sandy99

Thank you so much everyone for all the useful answers. I am going to study all those and see what to do. Thanks also for info re changing Live Mail more like Outlook. I will check that. Great that someone is enjoying learning new software.Its easier for the youngsters to learn the new stuff . Instead of Front Page which i fiind really easy for my website - I now have to learn my way around something like Serif Web 4 or the new Microsoft one. Progress... hmmmm.:rolleyes:

NOT a computer whiz but can get around. I bough a new Sony laptop with Windows 7 on it - (they all seem to now!) I had XP :) on old laptop o 7 has meant a lot of learning - still is! I never got Vista as it seemed full of problems. I don't like 7. :mad: I lost FrontPage (why would they do that!!;), Easy CD Creator 3.5; lost HP 3 in 1 deskjet printer and many other things that were older software, etc , etc. Some I have found patch things for and managed to get them going, other can't happen. I had to buy a new Student Office to get Word again. I am asking a general question. If I get rid of Windows 7 off this laptop and put XP on it (ahh!), how long will XP be around and supported? Will I just have to put up with 7 as the others will be outdated soon. Would I have years still of use with XP? I have already installed lots of software on this new laptop. If I got rid of 7 would I lose all that? I don't have discs for everything. Would there be any ongoing problems getting rid of 7 and installing XP? Windows Live Mail - Why ever did MS change 'Send and Receive' that was in Outlook - over to Sync - that took me ages to find! I still have to figure out to change it seperating my different email accounts. I am happy for them to be all in one same Inbox etc.:o

No that symbol is not in the systems tray. Only strange one there is one that says its IP Operator

Coulod you please tell me how I find the 'system tray'?

My post was moved to 'Network'. Can you tell me how I find 'Network' to check on it please

When I joined Virgin - Wireless broadband, they posted me out a white box (their own brand) that was to be attached to my home phone. It has two leads going out of it to phone connection/power. There is also a third lead that can be used to connect to the laptop if I am really having trouble connecting. I have never used it myself. Once on Tech support they got me to attach it briefly to check something and make the signal stronger. I have it back in the box. No good to me as the computer is across the other side of the room than the phone and that whote box (modem?). So I just have that one box and apparently my phone calls are routed through that to Virgin - hence free calls. Does that help you? I don't have much expereicne with this area

Yes that right. No lead goes to the actual laptop. Any ideas what the problem is?

Its an LG laptop F1 Express dual. About 1 year old. Not quite sure what you mean by wireless adaptor. Could you explan further please. I have a Virgin wireless modem that is attached to the phone as all my calls then get routed via Virgin and are all free. That is the wireless modem signal that my laptop picks up on.

That did it The right click on desk top. Thanks a lot.

Thanks I will try that when I see them later today

:rolleyes: I have wireless broadband. I have one continuing problem since I got wireless. It disconnects itself. To solve this what I have to do is go to - Control panel/Network Connections/Properties/Wireless Networks - and tick the box that says ….'Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings'. Apply. This results in the connection being immediately re-established. The problem is the box unticks itself all the time. It is NOT related to turning off the computer. It can happen anytime. Sometimes its off when I start up, sometimes its still ticked, sometimes it unticks itself while I am on the net or email. No similar timing to it. No obvious pattern. Any clues how I can keep that box ticked all the time? Someone told me to try the following - but it hasn’t worked. “It may seem that your Windows Wireless service is off or maybe being disabled? Try this, put the check in. Then click on, Start then Run (if you have Vista don't click on run), type in services.msc. Find the Wireless Zero service (at the bottom). Right click on it and hit Properties, make sure it is set to Automatic and it is currently started and not disabled. Close all that stuff. If that check box ever disappears before you put it back, check this service. Is it running? I'm curious to know if the service is stopping. Also if you click start then type MSCONFIG you may want to disable any other program that is using the wireless adapter. For example if you have a Dell laptop, it comes with a Dell Wireless utility. I always remove that from msconfig and set the wireless zero service to automatic. That will fix your issue. My answer I checked the Wireless Zero Configuration. It was already on Auto and it was running. I clicked on the 'Restart the Service' anyway - just to see if it helped. No go. As far as I am aware there is nothing else running. Not a Dell.

XP I am trying to help elderly neighbours. He has done something and all the icons on his desktop vanished. I have since found them as a list he can get from the task bar at bottom of screen. I looked up Help to find out how to restore them to the desktop. I found the answer BUT the option it gives is not on the drop down list! I checked on my own computor ( also XP) with the same result. Ctrl panel - Desktop icons - Arrange your disktop icons. It shows this panel (see ahead) but the one we seem to want is the LAST one (SHOW DESKTOP ICONS). And that one is just not there. Can anyone tell me another way to get the icons back on desktop? To arrange your desktop icons Right-click the desktop. Point to Arrange Icons By, and then click one of the commands on the submenu, as explained in the table below. ClickTo NameArrange icons in alphabetical order by the icon name.SizeArrange icons in order of file size. If the icon is a shortcut to a program, the size refers to the size of the shortcut file. TypeArrange icons in order of type. For example, if you have shortcuts to several PowerPoint presentations on your desktop, these will be arranged next to each other. ModifiedArrange icons in the order that the shortcut was last modified. AutoArrangeArrange the icons in columns along the left side of your screen. Align to GridSnap icons into place as designated by an invisible grid on your screen. The grid keeps the icons aligned with each other. Show Desktop IconsHide or show all desktop icons. When this command is checked, desktop icons are displayed on your desktop.