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Dear PC Doctor:
In my cleaning spree lately I discovered I have a bunch of old floppy disks. My new computer doesn’t have a floppy drive and I don’t have access to one so I’m wondering what I should do to look at what’s on there or transfer them to a USB stick.
Don
Dear Don:
Of course my first thought is that if you found these disks and didn’t even remember that you had them, you obviously haven’t needed that information for a long time so how important can it be? But my second thought is that you still want to check it out because who knows what it is and could be important for archival purposes.
The easiest thing and probably least expensive is to purchase an external floppy drive which plugs into your USB port on your current computer. This item costs between $15 and $30 and can be purchased online at Amazon or at most computer stores. Then just plug it into a USB port on your computer, put in your floppies one by one and examine them. If they are worth saving, then drag and drop them onto your memory stick.
An alternative method if you just want to save them all and not take the time to look at them, computer stores will often perform this service for a fee.
PC Doctor
Dear PC Doctor:
For some weird and unknown reason the start button and the bar that has always been at the bottom of my screen is now at the top. My granddaughter was playing on the computer but she says she didn’t change anything. I suspect she may have done it accidentally but either way there it is and I would like it back the way it was. Please tell me there is some way to fix this.
Emma
Dear Emma:
Yes we can fix this plus I will tell you how to lock it down so it doesn’t happen again. First right click on an area of the bar (also known as the taskbar) that is blank. From the menu that opens make sure there is no checkmark in front of ‘lock the taskbar’. Close out of that and again put the mouse in a blank area of the taskbar, click and hold the mouse button and drag it to the bottom of the screen. It might not seem like it’s moving but just pull it as far as you can and then let go. Once it appears at the bottom, again right click and this time on the menu, put a checkmark in front of ‘lock the taskbar’ (by clicking on it). This should keep it there and avoid accidental moving.
PC Doctor
Until next time… happy computing!
Posted: to Athol Library News on Tue, May 18, 2010
Updated: Tue, May 18, 2010