With Andrew Hardy, owner of Doubleclick-IT

Q: I have just bought an Epsom Stylus printer. Can you tell me what are the differences between glossy, premium and standard inkjet paper (apart from the price, that is)?

A: Inkjet printers work by depositing tiny droplets of ink on to the paper that make up the text and images you send to the printer. Whilst incredibly flexible, this approach does have its drawbacks, one of which is "wicking". This is when fibres in the paper absorb the ink and it spreads (very much like a fabric stain). This reduces the amount of ink that can be placed on the paper accurately and the overall quality of the image. Glossy paper has a shiny finish so that little or no wicking occurs and in some printers can produce photographic results and vibrant colour. Glossy papers were very expensive (£1 a sheet) but are now becoming more reasonable. If you don't have a need for photographic results then stick with ordinary inkjet paper.

Q: I want to transfer a compilation CD of my favourite music. I already have a CD writer. Can you recommend a software package?

A: There are a number of software packages on the market, probably the most popular is CD Copier Deluxe from Adaptec (http://www.adaptec.com). This is a good package and has a good reputation, especially for music recording but more recently a package called Nero from Ahead Software (www.ahead.de) has been getting excellent reviews and, for my money, is a superior product to Adaptec's offering, especially for copying or writing data CDs. Both packages are very easy to use and have step by step "wizards" to guide you through the CD writing process.

Q: Can you tell me how ICQ works and where I can get it?

A: ICQ is a small software package that is installed on your machine and can tell you, based on a list of "buddies" that you specify, who is currently online. You can send messages to people, have online chats and a host of other features. AOL recently launched its competing product AOL messenger and this seems to be gaining in popularity rapidly. Both are excellent products but can get a bit tiresome after a while and you quickly find yourself selecting the "privacy" option so that people don't keep asking you to chat, which defeats the object somewhat! You can download ICQ from:

www.icq.com
and AOL messenger from www.aol.com/aim/ home.html