Computer

Jimmy Miller rides around all day looking for trouble, and with a computer in his car it doesn't take him long to find it.The Anne Arundel County police officer is one of four in the county to have a "smart" car -- one equipped with a computer that makes tracking down stolen cars, boats and guns quick and easy. But the department is in danger of losing the equipment that Officer Miller says helps him to be a more productive officer.The $929,000 that Acting Police Chief Robert A. Beck asked for to expand the program to 23 more cars was cut from the $950 million operating budget County Executive John G. Gary sent to the County Council this month.

Basic training is available at most community colleges and libraries, but classes fill up fast. Here are some suggestions: Baltimore County Public Library: All 16 branches offer beginner's classes in computers, the Internet, and Microsoft Word. Classes are free but, registration is required. For information, call 410-887-6196 or visit www.bcplonline.org/info/comp/. Pratt Center for Technology Training: This branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library has a lab with 24 computers at 301 N. Broadway.

Navy investigators suspect midshipmen have stolen more than $13,000 worth of computer equipment from their Naval Academy classmates in the past month.Academy sources said yesterday detectives are questioning midshipmen and school staff in the series of thefts from rooms in Bancroft Hall, the dormitory where all 4,000 midshipmen live. Academy officials confirmed the investigation."We are investigating this thoroughly and we will not tolerate this," said Capt. Tom Jurkowsky, an academy spokesman.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've heard several complaints from readers about computers that behave strangely after several hours of hard use. Sometimes they slow down and the screens may start to blink. Then they shut off. When the owners wait a half-hour and turn them on again, everything's just fine - for a while. Until it happens again. While it's impossible to diagnose all hardware problems via e-mail, these sound a lot like overheating. I have no hard data on this, but it seems to be more common as users keep older PCs running longer and as newer PCs run hotter and hotter.

I feel tight and sore after long hours at my computer. My right shoulder, hands and my back have bothered me on and off. What can I do? Cutting back on computer time isn't an option. Sitting in one place staring at a screen for hours on end isn't natural, and your body reacts to this. Here are steps you should take to ease your discomfort. Take breaks. Get up and move around regularly. Make sure your monitor is directly in front of you, about an arm's length away, and at eye level. Use a soft wrist rest with your keyboard, and make sure the keyboard itself isn't too high.

My husband thinks our home computer is a television that just isn't working right now.If he knew how much I have spent upgrading it so that Jessie can learn her math facts and Joe can practice his spelling words, he might launch me into cyberspace. "To the moon, Alice!"The car he drives looks as if it should be donated to a convent, but I have a new, 420-megabyte hard drive and a CD-ROM and, if I can just skimp on groceries for a few more months, we will move up from a 386-SX to a 486-SX.

We have only one more decade until we reach Stanley Kubrick's 2001, and we seem a long way from HAL, the recalcitrant computer.Or maybe not.I just received a program called Monologue ($149 list) from a company called First Byte (3100 S. Harbor Blvd., Suite 150, Santa Ana, Calif. 92704; [714] 432-1740), which invests personal computers with the power of speech.Why would you want your computer to talk? The company gives several good reasons. If you work with spreadsheets, you can have Monologue read out to you rows or columns so you can check them against a master list.

With the holidays here and gift giving on everyone's mind, it's time to talk about the thing that personal computers do best.Play games.The PC is the greatest toy since the Slinky. Your computer can put you in the cockpit of an F-16, behind the wheel of a Maserati, in a cave full of garlic-breathing monsters, or smack in the middle of a Kung Fu free-for-all.With your PC, you can run a city, build a railroad, topple governments, conquer Europe, play chess with a grand master, prowl the singles bars, decimate the Klingon star fleet or fight the Civil War again.

GOOD LUCK to all those now shopping for a computer for college-bound scholars.Parents of the Class of 2000 probably made it all the way through college without a personal computer. But as parents have no doubt heard by now, times have changed. For one thing, a computer linked to the Internet is the most powerful research tool available to students today. For another, most jobs involve computers either directly or indirectly, and personal computer skills are a definite advantage. And, electronic mail is a much superior way to write home for money.

Four students from Worthington Elementary School in Ellicott City won prizes in the Howard County schools' Computer Learning Month Contest.Christine Buchler won first place among first-graders; Allison Cappelaere, second place among second-graders; Carlena Mattiello, third place among third-graders; and Rebecca Hwang, first place among fourth-graders.Contest participants used computer-generated art to illustrate how computers can be useful and provide entertainment. The contest was open to all county elementary and middle school students.