Traci from Boston: My company just sent me a new notebook computer that lacks a CD-ROM drive, along with a big box of software applications. How the heck do I install them?

Coach: Assuming your notebook has a network connection, you can share a CD-ROM from another computer. Use Windows sharing tools by right-clicking the CD-ROM drive in the 'My Computer' window then choosing Sharing and Security. Most applications will install this way. However, this won't help you boot the notebook in case you need to recover from a hard disk problem. For that feature and future peace of mind, get an external USB-connected CD-ROM drive. Plain CD-ROM readers cost about $50, or splurge for an external CD-DVD read/write, do-everything drive for about $200.

Frank from Philadelphia: Why do computers still come with floppy disk drives?

Coach: It's like your appendix - useful once, but no longer - floppy drives seem to be an anachronism. However, if you build your own computer, the only way to load special drivers during Windows installation is via floppy. Stupid but true. Maybe Microsoft will fix this oversight in Longhorn, meaning we'll only have to keep floppies for another two or three years. (Of course, you can always load Linux instead; it doesn't need a floppy.)

Jerry from Denver: When I took my kids to buy a new computer, the hard drive choice was between Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (my son wanted PATA, and my daughter demanded SATA). What happened to Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) and SCSI?

Coach: More market stupidity. Standard IDE hard drives, the ones used in desktop PCs forever, have been renamed PATA drives, supposedly to help differentiate them from the newer SATA drives.