Rob Pegoraro: Just Parallels--Boot Camp only becomes necessary if you want to play fast-paced games or other graphically-demanding programs. (Also, Boot Camp requres XP SP2 or newer, while you can install many older versions of Windows inside Parallels or Fusion.)

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Tina in Falls Church:"Insufficient system resources to complete the API". looks like it's hibernation related problem. Lots of board comments. Fix may be available.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks. But available where? Which message board?

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Arlington, Va.: Does Time Machine do a full backup of all photos and video on my iMac? I'm wondering if I need to burn my photos to DVD for backups in addition to having Time Machine running.

Rob Pegoraro: Time Machine--gonna answer a related question on this in a sec--does a full back up of EVERYTHING. It defaults to backing up everything on your Mac.

But I would keep a second set of backups of important data like your photos and music on DVD. There is no such thing as "too many backups."

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Washington D.C.: Rob -- anything to say about Time Capsule? It seems like an intriguing idea, especially for laptops with their "first to go" hard drives. Seems like a pretty good value if you need a wireless router and a back up solution. But say your laptop hardrive dies. How easy/hard would it be to restore it through time capsule once the drive has been replaced?

Also, on faxes, you can still use a single line with distinctive ring or a fax machine that "listens" for the fax tones on a voice line.

Rob Pegoraro: By the money, Time Capsule looks like a tremendous deal--500 GB of storage and an 802.lln base station. That might be how I upgrade my own home network (it's still 802.11g).

If you suffer a total hard-drive failure, you'd pop the new hard drive in, install OS X, and then choose the Time Machine backup as a source in OS X's Migration Assistant. From then on, it should be just like migrating your stuff from another Mac.

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob, I have a 1992 Saturn and want to know if my radio (AM/FM) will work after the digital changeover.

Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: Of course--it's a digital-*TV* changeover, not radio.

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Rockville, Md.: Hi Rob, do you know of any free protected music converters (M4P to MP3) available - so that I can convert my Itunes music to MP3?

Rob Pegoraro: The simplest way is to burn those purchases to CD, then re-rip them as MP3 files--iTunes will even remember the original tags for them, so you won't have to retype any song titles. You can also pay to get higher-quality, DRM-free copies of them if iTunes Plus versions are available.

And there are some applications that automate the re-ripping process; there's a new one called DoubleTwist that I need to try out sometime.

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Arlington, Va.: I replaced my circa-1991 32" Sony TV with a plasma over a year ago. The tuner on the Sony went bad a long time ago, but I just switched to using the VCR tuner to change channels until I bought the plasma. It still had a great picture and refused to die, but too heavy to lug up the stairs, the Sony has sat in a closet until I found someone/someplace that might want it.

However, with the no-more-analog broadcasts happening next February, is there any remaining logical reason why anyone would still want it? Since changing the channel via VCR won't work any longer then, either, will a set with a broken tuner work for someone with a digital converter box or should I just look to responsibly dispose of the set?

Rob Pegoraro: Try selling it as what it's become--a monitor. A 32-incher should still have some residual value in that capacity.

But if nobody takes it... well, the county's having one of its Environmental Expos on April 19, I think, where you can drop off old electronics for safe disposal. I think the charge for dropping off an old TV is $10 per, but it may be waived for this year.

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Thunderbird and Spam: How does Thunderbird filter spam? We've been relying on our ISP (Verizon) which has been doing an OK job, but stuff still comes through. Other than creating a list of people who are OK (which then gives you problem if someone new e-mails you), how does Thunderbird know something is likely spam?

Rob Pegoraro: It has what's called a Bayesian filter--it comes preset with a rough idea of what constitutes spam, and that definition gets refined as you mark messages as junk or not-junk. Your copy's filter might not be enabled, though; check the Privacy category in the Options window.

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From Daniel Greenberg - Technology Correspondent:"Insufficient system resources to complete the API"

I've had this error. It is related to XP's woeful hibernation system. Make sure your Win XP patches and hotfixes are up to date. This was a known issue but MS has patched it. Try MS support:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909095

Rob Pegoraro: Thank you! This is *not* the kind of thing I would have been able to figure out while the chat's still going on.

(And now I just might steal the answer for Help File :)

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Dallas, Ore.: What is your choice (and ideas from others here) for me as an older woman to buy for a new TV? I am planning on moving in a couple of years so I want it 50 pounds or lighter in weight. At 72 I entered the computer world via OJT. I have a satellite dish now and am considering going international with my next move. I will be paying in full when I purchase--willing to go up to $1,500, and a 40" screen is large enough. Thanks for your help.

Rob Pegoraro: LCD TV--plasma will weigh too much.

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Northeast: Hi Rob,

It was nice hearing your voice on that segment of On the Media last weekend.

I remember the days of having to do regular maintenance on my work computer to keep the cache and temp files from building up, and running the cleanup and defrag routines regularly.

What, if anything, should we be doing in this day and age with a PC running Windows XP? I use Firefox as my browser and have it set to delete private data when I close out, if that matters.

Thanks.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for listening, NE. (I was one of the people interviewed in last weekend's On the Media: http://www.onthemedia.org)

I think you're doing more than you need to, as far as computer maintenance goes. Clearing all your private data every time you exit Firefox, for example, costs you more time than you'll ever save.

I try to stick by two principles for Windows maintenance:

* Don't rush to add any new programs;

* Keep the ones you do have up to date.

The rest is details, really.

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Jackson, N.J.: Hey...Is there some amount of harddrive space you should keep open for max efficiency?...I have a Mac G4 and try to keep 50 percent open...OK?...And why does my amount of free space diminish (not a lot just 1-3 percent) when I never really store or keep or download anything substantial?...Thanks

Rob Pegoraro:50 percent is more than you need--but you do need to have at least, say, 15 percent free.

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Grateful: Rob, I want to say thank you. You answered a question of mine a while back about a vexing software problem. Your help changed my life! Or at least made it a lot less annoying.

Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro:"Changed my life"? C'mon, I'm no Weingarten...

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Silver Spring, Md.: Rob, I'd like to connect my computer (with an old video card, VGA output only) to my new HDTV (which has VGA and HDMI inputs). Based on your experience, will the VGA provide a good enough picture quality? Or is the digital picture quality so much better that I should invest in a new video card and a DVI-to-HDMI cable?

Rob Pegoraro: VGA should be fine. There is a difference between that an all-digital connection, but I doubt it's going to bother you much.

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Herndon, Va.: I'm probably going to switch to the Verizon/Fios bundle for TV/Internet/Phone from DSL,/Tivo, (already have Vzn phone). For the internet switch, are there any major benefits to switching to Verizon email over a web-based email such as Gmail? I'm already aware of the TV/Tivo differences. For the same price I'm paying now for 2 TVs (1 HD w/SD Tivo box that starting to freeze up,and 1 SD TV), phone, and internet I can get 3 TVs with 1 HD DVR and get HD channels, and 3x faster internet.

Rob Pegoraro: Verizon's mail--like most Internet providers--runs on POP, so it will be more awkward to access it remotely. I'd stick with Gmail if you're happy with that; Gmail provides free IMAP access, so you can also use it with a traditional desktop mail program like Tbird (where you also won't see any of Gmail's ads.)

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S. Rockville, Md.: Is the DVD recorder with a digital tuner the answer to my OTA viewing issues with my older TV? Can I use my current rabbit ears with that type of DVD recorder?

Rob Pegoraro: Yes--well, it's *one* answer--and yes.

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Olney, Md.: Just a Comment: My TV Converter Box Coupons arrived yesterday!!!!! They are valid until May 27, almost the 90 days they promised. The letter it comes with even lists the 8 closest electronics stores to my house, including 4 Radio Shack, 2 Best Buy, and 2 Circuit City stores.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks for the report!

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Rosslyn, Va.: Ok, keeping in the grab-bag spirit, here's a random one for you. In 1989 I bought David Bowie's "Sound & Vision" box set (CD version). One of the discs included is what I understand to be a "CD-Video" format video disc. Not at that time, nor throughout all the years since have I ever owned an electronic device that could read this disc. So my question is - are there still devices out there that could play this, or is this a long-dead format whose only compatible devices would be in a museum or attic?

Rob Pegoraro: That is an excellent question. I think I recall that format myself, and I may even have one of these discs in my own collection. Let me research this one for you.. assuming that "CD-Video" doesn't mean "Video CD" (a very popular format overseas), you might need to do some digging around.

In the meantime, I will throw out my all-purpose suggestion for video-compatiblity issues: the free, open-source VLC Player, at videolan.org

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Silver Spring, Md.: Rob,

did you ever look at digital picture frames? I'd be interested in the result.

Thanks,

E_Identity

Rob Pegoraro: Still working on that one. Thanks for the reminder!

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New York City: I'm a retired, baby-boomer audiophile with a reel to reel tape deck that no longer works properly. I've got a vast collection of recorded works that are too numerous to transfer to another medium but that I value greatly. I've not been able to confirm definitively that reel to reel machines (I have a TEAC X-300R) are no longer manufactured but I sure can't find any info to suggest that they are still available. Do you know whether I can still purchase a new reel to reel deck? Thanks much.

Rob Pegoraro: And now for a really obscure electronics question! I won't even pretend to know the answer to this one. What I would do is call the nearest enthusiast audio store--not a Best Buy, but a Myer-Emco or something like it--and ask them about it. If they don't know, you're probably stuck buying a used one off eBay or elsewhere.

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Potomac, Md.: I use the Airport Extreme base station router in my house as well as an Airport Express to extend the range and provide music. I'm interested in switching to FioS, but it looks like they have their own router. Do you know if I could still use my Airport router either in place of or in addition to the Verizon router?

Rob Pegoraro: Don't see why not--you'd just plug the AirPort into the Fios router's Ethernet port.

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Tulsa, Okla.: Rob,

My Attic mounted antenna needs a signal amplifier to help the signal get to my tv.

Will the current amplifier work with the digital converter I will have to get for the coming switch over?

Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: It should--it's still the same airwaves. "Analog" antennas and coax cable work with digital TV too.

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Washington, D.C.: Any knowledge on when Gmail might offer true two-way sync with blackberry mail, or how we can convince them to do so? Yahoo does this, but on gmail, if you delete something on your web account, it still stays in your blackberry inbox--it is very inconvenient.

Rob Pegoraro: That's what Gmail's IMAP access does for you.

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Washington, D.C.: Is it just me or is the nano iPod meant to be disposable. I am getting ready to get my third one in three years. It just starts going hay wire, today it just spins through the songs evey two seconds and never actually plays. The last time it took over a month to get a replacement from Apple. something this expensive should last more than a year!

Rob Pegoraro: I think you've just had bad luck. These are extraordinarily durable in general; my own has already survived at least one fall on a concrete sidewalk. I think the only way iPod nanos are "disposable" is the way Apple keeps coming out with upgraded models--I'm sure I'll be ready to buy a new one long before the battery on mine wears out.

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Arlington, VA: One note on the QAM tuning: While this is a good way to continue to watch non-premium and unencrypted HDTV channels, I've found if difficult to track the channels. Not only are they unlisted, the channels that certain stations are assigned to seem to change often. Have you had a similar experience?

Rob Pegoraro: I don't subscribe to cable at all, so, no, I haven't had that experience. Are there any other Comcast users with QAM-equipped HDTVs who can talk about this (in the few moments this chat has left, that is)?

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New York, N.Y.: Rob - any suggestions on good anti-virus software? I was using AVG but I recently started getting error messages that I was using a pirated copy and they want me to buy the newest version. Should I?

Rob Pegoraro: Huh? AVG is free; it's not possible to use a pirated version. You might be seeing an ad to upgrade to the pay version, but you can ignore that as long as you're using a current release.

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Kansas City, MO: I have a windows 2000 machine that I rarely use (have a Macbook) but when I do it is really slow starting up. Other than buying a new PC, would it be better to reinstall the OS on the current drive or buy a extra hard drive and load the OS on it and have the first drive be a "secondary" drive. Would programs still run or do they need to load from the OS drive?

Rob Pegoraro: Just reinstall Windows (after backing up whatever data you want to keep around). You should see a major speedup just from having a "clean" system... if only Windows didn't get "dirty" so quickly.

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Washington, D.C.: I am finally prepared to upgrade from free-with-subscription cell phones. I am basically looking for something that:

1. Works well (ideally in buildings, although I don't know that the phone itself has much to do with that)

2. Takes decent-ish pictures

3. Could sync a calendar and address book from a MacBook.

I'm afraid the last puts me into "smartphone" technology, but I'd rather not buy a data plan. Is this even possible? I'm currently with Sprint but am considering switching plans when this expires.

Rob Pegoraro: You don't have to get a smartphone for address book and calendar syncing. Apple's iSync supports a pretty wide variety of phones, most of them of the "dumb" kind: iSync Devices

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Re second set of speakers: Rob, apparently I wasn't clear. The receiver has a full set of surround sound speakers. I want to run a second set of speakers (at least the two primary ones) to my patio, but the receiver only allows one set.

Rob Pegoraro: Ah... well, I don't know about that. Sorry!

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Tina in Falls Church: I have a Dell with Vista about 1 year old. I have a DVD burner to create a DVD or copy to a DVD but...can I copy a DVD movie without a special program?

Rob Pegoraro: No.

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Courthouse: I installed Leopard on my iMac recently and now my machine takes forever and a day to boot up. I see a blinking globe for several minutes, then the Apple logo, then my desktop. Is this normal? Pre-Leopard it would boot up in about 1 minute. Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: Definitely not normal. Do an "archive and install" reinstall of Leopard, which will give you a clean copy of the OS while keeping your files, settings and applications.

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Where's the VUDU?: Hey Rob, I know Apple is big and all, and VUDU is small, but VUDU has over 5,000 movies, over 100 in HD, and ALL viewable INSTANTLY (if you have a big enough pipe, and many will). So why do you think the tech blogs always blow off VUDU with one mention like "..and competitors like VUDU, Xbox..." with no real comparison or evaluation? I know I'm biased, but VUDU is killing ATV in a lot of categories, but no one wants to say its name in print or something. What's up with that?

Rob Pegoraro: I left Vudu (sorry, I don't use all-caps when the word isn't an abbreviation) out of the Apple TV/Xbox comparison because the Vudu box--unlike those other two--doesn't do anything but play downloaded movies. Given the overall crumminess of the movie selection, I cannot justify spending hundreds of dollars on a box whose utility depends on the movie studios recognizing the value of this Interweb thing as a distribution mechanism.

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Germantown, Md.: Re: Digital Picture Frames -

I chose the Westinghouse DPF-0802 (8" diagonal) because it has 800x600 resolution and is in a 4:3 format instead of widescreen to better match the output of your digital camera. The picture quality and brightness are outstanding.

Rob Pegoraro: Thanks! I'll try to have a look at what Westy has

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Washington, D.C.: Hi Rob

My college age son needs a new cell phone. He wants one that has some of the features of a PDA, such as being able to sync with his computer calendar, more key pads for easier entry of data and texting, and the ability to check e-mail. He doesn't want a PDA because he doesn't want to carry 2 devices all the time. His current phone is on our family Verizon plan, and I don't want to spend extra money each month for a data plan to check e-mails as would be required with a Blackberry or device like that. Are there any phones that are wi-fi, so he can check e-mails through the internet without downloading them to his phone? He seems to think that phones like this are on the horizon. Any thoughts? Thanks

Rob Pegoraro: Yes, but they're kind of expensive. Check out some of the Windows Mobile devices Verizon sells.

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Arlington, Va.: Hi Rob,

I have too many computers authorized on my itunes account -- several of which have dead hard drives and can't be deauthorized individually. I want to "deauthorize all", but will this have any ill effects on my music? How does deauthorization work, exactly? Will I need to reload itunes?

Right now I have my itunes library on my work computer. I would like to also have it on my laptop. Is that possible?

Thanks!

Rob Pegoraro: Nothing to worry about--click "deauthorize all," then reauthorize the computers you want to keep. Nothing will happen to your music in the meantime.

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Baltimore, Md.: There was a piece (in the Baltimore Sun, I think) saying that Congress and the FCC are actually looking at postponing the launch date for digital TV conversion, or simply running the launch as a pilot project in a limited area. The reason being that the Hill and the agency are now running scared that millions of older (read voting) Americans who get over the air reception will be caught flatfooted by digitization, despite what's been written, and will take out their anger on politicians. The author of the column asked what was the compelling reason to abandon a technology (analog TV) that everyone has and that has worked flawlessly for 60+ years. Is there an answer to that?

Rob Pegoraro: There is no chance of the analog switchoff getting delayed--the spectrum is already getting auctioned off. Some people might suggest that, but it will not happen.

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Falls Church, Va.: My 6th grade son wants all his relatives to go in together and get him an I-Touch for his birthday. I'm not sure about this. While I don't mind him having an IPod I am concerned about the internet access that comes with the I Touch. First, I am concerned that it is a waste of money because I am not sure where he is going to get a free wifi connection to use it. While we live inside the beltway, it's not like we live near a Starbucks. Second, and more importantly, I am concerned that if the internet access actually works really well and that he will be able to see anything and go anywhere on the computer. Right now he has to use one of the computers we have in the office where we can control access and can walk by a check what he is seeing and where he is going.

Are my concerns justified? Is the internet access pretty good but limited in a way we can control?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Rob Pegoraro: Hadn't thought about this--but you have a point there. AFAIK, there is no way to limit an iPod touch's Web access, at least not without a specialized router that can limit the Web access of particular devices on a network. (The one you own almost certainly doens't allow that.)

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A total non-tech person re: digital converters: If we use DirecTV now, do we need those converter boxes? Sorry, I am totally confounded by what all this means.

Thanks; Love your chats.

Rob Pegoraro: No.

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For the reel-to-reel guy: I just saw new/replacement/used etc reel-to-reel parts and manuals, plus other analog recording and a bunch of stuff at a site called junk-swap.com about 2 days ago.

Rob Pegoraro: I don't see anything like that on the site's home page now, but I'll throw it out there anyway...

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KGDave: Two programs I find handy for cleaning out the cruft and keeping up to date: ccleaner and filebuddy. Ccleaner will even blow away the chaches for recent documents, recent searches and the like. Filebuddy (per your suggestion) so thorough in finding the latest version of virtually every program that I turn off the "search for updates" feature that gunks up everything I download these days.

Rob Pegoraro: Appreciate the suggestions..

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Vienna, Va.: I hate to turn you into tech support (OK, I really don't because I'm stumped), but Outlook is apparently blocking links from inside email messages. If I try to use the link, I get sent to my homepage. How do I fix this?

Rob Pegoraro: I can only throw out guesses here. But I'd first try using a different default browser; if you see the same pattern with Firefox instead of IE (or whatever you're using), then I'd have to think you've got some extra security software trying to guard you against... something.

Another test you can try: click on a link on some other program, such as an IM client or the notepad in Google Desktop. If the link works there, then at least you've isolated it to Outlook.

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Rob Pegoraro: And that, as they say, knocks things in the head for today. Thanks for all the questions! Keep an eye out for answers to some of them in Help File, and I should be back here in a couple of weeks as well.

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