I bought a new computer (PC) which included 1 month’s subscription to the Internet. At the end of the month I decided to change ISP’s and found a new ISP. I took my computer in to them to have the connections changed to their phone numbers etc. After several hours of work, including completely unloading and reloading the Internet Explorer software, they could still not get it to access their site. They concluded that the original retailer had coded in something that caused the software to revert to the original ISP even after everything was changed. Eventually they gave me a copy of Netscape, which I now use successfully. Can you tell me if there is a simple solution to this problem please?

It is unusual that you would have to physically take the computer to your ISP to get it fixed to support them. Normally all that is required is to change some properties in the ‘network’ control panel. I am assuming that you did do this and you found that it still wouldn’t support your new ISP’s site. It is possible that your old ISP did alter Internet Explorer using a product called Internet Explorer Administrators Kit (IEAK) and this may be why you can’t access your new ISP’s site other than by using Netscape. Internet Explorer is bundled with Windows 98 so it would still be on your machine even though you are using Netscape. If you installed Internet Explorer separately then it is possible to uninstall it via Control Panel > Add/Remove Components.