Recently on my home computer advertisements have been appearing for Viagra, software, diet pills, and other various items. How can I stop these from appearing? The computer is running Windows XP. (more…)

If you are running the Windows 7 Release Candidate then it is likely that you are a power user of Windows and like to try out the latest and greatest technology. Microsoft has built a highly requested feature into Windows 7 whereby the context menus for folders have several new options. If you hold down the SHIFT key and then right-click on a folder you will see several new options, with the most useful being “Copy as Path” and “Open Command Window Here”. Copy as Path will allow you to copy the path of a certain folder to the clipboard so this can easily be pasted into other applications. Open Command Window Here will open a command prompt window with the current directory as that folder. However, you may find that occasionally you need to open a command prompt window with administrator privileges. To do this, SHIFT-CONTROL and then right-click on a folder and select Open Command Window Here. This will open an elevated command prompt window with administrator rights.

For no apparent reason my computer has lost the ability to display desktop images. Upon opening the Display control panel and the “Desktop” tab, the browse button and the image selection box are all disabled, preventing the selection of desktop images. How can I fix this problem such that I can set the desktop image? The computer is running Windows XP Home Edition. (more…)

Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 is blocking access to the internet, even with the firewall set to the lowest level of security. This means I need to disable the firewall in order to use the internet which is obviously very dangerous. How can I fix this problem? The computer is running Windows Vista Home Premium. (more…)

Occasionally when turning on my HP 3110 printer a balloon appears from the system tray saying “This device can perform faster if you connect it to a USB 2.0 port. Click here for available ports”. Shortly after the computer produces a blue screen of death with the message “DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. Technical information: STOP 0×000000D1 (0×00000008, 0×00000002, 0×00000000, 0xF8983509). usbuhci.sys – Address 0xF8983509 base at F8980000”. Reinstalling the printer does not resolve the problem, so at the moment all I can do is turn on the printer and hope this message does not appear. This is obviously not a long-term or satisfactory solution. How can I fix this problem for good? (more…)