Ask Leo! #410 - Viewing smooth online videos, uploading music to YouTube, FireFox alternatives and much more... - Confident Computing

The Ask Leo! Newsletter

*** Featured

How can I view online video without the starts and stops?

I would like to view YouTube without the stops and starts. What causes that and can it be corrected?

In the past few years, video has exploded. Every so often, you hear amazing statistics about the number of hours of video that's being uploaded to YouTube every minute.

With the proliferation of video-capable mobile devices, the explosion - both of video creation and video consumption - is continuing to grow.

As is some frustration.

It's frustrating to say the least to have an online video playback play a little, pause, play a little more, then pause, then play a little more, then pause, then play a little more...

You get the idea. Heck, it was even frustrating to type, much less watch.

There are several reasons that this type of playback behavior can happen. I'll cover a few of them, and a few of the ways that you might work around it.

Continue reading: How can I view online video without the starts and stops?
http://ask-leo.com/C2981

* * *

*** Answercast

Answercast #73 - YouTube & copyrights, clickable URLs, Skydrive, Standby, webcam performance and more...

Have you noticed that it's hard to connect to Wi-Fi if you are far away or that standby sometimes doesn't return? Want to block spam from a country or use Skydrive without Hotmail? Is your webcam or browser not working right? All that and more in this Answercast from Ask Leo!

Continue reading: Answercast #73 - YouTube & copyrights, clickable URLs, Skydrive, Standby, webcam performance and more...
http://ask-leo.com/C6063

Since so many other people have uploaded music to YouTube, can't I do that legally too?
Copyrights on YouTube are a long and ongoing problem that is still,in many ways, trying to get worked out.
Continue reading: Since so many other people have uploaded music to YouTube, can't I do that legally too?
http://ask-leo.com/C6064

My screen is scrambled on return from Standby. What can I do?
Standby can scramble the screen on your computer if drivers or BIOS are out of date. Ultimately, this is one of the reasons I have trained myself not to use Standby.
Continue reading: My screen is scrambled on return from Standby. What can I do?
http://ask-leo.com/C6065

How do I make a URL clickable in email?
Clickable links in emails are often created automatically by the receiver's email program. They can also be manually created in rich text emails.
Continue reading: How do I make a URL clickable in email?
http://ask-leo.com/C6066

My webcam suffers from poor performance even at small resolutions. What I can do to make it work?
A webcam with poor performance could be caused by computer resources being overloaded. There are a few places to start the diagnosis.
Continue reading: My webcam suffers from poor performance even at small resolutions. What I can do to make it work?
http://ask-leo.com/C6067

Can I block spam based on country or time of day?
Blocking spam is a huge job. The state of the art in spam fighting these days is complex technology that analyzes characteristics in each email based on what users have marked as spam.
Continue reading: Can I block spam based on country or time of day?
http://ask-leo.com/C6068

Why does SkyDrive require I login with my Hotmail account?
SkyDrive and Hotmail are related because they are both services offered in a Microsoft account. You can use the SkyDrive account and ignore Hotmail to whatever degree you want to.
Continue reading: Why does SkyDrive require I login with my Hotmail account?
http://ask-leo.com/C6069

I have problems with Firefox. What's a good alternative?
Firefox browser problems can often be solved by a re-install of Firefox itself. Otherwise, any of the top three browsers will do the trick.
Continue reading: I have problems with Firefox. What's a good alternative?
http://ask-leo.com/C6070

Is initiating a WiFi connection more sensitive than simply keeping an existing connection running?
Connecting to Wi-Fi is easier the closer you are to the access point. That's another reason to not use someone else's connection in the neighborhood.
Continue reading: Is initiating a WiFi connection more sensitive than simply keeping an existing connection running?
http://ask-leo.com/C6071

Can you list some good alternative DSL modem/routers?
DSL routers and modems can fail, or drop connections, for many reasons. The best solution is to talk to your ISP.
Continue reading: Can you list some good alternative DSL modem/routers?
http://ask-leo.com/C6072

I have to minimize and restore my browser to see the page display. How do I fix this?
Restoring a browser to see the display is the sign of a video driver problem. You can avoid the problem by using a different browser, or take a few steps to fix it.
Continue reading: I have to minimize and restore my browser to see the page display. How do I fix this?
http://ask-leo.com/C6073

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*** Last Issue's Articles

*** Word o' the Week

streaming

Streaming most commonly refers to the act of transferring data to your computer or device for immediate consumption. For example watching live video on your PC would be watching a video stream.

Video streaming typically requires that the internet connection being used be sufficiently fast to meet the requirements of the video's size and encoding, often referred to as "bit rate". If your internet connection is capable of up to 1.5 megabits per second, then only video streams with bit rate requirements lower than that will play properly without interruption. Unfortunately it's difficult to determine bit rate requirements of arbitrary video streams, and this is typically determined by trial and error.

Streaming contrasts with downloading in what happens to the data once transferred. Streaming is viewed or listened to immediately, whereas a download is typically saved to a file for later consumption.

Word o' the Week features a computer term or acronym taken from the Ask Leo! Glossary. If there's a word you're not sure of and would like to see defined, click here to let me know.

*** Thoughts and Comments

Boy oh boy is there a lot of misinformation out on the internet. And I'm not talking about bad reference sites or blogs or anything like that at all.

This is all about the stuff that's getting forwarded and shared that is total and complete nonsense.

Today's latest is about a Facebook something-or-other having to do with privacy and policy and basically all the things that scare people about Facebook. And you know what? It's total garbage. It's a complete hoax, a fabrication.

And yet people are sharing it and sharing it and sharing it.

It's these people who are adding to the piles and piles of misinformation on the internet. It's exactly the same thing as forwarding bogus hoax emails that warn of lost children, supposed cover-ups, computer viruses and many, many other things that turn out to be complete and utter cow dung.

PLEASE don't be that person.

If you think it's worth forwarding, then it's worth checking out first.

There are many resources out there. If you're on Facebook, check out FaceCrooks. For general email and other "it's too good/horrible/unbelievable to be true" stories check out Snopes. Don't like those? There are PLENTY of others.

But please, think and check it out before you forward the latest "tell everyone you know" email or post. (And no, it is not OK to forward or share "just in case it's real". If it's not worth your time to check it out, then it's not worth sharing. Period.)

Please don't be that person who adds more misinformation to the internet. We have enough as it is.

Naturally I have an article if you want to hear more of my rant: Why shouldn't I forward this email asking me to "forward to everyone I know"?

'till next time...

Leo
Leo A. Notenboom
Facebook - Google+
YouTube - Twitter

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