If you would like an easy way to launch programs which you use often, try assigning the program a hotkey. For example, to launch Calculator, you could use the hotkey CTRL-SHIFT-1. To setup the hotkey, open the ‘Start’ menu and find the shortcut for the program (in our case, we will need to go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘All Programs’ > ‘Accessories’). Right-click on the shortcut (e.g. ‘Calculator’) and select ‘Properties’. In the properties window, click the ‘Shortcut’ tab. Select the ‘Shortcut key’ box. Now press the key combination you wish to use to open the program (make sure you choose a combination which isn’t being used by another program, or a Windows function). You should see the key combination appear in the box. Once you have finished and the key combination has appeared, click OK. Press your shortcut key and watch the program launch! Should you want to delete the shortcut key, repeat the procedure and select the ‘Shortcut key’ box and press the Backspace or Delete key to delete the combination. (more…)

When opening Internet Explorer a toolbar appears which cannot be removed. The properties of the toolbar says ‘http://mysearchnow.com/passthrough/newpass2.html’ and it has several buttons with: Make money, Investing, Music, Travel, Casino, and Mortgage, as well as six other pull-down icons, and a search engine which links back to Lop.com. How can I remove this toolbar? Secondly, I have a question relating to Ad-Aware SE Personal (Free version). I am able to run the scan, and afterwards, I tick the box with the item I would like to delete and then press ‘next’. This sends the item to ‘Quarantine’. Does this mean that the malware/trojan/etc. is deleted from the computer? (more…)

Until recently I could run a CD-ROM encyclopaedia perfectly, but after installing some Windows updates an error message appeared when opening the program: ”Search97MFC Application’ followed by a message that a web page could not be accessed. After contacting the program publishers they provided a patch which seems to fix the problem. My query is whether it is advisable to have the computer set up, as I have, to receive automatic updates for Windows, since the latest updates almost certainly caused my problems with the CD-ROM? (more…)

When certain emails are opened in my Eudora mail client, all that is displayed is pages of letters and symbols. Others who receive the same emails using Outlook Express can read the messages without problems. Why can’t Eudora correctly open these emails? The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)

Until recently I had no problems using Eudora for email, but recently whenever I send an email to a Hotmail address they are received with a lot of garbage text, like:
+ADw-/blockquote+AD4 or +ADw-br+AD4.
Interestingly enough, the problem only occurs when the recipient is using Hotmail. When sending emails using Outlook Express to Hotmail addresses there is no problem. (more…)