Dave Taylor

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 [...]