. It provides 128-kbps connections in some cities, but only 28 kbps in others--including ours. I have no idea when the faster access will reach D.C.; Ricochet is in a fair amount of financial trouble and expanding its coverage doesn't seem to be the top priority for the company right now.
Baltimore, MD:
Of the three major processor chips (Intel, AMD, Cyrix), which do you cosider to be the best value for the money?
Rob Pegoraro: I wouldn't consider Cyrix a major processor these days; it's pretty much all AMD or Intel, with Transmeta (which I wrote about today) having a tiny, tiny slice of the laptop market). That said, the "best value" depends mainly on who just cut their prices. Intel has had to offer some steep discounts lately--look at how much cheaper Pentium 4 computers have gotten.
Laurel:
A new Apple Computer store just opened in Tyson's Corner. What would Wintel users find exciting in mid priced ($700-1500) Apple desktops besides colorful cases and optical mice?
Rob Pegoraro: It's one swank-looking place--worth stopping in, I'd say. What Wintel users will find there, first, is just a much more entertaining and welcoming shopping experience than anything I've seen anywhere outside of maybe the Sony store in midtown Manhattan. The computers there are priced no different than on the Apple store, so the best values continue to be the iMacs.
Olney MD:
We are going to buy an RV and wander around (and let our W Post subscription expire). What about getting internet connection remotely? What abount Starband?
Rob Pegoraro: Unfortunately, you can't do it. Starband and the DirecPC two-way satellite Internet services require a very exact positioning of the antenna--it's got to be aimed right at the satellite antenna 22,000 miles away. (Whereas the satellite's own dish just has to be aimed at, like, the Earth.)
A Ricochet account wouldn't help much either--its coverage is only in and around cities. Sorry...
Washington, D.C.:
Rob, I have a question. This is not to be confused with invasion of privacy. Here's the scoop, and I'm sure many parents of teenagers will find some similarity. Our 14 year old daughter is heavily involved in a relationship and spends much time on IM. Sometimes parents can learn some pretty important things by prying where we should not be prying. However, safety and wellbeing comes first. We are not sure if she's chatting with a stranger, boyfriend, whoever. Is there legally any type of software out there that can give parents a discrete form monitoring? Like, does not have an icon on the desktop?
Rob Pegoraro: I can't really answer the "legal" question here; I am not a lawyer (IANAL, in the Net vernacular). There are a lot of different keyboard-sniffing applications out there, which are designed to run invisibly and log every keystroke. That's not to say that they couldn't be found out by a sufficiently enterprising teenager.
But, really, this isn't a technology question--it's a relationship question. (I'm putting on my Carolyn Hax hat now...) Not having a teenage kid of my own, I can't offer advice so much as other questions: Would you be comfortable with eavesdropping on her phone calls? How would everybody react if this program were to be detected?
Great Falls, VA:
What options do I have for high-speed internet access? In February, I was planning to get cable modem service but Cox/RoadRunner doesn't seem to have their act together when it comes to sticking to their roll-out schedule. What other options exist along with DSL?
Rob Pegoraro: If it means anything, you're not alone, Great Falls. I've gotten a batch of complaints like yours--folks who live too from a phone company central office and are sick of waiting on Cox to get its act together and wire up the neighborhood. I don't know what to tell you; I can't understand why it's taken Cox so long to digitally enable the richest neighborhood in the entire D.C. area. I mean, I didn't go to busines school or anything, but I thought going after the customers with money was usually part of the plan.
Anyway: If DSL and cable are out, your only other option is two-way satellite. It costs more ($60-$70), requires some expensive equipment and delivers about 400 kbps connections, but with lousy lag time (remember, each packet has to make a 44,000-mile round trip--you're not going to play any online games with this kind of setup).
Alexandria, VA:
Hey Rob! I'm submitting this early, in case I miss the chat later. I have a PowerMac 8100/80 AV at home, with a Sonnet Crescendo G3/266 Mhz processor and 80MB RAM. I've been having some difficulty with it (occasional system freezes and programs quitting with error of 2 or 3), and after running Tech Tool 3 it says there is a problem with my RAM (specifically the 10101010... test).
The recommended solution is to switch out the SIMMS until the problem one is isolated. I'm reluctant to do this myself (without help), so can you recommend either a local Mac repair shop that could do this, or somewhere I can get directions on how to do this?
Or do you have an alternate solution?
Thanks!
Rob Pegoraro: I hear the 8100's interior is a pain to get at--the case design isn't that well thought out. But if you can physically get to the memory modules, they're not at all difficult to pop out of their slots. You flip a little lever down, then tug on one end and it clicks right out. Reverse the process to put them back in. (Please remember to touch a doorknob or some other metal object before starting this work--you don't want any built-up static electricity to discharge into the computer.)
You could certainly pay a computer store to do this, but it's really not that hard--and if you've put in all those other upgrades yourself, it shouldn't be much easier than your other modifications.
Clifton, VA:
Rob,
There are devices for you boat and RV which will help you reposition your dish to pick up Directv. It may be automatic but I dont know for sure. Should work for Directpc too.
Just take a look at a NASCAR race and all the dishes in th infield and in the pits.
Rob Pegoraro: Not necessarily so--DirecPC demands a much more precise aim. The TV dishes can be basically aimed by hand, with one of those signal-strength meters, right? But to send a beam up to the satellite, you need to get a professional installer--there's no DIY option for the two-way Internet service that I've heard of.
Adams-Morgan:
Good afternoon Rob! Sorry, I'm full of
questions today! (3 of them) I have an iMac
and have been using the included program
Appleworks as my word processor because I
have had little need for more thus far.
However, occasionally I get e-mails from
friends that have Microsoft Word documents
attached that I can't read. Is a program like
MacLinkPlus the best way to deal with this?
Is there another (read: cheaper) program out
there that does the same thing? Finally, am I
missing a whole lot by not using a better
word processor? I'm doing the 30 day tryout
of Nisus Writer, but I don't think I've yet
figured out all the cool things it's supposed
to
Rob Pegoraro: 1) To read the Office documents, you can either buy MacLink (overpriced at $100, IMHO) or buy Word 2001 itself, if they still offer the $100-ish iMac edition of it.
2) I'm not aware of any cheaper programs--Apple should either bundle Word or at least bundle a translator or viewer for Word files. It's just lazy to leave users in the lurch like this.
3) I'm a big fan of Nisus Writer myself, but it does take a while to "move in" to that program. It's most useful to people who do their writing in one program, then do their fancy desktop publishing in another--Nisus is great for manipulating text, but pretty kludgey about page layouts.
Rockville, Md.:
Rob have you heard of Toadnet/toadmail.com? They suck. First, my client has them hosting his website and it costs $50 a month! Second, the customer care was terrible! I was on the phone for 4 hours with 4 different people trying to figure out where to FTP files to!
Where can a person host their own domain site on for about $15 a month?
Rob Pegoraro: I have heard of ToadNet; it's been around for a while in the Annapolis area. (I have to give them props for hosting WRNR's Web site.) Hadn't heard of any big complaints, but, hey, there's a first time for everything.
The cheapest way to get a domain up on the Net is to use the forwarding services most of the registrars offer--you pay $20 or $30 a year to get e-mail and Web addresses that are automagically forwarded to whatever host you prefer. Unless you're trying to run your own business or really enjoy configuring your own DNS and Web server, there's no point in hosting a domain right on your own PC.
Fairfax, VA:
Windows 98SE. When I try to open files in Wordpad, I always get the default "files of type:" to be -.doc files. How can I change the default to be 'all files'? I suspect it will entail a change to the registry but don't know where.
Thanks, John Coleman
Rob Pegoraro: It probably does reqiure a registry edit (read: you're hosed :), but I'll throw this one out to see if anybody can offer a suggestion.
Rob Pegoraro: This question came to me in e-mail from somebody who had problems submitting it otherwise:
========================================
It's not a computer problem, it's all these @#*&$#(*
ads for and against the Tauzin-Dingell bill. It seems
the ISP's and cable companies are on one side, and the
Baby Bells on the other. With a lineup like that, I
don't know what to believe. Where are the consumer
groups?
What would be best for geeks like us who want
reliable, customer-friendly, and cheap broadband (IN
THAT ORDER)??
========================================
First, Tauzin-Dingell: This bill would let the incumbent local telephone companies get into the long-distance data market, but not voice (right now they're forbidden to enter either data or voice LD until they certify that they've opened their local markets to competition). Every consumer-advocacy group that I've heard of opposes this bill, as do the competitive local exchange carriers.
I would tend to agree with the folks from Consumers Union on this. Verizon's making a lot of money--why does it need the extra help? Why take away one of the few levers the FCC has to ensure that it opens itself to competition in local phone service (what we all were promised so many years ago?). I don't see how these guys need a break--if anything, their competitors do.
Second, I'm glad you listed "cheap" as your third priority. The most reliable service around seems to be with some of the specialist DSL Internet providers, with the cable-modem companies doing a lot better, and Verizon doing a little better (but still causing me to get plenty of e-mail about bad service.)
2 way internet via satellite:
Actually, I helped a friend of mine install his DirecPC dish (DIY) job.. and it wasn't that hard.. the hardest part was getting on the roof and physically putting the dish on. Aligning the dish is probably much harder.. but since RV's have easy ways of getting up there, it shouldn't be too hard once the car is stopped.. (adjusting while you're moving is a whole nuther story)
Tip: Find out the coordinates of the satellite in your next stop BEFORE you leave.. it'll help you get the dish in the right place.
Rob Pegoraro: I didn't know this. Thanks for posting...
Washington, DC:
My home mac can't remotely access my office Windows 2000 NT Server or Novell 4.0 server at work via TCP. My feeling is that I will have to do/add something to the servers at work to interface correctly.
What can/must be done short of installing a mac server?
Rob Pegoraro: Not necessarily. Have you looked into any of the Mac/Windows networking assistants, like Connectix's DoubleTalk? As I understand it, this app makes your Mac look like any other Windows NT client. (Anybody actually tried this? I've been afraid to try to debug Mac/Windows networking between my computer at home and the office network... seems like it could turn into a computing Vietnam.)
Springfield, VA:
I'm running Windows ME and thought the "Thumbnail" option in the file folders was great. Suddenly, it doesn't work anymore. JPGs and GIF's both just show their program icon, no picture. Do you know how to reset this option?
Rob Pegoraro: Does this not work even in the "My Pictures" folder? You've probably already tried this, but do you have "Thumbnails" checked off in the View menu for that folder? There's a note in the Microsoft support base that restoring default view settings in folders in some conditions can turn off the thumbnail option when it shouldn't.
Re: home to work connections:
The bigger problem is getting acess into your work machine...most modern networks are DESIGNED to make htis difficult. You may have to use a VPN client, in addition to any sort of emulation software.
Rob Pegoraro: Exactly. And setting up VPN isn't exactly quick or easy.
Desolate:
Rob:
What is your experience with v-cds? Particularily the adult type? Are they as good as DVD?
Onto the real question: Any undelete shareware you would reccomend. Got my laptop stolen and back up was accidently erased from the servers
Rob Pegoraro: Can't help ya on the first question (one of these days, I'm going to have to point your mom to these chats, young man). On the second one--you must be kidding. The people who run the servers don't have any undelete software of their own? C'mon, Norton Utilities is, like, $100.
Alexandria, VA:
Hi Rob! It's the PM 8100/80 AV here. Thanks for taking my question.
Yes, the 8100 does have a difficult setup. The SIMM modules seem especially difficult to get at (they are deep in the interior, and there doesn't seem to be a way to get at them short of dismantling the whole thing.)
Do you know a place (Apple.com, perhaps?) that will have some kind of diagram that could guide me along or provide me some directions to get at the SIMMS?
Thanks!
Rob Pegoraro: Apple's starting posting QuickTime movies on how to take apart their newer machines, but I haven't seen anything for the older Macs. You could try asking the "Mac Genius" at the Apple Store in Tysons, come to think of it...
Rob Pegoraro: Argh! Stupid browser just crashed!
Anyway. I think I hear the sound of traffic backing up on the TR bridge as everybody heads out of town for the weekend. So I'll sign off for now--drop me a note if you'd like to follow up on anything, or if I missed your question.
Thanks!
- R
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