When I use either my HP or Epson printer, I find the prints are darker than what is shown on my computer monitor. I have to brighten the image by about 50 per cent to get a print that approximates the colours on screen. Is there a program I can download to remedy this? Melville, Pok Fu Lam DQ: The biggest problem with colour management is that the computer monitor deals with colours differently to the printer. Colour printers use the subtractive 'four-colour model', represented by CMYK - cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). It is subtractive because the ink used for printing partially or entirely masks certain colours on a typically white background used for printouts. Computer monitors deal with the additive RGB colour model - where red, green and blue lights are mixed to produce all the colours. Various applications allow a computer's operating system to handle colour management giving a good match with imaging devices such as digital cameras, printers, monitors and scanners. The graphics-editing program Photoshop and other products from Adobe Systems are used to accomplish that. Most printers have some kind of colour profile, including those for Adobe products, to load into the operating system. Most have a test page that can be printed out to calibrate the printer's colour profile. Keep things as simple as possible. I suggest you find a new software driver for your printers from the respective makers' websites. My iPhone 3G and iMac recently 'died', so I am scrambling to put all my data and applications on to replacement devices. What can I do to protect myself from this problem next time? Name and address supplied DQ: Some of us love technology but fundamentally do not trust it; I am one of those. Having a backup for your data is important. If you're serious about it, have more than one backup. You should have the original system, a backup of that and another in a different location. That is the minimum. Otherwise what would happen if all your data was lost? The iMac's hard disk should be recoverable unless it is terribly damaged. If that is recovered, you will be able to reinstall most of what you lost on the iPhone. The best thing to do is ask the vendors who sold you the computer. Your main problem will probably involve applications downloaded from the internet for your iMac or iPhone. These applications might not work on a new machine. Contact each software vendor and tell them what happened. If you are a registered user, there should be no problem. This process may be time-consuming but it should help get the job done.