QFor the past couple of months, I've been able to get sound with everything online except for YouTube videos. I've checked my PC's sound and there's no problem. What happened?

KAREN HARRIS, TUCSON, ARIZ.

AGoogle says your YouTube sound may be affected by volume controls on other video programs you use. So check the sound controls on programs such as Apple QuickTime, RealNetworks' RealPlayer or Microsoft's Windows Media Player.

If those adjustments don't work, download a newer version of the Adobe Flash Player software. (See tinyurl.com/2789kh for tips on how to configure Adobe Flash Player.)

QI've connected my Blu-ray DVD player to my home computer network via Ethernet cable so I can watch YouTube on my HDTV. But now the Ethernet light on my router stays on all the time -- even when the Blu-ray player is turned off. Is the Blu-ray player constantly using data that counts against my 25-gigabyte monthly limit?

DONALD ROCHON, ALFRED, ONTARIO

ANo. Your router light stays on to indicate that a live Ethernet connection is available. It doesn't mean that the connection is being used.

QI had a photo-enhancing program called "Picture It" on my old Windows 98 PC, but I'm told it's not available for my newer Windows Vista PC. I liked a Picture It feature that allowed you to "cut out" figures from photos and save them to insert into other images. Do you know of any other Vista-compatible programs that offer the cut-out feature?

CAROLE ZUBRIS, READING, PA.

AMicrosoft no longer offers the Picture It software, but I found two non-Microsoft photo editing programs that include the cut-out feature and are compatible with Windows Vista.

Try Picture Cutout Guide 2.1 (free to try, $45 to buy), at tinyurl.com/4tgrhvk, or kjClipper Photo Editor 1.25 (free to try, $29.95 to buy), at tinyurl.com/4s3jkbr.

QI like using Microsoft's MSN.com as my home page, but I really dislike the websites' Bing search engine because it takes too long to load. Is there a way I can have MSN.com as my homepage and not have Bing?

KEITH JONES, CHANHASSEN

AYou can avoid using Bing, but you can't avoid having the Bing search box appear on the MSN home page. I suggest switching from Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser to the Firefox browser (download it at tinyurl.com/w22sw), which includes the Google search engine box in the upper right corner.

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