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Episode 920 October 21, 2012

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Audience Questions

Audience QuestionsHour 1

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

How can I make Windows 7 look more like Windows XP?

Watch George from Houston, TX Comments

There is a setting under 'personalize' that will give him the Classic look. Right-click on the desktop, select 'personalize', then the "Classic" theme.

Where can I digitally deliver my comic book?

Watch Timothy from North Carolina Comments

Tim has been successful in creating a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. Kickstarter is great for leveraging the power of the internet to raise money to achieve a dream or start up a company. Tim wanted to create a comic book, and now has to fulfill the orders. He wants to also deliver it digitally. There are a few options to accomplish this for him:

  • SquareSpace.com

    • This is a good place to host his comic. They have a deal that's $16 a month for unlimited bandwidth. However, the key there is that no file can be larger than 20MB. So Tim would have to divide the comic book up into chapters to make it manageable.

    (Disclaimer: SquareSpace is a sponsor)

  • Libsyn.com

    • Here he wouldn't pay for the bandwidth, just storage. He should pay attention to both peak bandwidth and the total amount of bandwidth he gets a month. That's important for avoiding hidden charges.

  • Content Delivery Network (CDN)

    • This would run about 10-15 cents a GB. Options include Akami and Cachefly. This would also give him fast download times which keeps customers happy.

    Unfortunately, this would've been the ideal option for MegaUpload, if Uncle Sam hadn't shut it down.

The internet helped me track down the family of an old camera's owner from WWII

Watch Joe from Tampa, FL Comments

Joe collects used cameras for a hobby and got a very interesting Cine Kodak 16mm movie camera that was once owned by someone in the military who was killed in WWII. He managed to track down family members who still had film shot on the camera. Leo says that's the amazing thing about the Internet. You couldn't have done that 30 years ago.

What a great story. Worthy of a movie!

Audience QuestionsHour 2

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

Is Android just not as smooth and polished as iOS?

Watch Jason from Rancho Cucamonga, CA Comments

Jason agrees with Leo that the iPhone screen is just too small and he decided to switch to the Samsung Galaxy SIII. He really likes it, but the Android operating system isn't quite as polished. iOS is smoother. For example, turn by turn navigation talks over him while he's on the phone. Leo thinks this is a fair criticism. The iPhone ecosystem is more polished and apps are more tightly controlled by the app store so they 'get along' better, while Android is more open source and free to do things Apple wouldn't allow. In the end, though, phones are all very personal. There's no best phone out there, but Leo thinks the iPhone is a bit antiquated now.

Is there a way to collaboratively edit audio with people in different locations?

Watch Jason from Rancho Cucamonga, CA Comments

The chatroom says that ohmstudio.com is designed for real time, internet based collaboration.

I got sent to a bunch of spam in my browser. How can I get rid of the files in my cache from it?

Watch Chris from Del Mar, CA Comments

Chris clicked on a link in email and he ended up getting one window open after another. This is called a "porn storm." Leo says if he can close the browser, that should stop it. Now Chris is worried about hidden files that may be in his cache from this. Leo says that's easily fixable. The browser has a cache and it can be cleared out. In Google Chrome, select "Clear Browsing Data", and that'll wipe out everything. If he uses Chrome in "Incognito" mode, no files will be saved when he browses online.

Why are the PDFs I receive in a weird, cryptic language?

Watch Chris from Del Mar, CA Comments

Leo says that the PDF reader may be reading the file wrong or that the data is corrupted. He should uninstall the PDF reader and reinstall it. This should solve the issue. if he's trying to read the PDF in Microsoft Word, that won't work. He'll need his own PDF reader. Leo recommends CutePDF, FoxIt, or Nitro.

Why won't Internet Explorer remember my password when I login to my email?

Watch Irwin from Pacific Palisades, CA Comments

Leo says that there's a setting in IE under options to allow or disallow it to remember passwords. He'll also want to be sure the site he's logging into allows for remembering username/passwords (which get saved in cookies). Also, if his browser is set to delete cookies when he closes out, that'll log him out as well.

I'm stuck in a 2 year agreement, but want to upgrade to Windows 8 phone. What can I do?

Watch Rob from Boston, MA Comments

Rob decided to switch and went from the iPhone to the Nokia Lumia 900 running Windows Phone 7. But now he's stuck since Windows Phone 8 won't be backward compatible. The Lumia 920 is coming and he's stuck in a 2 year contract! Leo says he understands that, cause he gets stuck that way as well. This is why he buys phones unlocked and unsubsidized. It's more expensive, but over the long run, it's actually cheaper. The HTC 8X is another great Windows Phone as well.

Audience QuestionsHour 3

Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3

How can I run updates on 100 computers simultaneously?

Watch Andrew from Granada Hills, CA Comments

Leo says that what he would recommend is downloading all the hotfixes first. Then, as the chatroom suggests, check out AutoPatcher, or WSUS Offline Update.

Why am I repeatedly getting the Blue Screen of Death?

Watch Glen from San Diego, CA Comments

Glen bought a Dell Studio 15 and has updated it to Windows 7. He's now getting a Blue Screen of Death (BSoD). Leo says more often than not, it's a hardware problem. He recommends NirSoft's BlueScreen View. It'll interpret the BSOD and will show him the last event that happened before it crashed and learn more about why it happened. Dell has a program called PC Checker that he can run as well.

If it's a hardware problem, though, Glen will have to take it to Dell to repair.

Is there a way to stream the World Series online?

Watch Jim from Ventura, CA Comments

Jim recently cut his cable subscription, and now is kind of regretting it because he can't watch the World Series. MLB Live was supposed to carry all of the post season, but they have stopped after the NLCS. It's due to the cable and satellite companies that are preventing access from the Internet. Live events are the weakness of cord cutting in that users can't watch live TV. The time is coming, but the carriers aren't going into that willingly. Meanwhile, we're out of luck.

If I switch to an Android phone, how will it sync and integrate with my Apple products?

Watch Greg from Marina Del Rey, CA Comments

The key is to switch over to other third party programs for syncing data. Here are some alternatives to Apple services that will work on Android phones:

  • Google Contacts & Calendars

    • If he uses Google for contacts and calendars, he'll be able to sync this across all of his devices. This works with both iOS and Android devices.

  • DropBox

    • This is a good place to put photos and other files. Since DropBox works on all platforms, he'll be able to access these files on his Android phone.

  • LastPass

    • This has apps available on iOS and Android so he can keep his passwords synced and stored.

  • DoubleTwist

    • He should use this instead of iTunes to sync music from his Android phone to his Mac.

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