Q: Can you tell me why I need a screen saver? Will my screen be damaged if I don't use one?

A: In the early days of computing, text-based computer displays would often display the same text for long periods of time. This resulted in something called phosphor burn, caused by the electron beam of the display eating away the phosphor coating on the inside of the screen. The idea of the screen saver is to keep the display constantly changing so that no area of the screen remains the same for long periods of time, thus avoiding phosphor burn. In reality modern screens will almost certainly be fine without a screen saver, for even heavy home use.

Q: I am thinking about buying a CD-Rom writer. What is the best one?

A: There are a very large number of models to choose from, too many to be covered in this column. However, I have found SCSI-based CD-Rom drives to be much more robust than similar IDE-based drives. I favour an external drive rather than internal (but that is just a personal preference). You should also ensure that the drive you buy has Re-Writer capability and should have at least four-speed write capability for standard writeable CDs.

Q: I have heard the phrase search engine used about the internet. What is it and how do you use one?

A: The internet is basically a vast network of computers that provide a means of displaying information for different websites. A search engine is a special website which searches the internet and catalogues keywords within each site. Anyone visiting the search engine web page can type in keywords describing what they are interested in and the search engine will try to match the words you enter to sites it thinks you are interested in. There are many search engines to choose from, a favourite of mine is www.hotbot.com but the most popular search engine on the internet can be found at www.yahoo.com Q: My computer has a 17-inch monitor but the icons appear really small. Is there any way of making them bigger?

A: It is likely that your screen is running at a high resolution. You can reduce the resolution by right clicking anywhere on the background of the desktop, click properties, click the settings tab and move the desktop area slider to the desired setting. This does have the disadvantage of reducing the amount of space you have on the desktop (you should not reduce the desktop area to less than 800 x 600). An alternative is to go to display properties (as described above) then click on the effects or plus tab and check the large icons field.