Until recently my computer behaved normally when switching on. Now, as the machine starts, the first page appears with the message ‘Floppy disk(s) fail (40)’. At the bottom of the page I am instructed to ‘Press F1 to continue’ and having dutifully pressed F1 the machine loads as normal. How do I get the computer to load without the fail notice? Second thing is when I download updates, particularly from Microsoft, the machine tells me that I have to reboot to get it all to work and asks whether I want to reboot now. When I click ‘Yes’ the machine shows a message that something illegal has happened and the computer will be closed down. After closing down I am never sure if the download has been successful or not as there are numerous occasions when the download has failed. Do you have any idea what the illegal action may be and how do I repair it? The computer ‘gets along alright’ according to a technician who recently replaced a part. (more…)

My Pentium II with 128MB RAM running Windows 98 often locks up and freezes. How can I solve or fix this problem? Also, are there any ways to speed up this computer? (more…)

My computer is an 8 year old Pentium running Windows 95. There is a persistent beep that comes from the computer tower. They generally come in a burst of 4 or 5 beeps, over the period of one or two seconds. They do not appear to cause any problem - except stopping the processor for a second or two. The beeps come irrespective of whether I am connected to the internet or not. They seem to be more common when the computer has been on for a period of time. My concern is that I do not know if they are causing some other problem. (more…)

Could you please give me some starting tips and maybe some advice that would help me learn how to program software? (more…)

I am thinking of purchasing a second-hand Macintosh computer (perhaps a Performa, with a PowerPC processor) which I would use exclusively for connecting to the Internet. Moreover, I would use the Internet, in principle, mainly for sending and receiving email. The Macintosh appears to be less vulnerable to computer viruses in comparison to the PC. Is this true or merely a legend? What version of the MacOS operating system would you suggest as the most appropriate for the task? Finally, is it possible to obtain, somehow, a free connection to the Internet. If so, could you please let me know how? Thanks for your help. (more…)