Dennis Faas

Recall -- Last week, Bryan M. submitted a spoof video file about Macintosh computers: " I came across a very humorous video file about the experiences of using a Macintosh computer. The video is a spoof on those Macintosh commercials which were ... aired on TV a little while back. A typical scenario features big corporate executives who are frustrated by using a Windows PC at their workplace. " Macintosh commercial spoof video file Since then, numerous Readers have asked where they could download video (using_a_mac.wmv) in a in a different file format so that their Mac friends could ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Mary J. writes: " The problem I'm having is with my Windows 2000 OS. For some reason, I lost the options in my search category (Start -> Search). Do you have any idea how I can get them back? I don't remember now what I had ... installed that caused this problem, but it also happened to me on a computer that was running Windows ME. " My Response: Unfortunately, I have never experienced this problem before -- so I can only guess on a solution. I tried searching Google and Microsoft's Knowledge Base for an answer, but had a heck of a time trying to figure out what to ... (view more)

Yesterday's feature article was about file recovery after a hard drive crash. File recovery after hard drive crash? In a nutshell, I outlined some steps one might take in order to recover files from a corrupt hard drive. I also asked Infopackets ... Readers if they knew of any good freeware or commercial file recovery software which could undelete / recover lost data. Here are some of the responses I received: Haukur B. and Pippe both recommended a program called "PC Inspector File Recovery". From the web site: " PC Inspector File Recovery is a data recovery program with support ... (view more)

Bryan M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I came across a very humorous video file about the experiences of using a Macintosh computer. The video is a spoof on those Macintosh commercials which were aired on TV a little while back. A typical scenario features ... big corporate executives who are frustrated by using a Windows PC at their workplace. In the end of it all, the execs in the commercial say that they prefer to use Mac's because they're simpler to use. Anyway, it's something to that effect. I thought you might enjoy this video and pass it on to your readers. " My Response: I viewed the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Darlene M. writes: " Dear Dennis, My hard drive crashed and had to replace it. Unfortunately, the techs did not install any of my old programs onto the hard drive. I don't know much about the computer and I want install my ... programs again. What can you suggest? " My Response: You will need to acquire and reinstall all of your programs (IE: setup.exe / run-time executables) onto your new hard drive. You cannot copy over the old programs and have them run on your new drive: they need to be reinstalled onto Windows. I while back, I wrote an article entitled, "The ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Doug D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get a lot out of your newsletter and hope you can help me. There are many files listed in my Windows Startup, and some of the names appear more than once. I even have programs listed on my computer ... which no longer exist! How do I remove any unneeded listings? I removed the programs from the register using a RegCleaner, but they are still listed in the Startup. " My Response: I get asked this question quite often, and have commented on it before in the newsletter. The truth is that many of the programs listed in the Startup can be ... (view more)

How do you manage your digital pictures? A few weeks ago, Adriel Tan of E-Book Systems, Inc. sent me an email and asked if I would review a digital photo management program, called FlipAlbum 5 Suite. I thought that this would be a great opportunity ... to explore something new, especially since the software which came with my digital camera does not allow me to share my photos easily with friends. With this in mind, I downloaded and installed FlipAlbum 5 Suite on my machine. Here's what I found: FlipAlbum 5 Suite: a quick list of Features FlipAlbum is a unique software that organizes photos on ... (view more)

I am in aw e. Yesterday, I asked Infopackets Readers to visit freetechmail.org and submit comments about this newsletter. There were a number of entries, but one comment in particular caught my eye (especially the last line). Douwe F. from Kuala ... Lumpur, Malaysia writes: " [What I really like about] The Infopackets Gazette [are the newsletter topics, which are] explained in clear language. Although I am an IT professional, I enjoy reading all the various articles [written by Dennis, and I especially enjoy the] different perspective on issues [which are presented to readers]. I find this ... (view more)

RE: search engines and algorithms One of the determining factors in the way that Google ranks a web site depends on something called link popularity. In fact, Google has patented technology known as "Page Rank", which lists sites based on how many ... other web sites are pointing to it (by the use of web links). For example: Lockergnome has very high link popularity because many other web sites on the Internet are linked to Lockergnome. Essentially, Google considers that: if a web page / site (such as Lockergnome) is regarded by a large number of other web sites, it increases the ... (view more)

I'd like to discuss a security threat which was recently discovered in Internet Explorer. Mike Healan of Spywareinfo.com forwarded an article to me today. The article urges all Windows users to take the necessary precautions to secure their browsers ... from a nasty exploit recently discovered in Internet Explorer. The exploit allows hackers to gain control of a system and execute harmful code. http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/htasploit/ Without further adieu, here is the article by Mike Healan (edited): -- Members of the SWI support forums have uncovered a very nasty flaw in Internet Explorer ... (view more)