Thanks for your answers. I don't use Virgin's email system, as I prefer to use webmail (Hotmail/Gmail), so that should be fine. I'll have a look at the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard too. Up until now I've been backing up all my files and documents onto DVD+RW discs. My current computer uses Windows XP, but my new one will be Windows 7.

I am thinking of getting a new computer soon. I currently have broadband internet from Virgin Media. When I get the new computer, how do I transfer the internet connection to it? Is it just a matter of plugging my cable modem into the new computer via the Ethernet cable and I'll be recognised straight away as an existing customer? If so, then that is simple enough. Or will I need a CD to install the Virgin Media software on the new computer? I'm not sure if I've still got the CD that I used to install it on my current computer, so is there a way of installing it without a CD?

Thanks for your responses. Yesterday I received another response from a different customer services rep, who was more helpful than the first one. They said that I could potentially transfer the money for the unused portion of the subscription to another magazine that they publish. So I will have a look and see what other magazines they publish, as there might be another one that's more relevant to me.

In September last year, I took out a 12-month subscription to a trade magazine. I paid for the whole 12 months upfront by debit card via the publisher's website. However, last month I was made redundant by my employer, and I'm no longer working in the industry which the magazine is about. So I sent an email and letter to the publisher, saying I'd like to cancel my subscription as I'm no longer working in the industry, and I asked for a refund. Both of my requests (email and letter) were ignored, so this evening I re-sent the email, and this time I copied in a different email address which I found for the publisher by doing a Google search. I just received a reply from the publisher, and this is what it says: I'm really surprised about this. I don't understand why they can't cancel the subscription and return the money for the outstanding portion of the subscription. One thing I noticed was that this email appeared to have been sent by a customer service representative based in the USA (they'd put their office address at the bottom of the email), even though the magazine is published within the UK. I'm aware that the publisher has bases in both the UK and US. Under UK law, should I be allowed to cancel the subscription?

I just received a call from First Assist, claiming to be calling on behalf of the Halifax, with whom I have a bank account. They were offering personal accident insurance and were asking if I'd like to take part in their insurance scheme. At first I thought it was a free offer for all Halifax customers, so I asked if that was so. But then the lady said it would be £6 something a month, so I said no and thankfully they ended the call. Is there a way for me to opt out of these calls? I've looked on the Halifax website but I couldn't find an email address for them. I don't use the online banking service so I can't email them via the built-in messaging service.

Thanks for that. I have removed that section from my public profile, so now only my friends can see it. It made me feel uncomfortable, because when you are at work you are a captive audience and you are representing your employer. If a telemarketer calls you at home and they don't take no for an answer, you can just hang up. However, if you did that at work, it might make them think badly of the company or they might even call back and complain your manager. I work for a well-known company, so obviously I don't want to do anything which might damage their reputation.

Where I work, we all have individual telephones on our desks and our own extension number. I work for a large company in a "back office" role and in my job, I only ever really deal with internal callers from other departments. In fact, I can only think of 2 occasions over the last 5 years where I've had to deal with an external supplier. This afternoon, I received a telemarketing call from someone trying to sell IT systems. Although I'm in a technical role, I have no say in how the company's budget is spent as I'm a junior employee and not a manager. I explained this to him, but he still insisted on sending me an email detailing his company's products, and he wants me to forward this on to my manager. As I was concerned about how he found my phone number, I asked him where he got my number from. He said that he had seen my profile on Linked In, with my name and the name of the company that employs me. He then phoned the company's switchboard and asked to be put through to me. I never publish my own extension number on any website, and I find it rather creepy that a telemarketer would call the company switchboard and ask to speak to me. (LinkedIn is a site which works in a similar way to Facebook, but it's mainly for people who are looking for new jobs, so they can get in touch with recruiters easily). Has the telemarketer broken the law by contacting me in this way? My LinkedIn profile is aimed at recruitment consultants and I didn't specify on my profile that I wanted to be contacted by any marketing people. I don't publish any contact details on there, because I only want people to contact me via LinkedIn's internal messaging system. I've now removed my employer's name from my profile, for the sake of security. Am I over-reacting, or do you agree it seems a bit creepy that a total stranger (not a customer or existing supplier) should phone your company's switchboard and ask to speak to you?

I have my own blog (online diary) on the internet, in which I write about the main events in my life, but nothing too personal. I only update it in my own time (never when I'm at work) and I'm always very careful to avoid writing anything negative about other people. I find it much easier to express myself in writing than I do verbally. Yesterday, someone left a comment on my blog which I found really offensive. This is what they wrote: "Bloody hell [my real name] you are a freak…. you don’t speak to anyone at work, you write on here like you have a personality but in fact you can’t speak to anyone face-to-face…. What’s wrong with you??" I don't know for sure who it is as they used a false name. I do have their IP address though, as that gets logged automatically by the blogging software, so I found out that their ISP is BT Broadband. I get on well with everyone at work; it's true that I'm one of the quieter ones, but I'm always friendly to people and I always get positive feedback from colleagues. I think it must be someone who is friends with me on Facebook, as I have a link to my blog on there, and I don't give out the website address anywhere else other than to people I trust. My Facebook account is friends-only, but I have a lot of colleagues on my friends list. If a total stranger left an offensive comment, it wouldn't bother me and I'd just delete it. What makes it worse is that it's a colleague. It makes me feel sick that a colleague, someone whom I trust, could write something like that. It makes me feel paranoid about who the culprit might be - for all I know it could be someone who sits on the same row of desks as me. I actually went through all my colleagues' profiles trying to see who has a BT email address. It turned out that my main suspect actually has an NTL (cable) email address so it's unlikely to be him, but I did find someone else in my team who has a BT email address. He seems quite a friendly person in real life, so I'm really shocked that it might be him who left the nasty comment. Is there any way I can find out for certain who it is? If I wrote to abuse@btbroadband.com, would they be able to do anything to help? As the culprit wrote the comment on a Sunday (ie out of working hours and they used their home computer) does that mean my employer won't be able to help me even if I did manage to find out who it was? By the way, this isn't the first time a nasty comment has been left on my site, but this time it's much more personal.

Thank you for your advice. I'd love to go ahead and just apply for the job anyway, but there is a rule in our company that says if you want to apply for an internal job, you have to get the application signed off by your current manager, and they have to write a short reference saying whether they think you'd be suitable for the role. As my manager has already said I can't apply, it's unlikely he would sign the application form for me. Furthermore, the decision about who should be interviewed/offered a role would be made by the manager of that team (the one who rejected me during the redundancy selection process), and it seems that he's quite stubborn, so even if my own manager did sign my application form, I probably wouldn't get an interview anyway. That's why I'm stuck. Is there any law which says that they must offer me a trial in that role, to save me from redundancy? The role profile does say that experience is required, but I think I'd be able to pick it up, given the opportunity. I meet all the other criteria. The jobs have only been advertised internally and not externally, so if they won't accept me (and the other people who have been made redundant from my team), I don't see how they're going to be able to fill these vacancies at all.

I recently went through a selection process, and I was one of the many people in my department selected for redundancy. My department is made up of 5 different teams. All 5 teams went through the same re-structure. When the managers were deciding who would get the roles in the new structure, they filled all the roles within my team. They wanted to keep me but there were only 7 roles in the new team structure, so there just wasn't enough room for me. However, there are still several unfilled vacancies in the new structure for one of the other teams within my department. My manager said that during the redundancy selection process the manager of that team had considered me for a role there, but I couldn't have one because I don't have experience in that field. So I asked if I could shadow someone or have a mini-secondment in that team in order to learn more about the role and to prove if I have the aptitude to do it. I believe that even though I don't have specific experience of that role, I would be able to pick it up quickly (I'm a fast learner) and many of my existing skills would be transferrable. However, the manager of that team refused to even let me trial the role. Now the vacancies in that team have been published on the internal jobs board. I asked my manager if I could put in an application, but he said no as I'd already been considered for those roles during the selection process. So now we have a situation where I've been put at risk of compulsory redundancy against my wishes, even though there are jobs sitting empty which I'm not allowed to apply for. Are employers allowed to do this? I wish they would at least give me a chance to prove whether I could do those roles.

Thank you for your advice. I'll see what happens when I have my meeting with my managers next week (to discuss the reasons for the decision in more detail) and then I'll decide what to do next.

A re-structure/selection process has been going on in my department. In the current structure there are 120 employees, but the new structure will have 95 people. Today I had a meeting with my supervisor (and the senior manager responsible for my area) and I was told that I haven't been offered a role in the new structure and I've been placed at risk of redundancy, although I'm not yet under notice. I've worked in this department for 2 years, and I've always had good bi-annual appraisals and performance ratings. I've also had lots of positive feedback from internal customers and I've often been praised for my technical skills and the speed and accuracy of my work. Over the past 2 years I've worked in 3 different functions within the department, meaning I have a broad skillset. I've read the role profiles for the new structure and I believe I have the required qualifications, skills and experience. Furthermore, my supervisor wrote in the manager's comments section of my selection form that he thinks I would be suitable for just about any of the roles in the department due to my strong technical ability. However, team supervisors weren't actually involved in choosing the successful candidates - that was all done by a panel consisting of the senior managers. That's why I was so shocked that I've been selected for redundancy. Even my supervisor was surprised and seemed disappointed that the panel hadn't selected me for one of the roles. I'm concerned I may have been discriminated against because I'm quite a shy person, even though I still perform my job well in spite of this. My current role is very technical and involves very little limited interaction with customers external to the department. The roles in the new structure will also be very technical (according to the role profiles). I'm not a "popular" (read: chatty) person, but I'm always friendly to people and I get on well with all my colleagues. All the people I've worked with seem to like me and they think I'm a considerate person, although I wouldn't consider myself to be really close friends with any of my co-workers. I'm the sort of person who keeps my head down and works hard. In my appraisals, my supervisor has often said that my communication skills are a development area, but he also says that I work very hard to improve them and that I've made significant progress. I realise that shyness is a personality trait. However, in a redundancy process, is discriminating against an employee's personality treated the same as discriminating against someone's race or gender? Would I stand a good chance of winning an appeal?