when i tape things on my VCR and then watch the tape in a VCR that is not my own, the sound is crappy. you have to turn the tv up really loud and it's all static-y. any guesses why this is happening? it plays fine on my VCR though. it's really frustrating

Sounds like the audio record head is misaligned. A repair tech might be able to fix that for you. Generally the audio head has a screw that allows it to be adjusted minutely up and down to get it into range.

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Speaking of VCRs, the other day someone was asking about a problem, too.

This site might be useful: [link] (Online Service Manual at fixer.com)

I've downloaded Firefox, and am using it on my secondary machine.

I went to peek at the themes and extensions, and am now dizzy. If I want mouse gestures, I have three options. If I want a new theme, I have many many options, but I can't seem to find out how to preview and compare.

I totally get the philosophical background to the flexible user-driven extensibility of the product. How do I make it manageable?

Sounds like the audio record head is misaligned. A repair tech might be able to fix that for you. Generally the audio head has a screw that allows it to be adjusted minutely up and down to get it into range.

will that cost me an arm and a leg? any idea?

I adore Craigslist. It got me my apt. this summer.

It got me my girlfriend. I win!

So I installed my new motherboard and it all went spivvy until I switched it on. I get as far as the Windows 2000pro Built on NT technology bit then it's blue screen of death with this message:

STOP 0X0000007B (0XEB81B84C, 0XC0000034, 0X00000000, 0X00000000)

INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

Then blah, blah, yadda, yadda, not important stuff.

Can anyone recommend a Mac-based program that will read VCDs? (Preferrably OS 9.1 compatible, though I have a 10.2.8 machine available at work.) I've tried system 9 versions of iMovie and Real Player with no success, and Quicktime and Windows Media Player can't even tell that there are any files present.

So I installed my new motherboard and it all went spivvy until I switched it on. I get as far as the Windows 2000pro Built on NT technology bit then it's blue screen of death with this message:

Have you reinstalled the OS? You're generallty supossed to when you replace the motherboard, although I've gotten away with not doing it once or twice. When Windows is installed it installs some stuff that is specific to your particular machine.

INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

Which is weird, because it obviously accessed the boot device prior to that. But anyway, if there is an OS-as-previously-installed/new motherboard incompatibility, I'd expect some strange errors.

Try VLC, Matt -- it's worked like a charm under 10.3 for me. Unfortunately I don't know if there's a version available for 9.

There is a demo of MacVCD on [link] Mireth's website. it only plays 5 minutes of video, but at least you can tell if the thing works.

I have a VCD that I've tried playing with it, and I get zip.

there's something called FreeVCD, that I have not tried, yet: [link]

Can anyone recommend a Mac-based program that will read VCDs?

VCDGear should be able to convert the video on a VCD to something you can play with Quicktime Player. They have older versions that work with OS 9.