Ask DACS
July 2007

Jim Scheef, Moderator
Lisa Leifels, Reporter

We welcome questions from the floor at the start of our General Meetings. In addition, members who are not able to attend the General Meeting may submit questions to askdacs@dacs.org. We will ask the question for you and post the reply in DACS.ORG. Please provide as much information as possible since we can’t probe during the session.

Q. A question was e-mailed from a member who was contacted by e-Trends to do an online market research job and was wondering if this was a legitimate company.

A. e-Trends is an online market research community that you can join and get paid for having your Internet browsing and purchasing activity monitored. They use the information they gather to determine Internet trends. A member of the audience said they used to work for them and found them to be a reliable company.

Q. I bought a 100 watt Microslim power inverter to charge my computer while I am in the car. It has a 100 watt limit. How do I determine how much power my laptop requires?

A. A power converter changes direct current (DC) from a battery to alternating current (AC). You connect the inverter to the battery and plug your AC device into the inverter and you have portable power wherever you need it. The size of the inverter you use should be about 30% higher than the device you are operating. The inverters are rated by their peak output and their continuous operating voltage is about 25% less. You’ll need to determine how much power your laptop requires to start up and continuously run.

You can look at what the output says on the power brick of your laptop, and then convert the volts to watts. Say, for example, the output of the power brick on your laptop is 19V at 5 amps, which is 95 watts. Since the adapter may only be between 60% and 85% efficient, you need more than 95 watts. If the adapter is 60% efficient, you would need an output of 160 watts, and if it is 85% efficient you would need 112 watts.

Q. I am trying to dispose of an older 17” CRT computer monitor that is more than five years old but still works.

A. A member mentioned that Staples has a recycle program that allows you to drop off used computers and monitors at their customer service desk at any of their store locations. You need to pay $10 for each large item and they will dispose of it properly for you. Another suggestion was to check with the transfer station in your town to see if they will accept it.

The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, (CRRA) holds several recycling collections each year. You can check on their website at www.CRRA.org/pages/schedule_electronics.htm to find out if there is an upcoming collection in your local area.

Q. I am using a PC with Windows XP Home. I keep seeing the message that windows is trying to do an update, how do I prevent this from happening?

A. It’s recommended that you install the software updates from Microsoft, since many of the updates help protect your computer from security threats. If you’d like to change the way the updates are handled on your computer you can do the following steps:

Click on Start and then Control Panel.

Depending on which Control Panel view you use, Classic or Category, do one of the following:

  • Click System, and then click the Automatic Updates tab.
  • Click Performance and Maintenance, click System, and then click the Automatic Updates tab.

Click the option that you want. Make sure Automatic Updates is not turned off.

Submit any question to: askdacs@dacs.org.

 



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