Steve Alexander: When you lose free e-mail, try a new provider

Q I have been randomly losing e-mail folders from my account at Windows Live Hotmail. After trying to get an answer from Hotmail, I concluded it's a common problem and there isn't a solution. Do you have any suggestions? I'm considering changing e-mails systems, but would like to avoid the hassle.

BOB JAFFRAY, WAYZATA

A To find your lost e-mail, try Microsoft's tips at tinyurl.com/ygdp2dy. For the future, consider these options:

•Use the free Yahoo Mail or Google Gmail, which don't delete messages unless you tell them to, and which have nearly bottomless pits of storage capacity.

•Keep your Hotmail, but get a second account from a different provider. Forward your vital e-mail to the second e-mail account. Now you have two copies.

•Store important e-mail on your PC as well as in your e-mail system. You can copy e-mail to a Microsoft Word file.

Q We use iTunes on a PC to download podcasts that we then transfer to an iPod. But during the transfer process we keep getting this error message: "Windows-No Disk. There is no disc in the drive. Please insert a disc into drive E." Our PC doesn't have a drive E. How can I make this stop?

A The problem isn't with iTunes, but with a related Apple video program called QuickTime that came with iTunes.

Open QuickTime by going to "Start," selecting "All Programs" and then clicking on the QuickTime folder. Inside the folder, click on the "QuickTime Player" icon. When the program opens, click the "File" heading, then "Open Recent" and then "Clear Menu."

The next time you use iTunes, the error message should be gone.

Q My old HP PC has a 498-megahertz processor and 192 megabytes of random access memory -- but my 2009 TurboTax program requires 256 megabytes of RAM. Is there a simple fix?

RICHARD SMITH, TUCSON, ARIZ.

To do that, either take your PC to a computer store with repair facilities or buy RAM online at websites such as www.memorystock.com (just type in your PC's make and model) and install them yourself.

But before you upgrade, think about whether you want to update an already out-of-date PC or buy a new one. While a RAM upgrade may solve your problems for now, your PC may not be able to handle the increasing demands of new software in the next year or two.