psued, may not be the same for your laptop but on one of my pcs, hit f2 as it starts to boot up, this give you access to the bios setup, once there look for an 'auto power on' function and simply set the time to whatever you what.

Works great for me

Neil

HDD FAULT is it hard drive or motherboard ????
do not know whoch to change

Probably the drive. Check its cables are well connected and that the parameters in the BIOS look correct before replacing it though.

Can anyone help? My Dell laptop has suddenly become difficult to connect to the net - frequently says no dial tone detected, but not always; also sometimes disconnects after a few minutes online (dial-up connection) - using the built in modem.

Happens at different locations and using different isp's, same isp connections on my desktop are fine so it has to be something to do with the machine. Do I

a) buy an external modem
b) replace the internal modem
c) do something else?!

All suggestions gratefully received - thanks.

Seymour, first I would try a different modem lead.

re post 1459 forgot to say that assuming it's a desktop PC, you probably have 2 IDE ports, so try to plug the disk drive into the other IDE port and a different power cable too to check whether it's the drive, power supply, or motherboard that is broken.

Robber, thanks but have tried three leads, two of them brand new :-(

SC - couple of things. There are at least two different wiring patterns on modem leads, don't assume they're interchangeable. Internal modems (more accurately "Winmodems") provided with PCs often don't use the standard UK pattern. I've had one bundled by a(n otherwise) reputable supplier that wasn't even BABT approved.

Secondly, don't spend too long on this - good external modems are close to free nowadays - eg http://www.dabs.com/uk/productView.htm?quicklinx=2SZC

SC, as it happens if you are after an external modem Ive got a cracking little one spare now that Im on bvroadband. Same description as this one;

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3465798886&category=3692

drop me a line by the MAMmail thingy if you are interested in it.


Neil

Thanks folks, Troll, I can't be bothered to spend too much time on it as you rightly suggest; Neil, thanks for the offer, trouble is I want it yesterday, have to go to PC world for something now anyway so might just get one - I can't access my am prices unless I use someone else's machine, or my work ones which don't have enough memory to run Marketmaker.

Now connected using my laptop and a nice little usb modem by sitecom. Nice thing was it was the smallest one on display, the only one they had, and it was a returned model so had 10% discount. This Dell laptop is slowly but surely falling to bits. Mind you it's had some hammer!

Thanks for everyone's help. Neil, sorry I couldn't relieve you of yours. We have had broadband available in our village now for a couple of weeks so just about to sign up. Still using dialup at work though.

My lap top keeps shutting down, this message appears, what do i do now?
I'm tempted to chuck it in the bin and get another but its a brand new all singing dancing machine, so can it be fixed?
d. (completely computer illiterate so go easy on me)

Virus Alert

Thank you for submitting an error report. The error was likely caused by:

Win32/Winshow.51712.dll.Trojan

Dailos, you wouldn't have installed an update from Microsoft received by email by any chance?

Do a full virus scan and follow the suggestions. If you don't have a virus scanner, try these: http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp and http://www.pcpitstop.com/.

Kayak
Found i have Norton Anti Virus free for the first 3 months, just ran a scan and "no infections found" was the result after scanning 48000 files
???
d.

Dailos, I've found more info, it's not a virus actually, it's adware. See http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/w/winshow.asp, download Pest Patrol and follow the instructions.

You probably installed it either as part of a piece of free software on the internet, or by clicking OK on a warning box asking whether you want to install a given program. Obviously be very very careful about these warning boxes, read them all the way through in future.

Kayak
I've downloaded pestpatrol and purchased all their packages.
Thanks for your help, i appreciate it.
dailos.

Just tried to access the SNR website to find out more about this firm (imminent divi looks interesting) when I received this message:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error '80040e14'

The log file for database 'Senior' is full. Back up the transaction log for the database to free up some log space.

/Includes/ServerFunctions.asp, line 42

Is this my computer or the Senior site?

It is the Senior site, the log file for thier DB is full, and it is advising them how to fix it...

nothing for you to worry about.

J.

J - Many relieved thanks

I think one of the problems with spyware files and programs is that, although you first detect them and having done so, then remove them, back they come again.

Surely even MoneyAM are using spyware or spying techniques of some description to tell them 'where' and 'what' their users are doing on the MoneyAm site?

So what is the difference between 'innocent spying' and 'malevolent spying'?

Does it have something to do with making you download something onto your machine without your permission? Or at least without your understanding of what has been forced onto your machine? And if it's just a 'cookie' well, what's the harm in it? Aren't 'cookies' harmless, after all?

Do we really mind, providing it doesn't slow down our machines? But there again, if there's such a lot of it/them about they are bound to slow down our machines, aren't they?

Hmmm?