computer

Infopackets Reader Barbara B. writes: " Hi Dennis, Again, thanks for all of your hard work on your great newsletter, which is so much help for so many people. Now, my husband has a question regarding playback of downloaded DVD videos, movies, etc. ... He can download and burn these videos and can play them back on the computer. However, the problem is that we cannot play the movies on our DVD equipment (hooked up to your family television set). What is involved in this? Is there some kind of solution? Thanks so much for any assistance you might be able to give us. " My response: The ... (view more)

Synopsis: Is your PC becoming increasingly slow and unstable? MemOptimizer monitors your system in the background and frees resources when these are required. The result is that your programs will run faster and be more stable than ever before! ... MemOptimizer: Screenshots Click to view: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5. MemOptimizer: Why Optimal Memory equals Better Computing Almost all software programs contain "memory leaks". Over time, memory leaks cause less and less memory to be available on your PC, resulting in slow system performance, slow web browsing, slow startup speed, ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Lee W. write s: " Dear Dennis, First of all, thanks for your newsletter; it is very helpful, so much so that I thought I would never have to ask a question! But alas, I have dilemma that I can't seem to get past. I'm running ... Windows XP on a custom-built PC. I've had the PC for almost a year now, but within the last five months, whenever I boot up, the machine spontaneously reboots on its own several times before all my programs actually load. Windows XP doesn't actually load until this happens several times, and this happens almost every time. I've kept the PC on all ... (view more)

Continuing on with our in-depth discussions on backup solutions , this article will review Acronis True Image version 8.0. This will be the final article in our 7-part series, stretching back almost 1 month to date: Choosing a Backup Solution: An In ... Depth Look 6 Key Elements for any Backup Strategy Backup Made Easy: A Six Point Guide to Buying Backup Software Genie Backup Manager Review System Restore and similar Registry Reverting utilities -- pointless? The results are in: which Disk Imaging Backup software is best? Acronis True Image Review (version 8): In Depth RE: Disk Imaging software ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bill S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just finished reading your article on how important it is to maintain a clean System Registry in order to achieve optimal PC performance. I have a question for you: I have two computers (one with ... Windows XP and the other with Windows 98); the Windows XP computer has a feature called "system restore" which automatically reverts my System Registry to a previously working state [in case I get attacked with Spyware, for example] ... however, my Windows 98 PC doesn't have the system restore feature. My question is: how can I backup ... (view more)

Great news! PCTools, the authors of the incredibly popular flagship utility 'Registry Mechanic', have just recently released version 4.0. If you've been keeping up with our newsletter, you've undoubtedly heard me mention this extremely beneficial ... utility a number of times in the past. Reminder: What is Registry Mechanic? Registry Mechanic is by far the most widely regarded Windows Registry Cleaner on the Internet -- not only because it's received countless rave reviews from credible online sources, but also because it is one of the few Registry cleaners on the market that actually delivers ... (view more)

Happy Birthday to me! Today, I turn 30. Special thanks to those folks who noted my Birthday pre-announcement in the "today in History" section in Yesterday's newsletter. And now getting on with today's question, Infopackets Reader Roberta W. writes: ... " Dear Dennis, I'm having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to report a hacker that has been trying to hack in to my computer. I have 3 firewalls and plenty of antivirus software installed on my computer. I keep getting messages that dav.bay0.hotmail.com is 'sniffing' my communication ports, and is attempting to send me ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently used Windows Movie Maker to create a video compilation. When I was finished editing the project, I clicked the 'send to CD' button, which then launched a Movie Maker Wizard. The wizard ... took me step by step and explained how to convert my project into a Windows Media Audio/Video file and ultimately burn it to CD. I chose to burn the file to CD-R so that I could play it in my DVD player; however, near the end of the burn, Windows Media Maker reported that the project "did not save successfully". After I clicked OK, I ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim L. writes: " Dear Dennis, You have helped me in the past numerous times and for that I'm thankful. I read all issues and sometimes save those articles that I have a current or potential future need for. In a recent news ... article, I noticed an ad for 'DVDSqueeze', which copies and compresses VHS/DVD video to a CD. Even though they advertise in your newsletter, I haven't seen a review from you on their software. I have quite a few old VHS tapes of miscellaneous TV programs of yesteryear. They are not valuable enough to copy to DVD, but it would be nice if I could put ... (view more)