Most computers have the ability to stream music off the Internet. I used to use a service called Pandora for this, but when it stopped working in the UK, I switched to a new service called Spotify. I’ve found internet radio really fun to listen too, as it always keeps me listening to fresh music. Would recommend it to anyone.

Anyway, listening to it on a mobile device is even better, as you can carry it around anywhere you go. There are applications for the iPhone that let you do this, and I even use one called Imeem for my Android phone. If you’re not able to get your hands on one of these devices, you may choose to invest in a dedicated device, one like the Slacker 40 Station/8Gb WiFi Radio Player.

Once you’ve selected which channels you want to listen to, this device hooks up to a WiFi network (or to a wired connection through a USB connection to your computer) and fills itself up with music for you to listen too. This means you can take your music with you, and that the device will keep refreshing itself with new music whenever it finds a WiFi connection. It looks like a great device which meets all your needs. It’s currently on sale at Buy.com for just under $70 (including free shipping), which is a great offer for all the music you can eat.

It’s interesting to see how the way we consume media has changed over the recent years. I, for one, am really interested to see how the industry develops.

I came across this question online and thought it merited an answer here, as I had actually helped someone deal with something similar a few years ago. The reason the attachments won’t open is because of a security setting in Outlook Express. Microsoft, in their wisdom, decided to block an avenue that helps viruses and other malicious programs spread; by turning on a setting in Outlook Express that blocks people from opening any attachment. (Which is a bit like trying to prevent a bank robbery by preventing customers from coming in the door).

Here’s hope you can rectify the problem. Open the security options window in Outlook Express by clicking Tools in the top menu and then Options. Look for the option “Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened…”, which will have a tick in front of it. Untick this option and click Apply.

The reality is, unless you have custom software written for you, you’ll always be at the mercy of a software provider to change settings at will. But the great thing is that you can usually search online and find a way to rectify the problem.

A friend of mine sent me this question after seeing the form trying to sign up to a live video streaming service; in particular he was worried about getting the code wrong and being refused service by the website. Well, Pete, the codes you are referring to is a type of technology called CAPTCHA which is used to distinguish between humans and automated programs. You tend to find them on forms that want to make sure you’re a real person, for example if you’re sending email to someone else. The code is just some text displayed in a distorted image that’s been mangled in a way that a human can distinguish it but is impossible to read for a computer. The problem is that sometimes they look worse than if they had been written in Tipex on a white ceramic tile, they’re nigh impossible to read. Here’s an example of what one looks like:

So, what if you can’t make it out? Well, some CAPTCHA forms have a a Refresh button that will generate a new image for you to try and decode. Sometimes this will help generate one that is easier to recognise. Also, sometimes there’s an option for the CAPTCHA to be read out to you. This again, can help you distinguish what is being shown to you.

If all else fails however, don’t worry too much. If you get the code wrong, most of the time, the website will just ask you again to try a different code. Eventually you’ll get it right;)

Mike, maybe you need to settle your differences with you sister and learn to share. After all, the computer, the exercise equipment and even your football is a family resource and is meant to be shared. Anyway, back to your question, there’s a simple way to find out if someone has been using your computer, you can ask it to send you an email every time it is switched on. Here’s how to do it:

First of all you need to find the Task Scheduler. Click on your Start button, navigate to All Programs, Accessories and System Tools. Once you’re there, click on Task Scheduler to open the application that will do the work for you. Once this is open, click on “Create Basic Task”

Give your task a Name and Description

Specify a trigger for your task. In this case we want the task to fire when the computer starts up.

Specify the action for this; in this case we want to send an email.

You now need to configure the emal you would like sent. You’ll need to specify the From, To, Subject and Text fields as required. More importantly, you’ll need to specify an SMTP server so that the email can be sent. This is the same one that your email is configured to use.

Once you’ve specified all that, you’ll be presented with a confirmation screen to confirm all your options.

There you go, your task is now configured and set to go. Next time someone logs into your machine, you’ll get an email letting you know exactly when it happened.

This might be the start of a series of Android questions., as I’ve just got my hand on one of these HTC Magic phones and I just had so many questions in the first few days. Anyway, I was preparing to answer a different question, when I realised that I didn’t quite know how to take a screenshot off the device. So I thought I’d answer this question first.

In order to take screenshots off the device, you don’t really need a dedicated application, as Google have kindly supplied everything you need with the SDK that you can freely download for Android. Here are the steps you need to set yourself up to take screenshots off your phone.

1. Download and install the Android SDK on your computer
2. Enable USB debugging on your phone, by going to Settings -> Application -> Development

3. Plug your phone to your computer using your USB connection. If this is the first time you are doing this, you will need to point the driver installation process to the Drivers folder of the SDK you have downloaded

4. Go to the Tools folder in the SDK and open the DDMS (Dalvik Debug Monitor Service) batch file
5. Click on your device in the application and choose Device -> Screen Capture

6. Use your device to navigate to the screen you want to want, click Refresh to capture the screen and Save to save it anywhere you like.

That should walk you through all the steps you need. Happy screenshooting.

This question came up in passing while I was speaking to a young friend of mine a few days ago. With memory getting cheaper and cheaper, it’s easy to splash out and buy a bunch of cheap ones, but the problem my friend was having was distinguishing between one and the other. I personally would probably use different coloured indelible markers and place a differently coloured dot on each one, but he didn’t really want to do this. So here’s another suggestion.

Why don’t you get yourself a label maker like the Brother P-Touch PT-1280. It creates laminated labels for you, which you can just stick onto your USB sticks and remove when they’re no longer required. This label maker has a whole selection of different features including the ability to print on super narrow tapes which are just the right size for CD spines, and I think I would use one of those for your USB sticks. It produces a whole range of font styles and framing options for your label, even up to 2 lines in width and can use tapes of different colours if you wanted to add some flair to your labels.

It’s currently on sale for $11.99 (with free shipping to the US) at Buy.com which is really cheap for the convenience it affords. So, check it out if there’s anything you need to label.

The simplest way to do this is to download the Microsoft TweakUI Powertoy from the PowerToys for Windows XP collection. It’s a collection of great utilities that lets you tweak the way Windows XP works to make it fit with the way you want it to do things. Download and installing the utility is relatively simple, just click the link and follow the instructions.

Once you start it up, expand the Explorer section and click on “Shortcut”. You should see this screen:

You can click on the different options to and see what your shortcuts would looks like, but selecting “None” will remove the arrow, as per your question. That’s wasn’t too hard was it, definitely easier than trying to remember how to spell: Liporexall. (I always confuse that one). If you like the level of control that utility gave you, check out the rest of the PowerToys, there are some fun bits in there.

The answer is, most definitely. The Home and Student edition of Microsoft Office simply has a different selection of programmes to the Professional Edition, but the programmes themselves are exactly the same. So, the copy of Microsoft Excel in your copy of Home and Student is precisely the same version of Excel that you would find in Microsoft Office Professional.

The update you’re most probably referring go is Service Pack 2, that has recently been released. It’s always a good idea to download service packs as soon as they’re available because they have updates and fixes that could be important to you. In most cases, these will come down automatically through Windows Update, but if you want to make sure you’re current, head down to the Microsoft Office Online site and click on “Check for Free Updates”

This will kick off a process that scans your computer and if your version of Office needs and update, will walk you through the process. Home and Student is usually a viable option if you’re on a restricted budget but still need access to Office. Regardless of whether you’re writing assignments or creating diet pill reviews, it gives you access to everything you need to produce your documents. If, on the other hand you just don’t have that budget, check out Open Office; it’s a free alternative which performs just about the same tasks.

Connecting to a WiFi network is a tad trickier than just plugging a network cable into a computer, but it gets easier and easier as software gets more advanced. I have seen this problem in the past, and it’s usually caused by an incorrect WEP key. I don’t want to sound condescending, but it’s possible that you typed it in wrong, and I would suggest you try to reconfigure it again.

Right-click on your wireless icon and then choose “View Available Wireless Connections”. Click on the “Change advanced settings” link on the left. Left-click on the Wireless Networks tab and you should see the name of your WiFi network in the Preferred Networks section. You may have other networks listed in the section if you have connected to other Wifi networks in the past.

Left-click on your Wifi network and click on Properties. Make sure the Network Authentication option is set to Shared and make sure that “The key is provided for me automatically” is unticked. Wipe out the Network Key and key it in and confirm it before clicking OK.

Hopefully this will fix your problem otherwise you have my permission to go as green as one of those perennial plants and smash up your computer. (Hope you get the Hulk reference there)

An interesting question, and I actually had to do some research on this one (seeing I’ve never had to do this myself). I have come across a number of different methods you can use, but the one I like best consists of a hardware solution that you can use without even using a PC.

The Pinnacle Video Transfer Device is a special box you can plug your video player into and hook up your iPod at the other end. It’s a bit more generic than that actually, allowing you to plug any analogue device (video player, games console, even plain old TV aerial) and transfer some footage directly onto an iPod, Sony PSP or any other USB mass storage device. It sounds quite easy to use, and means you don’t have to mess around with any software, interim copies, codecs and all the other bits and bobs you need to play with normally.

The device is on sale from Buy.com for under $50, so it’s a steal for something that can deal with your problem quickly and efficiently. It looks pretty easy to use and comes complete with all the A/V cables you need to make it work. If you go ahead and purchase it, let us know your experiences. I’m sure other readers would like to know how it got on.