I've opened a rar archive using Winace. Whenever I try to extract it, almost every file is said to be corrupt. Do I need to download it again?

No, in most cases the files will be perfectly fine. This problem is caused by the way older versions of Winace handle rar archives. You can avoid these false error reports by using Winrar instead, a trial version of which can be downloaded from www.rarlabs.com.

This is arguably the best compression/extraction program available in any case, so it would be beneficial to have it installed on your system. One of its most useful features is its ability to handle multiple file extractions, yet it has a plethora of other invaluable tools too.

In future, make sure you use Winace for extracting ace archives and Winrar for extracting rar archives if you encounter problems.

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I keep seeing the word 'bump' in bulletin board posts. What's that all about?

Well, when someone posts a question and it receives no replies, it gradually falls to the bottom of the pile and eventually drops off the first page where no one can see it. Instead of giving up and letting the thread die gracefully, some people reply to their own post to bring it back up to the top of the forum in the hope that it will get a better response the second time round. You could type anything in your reply and it would have the same effect, but 'bump' seems most appropriate because it elevates the thread to the top of the forum.

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Clawing back control of your internet browser

I've visited a web site that has taken it upon itself to change the web site from which my browser searches are conducted. How can I change this back to the way it was previously?

You can resolve this situation by editing the Windows registry, which can be accessed using the 'run' dialog box located under the start menu. Once opened, whack 'regedit' into the empty space and press enter. When the Registry Editor appears, double-click on the entries in the left hand column in sequence until you find yourself looking at the following key...

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Now scroll down the list of entries in the right hand pane until you see the 'Search Page' string. Right-click on this phrase and select 'modify' from the context menu. You can now edit the offending URL to something a bit more suitable; google.com for example.

If you've failed to isolate the rogue URL for whatever reason, or you believe there to be a similar, additional entry lodged in a different area of the registry, another handy hint is to use the registry search option - found under the 'edit' menu - to track it down. If you type the web address of your new unwelcome search engine into the 'find' dialogue box and hit the return key you will quickly be able to pinpoint all the references to the site in question, and remove or replace them accordingly.

Note that this trick also works when you're trying to re-establish your favourite search engine as your default home page.

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Can't update, won't update

I'm trying to update my copy of software x. I've uninstalled the old version of the program, but when I try to install the new one I'm told to completely uninstall the old one first. I thought I'd already done this. What's it talking about?

When you uninstall a program, despite what you are led to believe, lots of junk is left behind which can conflict with later installations of the same program. The chief concern is that the program's now redundant registry entries are left untouched and first need to be swept out before you can re-install the new version. This can be done manually using regedit.exe, but it will take a very long time to flush out every last useless entry, and even if you are very thorough, you can't be sure that you've got rid of everything.

A much more sensible solution is to delegate the task of spring cleaning your registry to a heavy duty, third party alternative program such as jv16 Power Tools. This miraculous time saver will allow you to identify all the entries associated with a particular program so that they can be removed safely. Not that this involves any effort on your part - all that is required is that you tick the relevant boxes and run through the whole suite of clean up options to ensure that an exhaustive search is conducted.

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Internet Explorer window woes

I resized an Internet Explorer browser window for one particular site, but the changes have been stored and now affect every window I open subsequently. How do I restore the default height and width settings?

First of all, close any IE browser windows you have on screen.

Select 'run' from the 'start' menu, type in 'regedit' and navigate to the 'H_Key_Current_User/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main' entry.

Select it and then locate the 'Window_Placement' entry in the pane on the right hand side of the screen.

Highlight this and press your delete key to remove it.

Now if you open a new IE window you will notice that its width and height settings have reverted back to their default measurements.

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