It has been a couple weeks since I answered reader mail and the mailbag is bulging at the virtual seams. Let’s dive right in and try to forget that Steven Seagal is armed and patrolling the streets of New Orleans right now and Tony Danza appears to be teaching high school English.
Q: My work computer (a Dell) has a docking station that I really like but there isn’t such a slot on the bottom on my personal laptop (a Toshiba). I see some universal docks on the market but I am not sure if they work or work very well. What do you know about them?
A: The ones I have used are OK for basic users but they fall down in the video transmission from laptop to monitor. To make a true docking station developers try to minimize the number of cords you have to connect to the computer each time, often shoving a ton of data through the USB bus. I would not recommend them, but if you wish to try one I would get return and restocking rights from your retailer or online source. (This does not apply to traditional docking stations, which I recommend for both business and home users. These can be purchased on the secondary market on eBay and elsewhere for pennies on the dollar.)
Q: I know there is a way to run Windows on an Apple computer, but is there a way to run Apple’s Operating System on Windows?
A: This is one of those no/yes answers. No, if you are a normal computer user. Yes, if you are one of those people who can find and install an emulator and have enough time to write to me and tell me I am wrong. In other words, for most consumers the answer is no.
But if you are a computer hobbyist of some skill, you can probably get a reasonable facsimile of Apple’s OS running on your Windows machine. That said, with enough effort anything is possible. (At a Microsoft conference earlier this year a guy showed me Windows XP running happily on a thumb drive.) So, for the real answer to your question, no. That is how Apple wants it.
Q: What is the best email program out there that will also let me share my calendar with my family?
A: “Best” is one of those words that will get me knifed in a nerd bar, but I would look at Google mail. It has a fantastic calendar application and just gave up its requirement that everyone keep their mail in “conversation” threaded mode.
This goes triple if you have an Android phone because Google mail syncs with it effortlessly. Your company may let you forward your company mail to Gmail, too.
I used that cleaning tool you recommended the other week and found I have four browsers on my Windows PC. I have to keep Internet Explorer. Of the rest, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, which one should I keep?
A: This is a personal-preference thing, but that noise you hear is me screaming “CHROME” at the top of my lungs from your lawn.
James Derk is owner of CyberDads, a computer repair firm and a tech columnist for Scripps Howard News Service. His email address is jim@cyberdads.com