Donnie Jenkins, Tech Talk

This week I again tackle some of your e-mail questions.

Q: Any thoughts on the recent Wall Street situation and the health of technology companies?

A: My general business teacher in high school used to say, “When your outgo exceeds your income, then your upkeep will be your downfall.”

This seems to describe the current situation in all areas of business, and it particularly describes tech companies these days.

For example, Steve Jobs’ Apple stock got slammed in spite of excellent performance. This occurred after some analysts declared that the stock was overvalued, a statement many others disagree with. Even Google has seen its stock decline.

This is probably a sign of the times more than a trend, as the Wall Street fiasco has everyone quite nervous. Hopefully we’ll see things calm down as all this gets sorted out in the marketplace.

Q: What is BIOS?

A: The BIOS of a computer is its Basic In Out System. This describes the set of instructions hardwired into a computer at the factory that execute when the computer is turned on. The BIOS controls such things as which disc drive the computer looks at to load the operating system, display settings, password settings and so on.

For years, the BIOS was a Plain Jane or John of sorts, doing the same old basic things, but this is changing. I recently mentioned that there is a movement towards an “Instant On” system in which a user could play music and access the Internet without loading the operating system. This promises to revolutionize the way a computer works, expanding the BIOS in ways that computer pioneers never dreamed of.

Q: I recently had a major computer crash and had to buy a new hard drive to reload my Windows XP operating system. Is there any way to recover my files from the old hard drive?

A: Possibly, depending upon whether or not the drive still works. The best approach would be to use a device such as the Bytecc BT-300. You would simply remove your old hard drive from the computer and hook it up to this device, then plug the device into a USB 2.0 port. The system would then see the old hard drive as an external drive, allowing you to see its contents if it still works correctly. There are also various data recovery programs available online that you could check out.

Q: What is your favorite and least favorite thing about computers?

A: This one’s easy. My favorite thing is how useful and versatile a computer is. I now use a computer in every aspect of my business. It has replaced a roomful of recording equipment, a typewriter, a fax machine, an assortment of expensive video equipment and so on.

My least favorite thing about computers is how complicated they can make things. The one advantage to all that old equipment the computer replaced is that each one did one thing well, and it did it the same exact way every time. With computers, who knows? While they work well most of the time, even the best of them can crash and burn, leaving your work in the dust. Windows computers in particular can turn brown eyes to blue in a heartbeat.

Q: You mentioned the Opera browser in a previous column: What exactly do you like about it?

A: My favorite thing about Opera is how fast it loads pages, and how quickly it recognizes bookmarks you’ve saved once loaded. My main gripe is that some Web pages still won’t load properly with it, forcing you to use Internet Explorer or Firefox for those pages. This is becoming more rare as time goes by, but it still happens from time to time.

E-mail Donnie Jenkins at donniejenkins@yahoo.com

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