Ask A Geek

Q: I am am using a Macintosh and I was just wondering if it is true that Windows 7 is better than OS X? Even though I am a Mac user at heart, I want to know some general specifics why or why not. Also, please do not sugar coat it. I just want to know if what other people who bug me about having a Mac have any real arguments. I cannot find any reliable sources to back up either side on the web.

Q: I have a 24” iMac core 2 duo 2.16 ghz. I just installed OS X 10.6 and jumped head in to boot camp. I followed all the directions and installed Windows XP SP2. After I finished the install, I loaded the drivers from the OS X CD and rebooted, but now windows freezes on the desktop. I can’t move my mouse or use the keyboard and I end up restarting the computer. How can I fix this, as I really want run some PC games on my Mac.

Q: I am using a Mac and I was looking through the utilities folder when I saw something called podcast capture. I thought it would be nice to make a podcast so I opened it. it started up then asked me for the server, username, and password. I didn’t know what it was. How do I get or create a server, username, and password?

Q: We have a Xerox workcenter 4150 at our department and it works fine with all clients connected. The only problem I have is with a Mac OS 10.6 user. I can print from FireFox, entourage, and Safari but not from Word or PowerPoint. Do you guys know why is that? I re-installed the drivers and put the latest version but it still wont work.

Q: I think PaperPort is incredible because you can scan and stack etc. I am wondering if there is an equivalent program in Mac OS X?

Q: I am using a mac and I am stuck on the panic page. It says I need to restart and when I did and booted up it said the same message. How do I fix this?

Q: I recently got a new iPod Touch with my new Mac. I would like to use both the new iPod Touch and my old iPod Classic. I want to use them with the same computer and I want them to contain the same music. I’ve read forums and help sites that just don’t explain it well enough.

Q: Why is there a widget on my Mac that says “July 17″?

Q: When I run BootCamp to install Windows on my Mac I get a message saying “Tthe startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.” How do I get BootCamp working so that I can install Windows on my Mac?

A: I think you might have left out a portion of the error message. I think the rest of the error message says “The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Jounraled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows.”

The reason you are getting this error message is because BootCamp is only created to work with the default system settings and that is having the  a single partition on your boot disk not multiple. So in order to get this to work you actually have to combine your partitions back into one and then BootCamp will be able to create a new partition for Windows and you should be ready to go.

Q: How come I keep getting a pop up asking me to choose an application that is asking where itunes is? I removed itunes so I can’t choose an application for it. My laptop is a mac os x ibook g4.