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Q: Have a Bible program on an old WIN 98 machine that I really like. The upgrades don’t have the same features as the older version. It won’t run on my Vostro 200 WIN XP SP3 computer. Would like to install the drive with the program on it in my WIN XP computer as a second drive and figure out how to dual boot, but the drive cables are different. Have thought of buying a clean second drive and install it as primary drive in my XP computer, load WIN 98 and the Bible program and try figure how to set up dual boot after switching the two drives to have the WIN XP drive primary and the WIN 98 drive as secondary.  Your thoughts on what is the better way to  accomplish this and point me to where I can find more information.

– Glenn H.
Fort Walton Beach, Fla

A: Windows XP has a built-in feature called Compatibility Mode that is intended to solve exactly the kind of problem you’re having, Glenn.  It doesn’t work in every case, but it just might work for you.  To enable Compatibility Mode, right-click on the program’s shortcut and select “Properties” from the menu.  Go to the “Compatibility” tab, and turn on “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” then select “Windows 98” from the dropdown.  If you think any of the other check boxes apply to your specific needs, enable them too.

You are a little off on your definition of dual-booting, so please allow me to provide some additional information, just in case any other readers might be confused.  Configuring a computer to dual-boot means installing two operating systems on the same hard drive.  During boot-up, the computer prompts which operating system you want it to load.  There are other ways to boot from something other than your system’s primary hard disk, but that practice is not called “dual-booting”.

Q: I cannot figure out how to get any you tube videos to completely play.  They always start (just enough to get me interested) and then it says they are buffering but never finish loading.  I have gone through the you tube site troubleshooting steps, cleared out my IE cache, etc, but nothing seems to work.  Do you have any suggestions?

– Stacy H.
Fort Walton Beach, Fla

A: Streaming video across your Internet connection is not quite the same as watching TV.  The sending system breaks the data into pieces called packets that get sent through possibly dozens of other computers and switching points before arriving at your computer.  With all that packet switching going on, the packets arrive at an unpredictable rate, and often out of order.  Your computer stores video frames until it has saved up several complete seconds of video.  It creates this “buffer” so that the video will play smoothly despite the unpredictable speed and order of the packet arrival.  What’s happening in your case is that you’re experiencing some sort of slow-down after you get the first few seconds of video.  This is typical of a slow internet connection or a problem in the routing being performed by one of the computers between you and the sender.  One thing you might try is clicking Play on a video, then, when it starts to load, click Pause.  The video will continue to load, and you can monitor it by watching the progress indicator at the bottom of the movie.  Re-start the movie when you have a good buffer built-up, and it will likely play smoothly to the end.