Monthly Archives: May 2011

Q. My computer is broken and I need the data

Posted on May 14, 2011 by quill

If your computer has a broken screen, failed motherboard or bad power supply, the data on the hard drive is probably still OK – so you want to be able to get it copied to a new machine or another … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, General Computer, Hard Drives and SSD, Mac questions, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. What is a Rootkit?

Posted on May 14, 2011 by quill

A rootkit is a persistent virus that is much harder to remove than a normal virus because it gains privileged access to the machine, modifies the system at a low level and cloaks its visibility. Once established, rootkit infections often … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Security, Viruses and malware, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Favorite: TrueCrypt open source encryption

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Here’s something that makes me shudder – when I hear someone complain that they lost their USB memory ‘keychain’ drive, and then to hear them say “yeah, now I’m out $30 to buy a new one”.  It’s not the money, … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorites, Free stuff, Hard Drive News, News, Security | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

iMac 2011 models, the end of upgrading?

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Apple has thrown a curve ball at iMac owners with the latest 2011 “Thunderbolt” models.  The 2011 models use pins on the SATA power connector to transmit SMART temperature information from the drive to the iMac motherboard (previously, the temperature … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, Mac questions, News | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hybrid SSD/hard drive setups

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Lately there has been a choice to make between conventional hard drives and flash based Solid State Drives (SSD).  The decision boiled down to speed vs. cost vs. capacity.  SSDs can be blazingly fast, but they are expensive, and limited … Continue reading →

Posted in Hard Drive News, News, Performance, Product Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. How do I get a Word document into Photoshop so I can save it as an image?

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Word documents are not images. Photoshop is an image editor – we’re talking apples and oranges here.  We’ll take it as a given that you will only get one page at a time into Photoshop. If you want an image … Continue reading →

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Kingston introduces USB 3.0 keychain drives

Posted on May 13, 2011 by quill

Kingston has released new USB 3.0 models of their DataTraveller USB memory drives. The USB 2.0 interface imposes limits on data transfer rates of storage media; USB 3.0 raises the bar on flash drive performance.  The drives are backwards compatible … Continue reading →

Posted in Memory News, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. Why is there a time delay when I am recording sound?

Posted on May 12, 2011 by quill

The time lag between playing and the sound coming back out is called Latency — it is the time required for you interface to digitize the sound, buffer it, the computer to read the buffer, process it, write the results … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Music recording, instruments, hard & software | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Q. How do I remove the singing from a song so I have just the instruments?

Posted on May 12, 2011 by quill

Removing vocals from a stereo track (or conversely removing instruments from a track, leaving the vocals) is difficult to impossible. To do it properly really means having access to the original multi-track recording studio tapes or files. When performers have … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Mac questions, Music recording, instruments, hard & software, Software, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. My external hard drive won’t mount

Posted on May 12, 2011 by quill

Try replugging the cables and connections first before concluding that it has failed – half of all ‘failures’ are problems with connections.  Or shut down the machine, turn off the hard drive. Now turn on the hard drive first, let … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Hard Drives and SSD, Mac questions, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Favorite Sites: ehMac for Canadian Macintosh owners

Posted on May 12, 2011 by quill

If you are a Macintosh owner or fan in Canada, then ehMac http://www.ehmac.ca is a must-bookmark site. The ehMac forum has discussions about Macintoshes, Mac troubleshooting, software, and opinions, plus wide ranging threads about everything Canadian, from the weather to … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorites, Mac questions, Media and Commentary, Web News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Q. My screen is rotated clockwise 90 degrees how do i restore this?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by quill

In Windows, turning the desktop sideways is a feature that supports monitors with rotatable screens (with compatible graphics cards and display drivers).  What probably happened is that you accidentally hit some key combinations, or your cat walked across the keyboard. … Continue reading →

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Q. How can I talk to my computer and have it type in the words?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by quill

You are asking for speech recognition or speech-to-text To support speech recognition requires installing some additional software Windows: Dragon Naturally Speaking http://www.nuance.com/products/ ViaVoice http://www.nuance.com/viavoice/ Microsoft has some speech recognition tools in Windows Windows 7 Accessibility http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windows7/default.aspx Windows Vista (Narrator)  http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsvista/narrator.aspx … Continue reading →

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Q. How do I recover a Microsoft Word file I was working on when the machine crashed?

Posted on May 11, 2011 by quill

Microsoft Word saves temporary files of your work in progress, so you may be able to get back your document. How to use AutoRecover files Word 2010 office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/recover-earlier-versions-of-a-file-in-office-2010-HA010356735.aspx Word 2003 and 2007: support.microsoft.com/kb/827099 Word 2002: support.microsoft.com/kb/316951 Word 2000: support.microsoft.com/kb/316950 Word … Continue reading →

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Favorite Sites: Life As A Human

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

Here is one of my favorite sites, Life As A Human http://lifeasahuman.com/ – a continual source of new ideas and challenges to indifference. Life As A Human was started in February 2010 by some friends of mine in Victoria BC … Continue reading →

Posted in Favorites, Media and Commentary, Web News | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment