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
Sean asked me what he should know before buying HDMI cables.
There's nothing complicated about buying the right HDMI cable. If it's long enough and not damaged, it should work.
But the people selling the cables may not want you to know that. The more worried you are about buying the right cable, the more likely you'll spend more money.
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
In a previous article, I briefly explained why you shouldn't back up to a second internal drive. Mike Bell wanted a more detailed explanation.
That earlier article, My PC doesn't see the new, second hard drive, wasn't actually about backup. I devoted two sentences to the subject in hopes of steering readers away from a dangerous practice. Mike wasn't the only person whom I left wondering. My apologies.
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
Ninthchamber asked the Printers forum about printing from an Android device.
One usually doesn't associate printing with phones or tablets, in large part because once you have a portable device, you have less need for paper. But it still occasionally comes in handy.
You can print directly from an Android device with the right Wi-Fi or Bluetooth printer. However, as I don't like to give advice that involves spending large sums of money, I'm going to tell you how to do it with whatever printer you already own. The only expenses will be paper and ink.
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
Janisum asked the Music & Video Software forum about acquiring songs for an iPod without spending money.
You can download a lot of free music online, but you probably won't find the particular song or album you want--at least not legally. You're basically limited to either recordings that have fallen into the public domain, or ones that have been made available for free by their owners.
That's understandable. Songwriters, singers, musicians, and recording engineers all expect to be paid for their 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
Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Spam! Carol asked why there's so much of it.
Why are there so many unwanted, tricky, manipulative, annoying, dangerous, and often illegal email messages going around? Because unscrupulous people can make a tidy profit mailing Spam. In 2010, Gmail spam expert Brad Taylor told Wired that “It costs $3,000 to rent a botnet and send out 100 million messages. It takes only 30 Viagra orders to pay for that.”
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
John McClung asked if there's a way to speed up and slow down slide shows in Windows 8's photo app.
If you're talking about the obvious app that sits where you can't miss it on the home screen, the answer is no. Luckily, that's not the only photo slideshow tool that comes with Windows 8. You just have to know where to find the other one.
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
Stevey, admitted confused by the benefits of RAIDs, asked the Answer Line forum to explain these hard drive groups.
A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) puts multiple hard drives together to improve on what a single drive can do on its own. Depending on how you configure a RAID, it can increase your computer's speed while giving you a single "drive" that can hold as much as all of the drives combined. Or you can use a RAID to increase reliability, so that your computer will keep working after a hard drive crash. Some RAIDS allow you to do both.
