Uninstalling programs with the Add/Remove Programs control panel doesn’t do enough because there are lots of memory hogs that don’t show up on the panel’s list. Many of these hidden programs are unnecessary parts of needed larger programmes. They might, for example, add an wholly unwanted icon in the Windows XP tray at the bottom of the screen or keep checking whether a new version of the program can be downloaded.

Similarly, defragmenting hard drives can help a bit, but modern hard drives and today’s Windows file system (NTFS) are far more efficient than their predecessors. Fragmentation is no longer the problem it once was.

So what should users do? The trick – in addition to the above actions – is to run a program in the Windows directory called msconfig.exe. This, more properly, is a program called System Configuration and, in its Startup tab, contains a list of third-party processes run when Windows starts. There are check boxes that can be used to prevent them running. But take care: some of these processes will be needed, so it’s a good idea to do a web search on their (often unintelligible) names and make a judgement about whether to keep them.

- Rev Peter Mullen

There is one gem among the photography magazines, but most magazines on photography have little to distinguish themselves, with a similar mix of news, reviews and tutorials. Many have similar and bland names, such as Digital Photographer, Digital SLR Photography and Digital Photo. The choice can be made purely on the basis of how relevant to your personal needs the articles advertised on the cover sound. If you want to learn about taking portrait shots, and one magazine has a large feature on it, that’s the magazine to buy.

Most of these periodicals rely for two thirds or more of their readership from newsstand sales rather than subscriptions. That’s perfectly respectable for newsstand publications, but it does mean that the commercial incentives are on the magazines to fish for new readers, and that there are a lot of features for new camera users – for example, explaining how to hold a camera to prevent blurred images – which make most of the magazines less interesting once such techniques have been mastered.

Magazines are great mind fodder for long train journeys, but I find my photography improves more quickly from reading books, such as National Geographic’s Ultimate Field Guide to Photography, which is an excellent first book to read on photography, The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman, and Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape by Galen Rowell. If you want to learn about your specific camera, read a Magic Lantern Guide for that camera (here’s one for the Nikon D40).

So what’s the magazine gem I mentioned? It is Amateur Photographer, which the longest-running photography magazine (founded 1884) and is the only one that is weekly. It has a circulation of 22,242 a week; on a monthly basis, it is read by more people than any of its peers.

Despite the the modern connotation given by its name, this is a highbrow magazine that is accessible without being basic, with genuinely useful technique advice. The reviews are notably authoritative and detailed and it has particularly strong news coverage. Highly recommended.

This raises a problem: most attempts at cleaning the glass make matters worse, leaving streaks that impair the scanner’s ability to do a proper job.

So what’s the solution? The only things I find that work well are wet cleaning wipes that come in small sachets and are designed for spectacles or computer screens. Some of them are designed to that they don’t need wiping off, but I like to go over with a soft cotton handkerchief for good measure.

Wipes are more convenient than messing about with glass sprays, and prevent liquid from entering the scanner’s insides. It’s a good idea to store a box of them right by the scanner.

If there’s a lot of dirt on the glass, blow as much as possible of it off first, so that wiping the glass will not create scratches.

Officially known as the Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G, it is designed to work with Nikon’s DX format SLR cameras, starting at the entry level D40 going up to relatively high end D300. It’s not designed to work on the FX-format cameras like the D3 or D700.

Indicated by its AF-S branding, this lens will autofocus on the entry level digital SLRs as it has an autofocus motor built in.

The lens’s fast maximum aperture (f/1.8) will make this a must-have for anyone on a DX format camera doing indoor shorts regularly – especially given the recommended price of just under £200. It is expected to be on sale from early March.

There’s no rule that says you have to use an official camera bag. Any ordinary bag or briefcase will do – you could wrap up your cameras and any lenses in protective cases or, less efficiently, in thick bubble wrap. Just make sure that they are wrapped up well enough that they won’t get damaged. Lens cases are available from Lowepro and from lens manufacturers like Nikon.

The virtues of putting your equipment in a discretely designed, dedicated padded bag increases as the quantity of equipment you’re carrying goes up.

Whether you use a specialist camera bag or not, my advice is to carry as little with you as possible – if you can get away with just taking one or two lenses to a shoot, then do it. Why carry equipment you don’t need?

I like bags from Lowe Pro. Their “slingshot” backpacks are aimed at photojournalists: they will both store lots of equipment, but also make the camera easy to access because they are designed to slide to the wearer’s front so that the camera can be obtained. The Lowepro Slingshot 300 AW is worth a look. If the sliding facility is not important, National Geographic’s rucksacks for camera equipment also look good.

Avoid any bags that use velcro. If you want to take a snap when at a public event, the noise of the velcro coming apart may annoy people.

When actually taking the shoot, you can decant your camera and a spare lens from a bag into a waist belt like the Lowepro Inverse 100 AW – but you can also use a well-endowed coat.

One such coat is the Barbour Border jacket. It has side pockets that are huge and will let you put a Nikon D40 or similarly sized digital SLR in one pocket, and a large second lens in another. If you need more space, there are also two large inside pockets.The Border is a slightly longer coat than the basic Barbour jacket, and comes with larger pockets. They last for years and, if you go for the olive green version, it’ll help you blend into the background if doing nature shots. If you rip or get a hole in the coat, you can send it back to Barbour and they will repair it for you.

The best thing about putting your equipment into a coat or waist belt  during a shoot is that you’ll always have your spare lenses easily to hand, without needed to delve into a bag.

This YouTube video shows what happened to one caller to the HP technical support line. I wonder if the caller will ever buy an the same make of computer again. One of the great frustrations when calling such lines is that the people who answer the calls initially can’t help – couldn’t they train everyone to have a reasonable level of expertise in dealing with customer problems?

Furthermore, this particular call could have been completely avoided had the vendor provided system CDs with his computer. By presumably saving a tiny amount money by skimping on a couple of CDs, don’t vendors just aggrivate their users and increase their costs later on when having to deal with calls like this.