Number 232 - August 2002

Tips For Hassle-Free CD Burning
by Charles W. Evans, Reviews Editor HAL-PC www.hal-pc.org
CD-RWs are fussy eaters. Although most CD-RWs come with some sort of "buffering" scheme, such as "BurnProof", you can also help yourself. Aside from your system's being in optimum shape for general use, when burning a CD it is critical to have a smooth, continuous, uninterrupted flow of data between your source and the CD being burned. OK, but how?     1. Turn off or temporarily disable background programs such as antivirus, system "helpers", screen savers and other programs that are automatically loaded. To find out which ones are currently loaded, press control/alt/del keys and remove all programs listed except Explorer and Systray.     2. Go to: START/Settings/Control Panel/System Properties/File System Properties and click on the CD tab. Insure "Quad Speed..." is showing and the slide bar below it is to the rightmost position for the maximum amount of cache.     3. Check that the source is about the same speed or faster than your CD-RW. If you have an older CD-ROM, then you have a choice of either slowing the	"record" speed down or moving all the data from your source CD to a folder on your hard drive and using the hard drive as your source. If time is an issue and with the wide availability of inexpensive CD units, upgrading to a higher speed CD-ROM might be the better route.     4. A caution: recordable CDs are a bit more physically sensitive to handling than pre-recorded, commercial CDs. You can clean them with a little soapy water and dry with a lint-free cloth. DO NOT dry in a circular motion. Watch for fingerprints. Always store in some type of "jewel case" or paper sleeve...this sounds obvious, but look at your own CDs!     5. Check with your CD-RW's manufacturer for recommended or preferred brands of blank CDs.     6. Check with your CD-RW's manufacturer for updated software and firmware. Ditto for the burn software.     Enjoy.
Number 232 - August 2002