Radio to go
BBC Radio 4 has a great online service where you can listen to programmes from your computer using RealPlayer. Can you download the programmes on to your PC or Mac, then convert them to MP3 files so they can be put on to an iPod etc?
Jan McIntyre
Jack Schofield replies: There are probably dozens of ways of doing this for nothing, many of them messy, and not all strictly legal. However, you can buy programs that make it easy. On a Mac running OS X, you can use Audio Hijack Pro ($30) to capture audio files from the RealOne Player and save them as MP3s. The cheaper Audio Hijack ($16) will save AIFF files, which you can then convert to MP3 files using iTunes or other audio software. There is a comparison of the two versions of Audio Hijack at www.rogueamoeba.com.
On Windows, you could use High Criteria's $11.95 Total Recorder, which will also capture a wide range of streams and save them as MP3 files. Replay Radio, which is designed to record internet radio stations, has the main BBC stations on its menu.
Real Networks' system is proprietary and the company's development agreement seems to forbid programmers from capturing Real Media streams directly (cutting out the Real player). Versions of Streambox and StreamboxRipper (2.007) that did this have been withdrawn, but have not necessarily disappeared. See www.why-war.com for an account of how to capture streams in Windows. It is possible that Real offers a solution to this problem, but I gave up looking after a death-defying battle with its website.
File shift
I work abroad a lot and am looking for a way to store files so I can access them wherever I am. Tony Houston
JS: There used to be lots of free sites that provided this feature, but most disappeared after they were used to share pornography, pirate software and other large files. If your files are not very big, a simple, free solution is to open a Yahoo Briefcase or use Yahoo Groups. Yahoo Briefcases now offer 30 megabytes of free storage. They also work with Macs, but Mac users have to remember to add a Windows-style file extension, such as .doc or .dbf, to their file names when uploading files. If you need a business solution, look at Xdrive.
Function better
I have a Microsoft Office Keyboard with "enhanced" function keys, which can be used to carry out common tasks within Office applications. You can toggle between regular use and enhanced use by an F-Lock key, but this is set to the enhanced functions by default. Richie Turner
JS: It is annoying that you are not allowed to choose the default, but Jason Tsang has written some registry files to change it. Download them from http://mvps.org/jtsang/flock.html.
Hijacked
I want Google as my home page, but when I open Internet Explorer, Global Finder comes up. It doesn't matter how often I change it. Dave McRae
JS: Global Finder is a well-known browser hi-jacker. See www.pchell.com/support/globalfinder.shtml for removal details. For information on other browser hi-jackers and removal tools, see www.spywareinfo.com/articles/hijacked.
Backchat
· Last week, I suggested that Alex Cooke forwarded his fake eBay emails to spam@ebay.com, but eBay in the UK wants people to use spoof@ebay.co.uk instead.
· Paul Fisher asked why word processors did not include predictive text, like mobile phones. Dave Clarke and Adrian Greeman point out that the word processor in the free Open Office suite does. Go to Tools|AutoCorrect|Auto Format|Word Completion and tick Complete words, says Dave.
· Maurice Long asked about ways to re-use cartridges with his Epson printer. Duncan Gray warns that "Epson ink-jets seem to be prone to blockages if non-Epson cartridges are used. Although the nozzles can be cleared - ammonia seems to be the cleaner of choice - my Epson ink-jet is still not right after I had a problem." He says you can get lower prices online. Gitta Zarum says: "I have an Epson CX3200 and have found compatible cartridges from Neat Ideas and from Staples at about half the price of Epson ones. The computer comes up with a warning but if you click on Yes, it will accept it."
· I thought I had found a Windows XP-compatible driver for the HP Desk Jet 720C. However, Nick Salmon says the site only has drivers for Windows ME and earlier: "They simply refer you to the XP internal driver, which doesn't work properly. Subsequent emails with HP produced the recommendation to 'chuck it away'."
· On the subject of programs that alert you to website updates, Simon Heywood reminds me that Kaylon's Powermarks, which I recommended as a bookmark manager, "has a feature to indicate if a bookmark has changed since your last visit. I still find Powermarks fantastically useful, simple, easy and efficient."
