My computer has a 40 GB internal hard drive and a 250 GB external USB hard drive, and Windows Explorer reports that the computer has 3 GB of software installed on the internal hard drive. However, there is only 3 GB of free space available on the drive! I have completed the Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter, and transferred large files (e.g. pictures and music) from the internal drive to the external drive, but I still don’t have much free space on the internal drive. Can you tell me where all the space has gone, and how to fix this problem? The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)

My email account is being overwhelmed by spam. Over a period of two days I received 149 spam email messages, and Norton Antispam only detected and filtered 29 of those messages. Most of the emails were not even addressed to my email address. I do add the spam messages to the ‘Block Sender’ list in Outlook Express, but the spam emails keep coming! How can I curb the flow of spam to my computer? (more…)

Windows Vista includes a neat utility called the Snipping Tool. This utility can take screen shots of different portions of the screen and allows the user to select the screen area to capture. This is a major improvement over the traditional PrtScn and ALT-PrtScn methods of taking screen shots in Windows XP. Windows Vista users can find this utility in the ‘Accessories’ program menu in the Start menu, or alternatively by using the search feature to search for ‘Snipping Tool’ (without the quotes). (more…)

Sometimes when I turn on the computer it does not properly come online. The monitor light goes green for a few seconds, but then goes back to amber (standby) colour. Turning the computer off and on at the power point, causes the following message to appear when the computer starts: ‘Award BIOS Setup Utility. Main Advanced Power Boot Exit’. Then all sorts of jargon appears on the screen. To get out of this menu I go to the ‘Exit’ tab and another message appears saying ‘Save configuration changes and exit now? Yes No’. Yes being highlighted, I click Enter and then, all starts as normal. What is wrong with the computer? Also, the computer tends to freeze for no apparent reason. Is there anything I can do about this other problem? (more…)

I am interested in buying a second hand computer for my grandchildren to play games. Can you provide some advice on the specifics of the computer I should purchase, such as the amount of RAM, hard drive size, and the processor speed (is a Pentium 3 alright, or should I look for more recent models)? (more…)