Ahh, I wish that companies who manufactured PC components included better instructions for their consumers.  While you may have your microphone plugged in correctly into the right port on your PC, there may be a couple reasons why you are receiving feedback from it while trying to use it.  Lets try troubleshooting this problem with a couple solutions to fix your feedback problem.

The first part to check is the connection into your computer.  Make sure your microphone wire is securely fixed into the port in the back of your PC (or wherever your Mic In port is) and that it is in the right color; most computers today associate the color red with recording.  If it is even a tiny bit loose, you will hear some feedback for the lack of proper connection between the port and the wire.

Next, check the distance between your speakers and the microphone.  If your computer speakers are too close to the microphone, you can also receive feedback.  Experiment with moving your microphone at distance intervals to determine if your feedback reception is getting better or worse.

The last step is to try another microphone or the same microphone in a different computer.  Faulty hardware is always present regardless of how advanced our technology is!

]]> http://www.whatthetech.com/2009/11/10/how-to-stop-feedback-on-a-microphone/feed/ 0 http://www.whatthetech.com/2009/11/09/how-to-use-a-flash-drive-to-transfer-files/ http://www.whatthetech.com/2009/11/09/how-to-use-a-flash-drive-to-transfer-files/#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:16:37 +0000 Hemal http://www.whatthetech.com/?p=1051 I want to transfer my documents and favorites from hard drive on desktop computer to my laptop.  I have a flash drive but don’t know how to use it.  I’m a klutz in cyberspace… so do you have any easy instructions for me to follow?  Many thanks in advance!!

A flash drive is a wonderful new tool that every computer user should understand.  It allows for an easy and fast transfer of files from one computer to the next.  In some cases, you can even take your flash drive straight from your computer with pictures and hook it up to an appropriate printer to print directly from the flash drive without a computer!

To transfer over some of your document and favorites from your hard drive of your desktop computer to your laptop, we will be using a flash drive like you mentioned.  Make sure you have both computers nearby, a clean flash drive and your computers powered on.

The first step to do is to plug in your flash drive into an available USB port on your desktop computer.  Give it a minute for it to find the device and load what ever preloaded junk that might’ve been included with your USB key.  If it prompts you to restart your computer now that it has loaded the device properties, just ignore it.

Once your device has been loaded, open up My Computer and look for a new drive; probably something like the E: or F: drive that might have the brand name of your USB key.  Double click it to open up a blank new window which displays the contents on your flash drive.

Simply drag and drop all the documents you wish to transfer into your USB key window and wait for the progress bars to be complete and disappear.  If your documents are too large and you do not have enough space for your USB key, you will receive an error message that your storage unit is too full.  If so, just repeat this process in steps and transfer over a smaller number of files at a given time.

After your files have been transferred onto the USB Key, right click the device in My Computer and select Eject.  Wait for the device to disappear in the My Computer window before you eject it.  Plug the flash drive into a free USB port on your laptop and open up the device in My Computer.  Drag and drop from the contents window of your USB key onto your laptop hard drive wherever you desire and then remove the documents from the USB key by deleting the files in that content window.

If you have any more files you wish to transfer, just repeat the process above.  I suggest you make sure you have at least a 2-4 gig USB key; files are getting bigger now a days and you should have a bigger storage unit!

Unfortunately the sad truth is that new TV’s are not as cheap as they are advertised because of those hidden costs that come with them.  While a lot of these hidden costs are smaller items and accessories you buy (which can still add up to one larger sum), the other true kicker is the hidden costs that are reoccurring such as changes to your cable and electricity bill.

If you’re in the market for a new TV, there will be some added expenses you might want to checkout before making your big TV purchase.

1) Cables- Everyone always assumes that every cable you need to run your TV comes in the box, but where’s the capitalistic ideology in that?  Besides your power cable and maybe a coaxial cable to connect it to the wall jack, you’re on your own.  Most TV’s now a days connect to your cable box via HDMI to get the true high definition experience and those cables can get pricey.  All cables are not created equal so to get some of the higher end cables (especially if you are buying them in store) look to pay an average of $25-$75 depending on the size and manufacture of the cable.

2) Power Supply/Surge Protector- Just like your computer, your big electronic items should always be on power supplies/surge protectors.  While you could always go the cheap way out of spending a few bucks on some dinky item, remember that you always get what you pay for.  I recommend a solid surge protector just because one little zap without it and you are going back to that store to buy another TV.  Surge Protectors/Power Supplies can range from anywhere between $50-$A Lot.  I spent around $350 on my Monster Power which came with a lot of extra ports and some nice displays for the front screen.

3) TV Programming- The biggest expense increase people forget about is the extra increase in your cable bill!  While most HDTV owners in more populated areas can pick up a small variety of over the air (OTA) HD broadcasts, many of others will be forced to upgrade your TV packaging; whats the point of a nice new HDTV without the proper picture to watch it on.  Most companies will not require that you upgrade your package immediately, but without the picture to put on the screen, there is no point in buying the new hardware.  If you factor in the new programming costs, the monthly subscription to a new HD cable box, the DVR costs…look to run yourself an extra $20-50 a month depending on the package you subscribe to!

The point of the article is really not to scare you (even post Halloween), but just to make you more aware of some of the extra expenses that do come with buying a new TV.  I suggest before you make your purchase, you figure out the rest of the charges and costs that will come with it (especially with your cable provider) and take advantages of promotions and packages they could be offering.

Password protecting a hard drive is a great way to preserve and maintain privacy on your files.  I strongly suggest more users password protect their folders and files, including their smaller USB drives, to increase security and prevent stolen data.

There are some free options out there to password protect your data and its quite simple to set up.  Lets look at the option I recommend to use and set up the program on your drive.

The freeware program I like to recommend is TrueCrypt.  It’s an open source option with a price tag that cannot be beat ($0).

TrueCrypt runs on all OS levels, including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux so its safe to take on a drive that might be used on multiple operating systems.  I find this the most attractive feature about the program, especially because of our recent project here at What the Tech with the new MacBook Pro I am trying out.  Taking data between Windows and OS X is a huge issue for me and I want a program that can work on both platforms.

File systems still operate in their normal fashion of drag and drop, but the encryption is real time.  For those of you who might be a bit confused on what “real time” encryption entails, it simply means that a file will be encrypted as soon as it is dropped onto the protected drive so there is no delay in protection, and there is no decrease in transfer speed!

I applaud your decision to protect your data, let us know how the drive encryption worked for you!

The best part of the internet is having all the free software in the world available at your finger tips.  The first part of getting your iPod connected after you reformat your computer would be to reinstall iTunes, but unfortunately, simply plugging in your iPod will not call the installation since there are no setup files built in on the iPod.

In order to get your iPod connected, we’ll download the most recent version of iTunes available and then get your device up and running.

The most recent version of iTunes available is iTunes 9.  Navigate to Apple iTunes and click on the free download for your version of Windows.  If you haven’t upgraded your operating system in the past year or bought a new PC in that time, I think it’s a safe bet to say your operating system is 32 bit.

Install iTunes and the newest version of Quicktime with it, allowing it to replace any of the files that it finds on your machine left over from any other install.

After your install is complete, click the desktop icon it creates and setup your preferences.  Once in your library or in the store, plug in your iPod and wait for it to connect.  You should be able to view your iPod and add in new music!

Caution:  If you have music on your iPod, it may want to update to the new library you just created (which is nothing since it is a blank library).  Do not allow it to copy to the library you have now unless you have all the songs added in before you plug in your iPod.  If you do not, right click on the iPod and select properties and look for “Manage Music Manually” so you can drag and drop songs onto your iPod rather it trying to mirror your library which is now different from your original.

Manufacturers make their websites incredibly difficult to navigate for their drivers and support documents.  It’s almost easier to Google “specific” driver and follow the links that follow except the problem with that is the date on the links that you receive and if they are not straight from the company then you face a trust issue!

I’ve done some searching on the internet and found a website that has a list of the most recent drivers and utilities for hard drives from the top brands out there.  I suggest you look there and use the links posted from those users which are screened and verified for validity and updated for the newest releases.

Click on the following link based on your brand of hard drive below:

Conner
Fujitsu
Hitachi
IBM
Maxtor
Quantum
Samsung
Seagate
Toshiba
Western Digital

If you do not know the brand of your hard drive, open up your computer case (make sure you take the proper precautions) and look on the top.  Most companies love to brand their products on the top of the hard drive with either the full name or an abbreviation; e.x: WD = Western Digital.

Experencing hard drive problems?  Try the utilities for your hard drive and verify it is still preforming properly.  Hard drives can also be completely formatted to factory settings by writing 0’s to the hard drive to ensure the data has been erased from it!  The utilities offered by hard drive manufacturers are extremely useful and should be utilized regularly.

Trust your friends; get an external hard drive.  At some point or another, it will save your life; its a proven fact…I wish I had some user statistics on how many people have data saved by their external because it was mistakenly deleted or infected on their computer.

Unfortunately, I wish an external hard drive could do everything you said at the price they are offered at.  A portable computer that you can carry around and plug into any monitor that is the size of an external device is more like a mini PC but an external hard drive is still incredibly important.

An external hard drive is a hard drive that allows you to backup, copy and save your data on all of your computers.  The necessity of one is impossible to live without in the infected cyber world we browse in.  Most users utilize their external device to save copies constantly of their most heavily used/important data. Check out some of the top reasons why your next purchase should be an external device and how you can expect to use it!

1) Save hard drive space on your computer- back up home movies, pictures, music that take up a ton of room on your machine.

2) Secure those memories- preserve the pictures of your grandson or home movies of your children by making sure you have an extra copy if you delete the one on your main frame by accident

3) Save yourself from infection- the number 1 reason I think an external is necessary is because viruses kill hard drives and kill the data on your hard drive to the point where it becomes unrecoverable when trying to piece your machine back together.  Save yourself the hassle and have a copy of your hard drive stored somewhere else so you don’t have to worry if your data becomes corrupted

4) Power failures and electric shocks- ever lose a piece of electronic equipment because of a bad thunderstorm?  The beauty of an external hard drive is it does not have to stay plugged in.  It only requires power when you need to use it; after that, just unplug it and your data is still secure.

The advantages of an external device are uncountable.  I could tell hundreds of horror stories about people losing data because they forgot to back it up.

External devices are becoming incredibly cheap now.  Find a drive that matches at least 75% of your current hard drive or includes 150% of how ever much you plan to back up so you do not overload it!

Welcome to What the Tech!  Any questioned asked is rarely considered “stupid” and you’re question is far from it.  I actually like this question as it discusses the idea of any lost cables and wires that might’ve been separated from devices that are coupled with the computer.

In your situation, there usually is a power cable required for the modem.  A modem will pull power from the usual wall outlet just like any other device and I’ve yet to see one that uses power provided from the PC or any router (a device to split your internet connection via wires or wireless).

Let’s look at some pictures below and help you find a solution to get your modem back up and running.

First, lets make sure that this is the type of “circle” you are looking at:

(Olympus.net)

Usually, most cable/DSL modem’s will have a similar sized outlet for your power cord.  While your design may have a larger circle or one that might be a different color, it should be the same standard design.

If you did misplace the cord, there are a couple options I recommend for you.

1) Contact your service provider about sending you replacement equipment.  Misplaced cords usually means the device has been in storage which could be outdated anyway.  I would check with your Internet Service Provider to determine if their is new equipment out, or if your modem is still good to use.  If it is still used today, there is definitely replacement parts they can send you.

2) If you are waiting for replacement parts/equipment to be sent, try looking for other power cords around the house from other devices such as wireless (house) phones, answering machines, small computer speakers or other computer devices.  Many of these cords are the same in voltage and size as your modem.  I do highly express caution because it may not be the same voltage as your device and providing an improper amount of electricity could damage or hurt your modem.

I hope you’re able to find the replacement cord you need to power your modem!

Thanks to the wonderful world of the internet, you have all the CD’s, “drivers” and manuals online!  Many companies have uploaded their software on the internet to make it easier for customers to continue to use their product even if they have misplaced or lost the CD.

The “drivers” you refer to are is higher level *mini* software that allows the rest of your computer to communicate with that given device.  Mainly anything hooked up to a computer needs a driver, including the parts that come inside the machine.  It communicates with the computer through the computer BUS (subsystems that help the devices talk to one another) and is crucial in making sure parts are working correctly with one another.

To get your IBM Webcam working, we’ll have to download some drivers from the internet and install them.  You’ll barely recognize any difference from installing drivers than you would installing any ordinary downloaded program.

Download the drivers for the IBM Webcam here. Those are specific for Windows XP.

Once they are downloaded, double click on the file and install the program.  It will be similar to any installation you have run before for other programs downloaded from the internet.

Make sure your device is plugged in before you install the drivers. After the installation is complete, reboot your computer with your device plugged in and you should be good to go!

The best thing about computers is their ability to have different accessories and components that can be added on after market.  If you missed something on the build section of your computer, you can be sure that you should be able to upgrade it or add it on a day, week, month or year later.

It seems to me you either bought a slim laptop, for sizing/weight issues, does not include a DVD player and only a USB port, or an ultra slim PC that might not have the conventional type of slot for your DVDs.

Lets look at some options that you can take for your PC and I’ll explain which is the best for your situation.

In this scenario, your only path to take is an external DVD player, but you still have 2 main paths to choose from.  An external device could either be an external DVD player that was all assembled and only have one function of being a DVD Drive, or you could purchase an external enclosure that would fit a DVD Drive or even a future hard drive!

The pro’s of the first choice is a bit higher speed of transfer and burning, yet the cons are you can never really change the drive in the device and it only serves one purpose.

The external enclosure pro’s are its versatility to be able to have swappable drives (Optical drives, like a DVD Burner, or a hard drive for more space).  I really suggest the latter of the two options just because you can always upgrade your drive and use it for some extra storage later on.I wouldn’t worry too much about the speed difference between the two- its not something that will really effect your normal usage.just make sure you get a 3.5″ external enclosure and not a 2.5″.

Good luck and let us know which option you decide to go with!

Monitoring computer heat and temperatures are very important.  By constantly monitoring what your part temperatures are at, you can gauge the range of how hot your parts are running under load and if you have sufficient cooling for your usage.

While there are many system fan monitors or programs that display your temperatures, I mainly only trust one just because I feel the others are not as accurate and there is a very big difference in 5 degrees (C) if the reports were not as close to accurate as possible.

For monitoring system temperatures, I reccomend using CPUID HWMonitor from the same folks who brought you CPU-Z.  The program is freeware and does a great job displaying the current temperature as well as previous lows and highs.  I like to use the low and high display to keep my system idle and then under load to see the range of what my parts operate at.

Try downloading this program and see if it helps you determine if it is your CPU, GPU, HDD or even something else that is making your machine run hot and your fans kick in!

Don’t quote me on this, but I’d like to say that the problem you have is the most common computer networking issue on the net!  There are a couple different hunches I have about your situation but we’ll try some troubleshooting steps to see if the router is not communicating with the modem or vice versa.

The fact that you are “connected” to the router is the first step in deducting that the computer is communicating with the router properly, but obviously there’s a break in the chain somewhere the router and modem are trying to connect.

Let’s try connecting your computer to the internet bypassing the router.  Turn off your modem and hook up your modem to your computer via the Ethernet cable and turn the modem back on.  Using the disk that came with the modem or the network wizard, connect to the modem.  You may be prompted to include an email or password to connect to your service.  If you do not have this information, I recommend you contact your ISP who should be able to help release this information to you with the correct verification information.

Try starting your internet and see if that works.  If the internet does not work, you may have a problem with your line running into your house and need a service technician to come out and check out the problem.  If it does connect, try hooking the setup again to include your router.  You may have to configure your router in the administrative panel (instructions can be found by googling how to get into your main page to your router) and include the email and password or login information to your modem in the setup of your router.

By including the login information, this helps your router unlock your modem to connect to the internet.

Using these troubleshooting methods should get you back to surfing online again!

I’ve always been an advocate for using the appropriate wattage for your PC.not that you need more, but you need less.  Most people “overbuy” on their power supplies and spend money on that component and short themselves on other parts in the PC.

The importance behind determining the amount of power needed for the computer is taking into account how much your processor demands.  The graphics card varies its power consumption as well but we’ll look at some charts on how much it usually uses on full load.

The GeForce line is a very stable and solid line except it actually uses more watts then the Radeon HD graphics cards.  You are right where the lack of power can hurt your PC (mainly you will experience a random sequence of reboots and power downs) but that’s mainly if you have under a 250W PSU with the graphics card you are running.  The only systems that need such large power supplies are ones that have quad-core processors with dual SLI video cards.

Using a guide made by Tomsharedware, we can look at the power consumtion of your grahics card to be:

GeForce 8800 GTS: 51.1 W   136.0 W  11.3 A

The first number is for a 2D Desktop and the second represents what it would be in 3D on full load.  The last is how many currents (in amps) it uses simultaneously.

If you’re gaming, you can add on a bit more on that middle number to determine the amount of watts being used but as you can clearly see its no where near what most people thing.

If you further read up on that same guide, you can look at the amount of watts the processor uses and calculate how big/small of a PSU you truly need.

I recommend you really take a look at how much you really need as I think the 650W PSU you have right now seems to be a bit too much!

Buying your student their laptop for school is usually an expense most people forget about until it comes time to actually purchase it!  While the laptop itself can get a bit pricey, don’t be lured and tricked into buying more then you need by coupling your item with expensive side hardware and software.

There are plenty of deals that are available for college students that include some freebies and upgrades at no extra cost!

The biggest laptop deal that sticks out in my mind is through Apple.  Most computers are discounted $100-200 with some freebies such as a free iPod touch and at times they do include a free printer.  Most campuses are starting to become wireless so the built in wifi on the iPod Touch can come in handy.  Their Macbook is very equip for most students, but for ones who appreciate finer computing or gaming, I recommend the Pro.  The new Macbook air is still on my “do not buy” list as it is very flimsy and can easily be broken.

Dell offers similar promotions with free printers which are perfect for the dorm.  The place where you can score with Dell is through their warranty.  Many students are offered the accidental warranty at no extra cost or one or two more years on top of the base warranty.  I cannot stress the importance of making sure you are protected with your laptop; it should last 3-4 years of their schooling lifetime before an upgrade could be needed.

College campuses and bookstores do offer discounts that are given to the school by these big retailers.  Call your school to find out which discounts are available directly to the students or to the campus and place an order through them.  By doing so, many schools offer free tech support on campus so your student does not have to waste time when they have a computer malfunction.

I hope this shed some more light on where the best discounts are.  Do not spree for expensive software as many of the required software can be purchased through the school at a student discount.

Blast from the past! I remember CD’s.what do they stand for again?  Wait, no don’t tell me?  Computer Discs?  Completely disable?  Ahh, it will come to me later tonight.  Burning errors with discs are usually problems that are caused by the burning process or the way you are making the disc, but your problem doesn’t seem to sound like it stems from the burning process.

Let’s figure out with some of these diagnostic steps to find out which problem is causing your errors.

You’ve taken the first step of troubleshooting by trying the disc on multiple CD players.  If it did not work on one, but did on others, it could be an alignment problem or a bad lens in that disc player.

The second thing I would check is making sure you are burning audio discs instead of data.  Under the burn options tab or in the settings, make sure you are not in “data” or “dvd” or bootable CD mode which will not create the proper format your CD needs to have to be read by the disc players.

The last thing to try is a new batch of CD’s.  Unfortunately, as odd as it seems, the entire batch could be ones that are not properly made or a brand the players do not like.  Make sure the new ones you by are CD-R’s and not -+RW’s.

Let us know what worked for you!