Some FAQs about PCs you wish you knew before you bought it!

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Q: I have a portable MP3 player. How can I sent the music in it to my car stereo?
A:
You have two solutions: go through wired cassette adapter, or go through FM transmitter. Both are available at Best Buy or similar store.

Monday, September 15, 2003

Q: I see some video cards have the suffix "SE". Like ATI Radeon 9600 SE. What does that mean?
A:
Well, SE means "special edition". However, the word "special" in this case has two meanings... 1) special as in extraordinary, and 2) special as Special Olympics. You'll need to read reviews and such on websites to see which kind of "special" you got.

Q: My printer is not "feeding" properly. Is there a way to fix it or should I replace it?
A:
If it's simply feeding funny, try looking at FixYourOwnPrinter.Com for one of their repair kits, usually under $30, much cheaper than buying a new printer. They also have cheap repair kits that you can install yourself on a variety of other small problems relating to printers.

Q: Should I use those ink refill kits or buy refilled cartridges for my inkjet printer?
A:
That depends on how much are you saving vs. how much you like your printer. PC World magazine did a test of several refilled cartridges. Many of them jammed the printer and clog the printhead. Some of them produce inconsistent color quality, and NONE of the after-market ink lasted as long as the original manufacturer's ink. You get exactly what you paid for.

Wednesday, September 10, 2003

Q: Where can I get a gamepad for my PC that is similar to the Playstation Dual Shock?
A:
Try this Logitech Action Pad

Monday, August 25, 2003

Q: Where can I get antivirus software cheap/free?
A:
Try
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Q: Is there anything special I need to do before removing a hard drive from an existing system?
A:
Uh, how about turn off the power to that system first? But really, there isn't really anything else to know...

Monday, August 04, 2003

Q: Will a 256 MB video card outperform a 128 MB video card?
A:
No. More memory onboard merely means the video card has more memory for textures, and have enough buffer for higher resolutions at higher color depth. It has nothing to do with video card's speed. Video card's speed is determined by its 3D engine implementation and clockspeed, NOT by amount of memory.

Q: Is there such a thing as "Universal Charge" for PDAs that uses batteries?
A:
Try here

Q: What kind of hard drive cable should I get? I'm getting confused with IDE/EIDE/ATA designations.
A:
All you really need to know is get 80-conductor ATA133 cable. Those are backward compatible.