Dave Taylor

If you’re like me, you probably spent at least some of your Christmas holiday puttering about on your computer, either playing games or just trying to keep up with the never-ending tsunami of e-mail. In the midst of the chaos, however, I did have a chance to push Santa aside and write up some useful […]

A reader sent me in a question about the amount of available memory on his Windows computer, surmising that the reason that there was such a disparity between the installed memory and the available memory was some sort of rampant memory leak. Odds are that’s not the reason why his system is showing a different […]

Here’s a pretty common Windows question: what do you need to modify so that your screensaver doesn’t automatically prompt you for a password each time you want to go back to using your computer after it’s kicked off? And, for that matter, how do you fix it if the screensaver starts up way too […]

It’s inevitable that some people would sign up for a beta test of a product without really thinking through the ramifications of running relatively untested software on their computer. Not necessarily a crisis if it’s a new Web browser or e-mail program (though losing data is never good!), but would you sign up to help […]

Modern operating systems are designed more for ease of use than flexibility, but that doesn’t stop people from wanting to tweak and modify how their own system works, and Windows users are definitely in this category. One of the more interesting modifications you can make to your Windows setup that makes it easier to use […]

In what I can only describe as an ironic turn of events, I received a question about PC support from a Hewlett-Packard Technical Support Specialist. Fortunately I didn’t have to guess about the possible causes of his customer’s Windows XP Home Edition system being unable to properly restart when that option was selected, because I […]

When my computer boots up, it gets past the reading and verifying of the computer’s components fine. But when it gets to the reading of the hard drive to launch a platform (Windows XP), it asks me which Windows I would like to load. So I have gathered that the computer thinks i have two […]

How can I convert my AOL files, Favorites, and Address Book info from the America Online (AOL) program to MSN? I am switching from AOL dialup to a new high-speed connection. Please let me know.
While America Online (AOL) is quite popular with a large group of people, it’s also a common place for people to […]

The scenario: My primary hard drive (HD1) became infected beyond the capabilities of adware & spyware tools, AV, or firewall. I then transferred my important data files to (what I thought was) a storage hard drive, (HD2). Thinking that I had designated a second hard drive (HD2) as the storage drive, I […]

I found a program on my computer called Windows Audio Converter. If I change all my wmas into mp3s, will I be able to use them on my iPod?
First off, I have to say that I’m suspicious of any software that you just “find” on your computer. In this day and age, if you don’t […]

This may be a really stupid question, but I have a family friend who recently bought a six-year-old Compaq computer running Windows 98. Her father is currently updating it to be Windows 2000, but once she found out I still had my Windows XP restore/install discs she asked if I could update her to Windows […]

I had Windows XP Home Edition on my computer and then I installed XP Professional. I thought it would format the hard drive and erase XP Home Edition, but now when I start the computer, it always ask which one to choose: Home Edition or Professional. How can I tell it to always choose professional?
There […]

I’ve just signed up for MSN Hotmail and I like it. In fact, the ability to access my email from anywhere on the Internet is way cool, and 250MB of disk space for storing my old messages seems like a ton of space. The only problem is that I have a ton of contacts in […]

Dear Dave, I have a PC with Win XP Home, 1GB memory, SP2, etc. I have a Western Digital 320GB external hard drive. I don’t log on Win XP with a password. Problem: when I want to ’schedule’ an incremental backup with XP Backup program to the external hard drive, it always asks for Computer […]

Dave, I’ve read through your previous Q & A about how to create an AOL screen name, but it doesn’t apply to the new AOL 9.0 Security Edition. Can you help me figure out how to add a screen name with this latest Windows application?
You’re absolutely right. In typical update fashion, the AOL development team […]

Windows usually hangs when a DVD or CD is loaded into the DVD-ROM or CD-ROM drive, and, on startup, it hangs if there is a disc in any of the optical drives. Then I have to reboot the system manually, eject the optical drive quickly, and remove the disc in order for Windows to load […]

I have Windows XP. When I boot up my computer I get to the user screen. It says “To begin, please click on your username” and under my username, it says: “426 unread mail messages.”
When I move my mouse to this, it brings me a pop up and tells me that 426 unread messages from […]

What are SXGA and (WVA) on monitors? I’m looking for a new laptop and one of the sites I’m checking out described some laptop monitors as “LCD : 15″ SXGA+ (WVA).” Another site described a laptop screen as “Wide Angel.” Is that just a misspelling of “Wide Angle,” and does that mean widescreen?
As […]

Dave, this is driving me crazy: when I first got my computer, it was snappy and applications launched in just a second or two. Now, a year later, it’s like someone poured molasses over the hard disk without me noticing, because everything just seems to take forever. Why is my computer slowing down and how […]

The power supply for my PC intermittently, and for no apparent reason, shuts down completely (no voltage on PS-ON). When this happens, if I immediately cycle the power switch on the power supply and then press the on/off switch, the computer starts normally. However, if this happens when I am away from the computer and […]