WHEN your computer starts acting up, locking up or freezing up, it can be immensely satisfying to punish its disobedience by unplugging it, usually while cursing at the machine. But, if you want to keep using the computer, limit yourself to cursing. Yanking the plug (or removing a laptop’s battery) stops the computer dead instantly, giving it no time to stop the hard drive or pause whatever it might have been doing. Data corruption, or worse, can easily result, especially on older systems. Instead, if the computer won’t respond to any of your inputs, push and hold in its power button. After a few seconds, a Mac or PC should shut down for you, a less jarring procedure than an instant loss of power.

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WHEN computing veterans run a new program for the first time, they’ll often go straight to its options or preferences window to see how they can customize the software. Beginners, however, rarely even see these settings, even though there’s usually no trick to getting to them. In just about every Mac program, go to the top-left corner of the screen, click on the menu named after the program and click “Preferences.”

Windows applications are not as consistent, but in most cases you’ll click on the Tools menu and select “Options.” Some, however, will call that item “Preferences” or “Settings.” A few programs, such as iTunes, will put this command under the Edit menu; in Microsoft Office 2007, it hides behind the large round “Office button” at the top-left corner of the window.

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HAVE you bought any music files from a music service that—like Microsoft’s MSN Music, Yahoo’s Yahoo Music or Sony’s Connect—is no longer in service? If so, you can’t count on being able to listen to those files forever; you’re more likely to find that you can’t play them on your next computer. To escape that trap, burn them to audio CDs while you still can. Then pop those freshly burned discs right back into your computer and rip their contents back to the machine in an open, unlocked format such as MP3 (you may need to retype the title/artist/album info for each song). You’ll probably lose a bit of the original download’s sonic fidelity, but you won’t have to worry anymore about being shut out of those songs.

A new player comes to town

THERE are a lot of big words being thrown around in the wireless communications industry today. There’s interconnectivity, intranetwork SMS, frequency bandwidth, 3G, 4G, plus a whole slew of text promos—a virtual avalanche of marketing speak to make today’s hyper-caffeinated, earphone-tangled heads spin.

Tech Tips: Before you pull the plug...

WHEN your computer starts acting up, locking up or freezing up, it can be immensely satisfying to punish its disobedience by unplugging it, usually while cursing at the machine. But, if you want to keep using the computer, limit yourself to cursing.

Money Gets Smarter

THERE is now a simpler and smarter way of enjoying the convenience and security of electronic payments. Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, in partnership with global payment facility MasterCard Worldwide, introduces the expanded Smart Money payment system.

Julianne Moore knows how to make them suffer

NEW YORK —JULIANNE MOORE has made a specialty of suffering in silence, her pale skin pulling tight across her cheekbones to form a flawless mask, a shell of perfect beauty concealing a soul in deepest turmoil. Only in private moments, when no one but the audience is watching, do the cracks begin to show.

Show and Tell: Nearly a week after...

IT was Independence Day when Rudy “Daboy” Fernandez was finally laid to rest.

There were a bit of news that made us see the lighter side of that day.

What would you do with a farewell run?

A GAY friend of ours was explaining a new story concept for a musical about Kiko Matsing and Pong Pagong of Batibot fame in a modern setting. They are yuppies renting a room in a haunted, old house in a Quiapo neighborhood.

Revisiting the past, situated in the present

HE asserts that he is “not trying to bring back the past,” simply “challenging history” in the use of old subject matter in a modern artistic realm. He is not bothered when people say realism is passé, and portraiture, where he excels, no longer excites attention.

Celebrating the Body

‘DRATS!”  I muttered. I got to the press conference and preview of the 100 Nudes, 100 Years exhibit and book project of the University of the Philippines (UP), marking the institution’s centennial, dry enough after braving the showers of late May armed with a golf umbrella.