Frequently Asked Questions (Updated June 16th, 2003)

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How do I add pictures to my signature?

1. First you need to get the URL of your image. An URL for an image looks similar to this: http://www.blah.com/picture.jpg - If you have the pictures on your computer, you'll have to upload them to a website, and then link to them. There are places that will let you upload pictures and link to them, such as ImageStation ( www.imagestation.com ).

2. Once you have the URL of where the image is, click the "user/cp" button at the top of the forum, and then click the "Edit Profile" button on the following page. There should be a text box in which you can write stuff. To add pictures, you type:

[IMG] http://www.blah.com/picture.jpg [/IMG]

Except without any spaces between the IMG tags (the tags are the words between the brackets) and the URL. You can also use the IMG tags to post links to pictures inside of your posts on the message board.

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How do I view (such-and-such) movie type?

Note: I'm going to assume that you're going to play most of your movies in Windows Media Player. You can get it from http://www.windowsmedia.com/

You can tell video formats apart by their file extension. A file extension is a 1 to 4 letter/number code (usually 3) at the end of a file to designate what kind of file it is. To turn file extensions on:

Windows 95/98/ME:

Open up "My Computer". Click on the "View" menu, and then select "Folder options". On the "View" tab of the window that pops up, one of the options is "Hide extensions for known file types". Uncheck that. Click OK.

Windows 2000/XP:

Open up "My Computer". Click on the "Tools" menu, and then select "Folder options". On the "View" tab of the window that pops up, one of the options is "Hide extensions for known file types". Uncheck that. Click OK.

You will then see that all files on your computer have these three-letter extensions. Notepad files are .txt, programs are .exe, and Word documents are .doc - But what we're concerned about are movie extensions. Here's a list and how to play them:

.mpg or .mpeg - An MPEG-1 encoded file. This means that it should play without hassle in Windows Media Player.

.avi - This gets a bit tricky. An AVI file can actually be encoded with one of a myriad of codecs. The most standard one these days, however, is called DivX. You can download the codec for free from http://www.divx.com/ . An alternative that people sometimes use is called XviD, which can be gotten from http://www.moviecodec.com/download/xvid112502.exe . All in all, however, Windows Media Player is pretty smart, and if you're missing a codec for AVI, it should automatically download it.

.mov or .qt - A Quicktime movie. These pretty much can ONLY be watched in Quicktime. Get it from http://www.apple.com/quicktime/

(Quick Note: For M2V and VOB files, you can also download a program such as PowerDVD or WinDVD. Those both have trial versions, but you should be able to find the full versions of the program on filesharing services such as Kazaa Lite { http://www.k-lite.tk/ } )

.m2v - An MPEG-2 encoded video, which is what DVDs use. Now, right off the bat, Windows Media Player will not play this file. However, if you go to http://www.elecard.com/ftp/pub/mpeg/.../EMpgDec20.zip and install that, Windows Media Player will then be able to handle M2V files. You have to do a little setting up, though. When you press enter or double-click on the file, Windows will probably say that it doesn't know what to do with the file. If you right click on the file and choose "Open With...", it should bring up a list of common programs on your computer. Simply choose "Windows Media Player", and be sure to check the "Always use this program for this file type" button. You should be good to go from there.

.vob - A file ripped directly from a DVD, so it's the same thing as an M2V file. Simply rename the file from "whatever.vob" to "whatever.m2v", and it will play fine.

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What program should I use to edit pictures?

Most people use one of two programs: Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop.

There's a free trial version of Paint Shop Pro you can download by clicking here.

Note: You CAN find programs like Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop on Kazaa and file-sharing programs like that, but do know that those programs are illegal copies, and therefore might have viruses in the installers. Just download at your own risk, and make sure you have virus protection.

If you go to Google, you can find tutorials for both Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop.

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That should be good for now. More later!