Podcast: Free AOL, Mac v. PC, Converting to Mac, Antivirus!

This podcast is of our live radio show which first aired statewide on August 10, 2006 across the South Carolina Educational Radio Network. The show features Phil Yanov and Eric Rodgers as we take calls regarding PC, Internet, and technology isssues.

Preamble:

1. AOL is offering their services for FREE.
2. AOL is offering 5 GB of storage for FREE
3. Phil's hair is on FIRE about AOL releasing the private searches of it's users.

Callers we spoke to:

1. Edwin wants to connect to the internet via his cell phone.
   
2. Gene asks if it is better to turn his computer off, put it on standby, or leave it run.
3. Gail in Rutherfordton, NC asks about her Gateway with 96 MB of RAM. She has no Firewall. Should she use Spybot? What does she need to be protected. Phil says that no one wants a dial-up zombie. He may be wrong about that. We recommend Firefox.
4. John asks the age old question - Which is better? PC or Mac? How can he do both or convert? We suggest he get a dual interface drive with both USB and Firewire.
5. Rod reminds us that connecting to a cell phone requires a USB data cable.
6. Max is a Mac convert. When he hooks up his Western Digital drive to his Mac it looks read-only. Eric says it's the file system. We suggest the not very clever reformat technique.
   

And then we took some callers off the air...

1. Harry is a belt and suspenders kind of guy. He is using Earthlink and Norton's antivirus. He defrags his computer monthly, but wants a way to speed up his computer. We agree that this software really does slow the machine down. Using just what you need and nothing more is a help. Phil says trim it back. Eric says leave it alone! Phil suggests Windows Defender as a spyware protection program. Harry wants to clean his registry but doesn't want to spend the money. We suggest removing Norton as a start.
2. Sue moved from Internet Explorer to Firefox. She has a new problem now. Her screen resolution is changing when she connects to the internet. Huh?
3. Reed is burning movies in Nero 7. It isn't fast enough to suit him. He wants to know how to upgrade his computer so he can use his computer to do other things while he is encoding and recording movies. We suggest two computers. One to burn, one to surf while you burn. We then suggest loading the browser in memory before you start the burn.
   

And then we're done....

Thanks for listening. We'll be back live on the radio on September 14.