I have a Compaq Presario model 5015 that initially made sounds for various options, and the speaker icon showed on the task bar of Windows 98. That icon is no longer there and there are no sounds. However, an audio CD plays through the system as normally expected. The mute and volume controls for the CDs seem to be functioning normally but I can't find the way to turn on the sounds, despite perusing the "sound settings" in the control panel. Any suggestions?

You're the victim of the dumb way that Microsoft set up the icons for fiddling around with sounds. The control panel marked "Sounds" that you tried deals with what sounds are made when you do different things such as close a program, click the wrong choice in a dialogue box, shut the machine down, etc.

But the software for volume/ muting and the problems vexing you are behind yet another icon, the one marked Multimedia. Click there and you will get a window with a check box to display a speaker icon on the Taskbar for setting volume or muting all sounds. There also are the settings for playing or muting sounds from all possible sources that you can restore to their working state.

I used to be able to play CDs in my refurbished (with a new motherboard) AST Advantage 818. Then one day I popped one in and it doesn't work correctly anymore. It plays exactly 8 seconds of each track, then skips to the next track. I've tried different CDs, cleaning them, etc.

Those 8-second sound bytes you're getting when you try to play a music CD in your computer's CD-ROM drive aren't a bug; they're a feature. You've somehow set your Windows music CD player to preview mode rather than full play. The idea is to hear a few bars of a song and decide whether to play it or move on to the next cut.

With a CD playing you need to click the choice "options" at the top of the music player window and turn off the Intro Play choice.

I have something to add to your recent advice to users of Microsoft Word about deleting files by choosing the File/Open command and then right-clicking on a file and then choosing Delete from the pop-up window that appears. This works great but just sends the files to the Recycle bin where they continue to take up hard drive space.

Tell your readers that doing Shift + Del after they highlight a file will totally remove it from the machine instantly.

Your suggestion is excellent for several reasons, including the fact that nuking a file with Shift + Del keeps it from prying eyes who can easily open the Recycle Bin when you're away from your desk. Thanks.

I have Windows 98 and simply dragged program icons off the start menu onto my desktop. Now the icons aren't appearing on the start menu of programs and I can't pull them up in that traditional manner. How do I restore the icons to their original location? I would still like to keep a shortcut on my desktop.

All you need to know is that dragging icons from the list that pops up when you click on the Start button onto the desktop is a two-way street. You click on the icon on your desktop and drag it down to the Start button and let go. This will restore that icon to the pop-up start menu.

To keep an icon on the desktop and another in the Start menu simply right click on the icon while on the desktop and select the Make Shortcut choice. Drag one icon to the Start menu and leave the shortcut on the desktop.

Pub Date: 03/08/99