Although I can send and receive email and access the BigPond home page, when attempting to access any other web page through Internet Explorer the page does not display. Interestingly, when I checked the Phone and Modem Options control panel there seems to be no modem installed, and the Device Manager says that the computer only has a PCI modem. The computer is running Windows XP and connected to the internet through a Speedstream USB broadband connection to BigPond. The computer is also running Kapersky for internet security. How can I restore access to web pages? (more…)

My computer was recently infected with a virus, which Avast Antivirus detected and appeared to successfully remove. Now whenever I use the internet, pop-up windows appear with the prefix “CiD”. These advertise a range of items, such as gambling and MP3 players. Running Ad-Aware SE Personal, Spybot Search and Destroy, and Windows Defender do not detect anything wrong with the computer, and they are all up-to-date with the latest definition files. How can I remove the spyware? On a related point, the computer will no longer boot into Safe Mode using the method you have described in previous columns (i.e. when the Windows splash screen appears, tap the F8 key until the computer loads into Safe Mode). Can you advise how I can get the computer to load into Safe Mode, as I would like to attempt to remove the spyware through this mode. The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)

Even though my internet connection is advertised at a speed of 24,000kb the best speed I can achieve according to Speedtest.net is 3600kb. My ISP has said this is not a problem at their end of the connection. How can I achieve full speed on the internet connection? (more…)

Office 2007 includes new styles of SmartArt, with 3D rendering effects to make your documents and presentations look very nice. The SmartArt can be accessed through the “Insert” tab > “SmartArt”. Once you have inserted the SmartArt you can then modify its colour and look through the “SmartArt Tools” group of tabs. (more…)

Every time I try to access video news clips from newspapers my computer comes up with “Error on Page”. How can I fix this? (more…)