The Fake Geek - Part 22

USB Drivers for Windows 98

I just bought a 4GB USB thumb drive and I want to transfer files from my old PC to my new on. The old computer has Windows 98 SE and it doesn’t recognize the drive. Where can I find USB drivers for Windows 98 SE?

That’s a fairly common question! It’s a pretty simple process of installing the USB driver but first you have to find it! Fortunately there are many generic drivers out there. Instead of making you search for one here’s a generic driver that should work:

Download it here.

Just download the file and run it.

The Fake Geek

I didn’t get a Vista disc with my new PC!

I just brought a new laptop stuff like Office Student and Teacher Edition (Word, Excel,etc..) My problem is Future Shop didn’t give back my vista dics! I payed for it why didnt i get it! Please help!

Hi there

Most computers these days (especially the ones you buy at a large retail store) do not come with the Windows OS discs. They havn’t come with those for a while now. Now I’m not sure why they don’t (probably some weak attempt to cut down on piracy) but the solution is pretty simple.

Of all the computers that Future Shop sells (HP, Acer, Gateway,etc..) each and every one of them have a “copy” of Vista on a second partition of the hard drive. A partition is a division of a hard drive, one partition will be your normal installation of Vista, all of your programs and files and other (much smaller) partition will have a “backup” copy of the OS (Vista in this case.)

This insures that you have a way to fix your computer if anything goes wrong. Basically it does the same thing as an OS disc used to.

Now you can create a recovery disc, which is basically copying files from the backup partition and burning them. Later on if anything happens you can reinstall Vista using those recovery discs. Creating recovering discs is largely painless. If you need any help ask away!

The Fake Geek

Can I reuse my ISP setup disc?

Question: Most ISP’s in the UK provide a setup CD that you use to connect your PC to the internet, if you bought a new PC (or in my case a Macbook Pro) are the settings the same?

Hi there!

The setup CD most ISPs give you is often filled with software that you may or may not end up using. Sometimes they bundle in an antivirus, and some connection-fixing software. If you know what your doing on a computer there is often no need for that disc.

That being said theres absolutely no problem using that same disc on a new computer. As long as your still using the same original connection then the same settings will often work (V1 numbers and such.) The only caveat you may end up with is compatibility. If the disc your ISP gave you isn’t OSX compatible then you can’t run it on a Mac. You’ll need to ask for OSX compatible software. (However if you use Parallels it will work in that.)

Many ISP’s have something called a “hot” connection. Which means that all you have to do is plug in your MacBook into the modem you recieved and you should be good to go; you don’t have to bother with any discs. (Not all ISPs are hot though.)

The Fake Geek

Can you run Windows Update while in Parallels?

Once installed using Parallels 3.0 can XP be updated (Such as Service Pack 3)?

It sure can! Basically what Parallels does is use something called virtualization, what this does is “blind” windows into thinking that it’s running on a PC normally.

Windows Update will work just fine in this environment.

The Fake Geek

Appended on Sept 20,2007

Our friend Neil asked if the same applies to printers and other windows devices.

Yes. Running Windows in parallels will let those devices run on a Mac.

The Fake Geek

Looking for a basic (but good) laptop

Question: I am looking for a laptop computer and cannot afford anything over $800.00. I
want to be able to surf the net (wireless) and watch DVDs. What should I look for?

For a basic computer such as the one your looking for I usually recommend looking at either the HP line of laptops or the Dell offering. If you can afford a little bit more then I’d say look at the Lenovos as well.

Basically what your looking for is a laptop that’s within your price range but that will do that job and truthfully $800.00 is just fine. The specs you should look for are these:

Dual-Core Processor (most of the single cores nowadays are low end Celerons)
1GB of RAM
DVD Drive
Wireless G or N adapter built in
Windows Vista Premium

The size of the screen will obviously depend on your preference. The bigger the screen the more you’ll pay but a 15.4 inch monitor seems to be the most popular these days and offers bang for the buck value.

The laptop I really like right now is the Dell Inspiron 1520. It’s a very good price compared to competition. Just keep in mind that price includes a DVD player not a writer. The writing capability would be extra.

The Fake Geek

Append on Sept 21, 2007 – The Fake Geek’s take on three specific laptops!

How well does Parallels work?

Question: How good is Parallels 3.0 for the Macbook Pro?

I really like it. It runs applications very well and when doing most things you can’t even tell your running it inside of OSX. Any of the Macbook Pros will run it just fine.

The newest version of Parallels has a great new feature for people who like to use Mac or Windows programs exclusively. It’s called Smartselect. Using this great new feature you can open files that are in the Windows environment with Mac programs! All you have to do is choose the open with command!

It’s also great if you want to do some gaming as it supports DirectX and OpenGL. Now it’s not going to give you the best performance and framerates out there but it performs pretty decently in my opinion.

Keep in mind that if you buy parallels you will have to buy a copy of Windows as well. Parallels doesn’t come with it.

The Fake Geek

iMac “Securedownload” attachment problem

My iMac is having an email problem. I use Yahoo and Safari and when I download an attachment it changes its name to “securedownload” I try and open this and I get a colorSync ultility error. What do I do?

This problem has been spreading to a few Mac users. There is news that Yahoo has said that it’s the result of a conflict between their email program and Safari. They are reportedly “working on it.” Chances are you may have to wait until Yahoo resolves this problem.

Why is this happening? Well Yahoo is still dabbling with their beta email program and I think they just introduced some feature that just isn’t quite ready. The name secure download seems to suggest that it may be some sort of scanning utility.

So I’m sorry, I really am, but you may have to wait for Yahoo to pull it’s act together. The good news is that you can use a different application for the time being and that should work fine. When the problem is resolved I’ll post the fix.

The Fake Geek

The Router isn’t working on any computer

I can’t get my d-link router to work on all 4 computers in the
house.

The first I’ll ask: So it’s working on some of them? One of them?

If it doesn’t work with any of them then I’d ask myself the following questions:

Is the router properly connected to the modem?
Is everything plugged in?
Did I follow the instructions in the manual?
Is there any security enabled on the router?

Also keep in mind that if it’s a wireless router all of your computers will have to have a wireless antenna card on them. If it’s a wired router then everything needs an Ethernet card.

Please get back to me on this. I look forward to it!

The Fake Geek

What notebook do I need to run AutoCAD?

You’ll want to look at something with a dedicated graphics card rather then an integrated chip and you want to go for 2GB of RAM with a Dual-Core processor. I now refer you to a similar question posed by another enlightened reader of this site. You can find it here. Ignore the stuff about the Mac.

The basic points are:

Dual Core Processor
2 GB of RAM
160GB Hard Drive (at least)
15.4” or bigger screen
Firewire and USB ports

The Fake Geek

SVGA on the IBM PS/1

What’s the video output format for an IBM PS/1, and how can I convert that
format to svga?

Wow! One from the history books! For those of you reading who don’t know what the PS/1 is (or was): it was a personal computer launched by IBM in 1990. You my friend are old school! Good on you!

I believe that the PS/1 had a VGA port on it. That would be how you’d connect that monitor to the computer. As for going to SVGA I’m not entirely sure you can. But the PS/1 probably had ISA slots on the motherboard so you’ll be looking at ISA graphics cards.

Your gonna have to upgrade that computer. EBay is a marvelous place for projects like this. Good luck!

The Fake Geek