Thirty PC problems solved

5) Turn out the lights in Openoffice
Q I love Openoffice but when I’m typing a blue picture with a light bulb appears in the bottom right corner of the screen. It’s particularly annoying when typing long documents. How can I make it go away?

A This picture normally appears to tell you that Openoffice has corrected a spelling mistake. To get rid of it click Tools, then Options. Click the General option under openoffice.org in the left-hand section of the window and click in the box labelled Help Agent to remove the tick.

6) Move it all in Vista
Q I’ve recently purchased a new computer running Windows Vista. I want to move all my stuff from my old computer, which runs Windows XP, to this new one. Is there a simple way?

A The simplest way is to use Vista’s Windows Easy Transfer software. This can transfer files using an external hard disk, or over a home network if you have one. Or you can buy a cable to link the two computers, such as the Vivenco Easy Transfer Cable. Sadly, this software can only move files and folders, not programs ­ you’ll have to install them on the new computer yourself.

7) Excel wrecks my dates
Q When I type a date such as ‘10 July 2008’ into Excel 2003 it is immediately converted into ‘10-Jul’. This is not what I want. How can I stop this?

A This problem occurs when Excel tries to detect what you’re entering and format it appropriately. To change it, select the cell or cells, right-click and choose Format Cells. Choose Date from the left-hand list, then pick a format from the list on the right and click OK. If you can’t find one to suit, pick Custom from the left-hand menu and choose an option from the extensive list that’s displayed to the right.

8) Double-layer DVD dilemma
Q I am trying to burn a video DVD using my computer, but I’ve hit a snag: the video requires 8GB of space, but even when I put an 8.5GB blank DVD in the drive my computer sees only 4.5GB of space. What’s wrong?

A There are two types of DVD: single-layer, which hold up to 4.5GB, and double-layer, which hold up to 8.5GB. Your drive is single-layer only, so can’t write 8GB of data. There are two solutions: either buy an external double-layer drive, which will cost around £30 from Dabs, or use a program such as Nero Recode which can squish the video down to fit on a single-layer DVD.