IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I had a Hotmail address. My address book has been stolen. My password has been changed.

When I seek to get it back via my private question the question is in chinese. I got it translated and the question is the same as in english. Tried to put my answer back but no go.

Many of my contacts have been receiving unwanted emails from a chinese company, now includes hundreds of people I have never heard of!

Some time back I did go to a chinese electronic site looking for a chart plotter. As far as I know I did not enter anything that would have linked me but I must have. Any solutions?

Unfortunately it sounds like your Hotmail account has been hijacked and there is very little you can do about it.

Because the thieves will have almost certainly changed all your profile settings there is little, if any, chance you can prove to Hotmail that you are the account holder.

If your Hotmail password was the same as your online banking password then you should change that immediately and check your accounts.

It would be a very good idea to check your computer for malware as it may be the websites you visited infected your computer with a drive by download.

In future, it’s worthwhile using an alternative browser and choosing a strong password when surfing the net and accessing secure websites.

We have CAD design software that is on a old PC running windows 98 (note there is a dongal, which we have and we are registered owners for software).

We need to upgrade VIDEO card but since the computer is so old and becoming unstable I am thinking it would be best to replace the PC

The problem is do not have installation disc for software and Company has since gone bust. Can software be copied off old PC onto new.

Unfortunately I think you may hit some problems with this. While copying older programs can work, the time it will take for a good computer tech to get it running will probably be more than the cost of a new program.

To add to the difficulties, it’s highly likely a new computer won’t have a parallel or serial port to plug in an older style dongle and the older software may struggle with modern screen resolutions, graphics cards and hard drive capacities.

Put simply, doing this is probably more of a hassle than it’s worth.

The best thing to do is bite the bullet on some commercial software, preferably a package your employees and business partners are used to or investigate open source CAD programs.

When I select Firefox in Safari preferences as my preferred browser it works. However, I haven’t yet found a way to make that stick. I have to do it every time I start up. Any suggestions for this change to stay?

The first suggestion is to reset Safari’s preferences. We’ve covered this in our Safai keeps crashing post.

If resetting Safari doesn’t work, you’ll need to wipe the preferences file. You’ll find this sitting in the username /Library/Preferences directory and the file you need to delete is com.apple.Safari.plist.

Once you’ve made these changes, restart your computer. If the problem continues, reinstall Firefox.

I want to buy a router so I can access internet on my laptop at home while my wife is on main computer. There are so many out there and I am so confused as to which one to buy?  What about security?

Generally the best thing to do is to buy a router through your Internet provider. While you will pay more than from your local computer store, you will get the specific set up for your connection and you should get support from the provider.

Security normally isn’t a problem if you are connecting the computers using an Ethernet cable. If you are planning on using the laptop wirelessly then you should use WPA security. We have more on this on our Securing a Network page.

Most of the ISP provided wireless routers come with WPA already activated.

If you decide to buy a router yourself most brands are fine although we like the Linksys range. Keep in mind the effectiveness of a wireless network can vary depending upon your location.

I would like to know how to remove lime wire completely from my computer I’ve removed it with add/remove but the icon on the low right corner of the screen is still there and can be activated, when I try to delete it it says it is not able to be deleted.

Uninstalling Limewire can be a problem and the newer versions don’t use the Add/Remove programs applet. The simplest way is to run the built in uninstaller that comes with the program.

To access this click Start then Programs, Limewire  and select Uninstall.

The uninstall wizard will then take you through the process.

Once you’re finished, check your computer for viruses as Limewire users seem to be prone to picking up malware.

If you are still stuck, you may want to contact a computer tech to help you remove the program and clean up your system.

When we access the start menu, click on icon for Media player it comes up on the task bar but no window, it would appear to be hidden behind what ever screen is open at the time.

What’s happened is the media player has been accidentally dragged off the screen. The quick way to fix it is to right-click the task bar icon and  select Maximize.

If you want to fix the problem permanently and select Move, then use the arrow keys to move the program back onto the screen.

Recently I downloaded a trial version of magix music maker14 on my computer. It got installed properly. but when I tried to run the program , I got the message – magix music maker needs a screen display of atleast 1024 by 768 pixels. my computer’s screen resolution is 1280 by 720 and my operating system is Windows XP .

Unfortunately this is a problem with the software. It doesn’t realise that resolutions like 1280 x 720 are common on modern computers and will adequately deal with 1024 x 768 pictures.

The best course of action is to contact the vendors of Magix Music Maker to see if they have a fix. Otherwise you’ll have to change your screen resolution while using the program.

I just moved a folder (my xmas photos!) onto my USB drive and then accidently deleted them off my USB is there anyway the USB can be restored or have I lost them forever?

If you haven’t done anything to the USB drive since the accident then there is a good chance you’ll be able to recover them.

We covered restoring files in a previous post. The important thing is not to panic and to save everything onto a different drive so you don’t overwrite anything important on the original drive.

Best wishes and we hope you get those Christmas pictures back.

I have DSl modem it works great. If I hook either of my computers to the DSl modem they works fine. If I hook up my 4 port D-Link or Linksys router the computer which is 25′ away will work but the other which is 150′ away will not connect. I have ran a new line, replaced the router ,and talked to someone for an hour at D-link that did everthing but fix my problem. Dell wants to charge me $50.00 just to tell me the problem please HELP?????????????

Normally the first thing I would look at with this problem is the cable running to the computer 150′ away. However you say that you “ran a new line” so I’m assuming you’ve replaced the cable.

The most likely cause of the problem is the network card in the remote computer has a problem with detecting the connection to the routers.

Modern Ethenet cards automatically detect the speed of the device at the other end of the cable and adjust their settings accordingly.

Most modems have compartively slow, and older, 10 Mbit Ethernet connections while most routers have 100 or 1,000 Mbit ports and sometimes defective Ethernet ports struggle to detect the faster ports properly.

The simplest solution is to replace the network card. You can do this yourself with a cheap USB adaptor or you can get your local computer tech to install a new internal card.

I am using Vista Home Premium SE and I have the message below popping up on start up, how can I fix it ? Andy

(Error!  Please run this program from the Administrator account so it can set up your license. Once the license is set up, you can run it from any account.)

This problem is due to Windows permissions. A program you installed wants to change a setting that Vista is blocking.

To fix this you’ll have to login as an Administrator or turn off User Access Control.

Once you’ve set the program up, log back in as a normal user or turn User Access Control back on as they are both important in protecting your Windows Vista system from virus and other malware.