I do like to be topical from time to time so as it is Easter this weekend I thought should write an article on the subject of ‘Easter Eggs’.These are not your usual chocolate eggs but rather a pet name for a function or feature that is hidden within a finished product by the creators in the design stage.Most often this will be a small segment of code hidden in a computer program but ‘Easter Eggs’ can also be found as features on DVD’s, CD’s, websites and so on.

I hear a couple of you at the back of the class who are commenting on the fact that article #116 published over two years ago was on the subject of Easter Eggs and you would be right although if I’m honest I should say that I’m not particularly bothered by the fact I’m about to repeat myself.This article is going … Read the rest

One of my loyal readers Ian McMillan suggested that perhaps I should focus an article on the power options available in Windows as the most people won’t get any further than using the ‘shut down’ option when they have finished using their machine and there are some potentially more useful options available to users of Windows 2000 & XP that may suit your needs better.

I should start by saying that whilst I doubt many of you are just disconnecting power from the machine in order to shut it down, those of you who are should stop immediately as damage can be caused to the Operating System or files lost if the machine is not allowed to shut itself down properly.

The options ‘shut down’ and ‘restart’ should be fairly obvious to most people – Both shut down all Windows programs and wrap up the Operating System to a state … Read the rest

Whenever I write about P2P (Peer to Peer) file sharing I usually get a good few e-mails slating me and accusing me of attempting to harm the music industry which simply is simply untrue.For those of you who can’t remember my last article on P2P file sharing we established that it was a method of sharing files directly between users of these programs over the Internet.

Whilst this technology is primarily used to illegally share music files with others but in principle the technology is quite legal and can be a helpful way of exchanging un-copyrighted music, video and applications.Possibly the most famous P2P program that most of you will remember is Napster which was used for several years to swap music files illegally before being closed down and later turned into a legal fee based program.

I have recently done a little bit of research into the Gnutella protocol … Read the rest

This week I think I will once again take the time to answer a question from one of my readers:

“We read your columns in the Herald Express and wonder if you can help. We have a Packard Bell PC which we’ve had for about 2½ years and recently when shutting down the PC we keep getting the message ‘virtual memory low – Microsoft increasing’ which frequently disrupting us when just working on the machine normally.The PC has also been noticeably slower of late.

When working properly, our PC is a wonderful tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, some of whom are on the far side of the world and we would certainly miss it.

John & Kate Clayden, Torquay”

Before we begin troubleshooting your problem I think it would be beneficial to explain to all my readers exactly what virtual memory is as the term should … Read the rest