I would like to trade stocks online through a discount broker, but the brokers require the use of cookies and my browser is permanently blocked from accepting cookies by personal choice. Any suggestions?
Yes. Browsers can block cookies, those insidious little text files that online publishers and advertisers place on your PC when you visit most sites. But browsers are undiscriminating, lumping unwanted cookies with the few you actually might want, because they contain automatic login information or other preferences. They either accept all cookies, bar them all, or warn you incessantly about all of them, both wanted and unwanted. Thus, your dilemma. But there's a piece of software that will bar all cookies except for those at specific sites of your choice. And it also can strip ads from Websites, to speed up your browsing, especially when you have a slow dial-up connection. It's called AdSubtract, and is at www.adsubtract.com.

The free version, AdSubtract SE, can block all cookies, but lets you exempt up to five sites from that ban. The $30 AdSubtract Pro version allows an unlimited number of exceptions, and also contains a cookie-manager utility to analyze and delete cookies already on your PC. I spend summer in Michigan and winter on the Gulf Coast. I have a Micron PC with a Zip drive built in.

I want to purchase another PC so I won't need to haul one back and forth. I am happy with the Micron and may get another. If I copy my complete files onto Zip disks can I load them into a different computer without problems, even if they are different brands and one has Windows 95 and the other has Windows 98?
It depends what kinds of files you mean. If you're talking about documents - word-processing files, spreadsheets, database files, drawings, photos, music, video clips, Internet bookmarks and so forth - the answer is yes. These files can be copied onto Zip disks and then transferred to the new PC, providing that the new PC also has a Zip drive and enough capacity on its hard disk. You could also use a single external Zip drive, disconnecting it from the old PC after copying the files and then connecting it to the new PC and installing the necessary Zip software. In either case, such document files should work fine on the new PC, provided that that PC contains the application programmes needed to handle the documents - for example, a graphics programe for drawings and photos. However, it's difficult and unwise to move other kinds of files - application programmes, hardware drivers and Windows system files - between PCs this way. You may not know how to gather all the needed files, or you may be moving fileswhose function is unknown to you. And, especially with different versions of Windows and different brands of computers, you could really screw up the new PC this way. So, to add your favourite programmes to the new PC, you'll need to dig out the original disks, or the downloaded installation files, and install them fresh onto the new PC.

I am always hitting the Caps Lock key by accident and have to retype sections of text after I realise it. Is it possible to reconfigure the keyboard of a Windows PC to make the Caps Lock key harder or impossible to hit accidentally?
Yes, but you'll need to download and install a special little utility programme to do so. There are a number of Caps Lock utilities, but two that I've looked at might fit the bill for you. One, called SmartCaps (www.phoebusnet.com /prod01.htm), adds an adjustable delay to the key so a quick tap won't activate it, and also plays a sound when Caps Lock is turned on or off. It costs $7. The other, called CapsWiz (members.tripod.com/tbarham/CapsWiz/), can totally disable the Caps Lock key, or selectively turn it off when you're working in certain programmes. CapsWiz also can correct text typed in the wrong case. It's $10.

-- The Wall Street Journal