Not an uncommon problem, almost all sufferers are laptop users and the reason it happens is related to the fact that most laptops have touchpad control panels slap-bang in the middle of their wrist-rests, right below the keyboard.

A mere brush from a palm heel or wayward thumb can be enough to command the text-entry cursor to leap to a different part of the document. That the problem seems to coincide with times when you have paused typing supports this hypothesis: taking a moment to think is precisely when your hands and fingers are likely to move from their typing positions.

In most cases, the problem can be alleviated or eliminated by altering the touchpad’s settings in Control Panel, or just disabling it entirely.

To do this in Windows 7, click Start followed by Control Panel, then click Hardware and Sound followed by Mouse. This displays the Mouse Properties dialogue box and what to do next depends on the specific type of touchpad.

The main thing to look for is something called Tapping. The last time I had this problem, I solved it by turning Tapping off. You may also want to play with sensitivity and in the worst case switch off the touchpad. Once you’ve solved it you can continue working on your business cash advances without your cursor jumping from one place to another.

I recently tried to set up another user account for my wife, but although the keyboard is set to UK English, the ‘@’ key produces a double quotation mark (“) symbol. The keyboard works normally with my user account. Can you help?

This is a common problem that happens because the keyboard is set to the wrong language in Windows’ settings. Keyboards for use in different countries have slightly different layouts.

In the UK, for example, the double quotation mark is typed by pressing Shift + 2, while on a US-layout keyboard, this produces the @ symbol instead (the double quotation mark is typed by pressing Shift and ’; the @ symbol being above the latter key). Regardless, it is an easy problem to fix.

Click Start, followed by Control Panel, and click the ‘Change keyboard or other input methods’ link under the ‘Clock, Language, and Region’ heading. When the dialogue box opens, click the ‘Change keyboards’ button on the Keyboards and Languages tab – this opens the ‘Text Services and Input Languages’ dialogue box.

On the General tab, click the Add button and, in the ‘Add Input Language’ dialogue box, look for ‘English (United Kingdom)’. Click the plus (‘+’) sign next to it to expand this section, then the one next to Keyboard inside it and click to tick the United Kingdom box.

Click the OK button and the United Kingdom keyboard will be added to the Installed services list of the ‘Text Services and Input Languages’ dialogue box. Open the Default input language dropdown menu just above this and choose the ‘English (United Kingdom) – United Kingdom’ option.

Finally, select the ‘English (United States)’ entry under Installed services and click the Remove button. Your user account will now be set to use a keyboard with a UK layout. Now, the next time you#re looking for Personal Creations Coupon codes you’ll be able to type it right!

That cylinder is a ferrite core (sometimes called a choke) and is designed to reduce electromagnetic interference. You can find some that are moulded right into the cable and others that can clip on. If you really want to get more, you can buy some from Maplin and add to your cables.

Personally I wouldn’t bother getting extra ones unless you actually notice that you are getting interference or cross talk across your cables. If you see interference patterns on your screen, or notice a drop in performance; these may be one way to address the problem, but if everything is working fine you probably don’t need them. They’re as cheap as discount dental supplies, but the reality is that in most cases they won’t make much of a difference.

To check, in Windows 7 click Start followed by Control Panel, then click the Hardware and Sound link followed by Sound.

In the Sound dialogue box, click the Recording tab. In the box below, the laptop’s built-in microphone should be listed: if not, right-click in the blank area and click to place ticks next to Show Disabled Devices and Show Disconnected Devices.

The microphone should now appear in the list and be marked as the default device. However, we have a feeling the device will already be listed and will have been disabled.

To re-enable the device, right-click its entry and choose Enable from the menu – and that should be that.

To change the recording level, right-click the microphone’s entry but this time choose Properties. In the Microphone Properties dialogue box, click the Levels tab and use the controls to adjust the pick-up sensitivity.

If you look at the USB drive in Windows Explorer you can tell the capacity of the disk by right-clicking on it and choosing Properties.

I bet that was simpler than you expected It’s always good to know how big a memory key is as the last thing you need is expect to have some space and not find any. A USB key can only take so many adverts for Technical Recruiting Jobs, if you don’t delete any the old ones, you’re not going to find space for the new ones!

I actually got this question from a friend over lunch, which meant that the only answer I would really give was “it depends”. Upgrading one’s RAM can have a positive effect on performance, but only if your computer is suffering from not having enough of it.

So, how do you find out if you have enough or not? Well, operating systems are quite good at making sure your memory is used efficiently, but if there isn’t enough of it, they will use your hard disk to page blocks in and out of your RAM. This has an impact on performance which means you should always err on having more RAM than your computer can use. As a rule of thumb, if you’re using Windows and have more than 2Gb of RAM you’re probably ok. If you have less, an upgrade will probably help. To find out how much RAM you have, click on your Start button, right-click on Computer and choose Properties. You will see a dialog box with a section like this:

(the RAM is highlighted in yellow).

If you want to upgrade you have to make sure you get the right type. It’s not like you can pop out a barcode scanner and look for the correct code and there’s a whole selection of different types you can choose from. Your best bet is to use a website like Crucial where you can simply specify what computer you have and make sure you get the correct RAM for it.

Why put up with slow speeds if you can sort it out in a few clicks?

As you probably suspect, the reason behind the poor performance it the network setup you’re running on. Daisy-chaining hubs will work to an extent, but it’s a pretty inefficient way to run a network and you’ll see problems during sustained bursts of network activity, just like when you copy a file.

The best way to solve the problem is to get some proper network equipment, just like the Cisco SR224G 24-port 10/100 2-port Gigabit Switch + 2 miniGBIC currently on sale from Buy.com at $69.99. I’m sure your budget can stretch to that. And what do you get for your money? You get twenty-four 10/100 ports wire up your workstations, while the integrated 10/100/1000 ports or mini Gigabit Interface Converter (mini-GBIC) ports connect to your servers or backbone at Gigabit speeds. You may not have a network backbone at this point, but if your network grows any larger you’ll need to undergo a proper design exercise for it.

In the meantime, check out the switch. You’ll find a massive increase in the performance of your network.

Now that’s an interesting question and quite unlike the ones I’ve had on this site before. In truth, the brain does produce different types of brain waves and there are devices around that can capture, monitor and even react to them. And this Christmas we’ll even find them on the shelves in toy stores.

For example, take this one: Star Wars The Force Trainer. It’s a toy that uses brainwaves to control a ball that seems to levitate with the power of your mind. A Jedi Mind Trick you might ask? Well, maybe; but really it uses a sensor on a headpiece that can pick up your brainwaves to work your way through 15 different levels. Obviously it has all the voices of your favourite Star Wars characters and it’s currently on sale from Buy.com

As you can imagine, if you can get this technology in a kid’s game, then finding an input device that can perform the same thing isn’t that hard. I’ve never used or come across one yet, but it’s really just a matter of time before they’re commonplace.

Cool future huh?

As you said this was a 16Gb card, I can safely say you’re talking about an SDHC card. Although SD cards and SDHC cards look identical, there are some technical differences between them. The HC stands for high capacity, because non-SDHC cards were previously limited to a maximum of 4GB only.

However, the change to the format means older card readers, such as the one you’re trying to use, cannot read them. The best solution is to buy a new card reader as all new models are compatible with SDHC cards or connect your camera to the computer directly if you have the appropriate cable. That way, whether you have a photo of allen carr or a photo of some pretty cats, you can always get to them

As you say, there has to be a simpler way and I suspect I may have the answer for you. As you’re running around with a laptop, I can only assume that you have Wifi in the house. If this is the case, you can now get printers that connect directly to your wireless network and print directly to it. This means that you can locate the printer anywhere you like in the house, whether it’s in a cupboard in the living room, or in a spare room upstairs.

One such printer is the Lexmark Pinnacle Pro901 Wireless Colour Inkjet Printer. I keep coming across this one and it always seems to get raving reviews. It’s basically your normal inkjet printer, but with the ability to connect to your weireless network and make itself available to all the computers on the network. It’s currently on sale from Buy.com and you can get it for around $170 (which includes shipping). That’s a mighty good price for a decent printer, especially if find it as convenient as I think you will. Check it out!