Q. If we stop sending and opening email attachments will we stop spreading most computer viruses? Why couldn’t we just cut and paste the information or pictures we want to send into our email?

Q. I am setting up a wireless home network and have come across two terms I don't fully understand. I want wireless security, but need some help with WEP and WPA. What are they, which should I use, and how do I set it?

Q. When I right click on my C drive in the My Computer folder, then click the Tools tab, I don't have the Backup option shown. On a friends computer it is there. How do I get this backup option to show up?

Q. I installed a program that causes my pictures to open in the wrong program when I double click on the file name. I want them to open in the same program they used to open in. How do I change this back?

Q. I keep running into something called  PDF. What is it, what does it do and should I use it and if so how?

Apr 23, 2006

Q. I see a file on my computer called thumbs.db. What is it for, and can I delete it?

Q. I started a program to get updates, and all was OK, but then I got an error message. I restarted the commuter but the same thing persists. It says "Windows encountered error 0x80004003 - Invalid pointer. What's a pointer?

Q. I've been told by some that when your hard drive usage reaches 50%, you need to get a larger hard drive.  My hard drive is 60 MB and I am at 47% usage with 53% free space.  Do you recommend a larger drive at this point? I mainly have MS Word documents and some pictures.

Q. Sometime ago, when I was installing some software, I choose to have it startup automatically whenever I start my computer. I changed my mind so how do I get it out of wherever I put it that makes it open automatically?

Q. When Windows first starts up, I usually get the dreaded red shield in the lower right tray, and a warning message that my computer may be at risk. It may tell me that my antivirus is turned off or something like that. What's this all about?

Q. I recently added another CD drive to my computer but the drive letter automatically assigned to it isn't what I want. Can I change the drive letter to something else?

Q. The Icons in the lower right tray keep disappearing so I cannot see what is there. How can I make them stay visible?

Q. Ever since I rebooted my computer after some automatic Windows updates, I am having problems with the dropdown address menu in Internet Explorer. I uninstalled those updates and everything works fine. How can I prevent downloading them again without disabling automatic updates?

Q. I did something to my computer and now I cannot enter double letters like the l's in Dell without waiting for a few seconds between the two l's. What did I do, and how can I undo it?

Q. I choose to have Internet Explorer save a password, and now I want to remove it from memory. How can I do this?

Q. What is the difference is between MPEG, JPEG, & MP3. I I know that jpeg is used in pictures but I don't know anything about the others.

Q. What is Rich Text Formula (RTF)? When do you use it?

Q. I noticed on a friends computer that in their lower right tray, the time and the day of the week was displayed. When I ask how he did that, he didn't know. How can I display the day of the week?

Q. There is a key my new laptop's keyboard, right next to the left Ctrl key, that has a Fn on it. What does it do?

Q. Lately I have become disillusioned with McAfee and Norton's antivirus programs. They have gotten so big and intrusive that they are a real pain in the butt to use. Can you recommend a good, easy to use program that will give my computer adequate protection without taking it over?

Q. I hit something or clicked something and now website look magnified. What did I do, and how do I get it back to normal?

Q. When I log in on my website to edit, (add, change, delete) can others log on to the website while I am editing it?  Or is it blocking others from the site until I finish editing and log off?

Q. While my computer was running a disk check during its start up, I noticed that the type of filing system was NTFS. I assume that the FS stands for File System, but what about the NT part?

Q. When I try to ping an IP address using the Start/Run command box in Windows, the dialogue box opens and I can see it processing, but then the box closes before I have time to read anything. How can I keep it open?

Q. When I right click on a program file or a shortcut, there is an item called Run As in the menu. What does that do?

(Covered here also are Administrator and Limited User Accounts)