This week my mailbox contained questions about Internet access via satellite, running out of memory in Windows, and changing the structure of a hard disk.

Q. I asked my satellite-TV provider if their company would eventually provide the Internet through their satellite system. How far off is this technology, and should I keep this in mind when I buy my next computer?
A. The technology is here already, sort of. Hughes Network Systems, the company behind the popular DirecTV satellite-television system, offers a satellite-based Internet-access service called DirecPC. It boasts a maximum download speed of 400 kilobits per second, which is slower than some cable modems and DSL phone-line systems, but much faster than standard dial-up modems. However, the Hughes system has some major drawbacks. For instance, the satellite Internet service is one-way: you still need a dial-up modem and a regular Internet-service provider in order to send anything from your PC to the Internet, including e-mail and even requests for Web pages to be downloaded from the satellite.

Prices can also be high. The service starts at just $20 a month, but that's in addition to whatever you pay your regular Internet-service provider, and it only gets you 25 hours a month. The price climbs steeply if you want more hours, or inclusive Internet-access service. For instance, to get 100 hours a month - just 3 hours or so a day - with telephone Internet access, it costs $50 a month, plus $1.99 an hour for each extra hour. And you have to buy and install a special satellite dish - regular DirecTV dishes won't do the trick. Also, you have to install special software that intercepts each request for a Web page and redirects it to a Hughes computer center before it goes to the target Web site.

When I tested the system a few years ago, I found it slow and clumsy, but it's improved since then. If you crave faster Internet speeds, and can buy cable modem or DSL service, I'd forego the satellite option. But if you can't get cable or DSL Internet access, the satellite option may make sense, despite its drawbacks.

Q. I have my Vaio 360 installed with a total of 128M memory but I get "out of resources" messages when I have only a few applications running, namely the Explorer, Outlook, Sony's Picture Gear, MS ActiveSync and a Chinese environment under Windows 98.
A. One of the most annoying limitations of Windows 98 is that it chokes if too many programs are running, especially memory-hungry programs, regardless of how much memory you have. That's because the operating system sets an artificial limit on a type of memory called "system resources." It sounds like you're bumping up against this limit because one or more of the programs you typically use is very large and sucks up these resources. The chief suspects on your list are Outlook and the Sony software, though it may be that the Chinese language plug-in is also at fault. All you can do about this is experiment, find the culprit, and run it alone, or in conjunction with fewer other programs.

Q. I have a Pentium II computer that I bought with Windows 95 installed. About 6 months ago, I upgraded to Windows 98. My C drive is about 95% full but the hard drive is also partitioned into D and E drives. I've heard that with Windows 98 I can re-partition my C, D, and E drives to be one big C Drive. If this is true, what is the best way to do this? Is there some software product I need?
A. Yours is a common problem. Your C drive, which in your case is just a partition, or section, of your hard disk that Windows treats as a separate physical disk drive, is filled up because so many programs put files there by default. Luckily, there's a very good software utility that can expand the C drive by shrinking or even eliminating the D and E drives (the total capacity of the hard disk is unchanged by this process.) It's called PartitionMagic, and it lets you resize or merge or create partitions on your hard disk, without going through the techie torture that used to be necessary. It costs $70 and can be purchased in a store or downloaded from the publisher, PowerQuest, at: www.powerquest.com/ partitionmagic/.

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