I'm planning to digitize over 2,000 old photo slides (35mm and other sizes). What options are available to store them on DVDs and view either a timed-advance or manual-advance slide show from the DVDs? Is this even possible? -W.F. Otto
It's definitely possible–the easiest method hinges upon what you'll use as the display device for the images: a PC and monitor, or a television with a set-top-style DVD player attached.
If you're using a PC, your options are many (and potentially free, to boot). The easiest way: Simply burn DVDs full of your image files in ISO 9660 data format (the standard "data disc" format in most disc-burning software), and, in Windows XP, use the built-in slide-show function. Browse to the disc and its appropriate folder (if any) in Windows Explorer, double-click the first image, and then hit F11, which triggers a full-screen, timed-advance slide show. You can also control this show manually using the arrow keys.
Windows Vista's slide-show display function is a little more feature-rich than XP's, and, more important, it integrates reasonably good DVD-burn functionality. From right within the Windows Photo Gallery, you can construct and burn a slide-show video DVD that will play on your set-top player. Vista even provides slick premade DVD-menu templates.
Even if you don't have Vista, creating slide-show DVDs that will play back properly on a set-top DVD player isn't hard–you can find lots of specialized for-pay apps that will do this. One popular one is the $49.95 Ulead CD & DVD PictureShow. But my recommendation is to first check your disc-burning suite, if you own one–the functionality might be buried within it. Nero, for example, has its NeroVision component, which handles authoring, rendering, and burning basic DVDs; it can create still-image slide shows on DVDs that will play on TV-style players. The options are pretty deep: You can design menus and submenus, add narration, specify transition lengths and advance times for each image, and even perform basic image edits. Specialized apps can do even more (Ulead PictureShow, for example, lets you apply the striking "Ken Burns" still-image-panning effect), but experiment with what you own first–it may save you money.
Winken, Blinken, And Windows
My wife's PC (an HP Pavilion running Windows Me) has a hard drive activity light that flashes continuously every couple of seconds. Also, her DSL-modem connection light flashes periodically (but not at the same rate) even when she's not computing. I suspect some kind of spyware is lurking on her PC and communicating with the Internet, but I can't track it down. -Charles Denzler
The DSL-modem blinking is not unusual; many external broadband modems blink constantly even when your PC is off. As for the drive light, however, I can think of almost half a dozen possible causes to investigate first. Spyware is a possibility, but I wouldn't jump immediately to that conclusion, especially if you've run appropriate security software.
My initial instinct was the Windows Indexing Service. Active by default, it works in the background when your PC is idle, building and modifying a searchable index of your files and folders. It's a common source of phantom drive activity in recent-model PCs, but all sources I consulted say it wasn't introduced until Windows 2000. But I thought I'd point it out for readers with newer PCs in the same pickle.
The first thing to do: Run a full defragmentation of the drive. Because the PC is running Windows Me, it's obviously old, and the drive might be heavily fragmented and need maintenance. Also, try running Scandisk (in Windows Me, go to Start > Run, type scandisk, click OK, and specify a "thorough" scan for your drive) to see if the utility spots any problems with the drive. (Note that a thorough scan can take quite a while.)
You also might see excess hard drive activity if a hard drive is nearly full, even if you're idle. Windows could be constantly writing to a swap file to perform basic background functions, especially if the PC is also low on RAM. Check how much drive space is left and clear off clutter if it's near capacity.
Additionally, an antivirus or other security program working in the background could be causing the disk activity. Try disabling these one by one to see if it has an effect.
A final (long-shot) possibility: The blinking is a result of CD-drive "polling." If the hard drive is installed on the same IDE ribbon cable as your CD-ROM drive, the activity light might indicate Windows periodically checking for a CD to autorun. You can experiment with this in Windows Me by disabling Auto Insert Notification in the CD-ROM drive's properties in Device Manager. (See the Settings tab.)
Slot Savvy
I bought an nVidia GeForce 7950 graphics card to replace my old GeForce 5500, only to find they plug into different types of sockets. What I thought was a PCI Express port apparently is not. How do I fix this? Do I have to buy a new motherboard? -SuperCollider Via the ComputerShopper.com Forums
Your old GeForce 5500 card most likely supports the AGP graphics-card interface, whereas most new cards support PCI Express (PCIe). AGP slots are typically (though not always) brown, and their keying (the bar inside the slot that prevents incompatible cards from being inserted) is different from that of a PCIe slot. You won't even be able to insert the new card.
The easiest solution is to return the 7950 (if possible) and buy an AGP card. 7900-series cards are readily available with AGP interfaces, though if you're very serious about graphics speed, AGP is a performance bottleneck compared with PCIe, all else being equal. The only alternative is indeed a motherboard upgrade–and that might well end up being a lot costlier. If your motherboard is older, you'll likely have to invest in a new, compatible processor and newer RAM. The performance boost would be a lot greater going the motherboard-upgrade route–the raw bandwidth of PCI Express is far greater than AGP's, and you'll likely get a better processor in the bargain–but you have to weigh that against what you're willing to spend.
Incidentally, if you had the reverse problem–an AGP graphics card but a PCI Express motherboard–the Taiwanese card maker Albatron briefly offered an answer called the "ATOP." It's a converter card that worked with a limited range of GeForce cards. It seems to have been relegated strictly to eBay territory now, though.
Print Sharing Made Simple
I recently purchased a laptop with wireless capability, which connects wirelessly to my broadband router. My desktop is also connected to the router, but via an Ethernet cable. And my Epson C900 laser printer is connected by USB cable to the desktop. Is there a simple way to use the printer wirelessly from the laptop? -Malcolm King
There are several ways to do this, and the easiest–Windows' File & Printer Sharing function–requires no additional equipment, though it has one slight drawback. In Windows XP, simply go to Control Panel > Printers & Faxes (or Printers & Other Hardware). In the Printers & Faxes dialog, right-click on the printer you want to share with the laptop, choose Sharing, then the Sharing tab. Choose the "Share this printer" button and click Apply. On the laptop, you would just add the printer using the Add a Printer wizard. (You may need to install the driver.) The downside of this approach is that the desktop to which the PC is attached needs to be booted up whenever you want to print from the laptop.
The alternative is a print server, a small device that allows for printing from any PC on your network at any time. Sometimes print servers are integrated into routers (apparently not, in your case) or other devices; if you don't have one, check into stand-alone models, which start at around $40 from makers such as D-Link, Linksys, and Trendnet. See our primer on installing one. (We used D-Link's DP-301U.) You'll need at least one free network port on your router–the print server will plug into it.
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