Q: I want to recover my photos from a 2-terabyte (2,000 gigabyte) PC hard drive that isn't working properly. I can't do it myself because of a mechanical problem with the drive, but a repair shop wants to charge me $1,000. Is that the average price for a drive of this capacity?

Tom Kent, St. Augustine, Fla.

A: That's within the range of what others charge for a drive that's physically damaged, which adds to the cost of retrieving its data.

Best Buy's Geek Squad would charge you $1,450 or more to recover data from a drive that's physically damaged (see tinyurl.com/kcouuac). Some repair shops charge $1 per gigabyte to retrieve stored data, regardless of the drive's condition, which would cost you $2,000. A few online shops charge $300 to $400 plus drive shipping costs (see tinyurl.com/mnvg8mw).

The high cost of retrieving your photos is why PC hard drives should be backed up often.

Q: After I installed some Windows Vista updates in mid-October, I couldn't connect to Facebook using Internet Explorer, and a couple of other programs quit working. What can I do?

Philip Berglund, Minneapolis

A: Your problem may be related to some security updates Microsoft made to Windows and Internet Explorer in mid-October. The updates followed news reports that Russian hackers had tapped into Windows to spy on Western governments (see the New York Times story at tinyurl.com/ozak9av). Here are some things you can try:

Open Internet Explorer, go to "Tools (the gear wheel)," select "Internet Options," and click the "Advanced" tab. Then click the button under "Reset Internet Explorer Settings."

If that doesn't work, download the latest version of Internet Explorer (tinyurl.com/a733ys7), and reload the other programs that aren't working.

If that doesn't fix it, run the free Malwarebytes security program (tinyurl.com/kyn6x2e) to catch any viruses.

Q: When I used Windows XP, I could easily move, copy, and edit images. But I can't find the equivalent functions in Windows 7. Can you help?

John Green, Duluth

A: To copy a photo, right-click it and select "copy" from the menu; then go to the file folder where you'd like to put the picture, right-click and select "paste."

To move a photo, open Windows Explorer to the photo's location, hold down the left mouse button on the photo, drag the picture from one folder to another, then release the mouse button.

To edit a photo, download Google's free Picasa at tinyurl.com/kqxkhzl or Microsoft's free Photo Gallery, which is part of Windows Essentials at tinyurl.com/lug2nvd.

E-mail tech questions to steve.j.alexander@gmail.com or write to Tech Q&A, 425 ­Portland Av. S., ­Minneapolis, MN 55488. Include name, city and telephone number.