FAQS! FACTS! FAX!  625 (12/08/08)

Q. I am considering buying a new laptop and I have a budget of £700. It will be mainly used for Internet and email, running Word and Excel and storing my collection of music and photographs. I am tempted to buy a basic Apple MacBook, but I wonder what your thoughts are on Windows laptops?

Graham Hoare, via email

A. I am not about to get into the old, hackneyed Mac vs. Windows debate – these days there little to choose between them in terms of performance and usability  -- nor am I going to make any specific product recommendations. Such is the pace of development that they would probably be out of date before the day is out, but I can tell you that you don’t need to spend anything like £700 for a machine capable of such routine tasks.

The only thing I would say is, if you have any expensive legacy software, such as MS Office, and you have created a lot of files using it, then it makes sense to stick with the OS it was written for, and you are accustomed to using.

Q. I recently inherited a second PC and I was wondering if it was possible to use them both together, for different tasks, but control them from one desktop? If so, what extra software or hardware would need?

Hillary Craig, via email

A. It can be done and Windows XP and XP have a built-in facility called Remote Desktop that could be configured to allow one PC to control the other, but I can’t think of reason to want to do this on a day to day basis and it would be much easier to control both PCs from one mouse, keyboard and video monitor. If that is what you are trying to do then you need a widget called a KVM (Keyboard, Video, Monitor) switch. You plug your keyboard, mouse and monitor cables into it and it has two sets of leads that connect to both computers. You can switch between the two machines at any time by pressing a button or using a simple keyboard shortcut. They are widely available from computer stores and prices start at around £20; however, make sure you don’t get into a tangle with the socket types used by mice keyboards and PCs. If possible stick to one type (i.e. USB or PS2).

Q. I have just bought an all-in-one printer, scanner, copier and I am very pleased with it, but I would like to know if there is any way I can get it to make copies of black and white documents in colour?

Mike Freeman, via email

A. It may be possible from the machine’s copier utility, though I doubt it.  If not then you can do what you want by first scanning the document then manipulating it in an image editing program. PhotoFiltre is ideal, it’s free and there’s a link to the download at: http://tinyurl.com/yuxms7. The scan creates a black and white image so begin by using the Selection tool to define the background then click Invert on the Selection menu to define the just the text. Now all you have to do is use the Colour Picker pipette to chose a new colour and use the Fill tool to change everything on the page that is black (i.e. the text) into the chosen colour.

Q. I am about to upgrade to broadband but my ISP tells me that I need a PC with an Ethernet port in order to use their modem. Can you tell me what this means and whether I am likely to have one on my two-year old Packard Bell computer? If not, is there some sort of adaptor I could buy?

Andrew Harper, via email

A. I think the chances of you having an Ethernet socket on your PC are excellent. Ethernet is the standard networking technology used by pretty well all PCs these days and sockets have been a more or less standard on desktops and laptops for at least the last five years.

The actual socket is rectangular in shape, just over 1cm wide and it looks like a larger version of the American style phone socket. In the trade it’s known as an RJ45 or 8P8C socket, but most people call it a LAN (Local Area Network socket). In the unlikely event that you do not have one then you can use a USB to Ethernet adaptor, or fit a network interface card (NIC). They cost around £10 and are wide available, but you will need to check that it’s the correct type, to fit your PC motherboard expansion sockets, and compatible with the version of Windows that you are using.

Q. The sound on my newish Vista Premium computer suddenly disappeared. I don’t remember doing anything but before I make a complete ass of myself and call the help line, only to be told it’s something really obvious, could you please give me a few things to check?

Charles Marshall, by email

A. Your first port of call should be the volume and mute settings. Double-click the little speaker icon in the System Tray (next to the speaker), then click Mixer and make sure that the Windows Sounds slider is well above halfway, and hasn’t been muted. If that checks out go to Control Panel > Sounds and click ‘Speakers’. On the General tab, click Properties and on the General tab, under Device Status it should say ‘This device is working properly’; if not there should be instructions to reinstall the driver.

Back on the Speaker Properties dialogue box make sure that ‘enable’ is showing in the Device Usage drop down menu. On the Levels tab there are some more sliders; the ones for audio output should be midway or higher and not muted. Nothing should be checked on the Enhancements tab and on the Advanced tab the drop-down menu should show ‘24bit, 480000Hz (Studio Quality)’, you should hear a tinkly tune when you click the Test button. If you still can’t hear anything after that little lot then it probably needs expert attention.

If you have a computer problem write to: fff@telegraph.co.uk

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© R. Maybury 2008 2107