Q: I read in one of your earlier Q & A’s that the IE Favorites list can be sorted into alpha order by selecting the ‘Sort by Name’ option which appears when you right click on the Favorites list. Unfortunately, this option doesn’t appear when I right click on the Favourites list - I am running XP SP2 and IE 6.0.2

A: You most likely have the Favorites panel always present on the left-hand side and there the right-clicking method is not available for some inexplicable reason, probably known only to Microsoft. The symptoms are that there is no Sort by Name option when you right-click.

The way to get around your problem is to open the Favorites from the toolbar where you have File, Edit, View and then Favorites. Then when you right-click on that list, you will have the sorting options. In my beta release of Vista this idiosyncrasy has been fixed.

Q: I attempted to download Lavasoft Ad-aware and got the following on my screen:
Internet Explorer Security Warning. The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software. Name ---  aawsepersonal.exe, Unknown Publisher.  This file does not have a valid digital signature that verifies its publisher. You should only run software from publishers you trust. I do not understand this. Lavasoft is a reputable firm, can you enlighten me on this.

A: I agree that Lavasoft is a reputable firm but very many reputable firms will show the same error. When you run a downloaded program Windows checks that those programs have a digital signature attached.

In order for a vendor to receive this digital signature from Microsoft takes time and money, and so the smaller vendors and many larger vendors do not go to this effort and expense.

Not having a digital signature does not mean that the program cannot be trusted. I normally run programs that display this warning although I always have my anti-virus current when I do this.

If you want to be really sure then you can verify that the vendor/publisher is not listed in the "Untrusted Publisher". Do this from Internet Explorer click on Tools, Internet Options then on the Content tab and click on Untrusted Publisher. It the vendor is not on the list then I would run the software.

Q: Forgive me is this is a dumb question but can I use my dial-up internet connection on a wireless PC? As you would have guessed I am not very computer literate.

A: There is no such thing as a dumb question. I you don’t know the answer then you can be certain that many others don’t know it either. I assume that you have an existing computer on dial-up and wish to share the Internet with another computer without having to run a cable to it.

The answer is that this can be done. All versions of Windows have Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). If you look in Help by pressing the Windows key and the F1 key and type ICS in the Search box you will be give the necessary steps.

With the wireless connection, if you only wish to connect two computers and not likely to have a third, then you can purchase just two network cards without needing an wireless access point which is normally used to create a wireless network. If using a wireless connection you must look deeper in the setting up and configure both wireless cards in the ad-hoc mode which does not require a base station.

This ad-hoc mode can be useful if you wish to transfer files to a friend’s laptop in some remote location, such a transferring your photos to friend that you meet on a camping trip and have no other means of connecting.

Q: I have produced a PowerPoint presentation on CD and would like to change it to DVD for showing on a home TV. Is there a software package available or better, can PowerPoint be made direct on DVD?

A: You cannot directly put a presentation to DVD from PowerPoint but there are many commercial programs that can achieve this and they will include all your animations, sound etc. They generally cost about $100. See: www.allformp3.com/powerpoint-dvd-maker for one such program.

However, if you already have the program Camtasia and the Nero DVD burning software, then there is a good tutorial on how to create it yourself. See: www.awesomebackgrounds.com/powerpoint-to-dvd.htm for details.