A: You are right when you say that the familiar keyboard combination used on previous versions of the Mac to force it to reboot or reset does not work on the iMac. The iMac has two small holes alongside the connection ports inside the side panel. The upper of these is for resetting the computer and can be activated by using a paper-clip (use the paper clip that you had for ejecting reluctant disks in your previous Mac!).

There is a more user-friendly means of activating the tiny switch - buying a special device that is fixed over the reset hole. This provides a button to press to restart the machine without switching it off. There are two companies that market such devices. For more details see: www.macsonly.comireset.html www.imacresetbutton.com Q: How do I add the programs I use regularly to the Start menu on my Windows PC to make them easy to access? - C. Smith, Hull.

A: Adding regularly-used programs to the Start menu is fairly straightforward. If you click on Start at the bottom of your screen, the list which pops up has a number of options. Choose Settings, and then Taskbar from the menu that appears to the side. At the top of the window which opens, there are two “tabs” - click on the one labelled Start menu programs. You can then choose Add from the resulting shortcut window. If you know the location of the program that you want to use - for example, c:\applications\word\word.exe - you can type it into the on-screen box.

Alternatively, choose to browse your hard disk and locate the program that you wish to add. When you have typed in or found the program, click Next. You can then choose the location for the program that you are adding to the list. At the top of the file structure displayed at this point, you will see the Start folder. Select the folder, click next, and then OK to finish. The new program will now be in your start menu.

Q: When using Word I like to use the Palatino font, but each time I load it and start typing the text is in Times. What really frustrates me is that as soon as I notice the Times font I highlight the text and change it, only to find that later in the document it reverts to Times. - B. Lawrence, Hereford

A: YOU DO not say which version of Word or machine you use but there are some general principles that might be helpful. Make sure that you choose the font and size before you type anything. The font and type size you select will then be the default for that document - no reverting to Times for example. A better approach is to set the default values for the Word program. It will then always use Palatino, or whatever you choose.

Questions answered by Les Watson, dean of learning and information services at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education