Tip O'Tex Computer Club - 2001 Archives
| AOL | August | |||||
| Automatic Dialing | September | |||||
| Beginner's Corner | Jan - Feb | Mar - Apr | June | Jul - Aug | Sept - Oct | Dec |
| Chat | April | July | ||||
| CD-RW | June | July | ||||
| Defrag | June | December | ||||
| October | November | |||||
| Favorites | August | |||||
| Member's Tips | October | December | December | |||
| .mime Files | ||||||
| Old newsletter (1990) | February | |||||
| Opening Files | May | |||||
| Saving Files | November | |||||
| Utility Programs | January | June | ||||
| Viruses | February | September | ||||
| Volunteers Needed | December | |||||
| Web Pages | August | |||||
| Windows Explorer | March |
January 2001
Mrs. A:
I just got another letter from my niece. I sure wish she wouldn't forward things to me. Her letters always have dozens of other people's addresses (and I surely don't need all those) and its full of those little "laying down carat" characters, or whatever they're called.Mr. B.
I know just what you mean. I have several people that forward things to me, too. Only I've come up with an answer. I just delete all forwarded mail even before I open it. Okay, so I may miss a good joke or two, but I save myself the aggravation of having to look at all those messy letters.Mrs. A.
Wouldn't you think they would learn how to clean up those jokes, etc.? I realize that its not easy, having to copy/paste their letter into my word processor and then go thru the removal of those characters and shorten up all their weird little short lines, but I do it when I send things along - I don't forward. I've been told not to, and I've been taught how to do it right.Mrs. C.
Well, folks, not that I intended to listen in on your conversation, but I thought maybe you'd want to know that there is a nifty little program that will clean up those messy letters for you. And its very easy to run, too. I can give you the link to the web page where you can get it, and I can give you very basic instructions on how to use it. You might even want to send that information along to the people that are driving you nuts.Anyway, that's a pretty good approximation of a conversation, either overheard or imagined. So here goes
As noted in the notes from the December meeting, this little "cleaner" program works well in doing just what its name would indicate - cleaning up documents.
You can get the most recent version of this program (version 2.01) at: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,6492,00.asp
Now you're ready to use the program, so open your mail program (Outlook Express, Netscape mail, America Online... wherever you get your mail) and see if you can find a really messy letter - and that's not going to be very hard to do, probably. Time for directions for USING the program now:
Open a new e-mail message. This may be Compose, or it may be New Message, but its whatever you use when you create a new letter to someone. In the "message" area, click once, then Paste (RIGHTclick, paste or click Edit, click Paste or Ctrl V) and you have the whole messy letter ready to go to someone, only you're sending it on in a readable condition.
Its very common to hear "I must be doing something wrong. It was working yesterday... what could I have done to mess it up?"
Don't always assume that if something is acting strangely on your computer, that its your fault. The chances are that it isn't your fault at all. Some of the things that may be the cause are (if you're online):
If you're not online then there are other things that are NOT your fault.
February 2001
You Think You've Got Troubles?Recently I was trying to help someone get a virus cleaned off their computer. It seems that every time he ran McAfee, the infected files renamed themselves. And McAfee couldn't delete the infected files. Since the files were located in C:\Windows\System, we figured that we'd have to delete the files from the DOS menu. We went to DOS and got to the proper directory only to find that the files didn't exist. Now, how can you delete something you can't find?
Heading for the store seemed to be the next thing to do, so off he went where he purchased JUST the Anti-Virus program (not the whole Works).
Back home... Now to uninstall McAfee. Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs. That went well. Now to install Norton. Installing Norton is really quite easy - as are most programs. Just follow the prompts - answer the questions - click Finish when you see it, and then re-start the computer.
The next message I received said that Norton found those files - and Norton killed those files. One more computer running nicely again.
BUT... the next day, I received an ICQ message from someone that a said a friend of theirs had the same virus. Now we know how to handle this little problem. Only they didn't go out right away and purchase Norton - they just kept trying to clean it with an outdated version of McAfee. They're up to 240 infected files as of now, and planning on getting Norton tomorrow. We can only hope that the damage won't be too extensive.
Am I nagging? Probably :-) But having an updated anti-virus program running is SO important. Sometimes people say "it updates every morning" WRONG. It may "scan" every morning, but with very few exceptions, you have to update it manually -- and OFTEN.
Club Members
Win Heath
was a long-time member of this club, until he could no longer drive to the meetings. Even after he could no longer drive, other members were glad to pick him up so he could attend. Win passed away last week, on February 2. He'll be missed.A few months ago, Win brought me his collection of club newsletters. They date back to December, 1992. Below is an excerpt from the December 1992 letter.
Excerpt from an article titled "Expert Opinion" by Bill Gates.
"First, microprocessor technology must continue to advance, as it has, at a fairly constant rate. (Over the last decade, a doubling of power every two years or so has been realized.) There is every reason to believe this will continue. For example, in 1986, the 16 MHz 80386 was state of the art. After two years, the speed was up to 33 MHz. In 2989, the 80486 was introduced, with more processing power and a clock speed of 25 MHz - and 50 MHz versions were introduced in 1991. By the end of 1992, the new Intel chip and the MIPS 4000 chip will more than double processing power and speed again. PC systems will have gone from less than 1 MIPS (Millions-of-Instructions-Per-Second) of computing power a few years ago, to more than 50 MIPS on the desktop."
"Similar advances are occurring in related areas of technology.... Soon there will be low-cost, small form-factor 400 MB hard drives. Cheap, removable optical storage devices will provide even greater storage. Wireless networks will provide 10 megabits per second of data transmission, and fiber networks will handle 100 megabits per second."
"No matter how good the products or techologies, change is always more difficult than static, no matter how much support a vendor provides, there are always questions that only other users with similar experiences can easily answer. There will remain in the PC industry for decades a need to pass on certain "folklore" and "common law" about technical matters that cannot be transmitted any better way than person-to-person. It is "Information at Your Fingertips" in the most personal sense, and user groups are the best forum in which it can occur.
Ed. Note: That last paragraph tells why this club exists - the first two paragraphs seem funny, looking at today's technology.
How do you make sure that you're seeing everything inside a folder when you're viewing its contents in an Explorer window? Open any Explorer window; select View, Folder Options; click the View tab; under Advanced Settings, select Show All Files (under Hidden Files); then click OK. If you are NOT viewing all files and you drag and drop all files in a directory to some other location (to copy them), any hidden files inside the originating directory do not get copied.
On the subject of Explorer, do you know how to find the files you've saved? Do you know where your programs save the files? Do you know how to find the "path" to a certain file? In order to find out, the next time you create a file in, say MSWorks, and click on File, Save As to save it, look at the top of the Save As screen - you'll see the name of the folder where its going to be saved. That will probably be a sub-folder, but at least you'll know its name.
Do you know the name of a file you want to locate? If not, you need to pay more attention to what you name your files. And remember--you don't have to name them with eight characters anymore. You can name them really descriptive names, such as Letter to the Board of Directors dated 2-10-01.wps if you want. There are several characters you CAN'T use, but you'll find that out if you use one.
Now, in order to find the above mentioned file, wherever it is, try this:
If the previous instructions seem complicated to you just reading them, try reading them AS YOU DO IT. Follow the instructions step-by-step and you'll find that it's a lot easier
doing than reading. And that's the way it is with a lot of our computer work.March 2001
Windows Explorer used to be called "File Manager" and that is a much better name for it, since it describes exactly what it is and does. Do not confuse Windows Explorer with Internet Explorer, which has the blue "E" icon, and is your web browser. It is possible to get to Windows Explorer by clicking on My Computer, but that brings you a different view - a view with only one screen - and that limits what you can do there.
There are many ways to get to your Explorer screen, but it might be best to put a link to it right on your desktop. To do so:
1. Click on Start
2. Slide up to Programs and on the next screen that comes up,
3. Look for Explorer (with an icon that is a yellow folder with a blue magnifying glass on it) - you may have to scroll down to find it, but its probably there.
4. RIGHTclick on that icon
5. Slide over and click on Send To:
6. Slide over and click on Desktop (create shortcut)
Now you have that icon on your desktop - but there's a handier place for it, if you have the Quick Launch toolbar. To move it down there, just click/hold and drag it down until your mouse turns into a black vertical bar, and is positioned on the Quick Launch bar and then let go. You may end up with the icon in both places, but that's not all bad.
When you open an Explorer screen you'll see that your screen has two sides. However, if your settings aren't right, you may see only icons for the Folders or Files, and you may not see the full name of the files. If you go to the Windows Explorer toolbar and click on View, make sure there's a dot next to Details. If there isn't, click on Details. Then you'll be able to see the columns across the top of your Explorer screen. The column headings should be: Name, Size, Type and Modified. If you see a File with a name, but no extension (such as bootlog instead of bootlog.txt then there's another change you have to make. Go to View again, and this time click on Folder Options. On the next screen, click on the View tab. Put a checkmark next to "Display full path in title bar" and remove the checkmark next to "Hide file extensions for known file types."
With the above changes made, you'll be able to see the full name of all of your Files, the size, type and last date
modified. All of those things are important. You need to know the size of a File if you're going to attach it to an
e-mail, because any File over 100 kb is probably too big to send via e-mail. There are exceptions, but that's a pretty
good stopping point. Most .jpg files are only 50-75 kb in the first place, and text files are much smaller.
Time to use Windows Explorer
Upon opening your Windows Explorer, you'll see, on the left side, a list of the Drives on your computer, and you'll be looking at the beginning of the C: Drive. Under that there is a list of all the Folders on your C: Drive. There are a lot of Folders that have + next to them. That means that there are Sub-Folders within that Folder. There is a - next to the C: Drive, and if you click on it, it will turn into a + and collapse your view of C: and the list of your folders.
On the right side of the screen is the list of Files. If the C: on the left is highlighted, then the Files you see on the right are Files that are in your "root directory" and that directory (or Folder) is used mainly by Windows itself. If you scroll down the right side, you can look for file0000.chk (or 0001, 0002 etc.) Those files indicate that there have been problems with Windows. If you look across the screen to the right, you'll see the date the problem occurred. Those Files can be safely deleted.
To delete Files from Windows Explorer, highlight the File by clicking on it (unless you're set in the "single-click mode" in which case you just hold your cursor over the File) and then hit the Delete key on your keyboard, OR you can RIGHTclick on the file and on the menu screen that pops up, click on Delete. Either way, you'll be asked if you're sure you want to send the file to the Recycle Bin, and you click on Yes.
If you are REALLY sure you don't ever want that File again, and want to bypass the Recycle Bin, hold the Shift key while you Delete.
With the split-screen Windows Explorer, you can move Files from one Folder to another. There are times when you save a File, and don't know where it is. You can find it using Find, then, when its located, you can move it to the Folder where you really wanted it in the first place.
You can rename a File using Windows Explorer, too. Locate the File you want to rename, then RIGHTclick on it, click Rename and type in the new name - BUT make sure you give it the exact same extension, such as .wks - .wpd - .doc - .jpg - don't try to rename the extension.
When you save a file (by using File, Save as: in almost any program) the screen that comes up is sort of an Explorer
screen. In the Title Bar you will probably see the Save As, and under that will be a line titled "Save in:" At the end
of that line is a downpointing arrow, and if you click on that you'll see what you would see on the left side of a
Windows Explorer screen. If you scroll up, you can choose what Folder you want to save to. You may have to
doubleclick on the C: Drive and then choose your Folder, but with practice, you'll be able to save anywhere you
want. Lower on that screen, you'll see "File name" and it probably won't have name in there, or if it does, it might
be something like Document1.doc. You don't want to save with that name, so that's where you type the name of
your choosing. You can even use a name such as "Letter to Aunt Doris in March" Don't bother to put the extension
(.doc, .wps, .txt, etc.) since the program you're saving from will do that automatically.
Most of the main article in this month's newsletter will be helpful to the beginner. One of the things mentioned, but not explained, was the use of Find.
There are times when you have a pretty good idea of what the name of the file is, that you're looking for, but can't find. But you don't know where it went. It could have been a picture that you saved from an e-mail, or it could be a document that you created and named.
With Windows 95/98 and Me, you don't have to know the complete name of the file. With the old Windows 3.1, you could only do a "find" if you looked for the entire name, such as "marlist.wks" (with Windows 3.1, only 8 characters could be used before the "dot" so we came up with some pretty funny names.)
To locate a missing file, click on Start, slide up to and click on Find (its Search if you're using Windows Me) slide over and click on Files or Folders.
In the space provided after Named: type in even part of the name of the missing file. If you were looking for "Letter to Aunt Doris" you could type just Doris. You need to use only one word. If you use more than one word, be sure to put quotation marks at both ends of what you type.
In the space provided after Look in: if you see anything other than C: or "Local hard drives" click on the downpointing arrow at the end of that line and then click choose C: (or Local hard drives, if you have more than one hard drive) and then click on Find Now.
The first thing you'll notice is "There are no items to show in this view" - that just means that it hasn't found it yet. If the little blue magnifying glass stops moving and you still see that message, it means it can't find it at all. Try using another word. If you search for aunt you may come across files such as taunt or haunted but that only shows you how good the search is.
When you see the file you were looking for, you will see above it, the columns Name - In Folder - Size - Type - Modified. If you don't see all of those columns, you can scroll across the bottom, or you can make the Find screen wider.
In the In Folder column, you'll be able to see where the file is. If you want to move it to a different Folder, you can move it right from the Find screen, by opening a Windows Explorer screen and position the two screens so you can see both the file you want to move, and the new location. Then RIGHTclick/hold on the file and drag it to the new location. But don't let go until the name of the folder is highlighted. When you let go, you'll get a pop-up screen asking what you want to do: Move, Copy, Create shortcut, Cancel. If you really want to change the location, click on Move.
April 2001
Introducing Darlene
Let me introduce myself. I am Darlene Thoen and I was the coffee lady for this computer club for the past couple of years and now. I am going to try writing the newsletters each month. So, if you will bear with me, I think this will be fun and a learning experience for me and for you. I live in Minnesota in the summer months and live in Mission at Wagon City in the winter months. My husband, David, and I have been retired for a few years now and it is most enjoyable.
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Now, down to business. If there is something you would like to see in this newsletter, please send me a note at my e-mail address thoen@bigfoot.com I will try to cover a variety of subjects and I hope I will be able to write intelligently about them.
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A couple of subjects that I will probably nag on, will be to update your anti-virus programs and to get your windows critical updates as these things will help keep your computer running in the manner that it should and will help eliminate some problems down the line.
And, I don't like receiving e-mail that has been forwarded many, many times and I am sure that most of you don't like that either. So, in some future months we will cover the how to's of copy and paste. Also, those of you who have the eCleaner program will find that using it cleans the e-mail that has all the >>> in them. To use eCleaner you need to copy the text of your letter and then open the eCleaner program and click on the smiley face and you will see it zip by and all the >>>>>>> are gone. Now, it should be already highlighted, so all you have to do is go your new e-mail or wherever you want, and click on Edit, click on Paste. Or you can Ctrl V, or you can RIGHTclick, click on Paste. All of those methods work.
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I think working together on this newsletter will be fun for all of us. So, hang in there and see what happens.
One of my favorite quotes: You can't direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails.
Want to keep in touch with people this summer? You really ought to have at least one chat program.... Yahoo Messenger, AIM, MSN Messenger or ICQ. The following is a chat using Yahoo Messenger. It describes how we keep in touch with people in the summer, when we''re used to seeing them every day in the winter.
bobbie2836:
Hey Darlene... I see you're online. Did you get back to MN okay?buzzeroonie:
Hello and yes we didbuzzeroonie:
The house is safe and sound and it is good to see the grandkidsbobbie2836:
How was the trip? and what's the weather like? A little cooler than here?bobbie2836:
I'll bet it was nice to see them.buzzeroonie:
Yes, it's cooler and we won't be in our shorts for a few daysbobbie2836:
I'm going to see most of my grandkids when I get to Michigan.bobbie2836:
And you miss the pool already, right?buzzeroonie:
We sure miss the pool, but it will be all redone when we get back to TX in the fallbobbie2836:
Are you in touch with some of the park people, to keep abreast of how the pool work is going? I''ll bet you'll be anxious to get back in it.buzzeroonie:
right!!!!!!!! we do love the poolbobbie2836:
I'm going to see Carmen this morning. I'll tell her I talked with you.buzzeroonie:
ok say hi to her from us and Dorinda toobobbie2836:
While I'm in Michigan, I'll still be online - with my laptop.buzzeroonie:
You never seem to be too far away from your computerbobbie2836:
nope - you know me...... "have computer, will travel"buzzeroonie:
Stay in touch and catch ya later.bobbie2836:
Well, I'd better get going. Nice to see you here. Bye for now.buzzeroonie:
you bet. BybybybybyBetween the regular letter keys and the numeric pad you''ll find two sets of keys. The lower set is comprised of four "arrow" keys. Those keys will move you up, down, left or right, and they''ll do it without putting in any spaces or removing any characters you''ve already typed. There are places where these arrow keys come in very handy, and we''ll get to some of those later. So remember where they are.
The other set has some very special keys that are overlooked a lot, but shouldn't be.
Insert If you have ever typed something and then tried to go back (either with your mouse or with an arrow key) and found that when you put in the new letter it replaced the letter right after the cursor instead of adding a new character. That''s because you''ve inadvertently hit the Insert key. Just hit it again, and you''ll be back to normal.
Delete Easy enough, right? It means just what it says. But in addition to deleting files, etc. it will also get rid of the character to the RIGHT of your cursor. Sometimes people purposely move the cursor past the character they want to delete so they can use their Backspace key, and that''s a waste of time. Just remember "Backspace to delete to the left, Delete to delete to the right."
Home This key will take you to the beginning of the line you're typing on at the moment. Ctrl + Home will take you to the very beginning of the document you're using.
End This key will take you to the end of the line you''re typing on at the moment. And as before, Ctrl + End will take you to the very end of the document. These keys may not seem very important right now, but if you want to make things easier on yourself, you''ll use them later.
Page Up As it says, this key will take you one full screen UP in your document.
Page Down This will, of course, take you one full screen DOWN in your document.
May 2001
Recently a club member received a letter from her daughter that had an attachment that just couldn't be "read" although she was able to get it downloaded.
We've all gotten attachments that, for one reason or another, we couldn't open. Other than some AOL attachments coming thru as .MIM files, the main reason is that the sender and receiver aren't using the same software. (See the solution for .MIM problems later in this issue.)
One of the greatest examples of this is when the sender is using PrintArtist and tries to send a copy of a card they created, to someone that uses PrintShop. The two programs aren't all that compatible. The same goes for business cards created using MSPublisher and sent to someone that doesn't have that program at all, or has a VERY different version.
Another member, without realizing it, was sending what might be called "unfinished" pictures from his Visioneer program. If sent to another person that has Visioneer, it would be okay, but to anyone else it would present an unsurmountable problem. The way to solve the problem of sending pictures you have scanned, is to make sure that they are in either a .jpg or .gif format. You could use a .bmp format, but why do that when they're SO much bigger than the others, without being a clearer picture.
How can we avoid these problems? Ask the person to whom you'll be sending an attachment, if they have the program necessary to view it. And while you're at it, if you're going to be sending an attachment that is BIG (anything over 300 kb is big) you should ask them it that is okay.
These mime encapsulated files have been a problem, in the past, for AOLers. There are programs out there specifically designed to unencapsulate them, but why not use one of the programs that you probably already have on your computer….. WinZip.
To use WinZip to get thru the .mim barrier:
1. After downloading an attachment that has a .mim extension, go to the folder you use to hold your downloads, and locate the file in question.
2. HOLD the Ctrl key and RIGHTclick on the file. That will bring up a Menu that should have (at the very top) Open With.
3. Click on Open With and then choose WinZip as the program to be used.
4. You will then see WinZip open, and may have to click on "Agree", which will then open the file so you can see what files are encapsulated within it.
5. You'll see several files that are .txt files. Don't worry about those. What you'll see in those files can probably be seen in the original letter anyway. You'll also see some icons that you recognize as .jpg, .gif or .bmp icons. Those are the files you really want to see.
6. Click once on one of these files, hold the Ctrl key and click once on each of the others you want to view.
7. Click on the Extract picture on the WinZip toolbar.
8. Chose the folder where you would like to place those files (pictures) and then click on the word Extract on the right side of the screen. This will just take a few seconds, and you may not even notice that its been done. But if you go to the folder you selected for holding the files, you'll be able to open them now, using whatever software has been associated with them on your computer.
In #8 above, you may have a problem finding the folder you want to use. But if you remember how to locate files and folders, you'll do okay. When you are at that screen that comes after #7 above, you'll see (along the right side of the screen) a list of some things on your computer. Click on the + next to C: and that will expand your view of your C: drive. Then click on the folder you want to use for storing pictures. If necessary, click on any other + signs until you find the folder. Then click on the folder itself and then click on the word Extract. These instructions work for any time you want to use WinZip, and you should learn how to do it, or else you'll end up zipping things into folders where you just can't find them again. And its no fun to lose files.
June 2001
There is a neat little program out and about right now. This will do the ctrl+alt+del endtask for you on the
computer. I have used it and it is a nice thing to use. You can get this program by going to the website
www.zdnet.com and in the search line type "enditall" without the quotes of course. And then search. Click on
"Download PC Magazine Extra's EndItAll" On the next screen click on Download Now.
Be sure you know where the download will go and then you will need to find it. Or you can click on open on the download screen and it will open your zip program and then you can extract it to C:\Windows\Temp and from here you can double click on Install and the installation will start and it might be handiest to put it in C:\ or wherever you want . It will appear in the StartMenu, Programs, End it All. This was discovered by Pat Gideon and passed along to all of us. Thank you.
I was going to talk about putting your music onto a CD this month. First of all you must have a
CD-RW drive installed on your computer or you won''t be able to create CD''s. I have a HP CD-RW installed on
my computer and it works very well. You will also need a program to create CD''S and usually one will come with
your CD-RW. I used the one that came with my CD-RW but now have found that the Adaptec Easy CD Creator4
(Adaptec Easy CD Creator3 will not convert MP3's into audio format) works a little better and is easier to use when
I create music.
You will need to open the Create a CD program. And then open the Audio portion. Then you need to find the file
that has the downloaded music in it. As l said before mine is in "Saved" and then start adding the music one by one
to the lower half of the screen. All you need to do is click and hold and drag. Be sure they are in the order you want
them on the CD and also that they are named correctly. You may want to change the names so they will all look
alike when you print them out for the jewel case. You may want to change the names before you put them into the
CD Layout, as this is a little more convenient to do. You will be able to see at the bottom of the screen how full the
CD is because the bar fills in with each song that you add. When you have all the music in place then you click on
the Create CD button on the top bar and the process will begin. Don''t use the computer for anything else during
this process.
Do not close this screen when you are finished because then you can create your jewel case index of songs from here.
We will cover that in a future newsletter.
You can add a shortcut to the desktop to provide a
quick way of opening a file that you use regularly. Find the file or folder that you want on your desktop. The easiest
way is to right click on the one you want and then in the dropdown menu you will see Send To Click on that and
another menu will appear and there you will see Desktop (create shortcut) click on this and it will appear on your
desktop. You can tell the difference between the original file and the shortcut because the shortcut displays a small
arrow in the bottom left hand corner. You can double-click the shortcut to open the file. You can easily rename a
file on your desktop. Click the file using the right click button and a menu appears Click on Rename and type a new
name and then press Enter.
July 2001
This month we were going to cover a little bit about making an index of the songs that you have created in your AdaptecCD Creator. When you are done with putting the music on the CD, do not close the program.
From here you can now create a Jewel Case Index. This is the piece of paper that is inserted in the case and gives the information about what is stored inside. The Jewel Case is the hinged plastic box in which CD's are stored.. The songs are all listed in the lower half of the screen. Do not close this screen or remove the CD that you have just created. It will not work then.
Instant Messaging
(Chat) Instant Messaging is a very neat way of staying in
touch with your friends and family. Some of the Instant Messaging programs that I know about are:
ICQ--AIM--MSN--Yahoo Messenger and mIRC.
mIRC is more of a chat program in that your information is available to anyone who is on the same channel as you
are. Here you can be susceptible to receiving viruses and files that maybe you wouldn't want. It is fun in that you
can play sounds and do different color things with your messages. There are many, many servers and open channels
and you can only guess who you are talking to, if you aren't in one specific channel with your friends or family.
ICQ
ICQ started as "I seek you" and you have a little more control over who you talk to and also who you receive files
from. You can set your program to only accept messages from the people that you have authorized and put on your
contact list. ICQ will let you search for people and you can send greetings and also search the chat channels. Also,
you can put as much or as little information on your profile as you would like to make available to those who are on
your list or that are searching for someone to chat with. There is also the History Archives feature on this program.
You can return to your conversations and see what has been said and with whom. You can conference in this
program also. Lately, I would say that ICQ hasn't been working very well, it is very slow. One feature that I don't
like is it will not send the message by hitting the ''enter'' key. You have to click on the send button.
AIM
AIM is the AOL Instant Messaging feature that you get with AOL or you can download it even if you don't use
AOL which is kind of nice for the nonusers of AOL who want to stay in touch with those that use AOL. You can
add people to your""Buddy List" here and they will contact you when they see the message that you have put them
in your "Buddy List". To send an instant message from here you only need to double click on the persons name and
a box will appear and you type your message and hit "Enter" and the message is sent. The person that you are
trying to contact must be online and also have their AIM program open for you to send messages back and forth.
You will notice their name which will appear when they are online. To invite a friend to sign on with AIM, select the
People menu on the Buddy List menu, click "Sign on a Friend" and follow the screen instructions.
MSN Messenger
MSN is the Microsoft Network program of instant messaging. If you have a Hotmail Account for e-mail and
internet, you probably have MSN already. From the MSN homepage you can click on downloads and then find
Instant Messaging on the next page and click on that one and you will follow the instructions to install the program.
You can see there is a place to "Add a Contact" and when you open this you will see that you can add a contact by
their e-mail address . This program has no history archive feature that I know of.. But then, I haven't really thought
that History feature was very necessary when you are just talking to someone on the computer. These Contacts are
also done by invitation as are the AIM and ICQ and Yahoo Messenger. Some of the fun features in these Instant
Messaging programs are that you can send smiley faces and different graphics (emoticons) to each other. There are
also privacy features to look into and they will stop other people from contacting you without your authorization.
Yahoo Messenger
Yahoo Messenger is my favorite. Maybe, I am just more used to this program or maybe I am just more comfortable
with using this one. Yahoo Messenger can be downloaded from the Yahoo page. You will be prompted to follow the
instructions as you set up the program. You will need to have an ID and password, which you can makeup for
yourself or you will be given options to use, by Yahoo. Once you have this program in place it is very user-friendly
and not complicated to use at all. One feature that I like is that you can send an offline message to some one on your
"Friend List" even when they are not online and they will receive the message the next time they come online and
open the Yahoo Messenger program. There is an Add a Friend feature where you put your friends Yahoo ID in and
send it along and then your friend will add you on their list also. There is a privacy feature also, where you can put
people that you don''t want to contact you again and they can't access you on this program. You can have fun with
the smiley faces and color and font here too. You can conference with more than one person at a time by inviting
them to join you and others in talking to each other. This program seems to have fewer problems than others do
and it is simple to use. There are also Chat Rooms that you can go to if you like. I like to know who I am talking to,
so I am not a person who goes to chat rooms.
I have an ID for all the programs that I mentioned here and if you would like to talk to me, send me an e-mail and
ask for my ID and we can talk(chat) Also, my husband is a great talker and he would like to talk too. Usually, I am
the pink font and he is the green font on these instant messaging programs.
It is with great sadness, that I must report the death of our member Dale Hoerger. Our deepest sympathy to the
family. He will be missed.
What are cookies, and how do we benefit from them?
August 2001
I thought maybe we would do something fun this month. After all, these computers can be fun along with being so helpful with our everyday lives. Also, they can be very frustrating at times. I know that area well. I have picked out a few fun and information sites to look at. I have gone to these sites myself first, before telling you about them.
www.yourdictionary.comStumped by words like stochastic or lexeme? Get definitions here. You can sign up for a word a day and this site
will send you a new word everyday. Also, it tells the origin of the word and how it is used in everyday language.
There are also games to be played and acronymns and synonymns and lots of information about words on this site.
The second one is
www.infoplease.comThis site is an encyclopedia. It''s a dictionary and an Atlas. It''s all three and a fun place to just surf around and look at information from the colors of the Ukranian flag to a list of Supreme Court chief justices to conversions of the Metric system to the U. S. equivalent.
The third one is www.heloise.com
I'm sure we all remember the Hints from Heloise. Advising homemakers on tasks from stain busting to roach
dusting and everything in between. This site is full of handy dandy tips and hints from making your own flavored
coffee to cleaning your hands of odor after working with
onions or other smelly foods.
When we are surfing the Internet, we come across web pages that we really want to get back to. Some of the pages we get to have "Be sure to bookmark this page" or "Put this page in your Favorites." They tell us that so we can get back there without wondering "How did I find that page in the first place?"
We may want to get back to the page because we want it for our own use, or maybe because we want to tell others about it.
To save these sites, using Internet Explorer, we can:
1. RIGHTclick on a blank area of the page and then click on Add to Favorites
2. On the next screen you have the choice of putting that particular page in a certain folder in Favorites or you can just click on OK and put it at the end of what will become a really long line of Favorites. You can create a folder called Humor (or Jokes) and put all pages that are of that nature in that folder.
2-a. When the screen comes up asking where you want to save the site, you will probably have the choice of clicking on an available folder, then OK, or to create a New Folder (be sure to name it-New Folders aren't descriptive if you leave them with that name), then click on OK when that newly created folder is highlighted.
2-b. If you already have a lot of Favorites, you can move the previously created Favorites into folders by clicking on the WORD Favorites at the top of your IE screen, then click on Organize Favorites. There you can move, rename or delete your current Favorites.
Other names for folders that are popular are:
Computer - Sounds - Health - Newspapers - Search Engines - Financial - Weather - Games - Virus Info
Be sure to take advantage of your Links bar on Internet Explorer. You probably have several things already there, that automatically come with the program, such as Customize your Links, etc.
You can delete the Links you don't want by RIGHTclick on the link, than click Delete. When you have all of the ones OUT that you don''t want or need (and that''s probably all of them that are there) you can put in the ones you want. Put some of your Favorites there that you want to get to right now-and often, because you get to those with only ONE click.
To put one of your really favorite pages in the Links bar, go to that page and when you see the page in the Address line, click/HOLD on the "Blue E" at the beginning of the address and drag it down to the Links bar until the cursor turns into a | (or vertical bar) instead of a circle with a slash (which would indicate that it can''t go there) and then let go of the mouse.
Some of the names that it will try to put there are ridiculous and you can change that by RIGHTclick on the link, then Rename. For example, you might want to rename the Tip O'Tex Computer Club to be TOT, since it will probably name itself "index" and that''s not very descriptive. Also, by keeping the name of the links small, you can have more of them there.
Now an article that I thought all of the AOL users might find interesting. This is a direct quote from the YAHOO Internet Life magazine : "AOL occasionally sends its members 'official' e-mails, which contain information about everything from software upgrades to alerts about viruses and online scams. Not surprisingly, many Internet con artists attempt to mimic these official messages with the intent to defraud. How can you tell the difference between the real deal and the fakes?
Look for these three attributes in the e-mail::
1) The message appears as a blue envelope in your inbox.
2) The message has the official blue AOL Mail seal in its lower left-hand corner.
3) The message is surrounded by a blue border.
If the message lacks any of these traits, delete it posthaste."
How about looking in your computer and seeing how much disk space you have free and how much you have used? On your desktop, double click on my computer. The my computer window appears. Click on the disk of your interest (most likely it will be C:) Click on File and then click on properties.
The Properties box will appear. There will be an area that will say Used Space and Free Space on the disk in bytes, megabytes (MB) and gigabytes (GB). A pie chart visually indicates the amount of used and free space on the disk. There will also be an area that will show the Capacity and this displays the total disk storage space, in both bytes and gigabytes. (GB)
To send a link to a page (in order to have a friend go to that page) using Internet Explorer, click on File>>Send>>Link by e-mail. Or if you have a button on the IE toolbar for Mail (it looks like an envelope sitting on top of a piece of paper) you can click on that and then click on Send a link.
September 2001
This month I have decided to make some comments on the "Virus Situation" going on. The same old viruses and hoaxes are continuing to plague computer users. I hope, we all know that we should have our Anti-Virus programs up to date and should have them scanning on a regular basis.. I personally know of two people who have been infected with a virus lately. So, lets try to be more aware of our need to keep our Anti-Virus program up to date. We sure don't want to be infected ourselves and we don't want to be sending viruses to others. This in an article from the Kim Komando newsletter that I am sure will be of good information to everyone.
The term computer virus strikes fear into the hearts of many a computer user. It's been estimated that due to the jump in Internet usage, the average user is 20 times more likely to contract a computer virus today than just a few years ago. Likewise, experts claim that as many as 500 new viruses are introduced into cyberspace each month. Scary stuff.
However, there's really nothing to be afraid of. A computer virus can't just spring up out of nowhere and take command of your computer. The one thing common to computer viruses is that you have to take some sort of specific action to allow your computer to become infected. Don't take that action and you're safe. Sounds easy, right?
There's just one problem. Specifically what that action is varies from virus to virus. Early viruses were attached to what appeared to be useful application programs and running the program caused the infection. Things are more complicated now.
The recently notorious SirCam virus spread so quickly because the e-mail and the attached file appeared to come from someone you knew. The creator of the virus disguised the attached virus as a document, spreadsheet or another file randomly selected from the infected person's computer. Once the virus selected a file, that infected file was sent off by e-mail to people listed in that computer's Outlook address book.
Unless you looked really good, you might just think that for example, "Project Analysis.doc.pif" was a legitimate Word document. That "pif" part is the giveaway that it's a virus destined to do damage once the file is double-clicked.
Unfortunately, most Windows systems are set to hide file extensions (those last three letters, which Windows uses to tell which program uses that file), and people were tricked into thinking they were dealing with a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet or another type of file.
This easy way to keep from getting duped in this manner is to let Windows display all file extensions so you can see exactly what you're dealing with.
First, double-click on My Computer. In the resulting window, select Folder Options from the View menu. In the Folder Options window, click on the View tab. On that tab, you'll see a scrollable list of items under the heading of Advanced Settings. Look for the option that says, "Hide file extensions for known file types;" there'll be a checked box next to it. Click on the box to uncheck it, select OK on your way out, and you'll be set. Now you won't be fooled by bogus file names.
What the SirCam virus reminds us of that in addition to files from strangers, you have to be careful with files from friends. If you receive an unexpected and very general sounding e-mail and attachment from a friend, it might be a good idea to verify it with them before you open the attachment. Just reply to the message and ask them if their message is for real.
You'll also want to set your antivirus software program's preferences to automatically scan any new file on your computer for viruses because there are many more viruses than SirCam waiting to get you.
As an intended enhancement, Microsoft added the ability to embed macros--little automated routines--directly into Word and Excel documents. On the upside, macros make it easy to exchange a Word or Excel file with someone else and have the document function identically on the other person's computer.
This feature, however, allowed some crafty souls to concoct the macro virus. When a macro virus is built into a Microsoft Word or Excel file, simply opening the infected file in one of those programs causes the virus to spread. To play it safe, make sure that you get any fixes and updates to the Microsoft Office programs installed on your computer.
The real key to ongoing protection is making sure you keep your antivirus software updated. You see, antivirus software looks for specific viruses. If you install your antivirus software on Monday and someone releases a new virus on Tuesday, you won't be protected from the new one until you obtain the appropriate update. Ongoing protection requires installing ongoing updates from your software provider.
The good news is that most antivirus software makers provide updates via the Internet on at least a monthly basis, and sometimes overnight with emergency situations like SirCam and Code Red. And many programs will even remind you when its time to check for an update. It doesn't get much easier than that.
Just don't ignore that reminder. The data you save may be your own and also, your friends.
Screen Savers
A screen saver is a moving picture or pattern that appears on the screen when you do not use your computer for a period of time.
Do I Need To Use A Screen Saver?
Screen savers were originally designed to prevent screen burn, which occurs when an imageappears in a fixed position on the screen for a period of time. Today's monitors are better designed to prevent screen burn, but people still use screen savers for their entertainment value.
To set up a screen saver: Click a blank area on your desktop using the right mouse button. A menu appears. Click Properties. The display properties dialog box appears. Click the Screen Saver tab. Click under the screen saver box on the down arrow, a display of available screen savers will appear. Click the screen saver you want to use. The screen saver will show up on the monitor picture in the center of the screen and you will see how your screen saver will look. The screen saver will appear when you do not use your computer for the number of minutes shown in the wait area. To change the number of minutes, double-click this area. Then type a new number. Click OK to turn the screen saver on. When the screen saver appears on your screen you can move the mouse or press a key a on your keyboard to remove the screen saver.
To turn off the screen saver you will have to do these steps in reverse.
Q. My computer has begun automatically dialing whenever it chooses. I don't recall changing any options and can't find the option to turn it off. I want to be able to control when the computer dials out. There are times when I walk by my computer and I've apparently been online for hours. How to I change this?
A. Generally, there are two reasons your computer might be automatically dialing your Internet Service Provider--either your browser or your e-mail program is trying to access the Internet.
In Internet Explorer, check the settings under Tools>>Internet Options, then select the Connections tab. Choose the option "Never dial a connection" and IE will only connect to the Internet when you manually elect to do so.
In Microsoft Outlook, check your settings under Tools>>Options, then select the Mail Delivery tab. Here, make sure to uncheck the option "Automatically dial when checking for new messages."
It's also possible that another program you have loaded is trying to access the Internet, so check to see what applications are running (simultaneously press the Ctrl-Alt- Del keys to bring up the Close Program dialog window), and then take a look in the Options or Setup settings of any suspect programs.
If you use Eudora, Netscape or another program for e-mail or Web browsing, examine that application's "setup" or "options" menu and just make sure that the entry regarding "automatic" connection, sending or checking isn't selected.
Also, there are some unscrupulous sites that may entice you to download a small application that creates a new default dial- up number (or connection). Check your Dial-Up Networking connections (My Computer>>Dial-Up Networking) to make sure there aren't any connections that shouldn't be there, and that you're preferred connection choice is configured properly. Access your connection's properties by right-clicking the connection icon and choosing Properties, then make sure the dial-up phone number is the correct (and hopefully local) one.
October 2001
These are the two people who responded from my request for help or tips or information.
Thank you Arnie and Hank.
#1.
I thought you might enjoy this site to check your computer settings. It does a complete check of your computer to see if everything is set properly, and it does it free. It only takes a few minutes, and it does give you a lot of peace of mind too. www.pitstop.com Regards~ Hank
#2.
If you like to save and send pictures, I think the easy way is to have a folder on your desktop. You can have as many folders as you wish just use different names for each folder.
Click My Computer, C:/ File, New and Folder.
The new folder will be at the bottom of the window and have a white edge around the blue, this means you can type in the blue area.
Type the name you wish to call your folder. Right click and select Create Shortcut,from the dropdown menu. Drag this shortcut icon to your desktop. (Left mouse down and drag to desktop) You may have to make your screen smaller to be able to see the desktop.
To save a picture from email or web, Right click on image. In the drop down window click tab at top and select your folder. (May need to click C:/ and find folder) Double click to open folder and Save.
To send a picture Click: attachment, insert image, or what your mail uses to attach an image. Sometimes this is the paperclip in the top toolbar.
After you find your folder or file that you want to send highlight the image and open or attach. Your email may use different names to attach. This was contributed by Arnie Boje
Receiving e-mail should be an enjoyable thing. After all, that's how we keep in touch with our friends and families. BUT, just how much fun is it to open a letter that has about a dozen forwarded headings in it? Or if your e-mail program treats each forwarding as an attachment, and you have to "open" each one of those? And what about all the silly "warnings" of non-existent viruses and false stories.
Here are a few do's and don'ts for e-mail. If we, as members of this club, do our part to promote "sane" e-mailing, perhaps we can influence others. At least, our mail will look good, and we all know that we reflect our "upbringing" - in this case, the education we've gained by belonging to a computer club.
DON'T
just forward mail. That's the lazy way, and it never looks good when it gets where its going. If the joke (or whatever) is worth sending on, its worth cleaning up and getting rid of all the headers, and the hundreds of >>> that show up by the time you get it. You may have gotten it that way, but you don't have to make it worse, and you CAN make it better.DO
sign your name at the end of the letter. The chances are that your e-mail program has a place where you can put your "signature" and have it come up automatically at the end of each letter you send out. If so, put your name in there, so people will know who the letter is coming from. If you're using AOL, the "screen name" isn't always very informative. You may assume that everybody you know already knows your "screen name" but maybe they forgot - or it's a new acquaintance.If you're using any other e-mail program, make sure that your name appears on the mail as you'd want others to see it. For instance, when you receive mail from your editor, you see my name as the sender - you don't see the e-mail address - it looks as it should be written. Its not difficult to make sure that your name appears correctly, and it just may impress some of your friends that don't know how to do that.
DON'T
send mail to everybody on your address list. No matter what you're told in a letter, don't do it, unless you have only about 6 people on your list. There is nothing you're going to send out that will appeal, or have any meaning, to everybody you know. Be selective in sending out mail. Cat lovers would enjoy cat jokes, but not everybody finds them funny. The same thing goes for dog jokes, military jokes, etc.DO
use the "blind CC" feature that probably every e-mail program has. Almost every program allow you to select the Blind CC option from your address book. Check it out, and get to know your e-mail program, its capabilities and its limitations. But use it to the fullest extent you can.DON'T
just send "yes" in reply to a letter. Use the copy/paste technique and at least put the question you're answering, into the reply. For instance, if someone sends you a letter asking if its okay to meet them at 5:30 instead of 4:30, and you just send "yes" - they probably won't remember what the question was. Instead, either copy/paste their question and then answer it, or at least say "Yes, 5:30 will be fine."DO
use only one e-mail address at a time. Having that second one (probably Juno or Yahoo) is handy at times, but its confusing to people. They want to have you in their address book, but don't need 2 or 3 listings of the same person.DON'T
"reply to all"-- at least not as a normal procedure. That's about the same thing as sending to everybody on your list. Your editor has been known to use "reply to all" to respond to a virus hoax warning, with the intention being to let everybody that received the initial "warning" know that is not true. And there's usually a link to a web-site included in that response, so they can check it out.DO
be considerate of others feelings. If you know someone is a staunch Democrat, why bombard them with Clinton jokes. If you know someone is offended by even slightly off-color humor, why send it to them. If you know someone doesn't like having jokes sent to them all the time, why do it. In fact, every once in a while, it might be a good idea to ask some of your correspondents, if they mind if you send them a lot of jokes or links. They may just say "Yes, that's okay," but unless they say "Yes, I look forward to them" you might want to stop and think about it. Maybe they're just being nice.DON'T
send LONG letters because normally e-mail is quick contact, and letters that go on and on and on, quite often don't get read in their entirety. The recipient may get bored reading and just delete it. Run-on paragraphs are about the same thing. If you have one or two correspondents that enjoy that kind of letter, that's an entirely different matter, but in general, keep it short.DO
use paragraphs instead of just typing everything all in one area. All you have to do to start another paragraph is hit the enter two times. And your letter will look a lot neater if you use at least some capital letters. Remember though, that ALL capital letters makes it difficult to read. If you want something larger, change your font to a larger size. Almost all e-mail programs allow that now.DON'T
send out 10 e-mails in one day to any one person. One day your editor received 15 from one person, and after reading the first two, decided that the remaining 13 would probably be old jokes like the first ones and deleted the rest. If you want people to read your e-mail, don't overwhelm them.DO
ignore any of the above if you prefer doing it your way, but keep in mind that its not always how you send things that matters, but how its going to be received. These are not hard and fast rules, but please keep the recipient in mind, and be considerate.I think we will stay with the e-mail theme this month. To select a name from the address book. Selecting names from the address book saves you from having to remember e-mail addresses you often use. Or from searching for each address from those little post-it-notes that we can have stuck all over our desks.
After you open your New Message window you click on To. The Select Recipients dailog box appears. Click the name of the person you want to receive the message. Click To. The area to the right side will display the name of the person you selected. You can repeat these steps for each person you want to receive the message.
To: Sends the message to the person you specify.
Carbon Copy: (Cc) Sends an exact copy of the message to a person who is not directly involved, but would be interested in the message.
Blind Carbon Copy: (Bcc) Sends an exact copy of the message to a person without anyone else knowing that the person received the message. This is especially helpful when you want to send something and not have everyone see all the other peoples e-mail addresses
November 2001
When using a word processing program such as WordPad, Works, or Word Perfect you should save your document to store it for future use. This lets you later retrieve the document for reviewing or editing. You should regularly save changes you make to a document to avoid losing your work.
You save by clicking on File and then on Save As... The Save As dialog box appears. In the lower part of the box is the File name box and you should type a name for the document in there. Make the name familiar so you will remember what the document is all about. The upper part of the box will have the name of the location where your document is being saved. A lot of the time your computer will open to My Documents and want to save it there. That is what mine does. I use WordPad mostly. Which is fine if you are going to be doing more work on that document, but if you are done with the document and want to save it some place else then you can click this area to change the location. Example: C: and then double click the folder you want to save your document in. Or you can create a new folder for these types of documents by clicking on the folder icon on the top with the "looks like a star" in the upper right hand corner. You will get a box that says (new folder) and you can type the name of the folder in there. When you are all done with these things then you click on Save and it will be there for the next time you want to review or edit this document.
Now to open this document when you are ready to review it you have to find it. You can open your WordPad program and click on File and the Open dialog box appears. The top box says "Look In" and this area shows the location of the displayed documents. You can click this area to change the location. When you locate the folder where the document has been saved, then you click on it and then click Open. This should open the document and display it on your screen. You can now review and make changes to the document. To save this document after you have made some changes: Click on the X in the right hand corner that closes the screen and it will ask you if you want to save your changes. Click on yes. It will be saved.
As a rule of thumb: Word Perfect wants to save in C:\ My files and Works uses Works\documents and Word Pad and Word Pad 2 use My Documents.
Potential effects of forwarding email to everyone you know:
A pass-it-along e-mail could create a pyramid effect as shown below:
If the originator of an email hoax sent this out to 300 users to get it started and each of them passed it along to 5
people, that would be 1,500 e-mails sent.
Each level of the pyramid below represents the email sent in one day if only 5 people forwarded a hoax message each
day to 5 other people.
7,500
37,500
187,500
937,500
4,687,500
23,437,500
117,187,500
585,937,500
2,929,687,500
14,648,437,500
73,242,187,500
366,210,937,500
1,831,054,687,500
9,155,273,437,500
If each email cycle took 1 day, in 17 days there would be more than 1 email sent for every man, woman and child in the known universe. This chokes the system and gives the IS department massive headaches. That's why they frown on any type of "pass this along to all your friends" type of message.
One person pointed out that debunking email hoaxes increases the traffic. This is true unless by debunking these email hoaxes people begin to become less gullible and more suspicious of the most common types of email hoaxes. Hopefully this might break the above chain and slow the rate at which new email hoaxes spread.
Most commonly these hoaxes are designed to capture email addresses from those gullible enough to forward them. These email addresses are used to send you junk email known as "spam."
So the next time you get a sentimental story, a warning, or something you are directed to forward, don't! Instead, you might send a note to your friends and say, "I was just thinking about you."
December 2001
We have had some serious changes made in our Computer Club. Some good and some not so good. We are still looking for a "coffee person". See me if you want to take this minor job. I have the coffee pot and fixings. I will explain what is involved with the coffee making. It is an easy job, I know, because I have been doing it for a while now.
I think we should also have a person who would be responsible for contacting people to come and present something to our Club about Computers. Office Depot or similar places. Maybe, a school teacher, professor from the Community College or someone like that.
I also think we should have someone who could explain what we are doing on the computer while the person running the computer is moving around and doing things. This would be a coordinated job with the person sitting at the computer. Not hard to do.
These are just some thoughts of mine. I would surely welcome some of your thoughts as to what you would like this Club to do in the meetings. Remember, this is your Club and we all need to participate in it. Let's not let it fall apart now.
Reclaiming Disk Space
Follow these easy steps if you'd like to change it.
Make sure the page you want is currently displayed. Go under Tools and then Internet Options. Click General. In the Home Page area, choose Use Current.
The page you are currently viewing will now be your home page.
Sometimes when you're working with someone, and they try to explain what they're looking at on their monitor, its not quite clear. To that end, I've come up with these instructions: Bobbie
To create a picture of what's showing on your monitor, and send it:
Looking at the picture you want to send, hit the PrintScrn button - above, and a little to the right of the Backspace key.
You won't see anything happen, but you have just copied that picture into your Clipboard.
Open I-View program - click on Edit - click on Paste.
You'll now see a picture of what you copied.
Still in I-View, click on File, Save As - it will name it clipboard.jpg, and that's probably okay. Make a note of exactly what folder its in though. If you lose track of that folder, you'll have to do a Find in order to find your file.
If you don't have I-View, you can use Paint (Start - Programs - Accessories), but when you click on File Save As, you'll have to choose the jpg format or it will be WAY too BIG to mail.
Using Windows Explorer, locate the file you just saved. Here's where you'll need to know the name of the folder and its location.
When you locate the file, RIGHTclick on it - click on Send To - click on Mail Recipient. That should attach the file to a letter using your e-mail program.
Just choose who you're going to send it to, and click on Send.
The mail recipient will then be able to see exactly the screen you were looking at.
You can improve the performance of your computer by defragmenting your hard disk (C:) on most computers.. A fragmented hard disk stores parts of a file in many different locations. Your computer must search many areas on the disk to retrieve a file. You can use Disk Deframenter to place all the parts of a file in one location. This reduces the time your computer will spend locating the file. You can perform other tasks on your computer while Windows defragments your hard disk, but your computer will operate slower and the defragmentation will take longer. The defragmentation process must restart each time a program stores information on your hard disk. You will want to close all other programs to speed up the defragmentation.
To get started you Click on Start and then Programs and then Accessories and thenSystem Tools and then Disk Defragmenter. I made a shortcut of the Disk Defragmenter on my desktop because I defragment once a week. Click the drive you want to Defragment, usually C: drive. Click OK to start the defragmentation process. A dialog box will appear when the defragmentation is complete. Click YES to close Disk Defragmenter. You can now use your computer as usual.
Using the mouse.
A mouse is a handheld device that lets you select and move items on your screen. When you move the mouse on your desk, the mouse pointer on your screen moves in the same direction. The mouse pointer assumes different shapes such as an arrow or I, depending on its location on your screen and the task you are performing. Resting your hand on the mouse, use your thumb and two rightmost fingers to move the mouse on your desk or mouse pad. Use your two remaining fingers to press the mouse buttons.
Click: Press and release the left mouse button.
Double -Click: Quickly press and release the left mouse button twice.
Right-Click: Press and release the right mouse button.
Drag: Position the mouse pointer over the object on your screen and then press and hold down the left mouse button. Still holding down the button, move the mouse to where you want to place the object and then release the button.