Q: I have an older PC with XP SP3, and a newer laptop with Vista Home Premium. They are both hooked up to the same router, but they won't see each other. According to instructions, the Vista PC should be able to see the XP PC on the "network map" once the WiFi connection is linked. But I see nothing. What do I do?
A: This can get pretty complicated. Usually, it's because the LLDP (Linked Layer Discovery Protocol) is not loaded on the XP machine. You'll need to consult Microsoft Knowledgebase KB922120. However, when you try to install it, it won't install, claiming your SP3 is newer than its files (which is wrong, actually). You'll need to extract the files by using another KB, namely KB828030 to get the files out. You should find a subdir called SP2QFE, and you should see 4 files:

rspndr.adm
rspndr.exe
rspndr.sys
rspndr.inf

You don't need the first one.

The .exe goes into C:\Windows\System32
The .sys goes into C:\Windows\System32\Drivers
The .inf goes into C:\Windows\Inf (note: it is usually hidden)

Once you got all that, open a command prompt to C:\Windows\system32
then type (without the quotes) "rspndr.exe -i"

And after a few seconds, you should see it installed. If you got an error, you probably forgot to copy the .inf file into the right location.

After this, reboot, and the Vista machine should be able to see the XP machine on the network map.

Q: I have a music video. However, I just want the audio / song. What do I do?
A: Run it through a music extractor, such as this one.

Q: How do I get DirectX10? My video card supports it and I want to use it.
A: It is ONLY available in Windows Vista. You'll need to upgrade to Vista if you want to use DX10.

Q: I have a lot of games installed, but I've lost the original manual/envelope so I lost the install key. Is there a way to get the install key back from the installed copy on the hard drive?

A: Maybe, you can try Game Key Revealer, which supposedly works on over 500 games for the PC (sorry, not available for the Mac yet).

Q: I don't have one of those multimedia keyboards with volume control, or those media control mice. I still want to control my volume in a hurry, preferably with my mouse. Any suggestions?
A: Try VolumeTouch, a freebie app. It installs as a tray app. Once installed, hold Ctrl-Shift, then use your mouse scroll wheels (or vertical / horizontal position if you don't have a scroll wheel) to adjust volume.

Q:Do you know where I can get apps that will run straight off a USB flash drive without installation?
A: Best index of such apps is at http://portableapps.com , including OpenOffice Writer, CoolPlayer+, and many more.

Q: Can you recommend a program to record my screen or my webcam?
A: Thanks to AppScout, I now recommend Debut

Q: The built-in defrag is taking forever. Are there something better / more sophisticated?
A: I used to like Diskeeper Lite and UltraDefrag. Diskeeper Lite is too limiting as it will only do one volume at a time, and at times you need to repeat the defrag a few times, and you can't do it in the lite version except manually. UltraDefrag doesn't have many options.

I was just introduced to UltimateDefrag, and I prefer this one to the others.

Q: How do I split a large file so I can burn each piece to a media (CD or DVD), and reassemble them later?
A: PKZIP/WinZIP/WinRAR/7-Zip and any of those archiving programs should be able to generate "spanning" files of appropriate sizes.

If you don't want to use compression, use HJSplit at (http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/)

Q: Can static electricity cause damage to CD-Rs or DVD-Rs and variants? What about CD-ROMs and DVDs?
A: CDs and DVDs rely on chemical process (laser burning for recordable media, and phase change for rewritable media) to record the information. Thus, static electricity cannot affect them.