Q I've been using Google's free Gmail service to send photos inside an e-mail rather than as attachments. But a month ago, the photos stopped being sent. My friends received e-mails from me that had a red X where the photo should have been. My "sent" e-mail looks the same. Is this a Google issue, or is it something I caused on my PC?

ED KELSON, SAHUARITA, ARIZ.

A It could be both. Google says that it is "aware of an issue where users are having problems forwarding messages" that contain photos in the body of the message. For now, Google suggests you try changing the e-mail subject line.

But there's also an intentional Google limitation on sending some images. While Gmail allows you to send photos from your PC without interference, it draws the line at a Web page image inserted into an e-mail. As part of Google's protection against junk e-mail, or spam, your friends using Gmail won't be able to see the Web image displayed in the body of the e-mail. To see it, they must use the "display images below" or "always display images from ..." commands. See tinyurl.com/48lopew. If your friends use other e-mail systems, they may not encounter this problem.

In addition, you should check your Gmail formatting settings to make sure nothing's amiss. To include photos in the body of an e-mail, you must enable "rich formatting mode." Make sure you didn't accidentally switch to "plain text" by clicking it in the "compose" toolbar. If you did, click "rich formatting" in the toolbar to switch back.

Q I'm trying to save a personally valuable picture (of me and Mikhail Baryshnikov) from a 2007 LG cell phone, model CG225. The phone doesn't have e-mail capability or a removable memory card. We bought a compatible USB cable to transfer the photo to our PC, but the PC couldn't communicate with the cable. Can you help?

ELLEN FAY, ATLANTIC BEACH, FLA.

A The USB cable you bought probably didn't work because your PC lacked the proper software. Try downloading the free 2007 imaging software from LG at tinyurl.com/4r9lp9y. Install it and try the cable again.

If that doesn't solve the problem, consult with your cell phone service provider. (The phone was originally on the Cingular cell phone network, which is now AT&T.)

Authorized dealers typically copy your contacts and photos to a new phone. That would give you two ways to transfer the photo to a PC: e-mail and a removable memory card. If you don't want a new phone, perhaps you can pay the dealership to copy the picture and e-mail it to you, or to copy it to a flash drive.

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