I'm in the mood to talk about CD burning today, so let's get right to it! Once you're sure you have a CD burner on your computer and you have it all set up, you should be good to go, right? Well, there's one more thing that could go wrong and that's exactly what we're going to talk about today. Let's get started!

The main question for this article is, "What if I can't get my burner to do anything?" And by anything, I basically mean recording material from your burner to a CD or DVD. Yes, that definitely can be a problem, especially since you can't really do anything if that capability isn't working right. So, let's troubleshoot this problem and see what we can come up with. Note: This tip is only for Windows XP users.

1.) First, you need to make sure you have the recording feature enabled. If you have Windows XP, you really don't have to do much to get the burner to work, but without the recording feature, you can't do a whole lot. To check this, double click on the My Computer icon on your desktop. Find whichever drive handles your CDs (generally drive D: or F:), right click on it and choose Properties. Next, click on the Recording tab and make sure the "Enable CD recording on this drive" option is checked.

Note: If you don't have a Recording tab, that means XP is not recognizing your burner's recording capabilities. If that's the case, you may need to consult with your CD burner manual to find out how to configure everything correctly. Depending on your situation, you may even need to change some things in your Registry Editor. If you have serious problems with this, you may want to contact your computer/burner manufacturer for additional help.

On the other hand, if you do have the Recording tab, keep going with me! When you turn on the recording feature, it starts the built-in CD recording in Windows XP. Now, if you use a different burning utility (other than the one that came with XP), you can disable this and just use the other program like you normally do. viagra usage

2.) Another thing you may want to do is lower your burning speed. You more than likely have the software set to the fastest possible speed, but you might want to try setting it back to something like 18X or maybe even 8X. If you do that, you may see better results from your drive.

3.) Check on your system and make sure you have at least Windows XP Service Pack 1. For everything to run smoothly during the burning process, that has to be in place.

4.) And last (and the most obvious) is to check and make sure you have a blank CD in your CD ROM drive. You have to have one in there for the burning to start. Otherwise, the files will have no place to go and you will end up with nothing.

Hopefully with these troubleshooting techniques, you'll have a better burning experience from now on!

Q:
How can I tell if my computer has a CD burner or not? Please help!

A:
Oooh, good question! We've actually been getting a lot of e-mails here in the office lately about this very thing. It seems as if a lot of you don't know if your computer has a burner or not and if you're one of them, you've come to the right place. There's a very easy way to check on that and I'm going to show you how right now!

There are a couple of things you can do. For starters, you can open up your CD/DVD ROM drive and look on the front of the tray. There should be some sort of logo written on the very front of the tray telling you if it's a burner or not. If it just says something like "CD Drive," there probably isn't a burner there. If it says CD/DVD R-RW, you do have a burner. That's the easiest way to tell.

The other thing you can do is look in the Device Manager. To get there, right click on the My Computer icon on your desktop. Choose Properties and then click on the Hardware tab. Once you're there, click on the Device Manager button and you will be taken to a list of all the hardware you have on your system. Double click on DVD/CD ROM Drive to expand it. If an extension comes up that says something like CD-RW or DVD-RW, you have a burner. If anything comes up at all, you viagra prices uk more than likely already have a burner in your computer.

Once you figure out if you have one or not, you just need some burning software and you can go to town, burning CDs and DVDs as you wish! Some burners are external, so you may have that option as well. Most newer computers automatically come with a burner, but otherwise, you have to request one to be installed. If you don't remember requesting one, you probably don't have one, but use the above guidelines to know for sure!

Q:
Is there any way I can change the settings for my keyboard? If so, please explain!

A:
Yes, there is! If you've ever wanted to customize some of your keyboard settings, you've come to the right place, because that's exactly what I'm going to show you how to do today. Let's check it out!

To begin, go to Start, Control Panel and click on the Printers and Other Hardware link, then Keyboard (for Windows XP). If you're using an older version of Windows, go to Start, Control Panel and look for the viagra pharmacy online Hardware icon or even one that just says Keyboard.

Once you click on that, the Keyboard Properties dialogue box will open up on your screen. Under the Character Repeat section, you can choose how long or short you'd like before a character (a letter, etc.) repeats itself when you're holding down a key. Perhaps sometimes you're typing along and a double letter somehow shows up. It may be because you held on to that one key just a little too long. If that seems to happen to you a lot, you can change the repeat delay to a longer amount of time. That way, you'll have more time to move on to the next letter or word. To change that, just use the arrow slider to move in either direction.

Next, you can check on the repeat rate of your keyboard. If you sometimes hold down a key for soooooooooooo long, it may take forever for that one letter to repeat itself. You can fix that by moving the arrow slider to the Fast side. Or, if you like it slower, you can move the slider to the Slow side. Once you have it where you would like it, you can test the rate to see how fast or slow it will go.

The last thing you can do is play with the cursor blink rate. Depending on how fast you would like your cursor to blink while it's standing still, you can have it blink at a fast rate, a medium rate or even no rate at all.

Once you've made all your changes, just hit OK and they will take effect. Welcome to keyboard heaven!

It seems like everyday, I get at least one e-mail genuine viagra without prescription with a question about routers. The questions range from “Which router is the most secure?” to “What does wireless B, G, N mean?” and so on.

Well, it's pretty obvious to me that a lot of you out there would like some clarification on routers. I will do my best to answer as many questions as I can here today. Here we go!

What do the letters mean? About half of the e-mails I receive ask about the letters on the end of the wireless router. Most routers you find today are listed as Wireless B, Wireless G or Wireless N. Those letters indicate the protocol the wireless router uses to communicate with the wireless computer's network card. The letters also represent the speed and range of the wireless router.

Wireless G routers are the most common as of now. They are what most people get and they are the most reasonably priced. They usually have a good enough range to work inside your home or out on your patio. They support speed much faster than what your ISP can supply as well. Even more, you will never experience any slow downs when using a wireless G router.

Wireless N routers are the new, long distance routers. They will connect more reliably over a larger range and work better in homes with thicker walls and through basement floors. They have three antennas and also cost quite a bit more. If you feel like you will have signal issues in your home, wireless N is the way to go. But, there's also a catch.

When it comes to wireless G and N, they work the best when connecting to a computer that has a network card of the same type. Most computers that come with wireless cards have a built in wireless G card. That means if you buy a wireless N router, you will not see the same dramatic increase in range. When looking for a router, it's important to know what kind of wireless card you have. If you're setting up a new network, you should buy matching network cards and routers. If you're buying a new computer with a wireless network card, you should ask the sales person about the protocol for what the computer's card will support.

Which is more secure? Well, there are many varieties of wireless routers on the market today. I have written before about how to make your wireless connection secure, but does it matter which type of router you buy? Yes and no. In most cases, the brand of wireless router will not change the security abilities of the router. Most companies make routers with varying security standards. Some are easier to configure and some are more advanced.

No matter which brand you choose, you should look for a few things in a router when it comes to security. First, check the box to see that it is a router and firewall combination. That means it will provide security by blocking ports that are not being used. That provides a great deal of security. Secondly, make sure the router has the proper wireless security features. The router should support wireless encryption, including WPA and WEP. It should also support MAC filtering and it should have the ability to turn off the SSID broadcast. Those features may not be listed on the box, so you might need to do a little research before you buy. There you go!

Q:
What all different types of USB connectors are there?

A:
That's an excellent question, because most of us have to use a USB port at some point in our everyday computing. Since so many of us now work with computers on a daily basis, it's very likely that we have used a USB connector somewhere along the line. Today, most computers come with two or more USB ports and it's very unusual if your computer doesn't have at least one.

Right now, there are four main types of USB connectors: Type A, Type B, Mini-A and Mini-B. All of these types are supported by USB 1x and USB 2x. Let's go over what these different connectors do in relation to what you do with your USB ports. Here we go!

Type A

This type is known as the host connector and it is also sometimes referred to as the downstream connector. This is the one you usually plug in to the ports on your CPU or into a USB hub. It's usually rectangular in shape as well.

Type B

This connector is mainly used for the different devices that can be plugged in to a port. This one is also known as the upstream connector and it is the one that attaches directly to the end of a device (whether that be a brand viagra without prescription digital camera, a printer, a mouse or keyboard, etc). A Type B connector is usually box shaped.

Mini-A

This type of connector was designed to connect with mobile devices. This one can be used without a computer and it can be used with most mobiles, big and small.

Mini-B

This connector was designed when the "USB creators" found out the original connector for USB 2.0 ports was too big for certain devices, such as a PDA or a cell phone. So, in the end, this one was created for those of you who want to take advantage of the USB PC connectivity that is available with those smaller devices.

There you have it! The basics of the different types of USB connectors. So, tell me, which type do you use the most?!