Q: I have Windows 7, Internet Explorer 7 and IE 10 installed on each of two PCs that I work on. I need to work with at least two windows open at all times. My problem is that unless I am super careful when trying to arrange the windows on the monitor, they pop open, filling the monitor screen. This is very annoying. I wonder if you know of a setting that would keep this from constantly happening!?

— Jo Lewis, Redmond

A: If you right-click on the taskbar, you can quickly access commands for tiling, stacking or cascading open windows. If that isn't what you're looking for, there is a program called WindowManager that allows you to specify size and location for each window and it will remember those settings. I can't vouch for the program personally, but you can try it free for 30 days. Downloads are available at www.desksoft.com/WindowManager_Download.htm.

Q: When I travel I like to carry and use two or three cameras for both redundancy and differing situations. The cameras are different manufacturers and thus assign different names and other data for each picture. I download each day's pictures from all cameras in a date-named file on a PC using Windows 7.

My frustration and my question have to do with the sort capabilities of the Explorer file program. That program does not sort by date (time of day) except by listing each camera's pictures in their particular date/time order; it will not merge the pictures by time taken, so I have the Canon, Panasonic and iPhone pictures intermixed by time of day taken. I'd like to relive our trips in time order, not by each separate camera's time order. Is there a solution within Windows or are there simple photo-editing programs that will overcome this?

— Ken Attebery

A: Actually, if you configure Windows Explorer to show file details — right-click in the window and then select Details — you'll see a column labeled "Date modified." If you click on that, Windows Explorer will sort all files by date and time.

There are other programs you may want to explore that will offer the capability along with other tools. I have found Adobe's Lightroom to be a very useful application for managing images.

Q: I have an old Hewlett-Packard desktop computer, which runs Internet Explorer. I am using my iPad, which uses Safari, more often now and especially when I travel. There are some sites (like Blockbuster) that do not recognize me when ordering on my iPad, which is very frustrating. I have contacted them and they said it was because the browser was not Internet Explorer. Other sites (Amazon.com) have been able to adapt. Why is this the case and any solutions?

— Susan Anderson

A: Unfortunately, as anyone who has ever designed a website can testify, sites are a long, long way from being standardized. Pages tend to work a little differently in each browser you try. In fact, most Web designers test their pages on all the major browsers to look for quirky behavior. At this stage in the development of the industry, it's up to the website to make sure it's compatible with the browsers visitors are using. That, of course, takes time, which means money.

Q: I use Microsoft Publisher for some menu-printing chores at my restaurant. One file is four pages and is often updated. Seemingly randomly, after printing one or two sets of pages with no issues, the first page prints with just a solid black square filling in the entire print area. I have used this file on two different computers and two different printers with the same result.

— Casey Schanen

A: Sounds like a memory issue to me. My guess is that those black squares are where there should be images. Yes? If so, see how large those images are. Anything over 500K is unnecessarily large. Try reducing the sizes of the images and print again.

Questions for Patrick Marshall may be sent by email to pmarshall@seattletimes.com or pgmarshall@pgmarshall.net, or by mail at Q&A/Technology, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/

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