InBox

By DON McALLISTER

Welcome to InBox, where we attempt to answer your internet questions.

Q. Stephen has misgivings about his daughter installing KaZaA, an internet music file sharing program.

A. Well, Stephen, this is a big can of worms. The music industry is dead against file-sharing programs like KaZaA, saying using them to get music for free is theft. But so far it has only gone after the websites that provide the software - not individual users. The counter-argument is that because millions of people are already using these programs (KaZaA alone has more than eight million users), the genie is out of the bottle and the music industry is fighting a losing battle. Users also point out that not all music shared in this manner breaches copyright and that for some artists it's a great way of getting their music heard. You will have to make your own decision, Stephen.

If you do try it be aware that the idea of these programs is to share with others - so unless you turn that feature off you'll find files on your PC go out to the net also. That can get very expensive if you are on capped broadband internet account because you pay for material going out as well as coming in. With KaZaA you should also be aware that it has a parasite program bundled with it which sets up a doorway through which your computer can be surreptitiously used as part of a "distributed computing" network. There are ways to disable that feature and other file-sharing programs such Audiogalaxy, Morpheus, Bearshare, WinMX and Imesh.

Q. Craig wants to know if there's a free alternative to running out of date anti-virus software.

A. Yes, Craig, try AntiVir or AVG Antivirus. Free antivirus software may not be as advanced as the more well-known, paid products, but running free, current software is much safer than being out of date.

Q. Internet Explorer shows a red cross instead of a jpg or jpeg picture, complains John.

A. Start Internet Explorer and go to View/Encoding/Western European (Windows), John. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options/Advanced and verify that the "Show Pictures" check box is selected under Multimedia. Click OK. In My Computer/Tools/Folder Options/File Types make sure that the jpeg and jpg types are associated by default with Microsoft Internet Explorer (Iexplore.exe).



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