A: The built-in backup program in your iMacs, called Time Machine, doesn’t require Apple’s Time Capsule product to work. It will work with almost any brand of directly connected external hard disk.

For instance, I back up my home iMac to a Western Digital drive that’s connected to it via a cable.

As for hard-drive life, it’s my experience that many seem to die sooner or later, especially if they are used heavily. I don’t know if the ones inside the Time Capsule are especially fragile. But, in just the past six months, I’ve had an external hard disk from G-Tech die on me; seen an internal hard disk on my home Dell die for a second time; and discovered that the hard disk on my colleague’s MacBook died.

One way to protect against the failure of a local backup drive is to consider, in addition to using an external disk, backing up your data to an online backup service like Mozy, Carbonite or SugarSync.

My Dell has Microsoft Vista but I can upgrade free to the new Windows 7. However, I was told my antivirus software won’t be compatible and my email will change—the program will no longer be “Windows Mail.” What do you recommend?

A: I regard Windows 7 as much better than Vista, but you are correct that many antivirus programs will require upgrading and Windows Mail will go away during the upgrade. You’ll have to install a new email program, such as the very similar “Windows Live Mail,” which can import your messages. So, the question really is one of trade-offs. If you’re satisfied with Vista, and would rather not perform these program replacements, you should stand pat. If you don’t like Vista, and are anxious to replace it, then the hassles you describe could be worth it.

Will Office 2003 work with the new Windows 7 operating system?

A: Microsoft, which makes both products, says the answer is yes, though I haven’t tested it.

Is it possible that the Verizon Motorola Droid, which doesn’t work in Europe, could be turned into a “world phone” that could work on European cellphone networks via an app somebody might develop?

A: An app wouldn’t be able to do that for the current Verizon Droid. It’s a hardware issue.

Verizon’s Droid, like most Verizon phones, is built to run on a type of network called CDMA that isn’t used in Europe or most other countries outside the U.S., which use a network standard called GSM.

To run on these networks, the Droid, or any other current CDMA phone, would need an entirely different radio, or two radios, one for each type of network.

Verizon offers a handful of so-called “world phones,” which have both kinds of radios inside, but the Droid isn’t one of them. Motorola may well make a new model with two radios, or even a model with one radio that would work overseas, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did so.

What could be done with an app is to allow the Droid to make so-called VOIP phone calls via the Internet.

In fact, while I haven’t checked, there may already be such an app for Android—the Droid’s operating system—that would do so. But, in many cases, making such Internet phone calls requires the user to be in range of a Wi-Fi network. Some carriers don’t allow such calls to be made over their cellular networks.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

I downloaded Internet Explorer 8, but, unlike the old version, it isn’t presenting my bank’s Web page properly. Should I uninstall it and go back to the old version?

Not necessarily. There’s a compatibility button in IE8 you can click that may help render the bank’s page properly. It appears in the top toolbar, just to the right of the address field, when the browser detects that you are on a page that requires it. The button looks like a torn piece of paper.

This button is needed because older editions of Internet Explorer used some nonstandard, proprietary techniques for rendering Web pages. Some Web sites were designed with these techniques in mind, and only worked properly in IE, as opposed to other browsers. Ironically, with the new IE8, Microsoft is moving away from these proprietary technologies. So the compatibility button makes the new version of IE work like the older ones when it encounters a page that expects this.

Do I need a regular wired home phone line to get high-speed Internet service?

No. You can buy high-speed, or broadband, service from a cable company, which supplies the service over the same wire that brings in your cable TV signal, instead of a phone line. You can also obtain broadband service from some satellite services, or from a wireless phone company.

I have a one-year-old 24″ Apple iMac. I would like to burn my movies to Blu-ray discs to play on my Blu-ray player. Do I need an external Blu-ray burner/drive?

Yes. The drive inside your iMac can burn only CDs or DVDs, not Blu-ray discs. But there are external Blu-ray drives available for Macs.

• You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

I need to use Microsoft Publisher documents on my MacBook. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to do this. I have tried to run it on Microsoft Word, but this didn’t work.

As far as I know, neither Microsoft nor Apple nor anyone else makes a native Mac program that can open or edit Microsoft Publisher documents, which use their own special format, rather than any common cross-platform format.

However, there may be some workarounds. If you own or can borrow a PC and a copy of Microsoft Publisher, you could export the documents as PDF files from within Publisher, and then open them on a Mac. Or you could run Publisher itself on your MacBook, since Macs can run Windows and Windows programs, if you buy and install Windows.

Your Mossberg Solution column recently recommended an add-on for Firefox called Surf Canyon that improves searches. But I am wondering if it’s safe to use, since it is labeled “beta.”

I have been using Surf Canyon in Firefox for months, without any problems. (It also works in Internet Explorer.) You are correct that it’s a beta, but that label doesn’t usually mean a product is unsafe, just that it’s incomplete or unpolished. In the old days, a “beta” product was usually pretty flaky and available only to a very small number of testers until the kinks were worked out. Now, especially with Web-related products, a “beta” is often just another word for version 1.0 of a product. It is open to all, and may not work perfectly, but is usually not dangerous to your computer.

Is there a legal way to use a smartphone as a modem for a laptop?

Yes, indeed. It depends on your carrier, and your plan, and your phone, but it can be done, perfectly legally, either using a cable or Bluetooth wireless to connect the phone to the laptop. Note that, depending on your plan, the carrier may well charge you an added monthly fee for this privilege. Also, the speed of your connection may be a bit slower than the speed you’d get from a cellular data card you insert directly into the laptop or from one that’s built in.

• You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

To my mind, this is more a parenting issue than a technology one. The easiest method would be to join Facebook yourself and become one of your teens’ ”friends” on each account they have. That might not sit well with your kids, but if you’re willing to be tough, you could make that a condition of their being on Facebook. You could also insist they use the network’s extensive privacy controls to guard their detailed information and activities from strangers.

There is a paid service called YouDiligence that claims it will notify you if certain words appear on a child’s Facebook page. But it requires that you be one of your child’s Facebook friends, so it is mainly a time-saver. Also, because it focuses on words, it doesn’t flag photos or other Facebook activity.

Another paid service, called imView, automatically takes pictures of the screen of the PC your child uses, at intervals you select, and allows you to view these screen shots at your leisure, from any Internet-connected PC. Its maker touts this as a way to monitor Facebook activity. I haven’t tested either of these two services.

I want to transfer my Mini DV taped videos from my video camera to my Mac. But my new MacBook has no Firewire port, which is the only port my camera includes — only USB ports. Am I stuck?

Maybe not. One option would be to see if you can borrow a Mac or Windows PC that does have a Firewire port, convert the videos to digital files on that borrowed machine, and then transfer the resulting files to your new Mac using an external hard disk or flash drive. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to have to do this often.

Another option: A company called Pixela (pixela-1.com) claims to have a Firewire-to-USB cable meant for exactly your situation. It is for Windows only, but might well work if you installed and ran Windows on your Mac. However, a glance at the company’s Web site shows it is out of the version of the cable that works with the North American, as opposed to European, video standard. If you are in North America, you might check with the company to see if and when the correct version will be available. One important caution: I haven’t tested it, so don’t know how well it works.

My computer crashed last fall, and I lost thousands of iTunes songs. I would like to copy all the songs to my new computer from my iPod, which still contains them. However, iTunes allows only purchased songs to be returned. Is there software that would help me?

Yes. There are several utility programs designed to copy the contents of an iPod back to a Windows or Mac computer. The one I usually recommend, because I have found it works well, is called Music Rescue. It costs 10 British pounds, or about $15 at current exchange rates. It can be purchased at kennettnet.co.uk.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Last week, when you wrote about the ChaCha cellphone search service, you didn’t say how they make money. Are they collecting phone numbers from customers so they can send spam text messages, or sell the numbers to others who will do so?

ChaCha allows you to ask any Web-searchable question, by speaking it or texting it over a mobile phone, and then it sends you the answer via text message. The company charges consumers nothing, but says it is hoping to make money by striking deals with cellphone carriers to incorporate the ChaCha service into their current 411 phone-number look-up services. Also, it hopes to eventually include ads in the text message answers it provides.

In addition to the message that includes the answer, ChaCha sends you a message saying it is working on your request and restating your question, so you can see if it understood you correctly. It also sends an introductory text message to first-time users and occasional tips on how to use the service. Scott Jones, ChaCha’s chief executive, asserts that “we do not spam” and “we never make phone numbers and/or email addresses available to others.” He said the company is updating its privacy policy to make that clearer.

We have DSL service. I use several Web-based applications, one of which is online backup, and my husband is concerned that they degrade his use of the Web, which includes creating Web sites. I contend that that is like saying turning on one light bulb is using too much electricity, that two people on one DSL line aren’t using up too much bandwidth. Who is right?

Every situation differs, depending on exactly which programs you are each using, how you have them set, whether you are using them simultaneously, and how fast your DSL connection is. However, in general, your husband is correct that it is possible for heavy Internet usage on one computer in a home to slow down Internet speeds on another.

This is especially true with something like online backup, because it relies on your DSL account’s upload speed, which is typically far slower than the download speed. If your online backup program is trying to push a bunch of files over a slow upload connection, while he is in another room trying to upload new versions of a Web site over the same narrow upload pipe, it could affect the speeds he gets. You might try coordinating or staggering those online activities that involve heavy uploading. Normal Web surfing or emailing shouldn’t require any such coordination.

I am thinking about purchasing a Dell (DELL) XPS One all-in-one desktop, but I have one question. Does the Dell’s built-in TV tuner require any extra attachments to watch TV right out of the box?

You can watch over-the-air stations and analog basic cable stations right out of the box, without added equipment. However, you may want to connect a small desktop antenna to improve reception, which is what I did when I tested this machine. To use the XPS One with digital or premium cable or satellite stations, you would have to connect it to a cable or satellite receiver, just as most people do with their TV sets. This requires the use of an adapter that comes with the machine.

• You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

We are connected to Comcast (CMCSA) cable and use no antennas. Will we need one of the government-subsidized converter boxes next February?

Not if you are using a cable set-top box, like the vast majority of cable customers. If you are one of the minority of cable households whose TVs use an internal cable tuner, you may need a converter box. To be sure, contact your cable company or TV manufacturer.

In your laptop buying guide last week, you recommended buying a machine equipped for the “n” type Wi-Fi of wireless router. I was under the impression that this has not yet been standardized. Is that wrong?

The engineering committee that has been debating the standard for years has not yet completed its work, but the market has simply moved ahead on its own. This new, faster version of Wi-Fi is being built into routers, computers and other devices by nearly every major manufacturer. In my limited tests, I have found no compatibility problems, and it is backwards compatible with the older “g” and “b” standards.

Is the Mac immune to viruses? If not, do you have a recommendation of the type of antivirus software one should procure and load onto a Mac?

No personal computer or personal computer operating system of which I am aware is “immune” to viruses, spyware or other malicious software. That includes Apple’s (AAPL) Macintosh and its operating system, Mac OS X Leopard. Hackers have demonstrated the ability to invade the Mac. However, there are only a handful of viruses or other malicious programs for the Macintosh that have successfully spread beyond the lab. And these have harmed only a small number of actual users.

Of the well over 100,000 known viruses, spyware programs and other malicious software applications that are about in public, all but this handful are written to run on Microsoft (MSFT) Windows, and cannot operate on the Macintosh OS. For that reason, I don’t believe Macintosh owners need security software, unless they install and run Windows on their computers. If they do run Windows, Mac owners are well advised to purchase and install Windows security software to protect the Windows portion of the machine.

Having said that, I do not mean that Mac owners should be blind to security threats that don’t involve viruses or spyware. Just like Windows users, Mac users can succumb to what is called “social engineering” — scams and schemes that operate via email and Web sites that are often authored by crooks but made to look official. So, like Windows users, they must be on their guard.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free at the All Things Digital web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

On TV, they announced a $40 government-issued coupon that is available to offset some of the cost of the new digital converter boxes we will need for our older television sets. How do I go about getting some?

You can apply for a coupon at a federal government Web site designed expressly for that purpose: www.dtv2009.gov. Or, you can call 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009). Each household can receive up to two of the $40 coupons, which look like plastic gift cards, but they can’t be combined to purchase a single converter box. Each coupon must be applied to the purchase of a separate box, which the government estimates will cost between $50 and $70 at popular electronics stores. Coupons also must be used within 90 days of the date on which they are mailed to the consumer.

Note that these converter boxes won’t be needed for about a year, and aren’t necessary for TV sets containing digital tuners, also called an “ATSC” tuner. Such tuners have been included in many TV sets sold in the U.S. since 2004, even if they aren’t high definition televisions. Converter boxes also aren’t needed for older analog TV sets that receive their programs via cable or satellite services or other pay services. They are needed only for older analog TV sets that depend on free, over-the-air programming, the kind usually received via an indoor or outdoor antenna.

Is it possible to transfer data from a computer with Windows 95 to a computer which uses Windows XP?

Yes, but the trick would be to figure out a medium for the transfer. Many, if not most, Windows 95 PCs don’t have USB ports, which rules out using a USB thumb drive or external USB hard disk as the transfer mechanism. If your old PC can burn CDs, that might be a good way to transfer your data.

Another option is buying a program like LapLink’s PCMover, which explicitly supports Windows 95 and can automate the process using either a network, removable media, or parallel cables. See laplink.com for details.

I’m thinking of getting an iPod Touch to replace both my iPod shuffle and Palm Pilot Vx. Does the Touch have as good address book and to-do functions as the Palm has? Does the Touch sync to the Mac’s Address Book, Mail, and Calendar software? If so, would it also sync to a Windows box?

The iPod Touch, and its close cousin, the iPhone, do have what I consider to be a very good address book, or Contacts program, though it may not have all the same features you use on your Palm. And that address book can be easily synchronized with a computer.

On a Mac, the iPhone and Touch Contacts can be synced with the built-in Address Book, or with Entourage, Microsoft’s Outlook equivalent. On a Windows PC, it can be synced with Microsoft’s Outlook; with Outlook Express (Windows Address Book) in Windows XP; or with Windows Contacts in Windows Vista.

The calendar on the Touch and iPhone can be synchronized with the Mac’s built-in calendar, with the calendar in Entourage, and with the calendar in Outlook on a Windows PC.

However, neither the Touch nor the iPhone includes a true to-do or task function, and neither synchronizes email with a computer. They do have a good email program, but it is intended to work on its own, fetching and sending email directly, rather than copying email from a computer.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online for free at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

In a recent column, you said Microsoft had imposed a legal prohibition on running the Home versions of Windows Vista on a Macintosh using virtualization programs like Parallels and Fusion. Does the same prohibition apply if you are installing Vista using Apple’s Boot Camp software?

No, because Boot Camp doesn’t create a virtual Windows computer — it actually carves out part of an Intel-based Macintosh’s hard disk and turns it into a full-blown physical Windows computer. To Windows, a Mac configured this way looks just like any Dell or Hewlett-Packard or other standard Windows computer. Boot Camp is free, but, such as Parallels and Fusion, it requires you to purchase a full, boxed copy of Windows to install.

The upside of the Boot Camp approach is that, when you are running Windows on the Mac, all of the computer’s hardware is devoted to Windows, because the Mac’s own operating system, OS X, isn’t running at all and a portion of the hard disk is reserved for the exclusive use of Windows. The downside is that you cannot run the two operating systems simultaneously, as you can with virtual solutions such as Parallels and Fusion. To switch between using Windows programs and Mac programs, you must restart the machine while holding down the Option key and then choose whether you want it to boot into Windows or Mac OS X. Both Parallels and Fusion can, however, use a Boot Camp Windows installation to create a virtual version of Windows that can be used simultaneously with the Mac OS.

If you install Boot Camp on a well-equipped Mac model, it can become a blazing fast Vista computer. A few days ago I bought a top-of-the-line model of Apple’s new iMac line, and installed Boot Camp and Vista. I then tested the machine using Vista’s built-in Windows Experience Index, a rating system that goes from 1 to 5.9, with scores above 3.0 generally required for full, quick performance. My iMac scored a 5.0, the best score of any consumer Vista machine I have tested. Obviously, a tricked-out high end Dell or HP box might do as well or better, and a lesser Mac might do worse. But the score was very impressive for a computer that wasn’t designed with Vista in mind.

We have a Sony PC and a 17-inch LCD monitor. Currently, we have a separate old-fashioned TV in the room, with a cable box connected to it. Is there any way to buy a larger LCD monitor and be able to watch TV via the cable box and also use the same screen when we use the computer?

A good approach would be to buy an LCD television that has both the usual connectors for your cable box and a connector, or input, for a personal computer. There are many such models, in various sizes. If you bought such a TV, you would switch between the PC and the cable box by changing inputs on your remote. Just make sure the PC input is compatible with your computer, or that an adapter is available to make it compatible. Many PCs and PC-friendly TVs use the older, common VGA connector, which is an analog input, but others use various newer digital connectors. You can also connect some computers to LCD TVs using standard connectors that aren’t specifically labeled as being for PCs. This is especially true for some Windows Media Center PCs that are designed to work with TVs.

Have you rated any of the Web businesses that assemble personal photos into a book format?

Yes. My colleague Katherine Boehret and I reviewed three contenders in that category in December, and in our judgment, at that time, MyPublisher (www.mypublisher.com) was the best of that group. You can read the column at http://solution.allthingsd.com/20061206. However, the books from Apple, Shutterfly and Blurb are also favorites of many readers.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. My column last week about high-definition TVs generated intense reader interest, and hundreds of emails, many containing questions. So this is an all-HDTV edition of Mossberg’s Mailbox.

At the end of your HDTV column, you said that, after testing a borrowed plasma HDTV, you went out and bought your own HDTV. Don’t leave us hanging. What set did you buy? And do you get a discount?

I bought the same 50-inch plasma set I tested, the Pioneer Elite PRO-1140HD. But I want to emphasize that this is a matter of personal taste (which picture you personally prefer), budget, and the style and size of the room where it’ll be used. Other brands and other technologies are also very good, and some folks might prefer them.

I don’t accept free goods, or even discounts, from companies whose products I review, as that would be unethical. So, I went to a local store and bought the Pioneer at retail, like anyone else.

You didn’t mention a burning issue in the HDTV arena right now: whether to spend the extra money to get a set that can handle the highest resolution, called “1080p”. What’s your view on this issue?

I didn’t mention it because I don’t think it’s an important factor at all. Most HDTV sets max out at a resolution called “1080i,” which is gorgeous and is used by several of the TV networks currently broadcasting in HD. Theoretically, a resolution called “1080p” is even better (I won’t go into the boring techie details of the difference) and it will be used by some new gadgets, like certain game consoles and players that handle the new disk formats battling to succeed DVD. It can also be used by PCs connected to a TV set.

But there is no TV network using 1080p, or planning to use it, anytime soon. Plus, most people can’t tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p, especially at the distances at which people typically sit to view large-screen TVs.

So, unless you are a techie, or a hard-core gamer or videophile — or you plan to use your HDTV mainly as a PC screen — I see no reason to spend a penny extra, or wait a day more, just to get a set capable of handling 1080p. If you like a set for other reasons, and it happens to have 1080p capability, think of it as a bonus. But I wouldn’t make 1080p a major criterion for choosing a set.

You talked about getting HD content via cable or satellite, but I understand you can pluck HDTV shows right out of the air, for free. Is this true?

Yes, it is, for a limited number of channels. In most cities, local affiliates of the major broadcast networks, as well as public-TV stations, beam out special digital channels that carry HD versions of popular shows. These digital channels are also available on cable, but you don’t have to pay a cable bill to view them over the air. In some cases, you can also get over-the-air digital channels from local independent stations.

Many people love over-the-air HDTV, and some say it looks even better than HD programming delivered over cable and satellite.

However, there are some downsides. First, you have to install an antenna. In some cases, this can be a relatively cheap, unobtrusive indoor antenna, but in other cases you may require a roof antenna, or even a motorized roof antenna that rotates. More important, if you rely solely on over-the-air HDTV, you won’t have access to the cable networks, like HBO, ESPN, TNT, Showtime, and Discovery, that are broadcasting movies and TV shows in HD. And you won’t have access to the special cable and satellite sports packages that bring you all the games from all over the country, which look glorious in HD.

* * *

Because of the volume of email I receive, I can’t routinely answer individual questions by email, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about “file wiper” programs that permanently erase a hard drive, staying safe at public wireless hot spots and sorting USB cables.

If you have a question, send it to me at mossberg@wsj.com, and I may select it to be answered here in Mossberg’s Mailbox.

The community where I live has a one-month period (April this year) where you can dispose of your old computers. I have several old PCs around the house, but want to clean out the hard drives. Can you recommend a good program that can clean sensitive data off a hard drive?

There are a number of such “file wiper” programs, which permanently delete files so that they can’t be recovered. Some are free, but the one I recommend is called Window Washer and costs $30 from Webroot Software Inc. It can be purchased at Webroot.com and elsewhere. The program, which also performs other tasks, has a file-wiping function called “bleaching.” It can be used multiple times.

Does the security I’ve installed for my home wireless network protect me when I take my laptop to a public hot spot? If no, what can I do to protect against snoopers there? I run both Windows and Apple laptops.

No. The wireless security in your home is a network feature, not a laptop feature. It doesn’t come along with your computers when you use another wireless network. At a public hot spot, you are sharing a network with strangers. So you can’t entirely guarantee your security and privacy from prying or malicious people in the vicinity. However, I would turn off all file-sharing features on the laptop, make sure a firewall is running, and avoid doing anything sensitive online, such as financial transactions.

If one has a box of unlabeled USB cables, is there any way to sort USB 1.1 cables from the USB 2.0 cables? Or is there even a difference?

You can’t sort them, and in most cases there is no difference. Older USB cables that were certified to work on the older 1.1 ports should also work perfectly with the faster USB 2.0 ports. The USB 2.0 standard was designed to work with the same cables as USB 1.1. In fact, I have never seen or used a USB cable, no matter how old, that couldn’t be used at full speed with USB 2.0. However, some cheaply made older cables that weren’t certified might fail.