MaximumPC 2005 06

You write,

we respond

THE DVD-RAM EVANGELIST

SPEAKS

In your review of LG’s 16x Super

Multi DVD Burner [May 2005],

you mention that 5x DVD-RAM

media was not available at

press time. I’m not sure how far

ahead of publication you write

these articles, but I’ve been

using Panasonic 5x media here

in Chicago since late February.

It’s currently priced at less than

$6 per disc, and I’ve had no

trouble finding it. Second, while

I would have agreed that DVD-

RAM was a dead format just

a few months ago, a number

of major drive manufacturers

have recently announced new

Super-Multi drives. HP, NEC,

and LG are all making drives

that will be available later this

year. I believe HP has stated that

all its new drives will be Super-

Multi. NEC has an upcoming

third-quarter release of the

4550A, which supports RAM

at 16x. And this summer, 16x

DVD-RAM media will become

available.

—SAM CHASE

FEATURES EDITOR LOGAN DECKER

RESPONDS: Your sleuthing for

media obviously paid off, but at the

time we received the drive, neither

NEC nor Verbatim had any 5x DVD-

RAM media in stock. Yes, we know

it’s odd that a manufacturer would

deliver a drive to reviewers without

the means to test its full potential,

but it happens. As for DVD-RAM

being a “dead format,” we wouldn’t

mind being proven wrong—after

all, with built-in data verifica-

tion, DVD-RAM is certainly more

reliable than DVD+R or DVD-R for

data backups. But with Toshiba’s

HD-DVD just around the corner, and

Blu-ray scheduled to arrive early

next year, even inexpensive 16x

DVD-RAM is too little,

too late. We’ll see.

INVOLUNTARY

DOWNLOADS

I enjoy your

magazine, and look

forward to each issue

(except those with

the darn quizzes—

how the hell am I

supposed to know

that stuff?).

I’m having a

problem with Ad-

Aware that perhaps

you might also

have encountered.

Whenever I use the program

to scan my PC for adware, and

it finds something, I soil my

underwear when that godawful

WRRRNT! WRRRNT! WRRNT!

sound blasts through my 5.1-

channel surround-sound system.

I know I should expect it by

now, after running the program

six times—and thus ruining six

pairs of underwear—but every

time, when my back is turned,

there it is out of nowhere,

WRRRNT! WRRRNT! WRRNT! Is

there a freeware program that

will prevent my inadvertent

“downloading” whenever Ad-

Aware goes off?

—MATTHEW GUY

EXECUTIVE EDITOR MICHAEL

BROWN RESPONDS: Here’s a

simple BVD-saving solution,

Matthew: Open Ad-Aware , open

the Configuration window (click

the gear-shaped icon), and then

click the Tweak button. Scroll

down to the bottom of this window

until you see the item labeled

“Misc Settings.” Click the plus

sign to expand the menu item, and

then click the check-mark next to

“Play sound at scan completion”

and change it to an X. That will

turn off the sound at the end of the

scan. That’s even more convenient

than wearing Depends.

DON’T DO THAT OR YOU’LL

GO BLIND

I work within an organization

that provides kids with

computer instruction. Many

times the persons escorting

the kids (nannies, brothers,

you name it) search for sites

containing sexual and/or

violent content. I need a

program that will filter that

content. Which program do

you suggest I use?

—JESUS O. BERISTAIN

EXECUTIVE EDITOR MICHAEL

BROWN RESPONDS: We haven’t

reviewed these types of programs,

in large measure because we feel

they promote censorship, but also

because we believe that parents

who rely on them are substituting

the value systems of third parties

for their own. The Internet is a

freewheeling—bordering on cha-

otic—medium, but that’s part of

its appeal. On the other hand, we

understand your desire to shield

your charges from the sordid side

of the web. To that end, we’ve

heard good things about Solid Oak

Software’s Cybersitter for single

PCs, and Logisense’s EngageIP for

enterprise networks.

SUITE SOLUTION

I’ve been meaning to ask this

question for several months.

In this year’s Softy Awards

[February 2005], you didn’t

mention any system-utility

suites, such as those from

Norton or McAfee. In fact,

you didn’t mention any

stand-alone utilities, such as

a disk defragmenters, Registry

utilities, or other types of

PC problem fixers. So my

question is: Which would

you recommend, a suite (e.g.,

Norton System Suite ) or separate

programs (such as Diskeeper ,

Registry Mechanic , et al)?

—LAWRENCE KIM

EDITOR IN CHIEF WILL SMITH

RESPONDS: Traditional system

suites bundle a couple of apps

you desperately need—antivirus

apps, defragmenters, and fire-

walls—with a whole lot of apps

that fall squarely in the placebo

category. Sure, Registry cleaners

and Windows tune-up apps give

you a warm, fuzzy feeling when

you run them, but we’ve never

actually seen any performance

benefits from using a third-party

“

”

THE TECH INDUSTRY IS RENDERING THE ENTIRE

NOTION OF UPGRADEABILITY A MYTH.

In/Out

8 MA XIMUMPC JUNE 2005

SCRABBLE ROW

In the review of Scrabble

Online in your April issue, the

screenshot shows the word

“given” across, with the word

“ewe” below it, spelling “ve,”

“hew,” and “zone” (in the lower

right-hand corner). According to

my Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate

Dictionary , 10th Edition, there is no

such word as “Ve.” Just letting you

know.

—STEVE NICHOLS

ASSOCIATE EDITOR JOSH NOREM

RESPONDS: We hear ya, Steve; but try

telling Skynet—or whatever computer

system Scrabble Online uses to acquire

its words—that it’s cheating. It doesn’t

listen. All it cares about is winning,

rules be damned. The computer comes

up with words like “ha” and “eh,” and

as you can see in the screenshot, even

non-words like “ve.” The game allows

abbreviations, too. But as soon as you

learn “the rules,” so to speak, you

can have a lot of fun. In one game, for

instance, the computer used the word

“ag” as an abbreviation for agriculture.

So a few days later, when I was playing

against Logan Decker and Will Smith

on the office LAN, I threw down “ag.”

Sure enough, EIC Will Smith challenged

it (sucker!), losing the challenge and

his next turn as a result. Will’s foolish

maneuver allowed me to take another

turn, which I used to slap down the

word “owned.”