Q: A colleague of mine recently gave me a CD-ROM business card that contained his CV and examples of his work. Can you tell me where I might get one of these?

A: It is quite amazing how these little "cards" have caught on.

There are several types; the true rectangular cards are more pleasing to look at but they only hold around 20mb. This may sound a lot but when you start including video and graphics it can quickly be filled.

The other problem with the rectangular cards is the noise they make when they spin up in your CD drive. There is a type of card that has rounded edges and these do hold more data (typically 60mb) but for my money you would be better using a mini-CD.

These are about half the size of a standard CD and hold 120mb. They are also much cheaper than the business card CDs. A good supplier can be found at: www.starmount.co.uk Q: I have a Pentium III 700Mhz and I have some money to upgrade. What would I be best spending the money on to make my machine go faster?

A: Many people are unaware that their computer processor is literally standing idle for much of the time because a computer is only as fast as its slowest component, in most cases the hard disk or the video card.

If you only have a small amount of memory, less than 64mb, you should consider upgrading to 128mb. Above this the benefits are debatable.

If you can afford it, SCSI hard disks represent a significant increase in speed over their cheaper IDE counterparts. If you like gaming or have a need for high-speed graphics, a good 3D accelerated video card will undoubtedly make a huge difference to the performance of your machine.

Q: I am about to buy a new computer from a well- known High Street store and they have offered three years' insurance in case it needs repairing. It is expensive but I am worried about repair costs if things go wrong.

A: Modern PCs have very good reliability levels until after (yes, you guessed it) three years. If a machine does go wrong it is more likely to happen within the first few months of use (still covered by the statutory guarantee).

If it works for the first year, the chances are it is going to work for a good number of years. I have seen some shops charge upwards of £300 for these extended warranties. Even if something did go wrong, I can think of no single item on most computers that can not be replaced for considerably less than £300. I am not a fan.