Can you please help me with a fix to a problem with my Compaq and/or its OEM Win95A? On startup all I get are “COMPAQ” banner screens and then straight into the desktop with no “Windows Starting” or banner screen. This makes it difficult to press F8 or DEL (or any other key) at the appropriate stage of startup. When I asked Compaq Support for a solution I was offered a fix to be downloaded at a cost of $25!

What you are experiencing is actually quite an advantage. I have never come across anything like this before but if what you are saying is that your computer performs the POST (power on self test) and then goes directly to your desktop surely this would be a good thing because it takes a lot less time to boot up your computer. However, if I am mis-interpreting your question and what you are saying is that your computer takes the same time to boot up but you just don’t get the Windows splash screen this can be corrected by going to www.abtons-shed.com and downloading a utility called ‘TweakAll’. Once you have installed this, go the ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘TweakAll’ control panel. Click the ‘Boot Options’ tab and you will see an option which will allow you to enable or disable the ‘Windows logo on startup’. However, if I have totally gone off the track on your question, please email me again with more specific details of what has happened to your computer.