Ask A Geek

Q: How do you command your computer to play dvd?

Q: When I try to access a specific DVD in my DVD drive I get an I/O error message. How do I go about fixing this?

A: The most likely cause of this is that the disc is damaged or dirty. You will know for sure if this is the case especially if you can access other discs without a problem. You will want to inspect the disc to see if there are any scratches on the shiny side without the logo if it is a CD/DVD you bought from a store. If it is a CD/DVD you burned then you also want to check the top to make sure that there are no scratches up there as well because in a burned CD/DVD the top is actually just as important as the bottom. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: I have an HP Mini which does not have a CD drive. Due to the lack of a CD drive  I can not install my Microsoft Office software without first purchasing an external CD drive. I really don’t want to buy something I won’t use that often. Does anyone know if OpenOffice and Microsoft Office documents are compatible!

A: You can download Microsoft Office 2007 from Microsoft if you own it and then use the “product key” that came with your disc to switch from trail mode to licensed mode.

If you own an older version of Microsoft Office then OpenOffice would probably be the easiest solution for you. OpenOffice can open most Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, and can save to a variety of Microsoft Office formats. Unless you need to save to Microsoft’s new Office 2007 formats (you probably won’t for several years) or open Microsoft Office documents that contain macros/scripts (not an issue for most home users), then OpenOffice is definitely something you should consider.

Do NOT download software from P2P or torrent sites, as such software often contains viruses/malware.

Q: I am trying to install mac os 9.2 on a computer running mac os 9.0. When I am installing it a message comes up that says “problems where encountered reading the source file Installation Tome. Installation cannot continue.” Does this mean that its the disk’s fault or do I have to install something else?

A: That means there is a problem with the CD/DVD. There is a chance that the problem is a scratch that, which cannot be fixed. However, you might get lucky and the problem might just be dirt and finger prints. You should try using a damp cloth to clean the disk to make sure the disk is clean and try again.

Q: My computer has started to act weird recently and I am far from computer savvy. I have windows vista home premium. When I place a blank DVD into the computer, the normal pop up comes up which asks me if I want to burn a DVD using windows, media player, or movie maker.

I proceed to the formatting stage but now all of a sudden it says that my DVD can not be formatted what so ever! I tried movie maker and windows media but they have different reasons why I can not burn my movie. It all has to be stemming from the same thing right? All of them have worked previously so that is why I am assuming that. Nvidia was recently removed from my computer somehow and maybe that has something to do with it? A after I shut down my computer they asked me to reinstall it and I did.

Q: I have a store and would like images/movies to always be displayed on a TV. My DVD players always go bad or just don’t display all pics on DVD’s. Everything I have on DVD is files. I’d like to keep it low cost and simple. I thought of different possibilities.

1. Maybe somehow to stream images/movies by buying some wireless machine that streams to TV. (hard to find simple machine)

2. Get a MP4 type player and somehow have it run… but they aren’t really made for TV’s.

3. Buy a netbook or take an old laptop and just play it all the time… not sure how to connect to TV.

4. Buy an expensive DVD player, and hope it doesn’t die on me. (my last resort)

Q: On my acer aspire 5315 laptop acer arcade I could be watching a DVD through my acer arcade and the screen will go black and display driver igfx has stopped responding and has successfully recovered will popup and all my updates are uptodate what can I do to fix this?

Q: How can I download unencrypted DVDs (ones I recorded myself) to my hard drive. I have a Toshiba satellite with Vista. I just need the DVD space and they are older DVDs with several movies on each disc. I only want to save one or two movies per disc.

Q: How do I turn a USB flash drive into a virtual DVD/CD drive to mount virtual DVD/CD?

Q: When did the DVD player and the VCR debut?