Ask Owen

I have collected numerous unneeded and unwanted toolbars across the top of my internet screen. I would like to be able to delete some of them but although they seem very good at telling me how useful they are, they are hopeless at telling me how to get rid of them.

I’ve found that if I press the F11 key this clears them temporarily but I then lose the ability to see the status bar at the bottom of the screen. Can you help?

{Read More}

I have recently upgraded from Internet Explorer 8 to 9. Unfortunately, I am now unable view my British Gas online account because, I’m told, its website is not compatible with IE9. Do you have any suggestions?

{Read More}

I’ve been playing around with different browsers and recently installed Firefox. I like it loads, but whenever I start up Internet Explorer, it offers to take its place as my default browser. How can I stop it doing this?

{Read More}

Sometimes a message appears when I’m browsing the Internet that asks if I want to use something called a debugger. It’s not clear which button is the Cancel button sometimes a very complicated looking program called Microsoft Visual Studio Debugger appears. How can I disable this?

{Read More}

I would like to use the BBC iPlayer but when i try to view programmes, the website tells me that I need to install Adobe Flash Player. When I follow the link for this, I am advised that I need to install Adobe Flash Player Installer. Microsoft warns against using websites that run ActiveX Controls. Is it safe to proceed with the full installation?

{Read More}

I use Internet Explorer to browse the internet on Vista. My hard disk crashed recently so I’m in the process of rebuilding my new OS. How can I retrieve all the IE favourites out of my crashed hard disk? They should be stored in a folder on my hard disk, right?

{Read More}

I use Outlook Express for email and people often send me link to web pages. Lately, though, these link all seem to be broken; when I click on one, nothing happens. My internet connection is working, so what’s wrong?

{Read More}