Ask A Geek

Q: If you have Windows XP can you install Windows Vista using the reinstall DVD sent with someone else’s computer?

A: If this DVD was sent from the factory with someone else’s computer then no you would not be able to use that on a different machine. Windows Vista CDs can only be used on one machine as it rights messages to the computer registry and Vista also frequently contacts the Microsoft website for updates and also to ensure that the program is only installed on the correct machine. When you do the installation also it will query the BIOS and realize that it is not the correct machine. Therefore, I would not recommend you do this.

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Q: Are you aware of any software packages for a Mac for converting vinyl to WAV/MP3 files?

A: I have heard good things about the program Bias Peak LE 3.2. It doesn’t appear to be the prettiest program but it does allow you to convert vinyl to mp3.

Also, there are turntable systems that will convert for you but I don’t know if your budget is enough to have this as a consideration or not.

I hope this gives you some ideas of how you can go about doing the conversion and of course there are many more software and conversion equipment available depending on what you want to spend. These are a few lower cost alternatives.

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Q: How do I remove this JCarousel plugin from my computer that causes infinite looping of random bits and pieces of radio on my computer?

A: There are a couple things to try which are outlined below that should help in removing the JCarousel plugin for you:

1. Have you tried going to Add/Remove programs and deleting the JCarousel?
2. If it is not listed in Add/Remove programs it could be showing up as spyware/adware so if you don’t have a program to run for this you could try a free program called Adaware or any other spyware/adware removal program.
3. If you have tried both listed above and they did not remedy the situation try the following:
   1. Go to Start > Run > type services.msc
   2. Scroll through the list and see if there is anything listed referring to jcarousel.
   3. The JCarousel is more than likely set to run automatically. Right-click the JCarousel and select Properties.
   4. A window will appear and you will see under the General tab an option that lists startup type and select Manual or Disable.

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Q: Is Cancun an Island?

A: No, Cancun Mexico is not an island. Cancun actually covers a large area though, with a big downtown area and then a thin strip of land that forms a box around a lagoon. Below are some great maps of the area and you will notice that most of the hotels that a vacationer would stay at are right on the thin strip of land surrounding the lagoon. Continue reading »

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Q: I have a Dell computer with Windows XP installed. I am not savvy when it comes to this type of thing, but I want to recover email files from my AOL account. I think my roommate has been using my email account on AOL for things that are questionable at the least. Is there any way to recover the deleted emails and find out the truth about her?

A: AOL saves your email only 24 hours after it has been deleted with the exception of email that was in your spam folder. The steps will below will assist you in retrieving that deleted mail from the last 24 hours and it will move that deleted email into the inbox.

1. Login with your screen name and password.
2. Click the Sign on button.
3. Click the Recently Deleted link.
4. Select the box next to the message you want to recover to place a check mark there.
5. Select Restore.

If you are looking to restore email that was deleted longer than 24 hours you cannot access that from AOL. There are many programs out there that you could try to retrieve them but you would have to be willing to pay for the software to do that for you.

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Q: I work for a company that lets us store files on a network drive. I copy a folder there that had a DOS shortcut pif to A drive. When I try to delete the pif, or folder it give me an error that the file is being used. Any Idea how to delete this file?

A: Hi There, people working on network drives at times do experience issue in deleting files. Below are given some of the possible solutions that you can use to help alleviate the issue at hand.

1. The pif file may not get deleted if the file is read only. To remove this problem, Go to the safe mode, right click on the file, then click on the properties, uncheck the read only box and then click ok. Then try deleting the file.
2. There are also incidences when viruses create undeletable pif files . So ensure that your antivirus is in place.
3. If the file still remains undeleted you can use a file deleting utility to delete the particular file. One such program is called FileUtilities. This utility is capable of deleting files which do not get normally deleted and it also check folders for consistency errors.

If the solutions provided above don’t work toward solving your problem, it is advisable to contact your network administrator for help.

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Q: I cannot figure out how to burn my my downloaded movies to DVD. Can you please help?

A: I would suggest to move your movie files to your desktop so that they are readily accessible. Once they are on the desktop I would:

1. Double-click on the My Computer icon.
2. Double-click to select your DVD Drive.
3. When the DVD drive opens with your disk showing, drag the files to that window.
4. On the left panel of that window you should see an option that says “Burn this DVD.”

These steps should take care of the problem for you.

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Q: I have a Dell XPS 400 desktop and recently it has started to freezes up for no apparent reason. It is running Windows XP and I have tried everything I could think off including reinstalling windows, but again it froze up during installation. I would really like some help.

A: The first thing I would recommend is to run an anti-virus software program like AVG to make sure that your machine has not been infected. If you are virus free, then I would suggest downloading an anti-spyware program like Ad-Aware. If that is not the problem then the next step would be downloading and installing a free program, called HijackThis.

Unfortunately if none of these solve the problem, and they might not due to the fact that your computer froze during reinstall, then the problem might be related to your hardware in the computer. Maybe the CPU fan is not working anymore causing the computer to over heat and freeze up. Maybe the video card fan is not working anymore causing the computer to over heat and freeze up. So you will want to check all the fans in the system and maybe even try running your computer with the cover off and see if that helps a little bit.

Getting in your computer with a vacuum might even help to get the dust out that seems to always built up inside of a computer causing air to not travel as easily.

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Q: I have a Dell Inspiron 6400 and I have a pop up that says, “windows detected a hard disk problem” what should I do?

A: Hello. The first thing to do is to backup your hard drive, including any files, folders, and programs that you would need should your machine hard drive fail.

The next step I would try, since it is a Dell is to press F12 for the Boot Menu and then run the HDD Diagnostics to see if the system catches the problem.

If you did not find anything then I would recommend trying to run the Seagate Seatools for Windows.

One of these two programs should be able to diagnose what the problem is. Once you have a diagnosis and if you need further help please contact us again. If neither of these tools was able to give you a diagnosis then also let us know what operating system you have and we can start from there.

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Q: I just bought a great new Dell Inspiron S531running Windows Vista and I love it. My issue is that I will be traveling around the country for a few months and still need to be able to update my blog. Bringing my desktop computer into Starbucks is not possible but at the same time since my desktop is so new I do not want to spend the money on getting a laptop. What other alternatives are there out there for us bloggers to be able to post while on the road?

A: I think that the real solution for you is a smart phone and we did a recent answer titled Handheld Or Smart Phone With Internet Browsing Ability that you will want to read after reading this. The reason it is not a complete answer to your question is that we were looking for solutions related to browsing internet not doing a lot of typing. Continue reading »

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