I purchased an external USB hard drive. It functions correctly and shows up in Device Manager but does not show in "My Computer". Is there a way to get Vista to recognize this external hard drive in "My Computer"?

Yes, here's how:

1. Go to Start>> Administrative tools>> Computer Management>> Disk Management.
2. Right click on the external hard drive.
3. Select the "Mark partition as active" entry.
4. Click OK.