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 installed one antivirus program on a new PC that already had another. Then he asked the Antivirus & Security Software forum if that was a good idea.
Running two antivirus programs simultaneously is a bit like mixing a fine, vintage Cabernet with breakfast cereal. Each is good on its own right, but the combination may have unpleasant effects.
Before I explain why, let's get some definitions out of the way. The term antivirus has come to mean a program that launches when you boot your PC and stays running in memory, protecting you in real time not just from viruses (which are, technically speaking, passé), but Trojans, rootkits, and all other forms of malware.
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
Srinivasan was the first of many readers who complained about this, and I have no one to blame but myself. Although I intended to offer a digital equivalent of writing a description on the back of a printed photo, the image I created to head that article (which also heads this one) suggested something different--the caption as part of the image.
So this time, I'm going to talk about making that caption visible. I'll discuss setting up slideshows and screensavers with captioned photos, and inserting the caption into the actual picture.
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
Randy G. finds Windows 8's search tools a bit confusing. I offer some suggestions.
Windows 8 may have the greatest learning curve of any Microsoft operating system. Fortunately, it generally offers at least two ways to do a particular chore. I'll give you search techniques for both the Modern Interface (also known as Metro, although I prefer calling it the flat, ugly interface--FUI) and the Desktop (AKA, Windows 7 without the Start button).
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
Jsmithhere asked the Desktops forum about booting from CDs, DVDs, and flash drives.
When you boot your PC, it generally loads an operating system (such as Windows) from a hard drive or SSD. But you can bypass this process by booting from a specially-prepared CD, DVD, or flash drive.
Why would you do this? Perhaps Windows is so messed up that it fails to boot on its own. Or you want to scan for malware in a clean environment. Or perhaps you just want to play with another operating system without bothering to install it.
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 asked the Answer Line forum for advise on finding and removing duplicate files.
A hard drive is like a family garage--junk expands to fill available space. An SSD behaves very much the same way, but with less space.
A good duplicate file finder will help you reduce your digital junk levels. It can search for files with the same name, the same size, and/or the exact same contents. It helps you examine each file and decide which one to keep. It can ignore small files, so you can concentrate on the more wasteful redundancy.
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
Eugene Bartley wanted to know if his files would eventually disappear from a cloud-based backup service.
Cloud-based backup services, such as Mozy, Carbonite, and IDrive, upload your files to their servers as protection against your losing the originals. This has some big advantages over a local backup. Once set up they're completely automatic. And it's extremely unlikely that the same fire or flood will destroy your computer and your backup.
But there are disadvantages, as well. One is that you lose physical control of your backup. Those files could be destroyed because of someone else's corporate decision.
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.
