• Check all of the cables are plugged in: obvious, but try it.

• Replace the batteries in the keyboard and/or mouse.

Remove useless files

Over time your computer becomes cluttered with redundant programs and temporary files. Because these files are difficult to delete manually, software company Piriform created an application called CCleaner, which does the job for you. Download it at tinyurl.com/fileclean

Companies may look to cash in on the upcoming mobile market rather than invest millions in video games. Will it work though? Monopoly – the game – has had a long and complicated pedigree. It first gained traction in the 1930s, partially stimulated by a need to escape from the economic woes of the depression. If it has an equivalent today it is Farmville, available on the social website Facebook, which claims an astonishing 74 million regular users. It is the most successful of a number of similar games on Facebook which are themselves part of a wider boom in gaming during the recession.

iPhone creator believed to be in talks with UK phone networks over subsidies for the much-anticipated tablet computer. Apple is understood to have approached several UK mobile phone networks, including Orange, about selling its forthcoming tablet computer to British customers.