Q: Now that Microsoft has opened up POP3 access to Hotmail, how can I integrate that with POPfile? Without Popfile the mail gets through, but I can't make Popfile work with the mail client at all.
A: What you need to realize here is POPfile itself is a POP3 proxy. What you want is

(Your Mail Client) --regular POP3--> (PopFile) --SSL POP3--> (HotMail POP3)

However, POPfile itself must be configured to be able to do SSL. So go to add/remove programs, pick POPfile, "change" the install, then pick the SSL option. It'll go download the SSL component. You'll need to restart Popfile.

Say if your mail client is Outlook Express, then under the Properties of that connection, in the servers tab, incoming is "localhost" (or 127.0.0.1, same thing), outgoing is "smtp.live.com" as they specified. The trick is in the account name. Now that you need to use SSL, the stuff here would be "pop3.live.com:yourname@hotmail.com:ssl" (without quotes, of course). Note the ":ssl" at the end. The program knows to use port 995 for SSL automatically.

With these settings, your POPfile should now work with the new Hotmail POP3 access.

Image via WikipediaQ: My Adobe Reader seems to be getting slower and slower. Can I make it run faster somehow?
A: As Adobe Acrobat Reader gotten older, it lost the word "Acrobat", and it's gotten much bigger and slower as Adobe kept adding stuff into it. If you want a snappy program, you have two choices: slim down the Adobe Reader, or adopt the alternative Foxit Reader.

You can download and run PDF Speedup (scroll down to it), which removes a lot of the plugins in Adobe Reader 9 that nobody uses and slows things down. However, it will also remove the auto-update, among other features.

Or you can download the alternative Foxit reader which is lighter and doesn't have that much "bloat". However, it's not the official reader. It's up to you.

Q: What's the simplest way to make my computer at home accessible to a computer elsewhere (with password protection and all that) like my work PC or my laptop?

A: Simplest way is with LogMeIn free. You just need to register and install the appropriate extensions/plug-ins on the home PC. Then on any remote PC, go to logmein.com, login to your account, and you'll see the computer ready to be controlled. You can initiate full remote control, or just file transfer session (i.e. grab a file you left at home).

Correction: apparently the FREE version only lets you remote control, NOT file transfer. The "Pro" version, which you do get a 15-day trial, lets you do both, but costs money.

A truly free alternative is Team Viewer, which is free for personal use. Install it at home, and it'll generate a self-ID and a password. The other computer also installs Team Viewer. I'm using it to control my home PC now, and transfer files. It works great.

Using TagScanner to fix up CD rips with no title /album /artist information

TagScanner is an incredible useful program for fixing up MP3 information, including title, album, and artist, among other items. What's even better, it can even build up information from a bad CD rip, like when you ripped a CD with no Internet connection, so you got "unknown album" "no title" "unknown artist", and so on. Let me show you how to do that.

Prerequisite: you will need to download and install TagScanner first, of course. As of this writing, the latest version is 5.0.525

This is TagScanner's main screen. 


 
We need to fix up the tags first, so go into Tag Processor by clicking on the TAG Processor tab.

Select the directory that contains the badly ripped album with the bottom dialog. Click on the folder icon to browse, then select the right-arrow to read the directory. If that is your main music directory, hit the + button so the path will be saved in the drop-down.

Now select the ENTIRE album with the bad rip in the left half. In this sample screen, that'd be the bottom one. Though yours will likely have more songs in it, like 8-12 songs. Make sure the upper right corner, "disc" is set to 2, which means the track number is 2 digits (09 instead of just 9).




Select the choice on the right side to look up the entire album via FreeDB or TrackType.org

Once you got the disc ID, the album, artist, and song titles should be populated automatically.

Now go to "Music Renamer" tab. Then on the right select a filename "mask" (or format). I usually use %track% %artist% - %title% for the actual files, and use %artist% - %album% for the subdirectory.

Now hit "Preview..." in lower right to test the action. if you are satisfied, hit "rename" to commit the changes. Else, play with the tags on individual files to correct any typos.

If you don't like the format of the filename, edit your own in the mask patterns. Remember to "save it" if you want to recall them later (usually to reuse, or re-edit).

 

When in doubt, "reset the BIOS"!

This is from personal experience.

I have a Sony VAIO laptop I've been using for about a month. It was quite reliable... Until one night. I closed the cover and put it in my bag. About an hour later I took it back out... It resumed... To a blue screen of death. Then it rebooted, and after that the trackpad no longer works. Device manager says it's not working. Deleted the device, and it's as if that device no longer exists... can't be detected any more. However, reboot, and it's there again. :P

I tried all sorts of things... Reloaded drivers (from the Sony "Download Taxi" support site, and the onboard recovery partition), deleted and uninstalled the device, then added it back... to system restore a couple different restore points. Nothing worked. The only thing I did NOT do is reset the BIOS.

What do I mean by reset the BIOS? On this model of Sony VAIO, you hit F2 a couple times as you boot up, and you'll get into the BIOS setup screen. Even though there's nothing here to set except boot order and date/time, do a "load default values" and "save and exit" may just cure your ills.

It did with mine, but I had to call two different Sony techs to get that solution. Doh! After that BIOS reset the trackpad is working again.

So... before you call in the big guns, try resetting the BIOS. It may save you a tech support call.

Q: I am using Windows Vista, and somehow my battery meter (in the tray/notification area) that indicates battery/AC, and let me switch power schemes, is GONE! How do you turn it back on?

A: Usually, you just turn it back on by right-click the taskbar, go into Properties, and in the "notification" tab, you make sure the "power" choice is checked.

However, in some cases, that is grayed out. Usually, that means something had disabled it. Try the following steps (warning: this involves messing with the registry!)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945011

On the other hand, I've found an excellent alternative app that shows much more info about your battery, power, and system info. It's called BattStat

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeQ: I use Norton Utilities. I found that there are a lot of weird files in my C:\RECYCLER\NPROTECT\, filenames that ends with a period, which are "illegal" in Windows, but they are there, and they are taking up several GIGABYTES of space. I tried emptying Norton Recycler Bin but that doesn't work. What do I do now?

A: A proven fix is a program called "DelInvFile". This program deletes file by going through UNC, so no files can hide from it. You can wipe out the entire NPROTECT subdirectory. Norton will simply recreate it. It'll take several minutes to wipe out all those small files, but in the end you'll get all those gigabytes back. Don't worry about "evaluation period" and all that.

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.