50 Fixes for the Biggest PC Annoyances

Hardware Headaches

Next on Fox: "When Hardware Attacks"--True stories of PCs and peripherals that turn on their owners, with horrific results.

Plodding Cell Phone Data Entry

The Annoyance: Despite all the technology packed into my cell phone, I still had to enter phone numbers one at a time.

The Fix: DataPilot's $60 Cell Phone Data Transfer Suite connects my phone to my PC via either a serial or a USB cable (both are included). I used the software to transfer contact data from Outlook to an ancient Nokia 5160 digital phone. The program supports Pocket PCs and Palms, too, and it works with Outlook Express and Act. If you don't use one of these contact managers, you can stick with DataPilot's own phone book manager. Go to www.datapilot.com for more details.

Fumbled USB-Flash Connections

The Annoyance: I bought one of those cute little removable flash media devices. It stores only 16MB, but it was dirt cheap, and it offers me a handy alternative to using a floppy disk. Still, I hated crawling under my desk to stick it into a USB port on the back of my PC.

The Fix: Many larger-capacity flash drives come with their own USB cable, but some cheapo models don't. I bought a 6-foot male-to-female extension cable for $5 from www.greatcables.com, and now I'm back to working on my desk, not under it.

A Cable Calamity

The Annoyance: My monitor would occasionally flicker on and off. I would reboot the system, and it would work fine again, only to start flickering after a few hours.

The Fix: Then I checked the cables. Don't think loose cables ever cause problems? I once spent half a day diagnosing my faulty dial-up connection only to discover the telephone line was plugged into the wrong socket on the modem. The same problem can arise with your modem, your scanner, your printer, or any other device that's connected to your PC with a cable. Most cables have two connection-tightening screws, make sure both of them are twisted tightly in place.

Reject Your CD's Auto Eject

The Annoyance: Windows XP mindlessly insisted on popping open the CD-RW drive every time I finished writing data to a CD--whether I wanted to eject the disc or not.

The Fix: I scotched this habit and saved my drive from extra wear and tear in just a few clicks. Open My Computer, right-click your CD-RW drive, click Properties, Recording, and uncheck Automatically eject the CD after writing.

One Too Many Battery Chargers

The Annoyance: When I travel, I hate schlepping my cell phone charger. Half the time the charger would slip my mind, and I'd end up with a dead battery.

The Fix: Since I take my notebook, too, I double up. American Power Conversion's Cellular Phone USB Charger lets me charge my phone right from my notebook's USB port. The device costs from $8 to $14, depending on the cell phone you use. Go to APC.com to find the right model for your phone.

Peremptory Power Blackouts

The Annoyance: Whether it's due to a rolling blackout or a lightning storm, a sudden power outage is no joke.

The Fix: I got an uninterruptible power supply--a big battery to keep a PC running long enough to let you shut it down properly. A small UPS ($40 or so) keeps your system going for about 5 minutes; that's long enough to close your open files and apps before turning your system off normally. American Power Conversion's $100 Back-UPS ES 725 keeps my PC juiced for 10 minutes when the lights go out. Go to American Power Conversion's Web site to figure out which size UPS your PC needs.

Maladjusted Monitors

The Annoyance: The colors on my new LCD monitor weren't quite right, and the display didn't look as sharp as I thought it should. I used the device's built-in adjustments, but I still found myself doing a lot of squinting and eye-rubbing.

The Fix:Monitor manufacturers offer little help in fine-tuning a display's settings. I've used DisplayMate, a free utility from DisplayMate Technologies, since 1991. It's great for adjusting sharpness, color, contrast, and dozens of other settings on CRT and LCD monitors. Go to PC World's Downloads for a copy of this program.