Upon opening Internet Explorer to use the internet a message appears saying F@#$% various countries and displays advertisements. I have no idea why this message is appearing and do not know how it can be removed. A second (unrelated) question I have relates to iTunes. I currently have iTunes installed on an old computer and this also contains my iTunes Library with all my music. Recently I purchased a new computer and wanted to check whether I can transfer my iTunes Library to my new computer?

From the description of your first issue it seems that there is some malware (adware or spyware) installed on your computer which has hijacked Internet Explorer and is causing the messages to appear. To remove the malware which is causing this behaviour I recommend that you download and install three pieces of software: Ad-Aware Free (www.lavasoft.de), Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org), and Windows Defender (www.microsoft.com/downloads). These three free utilities will scan the computer for adware and spyware and remove any threats which are found. Once the utilities have been installed, run each one individually to scan the computer and remove any identified threats. Additionally, I suggest that you complete a full virus scan of the computer. If you do not already have a virus scanner installed, then a good free virus scanning utility is AVG Antivirus (free.avg.com). After all the utilities have finished scanning, and removed any identified threats from the computer, restart the computer. I then suggest that you run the scans a second time, in case any of the components of the infections have returned when the computer was restarted. After this second set of scans, restart the computer again and check whether the problem persists.

Regarding your second question about transferring your iTunes Library between computers this is a relatively simple process, assuming that you are running the latest version of iTunes. On both computers check the version of iTunes (“Help” menu > “About iTunes”). At the time of writing, the latest version of iTunes was version 8.1.1. If you are not running the latest version then visit the Apple website and download the latest version of iTunes (www.apple.com/itunes). Once you have updated iTunes on the computers, or you were already running the most recent copy, you will need to backup your iTunes Library. In iTunes, go to the “File” menu > “Library” > “Back Up to Disc”. You will be presented with a window allowing you to backup your iTunes Library. This will need to be done to a writable CD or DVD. As such, your computer will need a CD or DVD writer in order to complete this process. Assuming that you have a CD/DVD writer, and also blank CDs/DVDs, select “Back up entire iTunes library and playlists” then click “Next”. Insert a blank disc into the CD or DVD burner drive and the backup will commence. Be aware, depending on the size of your iTunes Library you may need multiple CDs or DVDs to backup the library. Once the backup has completed, insert the first backup CD or DVD into the new computer. iTunes should automatically recognise the CD/DVD as containing a backup of your iTunes Library and then proceed to import the library.

However, if you have a relatively large collection of music on the computer which you need to transfer using CDs or DVDs is not going to be particularly efficient, and if you do not have a CD or DVD writer in the computer (since it is an older generation machine) then you cannot use that procedure at all. Therefore, there is another procedure you can use which is a bit more technical but will work better for transferring large amounts of music. Be aware, this procedure will not retain play counts or ratings so these will be lost in the transfer.

To proceed, we first need to make sure that your iTunes music is organised so that we can copy the music to the other computer. In iTunes, go to the “Edit” menu > “Preferences”. In the window that appears, click the “Advanced” tab. Tick the “Keep iTunes Music folder organized” checkbox. You will also need to note the location of the iTunes music folder. In the Preferences window you will see directly above the “Keep iTunes Music folder organized” checkbox, there is an area allowing you to specify the location of the iTunes music folder. Write down the location of your iTunes music folder. Click OK to close the Preferences window. You now need to consolidate the iTunes library, which will ensure that all your iTunes music is stored in the one folder allowing this folder to be copied to the other computer. Go to the “File” menu > “Library” > “Consolidate Library”. In the confirmation window that appears, click “Consolidate”. Once the music consolidation process has finished we are ready to copy the music from the old computer to the new computer. At this point locate the folder on your computer which contains the iTunes Library (i.e. the folder to which you previously noted the location) and copy this to some removable storage. The best option would be an external hard drive or large capacity flash drive (depending on the size of your iTunes Library). Once the library has been copied to the removable storage, disconnect the removable storage from your old computer.

Moving onto the new computer, we will transfer the iTunes Library onto this computer. First, start iTunes to go through the normal first-run procedures. Once iTunes has started fully, you need to determine where it is storing the iTunes Library so this can be overwritten with your new iTunes Library. In iTunes on the new computer, go to the “Edit” menu > “Preferences” and in the window that appears click the “Advanced” tab. Note down the location of the iTunes music folder. Click OK to close the Preferences window. Close iTunes. Find the location of the iTunes music folder on your computer and then copy the contents of the iTunes music folder from your old computer (now located on the removable storage) into the iTunes music folder on your new computer. Once this has been completed, start iTunes and your library should be available. Be aware, if you have music that has been purchased from the iTunes Store and is not iTunes Plus music (i.e. DRM free music) then you will need to authorise your new computer to play this purchased music. To do this, login to your iTunes account through iTunes and then view your account settings (this can be done by clicking on your username in the top right-hand corner of the iTunes window). From within the account settings you can authorise your new computer to play songs purchased with that iTunes account.