Q. I recently bought a scanner for photographic slides, but have discovered several slides marked by fungus. Can they be cleaned? Liam Kind, north Wales

A. According to one interesting report (tinyurl.com/6gzm8), it may be possible to remove fungal contamination from slides by, er, freezing them for a short time, then swabbing the mould with cotton buds. I’m no expert on art restoration, so please test this theory on nonessential slides first.

CALL A HALT

Q. How can I protect myself from being charged a fortune for premium-rate calls I have not made? Sheila Baker, via e-mail

A. You’ve been attacked by a rogue dialler program, which covertly installs itself on your computer and makes premium-rate or international calls in the background. These attack only dial-up connections, and firewalls offer no protection, so tell your phone company to bar premium-rate calls from your phone. The Irish authorities have hit back by suspending direct dialling to 13 countries, but we wait in vain for such a response from BT and Ofcom. If you have been a victim, visit www.premiumratescam.co.uk for a possible legal solution. The £9 StopItNow may help: download a free trial from www.stopdial.com. Or switch to a more secure web browser than Internet Explorer, such as the excellent, free Firefox (www.getfirefox.com).

EXPRESS PAIN

Q. My Outlook Express messages all now contain attachments. How can I stop this? Jean Morgan, via e-mail

A. What you’re probably seeing is the certification message from version 7 of the free AVG antivirus package — it is attached to every outgoing message (and returns in replies) if sent in HTML format. Try switching off HTML via Tools, Option, Send, selecting plain text as the mail sending format. Alternatively, you can turn off the AVG Certify Mail feature by launching its control centre and selecting E-mail scanning, Properties and Configure.

MAIL ON THE MOVE

Q. Is there a way to automatically forward messages from my old e-mail account to the new one? Timothy St Ather, London

A. The free Return Path service (www.returnpath.net) offers three options. Register your old and new address, and your contacts can use this to locate your new home. You can also send a change-of-address card to all your contacts, and even automatically forward messages from your old inbox to the new.

OVERSEAS RISK

Q. I bought a laptop from a US website, but it turns out to be reconditioned, not new, and I’ve had problems with it. What can I do? Lisa Quinn, France

A. I don’t recommend buying high-value, high-tech products from overseas sites. You may save a few pounds, but you are flush out of luck if something goes wrong, unless the company you bought from has warranties in place for international customers. The problems are compounded with internet shopping, in that there is no store to return the unit to, even if you could justify the air fare. Your only recourse is to appeal to the firm’s better nature, or shame it in public by recounting your experiences on a consumer forum such as www.reviewcentre.com.

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