Thanks Mick, sounds like a similar problem, although I re-booted the of again last night and it found the stick but struggled to access the Internet. I also used the troubleshooter on msn which got stuck when checking the Ports option

Do you have WIFI. Maybe turn WIFI off as it might be trying to connect to WIFI and overridding the Voda stick

One other thing,the VOD assistant said that on the very odd occasion problems relating to registering have been known.She suggested removing the sim card and putting it in a mobile phone to register and then try it back in usb stick.Don't think this is your problem but might be worth a try.

banjo, I was told that 2 days ago by Voda

Jeff thanks for the suggestion but wifi is turned off.

I haven't any direct experience of these but would suggest:-

1. Put the SIM in a phone and try to dounload as much data as possible to stress test the connection. If the phone hasn't got a browser then try continually downloading email.

2. You could try connecting the computer to the phone via bluetooth or WiFi to see if you can get a conection that way. But that can be tricky and may be more trouble than it's worth as it would only validate the SIM.

3. On your computer, run MSconfig and dissable most startup programs and services - you will need to keep the USB management ones. Also dissable any other network connections and AV. Restart the computer and see if it works then. If it does, keep adding things back until it fails.

PTH, I don't know if this is relevant, but I've had problems with USB devices on my HP desktop:
- Skype handset doesn't seem to get enough power when plugged direct into the computer's USB sockets. I solved this by connecting it through external powered USB hub.
- Canon multifunction printer won't work (device not recognised) when connected with an ordinary USB extension lead. I have to use a signal amplifying extension lead.

That may well be a problem. USB ports tend to be in pairs so make sure that there is nothing else plugged into the adjacent socket. If there is one on the opposite site of the computer, try using that.

A powered adaptor would be even better.

I have to print an email from my hotmail account as I need to sign it and send it back by post, everything sofar, gives me all the headers, sidebars etc I just want the letter to fit on an A4 piece of paper HELP

Richgit,

Press the printer icon actually on the page - if that is not working try importing it into outlook - i.e. add a new e mail account in outlook which will contact hotmail - go to actions, new e mail accounts - add new account - select the HTTP option and then follow the prompts

Ian, thanks tried that ;-)

But it still gives me email address and will not allow me to fit it on one page

Do any web designers here know about favicons please?

I'm using this line of code in the head of my parent frames page.

<link rel="icon" href="images/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
< <ink rel="shortcut icon" href="images/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />

It loads the favicon fine, but after several minutes and navigating to different pages, the icon will change to a different image within the images folder and I don't know why.

None of the other pages include a reference to favicon, although I have experimented with inserting the code into the other fixed pages within the parent frame in an atempt to debug it. Should I insert the code in every page?

Or is there some different code that I should perhaps use?

IS MY COMP DEAD ??
Have pressed start and it start to make a noise the goes dead
after afew min will do same thing again if i unplug
have tries new power lead what shall i do

Sounds serious, first likelihood is the power supply. Does the fan come on in the power supply or not, is the hard disc spinning, do you get anything at all showing on screen?

SC is probably right. PC failures like that are almost always due to PSU failures. The only way to check it is by checking the output voltages with a meter. Even that is not infallible, as the voltage may be OK off-load.

Given that PSUs cost about 20-40, it's almost worth just replacing it to see if that fixes the problem.

The only moving parts in your PC are the disks and fans. The most electrically stressed part is the PSU.

The best way of reducing stress on all of these is to leave the machine running. Don't keep switching it on and off, it doesn't like it.

If you have a laptop, get a fan-assisted cooling stand for it, such as that made by Belkin. If you mainly use your laptop as a desktop, remove the battery from it so that it's not always close to maximum charge and being recharged. Li-On (Lithium) batteries are best stored at 50% charge.

As an example, we had two servers that were decommissioned for a few months. When we tried to put them back into service, neither worked. Both PSUs had failed.

I agree with MM.

As a long shot, you could try opening the machine up, carefully clear away any dust, make sure that the fans turn freely, disconect the power leads to all of the disk drives and unplug all leads apart from the monitor.

It will not boot because you have no power to the disks but you may get the initial screen up. If you do then turn off and reconnect things until it stops working. If you don't get the initial screnn then the PSU is the best bet.

Some while ago, I downloade a program, named I think
Smart Defrag.
After trying it, and finding it no better than MS, I
uninstalled it.
I've now discovered each time I start my comp it's
doing a defrag aotomatically, using 370meg of the memory.
I can't find any trace of it in programs, toolbar, processec, or applications.
Any way I can remove it?

Please.!!!
It's an old comp running Win 2000 with 512 RAM,
so it slows performance considerably.
mac

Tyketto

I have this program on my machine and do use it occasionally. I installed it because it had reasonably good reviews and was also Free. In fact, I am quite happy with it. Anyhow, I have just opened it and checked up on a few things:

There is an 'Auto Defrag' facility and also a 'Schedule' facility within the body of the main program.

Auto Defrag is tick enabled to do a certain amount of defragging by default. All of these have now just been disabled by me on my own machine.

I was also surprised to see the Scheduler had been set on my own machine 'At 22:00 every Sun of every 2 weeks, starting 27/01/2009' - This has also just been disabled by me.

It seems these two facilities have been set to do a particular job and now you do not now appear to have the program installed so as to go back into it and change either of them by unticking them.

The only thing I can think of is to do a Re-Install, then change the settings back, then do an Uninstall.

The program does have its own 'Uninstall' facility but it does make you wonder at times like this, whether to get a better 'Installer /Uninstaller' program and one other than that supplied by Microsoft or the suppliers of the program obtained or purchased.

"whether to get a better 'Installer /Uninstaller' program "

I'd love one of those.

Pointers please, kind sir.

TP

Tyketto

Goto Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services.

Make sure that you are on the tab that shows all services and scroll down to try and find the service that looks like it is the Smart Defrag. Stop the service and then dissable it.

That should do the trick, although you may get an error message that it can't start the servive when you boot.