When he isn't bicycling, prowling used bookstores, or watching movies, PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. More by Lincoln Spector
Karen uses Dropbox, and wants to share files with people who don't have--or want--a Dropbox account.
Almost everyone who uses Dropbox knows that they can share files and folders through it. Yet a great many of them, perhaps the majority, do it the wrong way. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone erroneously claim that someone else needed a Dropbox account to access shared files.
That just isn't so. Unless you want to give other people the ability to alter your shared files or folders, those other people don't need a Dropbox account. All they need is a browser and an Internet connection.
When he isn't bicycling, prowling used bookstores, or watching movies, PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. More by Lincoln Spector
Arcticsid asked the Photo Editing forum for a way to add captions to his photos. "In the old days we could write a description on the back."
I'm assuming you're saving and sharing those photos as .jpg files. And that gives you an advantage, because jpegs have captions build in as part of the format's metadata.
Metadata is a particular kind of data that explains a file's content, and most file types contain their own metadata fields. For instance, a jpeg's metadata includes the camera model, resolution, the date the photo was taken, and other bits of information. To view and potentially change a file's metadata, right-click it, select Properties, and click the Details tab.
When he isn't bicycling, prowling used bookstores, or watching movies, PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. More by Lincoln Spector
Sasdas asked the Desktops forum for ways to keep the same folder synced on two PCs, so that changes on one computer show up on the other.
Here are four ways to do this, although--technically speaking--only two of them actually keep the files on both PCs. The others merely make the folder available on both.
I'm assuming here that both PCs are attached to the same router (either wired or wirelessly), and through that router can access the Internet.
When he isn't bicycling, prowling used bookstores, or watching movies, PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. More by Lincoln Spector
Porcupins asked the Antivirus & Security Software forum if encryption standards like AES really make your data secure.
There's no such thing as perfect security. Someone with sufficient time and money, and a strong enough motive, can crack anything.
When he isn't bicycling, prowling used bookstores, or watching movies, PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. More by Lincoln Spector
Mike Bell asked if he should shut down his hard drive when he doesn't need it. "Will that constant powering up [and down] add wear and tear…?"
From what I can tell, regularly turning a hard drive on and off can wear it down. But so can running it around the clock. For that matter, you can kill a drive by leaving it off and untouched for too long (I've actually done that).
In other words, these things are fragile, and there's little agreement on how best to treat them. I checked with two experts on hard drive technology, and got two very different answers to the leave on/turn off controversy.
When he isn't bicycling, prowling used bookstores, or watching movies, PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. More by Lincoln Spector
Felix Luke needs to back up his entire hard drive. He asked me to explain the differences between cloning and imaging.
Both cloning and imaging create an exact record of your drive or partition. I'm not just talking about the files, but the master boot record, allocation table, and everything else needed to boot and run your operating system.
This isn't necessary for protecting your data--a simple file backup will handle that job just fine. But should your hard drive crash or Windows become hopelessly corrupt, a clone or image backup can quickly get you back to work.
When he isn't bicycling, prowling used bookstores, or watching movies, PC World Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector writes about technology and cinema. More by Lincoln Spector
When Carlene Primus' laptop fell and cracked its screen, someone wanted to charge her $1,200 for the repair. She asked about cheaper alternatives.
Unless it was a new laptop and the fall destroyed pretty much everything, you can consider that price a rip-off. Replacing a laptop screen, including parts and labor, shouldn't cost you more than $300. In fact, it will probably come in closer to $200.
