Real Deal (MP3)

The Real Deal 186: Essential software for a new PC (or Mac)

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:57:00 PST

Tom and Rafe discuss the apps they put on first thing when they get a new computer.

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Episode 186

Download.com starter kits:

Windows:
http://download.cnet.com/8001/2701-19409_4-2-1.html
windows security:
http://download.cnet.com/2701-2023_4-6-1.html
mac:
http://download.cnet.com/2701-19406_4-4.html

And of course, NiNite – http://ninite.com/

Tom’s picks (Won’t read all of them, just a few favorites and then refer to the show notes for complete list):

VLC
Open Office
Sea Monkey – or Firefox/Thunderbird/FileZilla/XChat (Colloquy)
AVG Antivirus
Hijack This
Pidgin/Adium
Paint.NET
iTunes
Audacity
CCleaner
Skype

Rafe’s picks
PC–
Microsoft Security Essentials
Process Explorer
Foxit PDF reader
CCleaner
Paint.net
Picasa
Pidgin
SugarSync
Roboform
VLC
WinDirStat
(plus the usual: Apps like Office/OpenOffice, Evernote, etc)
Techtracker

Mac–
Witch – Win-like task switcher
SugarSync
Skitch
Adium
DiskInventoryX
Precipitate – puts google doc results in spotlight
Multiclutch – more trackpad gestures

LISTENER PICKS

Google Earth (for Linux) -dpeach

uTorrent (Vista) -Hardus

Backup Chunker (Vista) -Hardus

SyncBack

Glary Utilities (Vista) -Hardus

Fences (Windows ) – Sang

Tweetdeck – Andrew

Path Finder http://cocoatech.com/ (Mac) – Obada

Rightzoom http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/30591 (Mac) – Obada

Default Folder X http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/ (Mac) – Obada

Quicksilver (Mac) – Sang

EMAIL QUESTIONS

Tom and Rafe,

I know you are doing an episode on useful software for a new computer. I’m wondering if you know of a good Hard Drive Visualizer for the MAC?

Those programs are super useful for tracking down and deleting files that are just clutter and hard to find. I’ve used a couple, but they are unstable and crash frequently.

Robinson A

Answer: Disk Inventory X! http://www.derlien.com/
for PC: WinDirStat

*******************

Tom & Rafe:

I just upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows XP. Under XP, I used Nero for burning CDs and DVDs. The version that I had (v 6.x) does not work under Windows 7, and I don't want to pay $50 for an upgrade of Nero. Can you recommend a good alternative CD/DVD copying/burning tool for Windows 7?

Thanks, love the show!

Hank
From Peoria Arizona (and the chatroom)

Answer: Yes. Windows 7! (CDBurnerXP, Magic ISO also good)

*******************

Hello Tom,

I just installed Acronis True Image, because I want to try something that might severely mess up my machine. So as a precautionary measure I plan to use Acronis to make sure I have something to fall back on incase what I try blows up in my face. I see Acronis has a ?back up and restore? feature that ?backs up files, folders, app settings, email accounts or the entire hard disk?. The software also has an option under ?disk utilities? that lets me clone the disk. What should I do? I plan to do one of those options to an external drive but not sue which one is best for my situation. Any answer is much appreciated. I listen to Buzz out Loud everyday, as well as The Real Deal every week and I ?love the shows?

Thanks so much and have a great day,
Alex the Graphic Designer from NH

Answer: Both backup solutions have their place. In general, and with a lot of exceptions, Cloned drives are great for recovering a disk if you have a hardware failure, and file backup is great for recovering data if you have a user failure (you erase a file). Personally, I do both, even though you can in some cases do file recovery from a clone.

**************

COMMENTS

**********
Hey Tom and Rafe, not sure if you already found/figured this out, but I just tested hibernating my vista laptop without a battery like someone had done with their mac. Lo and behold, it works. It’s not the fastest thing in the world, but it does appear save the harddrive to RAM allowing a complete power disconnect. I don’t know how long it can suspend the harddrive on the RAM, but score one for windows.

Love your show,
JoshuaCaleb

P.S. for all the listeners out there, you have to put the computer in “hibernate” not “sleep”. When in ’sleep’, the computer will eventually go into hibernate and I think you can alter the hibernate settings as well. Anyway, that’s my nickel and two cents.

***********

Tom -
On Real Deal Ep 184 you read an email from a guy with a fried XP drive
that wanted to upgrade to 7, but didn’t have his key. this actually
happened to me, but I did have the original XP drive. Someone
suggested I call Microsoft (yeah, right…) and on a whim i did. The
guy on the phone (lovely gentleman from India who was concise,
pleasant and knowledgeable) told me to read the characters printed
around the rim of the hole in the CD. I’d never noticed those numbers
before but I read them off and in about 20 seconds he told me my
product key!

Now the thing that really blew me away was that he asked if he could
stay online with me while I ran the XP install so he could be sure I
was taken care of!

Or maybe I dreamt that, it sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Allison Sheridan
NosillaCast Podcast

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Next time: Warranties

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The Real Deal 185: Road test: Windows 7

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:06:00 PDT

Tom and Rafe discuss life with Windows 7, Entourage, Seagate hard drives, Ubuntu and more.

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Episode 185

Windows 7
Windows 7 Virtualized
XP Mode (for VPN)
NiNite
Entourage

LISTENER ROAD TEST

Hey guys,

Good timing for a road-test episode, as I have been using Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty
Jackalope (man, I always feel stupid typing out those codenames..) on an old
Toshiba laptop. This was my wife’s old windows machine that (supposedly)
died two years ago. Well, I wanted something to do the other day so I
downloaded the 9.04 ISO and tried installing it on the not quite dead yet
machine.

The install was dead easy, about the same as installing OSX, so a little
easier than windows (for me anyway) and in about 20 min the machine was up
and running. I could not get the Atheros wifi chipset to work, but, alas,
google is your friend and I managed to install (very easily) the restricted
drivers and I was online. Now, understand, I have used Ndiswrapper etc to
get windows drivers to work in linux which is like a special level of hell,
whereas this was simply point and click, no terminal, nothing.

I gave the machine to our eight your old son. He has high functioning
autism, so change is not the easiest thing for him (hell, it is hard on most
people). His desktop machine is an old (and I mean old) machine running
Kubuntu 6.04. He had no problem at all adjusting. Indeed, the UI is so
darned intuitive that he no longer has to ask to connect to the wi fi if he
loses a signal, he figured out right away that he just had to click on the
wi fi icon and select our network and not the neighbours’.

I have of course played with it some too and this machine, an old 1.6 GHz
laptop with 1 GB of RAM runs better than the Dell Inspiron that I have at
work. Applications open very quickly, the media stuff, such as the music
and video player work perfectly with our Freenas home server.

It is so damned slick that my wife now is entertaining the idea of
flattening her vista machine and moving over to Ubuntu. That said, we have
a site license at work for Windows 7, so well, maybe she will try that
first.

Sorry for the long email, but I really am loving this OS, and so is my boy
(so much so that I caught him the first night he got his ‘new’ laptop at
2:45 am watching Youtube videos and reading wikipedia).

Dave (the psychologist)

*******************************

Hi Tom & Rafe,

Having decided to skip Windows Vista like most companies did, we decided that our company would test the waters of W7.
We decided that we would take the “Squeaky-clean Install” approach and install W7 Professional x64 on fresh hardware: A heavily reviewed and highly rated LGA775 motherboard (according to NewEgg, the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R), load it with 8GB RAM, a 3GHz Core2-quad processor, and a popular but inexpensive (nVidia GeForce 9400) graphics card.

The OS installation went very well. The W7 installer even detected the RAID-1 mirrored system disks we configured using the Intel ICH10R Matrix Storage Manager!

However, two benefits of W7 that were touted by Microsoft didn’t work out for us:

* We were led to believe that W7 would support Vista device drivers. Not so in our case. When we attempted to load the Vista driver for our Kyocera network printer, we were greeted with “Operating system not supported”. We can work around this by using the printer in PostScript mode, but we consider the driver-compatibility claim to be false. To be fair, this may have been Kyocera’s doing.
*

* Has Microsoft has fixed sleep and hibernation as promised? We don’t think so! After allowing the system to enter sleep mode (after 30 minutes of idle time) and waking the system up, we could move the mouse pointer, but little else. The network support did not wake up (couldn’t ping the computer), and open windows would not respond to clicking, dragging, or closing. Sounds like the same old problems we’ve seen in previous Windows OS’s.
*

Both the above experiences were with the newly installed OS with no 3rd party software (except device drivers) installed.

Notwithstanding the above, I like the look, feel and feature set of W7, and think we can make our peace with it.

I think maybe I’ll roll the dice and try an in-place upgrade of my Asus Laptop from Vista Business x64 to W7 x64…. or … maybe not!

Question: Why would someone ever choose 32-bit W7 for a clean install over x64?

Rob from Sedona

*************************

Hey Tom and Rafe,

I know you guys are doing a road test episode this week so I figured I’d contribute. I got the infamous Seagete Momentus 500GB 7200 RPM 2.5 in HDD for my Macbook Pro. I was worried about the reported clicking noise but Tom’s good experience and Newegg’s deal convinced me to get it. I’ve been using it for about a week now and I have no problem with it. The drive is performing very well and I hear no clicking noise yet. So there’s one another person who got a good batch of the drives.

Thanks, LTS,

Sang Park

EMAIL QUESTIONS

Hey Tom,

Lately I have been hearing this new term “Network neutrality” and am kinda confused on what exactly it is and who is taking sides and why? Just a little lost and want to learn more about the reoccurring topic.

Thanks,
K-ski

Answer: We’ll explain.

**********************

I’ve actually got a problem with my external hard drive that I thought you might be able to help me with. I’ve got a 500 GB external USB drive with an HFS partition (for time machine backup) and a FAT32 partition. While I was restoring my information from the time machine backup to a new hard drive I installed in my MacBook Pro, somehow all the data disappeared from my FAT32 partition. I ran a recovery program and it found a partition that was not recognized by OS X that was the same size as my FAT32 partition and it still has all my data on it. The program costs $100 to actually recover the data — is there a free program you could recommend or a command line utility I could use to mount and restore that “hidden” partition?

Thanks for your help.

Austin

Answer: PhotoRec http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

************
Hey real deal,
If I wanted to buy a mac and run a virtual windows 7 on the machine as
well, what do I need?

Yours truly,
Cameron Tora

Answer: You need a virtual machine. I use VMWare. VirtualBox is free. You need a legal copy of Windows 7. I’d recommend as big of a hard drive as you can afford. And get the max on RAM.

COMMENTS

I know your thinking only 18% of the market has vista and doing the upgrade from Vista is quite easy and painless so a how to video about this is almost pointless. (I will try to avoid making the comment that Apple only has 5% market share and everyone talks about them!… woops!)

Well your almost 100% right, as compared to the XP upgrade path it is easy.

That said I did notice that items placed on your taskbar in vista don’t move to your Windows 7 task bar. (No idea why that is other then I did it a few times to make sure and they don’t move.)
So taking all your taskbar shortcuts and dropping them in a folder called “taskbar” on your desktop is a great idea before the upgrade. After the upgrade you can pin them back (and set the icons to small) if you want to return to the look at feel you had before.

One other small item I don’t see many people talking about is the fact that the old look and feel of the Windows 95 style menus are GONE from 7. So for some people (like me) who always kicked it old school menus it requires adjustment. Or a utility exists that allows you to get the XP start menu feel back in 7. (More info: http://www.askvg.com/how-to-get-good-old-classic-start-menu-back-in-windows-7/)

NOTE: I didn’t do that but some people may wish to.

I am sure there are quite a few other tips and tricks you can show people about the move from Vista to 7.

Keep up the amazing work… And feel free to ignore my e-mail… I don’t take it personally…

All the best,

Joe Dawson
IT Security Consultant
Canada

*******************

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The Real Deal 184: Who should own the Internet

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:48:00 PDT

Chris Mitchell from Muninetworks.org joins us to discuss Net Neutrality and who should own the pipes.

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Episode 184
Who owns the Internet

Chris Mitchell from Muninetworks.org joins us to discuss Net Neutrality and who should own the pipes.

Welcome Christopher Mitchell
Researcher for the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, specializing in community fiber networks.

Director, Telecommunications as Commons Initiative
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
http://www.newrules.org/information/
http://www.muninetworks.org

Who actually owns the wires in the ground, and the right of way they go through

Is there a monopoly on networks? How easy would it be for a new company to lay new cable?

Should we treat the Internet like a utility? Should it be public? Private? Mixed?

What's really preventing companies from rolling out faster broadband in the US?

Why should the telecommunications infrastructure be treated like a communal resource?

E-MAIL QUESTIONS

I have been a listener for a couple of months. I have possibly a unique question for you. I live in relatively rural Virginia. There is no cable and phone coverage is pretty spotty even though I live 2 miles from I-95. My question to you is should I get the dish network with its internet use or get Verizon home phone line with its DSL. The reason I am asking you is because, I do not want a home phone line. I don’t need it. But I fear that Verizon will require it. And I do not want TV channels because again I already have netflix and do not need more TV. How am I writing this note on the internet, you ask? I am “borrowing” a neighbors wireless signal. At some point I have to start paying for it, because it is the right thing to do. Can you help me with determining the better options for internet, Verizon or Dish or perhaps something that I have not thought about.

yours,

Jason

PS. Sometimes please take into account your newer listeners. The other day I heard your discussion of software and “socks” while it was fun thinking about the different kinds of sock you were wearing, (Tom with his knee high white socks with blue stripes. Raif with his brown argile socks.) I really did not understand what the heck the entire story was about.

Answer: DSL may be slow, which can be annoying, but satellite internet has latency, which makes a lot of online stuff flat-out impossible. Go DSL. Try to get “naked DSL,” or DSL w/o a phone connection.

***********Install Windows 7 Upgrade edition on PC without Windows***********
Hey Tom and Rafe,

I tried to make it in time to call for last show, but sadly not so will just ask now.

I want to install Windows 7 on my brand new Mac (first ever… its just ok), and I was looking to do this via the upgrade path. I have a copy of XP on a old Dell where the HD is fried (can’t read anything off it). How can I get my windows XP key off that computer if I can’t read the HD? Oh and obviously I have lost my original sticker that had the key, though I do have an install CD.

Also would this be considered a legit windows install, since I won’t use the old Dell. If not can you tell me anyway, so that I may buy a new HD and use the dell and a coffee table laptop.

Thanks for the show that I love (because LTS is reserved for another podcast),
Rick the ED Doc

Answer: First if you can read the drive at all, mount it as an external and try http://download.cnet.com/Product-Key-Finder/3000-2094_4-10694022.html Good tip for folks who have lost their activation code. Outside of that you’re buggered…. unless….

…you have a copy of Windows 7 Release Candidate, Microsoft recently confirmed that it is also possible to upgrade a pre-RTM version of Windows 7 with a Windows 7 Upgrade edition. This means that users who are already running Windows 7 RC (or another build) can buy a Windows 7 Upgrade edition and get a full installation of Windows 7 this way.

There are some limitations on the other hand. No data will be taken over. The installation will move the old data into the folder windows.old from where the files are accessible. Most programs on the other hand will not work unless they are portable.

It also has to be noted that a clean install at a later time requires a Windows XP or Windows Vista installation (or a new installation of a pre-RTM build of Windows 7).”

************

Hi Tom & Rafe, I was going to go out and purchase a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade.. I’ve been reading that although having a current XP license qualifies me to use the upgrade edition, that I must have XP installed on the system first, and I can’t just boot from the Windows 7 media, and insert the XP disc at some point in the process to validate. Is this true?

If that’s the case then doesn’t that mean that if I ever replace my primary hard drive, or choose to do a complete re-install of Windows 7 at any point in the future that I will have to first re-install XP every time? Which also brings up the question of how far into the XP install do I have to go, before the system is ready for the Windows 7 upgrade disc to be used….

Mark Naudi [mark.naudi@gmail.com]

ANSWER: Yes. The installer used by Windows 7 looks for Windows XP to be installed and activated as part of the custom installation dialog box/process. Even for doing a clean installation of Windows 7 (which is what XP users need to do). You need to have XP installed (or Vista) and activated for the upgrade to work.

**************

Hey Tom and Rafe quick question about windows 7. I am downloading my upgrade version right now and I have a question for you. I currently have Windows 7RC as my windows operating system, and I bought the upgrade version of windows 7. I own a copy of windows vista so I am legal in buying windows 7 upgrade. My question is: Do I need to install vista then install windows 7 or can I upgrade straight from windows 7RC to 7. Thanks for your help

samsnotunix.

ANSWER: You would need to do a clean install, but the RC of 7 would be detected by the installer and let you proceed with the clean install. You don't need to go back to Vista or anything. Just do a clean install on top of the RC.

**************
I recently I have heard tom say that he does not shut down his mac just puts it to sleep . but I have not heard of any one do what can do with my macbook. I found out that if I close the lid to put it to sleep and the lite on the front slowly blinks that I can then remove the battery to completely turn off the laptop so no power is being used , reinstall the battery put the laptop away for days if I need to and when I later open the lid and press the power button It thinks it was just sleeping and within 8 seconds I will be back were I was all my programs still running and ready . I think this is very handy and saves my battery but I have not herd of any one else doing this , or how i am able to .
love the show

Karl the Machinist from MN

Answer: Karl the machinist, you are not crazy. According to the Apple website itself, you can and I quote “swap the battery on your MacBook or MacBook Pro when a MagSafe adapter is not connected, power down or put the computer into sleep mode.” http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1756?viewlocale=en_US

************
Hello Tom,
My name is Austin. I have always wanted to get a mac and I was thinking of getting one for christmas because my HP is getting a little outdated. The only thing is if I get one it will be my ONLY gift and I would have to spend about $800 of my own money to get it. So since you just switched I was wondering is it worth it? What made you switch? If you reply to this do not be afraid to talk techy because I am a computer nerd and will understand.

Answer: [[good dear abbey question]]. This is not a technology question. Technically, you won’t be able to do much more with a Macbook than with a notebook that costs $800 less, thus leaving you with a clear financial and technical answer. But we know how the mind works: You will work hard to love the Mac, becuase it’s your money invested in it. If you get the “free” Windows PC, then you’ll gripe about how clunky it is, since you’re not financially invested in its success. So get the Mac. It’ll cost you more, and you’ll therefore like it more.

Next week on Rafe’s Psychology Podcast…

************

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The Real Deal 183: All about Windows 7

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:20:00 PDT

CNET Download.com's Seth Rosenblatt joins the Real Deal to answer all your questions about Windows 7 so you can be prepared for October 22.

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Episode 183
1. What’s new?
Home group
Aero peek, other UI tweaks
Device stage
WMP

2. What’s missing?
A stable browser
Well, a browser that’s fast. speed is more of a problem with IE than stability.
Performance

3. What’s better?
Sleep mode, UI, more fun customization options
More secure
Drivers

4. What’s worse?

5. Who should get it? Will it be on Netbooks?
Anybody who has Vista
Yes it will be on Netbooks

6. Licensing of an upgrade. This will be the first time some people have upgraded an OS. What do they need to know?
Step 1: Backup
Rafe: Don’t authorize until it’s solid

We have lots of questions about upgrade paths so let’s save that discussion for the email questions below. We’ll also take live calls about Win 7.

EMAIL QUESTIONS

***********How will the Windows 7 upgrade work for Vista users?********************

Hey Tom and Rafe,

I bought a new Gateway desktop in late July and I registered for my free windows 7 upgrade. How will this work. Will I get the entire OS disc or just an upgrade? How easy will it be to upgrade, I have windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit. How long will it take to upgrade? Basicly tell me everything about upgrading to windows 7 from vista.

My system: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9361022&st=Gateway+DX4300&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1218091194541

Thanks for the help,
Nathan Kottler

A: You will get an OS disk that is coded to be an upgrade version. But the whole OS is there. If you’re upgrading Home Premium 64 bit to Win 7 Home Premium, you can do it in place. Speed of upgrade will depend on speed of computer and hard drive and other factors. Allow 30 min at least, possibly more, depending. We’ll know more when the product hits wide distribution.

*************How will Windows 7 upgrade work for Windows 7 RC 1 users?******************
Hey Tom and Rafe,

Thanks so much for an awesome and fun podcast! I’m so glad you are
doing a Windows 7 episode because I and others need your help.

Just like many others I jumped on the bandwagon and installed the RC
version on my “production” machine amd have been loving it. Problem
though- now that it willbe end of lifed with the official launch I
will need to upgrade but msft says we will need to do a new install.??
There was a hack where you could upgrade from Beta to RC and
everything went fine – how can we do that for RC to official status.

Needing to do a clean install would stink amd I have some “one
install” program licenses that I want but don’t want to pay twice
for,etc. Any thoughts??

Thanks

Craig

A: MS was clear about the upgrade path from RC to Released. There isn’t one. Best bet for happy computing down the line is to bite the bullet and do a clear install. For program licenses, you’re going to have to examine them case by case, to see if uninstalling a program releases the license for future re-use, or what. In some cases you will be ok re-using a license. It depends on the software.

************When should I upgrade to Windows 7?*******************

Hey Guys,

I pre-ordered Windows 7 for an old XP machine back when it was only $50, and I am supposed to receive a free upgrade for the new PC I bought. My question is when should I actually switch over from Vista & XP to Windows 7? Is it just a matter of making sure that I have updated drivers, or is there some other milestone that I should be watching for?

Thanks,

Ben
Los Angeles, C.A.

On the new machine you should be fine. The older XP computer *should* be fine too, since Win 7 ships with a boatload of drivers. I upgraded a two-year-old homebuilt and it got everything by itself. But my advice would be to create an image backup first, just in case, or do what I do when I’m doing a major OS upgrade. Get a new HD and put the new OS on that. Then you have the older HD as a backup, and once you determine everything is fine, you can use it as extra storage if you need it, or as a backup drive.

Seth: You really need at least a gig of RAM, 20GB of HD. Use the MS eval utility. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1B544E90-7659-4BD9-9E51-2497C146AF15&displaylang=en

************How I upgraded XP to 7 without issue*******************

Hello Real Deal,
Like the show great job educating people. I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate edition on my 4 year old HP Presario DV2000. Works great just wanted to clarify some confusions I have been reading on the Internet saying that you need a clean install to run Windows 7, which is totally a myth. All you need to do is partition your hard drive pop the DVD in, chose the advance option when the wizard runs and select the partition that’s empty.
My HP runs both win XP and 7, I can even run programs installed on my XP partition (if I really want to) just by locating the .exe file in Program Files.
PS: I even forgot to back up my files and nothing was affected.
Thanks
Prince

Good solution, but this isn’t technically an “upgrade.” I run Vista 64, Vista 32 (which I don’t use, I just keep is as a backup), and Win 7 RC. It’s kind of a mess but you’re right, if you have extra space you can do it this way. Once Win 7 arrives for me, though, I plan to retire the other partitions.

************How clean should my clean install be?*******************

Hey Tom and Rafe,

I'm going to do a fresh install of Win7 from the Win7 Release Candidate, as soon as my preorder ships.

I'm tempted to use the File and Settings Transfer Wizard (or whatever it's called) as a convenient shortcut during the install.

(For me, I'm running Win7 on my tabletPC, and I really don't want to lose the handwriting recognition files.)

But the superstitious part of my believes that the "cleanest" way to do a clean install is to NOT carry anything over from the prior setup, including settings. Am I being conservative or paranoid?

Thanks!

Rich the Recruiter
Los Angeles

Rafe: I’m with you. I believe in clean installs. Seth, Tom?
LETS DO THE CLAY Q AFTER THIS?

**************How can I share folders between Windows 7 and my Mac?*****************

Hey guys,
I’ve got a Windows 7 computer and a couple Mac OSX Leopard computers.
How can I do folder sharing so I can drop files between the two? Even
better would be automagical syncing but that’s not really needed.

As a bonus question how about screen sharing from the Mac to the PC?
From Mac to Mac it’s easy but I haven’t quite figured it out for Mac to
PC. Don’t really care for PC to Mac on this on as it’s so my wife can
eaves drop on me from time to time as a sort of accountability for me.

Thanks
Clay J

Sugarsync. I use it and love it. Free account has limited space, if you pay you get like 60GM

Alternative is Dropbox.

For screensharing: LogMeIn Free. And see a marriage counselor.

*******************************

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The Real Deal 182: All questions episode

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:02:00 PDT

Tom and Rafe take questions about Windows 7, MacBook Pro, SD cards, and more.

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Episode 182

Hi Tom and Rafe,

On Real Deal # 179 you talked about upgrading Tom’s MacBook Pro hardrive with a new Seagate 500 GIG model.

I too want to replace my own 250 GB hard drive on my MBP with the Seagate, however I have SnowLeopard with VMware Fusion running XP on the same drive . If I use a program such as Carbon Copy Cloner to restore my MAC partition, do I need to do a 2nd and separate restoration of Windows XP or do I go through the original installation of VMware and rebuild the drive with two separate operating systems? Or can I do one restore of the whole drive with Carbon Copy and perform a single backup that will take care of both OS’s, Snow Leopard and XP in one image restore ?

Please advise how to go about putting both systems on the new drive in one restore session.

Scott

Answer: Just clone the Mac drive and restore it to the new drive. It should pick up the VMWare app and the Win XP installation on it. That’s the beauty of virtualization. The XP install will never know it was moved.

Also: The Seagate Momentus 7200 RPM drive is a crapshoot – mine vibrates like mad.

*******************************

Tom and Rafe-

I have a friend who keeps sending me .docx files. I don’t have Office 2007 and find this very annoying. Am I right to tell him to change the default file format to .doc because 90% of people can’t open .docx? Is there some big benefit he will be losing out on if he uses .doc in Office 2007 instead of .docx.

Yeah, I know there are ways for me to convert the file but that is a pain. And, I am worried about the next guy he send the darn .docx to.

Love the show, favorite since the late Cnet Live.

Thanks!

-Adam

Answer: Sort of a dear Abby question, eh? I don’t think it’s wrong to ask him to change the file format. And just for your own sanity, there is http://www.docx2doc.com/

If you have Microsoft Office, I believe the MS Office Compatibility Pack makes opening Docx easy: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en

The .x formats allow for more features than the older formats, but few people use them. But for sharing, the old formats are better. Ironic, since the .x formats are far more open, technically speaking.

*******************

Hi Tom,

I heard that the Real Deal was all questions this week so I thought I’d ask one. I am considering a move to New York City and was looking at services available there. When I came to looking at Time Warner Cable I noticed that they were advertising something they call digital wideband which they say gets up to 50 Mbps. I wanted to know, other than speed, what makes this different than broadband, is it a whole new technology or just a different way of compressing the signal or something Plus is there estimate of 50 Mbps anywhere in the Ball Park? Anyway, I just basically wanted to know more about this.

I really enjoy the Show

Steve from Texas

Answer: Wideband is simply DocSis 3.0 It’s nothing new. DOCSIS stands for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification It defines how data moves over cable systems like Time Warner’s. 3.0 is third revision to the standrad which allows for faster transmission speed and IPv6 support.

*******************

Hi Tom & Rafe,

I’m a long time listener of the show and I finally have a couple of questions that might interest not just my geeky self.

I’m planning to “upgrade” my laptop to Windows 7 in the near future as Vista has driven me nuts (couldn’t even properly switch off the machine before SP1 came out)

What’s your take: wait till SP1 is out? Take 64bit or 32bit versions? If 64bit, can I run 32bit only apps in the legacy XP mode or would that one be 64bit as well? Upgrade or clean install? Min useful RAM (got 2 GB now)?

Thanks for your 4 cents

Love the show(s),

Geoff

A: Do it. Win 7 is very much Vista SP2. Go 64 bit — why not? It runs old apps fine. Clean install is best (and often only) option. Back up data first. Give yourself a day.

*******************************

Yo Tom and Rafe!

I was trying to install the new Windows Live movie maker program from the windows site, so I clicked download and it started running the Windows Live installer. There was a list of their programs I could install, and everything but Movie Maker was on the list. I’m fairly sure my computer has the right specs for it. Is there any way I could fix this, or any other way I could get the new Windows Live movie maker on my PC

Thanks guys! Keep on rockin!
-George

Answer: It’s not a spec issue, it’s an issue of MS pulling the program from general distribution. You can still get it — and legally — from download.com.

http://download.cnet.com/Windows-Live-Movie-Maker/3000-13631_4-10965753.html

*******************************

Hi Tom and Rafe

I am trying to start a website and I think I am finally able to put the pieces together. If I understand correctly I need:

1) a domain name – I think i can get one from godaddy.com
2) a web hosting service – my good friend recommended that I use http://www.atomicpages.net for hosting. I’m planning to install a word press blog, will it work on their servers?

Is that all I need? or is there something else that I’m missing?

I hope this is answered on the show

Thanks,
Bill

Welcome to 2009. It really is that easy. You can also get started for free on WordPress.com, and then transfer the whole blog over to your host. Talk to them first to make sure they’ve done it. Most hosting companies, I’ve found, have very friendly people who can talk you through this. If you find one that doesn’t, go elsewhere fast.

BTW I host my blog, ProPRTips.com, at WordPress. The blog host is free, i just pay $10 a year for the domain redirect (plus the domain reg fee from GoDaddy).

COMMENTS

*******************
Hey Tom and Rafe,

I made a recording for The Real Deal that I think you might find helpful. I also did full text on it for the shownotes if you do that kind of thing.

here’s the recording:

http://podfeet.com/NosillaCast/NC_2009_09_27/mifi_charge_only_realdeal.m4a

and here’s the text:

Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Podcast here. On the recent road test episode you mentioned the problem with the Mifi turning into a modem when you plug it via USB to charge it, but you really want it to continue being a wifi hot spot. I had this same problem and complained about it on my podcast and listeners gave me not one, but two good solutions to this. First, you can buy a charge-only USB cable, so it simply doesn’t have the 2 data pins that cause the Mifi to change modes. I found one over at the Pre Central Store (http://store.precentral.net/seidio-micro-usb-charging-cable-5ft/5A19A5177A.htm) for $13. It’s a little long but it’s a thin cable so very easy to carry. The solution is even more elegant, you’re going to love this. You log into the Mifi (since it’s a real router, it’s the old navigate to 192.168.1.1 routine) and download a configuration file. Open the file and change the setting routeroverusb from a 0 to a 1, save the file and upload it back to the router and from now on your Mifi will only charge when you plug it in via USB. Now note that this only seems to work on the Mifi 2200, the model being sold in Europe (which is way cooler than ours, by the way) is the 2352 and the hack doesn’t work. However, the charge-only cable solution does work. Hope this helps you out!

Allison Sheridan
NosillaCast Podcast at http://podfeet.com
A technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Macintosh bias

******************

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Next time: Windows 7

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The Real Deal 181: Steve Jobs

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:16:00 PDT

Carmine Gallo joins the show to unveil some of the Steve Jobs secrets from his book "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs"

Listen now: Download today's podcast

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EPISODE 181

Real Deal 181 – Steve Jobs

Carmine Gallo’s site
http://www.carminegallo.com/

Carmine’s book
http://www.mhprofessional.com/product.php?isbn=0071636080

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/09/0929_jobs_presentations/index.htm

http://www.cultofmac.com/the-presentation-secrets-of-steve-jobs-the-real-deal-behind-the-reality-distortion-field-2/16337

Videos for roll-in

MacBook Air introduction from CNET News. In the first 20 seconds of this edited clip, we see Jobs remove the notebook computer from the envelope.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0jIpSCndtw

The original introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Classic video that just appeared online a few years ago. In the first 20 seconds, Jobs walks over to a darkened stage and pulls the computer from a black bag. Shows that his flair for drama goes back decades. Also shows Jobs in a suit and bow tie!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0FtgZNOD44

iPhone introduction. About 1:40 in this clip, Jobs introduces "three" revolutionary products...that all turn out be to the iPhone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASkis57blsc&feature=related

In 2007, Jobs' clicker failed to advance the slides and he told a funny story about when he and Woz built a TV-jamming device in Woz's dorm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W3GsbogqTE

"Death" of OS 9 at WWDC in 2002. There was some hesitation on the part of developers and customers to the change so Jobs staged at mock funeral to put the issue to rest once and for all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7xQ8i3fc0

Having fun. Steve Jobs using words like "amazing" and "cool" at Macworld 2008. It's a funny mashup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOO0giz3qUs

QUESTIONS FOR CARMINE:
The RDF – What is it? How does it work?

OK, big shot, pitch me Jobs' style on something from Microsoft — say, Windows 7.

How good, really, can a person get? How much of this is natural hammishness?

How much prep necessary?

What’s the best presentation tool, PPoint or Keynote or flipcharts?

PHONE CALL

Back up data from iPhone
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=2063

EMAIL QUESTIONS

1.*******************

Tom & Rafe-

I’m a big presentation nerd, so I’m excited to download this week’s podcast. I have a load of questions I’d love to ask to Mr. Gallo, but I’ll narrow it down to just two:

I’m a follower of Garr Reynolds’ blog Presentation Zen and he frequently suggests that burgeoning presenters hone their skills by watching master presenters at work. Does Mr. Gallo (or either of you) have any suggestions for particular people or particular presentations to learn from? Obviously, Jobs comes to mind (particularly the 2008 MacWorld keynote) and Garr Reynolds also links to various TED presentations. Where else should I look?

I’ve heard that there’s a design maxim regarding fonts: for print publications, you’re supposed to use sans-serif fonts for headings and serif fonts for body text. I’ve also heard (anecdotally) that you’re supposed to do the reverse for presentations: serif fonts for headings. I’d like to hear Mr. Gallo’s thoughts on font selection, particularly choosing serif or sans-serif fonts.

Thanks, and keep up the good work.

-Reid of the Catskills

Next time: All-questions

realdeal@cnet.com

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voicemail: 877-600-CNET

The Real Deal 180: Monitors

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:56:00 PDT

Rafe Needleman and Brian Cooley talk monitor tech and advice with special guest Eric Franklin from CNET Labs.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

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EPISODE 180

Real Deal 180 - Monitor tech - Show notes:

Guest host: Brian Cooley, Car tech guru.

Special guest: Eric Franklin, Labs monitor guru

Topic is MONITORS. What you need to know, what's new, and our tips.

First up: Formats.

We have VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, and I believe DisplayLink. What's what? What matters?

Aspect ratios and Rafe's rant on widescreen vs 4:3

Other specs to watch: Brightness - what's a Nit? LCD backlight types - LED better or not? Refresh rates?

What are the best monitors today?

Brian and I are multi-monitor nuts. Everyone has the capability - most cards are dual out. Laptop plus plug-in is dual out.

Benefits - "secondary" monitor for docking widgets, IM alerts, Twitter apps etc. Also for PowerPoint, can have a console with a timer and notes, and project just slides.

For windows get Display Fusion. Lets you put keyboard shortcuts on half-zoom, push to 2nd monitor. Can put different wallpapers on different monitors. Can extend taskbar across monitors. Free features limited but good. Also check out Ultramon if you don't like DisplayFusion.

Brian on Monitor mounts

EMAIL QUESTIONS

1 *********************************************

Hey Tom and Rafe...

I recently saw this link about not leaving laptops plugged in all the time. What's your experience with this? At home I have a desktop computer and also the Asus 901 netbook for travel and surfing from the couch sometimes. My netbook has a great battery life once it's charged up. I usually get about 4-5 hours or so from a single charge depending on what I'm doing. One thing I have noticed about the battery though is that it does not hold a charge well when it's not being used regularly. Sometimes I'll go a month or two without using it and the next time I get it out it's completely dead. Is this normal? What should I be doing to keep the battery in good shape?

http://gizmodo.com/5364812/unplug-your-laptop-to-keep-your-li+ion-battery-healthy

Thanks!

Holly in NYC (hollyhock)

(Ravi in San Jose had a very similar question)

A: Li-Ion batteries don't like being kept topped off, nor running flat. Some laptops have utilities to manage this for you. TPads, for ex, will charge up to 100% then let battery run down a bit before charging again. Also, keep in mind that LiIon is very poor at keeping its charge when not plugged in. It decays. That means you DO want to top off before you go on a trip. Also means it's a terrible emergency battery tech.

2 *********************************************

After years of using Outlook for e-mail, I have decided to take the plunge and move my e-mail existence to gmail. I have already welcomed my Google overlords by synching my Outlook calendar with my Google calendar, and gmail already picks up my verizon.net mail, but I still have several years of e-mails in Outlook that I would like to have stored in gmail, both for archiving purposes and so that I only have to search in one place for messages. Is there any way of importing the e-mails from Outlook into gmail while still preserving their data? In other words, rather than just forwarding them from myaccount@verizon.net to myaccount@gmail.com, which would add an unwanted layer of data (new sender, new sent date), is there a program that will convert those messages to something gmail will recognize as e-mail messages, reflecting the appropriate sender and date?

Thanks for any solutions (free or otherwise) you can suggest.

Christopher, The Administrative Law Judge in New York

If you're on Google Apps in biz, you're in luck. Google makes a free utility called Google Email Uploader: http://mail.google.com/mail/help/email_uploader.html If you just use GMail, you can still do it, but it's a bit more involved: There's a guide at Digital Inspiration.

4 *********************************************

Hey Rafe and Tom,

I am going to setting up a home network soon and I was wondering if it's possible to run G and N wireless at the same time. I want to have N on the two main machines, but my phone can't be upgraded and the netbook really can't take advantage of the speed. Is it as simple as setting up two routers, one N and one G? My roommate recently broke all connections in the house by changing to an N router. All the machines, save one, were G and of course, couldn't connect. It took a lot of time and frustration to fix. I don't want to have to go through the hassle of resetting all those connections on a regular basis. Is it practical? Should I just give in and settle for G across the board?

Thanks for the help, Frontline99 a.k.a. AndrewHoover

Modern routers can do both G and N. You don't need two routers. Of course, you COULD have an N router on the same network as an older G router, but that'd be a hassle. I have a DLink DI-655, it runs both just fine.

COOLEY: I run an AP into one of the ports of my Wi-Fi router to get N. And Cisco has a line of relatively affordable pro AP's that are very good at running multiple radios and security layers simultaneously. (Aironet 1240/1250?)

CLOSING...

Now live Thursdays at 4 PM Eastern / 1 PM Pacific on http://www.cnet.com/live/

Next time: Tom's back. AND a special guest, Carmine Gallo, author of The presentation secrets of steve jobs. Topic, obviously, will be how to do great presentations.

Reporters Roundtable for 1pm Fri - topic Aaron Patzer from Mint! - questions to rafe@cnet.com

realdeal@cnet.com / forums.cnet.com / voicemail: 877-600-CNET

The Real Deal 179: Gadget road test

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:51:00 PDT

Rafe and Tom talk about the long-term use of gadgets like TiVo, the MiFi, and more. We even get a road test report on FreeNAS from Dave the psychologist!

Listen now: Download today's podcast

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Episode 179

Tom- Updates on using
Roadee – Open-source nav application. Maps were great! Nav was too laggy.

Seagate 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive – Installed this despite sporadic reports of clicking and unreliability. One week of operation, so far so good. Ishow you for video capture works much better with the faster HD. Warcraft oddly showed some weirdness after I first installed it. Weird lagginess that wasn’t related to Internet. Fan does seem to run more often now.

Verizon MiFi – Weird issues with remembering the connection. Have finally found a few nooks and crannies where recption is slow. Didn’t work to carry to Skype connectios from Dragon*Con. Mostly still wonderful.

Rafe

* Tivo hard drive fail (My DVR expander)
o and Using Twitter for customer support
* T42 fail — spill. How not to react
o and should I get another?
* Dlink 655 router – great! except with 802.11b. Had to get a PCCArd N wifi card for the laptop.

EMAIL QUESTIONS

1.*******************
LISTENER ROAD TEST – FREENAS

Hey guys

I have been using FreeNas, a free, open source NAS. I have it boot from the
CD and it saves the config to a USB key. I have a 30 GB drive that was in
the old computer I use as the NAS and a 1 TB USB drive.

Pros, it is really stable, and there are a tonne of features. Freenas has a
built in bittorrent service for umm, linux ISOs (ahem) a built in UPnP
service so I can stream media to either of our two xbox 360s, an iTunes
server so all of our music is on there. Oh yeah, and of course SMB and AFP
shares (it does a number of other types of shares too, but these two allow
both our Macs, PCs and our son’s linux box to share files).

Cons, umm, well, I have been using unix since 1988, so for me it is fun to
play with config stuff using SSH rather than using the web interface for
freenas, for some others this may be a bit of a problem.

Love the show

Dave (the psychologist)

2.*******************

LISTENER ROAD TEST – EARPHONES
Hey Tom and Rafe,

I am a software developer in Wisconsin and I have gone through several headphones and I finally found two I like. I use one set for walking my dog, jogging, and other sport activates and I use another set for work, mowing the yard, snow blowing the driveway, and for home use.

The set I really like for sport activities is the Sennheiser MX85 Sport Series II Twist. These are great! They never fallout, the sound is acceptable, and the design is great. The wire goes behind your neck so it never gets in the way. I was using the Apple iPod ear buds but when I would sweat they would never stay in my ears.

The set I like for work and around the house are the Bose TriPort Around-Ear Headphones. They sound great, are comfortable to wear, and they block out background noises.

I love the podcast! Keep up the great work.

Tyler

3.*******************

LISTENER ROAD TEST – DOUBLE TWIST
Hey Tom & Rafe,

A few months ago I dropped my Ipod nano 1st gen for a Sansa Fuze 4GB. I heard about DoubleTwist, the application that lets other MP3 players sync with Itunes, and it works amazingly well. I can plug my Fuze into my computer and it automatically syncs copy-protected & non copy-protected music! I enjoy the Fuze’s better audio quality and its ability to play Slotradio which allows me to find new music from a type of music I love without needing an Internet connection.

PS: Don’t use DoubleTwist on the Mac it crashes often on Snow Leopard but DoubleTwist says that they are working an a fix.

Love the show,

Carter

4.**********************

This is Chip the Mech. Engineer and I am looking for something that will convert the tv shows I have in iTunes to another format that I can watch on something else. I am currently on a PC running Vista (can’t wait to upgrade to Windows 7).

Thanks for all the great information.

Chip

Answer: TuneBite Platinum for $40. http://tunebite.com/en/audials/converter-file-format-unprotect-drm-copy-protection-audio-video-recorder-movie-music-audiobook-mp3-wma-wmv-mp4/start.html OR try QTFairUse and an old version of iTunes. 7 or before. Remember that these programs are questionably legal and should only be used for personal fair use copies.

5. ***********************

[leftover from 177]

Hey Tom & Rafe,

I have an 8 GB iPhone 3G. The availible capacity before I put anything on it, as you probably know, is around 7 GB. I’ve attached a screen shot of what I have. My problem is the almost 700 MB of “Other” on my iPhone. I’ve searched around to try to find what is contained in this “Other” portion and I haven’t found anything that would take up 700 MB of space. One thought I had was that this is data from my apps, but I took all of my apps off my phone only to see “Other” go up to over 800 MB! I’d appreciate any help as this is becoming a nuisance as I approach full capacity.

Love the show,
Dan in Massachusetts

From the Apple forums:
“Other” is contacts, calendar events, notes, cached emails, and some 3rd party apps write data to Other (some write the data to their own ‘container’). Normally, Other runs around 220-300 MB in size. It can become bloated due to a failed or interrupted sync, running to several GB if music/videos are miscategorized – in that case, sometimes repeating the sync corrects it, else a Restore is needed to correct it.

COMMENTS

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Another solution for deleted Mac partition

Hey Real Deal. I had a situation very similar to the one your user wrote in about, and I was able to get through it. I used an the Live CD functionality on an Ubuntu CD. The later version do have read-only HFS/HFS+ built in, so try to get Ubuntu 09.04. Even though it will look like nothing to any partition editor, we know the data is still there.

You can run GParted (sudo gparted) to see which partition it is. You can most likely tell based on size and order. And it will be labeled as unknown format. Then simply mount it from the command line. Just google it, it’s easy. This is the only way, since the computer can’t “know” it’s an HFS+ partition. Then, you can mount any other partition on the same drive or any other drive, and transfer the files.

- AnonyousTony

******************

One feature I really really like that both Windows Vista and Windows 7 have is that when you do a fresh install of the OS to a hard drive that already has a previous version of Windows on it, it creates a folder called "Windows.old" that keeps your old Windows folder, program files, user data, and your documents/libraries from the other version of windows.
This worked when I installed Vista on my XP MCE laptops, and when I installed the Windows 7 RC on both of my notebooks.
I never hear anyone mentioning this feature, and as someone who has been building his own computers since Windows 3.1 was around, I think this is one of the most useful features I've seen in an OS installation.
That having been said, I still back everything up that's entirely irreplaceable. Better to have two of something than none.

–Patrick Casey
Gwangju, South Korea

*******************

Now live Thursdays at 4 PM Eastern / 1 PM Pacific on http://www.cnet.com/live/

Pitch Reporters Roundtable for 1pm Fri – topic Intel Roadmap – questions to roundtable@cnet.com

Next time: Brian Cooley

realdeal@cnet.com

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The Real Deal 178: Macs

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:06:00 PDT

Tom and Rafe discuss what they love and hate about Apple computers.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

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EPISODE 178

Rafe…
Things I love
Hardware
Trackpad
Sleep/wake, uptime (record for me is 7 days, only interrupted due to SW update)

Things I hate
build quality. No lie. 2 of 2 machines back to shop

Things I’ve never gotten used to
Keyboard
Crappy mouse tracking

Tips for using both
sync folders with Foldershare – NO MORE – No Sugarsync or Dropbox, but you have to pay
Use Synergy for side-by-side

Apps I have on Mac that aren’t replicated on PC:
Only 1: Things

Just upgraded hard drive in my Mac – http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Hard-Drive-Replacement/841/1

LINKS FOR LIVE CALLS

Video Spin from Pinnacle
http://videospin.com/redesign/default.asp

virtualdub.org
http://www.virtualdub.org/

Avidemux
http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/

E-MAIL QUESTIONS

1.*******************

Hi Guys. I was a bit dismayed to hear Windows 7 will have to be a clean install for all Windows XP users. I’ve got some years worth of programs and settings and data. Perhaps a good topic would be clean installs: saving data, best ways to partition and reinstall. I am thinking any programs I’ve got by download are just going to be gone, unless I can find and save the original download file, is that correct?
Thanks for this show, its great.

Reefhugger

Answer: Yes, we could do a whole show. The quickest advice we could give though is to use the Windows data transfer feature. Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools> Files and settings transfer wizard. And save all that to an external drive. Make sure it got all the folders you care about. Also backup any installers you have from programs you downloaded. If not, you’ll have to download them again.

Or… use an upgrade as a opportunity for a thorough cleaning of your system.

2.*******************

[leftover from 177]

Dear Brian & Rafe,

I’m a long-time listener of Real Deal, as well as a number of other CNET
podcasts. I am interested in building a computer for myself,
preferrably somehing with some guts for gaming and streaming video. Do
you know of any good resources on the web where I can find some how-to
as well as some tips & tricks for building a machine? I’m also looking
into doing this as a sideline and making a few bucks on the aide. Any
info you can provide would be most helpful. Thanks!

– Tony the insurance adjuster in Miami

Answer:

Cooley: Start with the specific video apps and games you have in mind that will tax a machine and work backwards through the recommended specs and, more importantly, into the forums for the real deal on the specific stuff like multi-core support, RAM levels, video card support and hard drive data paths.

Rafe: Hang out at AnandTech and TomsHardware for guides and tips. Especially the forums. Read reviews on Newegg. But forget the business of building boxes. Margins are razor-slim, and you have to support your users. Ugh.

3.*******************

Dear Tom & Rafe,

I was trying to finish rebuilding my aunts computer before bed and I had my external drive plugged in to put all her data back on the clean machine. I had partitioned her HD so she would have a windows drive and a backup drive. Somehow in the tiredness and rush I accidentally deleted the Mac partion of the external HD from the windows disk manager. I plugged into the mac, but it said nothing was there. I put it back in windows and re-made the exact same partition, (perhaps my 2nd mistake) but the data still cannot be read from Mac or Win.

I feel like that data is still there, the partition was not formatted or anything, just the partition table removed & put back. In a regular file cabinet that would just mean a pile of folders on the floor that needed sorting. What does it mean for the computer? On various machines, I have XP, Vista, 7-RC, & Umbutu and a Macbook. Will any of that help the data be recovered? Is there anyway to recover that data easily natively in the OS’s or can you recommend some other software?

Thanks so much for your time & efforts in all areas of computing =)

Sincerely

Andrew

Answer: You're right the data is probably still there. You can try Photorec as a good tool for reading data off a drive that has been repartitioned or otherwise had the file tables altered.

http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

PC Inspector is another good one http://www.pcinspector.de/Sites/file_recovery/info.htm?language=1

COMMENTS

*******************
Scanner software for Cooley

Try VueScan…I have had it working with my old hp scanjet. It relies on internal drivers…not system. Works with most scanners.

They have a free trial: http://www.hamrick.com/
Jeff K

**********

In episode 177 a caller asked if there was a way to automatically add TV shows to a google calendar. Although I haven’t found a service that does this, I use the next best thing, an RSS feed

http://www.mytvrss.com/

Basically pick all of your favourite shows, then click on the Create Feed button, and the site will provide a custom URL with an RSS feed of just the TV shows you selected, you can then view that in any RSS reader.

The other alternative would be to use epguides.com to look at the individual shows, but this is time consuming.

**********

Hi Rafe, Tom (and possible Brian),

On episode 177, Brian Cooley was talking about how some of his legacy software and drivers wouldn’t work in 64 bit vista. However, after using Windows 7 RC 64 bit for a while, I discovered that not only do 32 bit apps work perfectly in XP Mode, but 32 bit drivers also work. This has made some otherwise unusable products useable in 64 bit. Hope that helps Brian, even though he would still have to wait until October.

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Ross from CT

I just listened to “The Real Deal 177″ podcast and heard that you couldn’t figure out how to set up a FTP server on your WHS.

I use FTP Manager from CompuGeek Software. It a WHS Add-in that I got from the We Got Served website (www,wegotserved.com). It installed easly and works great.

I created a new user account on the WHS and pointed the FTP server to home on it’s personal folder. I’ve been using it for over a year now and have had no problems.

Enjoyed the show.

Howard Parr

Caddo Mills, TX

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The Real Deal 177: Home security cameras

realdeal@cnet.com (CNET.com) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:05:00 PDT

Rafe Needleman and Brian Cooley (a.k.a. the Cat Master) discuss the best hardware and software for monitoring your home when you're not there. Plus, your questions answered!

Listen now: Download today's podcast
Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video)

Show notes:

First: Why? Snoop on cats? Security? What can you do after all? (A: Keep records)

The cheap way: Read Josh Lowensohn's story, DIY home surveillance with a Webcam, to turn your PC-connected cameras into security cams.

If you need more than that, you want dedicated Webcams. I use two Panasonic BL-C131A. expensive at about $240 each. But great features: PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom), audio, two kinds of motion detect. Great thing about them is you can access them at their own Web sites--they're servers--using Dynamic DNS.

I have mine set up to record all motion and I have them e-mailed to a special Gmail account. I tried getting them to FTP captures to my WHS but it was too difficult. E-mail is a great solution and no matter what happens to the house, I have a record.

If you don't want to hassle with setup and DynDNS and stuff like that, check out the WiLife cam sys from Logitech. No PTZ, no sound, expensive, but good features and motion detect.

Brian setup -

- Panasonic HCM-280A's
- Panasonic BL-C131A's
- Toshiba WB-11's and WB15's
- Milestone software
- Dynamic DNS

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CALLS

Question 1
I have a Garmin Nuvi 660 GPS, it's about four years old. I like it a lot, but the maps are out of date, and the traffic alert subscription has lapsed. The map update is about $80, and one year of traffic service is another $50 a year.

Staying within the Garmin line, the Nuvi 275T has lifetime traffic, fresh maps, and costs under $200.

I'm sure that TomTom and others have similar products at competing prices.

Does it make sense to pay for the upgrades? Or should I just buy a new unit?

-Pat

Cooley: Good grief, buy a new unit. So much has changed. You can expect a faster processor and better GPS sat acquisition, free lifetime traffic (and the RTT receiver is built in), BT speakerphone, and MSN Content Direct optionally ($50/year)

* Smart traffic reports
* Send to GPS
* Gas prices
* Weather reports
* Doppler weather maps
* Movie information
* Local events
* Stock quotes
* News headlines
* Flight status

Question 2
My wife is a Realtor and she recently went virtual (i.e. no desk at the broker's office). We spent (part of) the money she saves on a desk fee on some updated tech for the home office and mobile computing--aka an HP Mini Netbook, which she loves, but wants more...When she sits at an open house where the client doesn't have easily accessible Wi-Fi, she could be making better use of her time with mobile broadband.

I see 3 options:

1) Monthly, two-year contract with Sprint, Verizon, AT&T for about $60/month, 5GB limit, free data card.

2) Pay-as-you go with Virgin Mobile, no contract, Sprint network, $10 to $60 for 100MB to 1GB, $150 data card.

3) Tethering her BlackBerry 8900 (2G) for (according to the guy at BestBuy) $15/month.

I am favoring option 2 as it allows us some time to understand what her real usage is and is scalable for cost and data depending on how busy she is with work. However option 1 should cover all her needs, and the early termination of about $175 is not much more than the Virgin $150 equipment if we change our mind. Option 3 will be too slow...

What do you think? Love the show, etc.

-Alan

Lake Zurich, Ill.

A: Rafe--Either 1 or 2, depending on how much you expect to use it. Ask yourself what value can you get from the service. Here, we ask, is one timely blog post a month we otherwise wouldn't be able to do worth $60? It is. So we have contracts. And some advice: Get Verizon or Sprint. ATT is just too sketchy.

Cooley: Agreed, though I lean toward the Option 1 logic because 3G is a magical technology. Consider Sprint because they seem to be ahead on 4G deployment and if you're a customer you might be able to jump to that favorably when it arrives in your area which Sprint still promises this year (to "Chicago").

Question 3
I really badly need your help. I am on holiday in India and I have an old D-link DL-524 and there is no password on it because at the time i didn't know a lot about wireless and we have thrown away all the CDs and paper work that came with it. Recently I have seen some clues that lead me to believe the other people are using my Internet connection and it keeps crashing the router and increasing my Internet bill, which I have to pay extra if I go over. I am not sure if indeed there people using it but I need a way to know for sure or any other advice. Please help an avid fan in desperate times. It's a common problem, but you know, you can get manuals for a lot of products. Try Fixya or Retrevo, or the manufacturer sites.

-Aj

A: Get the manual, do a reset, put password on it. See Fixya for your manual. Or try Retrevo.

Or, turn off Wi-Fi and use it wired. no more bandwidth thieves!

Question 4
Just wanted to know if I can upgrade from Windows Vista 32-bit to 64-bit without paying much money. I bought a laptop having Windows so i don't have a disc. Its a Toshiba satellite M500 i bought it from Toshibadirect.com

Mohammed

Pakistan

A: Our advice would be to get a Win 7 upgrade when it's available and move to 64 bits then. But, if you want to upgrade to 64 bit Vista on your laptop, this is what MS says: "If he has Windows Vista Ultimate, he just needs to use the X64 bit disk that came in the box. If he has Home Premium (which you do), he can just contact Microsoft tech support to order the X64 bit disk from Microsoft. He will only have to pay shipping and handling to get it. Once he has the X64 disk, he needs to do a clean install. But that's how he can get it."

Cooley: Sure you want 64? I went to it recently and sometimes wish I hadn't. Several favorite legacy programs won't run, so they're gone, as is access to CNET's VPN and use of my favorite Epson flatbed scanner, which would cost a lot to replace with similar image quality today.

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E-mail comments

E-mail 1:
In episode 176, listener Dennis wrote in to ask which was better--the Pogo Plug or the Addonics NAS adapter. Rafe recommended the Pogo Plug, and I agree with that recommendation. However, he also said the Pogo Plug's "UI and features might be a bit too simple for geeks". For that, I have to throw a BOL style "well actually" at you Rafe. The Pogo Plug is a general purpose Linux computer and the company that makes it (Cloud Engines) has made if very hacker friendly and there is already a developer community that has created many useful (and easy to implement) hacks.

A good place to start is the "Openpogo" web site: http://www.openpogo.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Main_Page

I installed Openpogo and had a Web server running on my pogo plug within minutes.

Keep up the great work.

-MC Fisticuffs

E-mail 2:
I wanted so bad to join in live to see your interview with John Cioffi. I really enjoyed this show and his explanation on the fiber/copper stuff. I would love to have more people like this on the show.

Thanks for your show!

Kim

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