 |
Leo Laporte A technology journalist, author and broadcast personality. His specialties lie in computers, the Web, video games, digital music and consumer electronics. |
 |
Amber MacArthur An experienced Web content and usability strategist, Amber is also a tech journalist who specializes in Internet, software, and gadget trends and tips. |
 |
Add our badge to your site if your work appeared on Call For Help!
Link to us at: www.g4tv.ca/ callforhelp |
Email:
Send an email directly to our address. 'Call For Help' is now 'The Lab with Leo Laporte'!
Send Your Tech Questions:
'Call For Help' is now 'The Lab with Leo Laporte'! So send us your questions and see you on the new show!
Feedback:
Tell us what you'd like to see on the show.
Newsletters:
Sign up to any one of our newsletters.
Forums:
Spread your opinions on the forums!
Chat:
Our chatroom is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Letters:
G4
545 Lake Shore Blvd. West
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
M5V 1A3
Advertising & Sales:
Contact us for advertising opportunities on G4.
Checking Modem Speed
Daniel, Corona, CA
Q: I have windows XP Home and my modem in my computer is a V.90 Modem and 56K Modem and when I get online It is at 50,51,51 but when I install SP2 for Windows XP my modem’s speedup upto 115 kbps but after some time like an update for Microsoft update page and my computer needs to be restarted and it goes back down to 50 kbps and my computer does this evertime I install SP2 for windows XP and I am using the CD to install SP2 and my question is why it speeds up for some time and then goes back down and I would like to keep the speedup on my modem if it would like me do you know how I can keep my modem speed at 115 Kbps.
It’s the same speed, what’s happening is that your system is reporting two different speeds. The 50kbps is the actual online speed - and pretty darn good by the way. The higher 115kbps is how fast your computer is talking to the modem. It’s not useful since it doesn’t matter how fast your computer and modem communicate as long as it’s faster than the speed with which your modem talks to the outside world.
Removing Podcast Clutter in iTunes
Tyler, Calgary, AB
Q: Hey Leo I watch you show quite alot and I also listen to you TWIT Podcast aswell as many others. But I was wondering is there a way to disable viewing Podcasts in my Library. Just because I like my music albums organized and I get all these other podcast artists cluttering my library when I am looking for music. Is there a way to change it in itunes and on the ipod so they are just under the podcast field.
When you’re looking at your iTunes Library, you’ll see everything, but everything, in iTunes. You do need one place where you can do that. However, you can use smart playlists to filter out stuff you don’t want to see. To eliminate podcasts from the list, create a Smart Playlist by pressing the Option key and clicking the gear icon at the bottom left of the iTunes window. Select Podcast from the dropdown menu in the rule box, and select “is false” from the condition dropdown. The resulting folder will contain everything but podcasts.Play with Smart Folders and you’ll see many useful ways to organize and filter your music.
Dual monitors
David, Annapolis, MD
Q: What kind of video card do I need toinstall to be able to use two monitors at the same time. I trade stocks and need two screens at the sametime.
Sean’s note: If you’ve got a video card that has two different video connectors on the back, you’re already ready-to-go: you just need to hook one monitor to each of the connectors on the back of the card. The trick then is configuring it under Windows, by going to the Display Properties dialogue in the Control Panel (or by right-clicking the desktop and choosing Properties)—then you should see two squares labeled 1 and 2…click on the one that is labeled 2 and then check the box underneath that reads “extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor”. We talked about the process earlier in one of Andy’s segments, and you can see the full web notes here: http://www.callforhelptv.com/callforhelp/shownotes/0220.shtml?extremetipsIf you only have one connector on your video card, there are two ways to handle the problem. You can buy a new graphics card that has two connectors on the back; if your main purpose is just to display two screens worth of web, or email, you don’t need an overly-powerful card and can make do with a Radeon 9600 or so will be adquate…if you’re planning to run anything graphics-intensive, you will want to look at something more upscale.
The other way to handle the problem is to get a second card and add it to a free PCI slot, but this could add complexity if the graphics card driver is different from the main card. (ATI and NVIDIA drivers don’t play well together.) Best to avoid this and just upgrade your main card to one that has two outputs.
There’s a database of multi-monitor configurations online. You can see it here: http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/db.asp
