Final score
I have downloaded a "parasite" from Marketscore that is spying on my internet usage and locks me out of the web at random times. I can't get rid of it, despite following the instructions on the Doxdesk website and downloading Spybot to kill it.
Martin Butler

Jack Schofield replies: Marketscore's FAQ tells you exactly what it is doing, so I would expect its removal technique to work, too. Go to www.marketscore.com/e/members/login.asp, type in the email address and password you used to join, and it should remove the service. Unfortunately you will not be able to do this if you cannot remember the email address and password you used. This is why you should keep records.

If following the Doxdesk instructions does not work, there is an alternative. Marketscore changed its name from Netsetter, and there are (somewhat tedious) instructions for stopping that from working at www.marioncomputer.com/internet/Help/netsetter.htm

Finally, Marketscore is one of Spybot's targets. If that fails to remove it, ask for help in Spybot's support forum.

Games out
I have tried deleting the games in Windows XP but they do not stay permanently deleted. Lewis Osbourne

JS: Windows XP does not like people deleting its files and will always try to put them back. However, it will happily remove features, if asked. Go to Start|Settings| Control Panel, run the applet to Add/Remove Programs, and pick the section for Windows components. Items ticked should be (or will be) installed, and anything not ticked will be removed. Double-click the Accessories section and untick Games.

No texting
How I can receive SMS (text) messages from people using mobile phones on my Windows 98 PC. David Critchley

JS: I don't think you can, unless you add something to talk to a GSM (mobile phone) gateway. That could be a mobile phone or GSM wireless card: either would have a SIM card and a phone number. <

ST rescue
I have a number of important files created by the old Atari ST Writer word processor on floppies formatted by it. Is there any way of translating them into Word 2000? Bill Long

JS: If you still have an Atari ST, you can transfer files this way. (1) Format a 3.5in floppy disk to 720K on your PC. (2) Load the file you want to convert into ST Writer on the ST. (3) Save the file in a standard format such as RTF (Rich Text Format) or ASCII text to the PC floppy, using a simple 8+3 DOS-compatible file name. (4) Copy the file from the floppy to your PC's hard drive. (5) Load it into Microsoft Word. RTF, if available, will preserve all or most of the formatting, which will be lost if you use plain text. The ST's Marcel Word Processor can apparently read ST Writer files and save RTF files. Searching Google for MARCEL_A.ZIP will find it.

If you do not have an Atari ST, you should be able to do it with Gemulator 2000, which you can download free from www.emulators.com/download.htm. Gemulator emulates an ST (and the very similar Apple Macintosh Plus) on a PC, and also reads Atari ST floppies. (TOS 1.04 and later versions are DOS compatible, and if I remember correctly, earlier versions of TOS were only one byte different from DOS floppies.) You could also try a number of other Atari ST emulators available for both PCs and Macs.

Delete it
Is there a way of deleting unwanted read only/write-protected files? Anthony McKenna

JS: If a file is write-protected, then usually you can change the permissions (or file attributes) so that it isn't. To do this, right-click on the file, select Properties, and untick the box that says Read Only.

However, you cannot delete files that Windows thinks are in use. The first idea is to empty the Temporary Internet Files folder, restart your PC and see if you can delete it now. The second idea is to restart your PC in DOS mode and delete it there. You may find this easier with a DOS utility such as XTree, TreeView or Vsevolod Volkov's free Volkov Commander.

Ad-aware
You advised that Ad-aware could be found at http://tomcoyote.com/Isindex.html. When I tried to find the site, I got a 404 Error - File Not Found.
Ken Jones

JS: The address was correct but lsindex.html starts with a letter l for LavaSoft not a capital I. If an address does not seem to work, try following a link from the online version. Links to the most recent Ask Jack columns are at www.theguardian.com/internetnews.

Backchat
· Last week, Mike Baker wrote from Queensland, Australia, to ask about converting bitmap images into JPegs for quicker transmission by email. Jim Elks from Brockville, Canada, says he uses Gadwin PrintScreen, which lets you choose to save the captured image in the format you want. Barry Caruth recommends Hyperonics' HyperSnap-DX which is powerful but costs $35. Mac user Brian Whalley suggests a freeware program, Captura, from www.hernansoft.com. He says: "This works for Linux and Windows as well as Mac, though I have only tried the Mac version so far."

· David Williams, responding to Stop Hotmail (August 15), says: "It is quite hard to find out how, but you can delete a Hotmail account. Click on Help on the right of the tabs and type 'close account' in the Find box. When a list appears, select Close your Hotmail account, then click Go to the Close Account page. Finally, click the Close My Account button.

"This has the advantage that you can foil spammers for a month or two, then re-open your account!"