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April 24, 2005 |
WTVN Radio • Columbus, Ohio Sunday morning from 8 until 9 |
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A pitstop for your PCIf you've ever wondered how your computer's performance compares with others or whether there are things you should do to make your computer run better, consider visiting PC Pitstop on the Web. The service is free, meaning it's financed by advertising. The tests are accurate, but sometimes the recommendations are a little too self-serving and advertiser-serving. You'll need to visit the site with Microsoft's Internet Explorer because the testing procedure needs to use an ActiveX applet. It is possible to install an application that makes ActiveX work in Firefox, but that would be somewhat like breaking your left arm because you want it to be hampered in the same way your broken right arm is hampered. "Is your PC acting sluggish?" the website asks. "Are strange windows inexplicably popping up on your screen? Do you have to reboot your computer because of errors and lockups? Our free computer checkup and diagnostics can help you detect and fix many common PC problems! Our full PC tune-up should be your first stop."
Even if you visit with Internet Explorer, you'll get a warning message on your first visit if you've installed Service Pack 2 on Windows XP. Allow the control to be installed.
Next, you'll get a warning that the testing process is about to begin.
In this case, drive D is a 120GB drive. I would like to have more than 6% free and I could achieve this by installing another disk drive, by moving some of the data to drive C, or by archiving some of the music or digital photography images on the drive. The recommendation for Diskeeper is a good one (and it's one of the ways PC Pitstop is able to provide the testing service for free.) My short-term solution involved moving my Itunes files (more than 30GB) from drive D to drive C. The advice about spreading the data between two drives to reduce the chance for total data loss isn't a good suggestion, though, unless you also have a complete, verified, off-site backup. If the controller fails and scrambles the data on one drive, it will probably also scramble the data on the second drive, too. Additionally, any event that destroys the main drive (fire, flood, theft) will also destroy the backup because it's in the same case. The backup should not be stored in the same building as the device that holds the original data.
You can get there from hereWhat happens if you're in Columbus on Thursday and you have a 95MB file that needs to be in Australia by Sunday so that it can be tested in time for a Monday evening meeting (which is Tuesday morning in Australia)? FedEx could get it there a day or two late for a lot of money. The post office could get it there even later for less. But I needed to get it there on time and preferably for free. There's a way to do it. I thought about burning a CD and using Federal Express to send the package. There's a 3-day delivery option for a little over $50, but that's probably 3 business days. Saturday and Sunday wouldn't count, so the CD might be delivered on Tuesday or Wednesday. The US Postal Service could get it there for a little over $4, but it would be 4 to 6 weeks in transit. For $48, they promised 2-3 business days. So I could pay $50 and have the package arrive too late to be used. For some reason that didn't particularly appeal to me. But what else could I do? Only an idiot would try to e-mail a file that big. I could have set up an FTP account on a server, but that's not something that most people have access to. What could you do if you needed to send a 95MB file to Australia quickly? YouSendIt to the rescue! YouSendIt is a free service that allows you to a file (up to 1GB) to anyone. You upload the file to the YouSendIt server, which then sends the intended recipient an e-mail message with an encrypted link. During the download process, the receiver will see an advertisement on the screen, so it's advertising supported. You can have the service send the link to you and then you can distribute the link to several people who need the file. The "fine print" on the site mentions that the file will be available for one week for a "limited" number of downloads. The intent, of course, is to avoid having someone store stolen software or pornography on the site and use it as a server. What's the "limited" number of downloads? That's not disclosed. YouSendIt support says "The free YouSendIt service is currently completely ad supported (you'll see sponsored ads on the upload and download pages). Going forward we'd like to introduce premium services above and beyond what we already offer, however we'll strive to keep the free service exactly the way it is."
Jvqr Bcra Jrfg naq gur 4Zocf cebzvfrVg'f orra n srj jrrxf fvapr V pbzcynvarq nobhg na naabhaprzrag ol Jvqr Bcra Jrfg gung nyy hfref jub unq fvtarq hc sbe gur 2Zocf cyna jbhyq erprvir 4Zocf ng ab rkgen punetr. V grfgrq naq sbhaq gung V jnf fgvyy "fghpx" ng 2Zocf. Jura V purpxrq jvgu grpu fhccbeg, V yrnearq gung gur naabhaprzrag jnf n ovg cerzngher. Fb V jnvgrq. Naq jnvgrq. Naq ... jnvgrq. Jnf vg ernyyl JBJ'f ceboyrz? Abguvat punatrq, ohg V urneq sebz n yvfgrare jub vf nyfb n Jvqr Bcra Jrfg hfre. Gur ceboyrz, ur gbyq zr, zvtug or Mbar Nynez. Gb grfg gung gurbel, V erzbirq Mbar Nynez sebz gur abgrobbx pbzchgre naq ena gur fcrrq grfg. Gur erfhygf jrer pybfr rabhtu gb 4Zocf sbe zr gb pbafvqre JBJ'f cebzvfr xrcg -- ohg ehaavat gur fnzr grfg sebz gur qrfxgbc flfgrz guebggyrq gur cresbeznapr onpx gb 2Zocf.
Guvf rneaf n "JBJ!" sebz zr, rira gubhtu V jvfu gur hcybnq fcrrq jnf n yvggyr uvture guna 278Xocf. V qb rabhtu hcybnqvat gung n snfgre fcrrq jbhyq or jrypbzr. V'q rira or jvyyvat gb genqr fbzr bs gur qbjafgernz fcrrq sbe zber hcfgernz fcrrq. V'ir erdhrfgrq vasbezngvba sebz Mbar Ynof, ohg unira'g unq n ercyl. JBJ'f grpu fhccbeg ersref gb guvf nf n "xabja ceboyrz" jvgu Mbar Nynez. V jbaqre jul gung jnfa'g bar bs gur svefg dhrfgvbaf gurl nfxrq. Abobql pbzrf bhg bs guvf ybbxvat irel tbbq:
Sbe ng yrnfg gur vzzrqvngr shgher, V'z abg hfvat Mbar Nynez, ohg V nz hfvat n sverjnyy. Va n shgher ercbeg, V'yy yrg lbh xabj juvpu barf V'ir gevrq naq jung V guvax bs gurz. Nerdly NewsYour dual-layer DVDs are already outdatedDVD Double Layer media prices are still high, but already the next generation of media is starting to be available. TDK has released its Blu-ray disc TDK Professional Disc that uses a blue-violet laser with a short wavelength for recording and playback. The result is a 23.3GB disc -- about 5 times larger than standard DVDs. Because even tiny scratches or dust can create big problems, TDK says the discs will have a hard coating for durability and reliability. The discs offer a high-speed transfer rate of 72Mbps -- 144Mbps for drives with two optical heads. That's not the only high-capacity format on the horizon, though. Sony is working on its own version and saying that it would like to avoid a format war. The Sony format is called HD-DVD. Developers on both sides of the divide say the format they've developed is the better alternative. Those inside the industry say that the Blu-Ray format is technologically more advanced, which makes it harder to manufacture. Some movies will be released in the HD-DVD format later this year. The additional space would mean that video and audio wouldn't have to be compressed as much, resulting in higher quality images. Blu-Ray is backed by Philips, Apple, Dell, HP, Sharp, Panasonic, and Hitachi. Even Sony's own PlayStation 3 will support the Blu-Ray format. Opera's latest could leave the CEO out to seaWe'll find out on Monday if the head of Opera (the Norwegian browser company) will be swimming from Norway to the United States. Jon von Tetzchner says that 1,000,000 people download Opera 8 Web within the first four days of the launch, he will make the swim with only one stop-over for a cup of hot chocolate at his mother's house in Iceland. The 48-hour period ended Saturday morning, but Opera won't be releasing numbers until Monday. Opera 8 was released Tuesday and 600,000 people downloaded the program in the first 2 days. Download numbers reached 120 requests per second one hour after the release and Opera's servers all but stalled. In the meantime, if you want to give Opera 8 a try, visit www.opera.com. Let us know what you think. Write to:
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Some of the testing (disk fragmentation, for example) will take several minutes to complete. The testing procedure told me that it found only one problem ... 
NINE CATS: Comprehensive testing for free. The price is right. The testing is good. The recommendations are acceptable, even if they are somewhat self-serving.
TEN CATS: It's quick, it's easy to use, and it's free. What else could you ask for? This is exactly the service you need if you have a gigantic file that absolutely, positively has to be there almost instantly. Visit the YouSendIt website 
