Windows XP

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM 2007

Houston We Have a Problem… 025 10/03/07

Pictures In The Frame

I received a Christmas gift of a 'DigiFrame' digital picture player. I can make it work perfectly well by inserting a memory card from my camera, but what I'd really like to do is make a compilation of my favourite pictures from over the years, stored in Picasa, and play that. But how do I upload the selected pictures onto my SD card - I'm only accustomed to capturing images on it direct from my camera?

David Brownridge, by email

You need a memory card reader, which will enable your PC to copy files to and from the card. There are several types, the budget option is a little device that looks like a USB Pen drive. All you do is pop in your memory card and plug it into your computer’s USB socket. Windows XP will recognise it straight away and you will find it listed in My Computer or Windows Explorer as a ‘Removable Disk’. With older version of Windows (98, SE, ME) you will need to install a driver, these is normally included on a CD-ROM, or it can be downloaded form the manufacturers website.

Once the drive and card show up you can drag and drop or copy and paste files your picture files on to it. These types of card readers are usually very cheap, a fiver or less (I have even seen them selling in my local ‘pound’ shop). The alternative is a multi-format card reader, which can read half a dozen or more types of memory card. These also plug into your PC’s USB socket and work in exactly the same way as single format reader. Prices start at around £15 from on-line sellers, or around £20 for card readers that fit into a spare drive ‘bay’ on your PC. This type connects directly to a socket or ‘header’ on the motherboard, though only PCs made within the last three or four years are likely to have this facility.

Turning Up the Volume on the Classics

I own two MP3 players on which I only store classical music recorded from CDs. Classical music CDs tend to be quieter than pop music CDs and they are rarely loud enough for my player. Is there anything I can do to increase the volume of the recordings?

Eric Shanes, by email

There is but first check your player’s instructions or menus to see if has an ‘Equaliser’ with a Classical setting. Changing to better quality earphones (or headphones) can also help. ‘In-ear’ types with soft silicone rubber ‘plugs’, made by companies such as Philips and Sony work well with this type of material, and they are better at cutting out background noise. To increase the volume of your recordings you will probably need to change to a new ‘burning and ripping’ application, like Roxio’s Media Creator 9, which has a manual level control on the LP and Tape Assistant menu. Windows Media Player, which you have probably been using, only has the facility equalise the volume levels on the tracks of a CD.

Copying iTunes Library to Another PC

I currently have all my music stored in iTunes in my father's laptop. I would now like to transfer the music library to my own PC but I don't have a clue how to do it. My teccie friends all have their own opinions on how to do this, but none of them are prepared to actually help me, for fear of losing some or all of my 1700+ tracks, or damaging the laptop or PC! I'm by no means a PC whiz but if there were an easy, step-by-step guide on how to do this, I am sure I'd be able to follow it!
Ali Robbins, by email

It’s fairly straightforward, though you will need iTunes 7 or later. If you are using an older version you will need to update. If the laptop has a CD or DVD writer you can copy the library to discs, or you can use an iPod as a mobile storage device. There’s s simple to follow guide on the Apple website at: http://tinyurl.com/cgvuw

Moving Outlook Calendar to a New PC

I have managed to transfer files from my old Windows 98 laptop to my new Windows XP computer using CDs but I haven’t been able to find out how to move the contents of my Outlook calendar. Any suggestions?

Derek Fowle, Pershore

Just follow these steps. Open Outlook and go to File > Import and Export > Export to a file. Select Comma Separated Values (Windows) and select the calendar you want to export. Save it to a location on your hard drive and click Finished, you can then copy the file to a CD. On your new PC open Outlook, go to File > Import and Export > Import from another program or file, navigate to your exported calendar file on the CD, select it, click OK and follow the prompts.

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